I guess my first post should be about my felty business, but no - I feel a gentle introduction to my general craftyness would be good. With this in mind I will TRY & post a little tutorial showing the beautiful 'lavender bottles' that my Grandma taught me to make - many moons ago!! Please bear with me as it's my first blog & first tutorial too - a lot of firsts today ... By the way if anyone can think of a better name for these sweet little things I'd be grateful!!
"LAVENDER BOTTLES"
You'll need an odd number of fresh lavender heads
cut with nice long stems - 11 is a good number! And one metre of pretty ribbon - I usually use quarter or three eighths inch wide.
Now bend the lavender stems over the heads gently so as not to snap them - it sometimes helps to 'score' them with your fingernail a little before bending.Bend the stems all down around the flower heads to enclose them.
Now's the time to start weaving the ribbon! Under,over,under,over ... Keep the ribbon nice & tight as the lavender does shrink a little as it dries out.
When you have woven down to the end of the flower heads wrap the ribbon round neatly a few times & tie in a loop for hanging. Now you are ready to hang this one in your wardrobe or in the kitchen & start again!! I usually like mine to be a bit thicker & more rounded but for us in Derbyshire it's still early in the lavender season!!
I hope you've enjoyed my first post!
If you are in or around Derbyshire 16th July you can come & make these with me at the http://www.freedomflowers.co.uk/ Open Day & taste some lovely 'flowery' food too!!
Lovely blog Mary. Very impressive and i love your tutorial. Thats so pretty. I look forward to more felt and flowery tutorials.
ReplyDeletex
Wonderful tutorial! Lavender is the essence of an English garden but up until now I've only every thought about making lavender bags - these bottles are so much nicer (and the name is appropriate).
ReplyDeleteInteresting post and a pleasure to read - you're a natural blogger!
That's really interesting, it looks so pretty and I bet it smells wonderful! Hope you do some more blogs soon!
ReplyDeleteThank you all so much for your lovely comments ! It's nearly the end of the lavender season so time to post about something else!!
ReplyDeleteMary x
Yes have to agree with margaret - the tutorial is great and you should definitely stick at this!
ReplyDeletex Hilary
@craftbloguk
Great tutorial, looks great.. not so sure my weaving could look that good though.
ReplyDeletejust found your blog link on Folksy so thought I would say 'hi'
Lynda x
What a fabulous tutorial, I always dry my own lavender to use and just love it, must say yours looks lovely and blue though, mine has a gorgeous fragrance but is much more pale mauve in colour. Look forward to following you, Di x
ReplyDeleteLovely blog post - fab photos too. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteStephanie
AllAboutBeads.Folksy.com