Wednesday 26 June 2013

Pattern making

Loving this blog.  So inspiring - wish I could go back to sewing school and learn how to grade patterns for clothing.  http://sampleroom.wordpress.com/

Sunday 26 May 2013

It's a knit in!

...and quite an impromptu one. Dropped into a cafe in Bungendore on a Sunday drive to Braid wood and a bunch of locals were having a stitch n bitch sesh.  The dress I'm knitting for my daughter is sitting in the car at the ready...


Thursday 23 May 2013

Local treasures

Oopahtot softie in pale pink corduroy



I've just made my first treasury list on Etsy.  Beautiful things are being made in Canberra Australia and here are just a few.

Thursday 16 May 2013

The one thing I can't do




...in terms of craft that is!  Why is it I can turn my hand to any craft but crochet?  I just can't do it after years of trying over and over I have given up.  And then I find this most awesome pattern.  Gah!!!

Sunday 5 May 2013

Upload complete!




Teapot and Snail has gone digital!  All patterns are now available for instant digital download on Etsy.  That means if you have a sudden urge to sew something new in the middle of the night, you can!

As soon as you have clicked Add to Cart and your payment has gone through, Etsy gives you a button to click.  You can get your pattern instructions and pieces to print out right then and there.  It's going to be great for my overseas customers (no more waiting for the Aussie working day to start) and for anyone who's been caught out and remembered a birthday the night before!

Tuesday 30 April 2013

Mother's Day is coming


Today I sent this little cutie to Ohio as a custom order for one of my lovely customers.  Her lucky Mum will be getting this two cup coffee carrier in blackboard fabric for Mother's Day.  I don't normally have these in stock but it was just what her Mum was looking for so I did a custom order.  What a thoughtful daughter  :)  I reckon I could do a few more of these in time for Mother's Day so let me know if you are interested.

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Another week flies by




Tute Tuesday already? I've been so busy with Easter activities I haven't said a word in between! But here is this week's tutorial, as a special request for one of our newest readers who need to mend a knit dress ready for winter. The old darning method used for socks is also brilliant when you've put a run in a fabulous jumper. Just remember if you are using this method for a dress or sweater to darn from the inside of the garment and don't pull the stitches too tightly in the final steps or you will get puckering that shows when you wear it.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Tutorial Tuesday




I've always been intimidated by trying shirring.  Though now I can't imagine why.  Disney from Ruffles and Stuff makes it look all so easy!  Check out her great tutorial here.

Monday 11 March 2013

New Pattern!

Woohoo!  I did it - the new pattern is out and up on Etsy as we speak.  My daughter's started at preschool and loving it so I have those days to get stuck into some shop work.  I have some ideas for patterns running around in my head and here's the first one:

It's a coffee carrier for four takeaway coffee cup and it's called the Espresso Express.  It will also fit those big smoothie/juice cups or water bottles.  I just got fed up with those cardboard trays and wanted something I could take coffees down to the playground in, or wherever really, without it being a balancing act.  I gave one to my MIL as a gift and she and her husband take coffees down to the beach in winter with a blanket and a book.  I wish I'd thought of this idea when I was working in an office and doing the coffee run for colleagues.

The one you see in the pic above is made from chalkboard cloth that I bought from Me Too Please, which is an Australian company, online.  This stuff is brilliant because you can write your coffee orders on in chalk.  I have to get to work making these for gifts now.  Lots of them!

This week I will be getting onto my next pattern which has been inspired by a request from Christine of Poppie's Pretties.  She's after a little girl's handbag to sell on her Facebook shop so I will be scaling down the Pony bag.  I'm thinking of adding a big bow to the front just coz I know that's what my chickie would love.  I wonder what other little girls out there would like?

