three wishes...

Three wishes, with little pockets to keep your wishes in.  Inspired by a tiny scrap of quilt, 5 by 3 inches long, hopefully now transformed into something to treasure.

Sew Not Strawberry Jam

I just spent a wonderful weekend teaching workshops at Sew Not Strawberry Jam and thought I'd share with you a glimpse of how magical the place is and give you a peek inside Sam's wonderful studio. Two groups of lovely ladies, sunshine, stitching and lots of tea and cake made for a very special few days. Sam made me so welcome and she also has a vintage shepherds hut and a converted horsebox for 'glampers' which are beautifully renovated and furnished - you can see some pictures of them here.

As usual, I took along some of my work to show, the samples I've been showing you, and lots of vintage materials to be used..

The theme of the workshop was 'keep safe', the idea being to make a fabric home to keep something precious in, whether it’s a family photograph, your favourite buttons, or some special stitched words, but it’s a place to keep them safe. I was inspired by 18th century pockets that were worn under clothing and were often the only place something private or valuable could be kept in. You can read a bit more about them here and see some on my 'keep safe' Pinterest board.

I took along a pocket I had made into a kind of installation with objects that might have been kept inside it and hung it in the studio to provide inspiration for the workshop.

The dress I chose to wear for one of the workshop days was a vintage cream silk dress I'd recently bought from an antique fair. It was a bit fragile, missing buttons and needed quite a bit of mending but I thought I could do something with it and had it in mind to wear for this workshop.

It wasn't until I got it home that I discovered a hidden pocket near the hem of the dress, I was thrilled and added a little label and a button. Sometimes things are just meant to be....