Easter beanbag chicks!

I have been meaning to try out this pattern for a while, I spotted it on RedTedArt's website which is full of great ideas for kids crafts. You can follow RedTedArt on facebook to keep up with all the fab ideas they have!

I knew it would be best to set up a production line as I wanted to make 9 or 10 for our new window display so I cut out all the fiddly felt parts first

Then I pinned all the felt pieces in place between the two layers of fabric before quickly sewing up the first two sides on each chick.

Keeping the rice in whilst pinning up and sewing the final side was a bit of a challenge but with a few additional strategically placed pins I soon got them all done.

You can find the original RedTedArt blog post here with detailed instructions and lots of step by step photos

http://www.redtedart.com/2012/02/10/pyramid-juggling-bag-chickens

I added one extra detail which was a frilly felt tail feather just for fun!

Enjoy your chicks! Ali x

Valentine Crochet Garland

There is nothing nicer than a handmade gift on Valentine's Day and these crochet hearts can be used to embellish any number of projects - here are a few ideas..

Pattern:

1 ball of Rowan Cotton Glace in Poppy and a 2.5mm Crochet hook

Start with a slip knot and make a foundation chain of 3

Row 1

Skip 1, 1 dc in each of the next two chains, ch 1 and turn,

Row 2

1 dc in first dc and 2dc in last dc, ch1 and turn,

Row 3

1 dc in the first 2 dc's and 2dc in the last, ch1 and turn. (You should now be able to see that you are forming what is essentially a triangle)

Rows 4-8

1 dc in each stitch across the row, with 2dc in the last stitch, ch1 turn (increasing 1dc in each row, by row 8 you should have 9 dc)

Row 9

Skip first 2dc, 4tr in the next dc, skip 1 dc, ss in next dc, skip 1dc, 4tr in next dc, skip 1 dc and ss in the last dc on the row.

We are now going to finish with a border around the bottom half of the heart  to soften the edges.

1dc in each of the row ends (starting with the end of row 8) to the bottom point (7dc), 3dc in the bottom point, and then 7dc up the other side of the row ends, finishing with a ss in the first stitch of row 9. Fasten off.

We hope you enjoy making these valentine hearts, if you would like any help please pop along to our sewing and yarn bee on a friday morning 10am-12pm.

Feather and Fan Alpaca Scarf

Feather and Fan Alpaca Scarf – by Caroline Bradshaw at Butterfly Bright

It is a real treat to be knitting with this luxurious super soft Alpaca yarn from Italy, Sierra Andina is 100% pure Alpaca yarn, from the company made famous for its glorious colour combinations and impeccable taste in pure wool yarns, Adriafil.
Sierra Andina knits up to between a Double knitting and a 4 ply weight, it is therefore perfectly suited to beautiful accessories like scarves, gloves and shawls.
Here I have used one ball each of navy blue and cream to give a nautical theme to the scarf, but any colour combination would work well with this classic feather and fan stitch pattern.

Abbreviations
K – knit
P – purl
yo – yarn over
k2tog – knit two together

Cast on 26 using 3mm needles

Knit 3 rows

Commence pattern as follows:
Row 1. K all stitches
Row 2. K4, P18, K4
Row 3. K4, (k2tog) 3 times, (yo, k1) 6 times, (k2tog) 3 times, k4
Row 4. K all stitches
Remember to twist the spare yarn at the end of the wrong side rows to carry it up the side of the work neatly, changing colour every four rows.
Continue in pattern to desired length, ending on a row 4, then knit 3 rows before casting off.

If you wish to make this scarf wider the pattern requires multiples of 18 + 4 stitches each side for border.

I recently saw another lovely idea on Pinterest for a patchwork table runner so I thought I would give it a go. I started by using a few fabrics from the scraps box along with some new prints that had just arrived at the shop and cut up my squares, 24 large colourful ones and 72 small white ones.

As usual my colours are pink, green and blue!

This pattern is similar to a "snowballl" design but you only sew the small squares to three corners of the large squares instead of all four corners.

I laid the squares in opposite directions to be able to "strip piece" the squares and save thread!

Once all three squares were attached to the larger squares I trimmed off the outer corners

Next I joined the larger squares together, the corners without the white squares sit together creating a sort of flower effect.

I layered up with wadding in the middle and a colourful fabric for the reverse.

Finally I sewed all three layers together (inside out) and pulled them the right way round, finishing off with a top stitch all the way round the outer edge.

Ta Da!

A girl's dress inspired by The Great British Sewing Bee!

