It's a Creative World

WEEKEND WORKOUT 2 - RUNNING

Hello, Eleanor here with Friday's challenge.

This week it's running stitch, probably the first stitch we all learnt.

Let's use it on paper and card as well as on fabric.

  


I have tarted up a rather dull needlecord skirt by shortening it to knee length, and embellishing it with stitches.

First I marked race tracks with a tacking stitch:

Then I threaded up my needle with all six strands of embroidery cotton and started my running stitch:

Each track I changed colour until I had five, this is the reverse, make sure to fasten each colour off securely:

Remove tacked tracks, and press, adding a little crochet motif, and it's ready to wear:

I used the same cotton thread for the crochet:

Hope you're inspired to thread that needle and get running.

Over to Dolly, I wonder if she remembers sewing running stitch on Binca at school ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dolly here. I would so love to be able to sew like Eleanor and make proper sewn fabric things - clothes that are beautiful to wear but, whilst I do remember that binca and still have a needle case I made at school, my sewing is usually of paper.

I do handstitch on layouts quite a lot, and having bought a new tool to help has inspired me even more, but I used my machine for the weekend workout this week.

 

I wanted to include a photo border to use lots of pictures and so decided to sew it in place.

 

My top tip - a cheat as usual - is to get out those chalks. I have lots of different colour thread for my machine, but I can never be bothered to change from my white cotton I use for most everything. The cheat is, sew it in white then use chalks (you remember those fab sets we all bought years ago) to colour the thread. I use a cotton bud and then when I have finished rub a very soft eraser over the top. It removes all the chalk from the papers surrounding the stitching but leaves the cotton coloured. Now I always have the matching thread I need.

Great challenge Eleanor - and maybe next time I will venture onto fabric, thought I bet it would still only be onto a page rather than clothing .... I am just too scared to try clothing!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Claireliz said last week, we're setting a new challenge every weekend on a Friday for you to play along with. The challenges are just for fun & we hope they'll give your mojo a boost, we've been having great fun with them.

We'd love to see what you create from the Friday Weekend Workout challenges, whether its a scrapbook layout, card, altered item or anything else, so if you leave us a link in the comments, we'll pop by & say hello.

Bye for now.

the girls

x

Weekend Workout 1

Hey, hey, hey, Claireliz here, how are you all? We've got something a bit new for you today here on Its A Creative World, we're going to be setting a new challenge every weekend on a Friday for you to play along with. The challenges are just for fun & we hope they'll give your mojo a boost, we've been having great fun with all of the challenges at Creative World HQ.

We'd love to see what you create from the challenges, whether its a scrapbook layout, card, altered item or anything else, so if you leave us a link in the comments, we'll pop by & say hello.

So it's my turn to set the first challenge, I decided to use a sketch as I find that's always a great starting point if I'm struggling to make stuff, so without further ado, here is my sketch

 

and here is the layout I created using the sketch...

 

I could easily adapt this sketch to create a shaped layout :D, feel free to use the sketch as it is, flip it, rotate it, anything goes, it's just there as a starting point, but most of all have fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, Eleanor here. 

I have just spent a wonderful week with my almost 21 year old daughter, and am keen to preserve the memory of it, and her special relationship with her young brother (who at 14, now towers over her).

I have used Claire's Weekend Workout sketch on the cover of a 7 inch square minibook:

I used 2 types of lace trim, machine stitching, some 7Gypsies sushi, Kraft card and my very latest obsession - a crochet motif.

As the Weekend Workouts continue through the year, I am hoping to incorporate a little crochet element in as many as I can. perfecting my technique as I go, (there's a bit of a glitch in the one above, lol) and learning new shapes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dolly here. What a great sketch Claire

It certainly kicked my mojo into action and I enjoyed creating a page with it.

This is another page for the digital album of our trip last summer to California, Nevada and Death Valley. I have a real life paper album but also a digital album with pages I have printed off at 8" x 8".

 
Nij was on the Mequite sand dunes in Death Valley and was wearing a stetson so, as we were also staying on a ranch it seemed appropriate to 'Western' it up a little.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three completely different interpretations of the same sketch; how will you play it?

Cheerio for now.