Sarah Appleton - Textile Artist Blog

Snikt Snikt! Today I was inspired by my recent trip to a vintage warehouse to make my own comic book bedside table! So here I am writing something of a tutorial so that everyone out there can so the same, because it's super duper easy. Before After What you will need: A boring old table (or other bit of hard furniture) Old comic book / zine / issue of National Geographic / porn / other visually stimulating material that you no longer want to read and don't mind cutting up (please don't cut up your ultra rare Spiderman #1 comic!) PVA glue mixed with a little water Paintbrush Paint in your choice of colour (optional) Wallpaper smoother (optional), mine was about £1 from Wilko Craft knife (optional) This is how I did it: First off put on some suitable music, I chose Bossanova by Pixies and to give you an idea of the time scale, the record is 40 minutes long and I'd completed this project from start to finish including washing off my paintbrush b...

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!

Ello Poppets! For those of you just joining us I attend a weekly craft club on Saturday mornings; so here's the latest projects I've been working on there: Flag Queen For the Jubilee we made Union Jack flags using applique and a stencilled cameo of some lady (if you want to read about my stencilling technique it's best described here ). I left my edges a bit rough and ready because that's my style. Then I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it next, so I gave it to my mum. Aww. Hippo to be triangle Nextily we worked on some bunting - we are lucky enough to be partially fuelled by donations from local people who no longer have a use for their old supplies so three of the fabrics I used were vintage ones picked out from our hoards! I used orange binding tape because I liked how it picked out the oranges of the fabrics and contrasted with the purples and blues. Yeah! Then I used some purple ric rac which I scored at a charity shop a few weeks ago on top of...

Aloha babiezzz! I know what you are asking! You are asking 'after you finished the Spring Flower Show Project in the Westbourne Craft Collective , whatever did you do next?!!' Well ask no more, for here is what we did! A truly fearsome bunch of lads We made sock monsters ! My favourite is the green, purple and stripey guy in the middle, made by The Other Sarah (no relation), keen eyes will spot old favourite Bert hanging out in back. Mine is the pink sparkly guy in the front although he wasn't finished in time for the picture... Glambot ...but here he is now, all finished! He is the David BowBot, he is a very glamourous robot indeed. I am told that he needs hair but that seems like it might be An Unecessary Faff. Ground control to Major Tom, take your protein pills and put your sparkles on. Holding handy pandys Here he is hanging out with his best friend Bert, letting all the children boogie. After we made sock monsters, we made collaged confessional po...

I crocheted this lacy kinda skinny scarf deal for our very own Anna Bonanza Knitting Correspondent. It's a pattern of alternate rows of V stitches and shell stitches. I added fun black tassels to the ends for kicks. It's the first thing I've crocheted that's not a square for my blanket, yay! Here's a close up: Noice. I mostly made this whilst watching loads of Seinfeld.

I made this little starry eyed frog guy for my friend Rhonwen's birthday! It was tough to let him go... I used some strange green woven patterned cotton for his back with brown corduroy for his belly. All made from scraps of leftover fabric and lovingly hand sewn! Then I filled his guts in with polyester stuffing. A cheapy, quicky project with the hardest part being the darting. Boy am I making myself sound like a big time cheapskate today! Here's a not-so-great picture of his belly to get you back on my side: Awwwww! I don't know why that's cute, but it is. Unfortunately [again] I can't take too much credit for this project as I got the instructions and pattern from here ; I just simplified it very slightly. I would like to take credit for having extremely relevant bed sheets though. This froggy was born with the aid (or not) of a broken heart! Know what else aside from crafting cures a broken heart? New shoes . Oh yes. It's true.