my unhealthy obsession with Pinterest

“what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'"
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Ch. 1


If you have any creative bones in your body, chances are you are also hooked on Pinterest.

If you haven't heard of Pinterest.................there are no words!!

                                  

Here are some of my boards and favourite images to date - I love that i have a GO-TO website that inspires me and encourages me to keep on making beautiful things.

i love that it doesn't judge me like facebook does, or that it's not about how many people like my stuff like instagram - it's just a lovely place to catalogue all your favourite parts of the internet, in a visually enabling way.

As creatives we are all about the visual - so it's nice to see things in a visual format.

No wonder it's one of the most popular social networking tools in the world............now if only i cared enough to use it for that purpose...........

In the meantime, if you want to find me, I'm usually on my tablet late at night, adding items to my most biggest board, aptly named, "if only I had more time..."

Come join me, won't you!?!!

http://pinterest.com/vicki_sinclair/

finished #4 - upcycled ottoman

ok - this isn't going to be a tutorial, but I'm really happy with my first prototype, and might eventually make a few more of these to sell at a market some time.

100% upcycled

Fabrics from a BrisStylers destash sale were used for the top & sides.
And old wooden button was recovered & handstitched on to tidy up the messy points, and the same fabric was used to edge the main pattern and create the sides
the base was reclaimed from offcuts from a shop fitout (yoink!) and the legs were bought from a recycling centre, cut down & sanded back

           

The only things i bought new were the staples to fix the fabric to the bottom of the base, even the scuffs were leftovers in a packet from our dining table chairs.

So there you have it - warts and all!!  I'm not a sewer by any feat (and obviously not an even stapler either,) but as first goes go, I'm pretty impressed with my efforts!

next time I might try for some autumnal colours and maybe some greys to blend in - WHO AM I KIDDING, RAINBOWS ALL THE WAY!!

finished #3 - tie mobile phone holder

mobile phone holder from a tie

I'm a self taught sewer (translation, I'm very bad and not willing to pay for lessons cause I won't retain the information) so I'm only ever good on the machine for straight lines, or the occasional zig-zag when i'm using it for scrapbooking (did I tell you I like to scrap too? Jill of all trades, master of none)

SO............when I added this pin to my pinterest board I thought I'd tackle the project after christmas while I had some down time.

http://pinterest.com/vicki_sinclair/if-only-i-had-more-time/

sadly for me the link no longer works, so i had to create my own tutorial.

SO HERE IT IS!!

What you need
a tie (duh!) preferrably one your hubby is no longer using (unless you've had a fight with him) but if you don't have a bloke partner or a tie, the local op shop will always have a spare few going for $2 ish
Scissors
a sewing machine
a key ring attachment (is there a technical term for these!?!!)
needle & thread
snap fastener (or button)

What you do
size up your desired tie length by slipping in your phone of choice into the bottom of the tie, and folding over the top so it can be fastened with a snap pin or button at the end.  Mark the bottom and cut it, allowing for a 5m hem

Now is the best time to pop on your keyring attachment.  cut a small section from the thin end of the tie, sew it closed, fold it over and sew up the ends together.  then you need to make a small slip on the side of your tie to slip this into.  pin it in place before going to the next step.

Next, decide if you're going to have a pocket for business/credit cards etc (i started with one then ended up not including it for this,) and sew around the sides & bottom (depending on if it is going to be folded over for the pocket or not) remembering to sew the keyring attachment into place at the same time.

NB - if you did want to include the pocket, at this point you would need to sew to the bottom of the phone holding section (are you still with me!?!!) and then unpick the tie from there, stretch the side to sit in line with the wider part of the tie, turn over & hem the end, stitch the side and then hand stitch the top of the pocket to allow space for credit cards......i might have to do a second example and include that in another blog






ok - starting to take shape now..........time to turn it inside out, pin the open sides of the tie and handstitch them together - remember to try and keep it neat if you don't have a pocket, as this is the part that will be on display if there's no pocket to hide the handywork

Once that's done you simply need to add your fastener of choice.  I have a box of snap fasteners here so I used one of those.  you could always sew on a button and use your fancy button hole foot on you sewing machine (maybe that's a blog I need to find!) or use a hair tie to stretch over it.  I'm happy with my pearl top button fastener though!

That's it - if I can do you , you can!!

it's always fun doing the first one, but maybe the next edition will have a pocket and a button, just so i can say that I did it!! 

What colour should I do next?