Just a quick post to show off my latest creation!
I have seen these style of pillows a lot on Pinterest and I love them, I just had to make some for the shop. This one is the first I have made, I am really happy with how it came out. It is made from soft unbleached cotton and a bright white doily. What do you think? Do you like it?

Shabby Chic round pillow

 I will be making more in different colours and listing them on Etsy as and when they are complete and I can get good photos. All these dull cloudy days mean I can not take good clear photos in natural light and I do not like to use the lights I have as they get very hot. Any ways I better run I have lots of sewing to do today.


Love Clara x

                               Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

Today I am spring cleaning!

Spring cleaning should be invigorating and lively, right? Well not for me as I am trying to spring clean my huge pile of fabrics and ribbons. I have made a huge mess and will need to hoover to rid my place of loose threads and bits of fabric. I have sorted out the ones I am not using, the ones I will use and those that I simply can not let go of, yet, if ever. As a crafter I love squirrelling away supplies for future brain waves that will actually be made in to a project to be sold, and some pieces I just hoard as they are too pretty. As I have said before I own many vintage ribbons, pieces of lace and crochet doilies that are too beautiful to cut or to create with as I have not yet come up with a fitting design for them. But alas today is the day when I shall actually photo and measure some pieces of fabric that I know I will not use. So I will put them up in my Etsy shop and hope they quickly find a great owner who will make them in to something wonderful and use them till they can not be used any more.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/176802541/destash-fabric-de-stash-linen-yarn-dyed?ref=listing-shop-header-0

Day off?

So I work four days a week to make sure the bills are paid each month. But my passion is sewing and making! Sadly my passion does not make enough money for me to do it full time and pay the bills, hopefully one day it will. Today was my second day off in a row and I had the desire to sew after resting yesterday. I find if I am tired or rushed I can not be creative at all. But more of this in a later blog post. On the days when I am too tired to create I just gather ideas on my boards on Pinterest. (http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade)  My gosh how I love that site. All the pretty images collected together. I find them so appealing that sometimes I forget to blink for ages staring at the screen I have boards for Shabby Chic, white shabby chic (my favourite board), for linens and lace (ooo this is also my favourite board) for baskets and colourful objects, for pretty buildings and for industrial pieces I am in love with, plus more, so take a peek via the link above. I also read lots of blogs and I will look through www.etsy.com for hours adding favourites and making lists of items I want to buy.
I always have scraps of paper laying around with lists on. The lists include: Supplies I need to buy, things I want, things I NEED, ha ha ha my needs are never ever anything practical this list is in fact the pretty objects I must must must own as soon as I can afford them or find them if they are vintage/ antique. My biggest list, and the one that gets made and remade several times and never ever get completed is my things to make list! I find writing down what I want to make, with a quick sketch really helps when I have time away from the day job. It focus' my mind and steers me in the right direction. Otherwise I can waste a whole day trying to make a decision on which piece of lace I love the least so I can bare to cut it up to make something else from it. Or which piece of linen/ cotton I should use. The lists help me keep that clarity. Today was such a day where I actually crossed some things off my lists. In short it was a great day!
I made a new pocket pillow for my Etsy shop and I took the photos for another piece and I listed a vintage display case. So not really a day off as I was still working of sorts. But I was working on my passion and that is never a wasted day or a day spent in vain. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do something I adore, and I squeal with delight when someone purchases one of my items as I know nothing is promised or forever. But that is another story for another day. Thank you for reading.

Love Clara


Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade
Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/166199375/remote-holder-pillow-pocket-pillow-doily?ref=shop_home_active_21

Handmaking and selling

Today I made a new pillow for sale in my Etsy shop, but once it was completed I was struggling to list it for sale, not because I physically couldn't do it or because of a bad Internet connection but because I loved it so much!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/175269562/white-decorative-pillow-appliqued-doily?ref=shop_home_active_1

Sometimes as a maker of one off items and when I purchase vintage items for sale this is what happens. I love unique one offs and I struggle to let them go. I have to convince my self about the new happy home they are going to!
What a silly billy I am. I hope you like my new item here a few photos of the making of it.

Love Clara x



Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade/
Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

Shabby Chic

What does Shabby Chic mean to you?
To me it means a decorating style, although shabby and chic do not normally go together, in fact they kind of clash. But when incorporated in home décor who can deny the beauty? Something that is chic is not normally shabby. This style has been around a long long time in Europe, where we appreciate well loved pieces:
Colours are pastel shades like blush pink, ecru, lavender, stone and ivory
Fabrics are: linens, faded velvets, cottons, ticking, lace and crochet thread made in to lace ribbons and delightful doilies.

A stack of white doilies

Patterns: of roses, peonies, country scenes, elegant birds of paradise decorate walls in wall paper or in oil paintings, pictures, wall hangings, decorations and ornaments.

a Rococo style frame with a picture of peonies and roses.

chipped painted swallow, vintage find in Essex.

Finishes on furniture are soft paint, wax, distressed, Rococo swirls and carved wood

It is relaxed, soft, romantic, opulent.

my humble chandelier in shabby chic style

a painted wooden frame with a Mother of Pearl heart

 Think of cottage gardens, gentle sea foam waves of the sea across the sand. 

It is about taking comfort and not worrying that imperfection makes something ugly. It is about embracing vintage pieces and objects. Shabby chic is about loving old velvet cushions that have thread bare edges and your grandma's set of china that is mismatched and has seen many parties and breakages and additions added to it along the years. Shabby chic does not span one period of time, it is not Victorian, nor just Rococo it can work in many styles of homes and houses. It is about loving the old and maybe reusing it in a way other than what was originally intended. Like the frame and heart above, the frame was a charity find for 30 pence, I re painted it to fit in with my colour scheme and the heart is handmade. I have married them to together to make something I find beautiful. Another example is the odd tea cup and saucer, perhaps this is the last surviving piece from this set, so who ever owns has re purposed it so they can carry on enjoying the piece.

image taken from google images

What does Shabby Chic mean to you? 

Love Clara x

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade/
Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade