Numpty No- No's.

Well, hello again!


It appears I have overcome my previous shyness; I couldn't wait to write this post up. Why, you ask? Well, I felt it was an important  contribution to the preservation of crafters around the world.


It also contains one of my most favourite traits about myself & others. The things that make us authentic. Numptiness. What is numptiness? Well lets refer to the urban dictionary for an answer:


a.) Someone who (sometimes unwittingly) by speech or action demonstrates a lack of knowledge or misconception of a particular subject or situation to the amusement of others.


Still not clear? Allow me to give you a visual:

What is it? My hair. In a bobbin. Wound tightly. 

HOW? Well, according to Jeni from Handmade Love, it's because I'm a Numpty. I must stress that this was said as a form of endearment. 

So, now I've made that crystal clear, you'd probably like me to explain the technique for winding your hair into a bobbin. I know you love my tutorials. So here's a quick one:

How To Wind Your Hair Into a Bobbin:

1. Run out of bobbin thread halfway through sewing an important accessory piece at midnight.

2. Remove empty bobbin from case, and set up to rewind with the thread of your choice.

3. Whilst winding more thread onto the bobbin, take some time to rest your HEAD on top of the sewing machine. Ensure your hair is nice & frizzy. If it's not, it won't catch as easily.

4. Freak out when you realise your hair is winding you closer & closer to the bobbin spool.

5. Yank you head away in a panic so a chunk stays with the bobbin and can be integrated nicely into the thread.

6. Continue sewing as usual. You'll put a little piece of yourself into everything you sew.

After such an enlightening and wonderful crash course on what NOT to do around my sewing machine...it got me thinking. I mean, I've had some major crash & burns (yes, I'm actually being literal there) in the Joallie Petit studio. Perhaps I should compile a list of the top 5 Numpty no-no's for your crafty benefit. 

THE TOP FIVE NUMPTY NO-NO'S

1. DON'T rest your head on top of a sewing machine whilst winding a bobbin. I think we've said enough on this matter.

2. DON'T spray any kind of adhesive spray onto your appliques when on the carpeted floor in your studio room. The memory of a bad tree shape will continue to haunt you forever. Or until you buy a rug.

3. DO NOT attempt to seal grosgrain hair ribbon if you already applied glue to it. The result is truly singe-a-riffic. 

4. DO NOT watch t.v.whilst sewing. The result could mean someone has to walk around on their hands in order to wear your clothing.

5. DO NOT think you'll pick up that pin/needle off the floor after you've done XXX. Chances are, your foot will find it for you. 

Like my list? Guess what? ALL of these are from personal experience. I've had chunks of hair missing, singed eyebrows, a permanent mark on my carpet that will forever haunt me, unwearable attempts at clothing, and two trips to the local ED to remove pins from my foot. And the doctors weren't even hot. Sigh.

And I'm still going. Why? Because I'm a Numpty, obviously!

Now it's your turn. Pleeeeease share your numpty experiences with me (I know I already have a couple in common with some of you...hehehhee). There will be a prize for the best one. A pair of my new shoe clips:

 No injury was sustained in making them. Just watch out for the hair, though. 

Post your comments under here, and I will choose the best one next Friday!

Jo xx

Hooray! Welcome to the very first blog post for Joallie Petit! I have a confession...although I have NOOOO trouble thinking of things to say in everyday life (no laughing, friends!)...I sat in front of the computer screen for ages...completely blank. WHAAA!? That never happens. So, in order to overcome my new found shyness, I decided to do up a tutorial for the silk tie flowers I showed on my facebook page recently. This is something I have figured out myself; I haven't borrowed the tutorial/idea from anywhere else, so if you'd like to use it, that's completely fine- but PLEASE  acknowledge me/the blog!
So, here goes....

SILK TIE FLOWER TUTORIAL

You will need:

• A hot glue gun (I prefer a high temp gun for stronger hold)
• a silk tie
• a dried twig from the garden (about 1-1.5cm thickness)
• embroidery scissors and an unpick tool
• Bandaids. Lots of bandaids. And burn cream.
• The necessary equipment to make a cup of tea. Essential.

So, start by removing the little label that usually 

sits on the tie with your unpick/scissors. It's important that you just remove the stitching, and leave all the fabric/fold intact:                                          

Then, once it's removed, get rid of any loose threads, then glue the seam together with a dab of hot glue. Try to make sure that none of the hot glue escapes the seam, as this might be visible later when you fold your petals:

Yaaaay..now we get to the FUN bit. The bit where you ultimately will remove at least half of the skin pad from your fingers. Just kidding...it's only about a third. I tend to exaggerate sometimes.

Start by inserting the stick into the open end at the thinnest section of the tie and gluing to secure. It it's not open, that's fine, just glue it to one side of the stick, and fold over, then continue the tutorial as normal:

You may need to wait a few seconds for the glue to dry, which is fine. Just make a cup of tea, and enjoy the sensation of your hot cup burning the exposed skin from finger pads. If you've managed to avoid that joy so far...don't worry...it's coming. 

Now, we get to wrap the tie around the stick a couple of times (use the hot glue at the base of the wrapping to keep it in place as you go) before folding the tie towards you. Adhere it with the glue gun at the base of the flower (that's the point next to your fingerpads) 

Then fold the tie down and towards you (so there's a nice 'loop/fold' for the petal at the top)

Keep alternating between a bit of TIGHT wrapping, a bit of folding, until you come to almost the end of your tie. You'll notice I kept the instructions for this section light. That's because you'll be so busy cursing at the glue on your fingertips you won't really pay attention anyway...

Ta da! One stick of hot glue, four band-aids, a cup of tea & some swearing later...and you almost finished! If you don't have peeling fingers yet, don't worry. I'll give you one more chance:

Glue the open end of your tie together and press tight. The glue might come out a bit...mwahahahaha. It should look like this:

Then, simply fold over, and TIGHTLY roll till it's all finished! Don't be skimpy on the hot glue, and you can fasten the end with glue and pressing with your fingers (my method) or a couple of stitches (hindsight method).

It's amazing how gorgeous these ties can look on mass; and seriously, it's always the REALLY ugly ties that seem to work the best! They look so different when twisted. The thicker/longer the tie, the more larger/more bulky the rose will be. That's fine, just make sure you use a strong enough twig, and LOTS of glue!!

I hope you enjoyed my very first tutorial post...feel free to comment and let me know how many band-aids you used for your fingers...oh, and how they turned out ;)

Jo xx