The Wizard of oz- Storylines and Icons

For my second project at uni I has to work within the theme of 'Storylines and Icons' I chose to look at 'The Wizard of Oz' for inspiration! I thought blue gingham...ruby slippers...and munchkins, this can't be a bad combination! Right?

It was quite a while ago that I last watched The Wizard of Oz and you wouldn't think that aged 18 I would still find the wicked witch of the west terrifying...but I did!!

I have been working on a lot of knitted samples for this project as this is what I think I will be specializing in.

Here are a few of my favourites...

Colour palette

I will be creating a collar piece (this week if I manage my time well...) from some of the knitted samples I have created. I will post the final photos when it's complete!!

Stag head embroidery

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to attempt a freehand machine embroidered stag head to turn into a cushion. I have never tried such a detailed embroidery on this big a scale before and it took me 2 hours of machining!! My eyes were so sore from the concentration!

 

Having finished it, I'm not happy with the shape and overall look. I decided to put it on here anyway because it allways makes me feel better when I see other people make mistakes too!

 

To give you a sense of scale the fabric is 40x40cm.

Whether or not it will ever make it as a cushion or just be forever a 'sample' I'm not sure!

 

University

I must start my post by apologising for my lack of posting recently (I feel like I do this way too often!) but the last couple of months have been crazy! I started university in September at Winchester school of art studying fashion and textiles so will be posting more about what I get up to in the future.

 

So far we haven't done much practical work- just settling in. We have been given the project 'opposites attract' in which we have to produce a jersey/knitted outcome along with other samples. I have decided to look at: natural forms v man made and liquid v solid. My friend and I took a trip to the local Winnal Moors for some inspiraration and images. He is also a blogger so you can visit his blog here: http://f-t-d.blogspot.co.uk

 

I was focusing on the man-made v nature theme but also took some photos of water with the liquid theme in mind. Here are a few of my favourites:

 



I thought spiders webs might be interesting to look at for natural forms and could potentially inspire some knitwear.

 

 I think barbed wire contrasts well against the nature reserve.

 Okay, the following image has no relevance really but I thought it was sweet.

 

That's it for now, but I have been desperate to do some sewing (on my new machine which I have only had time to use once!!) and my next project in mind is a cushion cover or wall hanging with a freehand machine embroidery of a stag, like this one, only much bigger!

 

So watch this space...

 

Thanks for reading

Millie

x

All that's craft, gift, vinatge and collecters market

Today I had a stand at 'All that's craft, gift, vinatge and collecters market' http://allthatsvintagecraftandgift.vpweb.co.uk/Events.html in Felpham village. They hold other fairs so check out there website for more details.

My stand

 Some strange boy (My 9 year old brother) came to visit my stand to 'help' apparantly!

 

 My very (very!) last minute attempt at business cards!

 And I just couldn't resist a couple of purchases myself!

Like these swallow hair grips...

...and a cloche type hat! (Sorry I really am not very good at self photographs!!) 

 Stupidly I forgot to take down the name of this stand where there were lots of lovely vintage hats and hair accessories but I will post as soon as I find out!

 

 

New Doc. Martens collaboration

Some of you may have seen my post about the Doc. Martens collaboration with liberty (Still top of my wish list at the moment) but today they released a collection with agness deyn!

http://store.drmartens.co.uk/c-274-agyness-deyn.aspx?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=aw%2B12%2Baggy%2Basus

The collection is classic DM's with an edgy twist. Here are a few of my favourite pieces.

 

I think the brown leather heart bag is my faviourite piece from the whole collection!!

Doc. Martens need to stop doing amazing collaborative collections, it's just not fair!

Recent vintage finds

This year Charity shops and car boot sales have been good to me, here are a few of my second hand and vintage finds from the past few months.

 Leather strapped wooden shoes-originally Gap- I bought for £4

 Cantilevered box- I paid £3!! I now use this as my sewing box.

