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Crafting Memories
When my Dad died my Mum had an unopened pack of hankies, he was never without a hanky in his pocket or under his pillow. I gave the hankies to Emily’s sewing teacher (at Rivers MEET craft cafe )and each of the girls came up with their own designs to use them. Below are some of them, sadly not all my photos were good, sorry to those missed off.
On Facebook I met a lady who make Memory Bears out of clothing, this is what she made out of my Dad’s trousers, scarf and hanky. You can read about Dee’s work at Meet Dee
He is now sitting on my fireplace, I’m going to call him Daddy Bear!
Just after my Dad died I won a competition to have a Memorial Heart made by Liv to Sew, I collected it yesterday. You can read about Olivia’s work at Meet Olivia
I now have some lovely keepsakes of my Dad.
Meet Olivia
What is your craft?
My craft is currently centred on memorial textile work. I make sweetheart pincushions using traditional methods for war commemoration, personal memorials and even weddings and births. Sweetheart pincushions originated during the First World War; convalescing soldiers were given fabric hearts stuffed with sawdust to decorate with pins, beads, buttons, cigarette silks and more. They were then sent home to loved ones. The story of this folk art really struck a chord with me and I wanted to make it work again 100 years later.
How did you get started and when?
I had been sewing and selling on Facebook page for quite a while but I was becoming concerned about stagnating in my craft. I am also a full time secondary school teacher and I wanted something new to challenge me, interest me and attract a new audience. In October 2016 I decided to combine my love of art with my interest in history (WW1 in particular) and began to plan my own exhibition; a series of 50 replica sweetheart pincushions, each dedicated to a Leeds Pal who lost his life on the first day of the Somme (July 1st 1916). It was a huge success and raised money for The Royal British Legion which I was extremely proud of. I have since been working on private commissions, a piece to honour the Barnbow Lasses, a commemorative heart for the Battle of Arras and I also have a big, big surprise to come but I can’t tell you about that yet!
Do you have a business name? What is it and how did you choose it?
My business name on Facebook has been Liv & Sew (a play on Olivia and my love for sewing!) and couldn’t part with it when I changed to ‘Memorial Textile Artist’. I might drop it one day but I think it has some familiarity to it now.
What is your favourite part of your craft?
Oooooh the planning stages! It normally involves quite a lot of research and I use Ebay a lot to find things like regimental badges, cigarette cards and so on. I use a sketch book to draw up my idea, make the heart and off I go! To be honest the design is normally quite organic and I adapt as I go along.
What is your least favourite part?
Stuffing the heart with sawdust! It is a nightmare and I always make such a mess!
Do you have a favourite thing that you make? Do you have a picture of it?
Here is my favourite sweetheart pincushion. I like it so much that I have kept it for myself! It is dedicated to Private Crawford Stokoe 15/855 who was killed in action on 1st July 1916.
Do you have a website or Facebook page? If so what is the URL?
Do you sell your makes? If so, how and where?
I sell them through my Facebook page and over email too at o.yates87@gmail.com
What is your favourite craft product?
The standard medium sized (12×12) sweetheart pincushion stuffed with sawdust and finished with vintage items.
What is your favourite craft supplier?
Other than Ebay, my absolute favourite supplier its Betsy’s Button Shop on Facebook. I buy ALL SORTS from her as she sells not only vintage buttons but other bits and pieces too. I buy all my pins, cigarette guards and war items from various sellers on Ebay.
Personal Details
Name
Olivia Young
Age
29
Location
Leeds
Meet Dee
Dee made me a lovely memory bear from some of my Dad’s clothes.
“Hello there! My name is Dee and I have been sewing since my young years. I had my first sewing machine at the age of 10. I was sewing soft toys for the family business by the age of 12, and designing and manufacturing for the family business at 15.
I do many different crafts from plaque making, to clay modelling, and have been a professional cake maker/decorator for 18yrs. All in, I’ve been self employed for 35 yrs, but my biggest love of all is sewing.
My Business name is Whole Lot Of Lovely, and I chose that because so many people have said “You do Lots of Lovely things!” My favorite items that I make are my Teddy Bears, I make Memory Bears, Special occasion Bears (Weddings, Birthdays etc) memory school uniform bears, and occupation Bears. Each bear has its own character and personality! Thats why I love them!
The worst part of crafting and sewing is the tidying up! I sell my makes and creations on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/deeslotsoflovelys/ also locally, and at The Knitting Bee and Craft Shop which is roughly 5 mile away in Colwyn Bay, and I like to purchase a majority of my materials from there too.
I live in Abergele in North Wales, just down the road from the beach, so I’m lucky in many ways. Here I show you some of my Bears and makes…”
This is my bear
So many ways to present
I was asked if I could make a 16th birthday card for a girl who was into vampires and zombies and not a girly girl. After discussion we decided on a Sweet 16 card on black card. Using the pattern from Stitching Cards. As with all card orders I want them to be perfect for the person ordering so played around with the best way to present the card.
This is the basic stitched design on black card
Below are ones with sequins and beads added
Next is the making it into a card, I ended up with 13 different designs plus the above options, most of the differences are quite subtle, but do change the overall appearance.
The final decision was this one.
I don’t know which one I would have gone for myself, it was amazing how many different ideas I ended up with and it was a good excuse to play!
