A Crafty Sheffield Christmas

Well...its the last day of school before Christmas and when I was young that meant you could bring games into school like Connect 4 and Battleships, so I'm in the Christmas holiday mood. Since the last post things have been busy with the spring workshop programme and I've made lots of gift vouchers for crafty Sheffield people to get in their Christmas stockings.

This week I was in town for the last minute presents and also popped into 'Birds Yard' on Chapel Walk. Birds Yard (Sheffield) has been set up by Birds Yard (Leeds) and local artists and craftspeople can rent selling space to promote their wares to the good people of Sheffield. This is MUCH needed in Sheffield, in fact 3 of our tutors have items for sale in the shop (Sharon - tweet cushions, Saskia - Screenprints and Hayley - Lampshades). I often feel that Sheffield falls way behind places like Bath, Bristol, Brighton, Manchester and Leeds for promoting good and professional craft (except for Silversmithing of course). I wonder if its because our art / craft degrees in Sheffield are quite limited and we are just not turning out trained graduates and craftspeople, or is it because Sheffield doesn't value the benefit of craft as much as other major UK cities? Where are Sheffield's crafty pop up shops for example? I hope Birds Yard starts a new trend.

Wandering down Chapel Walk (this little Street has real potential...) brought back fond memories of Whiteheads (does anyone remember this little Aladdin's cave of crafting?), me and my Gran used to do down into the basement bit of the shop and buy lots of crafty things to keep us going. It was real jumble of stock and you almost couldn't see Mr Whitehead and the till behind all the stuff piled high! Later the shop moved to the bottom of London Road, but it always lot some of its charm for me at its new location.

So over the Christmas break I really must do those curtains for our bay window (they've been over a year on the to-do list), and finish that linen top and do 18 more granny squares for the cushion......while drinking hot port and listening to Bing Crosby singing 'White Christmas' .....I hope you all have a wonderful time and hope to see you in the new year - Emma x

Phew.....autumn here we come...

Well I'm back (and just slightly embarrassed that its been so long since my last post), things have been quite hectic here at RWS H.Q. We have been planning our autumn workshops, which are now ready for booking (hurahhh) although there are some more to come too. We were also at sharrowvale market which was a really busy, as well as sunny, afternoon - so a BIG hello to everyone who discovered us there. Our Private Sewing Tuition sessions are becoming really popular and also we have been working really hard to find a more permanent venue for Running With Scissors (we're almost there... more news on this soon).

We are running 7 new workshops in the autumn block as well as your favourites. Here are some images for the new workshops, I'm intending to do a more detailed blog on each one:

Free Machine Embroidery (+ water soluble fabric) very exciting - its like drawing with stitches, lots of possibilities and lots of scope for creativity! (which is what we are all about at RWS)
 

The Baguette Bag!
As the name suggests - perfect for carrying your baguette home, without it falling out or snapping! Use some lovely fabric and they make great gifts for your friends..

Easy Peasy Shirt to Top
A bit of up-cycling - made from a man's shirt you can run up this little top in a couple of hours. You will get to have a go at attaching some bias binding which is a nice way to finish raw edges.

Improvers Knitting 
Our knitting tutor Fran is running our improvers knitting workshop to give all the beginners out there the chance to have a go at some more techniques, such as increasing and decreasing, stitch patterns and reading a pattern.

101 Ways to Felt
I am very exciting about this workshop which is going to be run by me and Fran. Everyone will get to have a go at wet felting, dry felting and using an embellisher machine and then we are going to chat about knitting and felting in the washing machine! You will get to play about with lots of wool, have a good experiment and make lots of little things to take home! This is a little purse decorated using the dry felting technique (using a felting needle), which you can make at the workshop (we'll put the zip in for you)

Patchwork & Quilting
Our fab tutor Janet is back in December for our place mats and coaster workshop (which would make great Christmas gifts) - they are the wonky house and trees pattern so they have their own individual charm! if you prefer you can make a table runner instead with a little row of houses!

Improvers Crochet
Laura will be running a more advanced crochet workshop for everyone who has grasped the basics and wants to learn more techniques. Provisional date is Sunday 28th October (images and booking details coming to the website soon)

Hope to see you all at a workshop soon
Emma x

Fab Patchwork Cushion Covers

Last Saturday was our Patchwork Cushion workshop with our fab tutor Janet Bottomley. For once, I had the opportunity to join the workshop and managed to whip up a coaster, as a sample, and the actual cushion cover. I'm very impressed with it - and now I can strip piece (which sounds a bit racy but isn't) and do some simple quilting. I went for some contrasting fabric which kind of co-ordinates with our bright blue sofa.

