packaged up and ready to go

Quite a few of my makes are gifts and so I take appropriate care to make them look as pretty and nice as possible when they are handed over.

It has lead me to wonder about the packaging of my own makes that are purchased on line through folksy, wowthankyou or as word of mouth commissions that I get on email or by phone.  As an example of packaging,  Amazon do it simply but perfectly adequately for their books, Jo Malone’s on the other hand is equisite and feels expensive, most others are adequate at best.

I was recently delighted at the lengths that some makers go to to make their packaging as gorgeous as their lovely creations.  Dear Emma featured in one of my fabulous folksy finds blogs with her fabric blue tit bowl and I liked the find so much I bought one.  It arrived wrapped in cellophane, stuffed with tissue and with a Dear Emma tag that she does in a lovely traditional typewriter font.

tinyinc tag

I have been holding onto a small buff coloured tag with a reinforced hole and strung that was attached to a loaf of bread I bought when selling at the underground market last year because I love the simplicity of it. It is done using a traditional rubber stamp directly onto the tag and is lovely in it’s hand made style and simplicity.

I do like the name ‘ tinyinc’. The things I like about it are it’s simplicity, the ‘tiny’ bit gives it an immediate association with kids and it is a single, simple but slightly unusual word (in fact if you google tinyinc, it is unusual enough to be right at the top of the search page in all it’s forms – web page, blog, folksy shop etc).

I have business cards that were designed by my web designer sister in September 2010 and I have branded aprons that are based on the same logo. I’ve been using them for a while now, but I have come to realise that they are just not quite right yet and have not been updated since.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the colours and the simplicity of the font but the word is broken into two and the daisy doesn’t relate to anything to do with tinyinc. I was delighted with them at the time, they are very cute but they need to be developed.

I have since had time to live with them, I have almost come full circle with my preferences for a brand logo – the simplicity of the single word ‘tinyinc’ in a gentle and unfussy font like Arial or Avant Garde.

This was confirmed for me recently when I bought a traditional rubber stamp in n Arial font that reads ‘tinyinc’. I also bought a variety of tags to try it out on. I think I am getting there but I will continue to explore the ideas in different formats until I’m happy.

bunting packaged and ready to go

It makes for some lovely simple packaging and I think I will start to do this for my buyers

Now that I’m sure about the graphic, I think I can commit to a logo and hopefully get everything else sorted out to suit – website, shop banners and new business cards. Just need to get them done now!

Canny Cat's Toad Stool organiser pattern - £3

I did a post some months ago about some of the amazing appliqué finds from folksy and I have been meaning to do another since.

Although I had decided to shut up shop and not do any kind of work this holiday, I did get stuck in a 10 mile traffic jam the other day which turned a 3 hour journey into a 5 hour journey but it was made slightly less annoying (for me anyway) because I had my crocheting in a bag in the back.

Toadstool Bowl from Twixt Sea and Pine - £7

I carry a small bag of wool bits, with a crochet hook and an ever growing granny blanket in the back of the car in the hope that I get enough daylight and a smooth enough ride to be able to add to it very casually and occasionally when JC and I have to travel.

Sitting making new multi coloured squares and joining them to the others for 5 hours, got me thinking and wondering what other crochetters are doing out there.

floral wreath from Dragonfly Lane - £10

So, albeit that most folksy makers are on holiday until the 3rd of January and their shops are not selling, their makes can still be viewed and a lot of crocheted items are available to buy.

There are lots of ear warmers, cup warmers and hats, there are gazzillions of crocheted flowers in the form of broaches or hair clips and I was delighted to see the occassional crocheted tea cosy but there are hardly any granny (or afghan) blankets out there.

Parchment and Purl heart decoration - £6.95

That surprised me as they are about the best way of using up all your odds and ends of double knit or whatever you mostly work in.  It won’t be a speedy work but if, like me, you do it in the car and add to your wool with odd balls picked up in charity shops or at car boot sales, you will get along quite well and have something of quite striking colour combinations.

