The Rustic Domestic Angel - Christmas Tutorial no 14

I know how much time is spent in the kitchen before, during and after Christmas... so here she is, your very own Angel of Domesticity, complete with her apron and ready to go.  And if you want to know her name - it's Marion, and she loves a little bit of Welsh rough!

You will need:

A cup of black tea (the sacrifices I make for you readers as a seasoned tea loather!)

A 12” square of Calico

A 6” x 12” piece of cotton ticking and the same again of gingham

6” x 6” wadding

Greaseproof paper

Sewing machine

Soft stuffing, eg Kapok

A ruler, a water glass and pens

Scrap of wool

Crewel needle

Scissors including pinking shears

Iron and ironing board

Twigs

Hairy string

First make your cup of black tea, and place it in a contained where you can put in your calico and ticking.  The longer you leave it in there, the more aged your angel will look (aged but not drudge like).  Let the fabric dry.

While this is happening, we will make our template for the body using the greaseproof paper for our patterns, take a water glass and draw round it (I used one with a 3” diameter) ½ “ below it, draw a rectangle of 3½” x 4” – this will be your body.

For the wings, if you are artistic draw them freehand, if you like me were told that perhaps art was not the O level for you, then look in your craft books – you know the ones that you buy in September when you know you will simply make everything for Christmas – there will be a shed load of wings for you to choose from!

Iron your fabrics and pin out the pattern pieces, cut two bodies in calico, two sets of wings in the ticking and one set in wadding.

Honestly... this is not a Simpsons Re-run!

Sew the body together  using a ¼” seam allowance, leaving a hole at the base. * Around the top of the head and anywhere that has a curve, cut little triangle with the points almost at your running stitch as this will ease the fabric and give you a smoother finish.  Now put the stuffing into the angel.

Whip stitch the opening closed (this is overstitching with attitude) when you are happy with the shape of your body.  You are now going to use the twigs as arms and legs, attach these to the back of the body by overstitching onto the fabric where legs and arms would sit.  

However, I had another idea, if you have smalls in your house* and are worried that they might injure themselves on the twigs take a length of hairy string and run it through the top of the body for the arms and loop it through your base opening for legs.  Make a knot on each piece of string to represent knees, ankles, elbows and wrists.

To make the hair, take your wool and with the crewel needle sew French knots from half way up the face just below the seam of the head and the go back on the other side of the head in between the first row of French knots.  You are now going to make her lustrous locks by taking a piece of cardboard and winding the wool around the cardboard, go to the top and sew over three pieces of wool then back under two, continue to do this until you reach the end of the “hair”, now be brave and cut along the bottom of the wool.  You now have an angel’s wig!  Pin this on the back of the head and sew it in place, trim as necessary.

Draw on your face, two dots for eyes (in the middle of the face), two dots for the nose, a broad smile and I used a pink eye shadow to create the cherubic cheeks.

Now think back to how you made dresses for your dolls when you were little... if like me you were not Coco Chanel or Vera Wang, try this.  Draw a rectangle 9” across by 6” down on your greaseproof paper, mark the paper an inch down and draw a line 2” in and then down to the base.  Fold the pattern in half and curve the line around the under arm of the dress.  Make a gentle curve from about 1.5” to create the neckline.

Pin this out on your gingham fabric, cut out two pieces and sew together using ¼” seam allowance, cut the hem and sleeves with pinking shears.  Slip the dress over the angel’s head... the dress is rather mahoosive, isn’t it?  You are now a window dresser, make a fold at the back of the dress and catch it with a couple of stitches.  

Errr... the neckline looks rather grim, so we will gather it, make a knot at the end of a double thread and stitch a line of running stitch across the neckline, pull it tight to make a neckline gather, sew it off firmly.

Make a wing sandwich, with ticking, wadding and ticking, to make it look really homemade I stitched the wings together using blanket stich, you could use your machine to do this with a running or embroidery stitch. Turn the angel over and pin the wings onto the dress and body and sew firmly onto the angel.

Use two short lengths of string as bows on each sleeve.

Cut out a piece of fabric, 6” x 4”, stitch both sides, then fold over the top and fold over 5/8”, then pink the base of the apron.  Run a piece of string through the casement you have created at the top of the apron, ruche the apron and tie it up at the back of the angel.

Now pop her on a shelf to watch over you while you work! 


You now need to take a look at Wendy's Handmade Monday and see what all the other bloggers have been up to over the past week!

Gingham Hearts

I had been asked to make three different sized rag wreaths for a local cafe but I have really struggled with the brief.  Sarah wanted them to be bright but using red, yellow and orange.  The cafe has a very homely feel and lots of plaques, greenery and, hearts and gingham were a big theme.

I have to admit that I did every form of displacement activity not to make them as whenever I started, the yellows and oranges just overpowered everything.  So this afternoon I stared the heart forms squarely in the face and started by putting on just the red strips and then added in the oranges, yellows and used a purple gingham to break it up.

So, it is off to the Tea Garden on Sunday to hand them over.  

Just hope that Sarah likes them and the other great thing is she says I can leave my card with them... yippee!  So hopefully some other peeps will order them, fingers crossed.

Armed and Dangerous?

Do you ever have a week when you wonder what you actually did?  The days have gone past in a blur but you really don't think you have achieved anything... and then the day when you thought you would be allowed to slob about and chill is the busiest in the week.


Well, I was getting really disheartened with the job search as I did not get a contract role which I wanted but they are keen on me for two perm jobs which are available.  And it is possible that I may have a temp job to tide me over in between so hopefully things are getting better.


Anyway, Friday was my birthday and I thought, yippee, I will have a lie-in, but the fates conspired against me.  My friend Deborah needed a house sitter to wait for the BT man, so I was sitting in her lovely living room watching the tide come in whilst removing the sleeves from a dress.  Said dress was needed by my neighbour's daughter for a trip to Spain... little did I realise that I would have to get through three separate sets of seams to remove them but the dress did make it to suitcase in time for the trip.


Then Sally (who had the cushion last week) asked me to create Summer rag wreath for a chum with a local cafe, so I had to sort out a bunch of gingham and floral FQs to grace the walls of the Tea Garden... and this is what I managed:

I also found some smaller hearts and I am thinking of making some really jazzy rag wreaths to hang from door handles.

I also took charge of a new toy during the week, I am now officially armed and dangerous... stand well back I have a glue gun and after a little bit of practice, I am not afraid to use it!   Now if I can just work out how to stop it dribbling like a new baby, I will be chuffed to bits, but I have to admit to taking a perverse pleasure in picking off the excess.

To get some practice in I made a couple of Kanzashi Flower brooches, using the square technique rather than the circles and I have managed to make a 1.5" flower with a modicum of swearing but I think if I try the one inch flower the air will be blue.

I had a look through my stash and found some lovely silk that I bought from the Silk Route, which I think will make some even lovelier brooches, what do you think?

So on reflection, maybe just maybe, I did do more than I thought last week.  And if you want to see what the rest of the gang have been up to, take a look at Wendy's Handmade Monday, but be warned it is very addictive seeing what everyone has been up to!