A card box for the Bensons

Old friend Olly asked me to make a card box for his wedding. He gave me some pink and white material to use (which also topped the lovely little marmalade jar favours on the tables). I went for a postal theme with brown paper base and envelopes and cards hung from a ribbon with mini clothes pegs.

It's been a while since I've done much crafting so it was good to have a reason to get back into it.

Buntingtastic - summer wedding crafts & creations

Bunting laid out in preperation

Two of my oldest friends got married recently and asked me to help out with some of the decor. Along with the groom's wonderful aunt Annie, and the bride's sister Anna, we sewed over 200 metres of bunting, and bought and hemmed lots of colourful material as table runners.

Bunting is one of those things that can be as easy and quick, or time consuming, as you make it. We chose to use pinking shears (or zig zag scissors) to cut out the triangles - this way they won't easily fray, but we don't need to spend hours hemming each triangle. We then used binding tape, folded in half and machined together, with the triangles slipped in every 8 inches.

Triangles cut and ready

It's lucky we made a lot, as the marquee was pretty big...

Setting up..

I'm not sure if it is possible to overdose on bunting, but we came pretty close...

You can see the bicycle wheel chandeliers, in between the normal ones, in this picture too. They looked great with solar powered fairy lights entwined around them after dark. You can also - just - see the colourful table runners. Anna and I made some of these each -  I got the material for the ones I made from Z Butt on Brick Lane - another recommendation from DIY Couture.

I was looking for sweetpea colours - as these were the flowers of the wedding, grown by various family friends. These were then cut into long strips of different widths and lengths and hemmed down each side and to a point at the end. 

Some speedy hemming! We laid them over the white table cloths to add some colour. 

Setting up - centrepieces etc still to add

I'm also rather proud of this ginger, brandy and cream creation I made as our contribution to the desserts. I'm not a great cook, but the nasturtiums from mum's garden really made it look pretty - and they're edible too!

The wedding went fantastically. Here's the happy couple on their wedding rickshaw being ridden away from the church by the best man, under a shower of dried flower petals.

And another, from behind, with a just married sign made by the best mans girlfriend Helen.

And, after a wonderful day, I had to share the amazing gift the couple gave me as a thank you. Tiny sewing machine earrings - which I plan to wear with my 'scissors' necklace :) Thanks Tom and Jess - it was a pleasure!

Hand patchworking at Fabrications

Fabrications on Broadway Market is one of my new favourite places to learn all things sewing. Have a look at their calendar. They run all sorts of open days and sewing classes in Barley's newly created Imaginarium.

I recently went to a 'taste of patchworking' class there with Katherine May.- I'd been getting good at making patchwork on my machine, but I wanted to have a go at doing it by hand, using the old fashioned paper templates.

We used paper templates to handsew a simple square of patchwork, which we quilted to a lining with some wadding from The Cotton Patch (I have used some more of this since and it's really nice pure cotton wadding). There were a number of other people at the class too, and I really enjoyed the feeling of sitting around and occasionally chatting, each absorbed in our own projects but with Katherine there to help out if we got stuck. I didn't have time to fold the lining material over into a hem in the class, but I'll do it later.

I had this idea that I wanted to have a go making patchwork spheres (or 'peas') and I found a great set of instructions on the internet on how to make a patchwork ball. Armed with a bit more confidence from the class, I had a go that evening.

The day's work

Material and paper templates for another patchwork sphere.

I decided to use the first one for a pin cushion, and made another from felt.

My first patchwork pea

More Fabrications fun

Fabrications is an official supplier of Brother sewing machines, so they often run open days where people can come and test drive their machines - and ask questions to Brother representatives. Most recently was a bunting making day, which I popped along to for an hour after work. I experimented with a range of new stitches on their more modern Brother machines and Rachel from Brother showed to how to work my walking foot - and how useful it is when quilting.

Material ready for bunting.

Next week, I'm going along to a skirt making workshop there - I'll keep you posted ;)