Just another manic Monday

Oomph! Turns out I do still get a little kick from working to deadlines - I wanted to get this button hat finished in time for Handmade Monday! This was slightly experimental: the gold silk has lamé through it, which it turns out doesn't hold its shape quite as well as pure silk (I did suspect this but it's such a gorgeous fabric I thought it was worth the risk!) and the bow is made from creating tiny tubes of silk supported by strips of crin... If anyone has any hints / tips on how to turn a 1/2" tube through itself without resorting to brute force, swearing, and having a 'temper break'  to go and make another cup of tea, I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts!! Anyway, I think it's worth it: this little accident is now one of my firm favourites to date (isn't it always the way!)

Metallic button: Gold silk and lamé dupion mix button hat on canvas foundation with silk bow and arrow quill

 

I've also mounted the giant daisy onto its silk base, and (as promised on Twitter) here it is finished! Love love love this one; I think it might be a keeper... :)

Daisy daisy: White silk and organdie petals on canvas and yellow velvet centre with nude hackle centre blush, supported by white silk dupion tearblock base on canvas foundation)

 

Another experiment, this time with gathered velvet and the tricron block - I really like how it's turned out so cushion-like; I'm now considering central adornments - potentially a little glass slipper...?

You shall go the ball!: Blue silk velvet tricorn on canvas foundation (Work in progress)

Finally, I've made great headway with blocking a felt hat on the new skull shaped block. It's been really tricky as it's such a small block (there's really not much room for pinning the inner edges!) and I think I should have made the indentations more pronounced in the block itself. As a result, I've beaded the features in instead, and have been inspired by the Día de los Muertos models. This one will have flowers across the top of her head and around the back and sides in an explosion of colour... I'll keep postng re progress, I think this is likely to be a longer term project!

Skull: Black wool felt percher with pearl beading (Work in progress)

Handmade Monday
Just time for a quick perusal of Handmade Monday before tea. Thank you and sorry to all those that have commented on last week's post, I'll respond to you properly tomorrow (seems like five minutes since last Monday lol!) It's a good haul this week, with my favourites including PickleLily's valentine owl; Free Spirit Designs' spiders in love coaster; Tilly Mint Boutique's street map purse; Lottie of London's millefiori rose cane; Teddy Wares and Flutterby's gorgeous embossed throw squares; By Hook's amazing decoupaged table (I want this table!!); Melissa's ceramic heart bowl; Grace's Favours' adorable space themed booties; and KnitRun4Sanity's fab cylinder necklaces (really cool!) Phewf! Seems like we've all been busy this week! :) See you next Monday!