I am absolutely hooked on The Great British Sewing Bee!

(BBC 2  on Tuesday evening at 8pm)

Last night the competitors had to make a child's dress with a 'smocked' top.

I have always wanted to try this as I have two girls of my own and I would love to make more clothes for them. Luckily this dress is made using the modern machine sewn technique, with shirring elastic in the bobbin, rather than hand sewing the smocking (which let's face it a working mum does not have time for!)

I rushed in early to work this morning and decided to give it a go. As I was working with very little technical information (ie no pattern!) I thought I would make a doll sized dress as a practice,I know it will get well used as the girls both love dressing their dolls!

I decided on pink gingham fabric, the girls both love pink and I thought the lines on the print would help to guide my lines of shirring.

I joined the  two pieces of fabric with my first French Seam which worked a treat! The next job was to start the lines of shirring, I loaded shirring elastic onto the bobbin, being careful not to wind it too tightly.

I did try a couple of sample pieces first and I was glad I did as I had to play around with the settings a bit before committing to the main article, I set the stitch length to the longest available option which helped too. The fabric does gather more the more lines you add so don't give up if you think it is not working after the first couple of lines. 

Using the gingham pattern I was able to keep the lines relatively straight.

A good tip is that the fabric needs to go under the foot as flat as possible, so try to hold the fabric either side of the foot to ensure it does not pucker as it feeds through the needle.

Next I had to hide all those straggly bits with a second French Seam,

and then hem the top and bottom of the dress. By this time I had to open the shop and so I cheated a bit with the straps and used ribbon (as this is only for a doll I thought this would be OK!).

I added some white buttons to give it a nice finishing touch and there we have it!

I am sure with a bit more practice I will get better but I really enjoyed my first attempt!

If you want to give something like this a go why not look at our list of Sewing Workshops or join us at our next Sherborne Sewing Bee!

Happy Sewing!

Ali x

Book a birthday party now!

We hosted a really fun birthday party on Saturday afternoon, the ladies requested a basic jewellery class and so they enjoyed an afternoon of getting to grips with beads, tiger tail, crimps and various pliers!

As usual the hardest part was deciding which beads to use!

We taught two styles of necklace and how to make dangly earrings, there was even time to make a couple of pretty matching bracelets at the end.

The easiest part was sipping tea and eating delicious cupcakes made by Lizzie!

If you are keen to learn to make your own jewellery do book on to a workshop soon, or if you would like to bring a group of friends for a birthday party or just a fun get together we can arrange this in daylight or evening hours to suit you!

ps. the cakes are on us!

Contact us here to book!

We are Moving!

We were really thrilled to have been approached a few months ago by a friend who runs another fabulous retail business in Sherborne, about a potential collaboration. After much discussion, many meetings, dozens of emails, quite a few cups of tea and even a cheeky glass of wine, the deal has been done and we are moving in with - drum roll please - HomeSweetHome!

Liz has spent 4 years building a wonderful business and it has developed a reputation for offering "lovely things to come home to", with its individual mix of interiors, accessories and gifts for the home and kitchen.

With the current trend for making and creativity Liz approached us with a vision for a combined business which could offer all the beautiful items we both currently stock and in addition make use of the under utilised extra workroom space behind the shop.

At Butterfly Bright we have been bursting at the seams and we were on the look out for a bigger premises and so we jumped at the opportunity to team up with Liz. It is also lovely that we will be occupying the premises that for many years was the original haberdashery in Sherborne. Liz says even 4 years in she gets plenty of customers returning to the shop thinking it is still the haberdashery.

Liz has so many beautiful and complementary items in her shop we wont be changing her stock base dramatically, merely combining our treasure trove of designer fabrics, buttons, ribbons and haberdashery with her home and kitchen accessories. It is a nice touch that many of her suppliers are local or small British makers and we hope to inspire more start up businesses by continuing to offer a variety of workshops going forward.

The even more exciting news is that we will be expanding our offering from sewing, patchwork & quilting and jewellery making workshops and will soon be adding knitting, crochet, dress making, embroidery, paper crafts, cake decorating and much more to our class list! Hooray!

We have some extremely talented and even award winning tutors lined up so keep an eye on the website for updates...

By the way - this is all happening very soon - we will have our last day in Swan Yard on Saturday 5th May and commence trading from Home Sweet Home (Digby Road, Sherborne, DT9 3NL) from Tuesday 8th May 2012!

Our contact number will remain the same 01935 817303

Lovely!