Magic Minky raspberry tea cosy - £12.99

I have no doubt that my blanket will not be finished for a very long time yet but it will have cost me pennies in materials even if it has cost me a lot in time. I do think, however, that crocheting while sitting in the passenger’s seat on a journey is a great way of using up the time (and the wool).

Tansit Blossom Designs flower beanie hat - £7.99

The WI did a ‘longest knitted bunting guinness book of records’ and asked contributors, the efforts of which could be seen at the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Sewing Show this autumn.  I wonder if the same could be managed with a huge afghan blanket?

Wool n Hook Bedspread made to order - £350

In the meantime, there are obviously lots of makers out there with their crochet needles busying away creating lovely things and there are blankets and bedspreads available when you look.  Some are pram sized or big and beautiful like this gorgeous green and floral bedspread by Wool n Hook or the fabulous Blanket from Babab Cat.

Baban Cat afghan blanket - £250

a philosophy student

I have been commission to produce 5 aprons for 5 of the men in the life of one of my oldest friends, Debbie.

chef's apron

5 aprons for 5 men who are all different, all have different rolls in Debbie’s life but they all cook.

one is her husband, one is a philosophy student, one is a surfer and one works on the railways but only one of them is an actual chef and that is her son Liam. Obviously he gets ‘head chef’.

for hubby

When picking the colours I took into consideration that 2 of them are Charlton Athletic fans.

When picking the slogan, some are easy like Liam’s ‘head chef’, and the philosophy and english student’s ‘I cook therefore I am’. Clive is a Charlton fan and it tickled Debbie to have ’I cook for sex’ as he is her husband. The surfer gets ‘I cooks for thrills’ but the hardest one and certainly the longest is ’don’t trust a skinny cook’. It nearly didn’t fit on the apron at all.

surfer's apron

Debbie is very pleased with them and handing them over was a good excuse to get together for the first time in a while.

Merry Christmas boys and happy cooking. I hope that means the ladies get to put their feet up!!

car motif on flags

there are two little boys called Max & Felix that are benefitting from the endless generosity of my friend Lindsay. They are receiving personalised bunting for Christmas. It is ready and has been delivered in good time.

max's bunting

As with all my makes, the fabrics are largely vintage or repurposed having had another life or been interesting remnant finds.

felix bunting

I love the obvious fabric choices for boys – stripes, checks and plains.

They colour combinations of red, white and blue gibe them beach or boat feel about them and hopefully they go with just about any colour scheme.

Merry Christmas boys

I have been asked to make 5 sets of bunting for the small people in another friends life.

Three little girls in one household all wanted purple with pinks and yellows with it and the 2 boys in the other household (well, I doubt they care as long as it isn’t pink or has flowers on it!).

hope

hope is the eldest

esme

followed by esme

ruby

ruby is the baby.

their aunty likes the bunting, I hope the girls do too!

having seen what Arthur’s bunting, a friend of Arthur’s mum contacted me with a commission for 2 little boys that she also wanted bunting for.

Devon’s was needed for this week so I wonder if he has a birthday.

Ronan’s wasn’t so urgent but I managed to get them both completed this weekend and they will be posted off tomorrow.

I hope they are received well.

It is so much harder sewing on these dark nights when the best light of the day has been stolen by the other things in life such as gainful employment! You only need a sunny sunday like last sunday, however, to help inspire you a bit and get you busy again.

I’d already finished a handful of bunting to sell  a few Sundays ago but decided to make the most of it and clear the decks so I was free to finish my 10 commissioned items that I should really get done before the end of November.

I made a few more sets of name bunting to sell and will be posting them on Folksy.

And there will be more…………

making bunting

It seems like an absolute age since I visited Facebook, tweeted or pinned  let alone actually did any sewing to talk about or sell on any of these forums.

BUT, this weekend I had a lovely busy saturday catching up on some sewing and a lovely sunny sunday for finishing them off. Having completed Nyah’s bunting, I decided to work my way through some more names that I want to stock in my shop at folksy  and wowthankyou before I get started on my christmas commissions.

fabric flags

Some of the particular names were requested by some mums whereas others are either names that are quite popular or those that I particularly like.

work in progress

Almost everything used for the making of the bunting has been found as a thrifty buy, printed old cloth from america on ebay, recycled from items of clothing or furnishing fabrics or any other place you can think of getting vintage fabrics from.

