Giveaway - Bella Boutique Blog is 1!

Hi All,  sorry it's taken a couple of weeks to sort this giveaway out, my little one was poorly just after I announced it and so that caused a little delay but we are ready to go now so here's a look at the things you could be winning.

I really wanted this to be a giveaway which acknowledged others that I have met on my crafty journey, a giveaway that kept giving if you like, as I have bought items that will help to contribute their crafty success.

The first item is from the fabulously talented Caroline Lovis - Caroline has a blog over at Redneedle Sewing and helped me out with some sewing machine tutorials on the FME and Zipper machine feet.  I have selected for the giveaway a beautiful hanging heart from Caroline's collection with the word family on it. 

Next up is a beautiful needle case from the home of Pickle-Lily, it's made from the softest felt and has a super cute bird appliqued on it.  I have had wonderful support from Jo throughout my blogging days and I think if I recall Jo bought the very first item from my etsy shop.

 

Next gift in the giveaway is a stunning ring from the world of Chic-yCow - I met these ladies at a craft fair some time ago and am a massive fan.  Their products are such a high quality and massively original.  I had a beautiful bespoke handbag and purse made for Christmas, (in purple with butterflies -my favourite) and it easily stands out above anything else in my bag colletion (even the Mulberry and Louella ones) as totally unique.

 

Next up a little gift from one of my favourite suppliers - Crafty Ribbons - 1m of this beautiful butterfly ribbon, it's so delicate it's almost as fine as butterfly wings.  Crafty Ribbons have an amazing selection of ribbons and lots of buttons too plus a wonderfully inspiring blog.

I also wanted to give something from somewhere that's been really important during my sewing journey -  Word of Mouth Crafts and Supplies, where I have my sewing classes.  It's a great place full of inspiring products and fun classes. I have even been given the opportunity to run my own sewing machine feet class and have been assisting my super talented teacher Helen recently too.  This fabric catches my eye every time I visit, so I thought it would be good to include a FQ with the giveaway.   

I have met some lovely friends through the sewing classes and one has the prestigious title of Editor at Popular Patchwork, so to support her magazine, I'm also going to include the March issue.  The picture below has a preview of some the projects that are going to be included in that issue and the magazine is filled with useful articles and free patterns too.

 

Then finally I wanted to just include a couple of things that I liked - some wondeful mostly purple butterfly stickers and also some little nibbles for eating whilst you craft!  I particularly love the Mikado biscuits with their little biscuit part at the bottom, so you can eat whilst you sew and not risk getting chocolate on the fabric (yes I am officially crazy hey)! 
 

The giveaway is open from 1st to 31st March - so how do you enter I hear you ask?

I'm using Rafflecopter for the first time so you have the opportunity to get up to 6 entries by following the prompts in the rafflecopter box below (if you can't see it click on 'read more'- fingers crossed it all works ok or I could be counting lots of entries on 31st March!

Coming Soon - 1st Birthday Giveaway

As February has arrived, so too has my first anniversary of blogging.  A whole year full of crafty ramblings, about 70 posts and plenty of information about machine feet.

I thought it may be time to celebrate with another giveaway and am going to be sharing lots of lovely goodies with one winner.  I have in mind some butterfly themed gifts, some paper (in line with the whole 1st Wedding Anniversary suggestions) and some chocolate goodies plus I'm sure some fabric/habadashery notions too.  I'm planning on buying some items for my giveaway from fellow crafters that I have met along the way over the past year so it's like the giveaway that keeps on giving!

Photos coming soon, just waiting to recieve the items I've ordered then we'll be off and running.  Keep popping back for details but I hope to launch the giveaway in the next week.

Happy Sewing

Keri

Bella's Birthday Craft Extravaganza

There's nothing quite like seeing the sheer joy on your little one's face and knowing that in some part you have done something to create that joy.   Here is Bella enjoying her 3rd Birthday Present - lovingly handmade.

Another year has passed and my little girl is now 3!  Where did time go, it passes far too quickly.  Three years ago we were waiting for our little precious arrival and now I have a chatty little toddler who know's what she likes and wants and is more than happy to tell us.  She has a great personality and is such a busy little bee from morning til bedtime.  We have had a wonderful weekend of celebrations with family and her little friends.

