Recycled paper baby bunting

3 years ago I wrote about making some bunting out of recycled fabrics, in preparation for our first baby...... well, the time has now come to make some more bunting in preparation for our second baby (eek!) but this time I've made the bunting above out of recycled paper.

The inspiration for the paper bunting came after a visit to one of our favourite cafes Red Beard Bakery in Trentham.  Red Beard had some paper bunting which had been made from old books, and I thought it was a great idea and a perfect way to use some of the collection of second-hand Little Golden Books I'd been collecting.     

The illustrations from the books have been perfect to make the bunting and I love the vintage feel it captures.  I also like the way the mix of stories and images used aren't specifically 'girl' or 'boy' but a nice mix of various illustrations and themes.   

Here's how I made the paper bunting:
1.  Drew a triangular shape onto an old piece of cardboard - making sure the triangle would fit onto the Little Golden Books I was going to use for the bunting.  I also added on a 2cm rectangular top section to the triangle shape so I had some excess to fold over and secure to the ribbon.
2.  Cut out the triangle to make a template.
3.  Selected the Little Golden Books and tore out all the pages and illustrations I wanted to use for the bunting. 
4.  Used the triangle template to trace the shape onto the torn pages, and then carefully cut each page.
5.  Folded the rectangular top section of the triangle in half (so 1cm was above the triangle and 1cm folded to sit over the ribbon) and stuck double sided tape to the back of it. 
6.  Select the ribbon to use (I used 3 different patterns, or you could use string) and hook the folded part of the bunting over the ribbon and stick to the double sided tape to secure.  I also added some sticky-tape on the back as well to fully secure in place.
7.  String bunting up to your wall using removable hooks.
8. Stand back and admire your crafty work!

Weekend print workshop

Over the weekend I took part in a Dry Point Etching workshop in Daylesford with Bridget Farmer.  Bridget specialises in various forms of printmaking, but it was the Dry Point Etching I was most interested in learning.  Myself and fellow local designer Fran Pidgeon headed to Bridgets fabulous studio armed with rubber gloves, aprons and itchy fingers ready to print!             

Bridget has dedicated 2013 to 'The Year of the Finch' and has been drawing and creating prints specifically on this little bird.  Above is one of her very cute dry point etchings of said Finch. 

The etching workshop took place on Saturday and Sunday, and it was so lovely to have a creative weekend for completely personal enjoyment - no brief to work to, no commercial limitations, (no toddler around) just me, Fran, Bridget, some 1930's music, choc-chip cookies, cups of tea, and lots of chatting.  Fabulous! 

I love being in other peoples studios and workspaces, seeing how creative people work, what inspires them, are they neat, messy, organised etc.  Most studio's house a lovely mix of random bits and pieces (I like to think of it as studio flotsam and jetsam) that have been found and gathered to serve as useful equipment or inspiration.      

I decided to take some of 'my girls' (vintage teacups) to use as a basis for my etching prints. I started off roughly sketching the teacups, before engraving my illustration onto the plate.  We were using acetate as a plate, which makes it a really easy substance to engrave and allowed us to work very quickly as no acid is necessary to eat into the more traditional copper plate.   

We started off printing our etchings with single colour prints, before progressing to applying several colours to the plate.  This is called 'a la poupee' (multiple colours applied directly to the plate) and Bridget has a tutorial about this technique on her website.    Above you can see Fran's very intricate and detailed beautiful bird print (left) and my sketchy-style teacup print and inked acetate plate (right). 

A big thanks to Bridget and Fran for a wonderful weekend! 

Hand-made DIY indoor tent

It's been a while since I last had my sewing machine out, but a few weeks ago I came across some instructions for making a DIY A-frame tent.  It looked easy enough, and with winter just around the corner I thought it would be fun for Mr J to have a little indoor tent to play and hide in.

I found some second-hand fabric on Etsy (I bought a children's double bed sheet) and set about turning it into the tent.  There are some very glamorous kids indoor tents in the market place, but I thought a hand-made one would be just as fun - and little Mr J won't mind if it's not 100% perfect.

It's really easy to change and update the fabric as it isn't permanently attached to the wooden supports, and it also folds up flat for storage - handy!  I've updated the tent since I took these pictures, by punching eyelets into the fabric and adding ribbon to tie the ends of the fabric to the wooden supports - cute! 

The super-easy DIY tent instructions are found here on Cakies blog and there are also some rather cute play tents and teepee's for inspiration here on Etsy.

Avoca Handweavers, Ireland

When I was in Ireland recently I visited the historic Avoca hand weaving mill, situated in the beautiful rural village of Avoca, County Wexford.  Established in 1723 Avoca is the oldest working woollen mill in Ireland and apparently Ireland's oldest surviving business. 

The mill was originally set up as a co-operative where farmers could spin and weave their wool, before being turned into tweeds and blankets.   Initially the wool was collected from the local sheep of the surrounding hills and valleys and through a process of carding, spinning, dyeing and weaving it was transformed into clothing and blankets.

