Inspiration Challenge ~ May’s update & new inspiration for June

It’s the start of another month (lets hope it’ll continue to be a delightfully sunny one!), and here is this month’s update the on Inspiration Challenge from its new home at Cassiefairy HQ. Last month I took over the Inspiration Challenge from the lovely Lucy and with the help of my friend Meg, used her grandma’s sewing machine, which was once used to sew clothing for the Queen, as a suitably grand starting point for the May inspiration challenge. Well, I’m pleased to say that you didn’t let me down, and I was delighted to see the all projects you’d made in response to the classic Singer and Seamstress sewing machines.

The founder of the inspiration challenge Lucy from Lucy Loves Ya blog got involved and stitched the project below from gorgeous sewing machine patterned fabric. Lucy tweeted me with a few photos of the progress of her project throughout the month and I was pleased to finally see the finished result at the end of May. She made this fantastic idea for keeping your scissors tidy:  Lucy emailed me to say that she was inspired by the vintage sewing machines because “everything around me is either to do with sewing or inspired by vintage – hence the print which I love. I have needed somewhere to store my scissors for ages. I am always losing them under piles of fabric so this has been a perfect opportunity to make some storage for them all. The ties will be attached to two hooks and on the wall.” I think it’s a fabulous idea and definitely something that I’d like to try making for myself – you must share a step-by-step on your blog Lucy! 😉

Writer & paper-crafter Katy from Ella Betsy Boo sent her offering for the Inspiration Challenge via Twitter – this beautiful handmade card. She upcycles vintage children’s books to make paper decorations and cards, and has cut this intricate silhouette of a vintage sewing machine out of a page of an old book. I love how the page has yellowed over time which really shows the age of the book. I would be happy to receive this as a birthday card! Check out more of Katy’s gorgeous paper designs in her Etsy shop.

Artist Andy Greenacre got involved with the Inspiration Challenge for this first time this month, sharing an ink drawing of a bobbin with some wise words below “Make it your habit not to be critical about small things”. Great advice and definitely something that I should have hanging on my workshop wall! Have a look at Andy’s art blog at Andy-Greenacre.co.uk and he has very kindly offered to give away a free PDF copy of this artwork to all Cassiefairy readers – so you can print your own copy of the art to display at home or work. Visit his site and leave him a comment or drop him an email at [email protected] to take him up on this freebie.

And finally, here’s my offering for the Inspiration Challenge – my first ever appliquéd/stitched picture. I had previously got some pretty fat quarters of floral and spotty fabric from Wholeport and I wanted to make something cute to hang on the wall of my sewing ‘workshop’ but had not got round to it yet. So this month’s Inspiration Challenge ‘forced’ me to sit down at my sewing machine and finally do it! I cut out a rough shape of a chunky vintage sewing machine (copied freehand from Pinterest images, of course!) and pinned it to my bright polka-dot backing material. I used the straight-stitch on my new sewing machine to ‘draw’ an outline around the shape and give it a little more detail. A quick coat of paint on an old frame picked out the blue in the floral pattern and now it’s already sitting in my workshop! I really like how it has turned out – in fact, I’ve surprised myself and I enjoyed making it so much that I just want to do more and more stitched pictures now!

So, with that in mind, and with summer well on its way – here’s the new starting point for June’s inspiration challenge. I’m taking inspiration from buildings rather than an object this month and am using that classic icon of the British seaside as the starting point – The Inspiration Challenge for June is beach huts. I remember spending many days in hired beach huts on the coast as a child and every time I visit the seaside now, I can’t help photographing them with their pretty pastel colours and cute adornments – I’ve even snuck into the photo below, haha! I hope everyone is happy with this starting point, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with! Please get in touch with your crafty projects to [email protected] by the end of June and I’ll get them on the blog as soon as I can. Any suggestions of objects or themes for future Inspiration Challenges is very welcome too so please send me your photos of you favourite vintage items as a starting point for next month!

Other Inspiration Challenge articles

• Don’t forget this Month’s inspiration challenge – vintage sewing machines (cassiefairy.com)
• Inspiration Challenge for May – get involved! (cassiefairy.com)
• Lucy Loves Ya.com