by Jennifer Gilmour Stitch Me Lane
The world of fabric is full of vibrant cloth, made of everything from cotton to plastic and countless blends in between. Britain is booming with the latest fashions from the fabric industry, and sewing courses are popping up across the country to teach you how to use them.
As a lover and seller of fabric (and an avid sewer), I know how important it is to choose the right type of fabric for your project. In this blog post, I will be looking at quilting or craft weight fabric and some of the products on the market – such as liners, stabilizers and waddings – that can add body and stability to your fabric. These can add a professional finish to what you are making or selling.

All About Lamps

I'd like to share some lovely pictures of the lamp shades made by Cherryblampshades and by Tessa Shearer....

The first one is made with Riley Blake Navy Chevron by Cherryblampshades.  It looks lovely.  Thank you for sharing it....

You can find this and many other handmade shades in  her etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/114407597/30cm-handmade-navy-and-white-chevron

The next one was made by Tessa Shearer from one of the Blue themed scrap bags.  This one is for her little boy. Very cute!

 

Thank you for sending them in!

Easy Peasy Halloween Decorations

Halloween is just around the corner so we've busting out some easy Halloween decorations.  These projects are simple and can be done with children.

This one is my favorite.  It is bat garland (not quite finished).  The bats have been stitched together with needle and thread with a black button added for decoration.  The eyes have been made with embroidery floss/thread but you could easily use beads, buttons or anything else you fancy.  All you need is a bat template and black plether (fake leather).  I googled "bat template" and was spoilt for choice.  I found that felt was too floppy on it's own. 

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These pumpkins are made out of construction paper.  The 3-D pumpkin is made with 8 one inch strips of paper, two orange circles, a green strip of paper and a hand drawn leaf.  To make it, glue the 8 strips to one circle like a bicycle spoke.  Bring the strips upwards and glue them to the other circle and decorate with the green strip and leave.

 

The flat one, which I plan to add some leaves to, is made of one inch strips as well.  The centre one is 6 inches long, then two 7 inch strips, two 8 inch strips and then two 9 inch strips on the outside.  Just line them up and staple. 

 

 



 

Tessa, owner of House of Wonderland, sent me this lovely picture of some customer phone covers with one of my fabrics.  Its the one on the left, Timeless Treasures Compter Key Board fabric.  It looks lovely.  Be sure to visit her website. She has lots of yummy hand made items. http://www.house-of-wonderland.com/#!home/mainPage

Riley Blake Advent Calendar

The fabric elves at Stitch Me Lane have been working behind the scenes to get ready for the "big event" heading our way in December.  We've been stocking up on Christmas prints including this lovely advent calendar panel from Riley Blake.  Here is a picture of it all made up. 

Glampervan

I came across this adorable pattern on the Riley Blake Blog. It's a fantastic Camper Van Pincushion.  If you'd like to make one here is a link to the instructions http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Crimea_river

I've got loads of posts to catch up on.  It's been a busy summer, with several community projects coming to an end, a trip home to see the family and new fabrics regularly arriving.  I've not had a chance to do much blogging. 

Tonight's is a little photo show from the library knitting project at Hulme Library, Manchester.  It was part of a larger project to set up knitting groups in several of the Manchester Libraries with each one culminating with a yarn bombing project.  I worked with just the Hulme group and we decided on a creepy crawl/flower themed project.  We (me and Caroline who ran the day time group) were amazed by the amount of work that was turned in.  Most the participants were total beginners.  WELL DONE! 

It was part of the "Hume is Where the Art Is" Festival.  There were loads of performers, food and craft stalls. 

There was a little surprise... I found baggies of drugs under one of the trees. It was very exciting. I had to find the po po and turn it in. Back to the knitting......

This crochet was done by a total beginner.  I'm so impressed.

And some more......

Amazing bird house.......

Sweet little butterflies......

There was a story teller amoungst us.... and you can see our knitting gazebo in the background.

All in all, it was fantastic project and I feel sad it has ended.  Thank you to everyone who took part.