Pyjamas and Surprises!

This week so far we have had two great workshops.

Sunday saw the second beginners dressmaking workshop with Faron and Diane going home with fantastic pyjama bottoms and the confidence and skills to further their dressmaking ambitions.

Tuesday night was the Surprise Make, the students have no idea what they'll be making until they turn up! We made some pretty scrap fabric flowers and decorated some jars to display them in - this was to show them that you can make something out of what you have left in the house - crafting doesn't have to be expensive! We had a very enjoyable evening and they made some beautiful flowers!

For information on more craft workshops see www.bettymakes.co.uk! Hope to see you at a workshop soon!

Sew Pyjama Pants!

Today I had two lovely ladies to learn how to make a pair of pyjama bottoms and gain some experience with basic dressmaking skills.

I have decided it's best to only have two people on the dressmaking workshops as I can be really attentive and give the students as much information as possible with all the little questions that pop up along the way.

Both ladies today were complete beginners with making something from a pattern and one of them was a little nervous with using a sewing machine. Being able to help them a lot has been really useful for them and now I hope they will have the confidence to make something else from a pattern!

I loved the fabric they chose and it's actually made me want to make myself another pair!

Here they are in action!

I'm really looking forward to the next one which is already fully booked so I shall be adding another date soon!

Needle felting

I had a wonderful day on Sunday with the delightful Jenny Tidman and our students.

Needle felting, and wet felting, fascinates me as I just can't get over that you get a bag of loose merino wool and through various processes, it felts together. Technically, as Jenny pointed out, you are knotting the wool together when you are stabbing it with a needle but felting is the common term, so needle felting is what we all know it as!

Jenny is a fantastic teacher, when you meet her you feel warm and welcomed and very comfortable with her, like you can just be your true self. Jenny teaches you all about the felting process and has different ways of showing and describing them all to you so you have a really good understanding of what you are doing, not just a description of how to do it.

This workshop was a small one, so Jenny just said - "make what you want, whatever is in your head"! And they did, as did I too!

One of the students was a 14 year old girl, we talked with her auntie about whether this was going to be 'cool enough' for her and it must have been as she was fantastic at it, couldn't put it down once she had started and has already planned to make something else at home!

It has inspired me to plan workshops during half-term for teenagers so keep your eyes peeled for when they go live!

Here is the workshop in pictures -

Busy stabbing away!

Need to concentrate hard - we all pricked our fingers at some point! 

It is most definitely cool enough for teenagers!

Amazing first-time needle felted animals!

This elephant looks amazing, her patience and skill gave great results.

Little Dave had beautiful detail needle felted into him!

My quirky little house, Jenny helped me with the design idea and I was relieved to see that I could shape a ball into having square edges!

We will be booking in a needle felting workshop soon. You can sign up to the newsletter to find out workshop news as it happens! Sign up here!

Layered Lino Printing

Today did not get off to a good start at all! I had made some delicious soup yesterday which I tried to transport to Betty Makes HQ this morning and it all ended in disaster as my slow cooker tipped over in the back of my car sending the contents all over the back seats!! Why I did not secure it or put it in the footwell I'll never begin to fathom!!

So I had to dash into Tesco to get some lunch but upon arriving at BMHQ a jar of pickled onions leapt out from the boot and landed on my toe! OUCH! I now have a purple toe and it's very painful!

But the show must go on as they say and all I could do was laugh at my eventful morning and look forward to greeting the ladies coming to the workshop this morning. 

Today I wanted to show the ladies an overprint and to make a design using one or more stamps layered on top of each other. This was my example I made on Friday:

So the lovely Emma, Michaela and Collette set to with their designs - and dare I mention that Christmas was involved! Michaela wanted to see what she could create with her beautiful fox design she already uses on cards that she sells on Etsy, Collette was thinking Christmas and has an obsession with deers and Emma, who also had an eventful morning involving a runaway Boxer, had teapots and teacups in mind!

They all had wonderful ideas and the final prints were absolutely beautiful - 

Michaela sells these beautiful cards and other wares over in her Etsy store!

What would you design with a lino print?

I am away on holiday now with a relaxing holiday in Cornwall! The next workshop after that will be Learn To Sew where you can get to grips with a sewing machine and make a tote bag! 

Thank you for reading! Hope to see you at a workshop soon!  

Jean-Mary Xx

Lino Printing and some really gorgeous tea-towels!

Last night saw the first Lino Printing on Fabric workshop!

I had been really looking forward to this workshop as people bring their own unique ideas and come up with different ways to be creative here and I was excited to see what they would design!

And they certainly didn't disappoint - I loved every one of their designs and once they got into it their imaginations were ticking over and we ended up with multi-coloured and multi-layered designs. Some commented after that they were now thinking of more designs and couldn't wait to make some more!

It was also lovely to meet some more Twitter people - @knitnrun4sanity, @notsogranny and @sparklyboa!

In future I will be making up kits to sell if people want to carry on at home.

So here is the evening in pictures -

All set to go!

Tea and coffee at the ready!

Completely absorbed by the cutting out process.

More industriousness!

@knitnrun4sanity

@sparklyboa

@notsogranny

And of course my stamp design!! 

Beautiful!

I am now very much looking forward to the next Lino Printing workshop where we will be layer stamping on a set of cards! Sunday 14th July - click here to book!

Jean-Mary