 

Vintage tin- I bought for 5op

 Leather elbow pads- 50p

 Another tin I bought for 50p!..

 

Another tin just 50p

 Vintage tea tin- price unknown

Scandinavian style tin-price unknown

And last but most certainly not least a vintage typewriter which I bought for £1..I was really lucky to find this at such an amazing price but I have seen others around for about £10 (which I still think is a reaonable price!)

 

Some people think I have good luck in charity shops but what they don't realise is that I just go in them too frequently! I often donate my own unwanted goods to charity shops and hope that someone will get as much joy out of them as I do from these.

 

Thanks for reading

 

M

x

 

Facebook page

I have just set up a page on facebook for Millie's curiosities, please like for information and updates on my work and craft fairs I will be attending. Details of an event coming up on bank holiday Monday can also be found in 'events'.

 

Millie x

Fabric covered folder

In about a months time I will be going to university to study Fashion and Textiles design and in preperation I bought a lever arch file to keep patterns etc. in and decided to cover it in fabric to make it a little more exciting, and I chose a fabric with tape measures on as I thought that would be appropriate!

 

It was soo easy to do and took me back to the days in primary school and secondary school when I would cover my workbooks with old wrapping paper.

 Full of stuff allready...think I might have to make a few more :p

I started by covering portion by portion of the folder with a fabric glue (details of which I will put at the end of post), double sided tape also does the job but not to the same standard. I then covered the whole thing with fabric and turned the edges to the inside and stuck card on the inside covers to hide the messy bits!

 

Fabric from The Eternal Maker- http://www.eternalmaker.com/yellow-tape-measure-made-with-love-moda-fabric

 

Glue also from The Eternal Maker- http://www.eternalmaker.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=glue

Liberty purse

I recently became the owner of some georgous liberty fabrics and was desperate to make them into something right away! I decided on a coin purse as it is a quick and easy project and I had a purse clasp I have been meaning to use! I am really pleased with it and it looks like a proper grown up purse too!

 I wasn't sure how the fabric was going to behave as it is a lawn which I haven't had much prior experience with, but I think it worked perfectly for this style of purse!

It was my first experience using a purse frame and I found it suprisingly easy to make the pattern (something I was previously worried about) as long as the top part of the pattern matches the purse frame you can have any shape purse you desire. I started with quite a basic purse shape and added extra into it so that I could gather it.

 

Outer fabric-Liberty from Fabrics galore http://www.fabricsgalore.co.uk/

Lining fabric- Liberty from Alice Caroline http://www.etsy.com/shop/Alicecarolinesupply?ref=shop_name_search_sugg

Purse clasp- Etrnal Maker http://www.eternalmaker.com/purse-frames-2-25-6cm

 

 

I would definately recommend this as a project!

Thanks for reading,

Millie x

It has been a while, blogger...

Just a quick post to explain that due to technical difficulties (problematic computers and laptops!) I have not been able to post for a little while so apologies for that! But on the other hand with no computers holding me back I have had (a little) time to get on with some stitching so will post shortly about them!

Millie

x

Stenciling D.I.Y

Stenciling is a really easy way to change a garment or accessory, by simply spray painting through a stencil.

For my stenciling I created triangles with masking tape and covered the rest of the dress with more masking tape and plastic bags to protect it, then using fabric spray paint I covered the triangle areas (making sure not to spray too close as it blurs the edges). Once the paint is dry I applied another coat and once that coat was dry I peeled off the tape (very fun!!) to reveal the design. 

Testers...

Ooh! Just noticed it is my bloggiversary annibloggery? well either way I started blogging a year ago! So in the spirit of this occasion (if I can really call it an occasion?) I want to start some different posts, this is where you come in useful and tell me what you would like me to post. More fashion/ textiles/ craft/ tutorials/ DIY/ photography? Or something different? I am at your command so please leave a comment or email milliebutler-hiorns@hotmail.co.uk   

Any ideas would be much appreciated.