Rainy afternoon project

by | Filed under: Life In Devon

The day of the village fete was the last day of real summer weather we’ve had. Since then it’s been sunshine and showers – with rather too much emphasis on showers! Yesterday was a particularly dreary afternoon, so I needed a bright colourful project to cheer myself up.

A little while ago I was lucky enough to acquire a pile of vintage fabric scraps on ebay. I love the American 1930s feedsack fabrics, they work really well in my designs and I don’t hesitate to mix them with modern fabrics too as you’ll be able to see in the cushion above which is a real eclectic mixture including vintage mangle cloth, Japanese craft fabrics, feedsack fabrics, Cath Kidston and even ric-rac braid!! (PS It’s for sale on DevonBear Designs – Click here for details.

 
But I didn’t feel like sewing yesterday – I needed an instant fix of colour – and had just the project in mind … Ella! Ella is the mannequin I sometimes use to model bags and aprons when I take DevonBear Designs to Craft Shows. But I haven’t used her for a while now and she was beginning to look a bit sad and boring. She’s nothing special – just a modern mannequin and although I rather like her beech finial and stand, her body was simply polystyrene covered in a stretchy cream stockinette type fabric. She came from Ebay.

I love the vintage mannequins you sometimes see on ebay and other auction and antique sites, but sadly they’re out of my price range. The solution – to turn Ella into something more special – and what better way to spend a rainy afternoon? So, I found a can of spray adhesive – only the temporary kind – as I might want to reuse my fabric for another project ….


And I made Ella beautiful!!

She’s taken on a whole new lease of life livening up a previously uninspiring corner. And if I want to use my fabric for another project all I need do is peel and wash it!! Or could she change her “clothes” with the seasons? Who knows?
 
Thinking about seasons it’ll soon be time to start on my Christmas (yes really!) designs. I look forward to sharing them with you all soon. Till then, happy sewing!!

2 Comments

Joy

Beautiful cushion. I have been thinking about some quilty type stuff this summer and every project I see just fuels it more. Trouble is I cannot put the knitting away. So many projects, so little time. Ella looks great too BTW

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.