 

Here's a couple of other cushions made at the workshop, which would look fab on any sofa!, (including a skulls and owls combination) 

More patchwork workshops will be coming in the autumn where you can learn some simple projects which you can make as Christmas presents (or other gifts), sign up for our mailing list on our homepage www.rwssheffield.co.uk so you can find out when they are ready for booking.

Back Up and Running (with scissors)

Well Running With Scissors is finally back up and running after taking a few months off to have a baby. I've had a busy time with the new arrival and all is now going well. At Running With Scissors H.Q. we have some exciting plans for 2011 and the first few workshops are now up and ready for booking via the website. More workshops are in the pipeline with some external tutors and I'm very excited about using our new venue - the new church opposite Heeley retail park. If only there was a couple more hours in the day.....

In the meantime here's a nice picture of an origami fabric flower which you can make in one of our new workshops

One of those satisfying days...

Well what a lovely day, it was such a beautiful morning that I took our dog out for a run in the park. It was so fresh and breezy - the kind of weather that brings apples to your cheeks!

I've had a productive morning replying to e-mails and coordinating bookings for the workshops, some of you are quick off the mark - it's great to know that Running With Scissors is putting on the kind of workshops people are interested in doing. I then spent some of the afternoon on the sample skirt for the A-Line skirt workshop which is coming along nicely. And the dog spent some time laying in the sun in the kitchen!

We've just then topped off the evening with a stroll around the block with the dog and to catch sight of the huge moon hanging in the cloudless sky. It looks like a full moon but it might be a new moon too - I'm not sure of the difference.

Maybe a glass of wine to complete the evening....

Looking forward to the Spring

Today we have uploaded some of the new workshops ready for booking (but there is more to come). I'll be sending out a newsletter to the mailing list very soon so get your skates on if you interested in any particular session.

Well theres not too much to say about this weeks Project Runway. The dress designs this week were based on photos the designers took of New York at night. I was a bit distracted at the end and I think the painted fabric / puff ball dress design won. Yes it was very 1980's. I'm old enough to remember them the first time around and I'm not intending to recreate any sort of puff ball creation any time soon (a la Pepsi and Shirley - anyone remember them?). The rejected designer's dress wasn't that bad - it was based on a long exposure photo of car tail lights, but I think I would have opted to create the pattern with coloured ribbons rather than ruffles. I did feel a bit sorry for Keith as he put so much effort in and was in the bottom three.

Good news on the broadband issue - we have a date of next Tuesday for activation hurrahhh.... it would be so nice to get some photos on the blog - I need to have lots of pictures!!

The Fashion Essay

Hello everyone,

Well the Spring and summer workshop programme is nearly ready I'm hoping to upload all the information this weekend! There will also be a couple of guest tutors giving you the opportunity to try soemthing new and exciting (more information coming soon.....)

I have been avidly watching Project Runway again this weekend (freeview channel 11 or 12, can't quite remember, Sunday evening). The budding designers names make me laugh - Suede, Blayne etc! Anyway I think Suede deserved to win this week with his bias strip dress whcih looked fantastic. I did feel sorry for the girl who did the gold dress with the extra loops on it, I don't think it was that bad really and it was well made, but the judges really slated it!

Some of you may be under the misaprehension that I am a complete fashion victim, which those of you who know me will know is far from the truth. I would hate to be involved in the 'fashion industry' - far too much back stabbing and paper thin shallowness, however you have got to admire the designers who turn out stunning creations every season. We all know that they don't actually make them and other designers then have to take the creations and turn them into something wearable, but watered down for for the high street. I'm more of a fan of uniqueness I think that people should dress the way they wish by making, customising, buying / acquiring vintage, altering, accessorising, wearing old with new or upcycling - generally mixing it up to get a look that you're happy with. Although I slob around in jeans just like everyone else I do feel that its a shame that people don't make more of an effort in general. It seems that having 'style' has becoem a rare comodity these days which is a shame, but don't get the wrong idea - I don't pop out to get a pint of milk in full make up and heels (although I'd like to think I could!)