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November 18th, 2017

18/11/2017

I'm running a special mushroom-making workshop in the beautiful old Federal hall, in the Byron Bay hinterland on Sunday the 10th December. We will spend the morning making some little fabric mushroom ornaments... just in time for Christmas.

In this workshop you will learn some soft sculpture techniques as well as various stitches for hand-sewing and embroidery.

This class is most suitable for adults with some machine and hand sewing experience.

For more information, or to make a booking, please visit my online store.

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Tutorial: Miniature floor boards for diorama or doll's house

8/11/2017

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I've been slowly making a sort of diorama / doll's house room to display my cloth art dolls in. As with most of the creative projects I take on, this one took a lot more time and effort than I anticipated... but I've really enjoyed it and have learned a lot along the way.

Handmad diorama for Willowynn dolls www.willowynn.com

Diorama / room made using coffee-stained popsicle sticks

I wanted to make one large room with interchangeable walls, windows, a door and wooden floor boards. I really love the way it's turned out - kind of like a cottage or cabin in the woods. I'll continue working on it - adding things like book shelves, furniture, curtains etc., but just wanted to show you what it looks like at this stage and describe how I made the floor, windows and door.

I'll start off by explaining how I made the tiny floor boards, and save the window/door tutorial for a later post...

DIY miniature floor boards for dolls house tutorial

To make the floor boards

You will need:

A large piece of plywood or MDF board for the base - cut to the size and shape you'd like your floor space to be
Lots and lots of wooden popsicle sticks (paddle pop sticks here in Australia)
Scissors
PVA or wood glue
Coffee grounds and vegetable oil
Vinegar, rusty nails, glass jar
Rag

Instructions:

Trim the rounded ends off each of your popsicle sticks to give them straight ends (like real floor boards).
Glue the popsicle sticks onto your board in rows, starting from one end.
To get a smooth, worn-looking surface, give your floorboards a sand.
Stain your floor boards to achieve the colour you'd like (*See wood stain suggestions below).
To give my floor a slightly glossy finish, I rubbed it with a leather shoe wax / polish. Just wipe it all over then buff it with a clean cloth.

Suggestions for non-toxic DIY wood stains*:

Dark grey/black: wipe with a solution made by soaking a couple of rusty nails in white vinegar for a day.
Light warm brown: wipe with a solution made by soaking fresh coffee grounds in vegetable oil. Each layer will darken your wood a little more.
Any colour: rub leather shoe polish all over your floor boards in whatever colour you like. This creates a good colour as well as a bit of a shine.

Willowynn doll in diorama www.willowynn.com

One of my dolls inspecting the new space.

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Willowynn in Homespun magazine

8/11/2017

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So delighted to find this lovely article written by Janai Velez featuring my workroom in the November issue of Homespun magazine. It really is beautifully written and I love the way Janai has described my dolls. I always draw a blank when asked to describe my work so it's really helpful to hear someone else's words.

Homespun magazine November 2017

Homespun is a treasure of a magazine, if sewing is your thing, and is packed full of inspiring projects, tips and interviews.

The magazine is available from Australian newsagents throughout November and is also available as a digital copy online at www.zinio.com.

Homepun magazine November 2017

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Free sewing pattern: Embroidered Christmas ornaments

7/11/2017

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Embroidered Christmas ornaments by Willowynn

Fabric Christmas ornamants. Free sewing pattern by willowynn.com

These embroidered star, tree and round ornaments are easy to sew, make great presents and look lovely on a Christmas tree. I've put together some simple instructions and free downloadable templates, to help you make these at home. You can read the instructions below, and download the templates here, which are ready to print.

I hope you enjoy making these. You'll find more Willowynn sewing patterns available to download here.

Embroidered Christmas ornaments

You will need:

Sewing machine (recommended but optional – these can be hand-sewn if preferred)
Small pieces of medium weight fabric. Avoid very heavy or stretchy fabric.
Regular sewing thread
Toy stuffing - wool is ideal
Small amount of embroidery floss in various colours
Templates printed and cut out.
Sewing needle and embroidery needle
Disappearing fabric marker, tailors’ chalk or a soft lead pencil
Fabric scissors
Pins
knitting needle or chop stick (for turning out shapes and stuffing).

