Sequin Letters

I've been sorting through my craft supplies before I move house and have found one thing I have a lot of is sequins. And one thing I enjoy doing is sewing sequins on to felt, it's really relaxing.

So I came up with a little monogram hanger project to make use of a few sequins.

 

I printed out some capital letters in a font I liked and cut them out to use as templates. I used these to cut out two pieces of pink felt.

Then I put on some shows and got to sewing. I put them on pretty randomly, only making sure that no identical sequins were right next to each other.

Once all the sequins were sewn on I stitched the two pieces of felt together, adding a piece of ribbon at the top and filling it with polyester stuffing.

I tried a different style for the 'N'. I cut a white piece of felt using a paper template and attached a string of sequins following the shape of the letter. I did this by gluing them in place first and then sewing on every other sequin on the string. For the back piece of felt I choose purple to match the sequins and found a piece of ribbon in the same colour to use.

 I liked the process of making the 'A' but I think I prefer the style of the 'N'. What do you think?

Handmade Christmas Cards

Over the years I've aquired quite a lot of decorative bits; papers, ribbons, things pulled off old Christmas cards etc. So I thought I would use a few of them and make a few last minute Christmas cards.

The main part of this card, the bauble in the middle, was taken off of an old Christmas card, bow included. I then found paper and card that matched the colours to make the squares behind it. I put a scrap piece of gold ribbon behind and added the Happy Christmas, which I have on a sticker sheet.

I've got a whole pack of blank red folded cards which are perfect for Christmas cards. I added some poinsetta scrapbook paper to the lower half and some gold ribbon with a bow to the middle. The plastic gold angel, which I've placed on a paper circle, is another item I got off an old Christmas card.

 This card took the longest but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. First I had so pick out all the red sequins from various packs, arrange them in a tree shape and then stick them all down. I was watching CMAs Country Christmas at the same time which made the task less monotonous.

Do you like making Christmas cards? Are you someone who saves bits from old cards for later use?

Felt Magic Wand

This project is awesome because 1) It used things I already had, 2) It was pretty quick to do, and 3) I ended up with a wand, duh!

Lately I've been searching through Pinterest based on materials, as I have a lot of stuff and need to start using it! When searching 'felt' I came across this tutorial from Mayi from Heartmade Blog. It looked like a fun project and I figured I could just sell the wand at my next craft stall...or keep it for myself because every 24 year old needs a wand, right?

I also quite enjoy projects that involve sewing a lot of sequins on to things. Remember this?

It's very simple: cut two star shapes from felt, sew sequins on to them, sew them together most of the way, fill with stuffing, insert stick, sew closed.

For the stick I chose to use an old paint brush which is unusable because I'm not very good at cleaning my brushes.

I painted the stick with one coat of plain white then a second coat of white metallic poster paint mixed with a little pink. I sprayed the stick with glossy varnish and then wrapped ribbon around the top, using UHU glue to stick it in place.

Once the wand is finished prance around your house pointing at things with it, saying, 'ting!'

That last part is optional but encouraged.

Pin it!

Bleach and Bling

Everyone loves a shirt sprayed with bleach at the moment, right?

Well I saw and idea on Manzanita to put some lace over the shirt and spray bleach over that so you get the pattern of the lace.

Well, I tried it but by spray bottle got a bit drippy so the lace pattern was ruined by bleach blobs.

Fail!

You can still see a bit of the pattern on the edges.

So I decided to spray more bleach on the shirt to add to the blobs.

And then for something extra I sewed copper coloured sequins on some of the bleach dots for a subtle bit of bling.

1 photo 3 ways

I took this photo when I was on holiday in France in 2007, and lately I've been using the image to be creative.

I did a small watercolour painting with pencil over the top.

I covered the original photo with sequins, which was inspired by Color Me Katie.

And then here's the failed screen print where I used the image in my Print and New Media taster during my first year at uni. In my defence it was my first time screenprinting and we had to use four different technique in the one image.

My tutor and I decided I didn't get on with screen printing because working with block colours just ain't my thing.

New hairband: Sequins

I was still in a sequin mood after making my jumper's shoulders sparkly so I made a hairband out of sequins.

I used the big circle sequins that don't really get used for much and sewed them to a circle of felt.

It kind of reminds me of one of those shiny pinwheels you get at the seaside.

It turns out I was in a sequin mood about this time last year too. Take a look. 

School Jumper to Sequin shoulders

Sequined shoulders seem to be the current thing so here's the run down of how I produced the look myself.

The jumper I used was my old P.E. sweatshirt from school. It has an ugly neck and the school logo on it. They had to go. 

I cut off the elasticated neck for a more flattering look and unpicked the logo, which made a few holes but they're barely noticeable.

Then I made a pattern (from my essay notes...) for the area I wanted to fill with sequins. I made mine straight along the seams at the top of the arm and then curved around the shoulder.

First I sewed on little black sequins around the edge of the paper pattern and then filled in the space with large silver sequins. This pack came from Poundland and is great as you get many different shapes and sizes, not just a whole bunch of similar circles. 

I then sewed on smaller sequins to fill in the gaps. This takes a while. I suggest putting on some good tv and getting comfy. I went through several episodes of CSI, House and Firefly.

For an added extra I sewed on some chain on the front side of the sequins.

This jumper is now definitely too cool for school. Agreed?

Sequins

At the moment I'm really into sequins. Who can't resist something shiny?

No one it seems.

Siwy Skinny Sequin Jeans from ASOS

Pewter Sequin Jacket from Dorothy Perkins

Paprika Sequin Tube Dress from New Look

So following the craze I've been sewing sequins onto felt to produce these sparkly hairbands.

Pretty, right?