Sewing || Embroidered Pillow Case.

Oh hey!

Remember that embroidery craze I went through a while back? Well I wouldn't say it's hit me again but I'm enjoying doing some little embroidery projects here and there. You might remember I did another embroidered pillowcase back in January (oh wow I can't believe it was that long ago!) But I thought it was time for another one!

I didn't sew anything extra on it this time, just embroidery, and I actually remembered to embroider before I sewed the pillowcase together, which made it 100 x easier! I tried doing a bit of transition from lighter to darker thread colours but I'm not sure how well it worked.

The quote I used is a lyric from Alligator Sky by one of my favourite artists, Owl City:

"Dip your toes in the galaxy, cause it's yours to explore tonight."

I quite like the idea of exploring distant galaxies from the comfort and safety of my bed!

What are some craft projects you guys have been doing lately? I'm in desperate need of some new ideas!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, but until then I'm off to ride on shooting stars. See you later!

x Erin

Sewing || Patchwork Dress

I feel like it's been a short lifetime since I last sewed something. It was always such an effort to drag out my sewing machine, but now that I have my sewing room it's always sitting there just waiting for me to use it!

A few days ago I was cleaning out the big pile of fabric that was in my bedroom cupboard in order to fold it and store it nicely in a storage box. While I was sifting through the fabrics I realised I had quite a few bits of scrap fabric. You know the ones, they aren't quite big enough to be made into anything useful, but they're not small enough to warrant throwing them out. So I decided to give them the best fate I could think of, I made them into a dress! It was by far my longest sewing project that I've done recently. It took my 3 whole days to cut and sew everything together, but I really enjoyed it and it might possibly be my favourite thing that I've made in a long time! (Although I think that about every new project I make)

I started by cutting out a heap of 8.5cm x 8.5cm squares. This was by far the most boring part, but it couldn't be avoided! Then I started sewing them all together to make the skirt. It was fun trying to work out which order to put each square in so that it wouldn't match up with the ones on any side! Cutting the squares and sewing up the skirt took a whole day, so the next day I got to work making the top of the dress.

Remember this white dress? I put some baking paper over the top of it and traced around the outside of the top in order to make a pattern for this dress. I didn't know how well that would work, but it turned out much better than expected! I got to try out a heap of new things for this dress too, I sewed some buttonholes for the first time for the rainbow of heart buttons I was putting down the back of it. I also sewed some proper sleeves. (Well probably not "proper" but I like how they turned out!) I had no idea how to do sleeves at the start so I sort of just guessed and was lucky enough to have it work out.

I even lined the top of the dress like all the pros do! Then for some finishing touches I gathered the sleeves and added a purple cuff to them, and then made a thin white belt to tie the whole dress together.

The progress of day 1, 2 & 3.

For some reason the dress reminds me of something out of Alice in Wonderland (I think it might be the sleeves?) But I'm not complaining! It's practically impossible to wear this dress and not smile, and now I'm just waiting for winter to be over so I can wear it all day every day while wishing that tea-parties were a thing that people do around here. Maybe I'll just go on magical adventures in it instead, but I'll be sure to steer clear of any suspicious looking rabbit holes!

x Erin

My New Sewing Room!

Hey everyone! 

I have a super exciting post to share with you today, the transformation of our old storage room into a little sewing room! When I say little I mean little. It's about 2m x 2m but I love how cosy it is and I cannot wait to start decorating it more. It's a separate room off the house that you can only access through the garage, which means it has its own key to unlock it and everything!

We started clearing out the room at the end of April, and now at the end of June it's finally finished! I thought I would share some of the photos of the process with you all.

Unfortunately I never got a photo of the very beginning of the cleanout, but just imagine the fact that we couldn't get the door open more then about 30 centimetres. There was stuff everywhere and it took a couple of weekends to get it all out! After it was empty my dad painted the walls and the roof white while I sewed up a lace curtain to go over the windows.

Then last weekend we went to Ikea to get a couple of the essential bits of furniture! The desk, chair and shelf were my birthday presents for this year, and I spent a whole day putting them together on my own. Not bad for someone who's never made furniture before I thought! 

While I was building my dad attached a sheet of linoleum for the floor.

Then all that was left was to move in the furniture and start decorating! At the moment the walls are very white and very bare so I can't wait to find things to stick on them!

I have my desk and sewing machine (I swear I didn't realise it matched the desk and chair until after I bought them!) right under my window and a little rack with jars on it all containing different coloured buttons. I also have the sewing box my dad me next to the desk.

At the moment the shelves are pretty empty, but that's because I have convinced myself to go through and sort out my mountain of fabrics yet! When I do it'll probably be overflowing! All of the wool in the box was a gift from my grandma for my birthday, and I'm so excited just thinking of all the different things I can make with it!

