Upsizing

Over the years my work has got smaller and smaller.  I don’t know why this is but I could speculate that the clutter I was creating in a small space with vast swathes of velvet when I made bags stressed me out or that I hate machine sewing and would rather sit curled up with a needle and thread.  There is the fact that I just love miniature things, the blankets I made for my daughter’s dolls house for instance, tiny sewing kits and bottle cap pincushions.  Whatever the reason my work is now tiny – my smallest pincushion design is 20mm in diameter!

Recently, I have had to rethink my attitude to size when a lovely customer received their mini pincushion and needlebook set and said that even though they had read the measurements in the description that they had envisaged the set to be bigger!  They were not the first person to mention this and a couple of previous customers had also mentioned that my idea of a normal size for a needle book might not measure up to everyone else’s!   As a result I had retitled all my listings online as ‘miniature’ to clarify things but for my latest customer as a leather worker with big needles, she really wanted a bigger set to use.

My biggest problem with upsizing my work apart from my attitude is the raw materials, one of the reasons that my mini pincushions are 40mm in diameter is that that’s how big milk bottle tops are and that’s what I use for the bases as there are loads of them about.  I’m not a bookbinder by any stretch and I make one size of needlebook and one size only and I got all my grey board cut in advance by a man on Ebay to 7 x 5.5 cm.  If I want to make a needlebook necklace I trim some off but I can’t make the card any bigger!

Luckily, lots of people at my kids’ school save their plastic bottle caps for me and I often do shady handovers of suspicious looking bags in the playground!  Sometimes odd sizes creep in to the bags and I put them to one side to see if they inspire any one off projects  and I had a feeling that a couple of caps from kids’ vitamin bottles might work here for my customer’s pincushion.

 As for the needle book challenge,  I don’t know why I didn’t just go to a craft shop and buy some grey board, I really don’t – I’d already removed all the backs from my old spiral notebooks and sketchpads for random things and lack of inspiration and fear of upsizing just led to procrastination and delay!  Then, from nowhere whilst sitting in the pub one tea time with my husband, came the answer!  I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before since my amazing bookbinding teacher and guru Kate Bowles often uses this exact same material but I had to wait until it was under my drink before it dawned on me!  I would like to apologise to The Busfeild Arms in East Morton for the theft of four of their beer mats but I can assure them that it was in a good cause!

Some wider lace,  a slightly different approach to the findings on the latch fastening and some tiny beads on the pincushion because the lace pattern was begging for them and here are the results!  I don’t think that I will be regularly making normally proportioned sewing equipment but for a one off it’s been rather nice to see a jumbo set and a mini set side by side!
 

Paula xxx  

Quiet work.

It's been one of those running-to-stand-still months when you feel a bit like a hamster on a wheel.  I've got behind with a few of my orders and that's bringing me down a bit.  After a slovenly Winter working everywhere and anywhere it was warm, it was time last week to put the clocks forward and get back up into the loft where my workroom is.  So with my husband's help we've cleared the desks (and the floor) and I've got on with some really productive work at last. 

Still not feeling tip top though, I really don't like to make things when I'm not feeling good so have been recharging with some quiet, enjoyable jobs.  At Yarndale last year on my birthday I bought a big bag of 3mt lengths of the cotton lace I use on most of my pincushions and needle books but all in white and cream, the reason for this was that the day before I had taken part in a natural dyeing workshop with the amazing Claire Wellesley-Smith at Clarabella and thought I would have a go at colouring it myself. 

I've generally just been using stuff I had in the house but have got some great subtle colours so far with tea, coffee and left over mulled wine from Christmas!  In the first pic the dark brown at the top of the card is the commercially dyed caramel lace in the background that's been over-dyed in a pan of mulled wine - it's a strange smell to have in the house in April but not an altogether unpleasant one!  My next job is to sow all of the dye plant seeds that I bought enthusiastically after the workshop and be a little more adventurous! Paula x

Trying again!

OK so my promise of a new and improved blogging habit never quite occurred did it?  It's been a weird kind of a year and I just couldn't seem to yank the nagging 'what about your blog lady?' fret from the back of my brain to the keyboard no matter how hard I tried.

Reading back on my previous posts on here and over on Wychbury's old blog, it's not really suprising that I dropped out for a while as my state of mind was all over the place with launching my new site and collections and I'm not convinced my posts would have been very readable!  That said, I have had one of the busiest years I have ever had since starting my creative business; I've met more people, learned more skills, tried more things, experienced, enjoyed and grown more that ever before and my business is doing pretty well too! So, had I had the capacity to put it into words I would've had LOADS to say about my year but alas - I had not!

Now seems a good time to pick back up as there have been a few things happening lately that I've thought would not only have developed nicely into blog posts but also as emails for the subscribers to my mailing list who I have so far failed to acknowledge (in a totally 'omg I've got subscribers - what do I say!??' way NOT a 'pffft, whatever' way!).   I must be ready, so - here goes!

