Lord of the Rings Napkins

Sarah gave me a book on making table and bed linen last Christmas. So for her birthday, I really wanted to make something from that book. I made her some napkins with a bound edge.

Sarah is a fan of many things, so there was lots to choose from for a theme, but I wanted to go down the Lord of the Rings road. She hosts nights of watching the movies and likes to have themed stuff then, so I knew these would be used.

Then I had to sift through my Lord of the Rings knowledge. I went with my personal preferences here, because I love the flags and banners and I also love the white horse of Rohan. It's just a great image. So I drew away, cut out a stencil and got to screen printing.

I added the copper details by hand to each one.

Four napkins in total. I was aiming for six but poor estimation of fabric held me back.

A bit of ribbon and care instructions, and they're ready to be wrapped.

One of the test prints turned out well, so I have one spare horse on fabric to make something of. Any ideas?

High-Pressure Crafting - Wedding, Part One

Some people were surprised that I didn't DIY more stuff for my wedding, but I focused on trying to reduce stress for myself, and it was a good idea for my sanity. I would need to keep that for all the twirling I would be made to do.

I had the dresses designed and made by Sandie Bizys and her talented dressmaker Amy. I knew from the start I wanted something fifties, but I had less classy ideas than Sandie and we ended up with something far more elegant than I imagined. She suggested the idea of searching for old family stuff that could be incorporated into the dress. Most of what my family has kept is more twenties and involves a lot of jet and other dark things, but I did find these little Brussels lace birds that Mum bought years before we were born. She said she always thought of them as bluebirds of happiness.

So the birds went on my dress at the back.

She does a lovely dress with swallows around the bottom and I wanted to do something similar based on these birds for my bridesmaids. We talked a lot about hand-painting but in the end screenprinting was a much safer idea. As it was there were plenty of moments of panic and a number of trial runs.

But I think they turned out ok.

More on the wedding later!