Of course I just had to have a plant on the windowsill too, but I'm hoping to get heaps more too!

So that's my sewing room at the moment! It's pretty plain right now, but hopefully not for long!

Does anyone have any ideas of how I could decorate it?

I hope you liked my little look into my sewing room, and I'm hoping to start making a lot more things in there soon!

x Erin

DIY || Mini PomPom Garland

Hello my all-time favourite people. I have a super quick and simple DIY for you today, a pompom garland! I can still remember how excited pompoms made me when I was a little kid, seeing your simple wool turn into a ball was magical! Making big pompoms can take a longgggg time though, so I thought I would help you all rekindle your love with this mini garland!

You Will Need:

- A fork (preferably with 4 prongs of the same length)

- Balls of wool in lots of different colours

- Scissors

What To Do:

1. Cut a long piece of yarn from one ball of wool (I used black) this will be the string that your pompoms hang off

2. Drape this piece of wool through the two middle prongs of your fork

3. Pick the first colour you want for your pompom and proceed to wrap the wool around the fork until there is quite a decent amount on there

4. Once you think there's enough wool on your fork tie the black piece in a tight knot around the middle of it (it's easier to see what I mean by looking at the photo!

5. Slip your now tied ball of wool off your fork so now it will just look like a little tied up parcel!

6. With your scissors, carefully cut around your pompom so that the ends are loose instead of being looped over

7. Scruff up your pompom so that you can't see the string around the middle and you are finished your first one! (You can also give it a bit of a trim so that it's nice and neat

8. Repeat steps 2-7 along the string for as long as you want

9. Find somewhere nice to display your brand new pompom garland!

I hope you guys liked this quick little tutorial, it's a super easy way to brighten up your room!

x Erin

My Last Day As An 18 Year Old.

As of tomorrow (Monday, June 23rd) I will officially be 19 years old.

I've not really been looking forward to turning 19 because it seems a very adult age to be, and I think I'm the furthest thing from ready to be an adult.

So, instead I thought I would pull out my diary (which I've successfully been keeping for 1.5 years now!) and tell you about some of the experiences I've had and things I achieved in my 18th year as Erin Hanson. So here we go!

In my 18th year I.....

1. Made a lot of clothes

2. Read 46 books

3. Deleted my Facebook account

4. Took up Yoga

5. Taught myself Theban

6. Tried Vegetarianism

7. Voted in my first election

8. Realised I hated university

9. Went to Cirque Du Soleil

10. Learnt Amigurumi

11. Made multiple sheet forts

12. Went to a 1D Concert

13. Spontaneously skipped uni with my best friend and went to a second concert (we bought tickets as the supporting act was on stage)

14. Started stargazing

15. Dropped out of university

16. Got my hair ombréd

17. Went to a midnight movie premiere

18. Went camping

19. Started teaching myself Astronomy

20. Met Louis Cole (funforlouis on youtube)

21. Spent a day in a cardboard box

22. Self published a poetry anthology

23. Went on my first cruise

24. Tried alcohol for the first time

25. Decided alcohol isn't for me

26. Got my first ever piercing (Helix)

27. Got my hair cut to my shoulders (the shortest ever)

28. Learnt embroidery

29. Took up Hooping

30. Lost my job

31. Woke up at 4am to watch my first meteor shower

32. Saw the worlds most beautiful sunrise

33. Went to a Bastille concert

Looking back on the person I was on the day I turned 18 until now, it is amazing how much I've changed, and almost without me knowing it too. I'm proud of who I've become, but at the same time it's upsetting to discover that I've left that version of me behind.

But here's to turning 19! I'm sure that this time next year I will have changed just as much again!

x Erin

Ps. I promise I will start making normal posts again soon.

Bastille Concert.

Hello!

So this isn't what I normally post, but I wanted to tell you guys about the Bastille concert I went to on Friday! I bought the tickets for it back at the start of December, so it was a long wait but it was definitely worth it.

I went with my sister, and our seats were super close to the stage! I didn't end up taking many photos of the night because I just wanted to remember the night instead of just focussing on my camera and not on the show! I did find this video from the concert on youtube though, which I'm happy about!

If you're a fan of Bastille you will know the song "Flaws"... while they were singing it Dan (the main singer) jumped down and walked through the crowd dancing with everyone, he walked across to the barricade we were behind (in the first row!) and stood dancing there for a while too! We were literally 1 metre away from him, it was definitely one of the highlights of the night!

The other highlight was that they sung their song "Poet" it's my favourite of theres, but I didn't think they would sing it because it is on their second cd, but they did and it was wonderful!

All in all the night was absolutely amazing, and I can safely say that they sound even better live than they do on their cd's! I would definitely recommend going to one of their concerts if you like their music!

I don't really know why I'm writing this post, I think it's more for me than it is for you, so I can remember the night.

x Erin