Gelli Plate Play!

Hello and welcome ! All over the world our lives are suddenly different and yet we thankfully have our creative crafting to keep us occupied and our virtual deadlines are unchanged!

So today I am welcoming you to our new challenge over at A Vintage Journey where the lovely Julia is challenging us to get out our Gelli Plates and PLAY!

You can find all the details of our challenge on our blog post HERE but most of all do visit and be INSPIRED by my fellow Creative' Guide's amazing makes from their Gelli Plate Play.

Well you know what it is like when you start playing with the Gelli Plate you end up with loads of fabulous mark making papers and in my case fabric. So I have made a little needlework/knitting set from all my pieces!

I recently attended a fabric painting workshop with our local Needleworkers Guild and couldn't wait to get home to try the process on the Gelli Plate! I have used cream coloured cambric and PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints as these will not be washed in any way. I have used the same colours on both paper and fabric and so was able to make some co-ordinating pieces. From the fabric I made a needle case for large pins and needles (which I need when knitting) and a small pincushion. And from the papers a large bookmark for my knitting books and a couple of small notebooks (which actually fit inside the needlecase).

I used Eileen Hull's Notebook die as my base for the needlecase and decorated it by capturing some elements underneath teabag paper (it has not been used for tea bags!).

Making up knitted items requires larger needles than usual and the size of this book is just perfect for my large pins and thick needles.

I have captured the ribbon on the back of the book using the same idea......

..... and followed through to the pin cushion.

The little books were made using Eileen Hull's Passport die, just the inner pages part of the Die. They are filled with different types of papers, particularly squared paper which is very useful when knitting Fair Isle and Lace.

Most of my knitting books are quite large and so I thought I would use the last of the papers to make a large book mark which hopefully won't get lost inside the book!

Initially I was rather disappointed with the fabric printing but once it had dried and I started cutting it and putting it together for my projects I was really pleased with them! I decided not to do any more stamping as I really liked the colours and textures created. Neither did I want to hide too much of the gorgeous patterns so I did keep my embellishments on the small side. Here are some close ups of the patterns:

If that has whetted your appetite, then here are a few more details of how it all came together.

On this piece of calico I used four different Frescos: China, Waterfall, Wolf Eye and Key Lime. I wished I had thought to iron the calico before I started ........!

I also did some papers and tissue paper in the same colours. Patterns have been created on both with Carabelle Studios gelli plate stamps, bottle tops and die cuts.

This piece of fabric had the addition of Glass Blue Fresco which is transluscent and I added a bit more of the Key Lime, again which is semi opaque. I had expected the Key Lime to blend in a bit more than it had.

To make the needlecase I cut a piece of the calico about 1.5" larger than the Notebook Die.

I used the Notebook Die to cut a piece of batting which I then machine stitched onto the calico.

I captured my text paper and butterfly under some tea bag material and added a little lace and tape ....

..... and the same on the back capturing some dyed seam binding underneath to close the book when finished.

I decided to use some Fabric Glue from this point onwards as I thought my stitching would just ruin what I had created so far! This is a neat way of mitreing corners which I learnt in a Japanese book binding workshop last year. However, you do need to make sure your pieces are glued at right angles and I had trimmed the fabric to 3/4" all around to ensure I could do this.

I used the Notebook Die to cut the felt inside lining and Eileen's Passport Die to cut a couple of felt pages for my needles. All three pieces are held together with a little silk string and then I glued the felt to the fabric and left it to dry overnight.

Finally I added some lace on the side edges.

My little set look very neat in my knitting basket all ready to be used!

I sincerely hope that everyone is keeping well and safe from the Virus. But hopefully too you may find time to play along with us this month and have some fun getting out your Gelli Plate.

Thank you for joining me today.

Jennie x

Sissix Dies used:

Eileen Hull Notebook Die

Eileen Hull Passport Die