Open Garden Hospice in the Weald Craft Stall

Recently we opened our garden for the Hospice in the Weald open garden scheme, along with four others. People paid £5 and got a sticker enabling them to walk around all five, which were in walking distance of each other.

We each had stalls that had different things on them in order to raise money - one garden had tea and cake, another had whole cakes for sale, and ours had a craft stall. Therefore, I had to make lots of products to sell! It was a really rainy day to start with, which looked worrying, and we had to do an emergency evacuation of products into the shed:

I made some lavender hearts, which were heart shaped pieces of fabric, sewn together, stuffed with lavender, with a button on the front and twine around the button in order to hang it up.

Also, I used old jars to make a variety of products. I put together some jars of sweets, I mixed some thyme and lavender bath salts into some others, and with the last ones left I decorated them with buttons around the top in order to turn them into tealight holders or vases:

I did this by threading buttons onto thin wire, and making a handle out of some thicker wire and some pliers. The gravel in the bottom and the tealights we already had, and they add a nice touch.

Finally, my sister painted some beautiful cards, and my mum and I made some wool covered bottles. They would be ideal vases or general decorations, and they are incredibly unique:

On the day, it only rained for an hour and a half or so, so after an hour of drying time for the outside table (which was soaking wet) we could move the stock that was left outside. This increased sales because people could see what was available, and it made it look very bright and appealing!

Inside:

Outside:

A big thank you to anyone who came along - in total we raised nearly £2,500 across the five gardens, £100 from my stall alone! This is a brilliant achievement which will hopefully be very beneficial to the Hospice.

Azerbaijani Dress

My lovely friend Ella decided to host a Eurovision party this weekend.

We were each given a country and we had to come dressed as if we were from that country and bring food from the country.

The country that I got was Azerbaijan, and they wear a rather traditional princess-like dress. A friend of mine had given me an old dress of hers last year, and although it would not do up when I tried it on I thought that I should be able to do something with it.

As the pictures show below, it doesn't do up on my mannequin which is the same size as me. This was problematic because I had to consider what to do: whether to unpick some seams and try to let it out or whether to add a panel?

I decided to unpick the zip completely because it was starting to come away from the seams anyway and I thought that I could add something to the back that meant that a different zip was needed or a different technique. However, I decided to leave the small section of zip that was in the skirt in place because there was more fabric involved that complicates the situation.

On the back I decided that eyelets would be a good way to fasten it. They are fiddly, as I know from the cushions I made, but they would provide and attractive and efficient method of making it fit me.

To begin with, I drew crosses from the top every 5cm to mark the places where I would put the eyelets: 

Then, I used the tool that is supplied with the set and a hammer to punch holes into the fabric. This proved difficult because the flimsy plastic gadget that comes with it snapped early on and I had to use multiple pieces of wood to hold it together.

Once I had made all of the holes, I punched the metal hoops through. They were also difficult to do because the cracked plastic thing was not helpful, and the metal warped a couple of times when the surface was slightly uneven.

However, when they were finally finished, they looked very effective with the ribbon in and it now fitted so that I could wear it.

One of the main features of Azerbaijani dress is the headpiece, which often features a crown-like piece and a veil. I found an old belt in our dressing up box that I thought would be appropriate to act as a headpiece, and some white organza left over from another project for a veil.

I cut the organza into a half-doughnut shape; the smaller curve had a diameter of the length of head band that I wanted it sewn on to, and the larger curve was made as big as possible. Then, because I do not have an overlocker, I zigzag stitched around the outer edge of the fabric, pulling it tight as I did so, in order to create the slightly frilly effect.

Then, I pinned the smaller semi circle curve of it onto the belt (after placing the belt on my head and finding the point where it comes level with my ears), pinning the edge of the fabric to the flat underside edge of the belt. I stitched the fabric on by hand in a small running stitch, ensuring that the edges stayed together to let the curve affect the fall of the fabric.

Then my Azerbaijani costume was complete! I wore my prom shoes with it because they are a silvery purple colour that complimented it well.

My Auntie and Uncle's Cushions Are Finished!

Finally I have completed the construction of the cushions that I promised my Auntie and Uncle back in the summer...

Cushion 1:

Cushion 2: