Welcome to Allsorts, the cheery little blog of Jenny B Harris... illustrator, designer, and generally artsy craftsy person. This is where I share projects, ideas and such, and natter on about this and that. I love all things stitchy, papery and vintage. Pull up a comfy chair and have a cup of tea!
Oh my, Miss Claire of Loobylu fame has given birth! Not to her second bambino (although that joyous event is nearly upon us as well) but to the cutest, most adorably fun new website! It's called Kiddley (she comes up with the neatest names) and it promises to be a source of great ideas for kiddies and parents, or anyone who loves kids! There are clever craft ideas like quickie pototo people...
And Claire sprinkles her utterly charming illustrations throughout, like this one for a read-aloud book list... As always, she is amazing, and I can't wait to add this neato blog to my daily rounds. Well done Claire!
I'm not usually into pastels, but when I decided to make this lambkin from the pattern so generously shared by Vicki, my normal palette seemed a little over the top. So I went with white felt and baby pink stitches. The pale aqua turquoise buttons jumped into my cart, I swear, then I found this scrap of vintage ribbon in my gran's sewing box in exactly the same color, so it seemed like it was meant to be.
Too sweet? Perhaps. But I think she's pretty cute just the same.
It is a gloriously beautiful day, and I'm in the mood for some fresh, Springy activities! I scored some lovely hankies recently, and got the urge to give them a wash and a quick press, and set up a fun photo shoot out in the courtyard. I suppose I am really a frustrated photo stylist at heart, because the desire for the photos came before the idea to wash the darn things. But I think of all the images I've seen in magazines, with the fresh linens fluttering on the line and so forth, and I wanted my own little piece of that. Plus I get to use my teensy clothespins again and you know how much I love that! Woohoo!
So I give you... hankies on the line...
Fluttering even!
Which is problematic if you're trying to take pictures...
The detail on this one is amazing, tiny embroidered ribbons and bows.
I can't get over the amount of work that went into these. Isn't it wild to think of how ladies (and gents) used to always carry a handkerchief? But I am glad they did, because now there are so many wonderful ones out there, just waiting to be bought for a song. Like this one...
So there you have it! A little hanky panky in the garden! ;o)
Cheers,
Jenny
ps - I use Vintage Soak for the various linen items I've accumulated. It is amazing!
Finally I can show you something that I have actually made! Its been ages since I sewed my last softie, and cobwebs were growing on my pins and needles. But I was inspired by the lambkin made by Vicki, from the pattern she posted here, and I began to make one of my own. But somewhere along the line I finally got it, how you make a flat softie into one with two ears instead of one, four legs instead of two, and that will actually... gasp... stand up! So poor lambkin has been neglected while I fiddled with my much loved scotty dog pattern and managed to come up with this! Okay, even I admit this is pretty darn cute.
He has two ears...
And a cute little doggy tushie...
Because this little guy makes me silly-happy, I want to share him with everyone! So I made a pattern for you to make your own litter of scotty dog pups.
This pattern is now licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. You are allowed to sell hand made items made using this pattern providing you give attribution to Jenny B Harris and where possible link back to this web page:
Please note that since I like to sew with felt, there are no seam allowances included, so if you want to make yours from fabric, you'll need to add that. The directions are pretty much the same as for Vicki's lambkin, except the best place to leave an opening for stuffing is his back, between the base of the neck and tail. I would also suggest you sew the head gusset and head first, and stuff those before you sew the rest of the body as it is difficult to reach once the bottom is closed up.
And if you like, you can always use just the outer body pattern and make a flat scotty, like this one...
Please let me know if you make one, I'd love to see! I set up a Scotty Softie group on Flickr, so I hope you will share photos of your pups!
