Tuesday 9 September 2008

Sewing and Cross Stitch

Towards the end of the summer holidays during a visit to my local library I found some lovely books, one of which was 21 Sensational Patchwork Bags. I was only the fourth person to borrow it, so it was lovely and new.















Emily fell in love with the saddle bag so I willingly said I would make her one. She chose her favourite fabrics from my small stash and I started work. I soon realised that although I am quite experienced at clothes, I was struggling with the bag. I found it difficult to follow the instructions as there were very few diagrams or pictures of work in progress. Finally I abandoned the book and made my own bag, it could do with being a little bigger but Em loves it. The stripped fabric came from Ikea, the butterfly fabric I purchased to make a dress but never got around to it. The cat squares we found last year in a wonderful fabric shop in Sturminster Newton.
















I have also been cross stitching a picture of Audrey Hepburn for Ali, which I gave her last weekend to take to her new lodgings at Uni. She loved the picture as Audrey is her favourite actress. My latest project is a beautiful poppy which was featured in the October edition of Cross Stitcher






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11 comments:

Andrea said...

oh i love the cross stitch of audrey hepburn! :]

Locket Pocket said...

Well I think your bag turned out very well indeed! And the Audrey Hepburn cross-stitch is incredible - I don't know where you find the patience - I've never managed to concentrate long enough for cross-stitch!!!! Lucy x

BeckySC said...

Hi Jane!
I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment :) It's nice to meet you. I am not really visiting blogs at this time due to not feeling very well-but I have added your blog to my reader and look forward to visiting with you when I am back in action :)

Mrs Moog said...

You did a wonderful job on Em's bag. I love the way you used the fabrics.

Your cross stitch is wonderful. The Audrey Hepburn one is great and I can see the poppy is going to be very beautiful too!

I only ever managed the tiniest cross stitch kits. Anything bigger and I lost count!!

xxx

The Blonde Duck said...

I love your saddle bag! It's so cute!

raining sheep said...

Oh Jane, the bag is lovely and you are a talented sewer for just 'doing your own thing'. I am pretty impressed with the cross stitch - I used to cross stitch when my boys were little and I know how precise you need to be to have a pattern come out right. Nice work.

The Blonde Duck said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I can't wait to see your next project.

Willow said...

wow! I am impressed with your designing of the bag. Well, I'm impressed with the whole bag!

The flower is going to be fab! What kind of fabric are you stitching on? Is it linen? It looks like a fine weave.

Kaz said...

OOoohh I love that bag, it's fab!! And the fabrics are scrummy too.

The cross stitch is lovely too.

Andrea said...

I got my pincushion in the mail today! thanks so much, I love it!

Andrea said...

Hi! I decided I want to start a knitting group blog! Contact me if you're interested! (please don't feel obligated or anything) :]