Primrose Corner

This blog has been poorly….. and I’ve not been able to find anyway of correcting the issues with it. So, after much heart searching, editing and hair pulling the blog for Gone to Earth has moved to a new place.

It’s here Gone To Earth all shiny and new, so it would lovely if you’d come by and say hello.

Beautiful fabrics and beautiful patterns…

Amy Butler now as quite a catalogue of beautiful sewing patterns suited to different levels of sewing skills. There are sewing patterns for bags, appropriate for all different needs. There are all kinds of gorgeous, versatile and extremely stylish sewing patterns for skirts, tunics, halter tops and sun tops and now she’s added patterns for jackets/coats.

This is ‘little splashes hooded raincoat & runabout jacket’ sewing pattern

and this is the ‘rainy Days hooded raincoat & runabout jacket’ sewing pattern.

The jackets together….

If you want these jackets to be waterproof then you will need to make them from a laminate fabric. What do you do, however if you really love the jacket but aren’t so confident about working with laminates? Amy suggests making them from the heavier home dec fabrics for an extremely stylish extra layer to wear on cooler days.

Whilst we’re on the subject of home decor fabrics I’ve just added these to the shop. They’re all 100% cotton on a 54/55 inch bolt as opposed to the more usual 44/45 inch wide bolt and are perfect for bag making, making curtains, upholstery, cushions and of course Amy’s new coat designs.

I love the deep gorgeous blue colours in these fabrics. The colour of the Sun spots is almost electric.

Sun spots in Midnight and Paradise Garden in Midnight
The pretty Asian inspired Sandlewood fabric with it’s soft, feminine colours and up-beat contemporary design.

I thought it might be helpful to see the size of the Sun spots home dec fabric next to the Sun spots quilt weight fabric because the home decor fabrics spots are larger

…. well someone is bound to ask

I acquired this book a few weeks ago. It crept into my Amazon basket I’m not entirely sure how. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ) The Gentle Art of Quilt-Making 15 Projects inspired by Everyday Beauty by Jane Brocket

I really connect with this book. There is an uncomplicated, calmness about her approach to patchwork and quilting which is really filling a need for me just now.

I love her description of how for years she just admired quilts feeling that it was far too complicated, much too difficult, a craft with too many rules for her to even begin She shared these feelings with a friend who more or less told her to ‘get on with it.! So, she did. She faced her fear of getting it wrong and went for what was possible.

I like that. Sometimes when you want to learn something new, acquire a new skill, I think you do have to be brave enough to get stuck in. There’s a danger of denying yourself a lot of simple pleasure by being uncomfortable about getting it wrong, afraid of needing to ask for help just in case we seem foolish. One fantastic thing about craft blogs is that they always provide somewhere to find answers and often someone you can talk to when you’re stuck.

Jane talks about how she learned to enjoy the process of piecing and quilting. How she became able to focus on her fabric and colour choices once she freed up her mind by sewing ‘simple, timeless and often childlike quilt patterns’ , playing with simple designs and learning to fill them with colour and pattern. Rather than getting hung up on the precise ‘jigsaw’ type construction of some block designs, which had prevented her from ever getting started in the first place.

There’s no surprise therefore that the quilts in this wonderful book are are based on strips, squares, squares set on point and triangles. (In probably the most complicated quilt called the Amaryills.) The beauty in her designs are achieved by the fabrics she uses to create large, bold sweeps of pattern and colour. She is inspired by the fabrics of Kaffe Fassett and has a similar kind of colour wash approach to her designs that you can see in his work. Kaffe’s aren’t the only fabrics she uses though, you can can spot fabrics from Heather Bailey and Amy Butler and fabrics from many other designers which she names just in case you wish to try and reproduce her quilts precisely.

At the beginning of reach quilt recipe she explains her choices; the colours, the fabric patterns, what it was which inspired her to create it in the first place and how she went about constructing it.

and then….

This ‘narrative’ or quilt story is important to her. Jane likes that connection that the craft gives to all those quilt making women of the past. That’s another part of the attraction for her. Quilt making has a very ‘social’ history, women often came together in groups to sew and to talk, thus memories, hopes and wishes have always been sewn into quilts.

Jane makes it all seem so possible and I think that is really liberating. The whole tone of the book is ‘you can do this …’ and as a result I’ve even started to quilt by hand. Not a death defying ‘craft’ leap I know but I’ve always believed it to be too slow, too difficult. Well, it isn’t! It’s wonderful! I like the texture, I like the sitting and doing, I like the way it stills the mind and soothes it after long days.

If you get a chance to look at this book for yourself you won’t regret it.

Fabrics aren’t the only things that Anna Maria Horner fills with saturated, effervescent colour.

A box of her latest patterns for the shop all wrapped in intense lime green tissue paper and sealed with pink stickers.

There’s the Evening Empire Dress sewing pattern with four different construction options.