April Makes
April has been a difficult month. My Dad died unexpectedly on April 2nd so my creativeness has used been in other areas, planning a funeral; creating and service sheet and writing a eulogy. It was hard to know what to do at first, but then the ideas began to flow and we created a service to reflect my Dad’s interests and personality, which worked very well.
I decided to stitch a pattern for the front of Dad’s funeral service sheet, the finished stitching was then scanned and printed on to the front of the service sheet. My Mum has the original stitching. I used a Dandelion pattern from Stitching Cards. It is an image that I like and my Dad was always fascinated by patterns. Below is the scanned version and the front of the service sheet. I also love patterns and the effects created by them, I think that is why the stitched cards appeal to me.
My Mum’s birthday was a couple of weeks after my Dad died and in the period between his death and the funeral so it was hard to celebrate, but we took my Mum out and remembered my Dad too. I made the cat card below for my Mum. I think it was from CraftsUPrint but I cant find it again I think it has been withdrawn as there were no patterns by the designer. I have searched for the designer and it doesn’t come up anywhere else it is Carol Lepard and its dated 2008.
This beautiful Puffin is from Stitching cards, it was quick and easy to do and the recipient loved it, so nice to get feedback on my makes.
My Dad’s birthday is at the end of May so that will be a hard time for us and then in June we have Father’s Day, this year it is the two days after my birthday. Last night I won a competition at Liv & Sew: Memorial Textile Artist to have a memorial heart made for my Dad. We visited a lovely exhibition of her work the day before my Dad died. I am looking forward to planning the heart with Liv.
Mother’s day Makes
Here are the cards I made for Mother’s day, I was pleased with how they turned out, as ever the photos do not do justice and I thought they had come out better using a different way of taking them, ah well keep experimenting!
Using Triplicut Die
Using Tattered Lace build a Wondrous butterfly and Spellbinders Nestabilities Majestic Elements Adorning Squares S4-389
Emily made a beautiful card for me at her sewing class
I know there are many for whom Mother’s Day is a difficult time. I went to the garden of remembrance to visit my Grandma and cousin, it was very busy even at 9.30am. For all of those who have lost Mum’s or Children, this is for you.
March Makes
My latest makes, apologies for poor photos
Pattern from Add Some Sparkle, card was finished off in a hurry and I noticed when uploading phot0 that I forgot to stitch the centre, whoops!
Long time no blog
I am really struggling at the moment having juggled Christmas, my Dad being really ill and two birthdays and parties followed by school half term. Only today to survive, but then it’s back to school run 🙁
I have so many ideas for things to make and things to finish, but my energy and time are so short and I am in a lot of pain and very dizzy.
I managed a few makes for February, but they were hard work and went right to the wire to get them finished. All the patterns are from Stitching Cards, it has taken me nearly 5 years to get around to doing the Queen one, it wasn’t as hard as I imagined, but it is fiddly and time consuming and many beads were lost down the sofa!
I have found a new stitching pattern site and was tempted by some of their patterns, but won’t get chance to make them in time for what I wanted, maybe next year! The site is called Add Some Sparkle
That’s all for now.
November Makes
November has passed in a sleepy blur. I did make a few things, but in my haste and brainfog I forgot to photograph them!
Just one that I made as an order did I remember and I was having a bad day so the picture is not very good.
My website shop is currently closed as my cards and frames are being sold by Rothwell Baptist church for church funds. The church is a great support to us even though we are not regular members of the congregation. I know that my frames have sold and some of my cards.
On 12th December I am hoping to have some things for sale at Rothwell C of E school fair to raise money for school funds. The children are making lots of things to sell too.
So short and sweet this month!
Shop will be back to normal when I have the time and energy.
October makes
I am rather frustrated as I have typed quite a bit of this post already and then lost it!!
It’s been a long and hectic month and right now my head feels full of cotton wool and I wonder if I should really be writing at all, but I need something to distract me so here goes take 2!
If you follow my blog you will know we spent a lot of the summer hunting elephants in Sheffield. October marked the end of the Herd of Sheffield and an auction to sell them off. I decided to do my bit and make some cards to mark the occasion, but whatever I might make will be small fry compared to the £410,600 made at the auction. Not sure that my cards are that good, but they are unique and I think they are cute. They are available to buy in my webshop with information about which elephant inspired them.
You can read more about our own goodbye to the elephants here
Yay just sold 3 as I type this!! Plus a donation so £15 winging it’s way to charity.
All the elephants cards are made with cards from Dee Craft and a variety of papers including ones printed from Paper printables and craftville. They were great fun to make.
Made with pattern from Stitching cards
Made using die cuts and Ikea box frames (available in shop)
Golden wedding thank you cards made with heart cut with large heart punch, greeting printed and stuck on.
Made with pattern from Form a Lines, heart embossed card by Craftstyle
I also made a box frame with a button heat and the couples names and wedding date, but forgot to photograph it!
Pattern from Ann’s paper art, backing paper printed with Craftville backing paper maker
Emily at chocolate workshop in Scarborough many thanks to Amelia’s for squeezing her in at the last minute.
Pumpkin pizzas for Halloween.
Think I will finish here, it’s taken 3 days to get this far and I need to rest up for Our Handmade Collective Christmas launch tonight, it’s always a great event.
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