This year's Birthday project was a little less ambitious than last years crazy Birthday make, but again one that hubby and I could both contribute to - a little shop all of her very own.

Typically, the initial design that Hubby drew ended up with a small amount of scope creep, with ideas of storage for all of those books, jigsaws and musical instruments we have.  Once size and scope was agreed, Hubby yet again surpassed himself and created a shop that anyone would be proud of.  Her shop is complete with slanted shelves to display her products and blackboard signs for prices and her little Bella Boutique sign.

Add in a crazy week of making felt food (we realised we had very little to stock the shop with) and there you have it, 1 happy shopkeeper, priceless!

 

 

Happy Birthday Bella!

New Year, New Organised Start

Those who know me well would probably use the word 'organised' as one of the three to describe me but to look at how my sewing room had 'developed' I'm not sure that word applied in my creative life! 
I had seen various posts where people had been busy organising all their fabric and so in the back of my mind (filled with envy at what couple be) I planned to have a go at a tidy up once the crazy Christmas crafting had ended. 

So here's our starting point!  2 storage units doing their best to contain my ever increasing stash.  Kind of tidy but what you can't see is that each little box (which was at least sorted by fabric colour) is bursting at the seams with fabric stuffed in.  No hope of really knowing what's in the boxes, plus a whole tonne of stuff down the side!  All of my lovely ribbons were exploding out of their little shoebox!

 

So I tackled the ribbons first, wrapping them round some lolly sticks then storing them in tall glass jars.  I can now see each colour much more clearly and it's not a big tangled mess of ribbon all in knots!

I had some time ago seen a fab tutorial on mini fabric bolts and felt this was the way to go for the fabrics.  With the help of some comic backing boards bought from local comic store (Legacy Comics) in the lovely Piece Hall in Halifax, I've made some wonderful fabric mini bolts which I love.  I couldn't believe how many different fabrics I have amassed - loving my Aneela Hoey stash!

 

A little more organisation of buttons, fastenings and boxes for tools like the Big Shot and my KAM snap pliers and all was complete, bliss!

I think reading other posts from fellow bloggers the New Year has been a good start for people sorting out their crafty spaces.  Feel free to comment if you have any great tips or ideas you would like to share.

Happy Sewing

Keri

Satin Stitch Foot

This is a really quick one because there's not much I can say about the satin stitch foot.  It's a clear see through foot which helps when sewing applique because you can see where you are sewing.  It also has a bevelled bottom so that when you are sewing satin stitches it allows the bulky stitching to pass under the foot easily.

Hopefully this picture helps you get the picture, so to speak!

Coming up next the walking foot tutorial, maybe even a vid with that one I think as you really need to see it in action a bit like my earlier post about the ruffler foot!

Happy Sewing

Keri

Pintucks / Blind Hem Foot

So this is a little dinky post to show you one way to use your blind hem foot.  Not the proper way, but a novel different way that I just found out about before Christmas.  It's a monkey to explain how to fold the fabric to use your blind hem foot to make, well, a blind hem, so whilst I think about how to do that for you here's a little secret...............................you can use it to make perfect pintucks!

The picture above tries to illustrate what you can do.  It's a hard one because they are such teeny tiny delicate little pintucks they are almost invisible.  I have shown the 2 pintucks, next to a line of straight sewing in the hope that this would help to distinguish them.  I think in reality the only way to really see is to sew some. 

So here's how it works.  The blind hem foot has a little black guide in the centre and a little hole that the needle goes into, which is millimetres away from the edge of the guide allowing you to sew a perfectly straight miniature channel!  I found it best to mark your fabric where you want the pintucks to be, fold your fabric on that line, place it under the foot against the guide and then off you go, creating your perfect litttle pintuck.

Happy Sewing

Keri

1/4" Inch Seam Foot

Wow that sounds exciting doesn't it! Not!  1/4 inch seams! The reality is though that this is one of the feet that I use the most.

This foot is brilliant because what it does is leave you with a perfectly even 1/4" inch seam/hem.  I love to use it when hemming garments and it does leave a much more professional look to all items if you have a perfectly straight line!  Brilliant for topstitching on items too. 

The foot had a black metal guide on it's right hand side and you simply place the edge of your fabric against this edge and sew!  Simple as but oh so effective!

Happy Sewing

Keri