Cushion spring offer

I'm running a super duper ***SPRING OFFER*** for cushions on Button Fayre's Facebook page which is very exciting. 
Each cushion is a fixed price of £30 for a limited period only and so if you've been looking for something unique for yourself, or as a gift, then look no further.

If you'd like to benefit from this offer then please do send me a message to discuss requirements and cat cushions are always popular but I love having a go at anything.

This offer runs until 15th April 2015 and you can get in touch with me on either of the the links below.

www.buttonfayre.com

www.facebook.com/ButtonFayre


I wrote a lovely blog post about general things happening with Button Fayre recently, yesterday, and that's on my website blog ( link above ) if you'd like to have a read.

See you soon!

Lucy x

Bean Bag Tutorial

My children are on their two week half term and it's been pretty miserable outside, we've even had snow on occassions!

So, what better way to encourage indoor play ( and develop hand/eye co-ordination and fine motor skills ) than to get sewing some simple bean bags....easy peasy.

This is a very simple, and fast, tutorial that anyone can do, even with limited sewing skills.  The best part is that if you don't have a sewing machine you can still do it with a needle and thread which may take a little longer but will be worth the wait.

Enjoy!

Step one :  Cut out square or rectangular shapes with fabric ( I used a mix of vintage and modern fabrics for mine ).  Measurements don't really matter as long as your edges are even and I measured mine at 10cm x 15cm for the rectangular ones and 10cm x 10cm for the square ones.

Step two :  Fold each cut shape in half and simply sew around the edges, making sure to leave a gap large enough to put your rice in ( this will be sewn up last ).

You will be left with something resembling this.

Trim the edges and cut away the corners but be careful not to cut into the stitching.  Then turn the right way around ready to stuff.

Step three :  Half fill each sewn shape with rice, or any dried food ( half because there needs to be room for manoeuvre when thrown around ).

Step four :  Tuck the open edges ( the gap you left ) inside and then sew right along that edge, making sure you secure the ends properly.

*  The gap could be hand sewn closed for a neater finish.


You should end up with some bean bags resembling these, yay!

Why not try adding faces, whiskers, buttons, in fact, any kind of embellishments to make the bean bags fun?!
Here's a couple of cat additions I've added to the collection and my 3 year old twins have played with these rather a lot in the last few days since I made them.  They've been used in catching games, play kitchen games and even put into the back of dumper trucks.

Have fun with your children and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

Lucy x

Giveaway time on Button Fayre!

I've, very shamefully, been meaning to write a quick blog about this giveaway for a week now and just haven't found the time but better late than never I say!

So, this is just a quickie to let you know that Button Fayre on Facebook is currently running a beautiful giveaway for a cushion like this, head on over now to enter as there's  still a week left.

The ' Flirty Birdy ' design is so vibrantly beautiful and will be available as cushion designs, lampshades, placemats, coasters, pencil cases, make-up bags and more....in fact, I'd love to find the time to make myself a pair of curtains eventually using this design!

I'm feeling very humbled by all of the wonderful comments, compliments and shares so far for this giveaway and am very lucky and never forget this fact because setting up a business is scary stuff, building it up is extremely hard work ( and even scarier at times! ) and then maintaining it all and regularly networking and building relationships is so important to me and something every business should do.  
I've over 12,000 likes on my Facebook business page now and boy have I worked for every single one of them but more importantly, I've loved meeting wonderful new people, many of them like-minded, and making friendships along the way....it's one of the main things that keeps me going with it all and really does make me feel so happy.

Best of luck to all who enter this giveaway.

Lucy x

Brand new cushion design for 2015 is complete

I'm so super excited, the cushion is complete and I've called it ' Yippetty Yo-Yo Flower ' cushion.

I hope you've enjoyed me on this blog journey through the progress of designing and sewing this up, it's taken it's time and has had to be done in several stages but it's a breath of colourful fresh air and will be hard to part with.

Using a few different techniques including freehand machine embroidery, 3D yo-yo flower shapes, fabric paints and lots of hand sewing, it's so scrummy and makes you want to eat it, he he he.

It's now for sale over at Button Fayre on Facebook if you want to give it a new home.

Happy Saturday!

Lucy x

Huge progress made on the new cushion design and snow!

I'm not sure whether to speak about the new cushion design first or the fact that we have snow as I love the snow!

Let's get the snow part over with and I have a lovely photo to prove it...the snowflakes today were almost the size of golf balls and I don't think I've ever seen them so big, it was fabulous.

In hindsight I should have taken a photo from the back of the house as the rolling hills and trees are gorgeous when they're all covered in snow, well, actually they're gorgeous all year round.

Now to the cushion design and I'm still not sure what to call this, maybe ' Yo Yo Flower Power '?
This has taken me all week to cut, prepare and sew and so I've done it in stages and am so happy to have almost finished, there's just the little beads to sew onto the flower centres now and I may have a play with fabric paint around the bird tails later too, I'll see.

Here it is so far and I hope you've enjoyed the progress of this design.

