Monday Makery - Little Lavender Mice

Perfect for keeping moths at bay these adorable lavender filled mice are our new drawer warriors keeping our clothes safe. Simple to make with simple shapes to cut and a simple running stitch this is a great first sewing craft for children. With few materials they're fun and smell delicious. 

Here's what you'll need:

• cotton fabric
• needle and embroidery thread
• string
• pins
• beads
• felt for ears
• dried lavender. Or if you prefer to make them for toys and play simply stuff them with cotton stuffing. 

Here's how:

1. Drawing around a cup, saucer or small plate draw a perfect circle onto your fabric and cut out. You don't want your mice too big. These above were just over 11 cm in diameter.
2. Fold your circle in half and begin sewing a running stitch stopping about a third along the way to put the ears in place.
3. Cut two pieces of felt in an ear shape making sure they are long enough to tuck inside the fabric.
4. Secure the ears as you continue sewing along the outer edge until you're almost at the end. 
5. Fill with lavender and place the end of the string inside to create the tail. Sew all the way to the end and secure with a few extra sticthes.
6. Add on the eyes with a bead by sewing one either side.  if you sew them at the same time you'll get that pinch that creates a little depth.

The girls thought the thread at the beginning looked liked whiskers so, rather than cutting the thread after the knot off we kept it there, adding another with a few stitches to look like a nose we gave our mice whiskers. 

Happy Making

xx

Waddler - the Legend of the Wild

High up in silent plains of the Andes where wild alpaca graze there's a call to the wild as a Maurice Sendak-esque adventure begins. Waddler has arrived. A new collection a new adventure. Waddlers collection continues to excite the wildest of dreams in which we follow with a free heart and bear hooded ears. 

It started out as a feeling, a place that grew into a idea that turned into a legend; Waddler. A legend that will last through childhood and onto the next as we enjoy the imaginative fairytale and wrap our children up in it.

Wrapping up warm with the wide eyed possibilities of being a child embracing the world the legend of waddler whispers;  'go, be adventurous run and play in the riotous adventure that is your fairytale' . 

View the new AW13 collection here

Play, Explore and Create

Using different materials, and learning different approaches from collage to construction the collection of pieces in our create area are creative experiences explored with children's own imaginations.
Many artists have collaborated together using their knowledge and experience and style to give us art to play with and explore. You'll find Nathalie Lete, Charles and Ray Eames, Virginie Jamin, Mini Labo and many more amongst the designers here.

Create a universe, explore your imagination, create colourful days and get inspired.

See the collections here and here



sisters guild on Pinterest

Monday Makery - Feathered headbands

It's been 2 weeks since school began and already we're itching to break the routine, to bring back the wild feeling of the summer. So with some feathers, decorative ribbon and a little imagination we took to the wilds of the outdoors, even if only for a day, it's a day in a world where our fairytale's become our adventures and these adventures our lives. We became the first explorers, discovering a new world, finding camping ground, hunting wild animals, discovering caves, and collecting sticks for a fire. Hills became mountains, flowers and berries food and medicine and footprints were tracked in silence imagining a whole new world of our making.

It's wonderful how one small piece from a dressing up box can inspire such imaginings and play.
It's been a while since we've played dress up and I'd almost forgotten how a dressing up box gives endless possibilities of adventure, invitations to chase the wildest of dreams and the courage to break the boundaries of the everyday. Dressing up instills what we say to our children, that, you can be anything you want to be. Allowing the imagination to soar freely we were wild, we were brave and we were free.

To create the feathered headbands you will need:

• at least 20 soft feathers in varying lengths
• wide decorative ribbon
• bias ribbon
• scissors
• needle and thread , though preferably a sewing machine.

Here's how:

1. Prepare the length of ribbon. The ribbon needs to fit around the head with enough remaining to tie into a bow or knot as well as having a little more to drop down the neck.
2. The bias ribbon will act as a lining to stop the feathers from rubbing against the skin, so, this needs to double the measurement of the decorative ribbon. 
3. Find the middle of the bias ribbon and working from the centre outwards line up your feathers and pin in place, leaving the over half free.
4. Fold over the over half of the ribbon and sew along the edges to hold the feathers in place.
5. Pin the strip of feathered bias ribbon to the back of the decorative ribbon and sew together to finish it off. 

Wrap round the head and tie securely at the back and you're ready to go....

Oh, and then there's the name. Try adding your favourite animal or colour to your favourite flower or other natural element or characteristic.......WhiteFawn, SnowBird, WinterRose, TigerLily, EagleSky, LionWind, DancingLeaves etc....

Happy Making & happy adventuring!

xx

The House of Fairy Tales

The House of Fairy Tales Kickstarter Campaign

Some of you will have heard of The House of Fairy Tales - the UK based educational arts charity and travelling art circus. Founders and artists Deborah Curtis and Gavin Turk have been bringing their unique events to children since 2006. They bring an interactive, absorbing and educational experience that children will never forget - grown-ups are left wide-eyed with wonder too!

The House of Fairy Tales is about education and play and exploring all those important art forms that need preserving for our children and for future generations. The House of Fairy Tales is about learning through physical connection, space, movement, play, engaging all the senses and using natural materials. It's about endless exploration where anything is possible as long as the imagination is nourished. The House of Fairy Tales truly feeds the imagination.


So what now?

The House of Fairy Tales is setting up a permanent Art School in East London. This will be a school like no other - a huge educational, artistic and phantasmagorical experience that will inspire creativity with puppet theatres, a film studio, a photographic studio, printmaking, ceramics and wardrobe and prop-making spaces. There will be a cinema to show films made by children and a theatre with seating for multi-disciplinary performances and concerts, including lectures and seminars for adults. Not forgetting the tents, structures and vehicles of the Travelling Art Circus and its spectrum of magical activities.

Help make the first term possible...

If you make a PLEDGE HERE you will join an amazing force of artists who are behind the campaign such as Sir Peter Blake, Adam Dant & Rob Ryan and even have a chance to own a piece of their artwork!

Find out about the campaign here....and quickly! There's only until Tuesday 17th September to help make this creative dream for thousands of children possible. 

This is an Arts Charity with an incredible team behind it that are utterly giving and dedicated, so I know every penny donated will be used to turn into something astounding. Just as every scrap of paper, screw, bolt, box, feather and gust of wind is used by The House of Fairy Tales in the most clever and resourceful way to inspire young minds. Be part of it here