You can mix up your fabrics in a zig-zaggy fabric affair or make it out of one fabric. It is possible to make it in different lengths, to have shoulder straps or be more daring and make it without. A versatile dress suitable for sunny days, holidays, as well as evenings out.

The Sidewalk Satchel is a curvy, special looking bag which would sit easily on the shoulder when you need your hands free for browsing the shops, steering small children around or meeting and greeting friends.

The fabric on the front pattern cover is a cotton voile from Anna Maria’s Little Folks fabric collection. (although she does stress the need for interlining if you use this fabric which is a lot lighter than usual quilt weight fabric)

The Roundabout Dress and Slip sewing pattern contains the pattern pieces and instructions you need to create an easy to wear slip on dress from your favourite fabrics. There’s no zip to sew in, no buttons or buttonholes to fret over. It has pleats and gathers around the neckline and a deep waistline, making it an easy style to wear for most body shapes.

There are suggestions and instructions for mixing up two fabrics or three fabrics and for making the dress shorter, essentially making it a blouse which ends on the hip. It also contains a pattern and instructions to make a bias cut, full length slip or a shorter length camisole.

The fabrics shown on the front pattern cover are again from Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks cotton voile fabric collection, which incidentally are absolutely scrummy. (I hasten to add that I don’t often use words like that Not even about fabric!)

I hope you like them.

Sorry to be showing such an ugly photograph….. this magnetic snap has worn away the bag lining.

Now I remember why I always apply magnetic snaps this way ….

I’ve had this bag for ages. I like this bag, I use this bag everyday and now it’s …. defunct….nothing I can do with it apart from re-making it into something else.

Sad now!

Who doesn’t love pincushions?

Essentially every little pincushion has a functional role to play in the sewing room. It valiantly holds onto those sharp finger pricking pins, pin heads, decorative or otherwise pointing upwards so that they are easy to grab hold of when you next need to hold your sewing in place.

Somehow, though pincushions are so very much more than that. Their small size provides just enough room for a little bit of creative expression. A little bit of space for personalising your sewing equipment. They make brilliant gifts to give to sewing friends, they use up all those scraps of fabric, sell well at craft fairs and are a perfect size to indulge a little whimsy.

Every sewing room/space should have a pincushion to be proud of shouldn’t it ?

Here are few patterns to inspire you, gorgeous new pincushion patterns from Heather Bailey.

Adorable Effie and Ollie the pachyderm pincushions can also be made as toys for little hands to hold and love. And they stack….think of all the games you could play

Henrietta Turtle can be made a Henry Turtle just by not adding the flower…

Then there is Flutterby Pincushions – two butterfly designs, a bee and a ladybird, each has layered wings to hold on to your sewing needles.

If they don’t set your pulse racing but you’d still like to try your hand at making a pincushion for yourself or for friends then here are a few lovely tutorials I’ve found around the web. (Bet you can’t stop at making just one.)

This is a photograph of the pincushion I made using this tutorial. Eight Patch Pincushion

Some patchwork block patterns make brilliant starting points for pincushions and it’s a good way of practicing a new technique and an brilliant excuse for doing so. (There are some more pincushion tutorials based on patchwork blocks lower down this post.)

Tomato pincushions from Martha Stewart

Square cushion pincushion designed by Heather Bailey.

Toadstool cottage Pincushion (Too cute for words.)

Flower Pincushion designed by Anna Maria Horner.

This is a lovely idea (and tutorial) for a pincushion using a Matryoshka doll designed by Vintage Violet of Maximum Rabbit Designs.

Last but not least are these lovely little patchwork pincushions from the Purl Bee

Molly’s miniature Pincushions

Do you have any pincushion ideas to share?

If you’ve never come across Lamifix before. This is it.

It’s made by Vilene and it’s part of their Creatives range. It’s a transparent ‘film’ which you fuse to fabric and gives it a wipeable surface….. turns it into something a bit like an oilskin except you don’t need any special sewing machine feet to be able to sew it.

Why would you want such a thing? Well, because it gives ordinary fabric a wipeable surface. It’s suggested uses are; lunchbags, cosmetic bags. beach bags. tote bags, pencil cases, but I know that it’s also being used to make wipeable place mats… wipeable baby changing mats that coordinate with baby ‘changing bags’. Good idea that! I bet you can think lots more. So, if you do think of anything else then please share…. (Note: fabric cannot be laundered once lamifix has been fused to fabric.)

It doesn’t look like much…. almost like a catering grade cling film. It comes in two finishes, this one has a glossy finish to it. It comes with quite detailed instructions about how to use it and how to apply the Lamifix to fabric. Basically, the ‘film’ is fused to fabric using the heat of an iron. However, there are a couple of necessary steps to follow to ensure success.

