SwatchMatic

Ever wondered why the colours you have chosen don't quite gel together in your interior decoration, the clothes you wear, your work space? Are you wanting to add another layer to your colours but don't know where to start? Do you use mood boards?

So many questions and many more, but the answers are all here, in a portable instant mood board.

You might find the swatchmatic android app, a very useful and easy tool to use. It is a camera that analyses the colours of objects and views it is pointed at, a gentle wobble will bring in a whole new range of colours. To save them, all you do is click the cross in the middle. These colours are translated by their relative ratios to each other and are placed on a cartoon robot so you can see them in combination. Each colour is also listed with its computer index number, and the shade name. These shade names are those of the paint company and are copyrighted.

What is really amazing is that it picks up colours hidden in shadows, and you can increase and decrease the size of the analysing window to influence a wider range of colours. The robot sampled here is my kitchen floor, which is mid brown wooden floor (with many shades of orange, gold and brown). By pointing the SwatchMatic to include some shadow, it has picked up on some lovely rich purples as well.

There are a selection of filters to use which bring even more combinations, including a white. This changes the colour selection to white tones. These filters can be used in combination as well, creating more options. 

Crafty necklace

Here's a treat for the sewer in your life




Make Do and Mend Cluster Necklace from Cath Kidston £38

Recently left the workroom

A small selection of bow-ties, hanky squares, bag, dress and birthday quilt to leave the studio this month. 

Hadrian has gone to a new home

Hadrian is making his new home in sunny Australia

A huge thank you to Present Perfect, Melrose for handling the sale

ZAZZLE DAZZLE

My mug has just sold!

Baby Bear Mug by studiostitches
Browse other Baby Mugs

FABRIC ROSE

An easy way to make fabric rose brooch:  

EQUIPMENT

All you need is a long strip of fabric, the wider the strip the large the petals, and the longer the strip, the more petals or rounds you will have. These can be hand or machine stitched and overlocking (serging) is not essential. 

The best fabric to sue is a soft drapey one for small roses. Larger roses could be made with a stiffer fabric. 

Some felt for the backing and a safety pin.

MAKING UP

For this rose I have used a strip of Georgette about 1 m long and 8 cm wide. This makes a 4 inch rose. The edges are not particularly straight, but that does not matter too much as it will add texture to the petals. 

There is no right or wrong way to do this, experiment for different effects. 

Fold along the long edge with right sides out, matching the raw edges as you go, you can either hand or machine stitch with a running stitch or overlock the edges. What you will have is a tube of fabric with stitching along one side. 

Using a long thread doubled for strength, secure and gather one short end. This will make the centre of the flower.  

Gather a short section, approx 5 cm and secure. Wrap around the mid section and secure to it. 

Repeat this varying the size of the gathered sections and as it gets bigger include some straight sections increasing in size as you go further along the strip.

Gathering and wrapping in sections makes a more realistic rose than one that is just gathered and wrapped. Which if course, is another way to do this - gather the whole length and wrap round itself.  

What you should end up with is a gathered rose which has petals that fold naturally. You might want to arrange them, by gently pulling into place, separating the double layer a bit until you have a pleasing shape. 

FINISHING

To make this into a brooch, sew a circle of felt onto the back which covers all raw or overlocked edges. Fold the final raw edge of the side under this felt piece so all raw edges are behind the felt. 

The size of the circle will vary with the size of the rose.  

Sew a small strip of felt to the back and place a safety pin underneath and sew the other side in place. It's easiest to use an overcasting stitch for this. Pull your brooch into shape again and pin on clothes, bags, anywhere you want a decoration. 

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