New Products

So I have to apologise for a break in blog posts, blogging has taken a backseat for the past couple of weeks, but I hope to have a new tutorial posted next week, it will be a spring themed one 🙂 However the reason i have been absent is because I have been woking on some new products, I decided to change my product range this year. After a year of doing this business full time I have been able to work out good sellers, and work out my niche. So I decided to stop making critters, it was a hard decision to say goodbye to them, but there are so many knitted textile designers who make toys I thought it was best to focus on accessory ranges instead of spreading my product range too wide. I have narrowed my products to: scarves, cushions (many sizes, more to come on that later in the year), purses and brooches. At Christmas I will still do Christmas decorations, and the brooches will start to be seasonal as well, currently I have an Easter bunny for Spring that you can buy from my online shop.

My newest addition to my range are four coin purses, aimed at the lower end of the market, they are priced at £15. They are, like the rest of my products, made of felted lambswool, they have a cotton lining and it’s blue! I decided the best way to make a cheaper purse was to make them with a zip, as the metal frame can be a fiddle, so take longer to attach to the purse, plus zips are cheaper. With this in mind I had to come up with a design that worked with zip fastening. After a few test purses I came up with the final design, a zip inserted in the front of the purse with the raw edge showing. I was pretty pleased with the design as it’s a bit different from my other purses, and I thought they looked fun. My felted lambswool is a really thick fabric that can be a pain to stitch so i needed to find a way to sew it neatly without too much bulk, as it’s a felted fabric it holds together really well, so raw edges don’t fray and I think look neat, and a bit different. Anyway, you can see the purses below and tell me if you think they are your thing or not 🙂

Luss Purse

Lochy Purse

Morar Purse

Shiel purse

All purses measure 15.5 x 9 cm. You can buy them all from my online shop 🙂

Exhibition

This morning I woke up to a very exciting email, probably one of the best wake ups I’ve had so far this year 😀 In my inbox I had an email saying my circle scarves had been selected for the exhibition ‘elements:REFINED’. This exhibition is being put together by the Surrey Guild of Craftsmen, which if you read my first blog post of the year you will know I recently became a member of the guild. The exhibition will run from May until December, it is travelling around Surrey spending a month in different towns. It will start in Milford and finishes in Woking (very convenient for me 😀 ) I’m really excited to be taking part, having my work being displayed beside some of the best crafters in Surrey is amazing. I’m hoping this exhibition will help promote my work as I think being able to see my products in person is much more important than just on a computer screen. I will post more details about the exhibition closer to the time.

These are the scarves that will be part of the exhibition:

Resipole Circle Scarf

Linnhe Circle Scarf

I hope to have better quality photos of these products soon, the Linnhe scarf is being photographed for the exhibition catalogue, so once I have new photos I will post them here 🙂

Alex the Cat Brooch

The other week I decided to make a brooch version of my critter Alex the Cat, I love making miniature versions of my critters so I can wear them around. I have a viola on my jacket and often have butterscotch adorning cardigans and tops. I love to make brooches from my felt, and although these quirky little characters aren’t made of silver or gold I think they manage to to finish off an outfit, and also cheer up your day, I know that I smile every time I see one of my little critter brooches 🙂 You can purchase your own alex brooch from my online shop for only £12. He is made from the same fabric as critter alex, knitted and felted lambswool, and is stuffed with 100% polyester.