First of all, you need to make sure that your fabric is smooth with no wrinkles and that the lamifix is free of any lint. It is inclined to be a little static but any ‘bits’ it does pick up can be lightly dusted away with a soft, lint free cloth. The complete instructions are on the shop, but … I’ve found a little video made by Vilene which shows you exactly how to apply the lamifix to fabric.

Lamifix applied to some medium weight fabric…. it remains flexible like the original cloth – but now has a glossy finish and can be wiped clean.

Lamifix product video made by Vilene.

Brilliant isn’t it? So, much clearer than instructions …… there are videos for all the other Vilenes too….. perhaps I should get out more

Speak soon ….

There’s some beautiful sewing being added to the Flickr group at the moment, so, as I haven’t mentioned it for a while I thought I’d share some of the lovely things that are being added.

(Made by Birgitta of Birgitta Designs – her Folksy shop is here
A lovely little outfit for spring and summer days…

Roseglen has been very busy making clothes – this is one of her skirts

(She sells these through her Etsy shop – here

There’s a beautiful Zinnia pillow made by Mellimoocow.

In case you’re wondering this is a design from the Amy Butler Mid Mod pillow sewing pattern.

I love this pretty little pincushion. It must have have taken ages to make.

It has been lovingly made by Maximum Rabbit Designs who, between ourselves has a bit of a passion for buttons.

Fancy a drink….? then make it special with some coasters to brighten up the table. These gorgeous patchwork coasters have been made from coordinating Amy Butler green and aqua coloured fabrics.
.

Add a real splash of colour don’t they? These have been made by Craft Matters

From drinking to eating…. Wouldn’t these be lovely to see on the breakfast table ? Sweet little egg cosies;

Made by Incy Wincy of Incy Wincy Stitches who you’ll find here A touch of creative genius to put names on the buttons.

These are only a few of the things that have been added and I really can’t end this without showing you some of the bags.

This is from Birgitta. Some bags with round handles – love the fabric.

A clutch wristlet style bag

This has been made by LMCreation, who has an Etsy shop over here where you can go and look at some of her other designs.

And last but not least a gorgeous tote bag

made with the lovely designs from Tanya Whelan’s Darla fabric collection by Angharad

Please do keep adding your sewing into the group. It’s fascinating to see what everyone is doing.

Enjoy your weekend and may the sun keep shining…. (Wishful thinking…. perhaps, but you never know. )

Here is a pretty little badge that I’ve been given by Andrea of Indigo Blue. Thank you!!

And you know what has to happen now don’t you? I need to pass it along….Some of these blogs I read regularly and others are new to me but they’re all places I like to spend time.

Kitty’s Bloggy Bits
Sew Christine
Sew Love to Sew
Craft Matters
Angharad Handmade
Ragged Roses
Laceheart
JennyFlower
Maximum Rabbit Designs
Incy Wincy Stitches

I think I now have a few e-mails to post and bloggy comments to make….

Speak again soon

I haven’t really mentioned LOVE yet have I … no don’t run away this isn’t going to be one of those cringeworthy conversations you might have with your teenage children. Although I am a little trepidatious (I think I made that word up) about what spam is going to hit my blog now!

Love is Amy Butler’s latest fabric range. (But you already knew that – didn’t you?)

Basically this glorious fabric collection comes in four colour palettes, described as Heart, Soul. (Ok that’s two – but I think it’s Heart 1 and 2…. Soul 1 and 2 ) As with her other fabric collections these prints work beautifully alone but really come alive in combination with others from the collection.

Soul.

I’ve cut quite a lot of this fabric over the last week or so and I’m struck by how full of energy the colours and designs are. I hope that doesn’t sound completely stupid. The colours are bright. The more muted greens of the mints, grass and limes are ‘young’ , optimistic, fresh. The intense midnight blues, burgundy wines, teals and blush colours are all warm and gorgeous. I absolutely love the the periwinkle blues and the zingy tangerines.

The floral designs have a lot of energy and movement about them. The bliss bouquet designs, are covered in big blousy peony type flowers. The cypress paisleys have the tight shapes of cypress trees with flowing tendrils of flowers around the basic paisley shape.

The Tumble Roses … well… they tumble. The bunched bouquets of memento and water bouquet look like flowers freshly gathered from spring/summer meadows and have a kind of fresh growing energy about them.

The paradise garden designs have that stylised flower look of the ’60’s and 70′s.

The sunspots are essentially a polka dot design with unevenly sized ‘spots’. Great used alone but when used in combination with other designs contribute to that feeling of energy in these designs.

The Asian influences in the collection that Amy speaks of can be most obviously seen in the arabesque, Sandlewood and Bali Gate designs. There are a lot of details in these designs. I like the lace like background to the arabesque patterns.

But what happens when the prints are combined. Amy’s own website is a brilliant source of ideas for combinations. How about these ideas for starters?

How would you combine them? Do you like the quieter combinations? or the more zingy, zesty, lets live life to the full combinations?