OK, so don’t get excited. The craft fair was a total bust. I was a bit sad about it because I’d been so excited, but these things happen.
I was very proud of the way my stall looked. I went into this with my friend Lenka, who bakes beautiful cakes, and we were supposed to be sharing a stall, but when we arrived they’d given us an extra long pair of tables as someone had called in sick. Continue reading
My friend Lenka (who makes the yummy cakes) and I have decided to go to a craft fair together at the end of this month. Well, not just go together. Exhibit together. Sell together!
They don’t usually allow you to share a table, but I begged very nicely as it was Baby Brain‘s first one, and they’ve let us do it if we mix up our stock, which is jolly nice of them (can you tell I’ve been reading Enid Blyton to Scarlett recently?).
I’ve got a bit of an advantage on Lenka in that my stock doesn’t spoil or go off, nor do I have to wait until the days before to start preparing, but I’m still struggling to find the time to add to my little stock collection. I’m also attempting to make some Baby Brain bunting (in the style of my logo!) to go on the front of our tablecloth! Barry’s going to Germany with work next week, which might be the opportunity I need to catch up on my sewing.
Dresses, bags and bibs is what I’ll be selling on the day, and I’m also taking along my baby birth details prints and an example of a button monogram for the table (but those are obviously made to bespoke requirements); Lenka has a list as long as your arm of delicious delights, including something I haven’t tried before: cake in a jar. Pinterest it. It’s going to be amazing!
I’ve already made Scarlett a little Baby Brain dress and nappy cover so she can run round like a mini advertising board! She models so well!
Come and say hello if you’re in the area, full event details are here. We’d love to see you!
I was recently a bridesmaid for my beautiful friend Charlie, and what a wedding!
I (among many people) made various bits for the wedding, including baking this collection of buns to look like a wedding dress for the hen do (it received good reviews from Charlie’s auntie) and sewing the tie for Charlie’s two-year old son for the big day.
I also made a couple of bits towards their wedding present, including a Mr and Mrs framed photographic print and Mr and Mrs bunting (notice a theme?). We gave them those (along with a picnic basket that I really wanted to 
keep!) the week before the wedding, but I didn’t realise they’d feature on the big day too!
Neil, the talented photographer from our own big day (who is also a friend) was also the photographer for our friends’ wedding (he’s the groom’s brother). His wife, Amy, helps him with the photography business and is aspiring to become a wedding planner – my bunting got a nod in her recent blog post! Click here if you would like to have a gander, and that beautiful cake at the end? My friend Lenka made that. What a lovely wedding!
I’m enjoying sewing so much at the minute! I love that you can turn a pile of fabric, ribbon and lace into something you can be pretty proud of, in not much time (a naptime for me!).
When I pick Scarlett up from nursery, I seem to be gathering little items up and balancing them, or stuffing them into various pockets, so I thought it may be handy to have a drawstring bag to hold her change of clothes, comforter, note, bib, etc., at the end of the day.
I bought this fabric this week, I thought this red ribbon would really pop against the blue, and I still have some of the broderie anglaise lace left from when I made her party dress.
Et voilà! I’m really proud of this – so proud, I think I might add this to my repertoire for Baby Brain. Speaking of which, I’ve just opened a Facebook Store, please nip over and check it out!
My desk in the study, which I don’t think I’ve ever shown you, is looking rather busy at the moment. Since my sewing machine arrived on my desk, I’ve been sewing project after project.
Other than Baby Brain creations, my machine’s been whirring away on bunting recently. I have a trip planned to Ikea in the next week, to have a look at some storage solutions – as you can see, it’s overflowing with buttons, fabric and paperwork!
I’ve gone a bit button-mad recently. I always had a big box of buttons, which originally came from my Nanna for my 11th birthday – she had a haberdashery shop in Hull. Over the years, I’ve added tons of those little plastic packets that you get off clothes, cut them off coats and bags that were being binned, and generally just threw them all the general direction of said box.
Anyway, great news for the sad little buttons, especially the ones that have been hanging around since 1993. As part of my plan to take over the baby gift world (alright, a corner will do me just nicely, thank you), I’m now offering a new product – button monograms!
Yes, it’s essentially a letter made out of buttons. This “S” I made Scarlett is particularly sentimental, because I know where most of these buttons are from, so I look at it, thinking, “that belonged to a coat I had when I lived in France”; “I loved that bag!” or “I’ve still got that top, hope a button doesn’t fall off it”. Hopefully, you’ll look at it and think it’s pretty cool too.
In breaking news, my website is now live too, so come over and have a gander: www.babybrainboutique.co.uk.
