Honey, I shrunk the handbag!

I knitted this handbag using Sirdar Eco-wool. Didn't bother with a pattern, just used a circular needle - 78 stitches, round and round until it was long enough, then cast off leaving 2 blocks of 9 stitches which became the handle. A little bit of wool left over so knitted a square to make into a pocket.

The plan was to put the finished item through a hot wash to shrink it into a felted bag.

And it came out rather smaller than I expected!

So now I have a cute, dinky bag, lined with cotton...

... just the right size for a lipgloss, some keys and a five pound note!

Definitely no space for raisins, colouring pens, cartons of juice, moshi monsters or wet wipes!

Handmade Thursday; a little handbag

This is a little prototype bag I made for my daughter.

It is cotton on the outside and green felt on the inside; you can't really tell in the photo but that is a Hello Kitty button.

I made it last night, presented it to Poppy this morning expecting it to be cast aside. She is not overly fond of girls's stuff but the desire to carry things around her neck seems to override the pink, flowery aspect.

Anyway, she agreed to have a photograph...

...although she also insisted on choosing her own accessories!

Linking up with Handmade Thursdays at White Lily Green.

Age on a badge on a card

Just a quick post to show you my new card idea - the motif is a felt backed brooch for the birthday girl to wear on her special day.

Now off to find some fabric to make one for a birthday boy.

I call this Bunny Bunting!

More bunny rabbits!

I know it's not time yet to think about Easter, but these are so cute I had to show you.

Five little bunnies, made from scrap pieces of fabric, slightly padded then backed with felt.

The faces are hand embroidered.

I think they'll look great at Easter, and would also make a lovely decoration for a little girl's room.

I thought I saw a bunny rabbit...

This is a little bunny rabbit I've designed with Easter in mind.

He has a floral cotton front, hand embroidered face, felt bow tie and a felt back, slightly padded out with polyester wadding.

I decided to embroider the name of a friend's new baby onto the tummy and attach it to a card; I think it makes a rather cute little memento.

More machine stitching on card!

For a new baby; the letters are made from felt, and the gingham fabric is upcycled from a school dress.

Car on canvas

I am experimenting with this sewn art on canvas idea, so I made this for a little boy called Oscar. His daddy likes ferraris so this is supposed to be a ferrari-esque sports car.

I used felt for the car - mainly because I didn't have any other suitable red fabrics to hand. I'm not sure that I am completely happy with how it has turned out. It is only small - a 7 x 5 inch canvas and I think that made it more difficult - less space for layers and embellishment.

I've sent it to the recipient anyway, so we will see what sort of reception my little artwork gets!

Mama made Monday - felt food

I've said before I'm not the sewing sort, but last summer I had a bit of a fad on making things with felt.

The cake was made using a kit my husband bought for me, but the sandwich was created entirely from my imagination!

Of course there were grand plans to make enough stuff for a pretend picnic - but that plan has yet to come to fruition! Poppy does like playing with the cake though, so more cakes might get made soon.

Felt Bag

You won't find much sewing on this blog. It's not my forte, and I don't own a sewing machine.

But I decided I wanted to make something for my daughter Poppy's birthday - she's two on Friday. This is my attempt at applique.

The flowery fabric is cut from the back of one of her old blouses (the front was all stained!) and the felt and buttons came from the vast collection of stuff I can't help but collect. So apart from 80p for half a metre of iron on interfacing this little bag has cost nothing except an hour or so of my time.

I think I am going to put a few little trinkets in it for Friday - hair clips and beads, girl stuff.