Hints and tips before you start:

When marking and cutting out the template shapes from your fabric, make sure you leave a 5 mm seam allowance around the edge of your marked line. You will be sewing along this line, using it as a guide for stitching. Trim the excess fabric away after you’ve sewn the edges. Cut close to the seam around corners or curves.·
‘Right sides together’ (RST) means that you need to lay two pieces of fabric on top of each other with the wrong sides facing out and the ‘right’ sides facing in.
When stitching the seams of soft toys or soft sculpture, set your sewing machine to a very short stitch. Don’t forget to backstitch at the beginning and end of every seam. If you are hand-stitching, use a very short, closely spaced running stitch or backstitch.
Double stitch each seam. This will ensure the seams are strong and will lessen the likely-hood of tiny bits of stuffing creeping out from between the stitches. Be sure to stitch very close to original seam on curves or corners.

Instructions:

Print and cut out your templates. Place them onto your fabric. Trace around the shapes, then cut out pattern pieces leaving a 5mm seam allowance around the edges.
Match up and pin corresponding shapes (RST). Sew along the drawn line. If you are hand-stitching, use a very short, closely spaced back-stitch.
Leave an opening of around two centimetres for turning out and stuffing. Now sew a second line of stitching just outside of the first (this will make your seams nice and strong and will prevent stuffing from sneaking out) – be sure to sew as close as possible to the original seam on any corners.
Trim off the excess seam allowance at the curves and corners, making sure you trim very close to the stitching in the inner corners of the trees and stars (so that they don’t bunch up once turned out).
Turn out your shapes (using your chop stick or knitting needle).
Stuff your shapes very firmly. Start by stuffing the pointy tips first, using your chop stick or knitting needle, with small amounts of stuffing at a time. Continue stuffing the rest of your shape with larger clumps of stuffing.
Hand-sew the opening closed using a ladder stitch.
To add a loop to the top of your shape for hanging; thread a length of string or yarn onto a large embroidery needle. Insert your needle through the top of the shape and out again, without pulling the yarn or string all the way through. Remove the needle and tie the two ends of yarn or string together. *This step is probably best left until after you have embroidered your shape otherwise the loop will get in the way when you’re embroidering.

Embroidery:

These little ornaments are the perfect canvas for embroidery designs. The options for embellishing your shapes really are only limited by your imagination. The simple embroidery designs that I like to use are described below, and are also available to download as templates here.

I embroider these shapes after they have been stuffed, to follow the shape and curves of the ornament with my stitches. However, embroidering your fabric stretched on an embroidery hoop prior to sewing is also an option.

1. Snowflake
This is an easy design made using a modified fern stitch or backstitch. This design looks great on the star and round shapes. Start from the centre of your shape, working out. Try to keep each ‘prong’ evenly spaced.

2. Flower pattern
Create various sized ‘lazy daisy’ flowers around the star, round or tree shape using the lazy daisy stitch. Add random short running stitches in different colours here and there, to create a bit more texture and interest

1 & 2

3. Christmas tree
Fill the surface of the stuffed tree shape with short, widely spaced running stitches (seed stitches) of green thread. Then add a few baubles of colour here and there with little French knots. The star on the top can be made with simple running stitches sewn radiating from one central point like an asterix.

Free sewing pattern; Embroidered Christmas ornament www.willowynn.com

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Embroidered tree free sewing pattern www.willowynn.com

4. Flowers or leaves on stems
Create a few vertical lines with organic curves using a running or backstitch. Add some lazy daisy chain stitches coming off the stems as either leaves or flowers.

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November 18th, 2017

Tutorial: Miniature floor boards for diorama or doll's house

To make the floor boards

Willowynn in Homespun magazine

Free sewing pattern: Embroidered Christmas ornaments

Embroidered Christmas ornaments

You will need:

Hints and tips before you start:

Instructions:

Embroidery:

Hello and welcome...

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