It's quite a strong design built up with lots of gorgeous colour and I'm quite certain that once I've sewn it up into a cover, added pom pom trim to the edges and then added the cushion that it'll look smashing.

This will be up for sale as soon as it's complete and so keep an eye out on Button Fayre's Facebook page for updates.

Have a super week-end!

Lucy x

Progress photos and how new fabrics fill your head with new ideas

I've very recently started on a brand new cushion design and the first of 2015.  I did write about it in the previous blog post but thought it'd be interesting to come back to it in terms of progress as that subject always fascinates me and like Button Fayre is continually evolving, so does a design.

I, more often than not, have an actual idea in my mind that I stick to but the exciting thing about the design process is that there's always rooms for new ideas to come in at any second and also the fact that sometimes the idea you had in your mind doesn't look so good in reality...yes, this does happen to me.

So, here's a reminder of the first afternoon spent on making a start on this design before I show you the next photo and explain what's going on in it.

From an artist's point of view, it always amazes me how long a design actually takes, sometimes even longer than the sewing itself!  So much thought goes into every last detail, even at this stage, from which fabrics to use and where to place them in terms of colour and fabric design...it can get confusing sometimes and I often find myself going around in circles because something just doesn't look quite right and then two hours later I've realised that one tiny piece of the design just didn't look right or one button colour wasn't placed correctly ( and of course, all of this coming from my imagination too because what's right for one person may not be for another ).

Here's the progress photo and I love it, it's really taking shape now.

It may not look as though much has been added but the hours in the thought processes are evident and I love this stage because it brings me back to my roots of art and design which I've always adored with a passion  ' placing this here and adding that there ' ......it's so exciting!

I've added the toadstools which have to be freehand machine embroidered but first I'll need to use fabric paint to hand paint stripes to the bottoms to give it an extra touch...I did this in another cushion design and it was really effective.
I need to freehand machine embroider the flowers to the left and right, above the toadstools, and also sew on the main flower stem which will be pretty fiddly.  The birds are straightforward enough but I'm mostly looking forward to sewing the main body of the large flower head because it's something different to what I'd usually do and to make sure that each yo-yo flower shape is properly fixed I'm going to machine sew them in to place first and then hand sew each button to the centre's.  Oh my goodness, the buttons, oh the buttons.  They took me hours to get right in terms of colours and placements.  There are extra buttons and sequiins in between it all, that I'll hand sew on, and I was going to add small button centres to the bottom flowers but decided it looked too much and took the focus off the large flower which is of course the main attraction of this design.  I'll freehand machine embroider pretty centres to each of those instead which will give another visual feast to look at.
I think this design is fascinating in it's complexity and I can't wait to show you the next progress photo!

Moving on to fabrics....I have so many of them, and love nothing more than to be able to pick and choose which I'd like to use when I'm designing, but there's something quite magical about choosing new fabrics, and then of course receiving them.
A couple of times a year I'm known to have a bit of a fabric outburst where I'll go a little bit mad on specialised websites for new fabrics but these are actually the moments that I can waste money and never use some of them which is such a shame.  So, I do tend to be a careful fabric shopper most of the time, only purchasing either something I've seen that screams at me to buy it there and then or something I need.  I also tend to only buy a couple of fat quarter's ( half a metre ) at a time to test the fabric out because I can't think of anything worse than receiving metres of fabrics that aren't what I'd hoped they would be.  If I love them, and find I can use them easily in my designs, then I'll simply buy more.

I found this recently on one of my favourite fabric websites and fell in love with it.  It's nothing hugely special in actual design but a wonderful alternative to the gingham I'll often use as the base.  I can imagine it with bright flowers all over it, really scrummied up.  What do you think?

Brand new fabrics are so wonderful at making your mind feel refreshed, giving you inspiration and new ideas and so it's great to treat yourself once in a while.

I'd better toodle off now as I've got a few things to sew up and of course the new cushion design to continue working on....the sooner I'm finished, the sooner I can show you all the end result!

Happy Monday!

Lucy x

New design in the making

I really love it when a new design is underway...the excitement of your original idea, the planning and then finally the actual cutting out and placing of fabrics, buttons, etc.

This is just a quick post about a brand new design, the first of 2015 for Button Fayre, woohoooo.

Things are looking good, even if it's snowing outside ( but I can't complain because I adore the snow ) and the summer is definately on my mind.

This new design will be a colourful addition to an already beautifully vibrant collection of cushions with one difference, the use of yo-yo flowers to add real texture to the overall cushion.  Doing this gives a 3D effect and scope for lots of fun and so I can't wait until the whole thing is complete but for now a day has been spent getting this far and it's looking wonderful.

There's still so much to do, lots of petal shapes to cut out and place, the birds to be added and decorated, toadstools along the bottom and other pretty flowers and shapes...oh, and not forgetting once the machine sewing's complete I can hand sew all buttons and sequins.  

I think it's going to be a stunner and so stay posted for progress photos on Facebook and more news.

www.facebook.com/buttonfayre

Button Fayre's also on Pinterest and so take a look there too for some summertime inspiration on this winter's day and most of all, have fun.

Stay warm,

Lucy x