Designer Desire: Clare Youngs

Montage of Portrait of Clare Youngs designs

Clare Youngs is a British textile artist, collage maker, paper artist and workshop leader.

We can see echoes of Kenneth Townsend, David Klein and Hornsea Pottery newsprint mugs in her fabulous designs – no wonder we were drawn to her work.

When asked who and what inspires her, she responded:

Vintage Children’s books, particularly those published in the 60s and 70s. I like the work of Brian Wildsmith and Roger Duvoisin, Alice and Martin Provensen an American couple who illustrated more than 40 children’s books together. Mostly between the late 1940s and the 1960s.

Based in Broadstairs, Kent, Clare is also the author of many craft books. Buy her cards, prints, jigsaws and original collages from her online shop.

Portrait of Clare Youngscredit

Additional image credits © Clare Youngs

3 tips for making your own curtains

3 tips for making your own curtains

If you’re a first-time home-owner turned curtain-maker, the pastime can prove to be quite a learning experience. However, with these three tips, you should be able to avoid at least a few of the major mistakes on your first attempt at making your own curtains.

Person cutting fabric at a sewing machine

Measurements are crucial

Measurements are crucial for any DIY project, and curtains aren’t an exception. There’s a certain degree of flexibility, of course, however it’s best not to stretch that flexibility any more than necessary. A few factors to keep in mind when measuring fabric for curtains include:

  • Keep the dimensions of the window and the purpose of the curtains in mind while shopping for fabric
  • Add an extra 30cm to the length or drop of the curtain (from the rod to the bottom hem) when measuring the amount of fabric you’ll need
  • If there are to be folds and/or pleats, the usual rule is to multiply the width of the window by 3 when ordering the fabric

Bolts of fabric

Choice of fabric: cheap or expensive?

Even if you have a little prior sewing experience, we’d advise against buying very cheap fabric as it can be harder to work with than more expensive options. However, if this is your very first time, you may not want to order luxury silk just yet! Pure cotton is a mid-range textile that offers ample opportunity to experiment your initial tailoring skills on, while thick polyester offers excellent insulation during those cold, winter months. Then of course, there’s corduroy which deserves its own discussion, because of the material’s distinct texture that sets it apart from everything else.

Cheap, medium-range and premium options are all available and ready to ship internationally through reputable suppliers like the Yorkshire Fabric Shop who have a fabric finder to help you choose the right material for your project. Instead of randomly picking what you like without the necessary knowledge, we suggest a prior consultation with the experts to arrive at a more suitable choice. They can help steer you in the right direction to ensure you don’t buy the wrong thing.

Fabric with tape measure, scissors, bobbin and cotton reel

Go with close-weaves

As a final tip, it’s suggested that beginners avoid material with an obvious motif or decoration that requires perfect pattern matching because that’s not a job for an inexperienced sewer, by any means. Making mistakes on the front will be difficult and time-consuming to put right – if not downright impossible. Plain and closely woven fabrics, on the other hand, are much more beginner-friendly and won’t end up looking like an amateur job.

Setting aside the learning curve and some of the inevitable beginner’s mistakes, rest assured that making curtains can be a very rewarding experience. Not only will you be able to create exactly what you want to complement your décor, but they’ll always be hanging around, receiving regular admiration from guests. It’s also an excellent way to market a new business, should you choose to go professional with the curtain-making idea at a later date. Happy sewing!

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Christmas wreath making

Christmas wreath made by Justin | H is for Home

This is the first year that I can remember us not having a tree up for Christmas. All the rooms in our cottage are in various states of unfinishedness (I think I just made that word up!). We wanted some sort of festiveness, so decided to adorn the finished front doors. Yes, as our house was formerly two tiny cottages, we have two front doors. Rather than buy them, we downed decorating tools and picked up Christmas wreath making ones instead.

