Tag: pattern

star folk sewing pattern

The star folk pattern is here!  Six pink cheeked little stars ( including grumpy and shooting) and a sleepy moon to sew. They are lovely as ornaments or a garland and make a devastatingly sweet mobile. Devastating.  It’s an easy pattern – nothing complicated and there are tons of photos to illustrate the steps if you are a beginner  and a resource list.

star folk sewing pattern

If you don’t see the mobile video below click here to check it out.  I love the way the different expressions and the movement work together.

 

star ornament

shooting star ornament

starfolk sewing pattern

I hope you make stars!

hand stitched mushrooms : sewing pattern

mushroom pattern

Everything you need to know to make fabric mushrooms is in this sewing pattern.  Two sizes are included plus it scales easily up and down – so you can make a variety of fungi.  Beyond making fabulous toadstools I hope you take away some new ideas about shape building in textiles. (photo by Chistine Chitnis)

little mushroom pattern

little mushroom sewing pattern

toadstool sewing pattern

mushrooms made from fabric

If you make mushrooms I’d love to see – I’m @annwood on instagram if you’d like to tag or you can use #annwoodpattern. Or email to:  ann at ann wood handmade dot com.

ann wood mushroom pattern

the somewhat weekly newsletter

Do you get my free weekly-ish newsletter? There are tips and tricks, ideas, stuff to try, all the latest news and blogposts and extra stuff, just for subscribers, delivered mostly on Friday. Pretty much.


do – overs – the agony and the ecstasy

mushroom pattern shoot

I got about 85% done with my mushroom pattern and decided to scrap all the photos and start over. The text for the steps is all good but I didn’t like the photos. I struggled with them throughout the process, re-shot one section to try to make myself feel better about them, re-edited, applied some photo shop magic but it was all for not – they weren’t what I wanted and they were not frankly – good enough. It’s so painful to come to that place and make that decision this far into a project. Or rather- it’s painful UNTIL I make that decision.  I agonized over it for a couple days – wondering if I was being too critical or using perfectionism to procrastinate because I got cold feet –  sometimes at the end I get nervous and look for flaws so I can delay – this is not that. They just weren’t good enough.

mushroom pattern shoot
So I decided, started over and felt better right away. The extra work is far less painful than publishing something I don’t feel good about.  I put together a new step shooting set up before beginning that made everything easier. It’s not fancy but it works well and I got through half the photography today.

mushroom pattern photos

mushroom pattern photos
I’m much happier with the new photos – they are simpler, clearer, more consistent and prettier than the others (gorgeous fabrics courtesy of Sri Threads). I’ll sail through the rest of the photography tomorrow morning and drop them into the document over the weekend.

And in other news –  a little more progress on my Fortuny creatures:  a recently finished owl – in Fortuny Simboli (cinnamon and copper).

fortuny owl in simboli

fortuny simboli owl

tiny tophat

How to make a tiny tophat (in excruciating detail).

What you will need: top hat pattern (click to download pdf), black poster board, scissors, manicure scissors ( for trimming the little curved bits),  elmer’s glue, floral tape, large paper clips, a light color pencil, a dowel or something for  curling the poster board  and black glitter.

tophatmaterials

Trace the 3 pattern pieces onto the black poster board and cut them out. I use a large paintbrush handle to curl all the pieces a little as shown below. I feel this step is key to your success as a tiny tophat maker. Next, overlap the edges of the cylinder about a 1/4″, glue, and clamp with a paperclip.

tophat1      tophat2     tophat3

When the cylinder is dry trim off any extra bits you might have so the bottom and top edges are pretty smooth, apply glue liberally to the top and bottom edges and place the brim and top.  I use floral tape to hold it all together while it dries.

tophat4       tophat5      tophat6

When the glue has dried trim off any excess on the top and brim and shape and smooth the brim with your fingers. Use the exacto knife to poke a hole in the bottom and then insert the little scissors to cut the opening.

tophat7      tophat8      tophat9

Paint it quickly and completely with elmer’s glue, give it a roll or shake in the glitter, leave it to dry and brush off the excess glitter with a stiff paint brush or old toothbrush. Finished!

tophatthumb

Hello tiny tophat!