Free Bunting Pattern

How is my Christmas list going? Slowly, slowly but getting faster. Crochet seems to be saving the day for me. It is so portable and you can be sociable whilst doing it.

We ran a crochet bunting workshop at Wickle a couple of months ago and we had to come up with or own pattern. I have since modified it and made a strip of it for a small girl I know.

Here is a free brilliant bunting pattern!

Make Believe Café Bunting Pattern

Chain 21

Row 1. Double crochet into the second chain from the hook. Double crochet to the end.

Row 2. Chain 1.Half Treble into the second chain from the hook. Half Treble to the last stitch from the end.Turn.

Row 3. to the end. Repeat row 2 until there is one stitch left.

Finish off.

Work as many flags as you need.

To join them

Chain 20

Slip stitch into the first (beginning) stitch to creat a loop for hanging.

Chain 20

*Double crochet into each stitch across the top of the first flag. Chain 10*

Repeat from * to * until all the flags have been joined and you have chained 10.

Chain a further 30 stitches.

Slip stitch into the 20th stitch from the hook and finish off.

Please let me know if you have any problems with it. I'm not used to writing patterns.

Hope you like it.

Emma x

Bon Bons

We have been very busy recently preparing for the launch of our Make believe Bon Bons.

Bon Bons are a cross between a pass the parcel and a pinata but much more exciting than either. Each ball is made up of a rainbow of paper streamers wrapped around a central gift. Each streamer has a small present hidden with in it - something hand made, vintage, gorgeously kitch or tasty. In America they call them Surprise Balls.
The earliest evidence of surprise balls were found in the Native American culture. Traditionally, it was common practice to tell the history of one’s life with this unique ball. The first layer represented birth and for each event in life, another layer and memento was added.  They also used them to record  journeys. Treasures from the trip (a feather, a special stone) were collected and wrapped into a ball using leaves and twine. As the ball was unravelled, the story of the journey was told.

 In the 1950’s, surprise balls became fashionable in America. They became less popular in the 1960’s and disappeared altogether until recently when they have begun to make a reappearance.

Lou and I made one for Kelly's birthday. We collected all sorts of tiny treasures, an old dance card, a handbag-sized pack of pretty playing cards, a bright red nail varnish, a crystal necklace. She was so surprised by it, it took nearly half an hour for her to unwrap it.

We had a brilliant time making it and have decided to go into production. We are going to sell them on our website once we have set up our shop. You will be able to also buy them at Wickle, in Lewes. So far, we've made them for women and for children.

The children's one will have twenty four presents in it so that it can be used as an alternative advent calendar. You can use each day's streamer to decorate your room!

We have a list as long as your arm of all the different types of Bon Bon we could do. So watch this space!

In September we'll be holding classes for those of you who want to make your own.

Field Trip

This weekend we packed up the car and headed to the WOMAD festival in Wilstshire.

Thankfully, as I am a fair weather camper, the sun was shining and and we were able to amble around the fields and soak up the music and friendly atmosphere.

Early on Saturday I took my lovely boy to the children's field where we spent the morning making tiger masks from paper plates. I was massively inspired by The Forest Bus who are a charity that takes a cool customised bus into hard to reach communities, teaching craft and using play therapy to energise children and youths.

Elsewhere we saw great examples of recycled craft. Lots of pom-poms made from carrier bags lined the gates and an enormous skull - created from the ends of plastic bottles that had material stretched over them was a particular favourite.

Elsewhere, Oxfam were doing a roaring trade on their alteration service. A genius idea where they sold high end, second hand clothes with a £5 per item alteration charge. The result was glamorous festival goers and a tidy sum for charity - everyone was a winner.

I also liked the use of old fabric to create windsocks. Pegged out on a washing line, they danced to the music in the summer breeze. The simple sight of them lifted my heart and made me feel very happy indeed.

Enjoy your summer and seek out your making inspiration wherever you can.
Kx

Whatever the Weather

Regular readers of the Make Believe blog will realise that I rarely write entries. Despite being a founder of MBC, I leave much of the actual making to my skilful friends Lou and Emma and delight in reading here about their making discoveries. This wet weekend though I too had a special making moment.