Foraged foliage and other Christmas wreath making items | H is for Home

Our village is surrounded by mixed coniferous forest, so we didn’t need to venture far to forage for Christmas wreath raw materials. And, thanks to lots of very windy weather recently, it didn’t take us long to find lots of different kinds of fir, larch, spruce and pine fronds on the ground. Saying that, holly with its berries still intact was pretty scarce; I think the local and winter-visiting birds have been feasting on them.

Justin's Christmas wreath on the front door | H is for Home

I found it harder to do than I thought it would; Justin’s attempt was far superior in my opinion. He has a natural talent for flower & foliage arranging!

Adelle's Christmas wreath on the front door | H is for Home

I tried to improve mine by embellishing it with a big, gold ribbon. What do you think?

Adelle's Christmas wreath | H is for Home

Now that we have a pair of wire wreath frames, I think we’ll be making them every year – practice makes perfect!

7 fun ways to get creative with SVGs

7 fun ways to get creative with SVGs | H is for Home

SVGs or ‘scalable vector graphics’ to give them their full name are easy and convenient to use in crafty activities of all types. They’re especially suitable for designs that incorporate simple line drawings and text.

Many of the popular (and some free!) design programs can handle svgs, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Inkscape. They are also compatible with crafting software such as Cricut, Silhouette, SCAL and Scan N Cut.

An svg is scaleable, i.e. the image can be created to be as small or as large as you need it to be and it won’t loose any of its detail and definition. There’ll be none of that unattractive pixelation or fuzziness in your finished product like you do with jpeg or png files. So, whether you’re doing something small-scale or need to blow it up to billboard poster size, this is the type you should use.

SVG files can be viewed and downloaded from the internet or sent and received as an email file attachment. Compared to the aforementioned jpeg and png, an svg is a smaller file

They’re the ideal starting point for creating personalised gifts for friends & family and decorative items for yourself and your home. Here are just a few of the ideas that we’ve come up with for using svg files for your inventive projects.

Card making

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Blue Penny Custom Creations (@bluepennycustomcreations)

Celebratory events such as birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Christmas are often marked with the sending or exchange of cards. You can produce your own with that extra special, personal touch. Also, they’re perfect for designing DIY wedding, party and shower invitations – business cards and flyers too.

Framed wall art

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Love Sophie (@lovesophieuk)

Do you have a favourite quote or are you or someone you know famous for your catchphrase? Create an artwork incorporating this or an inspirational phrase or saying. And then there are word clouds which could be devised via a favourite subject. Print them up and pop them in a frame to make a great wall display.

Stamp making

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Labiri ラビリ (@laabiri)

Carving your own rubber stamps is a great way of creating bespoke designs. Think of those regular multiples such as manually printing your logo on business stationery or stamping your return address on the outside of envelopes and packages.

Fashion & textiles

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Evelina Londoño (@_evylondono_)

The scope of fashion and textile items that can be transformed by embellishing them with svg illustrations is almost endless. Add decals produced using svgs to T-shirts, baseball caps, tote bags or baby clothes. Aprons, tea towels and cushion covers can be customised to coordinate with your décor.

Journaling

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Celestial Savagery (@celestialsavagery)

There are some beautiful examples of Bullet journals on Instagram. Some journal-keepers are blessed with a talent for calligraphy and drawing freehand images. But what if you’re not that lucky and you want to start your own journal? You can decorate it beautifully with colourful washi tape, stickers and paper-cut SVG illustrations.

Embroidery

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Bee Cardamomo (@apiculae)

SVG image files are perfect for use as patterns for creating intricate decorative embroidery hoops. If you’re an embroidery newbie, you can learn by starting with a simple monogramming SVG image template.

Body art

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Kareen Singh (@kareen_sing_h)

Tattoos are incredibly popular; have you been inked? If you’re not ready to commit to a permanent tattoo, you can toy with semi-permanent henna. Find a SVG file you like and use it as a stencil for your one-of-a-kind henna body art.

Can you think of other projects in which you can use svgs to create something attractive, imaginative and custom made?

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