Fabric Collage Notebook Cover

I had 3 more pieces to finish before I could put my sewing stuff away. They are all notebook covers made from fabric collage pieces I made a few years ago. I thought it was a waste to have them all rolled up and put on a shelf out of the way. I managed to get the parts that needed to be machine stitched all sewn up, and now I just need to finish off the edges by hand. I did finish one yesterday. It was from a collage of autumnal rusty colours. It's mostly fabric, but has some art yarns sewn in too. I used some braid and delrin clips to make a closure.

This is the back:

I had a really nice fabric piece that I'd used as part of the collage piece and used this for lining to hide all the stitches:

I thought I'd have a few pictures of the other part finished pieces, but it's been raining and been really dark, but they were made from multi coloured collages. Hopefully they'll be finished over the weekend, but here's a supermacro just because :)

Help Finding a Craft Market Please? And Denim Notebooks

I'd like to give selling at a craft market a go and would like to find one that it is cheap to book a stall for the day and easy to get to from Manchester City centre. I don't have a car, but I do have a granny trolley  :)  so I'm quite willing to lug that around by train or tram. I heard about the Holme Street Arts centre in Hebden Bridge, £5 for two 6 foot tables sounds perfect, but they haven't replied to any emails :(

If anybody knows of anywhere, I'd be really grateful to find out about them, thanks :)

This week, I made a couple of notebook covers from denim offcuts.  I wanted to make one with a really 'worn' and 'used' look to it, so I chose pieces from where pockets had been taken off, and piecs from the seams and hems. Once I'd torn strips the size I wanted, I removed the extra threads and then sewed them onto a base piece of denim. Then I added a delrin clip so I could close it.

For the second one, I wanted a slightly less 'scruffy' look, but didn't want it too neat, so I used strips torn from where a pocket was taken off, so I'd still get some darker patches.

I also added a delrin clip to close this one too.

I did like the look of it, but it looked a little bit too 'neat' still, so I put it in with a load of laundry then hung it in the sun to dry:

I think this looks much better now that the frayed edges are softer.

I'd like to apologise in advance for not commenting on flickr photos. The new changes are really not good for me. I have dodgy vision and the new 'design' is a violent visual onslaught for me, it gives me a headache to try to use it and causes my vision problems to get worse. So I probably won't use it much until they change it back or I'll go to ipernity with everyone else.

Clasps, Closures and Fasteners

I decided to change the closure on the notebook cover I made from felt offcuts a few weeks ago. As much as I liked the button closure, I wanted something a little more secure. I had a hunt through my craft drawers and found a bag clip I’d salvaged from something I threw away (I recently discovered these are called Delrin Clips) and using some more felt offcuts, attached this instead of the button.

 

One of my WIPs at the moment is a small shoulder bag, just big enough for a camera and purse. The closure I’ve used on this is a metal magnetic bag clasp. They’re quite easy to use: each half comes in two parts, you need to make a small cut in the fabric, push the metal ‘prongs’ through, then add the little washer and fold the prongs in. I haven’t decided yet whether to cover the top with more felt or maybe a large fimo button.

 

This got me thinking about all the different kinds of claps, closures and fasteners I have. I have the usual buttons, zips, poppers/snap fasteners, hooks and eyes etc, but I also like to salvage and collect any I find cheap. I have a few sizes and shapes of Delrin clips, either salvaged from old bags or bought cheaply. The small ones in the Top left photo are slightly different than the 'usual' ones, they take a cord type of attachment rather than a flat webbing or ribbon type of fixture. Not so long ago, I saw cheap packs of dog and cat collars and leads in Poundland (like a dollar store) and couldn’t resist buying a pack, which gave me a few Delrin clips and Trigger Hooks (Top Right). I’ve managed to add to my collection of fasteners while I’ve been doing a lot of clearing out and tidying up lately. I salvaged quite a few lobster style trigger hooks, D-rings, split rings and key rings from old or broken or unwanted items (Bottom photos)

 

Most of the Delrin clips I have do take a flatter attachment though, so I just had to buy some nice braid for attaching them when I went to the fabric shop the other day :)  Aren't they gorgeous?!

Do you have any interesting clasps, closures or attachments? Do you have any tips for salvaging or buying them cheaply? I’d love to hear your ideas :)