Saturday, January 31, 2015

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


Friday, January 30, 2015

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


Monday, January 26, 2015

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




Saturday, January 24, 2015

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.


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


Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The more the merrier


So much has been going on in recent months, more of which you can read and get up to date about on my other blog attached to my website www.buttonfayre.com 

I'm very excited to have almost reached 12,000 likes on my Facebook page, it's incredible and such a huge accomplishment, and I'm even more excited that so many of these people have become firm friends whether they're clients or other business owners.  
Facebook really is a wonder and we all have a bit of a moan about it now and then but where would we be without it?  It's opened up so many new doors for me, so many opportunities, and I'll always be grateful for that.

This blog post is all about showing off some work from 2014, a year full of challenges and promises for me.  Here goes....


I adore these brooches and they're a fresh, brand new, design for 2015.  I'll let you in to a secret and if you're reading this then you're one of the first to know!  I'm going to be using the yo you flower theme a lot in some new cushion designs I have planned....and I'm not giving any more away than that, he he he.  
Orders for these can be placed by contacting me on my Facebook page and they make wonderful accessories to brighten up any coat or outfit, plus wonderful gifts too!



I'm currently in the process of designing and sewing up quite a few of these ' Hooly Hoop Art ' pieces which are new, modern, versions of the original Button Fayre ' Hooly Hoop ' design.  They're very exciting and a wonderful addition to any wall.



This beautiful textile art piece was a real favourite of mine in 2014, so much so that it stayed on my wall for quite some time before I was tempted to sell it.
I've always loved mixing old and new, vintage and modern.  This style works well for me because the excitement of using something old with something brand new is just too much, I love the heavy contrast, even in something as simple as an old antique frame with a new textile art piece inside it.


Yes, I do sew other items apart from cushions and textile art pieces.  In fact, I can sew just about anything but I rarely follow patterns as they get me all cuffuddled ( if I'm totally honest ) and as the design process gets me going, so does the design of the pattern too.  I really do design absolutely everything from scratch and then construct and sew it into something 100% unique.


Ok, I admit it!  This was my favourite cushion design of 2014 and I love it so much because I used the art of appliqué to not only design and create a basic design but to also add texture to it in shapes and forms.  It really was a lot of hard work and hours and hours of designing, cutting out and then sewing, but so worth it.



Here are a few of my bestest designs and they make me so happy to look at them, what else can I say?

Happy New Year for 2015 with all of the scrummiest, jelly beaniest, wonderful, wishes from me and I hope to see you around on Button Fayre for some chats and fun.

Lucy x