In 1760 a Fly Shuttle Loom, capable of weaving up to 20 metres of cloth a day arrived, and workers concerned about possible unemployment resorted to burning some looms.  

It was great to walk through the working mill and view the weaving process first hand.  Whilst some of it is now mechanised, there are still several original fly shuttle looms being operated.  The mill is surprisingly noisy with all the machinery - but I loved seeing the different processes involved with the weaving, and all the bright coloured wools and yarns being turned into exquisite fabrics.

Avoca has a gorgeous shop selling a range of their beautiful woven textile products - I treated myself to a lovely red woven jacket whilst I was there!  You can shop at Avoca online too.   

Home-made, recycled baby bunting

Some of the second-hand children's clothing bought from the Salvo's for the bunting

Pinning the paper triangle template onto the washed fabrics and cutting out the shapes.  A very interested Jolly cat comes to investigate the crafty activity   

All the fabric triangles pinned face-to-face ready for sewing.  Jolly cat 'helps' by pressing the triangle pieces so they are nice and flat!  

After sewing the sides together the fabric triangles are turned inside out - so the front of the fabric is now on the outside   

The fabric triangles are stitched to the tape mixing up the colours and patterns 

And here is the finished bunting suspended from each corner of the ceiling - very cute!  

I've also made a few toys recycled from gloves and socks below (the monkeys rather fabulous jumper is an old pair of my thermal leggins!!)  I used the book Sock and Glove - Creating Charming Soft Friends from Cast-off Socks and Gloves by the very clever Miyako Kanamori.  There is a link here with some images of people who've made much better toys than me!   

Well, things are getting ever closer here in preparation for the baby!  So, I've been busy making a few things for the baby's room.  I recently made some bunting recycled from second-hand children's clothes, some old pyjamas of mine, and some offcuts of fabric.  

It's been fun to make the bunting, and I love the mix of all the different coloured and patterned fabrics!  I've used different fabric on each side of the bunting, and as we don't know what 'flavour' baby we're having I wanted to make something suitable for a boy or girl - and using the children's clothing has been perfect to get some cute patterns and colours for either.

The bunting was really very easy to make, and just requires a sewing machine and some time.  You could use any old or second-hand fabrics for different looks - vintage fabrics and teatowels would be cute, or un-used clothing and bedding for example.

Here's what I did:

1. Firstly I washed all the second-hand clothing (and pressed any particularly wrinkly fabrics so they were nice and flat), and made myself a paper triangle template.  Because I decided to have different fabric on either side, I made sure my triangle was about 1cm larger than I wanted the finished pieces to be, to allow for stitching the pieces together.

2. Then, I pinned my paper triangle template onto the different fabrics and carefully cut out the triangle shapes.  I made sure I had lots of triangular pieces of fabric in different colours and patterns - including some plain colours.

3. When the triangular fabric shapes were cut I pressed them to make sure they were all nice and flat, and then started to pair them up, making sure there were different colours and patterns on each side.

4. I then pinned each pair of fabric triangles face-to-face (i.e. so the front of each piece of fabric faces each other) and using the sewing machine stitched along the two sides of the triangles only - leaving the top unstitched and open.  The stitched pieces are then turned inside out - so the front of the fabric is now on the outside.

5. When all the triangles have been stitched and turned inside out, press them again so they form nice flat and neat little triangles!

6. Organise the tape you want to hang the triangles from, I went for a natural coloured twill tape - but there are lots of different coloured and patterned tapes depending on the theme of your bunting.  I made sure the tape was quite wide (about 2cm) and thick enough to support the weight of all the fabric pieces.  Measure the length you need the tape to be depending on your room size (or wherever it's to be hung) and make sure you include extra to allow the bunting to drape. 

7. Then pin each triangle onto the tape, making sure you get a mix of different colours and patterns dispersed along the tape length.  To do this I placed the top (open) part of the triangle halfway up the width of the tape and then folded the tape over, this way you should have an even amount of tape on either side of the fabric triangle (about 1cm each side) and when pinned the triangle should be firmly attached to the tape.  I also left about 10cm of tape at each end free of triangles to allow for hanging.

8. All you need to do now is to stitch the tape to the triangles using the sewing machine.  Et Voila!  Your own bunting is completed!           

Delilah Devine

I thought I'd profile a friend of mine who is a very talented illustrator, designer and most recently creator of her own product range under the title 'Delilah Devine'

I met Linda a few years ago when we worked together, before she ran away to Italy with a rather nice Italian man (ahhh - isn't this everyone's dream!) She is now back in Australia, married (to the Italian man) and has set up her own business hand-making gorgeous brooches and framed children's pictures. On top of this she is also a new mum - phew!

She crafts these delightful wares using found vintage wallpapers, so each one is a little bit different to the other - and exceptionally cute!

I bought the Kookaburra brooch - I loved him because he was green :-)

Delilah Devine has a website, etsy store and a blog

Linda you are an inspiration - love your work x