The day started when I put my rain coat on, sank my hand in the pocket to discover a champagne cork and two pound coins. I don’t wear my rain coat often – even in a storm I try to pretend it’s not raining– and I don’t have a clue how that treasure made its way into my pocket. Anyhow on a wet day that would challenge anyone’s good mood, it was a fine find and it made me smile.

With my new found wealth I went forth to the Needlemakers in Lewes and bought some old sheet music. Returning home, my beautiful son and I set about collecting favourite pictures and scraps of paper from round the house and together we set too with a borrowed badge machine.

For about two hours we merrily experimented with old bits of newspaper, Paris Metro maps and of course the sheet music. Pretty soon we had a production line going – I cut the paper shapes out , he pulled the lever on the badge machine and then I fitted the pin. The rain continued to fall and we continued to chat and create our own treasures.

Just as we were coming to the end of the afternoon the sun decided to make an appearance. We were heading off to Brighton that evening to see a friend sing and, not trusting the weather, we popped our damp rain coats back on. This time though we both sported new badges that made us smile – we giggled about being in a secret club – and felt proud to display our home made wears.

Later that evening a friend read our badges and laughed, for pinned to our raincoats we wore little badges that were the antidote to the rain as they proudly proclaimed, “My other coat’s a jacket.” KS x

A Day Out in Camberwell

I braved the rain yesterday and took a train and a bus to Camberwell to visit New Gallery Jumble, the eco friendly jumble sale/café/art/craft happening I mentioned in my last post. It was held just around the corner from a basement flat that I had lived in when I'd first (finally) left college. It was like stepping back in time because all the people at NGJ were the age I was when I'd lived there and Camberwell hasn't changed a bit. I took my friend to a café that my husband and I used to go to for a Sunday breakfast treat. It's name had changed but that was all. The same vegetable shop was there and the bread shop. It was only me that had aged. Is Camberwell some spooky Dorian Gray type attic?

Anyway, I enjoyed my visit to New Gallery Jumble. Sadly I think that the rain had put folks of coming which meant I had the pick of the activities there. So while an illustrator called Kraggy painted a tote bag 'live' for me I sat down and made a creature for my son (who has named him Bob). I also bought a great print which you can see in the second picture down to the right of Tatiana's head, the one with all the heads on it. I did stop short at making a flower wreath for my hair. New Gallery Jumble is run by Tatiana Woolrych and started as a college project. I gather that it is usually buzzing and I know that if I was my younger self and still living around the corner I'd make it a regular haunt. One thing in Camberwell has changed. The art students are a lot more sorted than I was.

Tatiana and her shopping wall

Bob

Emma x

New Gallery Jumble

I am flattered that New Gallery Jumble 'likes' us on Facebook. Deep down I know that it's about publicity, but I had a look at them and they are pretty cool so I'm chuffed. I  think I might 'like' them back. They are a market where you can 'shop with a clear conscience'. It's all about up-cycling, re-purposing, craft and second hand and it happens in Camberwell on the 3rd Saturday in the month. I love their slogan:

USE IT UP. WEAR IT OUT. MAKE IT DO. OR DO WITH OUT.

They are holding one this Saturday and I think I might try and go.

Emma x

How is my Christmas List Going?

A few posts ago I rashly promised to make ALL my Christmas presents. How is it going? Well the hardest thing of all is deciding what to make for everyone. The danger is making something purely for the fact that it's a hand made present. Not everyone likes hand made things. I once made lots of lovely covered coat-hangers (which I love) and no one commented! Were they so well made that people thought they were shop bought? I think I might buy this month's edition of Molly Makes for a bit of inspiration. May be I'll start writing a list...

I have made one thing so far, of which I'm proud:

(He's an Ewok)

I found him on the inspiring blog of Lucy Ravenscar who has successfully managed to combine her interests with those of her sons' and my son's too, which is no mean feat, take it from me. You can buy the pattern for the Ewok and other Star Wars characters from Lucy's Etsy shop.

Following the themes of crochet and the interest of small boys, I am in the middle of making an Adipose which I found on a great site called By Midknight via a very useful site called Free Amigurumi Patterns that does what it says on the tin.

Emma x