My mum is a great thrifty shopper and has contributed handsomely to my stockpile of fabrics. Most of her finds are perfect whether it is for the backings or the flags.

There are so many lovely colour and pattern combinations it is difficult to know where to stop? Boys seem to suit a mixture of striped and chequered fabrics.

And of course girls like anything pink and / or flowery.

But then there are some fabrics that will just match the decor.  I could keep going for ever and have already started the next handful before my weekend comes to an end.

bunting flags all cut and ready

I have started to receive orders for Christmas presents during the first few weeks of October and although it seems strange to be thinking about Christmas already, the truth is that I had already been thinking about making Christmas stockings shortly so it’s not that early.

Today’s Christmas present is bunting for a little girl called Nyah.

flower motif flag ready to attach to tape

Typically she has pink decor in her bedroom.  The theme is light and dark pinks trimmed with checks.  I love working with shades and patterns in pink. They always come out looking nice, bright and jolly.

Nyah's finished bunting

None of my things are made like they would be in a production line. Each make is unique and I’d be unlikely to be able to duplicate anything because the fabrics are all sourced from such unreliable sources . These could be vintage collections, car boot find or repurposed from something else. That said, it really helps to have a few bits and bobs all ready.

finished flower flag

I had spent an afternoon some weeks ago cutting out a large pile of flags ready for bunting stock of about 15 names that I wanted to make but also in preparation for any commissions that came in. Cutting out dozens of flags is as therapeutic as the making and gives you a bit of a head start.

pink 'N' flag

I love the design process; choosing the right fabrics, laying them out in an order that works and then finishing them off with letters in the right colours and the finishing tape.  Each one is designed from scratch with a lot of thought into what works best together.

knitting and sewing show 2011

Bizarrely, since I live so near it, I always seem to miss the knitting and sewing show but THIS year, I made  it!!

I took a morning out from my ‘proper job’ and headed to Ally Pally .

lots of lovely colours

I bought sunflower gardening shoes (very unexpected) from www.backdoorshoes.co.uk but they are so light and comfortable and FUN that I love them.

woman's weekly knitted bunting

I was swept away by the beautiful knitting yarns and needles available and couldn’t believe how many flags Woman’s Weekly have got towards their record breaking ‘longest knitted bunting in the world’ in celebration of their first 100 years.

I got a new compact folding working light from naturalight which works an absolute treat. Not only does it take the strain out of working without daylight, I can now select thread colours on these dark evenings and know that they are right.

cute coot

I was inspired by the makes in the central area exhibition which made going back to work very hard and then I was inspired all over again by machine appliqué on one of the stands where I fell in love with this lovely picture of a coot.

I got the dinkiest iron for appliqué that you have ever seen and it is just the perfect solution. It heats up incredibly quickly, has a nice heaviness that means is slides across the fabrics but is small enough for the accuracy that I need. On top of all that it is so small (about 100mm/4″ long) that it is incredibly transportable.

I was tempted by and array of glorious fabrics, the suppliers of which are now firmly in my favourite web sites for on line buying (beyond fabrics, lili fabrics and Doughty’s to name but a few).

lovely threads

The threads and silks were like jewels in an aladin’s cave and almost too irresistible but not what I needed on the day.

I got rolls of heatabond which is so much better than fighting with the creases that you get from the folded packs.

I subscribed to the fabulous new Mollie Makes (how did I miss the first 6?) and bought some wonderful australian Handmade magazines; not as beautifully styled as Mollie Made but the content is so much fun.

I listened to lots of lovely ladies chirruping away about their finds, their makes and their passions for all things knitted and sewn. The most heartening part of that was the realisation that the age range of makers is vast. It might be a school girl or a granny, and everything in between.  Making is not only for Nanas.

Isn’t that wonderful?