Sarah Appleton - Textile Artist Blog

My lovely friend Kawaii Helen from Nelly's Treasures sent me link a few days ago to a tutorial for overhauling old penny loafers . Which excited me in my tummy department. Behold before: Behold after: Rawr Much more tinglifying I think? The only things I did differently from the tutorial was that I used a flocked/velvet/furry fabric that I had lying around (as opposed to felt) and I used this kind of UHU glue because I thought a) it might work better on patent leather b) it is transparent so if I get it all over my hands/shoes/face it's not too much of a big deal. You can hardly tell they're DIY'ed (unless you are kissing my shoes) and best of all this project took around 20 minutes, despite being slightly fiddly! And it's like having new shoes without having to pay for new shoes! Yessssssss! Made to the tunes of The Detroit Cobras - Baby!

Hey you guys, I am ill. Yet still I insist on slaving away over a hot blog and a cold mug of gazpacho to bring the craft to YOU! I finished off this t-shirt on Monday after initially trying to attach some weird collar of my own invention to it some months ago. Didn't work; project was left abandoned. I hacked off the old collar and finished it off with something much simpler. The fabric is that same soft jersey I bought on sale at John  Lewis and blogged about in April . I used New Look pattern 6483 and just adapted it for stretch fabric (ignored the side slits and darts and cut off the excess from the arm holes). The result is a slightly oversized but ridiculously comfy slouchy tee. Not the most exciting thing in the world but very adaptable! For the neckline I recycled the hem of my beloved old HMV uniform and just made a wide band over the raw edges. It turned out more fun than I thought it would! The buttons are from a local independent button shop (although I'm ...