Products - LOADS of new ones have appeared in my range this year and I've really been exploring the idea of sewing notions and tools being part of stitcher's everyday apparel and of bringing beautiful, elegant tools and accessories back into the sewing box.  I've been fascinated by ladies' sewing tools for as long as I can remember, whether it's a mother of pearl thread winder handed down three generations or the first ever pincushion made as a little girl and kept forever. 

As a child I thought that ladies' sewing boxes were secret things - like handbags, and if you got a peek in one or better yet got to tip out the button jar or put the threads in colour order you were very, very privileged indeed!  During my own lifetime, women reused anything from around the house to store their sewing things in, biscuit and toffee tins being an excellent choice for buttons and entire kits, the button jar - jam or in my mother's case - Coleman's Mustard, needlecases and pincushions were always handmade by the owner, scissors always there - never lost like mine and needles always sharp.  The inevitable cards of press studs and hooks and eyes, velcro, zips and ric-rac never to be used again but they will never, ever leave the box!  Constant, reliable, always there for a torn seam or a popped off button, secret, personal and very precious.


But it wasn't always this way, a woman's sewing kit used to say so much more!  Our Great, Great Grandmothers would speak volumes with their stitching accoutrements and well off ladies would put their elegant little Etuis right out there for all to see!  Having a beautiful little sewing kit rather than an overflowing fireside basket full of patchwork and mending showed that you were lady of leisure, that you had time and money to indulge in refined, ladylike arts like embroidery and if your sewing tools were very fine then your embroidery probably was too!

The Shire publication Needlework and Embroidery Tools by Eleanor Johnson is a great source of info on the subject and one of my fave birthday pressies of last year!

I love the idea!  Proclaiming to the world with a visual accessory - 'I sew, therefore I am modern and creative with time on my hands, I am also dextrous, clever,  patient and serene...ALL the wonderful qualities we associate with that image of a woman sitting with her embroidery hoop in a sunlit window seat  - what could be nicer!? 

Although I'm not any of those things, I do love that people who know me know that I sew, that I make things and I love doing it.  I love that when I started wearing one of my 'Cross Your Heart' pincushion brooches on my coat that strangers would ask me about it and I could tell THEM that I sew things and I love doing it.  The idea for my first pincushion ring came from Johhny Depp's Mad Hatter costume.  'Alice in Wonderland' costume designer Colleen Atwood said that she really wanted his costume to visually include all the tools of his profession - there is NO mistaking that he's a Hatter!

In response to this idea, my collections now include tiny 2cm pincushion necklaces, needlebooks on chains, new designs in rings and brooches and even more sewing wearables are on the way including scissor case necklaces, biscornu's for the neck and as scissor fobs, chatelaine pieces and I'm working on a design for an entire Etui for the stitcher on the go so here's to a productive 2014

Paula x

How I made them - Fabric Hearts Jewellery

A week or so ago on Wychbury's facebook page I promised to share the techniques I used to create my fabric hearts jewellery in my first ever tutorial - so here it is!

NOTE : You are going to be heating metal on your stove so please PLEASE take care!

You will need :

Jewellery settings - there are loads on Etsy, remember that you will be covering a similar shape with fabric so simple shapes will work best.  The patina of your settings may change when you heat them so bear that in mind when thinking about the look of your jewellery - it may end up looking vintage whether you expected that or not! It's also advisable to avoid any settings that already contain soft soldered elements as these will most likely drop to bits when you heat them up!

Fabric - Choose a pattern that has elements in it that will nicely fit your settings.
A plastic milk carton with a flat area - this stuff is flexible, easy to cut and waterproof should your jewellery ever need a bit of a wash!
Double sided tape
A hot glue gun
Small sharp scissors
Pliers or tweezers
A gas stove

Start by cutting a flat section from your milk carton big enough to cut out templates from all of the settings you want to work with.  Place a folded cloth that you don't mind getting singed on a flat surface with your milk carton piece on top.  Holding a setting by its bale or loop with your pliers or tweezers, heat it gently in the flame of your stove - you want it hot enough to melt into your plastic but not burn it.  Drop each hot setting face down on to your plastic and press it down with your pliers so that it melts into the plastic - sounds obvious but DON'T TOUCH IT!

Once your settings have all cooled down, remove each one from the plastic and trim the resulting shapes carefully with small scissors.  I've used curved nail scissors on mine as they followed the curve of the hearts shapes really well.  You may well find that some of your shapes have melted too much and shrunk away from the setting so they no longer fit,  this means your setting was too hot - no worries though, it's a milk carton, just try again!


 
You will be coming back to the flame one more time but for now that's the dangerous part over!  Take each one of your plastic shapes and cover it with a piece of double sided tape.  Trim the tape to the edge of the shape and peel off the backing.    Position your shape where you want it on the wrong side of your fabric, you should be able to see through the plastic to a certain extent to make it easier to get your placement just right. 