I’m very excited to tell you that I’ve just opened a shop on Facebook. It’s initially selling prints of baby names and birth details, and will go onto sell babies’ and children’s clothing shortly. If you remember the sewing hassle I had with the supergirl boots, worry not, Barry, being the lovely husband he is, is giving me the lovely gift of a sewing machine for my birthday at the end of next month, so no more trying to handcrank the machine and guide at the same time! I did have a bit more success with the nursery chair reupholstering (with Charlie’s electric machine).
I’ve called it Baby Brain because that’s mostly what I have at the moment, and I’m sure other mums will appreciate the feeling! I also have my baby on the brain most of the time, and making clothes and prints for her and other babies would make me happy.
So, if you have a spare minute to come and like my page, I’d very much appreciate it. I’m hoping to run a competition soon for a free print, so watch this space. Well, not this space here. This space… www.facebook.com/BabyBrainBoutique. See you on the other side!
Not for mine, I’ve been married ages, but I’ve been wedding dress shopping with two different brides in the last few weeks. Both of them are gorgeous and slim, and all of the dresses look amazing on them; so amazing, in fact, that it makes me want to get married again! Still to Barry, don’t worry.
Confession – I actually had three wedding dresses as it is: one I never wore, one I had to buy quickly as we got married at short notice as my dad was ill, and another for a blessing with our friends and family as the vicar wouldn’t let me wear my actual wedding dress. So it’s not like I didn’t have the opportunity! Lace is in at the moment though, and I have a little regret about how plain my actual wedding dress was, even though that’s exactly what I wanted at the time.
After I got married, I started thinking about what a great thing it would be to have a wedding dress shop and make all those brides so happy! I’d serve champagne, and I would cry when they tried the dress on, maybe even design a few dresses… I’m looking at it through rose tinted glasses. It would probably be more like me trying to clean fake tan and foundation off the delicate necklines and getting done for serving alcohol to underage relatives.
My new idea is sewing for little people. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself – I’ve asked my lovely husband for a sewing machine for my birthday (one that I don’t have to turn by hand!) and I have lots of grand ideas of making clothes for Scarlett, and if I turn out to be any good, making them for other tots too.
I may get lambasted for this by the pro-craft crowd, but I’m a bit embarrassed to admit… my name’s Michelle and I like to cross-stitch. Lambasted for the embarrassment, not for the sewing itself. I’m not getting any time to do it at the moment, but I started a baby sampler for Scarlett’s room before she was born and I am going to try my best to finish it soon. Before she’s five. Definitely before she’s ten. Would it be a nice graduation present?
I love doing little bits as gifts for people, I’ve only ever had them gratefully received as I think you can see the time, work and care that goes into them. I’ve sewn cards, bookmarks, and framed pictures, small and large. I’ve made quite a few birth samplers, including one that I started when I was about fourteen or fifteen and took me years to complete. It was around A3 sized and a lot of it was a deep blue – I remember clearly taking care over every stitch. Couldn’t wait to start another colour.
I’ve just finished the back cushion for the nursing chair. I sewed it much the same as the seat cushion, except it was much thinner, so I managed to sew the fourth side closed, rather than having to use velcro like I did with the seat.
I tried to judge where the tabs were to attach it to the chair by eye, just looking at the old cushion cover. This went drastically wrong, and the velcro was hanging on by the skin of its metaphorical teeth because the tabs were in the wrong place.
When Barry then yanked the cushion off the seat (WHY?) on the day I finished it, I then burst into tears and had a bit of a paddy. Mostly baby-related, I’m sure. I’ve now taken the tabs off and reattached them, using the chair as a guide this time instead of, erm, nothing.
The arms have also now been completed. These were made from scratch with some foam I bought from eBay. The previous arm cushions had three press studs on the underside of each arm to hold them in place, so I also bought some silver coloured heavy duty studs from eBay that I hoped would fit the same studs (they did, phew!).
I sewed a pocket into the cushions (as the previous ones had them, although I’m not sure I’ll use them), and used the sewing machine to close all four sides. When the heavy duty studs arrived, it turns out they weren’t long enough to go through several layers of heavy duty upholstery fabric, so Barry tested them and it turned out they can go through two layers. I had to unpick one side of the sewing I’d done, Barry got to work in a manly fashion to hammer the studs into place, and then I resewed (is that a word?) that side closed.
It’s not amazing craftsmanship, so you can’t look too closely, but I am very proud of this chair! I’m hoping when the weather brightens up a bit, Barry will take up the painting mantle and paint it white.
Just waiting now for some staples to arrive and we can do the last part – the stool.