Thursday 23 February 2012

handmade by mae: cushions 2



After what has been a very, very difficult and dark few months, recently I've been almost bubbling over with creativity and enthusiasm. My book is in use constantly - it always is when clouds gather, but this time the clouds have gone but it has not. I'm scribbling ideas and inspiration in it near constantly. This makes me very happy - it has been too long. Years of 'art in academia' and in competition with my friends to the point where I feel like I stopped creating, or wanting to create anything, entirely. I never thought it would come back, and in a way it hasn't, not completely anyway. I'm not sketching, drawing and painting in what I suppose the 'proper' arty style, but I am crafting and being graphic-y, haha. If I had a scanner I would show you some, but alas!


The large Union Jack-style cushion isn't actually mine, it was a Christmas present from Pip, but I wanted to show it on here anyway 'cause it's amazing! The fabrics are beautiful, very high-quality, I wish the fabrics I owned and used were like that! They're printed on linen, so are very durable, and come from a melody of places - the base fabric (the green with pink & raspberry paisley) is Vanessa Arbuthnott and the vertical and horizontal stripe is Laura Ashley. I'm not entirely sure where the green gingham is from, but the Raspberry gingham is one of Pip's favourite fabrics, ever, that she recycles over and over. Originally they were curtains, but now she uses them in her crafts, but it's been discontinued so, being her favourite fabric, I feel very lucky that she has given some to me!


The front two cushions are ones I actually made in September 2010, between coming home from Canada and going to London. I made them in a bit of  rush really, because I was having to clear out 50% of my room for moving to uni and I had two cushion pads left over from my pre-Canada cushion splurge. (see this post) It took me SO. LONG. to decide on which fabrics, how thick, and what order on the long cushion. Ended up using the beautiful hot-pink Effiel tower fabric left over from the toeb cushion, duck egg blue polka dot fabric left over from the heart union jack cushion & two Cath Kidston remnents. From the local haberdashery I also got cream sequined green ribbon thing, that I remind me of flowers, and some cut-out pink daisy chains, both of which had to be hand stitched on and took a lot of time! I love the print on the back of the cushion, unfortunately that fabric is very very thin though so wasn't ideal to be a main area of the cushion but I used it anyway! As for the second cushion, well that was a complete rush made out of just one piece of fabric, think I got it from Abakhans in Manchester.


So, I hear you say, where are the photos of my current work? Well I'm only just getting back into it, but I am bubbling over with ideas, and get quite frustrated because there are so many things I want to do but not enough pairs of hands! When the ideas come into my head I am very scared of them drifting away, but that results into me clutching onto too much, becoming stressed about which one to do first, and what if I start one I can't do the others?, so end up doing nothing at all!


There's so much I want to do! I want to blog more, tumblr more, I'm currently knitting a bag but have so many ideas in mind for socks, hats, snoods, scarfs, jumpers etc..., but it's such a slow process, which is what I love and hate about it at the same time! I want to bake everything out of the Hummingbird bakery cookbook! I have so many sewing ideas flying around my head that I have trouble concentrating on them long enough to draw and record them in my book before I'm off thinking of another and so on... So many bag ideas, I'm currently looking for somewhere online where I can buy leather/suede, because in the past I've used this hospital seat vinyl stuff which is ok and does the job, except on the reverse side it's white netting so IS A MASSIVE PAIN when it comes to trying to disguise it... I want the kind of leather they use in the front stall in the Manchester fashion markets, but I don't feel like I can ask them who their supplier is because they might think I want to rip them off! Currently looking at a seller on eBay who is selling good priced hides (I'll have to buy and actual hide, I can't believe it!) in some ok colours - not exactly what I want though! I've emailed him to ask for samples but not heard back yet... fingers crossed!


The frustrating this all my sewing stuff is still in Bury - my machine, my box and all my fabrics! In theory I could use Pip's machine and sewing box but I don't really want to, because I'm used to my own and what threads I have and where everything is in my box! Even if I did use her things that still doesn't solve the problem of having no fabrics! Although at the Ripon market last Thursday I did buy a couple of metres of some nice stuff - maybe I'll photograph them tomorrow!


I also bought two dresses from a charity shop in Ripon that need altering. I have done this so many times, where I've bought something that doesn't fit but with the intention of altering it but I never get round to it - I am determined not to do that with these! One is a size 24 (I know!) long sleeved dress made out of this beautifully thick brocade fabric, with large buttons down the middle, and the other is a deep red maxi skirt. Maybe I'll blog about those tomorrow too! 


So much to do, so little time!!!! I am rambling in this post but I don't really care because I'm only writing it for myself anyway... Arggg! My head is spinning, there's so much more I'd like to write about but I think I'll have to stop here before I'll combust!


Also I've just remembered what puts me off blogging - fucking photobucket! So goddamn slow and glitchy, it often crashes my computer! I have no idea what else to use though :Z Maybe Flickr?

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