Monday 11 February 2013

New shoots

Sprout


This is a funny little fascinator from a remarkable shop on Etsy.  Remarkable in that the seller really is following her artistic whim.  Every piece is an unselfconscious and purely original musing carried out with care and skill.  Very impressive!  The name of the shop is Kreuzzz on Etsy (even the name is quirky).  I think back to my years of crafting and I have often wanted to dabble in interesting forms of craft like felting but have been put off by the need to buy yet more tools and other items that I worry that will end up in the stash.  The sewing room these days is getting more and more packed out.  Hubby and I have been trying to get rid of a few things lately.  It is very cathartic but honestly I wonder if it will ever end.  There is just so much in this house that has to go.  I have been thinking about having a big stash sell-off on Teapot & Snail just to make way for some new things.  I recently found a Gocco printing set at a garage sale for a mere $5.  I'd love to get into papercraft, but I have GOT to get space to do it!  Time for some serious clutter attack!

Sunday 27 January 2013

Surprises





How awesome is this?!!!  This has to be the finest piece of yarn bombing I have ever seen.  Check out Sarah Rudder's blog for more fabulous yarn bombs.

Just as well there's a nice R2-D2 to cheer me up this morning.  Last night we had a massive storm and got something like 67mm of rain in less than an hour.  Sadly, the Teapot & Snail studio flooded and the whole family mucked in to pump water out.  Seriously, it was coming in faster than we could get rid of it.  It seems the storm drains just couldn't handle such a huge dump of water in one hit.  Luckily we were home for the long weekend as the weather put us off going to the beach.  If we hadn't been here, a lot of fabric, yarn, and the expensive stuff like the overlocker and cupboards would have gone.  Thankfully no current stock was damaged but my mum's antique Singer sewing table nearly copped it.  Today we are off to buy some sturdy shelving units to get more things up high and then it's back downstairs to dry things out some more.

Cheerio!




Thursday 24 January 2013

DIY Chewbacca!

Chewbacca Sock Puppet
I love this!  It's a whole bunch of Star Wars related craft including how to make your very own sock wookie.  My daughter is going to go nuts when she sees this.  Not only does she have the SW bug but also the craft bug - the perfect set of activities for the last week of holidays.

Saturday 19 January 2013

An afternoon sew


I whipped up this cute little bag today.  My little daughter is off to preschool in just a couple of weeks. She's very excited so I've made her a special library bag to bring her books home in.

I had to fiddle around with the size for a while so it would be big enough for picture books without dragging on the ground.  The answer - quite large in the body of the bag but teeny handles in comparison.

Just a simple little tote with a gusset but what I love (and she loves) is the layers of applique in the corner.  All it takes is a few scraps from the stash and a bit of extra stitching.  It's so easy and cheap to make something special.



Tuesday 8 January 2013

Being a resourceful mama

There are times when a mama's gotta do what a mama's gotta do.  We make do with what we have, we fix what we can't afford to replace, and when little dramas pop up we cobble up some kind of creative solution to get us by.

Today in the Bush Capital it is 38 degrees Celsius   That's just over 100 Fahrenheit for you Imperial folk.  We have had a run of nasty temps like this for days and it's wearing us down.  With school holidays on, the focus has been on getting us out of the house and looking for things to do, but with the heat even the swimming pools are only a short trip as the UV levels are in the extreme.  Today in particular we have had all sorts of bushfire warnings - I think the warning rating has been downgraded from catastrophic to extreme but it still sets a person on edge.

So we've headed out to I think possibly the coldest place in Canberra barring the ice rink - a shopping centre near the industrial outskirts of town.  A bit of a drive out in the heat, and it seems, just enough of a drive to put Miss Three-Nearly-Four to sleep.  But what do you do with a sleeping preschooler in a roasting open air carpark when a pram hasn't been a regular part of your arsenal for several months?

Why, you just call Resourceful Mama of course!  And what would her solution be?  A supermarket shopping trolley and a pile of whatever blankets, shopping bags, and towels you could find in the car.  Voila, a teeny bed on wheels:



And now time for a coffee in the air con - phew.  To everyone who's in a bushfire area, I hope you and your family are all safe, together, and OK  Stay out of the heat guys.  Cheerio.