I know it sounds a little bit weird but I'm making a Scottish Piper doll for my sister as she loves all things Scottish and has nothing to put on the top of her xmas tree (or so she reckons).

The problem isn't the bag itself, it's the pipes. I have NO idea what I can make them out of. I've put a pic or two up here but I was thinking maybe a paintbrush handle with clay round it. Only problem would then be the weight of them... 

Any ideas, O Crafty Peeps?

My daughter requested this for the Book Character Day at school. Bearing in mind I have NO sewing experience (well, unless sewing a button on counts), it was a bit of a...challenge, shall we say.

I so need to take more piccies next time...

Having an addiction to Bleach anyway (it's a Japanese anime series btw, I don't habitually sniff the stuff lol), I know vaguely what the shinigami outfit consisted of. The only bits I knew I couldn't make were the black hakama (trousers) since they are really complicated so I ended up buying those from eBay (£4 including postage, bargain!).

The white keikogi, the black keikogi (the two tops), the sandals (known as waraji...and it took me AGES to find that out) and the sword (zan-paktu) were all made from scratch, as were the white panels under the black hakama (I didn't have time to make white hakama to go underneath them).

I kind of made the pattern up as I went along for the keikogi but it worked so well I might even end up doing a tut at one point. Feel free to comment, I'll be making another thread for my other daughter's costume, which was Boudicca.

Reference pic, this is Rukia Kuchiki.


The white keikogi:



The sword (called a zan-paktu in the anime):





The waraji (from an old grotty pair of sandals):

Oh, ignore the socks LOL



Finished article:


And one very chuffed daughter:





She didn't win because they thought I'd bought it. I don't know whether to be insulted or complimented.

I know this is likely to sound a little weird, but I need some help with what fabric to use for my next (incredibly ambitious) project.

My three kids all adore Japanese culture, courtesy of my letting them watch an anime series called "Bleach", and they're all loving Japan so much that all three want to learn Japanese (oh boy...that'll be fun!). Anyway, I've decided I want to make them a furisode kimono for christmas and I need to know what fabric to use for it because I actually haven't got a clue.

I've added some pics from the net just in case I'm confusing someone (confused me too begin with).





Silk is obviously out because of the expense and it's fragility, so I was thinking possible a duchess satin or polyester satin? It has to have a slight sheen and be extremely hard-wearing (they'll be using them as dressing gowns), as well as rather inexpensive (up to about £8 a metre isn't going to break the bank). I'll probably be doing a cotton or cotton mix one for my youngest as she's only five (plus without the longer sleeves).

I'll be doing all the hand-stitched embroidery myself and considering I haven't embroidered before, it's going to be a lot of fun (and probably very repetitive). I'll also be adding an obi with the bow (and cheating by adding velcro at the back) so they can do them up themselves. Phoebe is five and I was thinking of a sky blue, Becky is 11 and I'm thinking of her favourite colour which is teal, and Jade is 12 and I'm thinking of a deep plum for her.

Thanks for any help you can give me as I need to get started on these ASAP and I'm nervous already lol

Oh, and speaking of which...



She's getting there, the petitpoint on her face took me almost three weeks, never did it before so it was quite a challenge.

Well, I've been busy...

My World Peace Angel is slowly getting there, and I've done these inbetween:

A sampler for my daughter's 9th birthday, she loved it. Took me about two weeks to do, used random charts I had from about six other sources, and used blending filament, beads and metallics.



I don't have a close-up, unfortunately.

This I made for my mum on Mother's Day (March 2nd, so I'm in on time for once LOL). Camera has washed all the colours out, but it's a pot of lavender, the bow is llac and the tassle is metallic light purple. I think it took me about three days.



I do have a recent pic of the WP Angel I mentioned up there, but to save me having to post it twice, I'll just put it in the Big Piccy Stitchalong instead.

I'm now working on a collection of seashells for my parents 30th wedding anniversary on March 33nd...Busy, busy, busy...

Bit of a story with this one...it's almost "the cross-stitch that never was".  

My sister actually bought this to stitch for my nan from my mum way back in March last year. So, most of last year, my mum was asking her if she'd done it yet every couple of weeks and her reply was always the same - I've nearly finished it. The last actual update we had was in the middle of May, when she admitted she'd finished the text.

Come mid-October, my mum was getting worried it might not be finished in time so begged her to give it to me so I could finish it off and frame it up, and all she'd done was the text and the houses in one corner.

So...me being me, stitched almost solidly for about four weeks, and this was the result.


It's sitting in a 20x14 frame, with a deep brown mount. It's a pity it's such a bad piccy, because when the light hits it, the sea and shell both gleam where I've added metallic threads and blending filament (a small "tweak" of mine).

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and my mum and nan both really loved it too (mum liked it so much she wanted to keep it lol).

I really need to put some piccies up of work I've completed...Only problem is, I always give them away...