Butterfly Bright

Monday, 16 April 2012

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!

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!

Artisan Markets

I found there were so many talented local artisans coming into the shop looking for a place to exhibit their wares, and was unable to help so many of them due to lack of space in the shop, that we decided the next best thing was to host an Artisan Market in Swan Yard.

The first one we held on a Sunday drew a good crowd, despite having to hold most of the market indoors (thanks to our great British summer!) as opposed to being outside in Swan Yard where we would have liked to have been (thanks to Philip and Gemma at The Arch for hosting us!).

More recently we had a second market on a Saturday which drew an equal number of visitors, creating a wonderfully lively buzz in Swan Yard.

We had a range of Stalls including Stevie-B (pictured above), Funky Vintage, Made by me in my Kitchen, Petite Canard, Fading Grace, Sara Foster Wirework jewellery, Claire Moses Jewellery and lots more!
We are planning the next Artisan Market on the Christmas Shopping day in Sherborne, Sunday 4 Dec 2011.

Shop fit and contents

we got keys at the end of April and the painting began! (thanks have to go to my hubby and my inlaws for helping!)

When the stock arrived it was nerveracking opening things I had ordered months before but overall I was very happy with my new fabric range! - Mostly Michael Miller and Riley Blake - all the way from the USA.

The ribbons all fitted perfectly into the arch shaped alcove just inside the door. It is a great way to entice people in as they pass the door and see all the wonderful colours!

On sunny days we like to hang the bunting outside and put up a few balloons to let people know we are open for business!

I acquired a few nice pieces of furniture from a local friend who upcycles and paints furniture (and also does wonderful paintings on reclaimed pieces of wood) Edward Oliver.

and then we opened for business! Hooray!

Inspired by Malka Dubrawsky!

I was lucky enough to be given Malka Dubrawsky's book called "Fresh Quilting: Fearless Color, Design and Inspiration" for my birthday last week and I could not wait to get starting on some of the ideas!

I made a couple of coasters/mats which I thought would be nice to put under a glass vase of flowers in the spring. I am really just wanting to create some items to have in the shop to showcase the fabrics available and to inspire people to make something for themselves!

I used the remaining pieces of fabric that were left over from the baby quilt I made earlier this year, the fabric is from the Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey Collection. I am rather pleased with the results - lovely Spring colours to go in my Easter window display.

The central sqaure has been quilted in an ever increasing square pattern. When I get my free motion foot for the sewing maching I will try quilting some spirals like Malka does on her quilts!