my creative space - hottie challenge

My creative space this week has been consumed with finishing  my hottie challenge cover.

This cover would be a great scrap buster project and was the perfect way to play with my red polka dot collection and some flower press offcuts. I've put together a little how-to of the lettered panel below which gives measurements for anyone who wants a hot-hot-hottie of their own. The letters are made simply with strips of patterned fabric all the same 1¼ inch width filled with linen strips which are cut in two widths, 1½ or 1¾ inches. Cut all your lengths first and then follow the cutting guide to quickly cut them down for the pieces.  Click on the image to see it larger.

I then made up each letter following the order below, sewed the letters together to make the word HOT, pressing seams towards the linen side.

I then sewed the three HOTs together. I like the roughness of my way but of course you could easily make it all more precise with some pins and more careful pressing and sewing, or perhaps sewing the strips vertically.

If anyone has questions about the construction of the rest just email me. Basically its a simple sandwich of front, lining and back opening pieces sewn right sides in. The back is two overlapping pieces with the top one innermost and edged with patterned binding. Sew around the side and bottom edges, leaving a space at the top for the hottie lid. Turn the cover right sides out through the back flaps and sew a simple binding around the lid opening.

I'll be putting up another linky list tomorrow for everyone who wants to share their brooch making. It will be up for a while so you can keep adding. We have a long weekend here this week and top of my list is making my brooch!

p.s. I'm sitting here on the couch with a croaky boy dressed in flannelette pyjamas snuggled up against me, smelling faintly of butter menthols and blackcurrant medicine :-)

More creatives here.

my creative space - hothothot

This design for the Hottie Challenge was one of those late night light bulbs, drawn on the back of an envelope and then whipped up the next day without pins or pressing. Luckily I was actually hoping for and ready to embrace the ensuing wonk! Serious quilters look away now. Its sort of inspired by Denise Schmidt's beautiful Proverbial Quilt which I love.
Its pretty much the right dimensions too, thanks to a quick layout in illustrator and actually remembering to add 1/4 inch seams all round (I surprised myself!).
Mr flowerpress is a fan and reckons I'm going to have to make another for home so its lucky I made notes along the way. We don't do hotties here so it will be modified to become a wheatbag cover.

Once I work out how to do the rest of the cover I might actually write up a simple pattern with measurements if anyone wants to try making their own, what do you think?

More creatives, and maybe even more hotties here.

boxed

Its taken a while to come together, but with the launch yesterday of the wonderful new Boxed website Flower Press wares are now available in the Middle East! As founder Sarah Saleh says here:

“Back in 2008, while I was working as a wedding planner at a renowned events company in Dubai, UAE, I was always on the hunt to find a one stop shop for modern and custom-made products. Unfortunately that wish never came true even in the glamorous city of Dubai,”

“When I moved to live in Bahrain, and being away from the ever busy city of Dubai, I had the time to come up with this exciting store concept and bring together many designers under one roof. And, as I kept going, I sensed the enthusiasm of the designers and the need for such a platform.

“‘Boxed’ now is on a mission to support independent designers from around the globe, and offers a hand to all artisans working in developing countries to help sustain their livelihoods and increase their earnings."

I'm proud to be sharing space with the amazing designers and pieces that lovely Sarah has curated on the site, including sculpture from Mitsy (Artmind) from Belgium and  Element Clay in the US, Joug Design lighting from NZ (above, on my wishlist since I saw their designs on Boxed), wool and leather ipad covers from Pack and Smooch in Germany and plushies from Leilaloo in France. A truly international site!

p.s. thanks for your support and comments yesterday. There's still time to sign the petition.