brooch

  • When I’m Sixty-Four

    ByHeather Bailey

    Look what Laura made for me.  This is such a great idea.  She took a
    silk purse from The Limited — found on sale at TJMaxx or Marshall's(?)
    and heatherized it with handmade silk flowers and vintage buttons. I
    love it!

    BloomingT
     
    There
    are two dupioni flowers, plus two little buds from a Kaffe Fasset
    print. The leaves are made from lace and a vintage kimono print.

    PurseonWhite On
    the home front, my 13-year-old is now nearly my height — about 1/2" to
    go. So bizarre. On our way to my parents' house yesterday, Elijah was
    telling me how awesome it is to have a mom so close to him in age. (I
    was 21 when we had him.)

    "When I'm 60, you'll be 81," he said.

    "And we can play shuffleboard together, " I replied.

    "We can have a walker race to the country club!" he concluded.

    An
    image that will stay with me for oh, at least 47 more years, if I'm
    fortunate enough to make it to that race. Now, of course, no
    60-year-olds I know have a walker, but at 13, anyone over 40 is a
    candidate for a walker, right?

    I love that kid.

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    (McCartney wrote When I'm Sixty-Four when he was only sixteen years old! Although it wasn't released till he was 25 or so.)

  • |

    Holly Day Girls

    ByHeather Bailey

    I have a new 'job' at my church.  I've been asked to teach the
    10-12-year-old girls crafting skills, and to organize service projects
    with them.  Sure! I can do that.  Today is our first activity.  We're
    making holly pins from yo-yos & felt.

    HollyPin470
    Over
    the next few meet-ups, I'm going to help the girls put together their
    own sewing kits, teach them to crochet, develop babysitting kits, learn
    emergency skills etc.  I want to find a senior center we can visit as
    well. 

    They're the sweetest group of girls.  It should be big, big fun.

  • Packing Flowers

    ByHeather Bailey

    FlowerProject2

    Today I'm heading over to the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City for a live interview & some crafty kibitzing on KSL's Studio 5 with hosts, Brooke & Darin. We're making fast, fabulous, fabric flowers. Fashionable too — and friendly.

    The
    spicy flower above turned out perfectly for the red & olive reverse
    of my red Marlo Bloom bag (shown on the cover of the Marlo Bloom sewing pattern). It takes my handbag right into Fall, all wooly & frayed, with felted houndstooth leaves and raw silk at the center.

    FlowerProject1

    I
    also played around with some of my favorite vintage buttons &
    millinery supplies, such as these green ceramic flower stamen. On the
    show, we're making medium-sized flowers, but as I couldn't stick to one
    size for the samples, I'm listing measurements for the large purse
    flower and the small, blue headband flower as well. Of course, make
    whatever size flower you wish & stitch it where you like.

    I say everywhere.

    FlowerProject4a

    Pop Garden Scrap Flower Tutorial

    Medium Flower

    1.  Tear a strip of printed cotton fabric 3" high by 20" wide. Pop Garden works.

    FlowerTute1

    2. 
    With wrong sides together, fold fabric strip in half, as shown. Stitch
    long, gathering stitch along matched torn edges, through both layers.
    (For a torn-edge flower, stitch along folded edge, through both layers.)

    FlowerTute2

    3. 
    Gently pull stitches as you sew, to gather fabric into a circle. Fasten
    fabric circle at center with a couple of stitches. Secure & trim
    thread.

    FlowerTute3a

    4. 
    Of felt, cut three tiered circles — 2" wide, 1.75" wide, and 1.5"
    wide. Notch edges of large & small circles. Remove all 'hanging
    chads' of felt — we'll have none of that. Stack felt circles as shown.

    FlowerTute4

    5. 
    Onto gathered fabric flower, layer stacked felt circles and a
    decorative button or brooch. Stitch layers together at center several
    times through button to secure. Conceal gathered edges at back of
    flower by whip-stitching a circle of scrap felt to the back of the
    flower. Then, attach a sew-on pin-back, hair clip, ponytail elastic, TT
    headband    , bobbypin or barrette. And that's it. Easy-peasy.

    FlowerTute5

    For
    your reference, the following chart shows the measurements used for the
    other flowers featured in the photos above. The large flower is made by
    stacking a folded piece of silk on top of the folded cotton print with
    folds aligned. Gathering stitches are sewn through all layers, near the
    fold. And the large flower spirals into several layers, unlike the
    other two shown.

    FlowerTute6a

    I'm looking forward to meeting many of you at Friday's Start-up Princess event. If you're interested in last-minute registration, I've got a present for you — use code STUDIO5 for $10 off the registration fee. Or tune in to the show today, as two viewers will receive free tickets on air, valued at $99 each.

    Also, there is an all-new category at The Heather Bailey Store.
    See if you can spot it. I'm eager to post more, but need to rush off to
    the station. Let's just say the new category ties in perfectly with
    this tutorial and with more projects to come. I'll spill the beans in
    my next post.