Spring Pin - In orange

Orange stick pin 'Spring Pin'

Here's a Spring Pin brooch in orange. It's not a traditional brooch , but stick pin brooch, you can see the construction detail better in the image than then pinks ones which I had 'planted' for display in a pincup I made.

Spring Pins

Spring Pins - Brooch Design

Here are some brooch pin designs I've been crafting to celebrate the return of Spring.

Vintage Sewing Machine Parts - Stitch Pattern Cams

When I bought the Empisal sewing machine, she (I've named her Iron Beauty) came with a retro container filled with plastic knobs. There was no mention of these knobs in the manual - which is a scant document - so I asked a few friends. The consensus was they might be attachments altered the stitches, in order to do decorative stitching.

After googling I was pretty sure they were correct, and in fact what I had was a box of plastic Cams, also called 'stitch patterns'.

However, google has really let me down (for the first time ever). There is next to no info about the Iron Beauty and her Empisal family. But after much searching I saw a grainy low quality video where a cam was put somewhere on top of a vintage Singer.

So my next step is open up Iron Beauty, but as I couldn't figure out how to thread her without the manual, my hopes for this mission succeeding are not high. Possibly the box of cams isn't even for this machine. We shall see...

UPDATE I have figure out how to use the cams! READ HERE

Vintage Empisal (Brother) Gold Line Sewing machine & plastic Cam stitch patterns

Hooray for Spring

I found this old preserving jar in our basement, it was covered in dirt and cobwebs, but a hot soapy washy later and it's the perfect compliment to spring blossoms from my garden.

Steamfest 2012 - Dunedin Steampunk Events

Here's the flyer I did for my local Steampunk group, listing all the Steam Festival events coming up this October:

Kanzashi Inspired Fabric Flower Brooches

Kanzashi Inspired Brooch

Here's a selection of some Kanzashi inspired fabric flower brooches, which  I've been making for a couple of years now.

There are plenty of tutorials online how to make them, but if people are keen I'd be happy to share my methods. 

How to make a no sew Bustle Pad from an 80s handbag

If you're interested in Victorian or Steampunk clothing you'll be familiar with the bustle skirt and you may even be aware of the bustle-pad, a cushion-type device for accentuating ones...silhouette.

If you haven't tried using one with your bustle skirt I highly recommend you do. When I started working on my first Steampunk outfit I came across an excellent blogpost and tutorial on the Steam Ingenious blog "How to make a bustle-pad and why you should"

At the time I didn't have a sewing machine so I actually hand-stitched one following her instructions by hand.

Did I mention I sewed it by hand? It was worth the effort but by sheer dumb luck I've now come up with an no-sew version.

A while back I was browsing the handbag shelf in Butterflies ** ,one of my favorite local Op-Shops (thrift store), when among the black PVC bags an orange beacon of 80s ugliness enthralled me. I couldn't pass it by and I didn't know why. Slowly I realised that beyond the fulginess the bag was the same shape as a bustle pad...

So here's what you do:

First, take your 80s bag 'o ugly and stuff it with full of batting. Tie on a couple of strips of cotton - or whatever. [If the bag has big bulky handles you'll probably need to remove them, but in my case the straps were just soft cloth and as the bag was in good order,  (and not being a complete vandal) I decided not to cut the straps.]

And with an over-skirt in place, and a cummerbund to hide the ties I think it worked a treat. So if you can't be bothered sewing one, I suggest keeping your eye out for this shape of bag instead.

** If you haven't been in there, Butterflies is tiny, seriously tiny. St Patrick's day is their busiest day of the year, when ALL the Dunedin students, suddenly overcome with a hankering to dress up in green and drink green beer, descend upon the tiny shop. Do not go to Butterflies on St Patrick's day unless you want to risk suffocation by shoppers.

UPDATE If you're looking for more Steampunk ideas, please check out my

 How to Make Ruffle Cuffs mini-tutorial, 

or you might like my  

Steampunk DIY board on Pinterest.