Next, trim your fabric to shape with enough allowance to fold back around the edges of the plastic.  Using your hot glue gun, fold the edges of your fabric around your plastic shape trying to get the edge on the right side as neat as you can.  The wrong side is going to be inside your setting so can be as messy as you like!

 You'll notice that your shape may be a little concave at this point, this is due to the heat of the glue and the tightness of the fabric around it.  This is actually a good thing as when you press your 'cabochon' into your setting your fabric will be nice and smooth.  To begin with - put a nice big blob of hot glue on the wrong side of your shape right in the middle but not up to the edges, when it's re-heated the glue will spread out to fill the setting and create a nice cushioned shaped under the fabric-covered insert.  Place the shape with its big blob of glue carefully into your setting - your edges will all be sticking outside the setting at this point
Using your scissors or similar tool, ease the edges of your fabric-covered shape inside your setting.  The 'cabochon' will now be more convex but possibly a little lumpy!

To smooth the appearance of your pendant and to ensure that the glue has properly adhered, gently reheat your setting over the stove once more, taking care to expose only the metal directly to the flame and not the fabric.  You don't need it as hot this time - the glue will melt at a much lower temperature than the plastic did.

Once heated, drop your pendant fabric side down onto a flat surface and press down gently with a cloth to smooth the shape.  A glass surface is great as not only is it flat but you can have a look at the fabric side to make sure you are happy with it, I've used a tea-light holder here.

 Leave your pieces to cool for a moment, remove any excess glue with the tip of your scissors taking care
 not to scratch your setting and enjoy making up your jewellery! 

Paula x

Q : What do you Make?

A : Textile based jewellery and accessories... and pincushions - that you can wear!  

Last year I started thinking about selling my products to trade buyers and know this is the question I will have to answer - way better than that! I already work with several wonderful galleries on a sale or return basis but was becoming aware of how difficult this way of selling can be to keep on top off in terms of cash flow. Local shops, not for profit organisations, co-ops and similar are by far the best way to start out selling your handmade products, particularly if you are helping to support something worthwhile at the same time. However, as you expand, producing enough work to keep a larger number of SOR shops stocked up becomes harder and harder to do if no money changes hands in the first instance.

It is also true that many of us find the switch to wholesale difficult because it feels less 'handmade' to produce the same item in large numbers to then sell at a trade price. The almost apologetic phrase I paste over and over in my retail listings is  

PLEASE NOTE, Our products are completely handmade often using vintage materials therefore are not identical. You may not receive the exact item pictured but we make them as similar as is possible with our human hands!

So yikes - what if I need to make 25 pincushion rings for a wholesale order and no two will be completely alike, they'll send half of them back because the cushions are slightly higher on some than others, there are those few where the lace is a millimeter higher than the rest and that hand-stamped motto is just too sloppy on at least ten of them......oh wait, I said 'hand-stamped' didn't I?   I did say that - and that's what my buyer will be ordering, they know that when they arrange the items made by 50 or so UK designer-makers in their gallery that every single one is as individual as the person that made it AND the person that buys it and that's the point.

Thinking about wholesale for a varied range of small items like mine does mean I need to pare down my collections into what is repeatable and cost effective to allow for that 100% mark up and the dreaded VAT, also into what is commercial.  Yesterday I went to BCTF  - (that's British Craft Trade Fair for those not 'in the industry'!) and the question that nagged me throughout was this - How in the world am I going to put my homely, sewing boxy, vintagy pieces with their tea stained packaging into one of these here stark white boxes and make it look like something buyers might want in their gallery?  

I'm still not sure I have all the answers but there was so much diversity in the work on display (as there is in the galleries themselves) that despite being a bit overwhelmed by the size of the event and the quality of the exhibitors' work, I actually left with lots of ideas to work on and plenty of food for thought.  The organiser Margeret Bunn covered the long and short of making and selling handmade to trade buyers in a brief yet very informative talk and I was relieved to discover that I was not far off the mark at all with my own pricing and terms and that Margeret is behind her makers every step of the way -  good to know!

So I have more or less finished this website of mine,  improved  my Wholesale Catalogue, am crossing Ts and dotting Is on my terms and conditions and gearing up for BCTF 2014!

Paula x

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand, spanking, shiny new site! Wychbury Designs is my very exciting solo project with a focus on custom collections, weddings and wholesale work. If you have followed me over from Wychbury's sites then you will know a bit about me already - if not please take do a look around while you're here!

On this blog I'll be talking mainly about my own work, events, new collections and news as I develop my ranges and stick my head further above the creative parapet in an attempt to make a living as a designer of handmade things! I'll also be writing about what it's like to be a maker in Yorkshire at the moment, the amazing and creative people I know and work with and what's happening around this area. You can read my previous posts on Wychbury's blog to find out how the devil I got here in the first place!

In the meantime, stay tuned with Lesley and I on all of Wychbury's social media feeds as well as on Etsy and Folksy, you'll find all the clickables in the sidebar over there >>

More musings soon!
Paula x