Centrepieces

I realised I never posted about the centrepieces!

The recipe (makes one centrepiece):

Ingredients:


1 50cm glass vase
Approx 5 handfuls of river stones
2-3 branches
Strong Wire (and pliers to cut and shape)
14 Frosted tealight holders (replace 2-3 with lace tealight holders if required)
Electronic tea lights
1m Chandelier crystals, separated
12-13 foam roses in different sizes, some with leaves

Method:


1. Wrap roses around each other in a circle shape sized to fit around the base of the vase.

2. Place the ring of roses around the vase.

3. Place the river stones and branches into the vase.

4. Wrap wire around 4 tealight holders and add a loop as a 'bucket' handle.

5. Wrap wire around four parts of branches into a hook shape.

6. Place electric tealights into all the candle holders.

7. Hang the wire wrapped tealight holders on the branches and arrange the rest around the base of the tree.

8. Hang the separated chandelier crystals on the branches in random patterns.

Starting the Fur Shrugs for the Bridesmaids

With the help of my chief bridesmaid I used thick scrap fabric to create a shrug pattern. Its quite simple with just two darts as shoulder seams.

It will fasten at the front with a ribbon or a button.

I drafted just one side - its loose so two sided fittings really are not necessary!

I then transferred and mirrored the pattern onto newspaper

And started to cut the fur! I've cut it to about 1.5cm seam allowance and because the fur is quite short I didn't cut it properly using a furriers knife or tiny snips with the scissors - I just went ahead and cut through the whole thing so ended up with a lot of fur on the carpet. Still, I think cutting the lot then cleaning was quicker than if I'd been snipping at a snails pace.

The fur and lining fabric is all from a Queen sized blanket my nana spotted at a charity shop. Beautiful fur, amazing price, upcycling and donating to charity. I believe from the feel of it the fur is rabbit. Its clearly quite old and I have no qualms about using fur - especially if it is from an animal that is culled for biodiversity purposes by rangers worldwide. I have one bridesmaid who does not want to wear fur so she and the flower girl will have navy blue fleece wraps made from some fabric I have in my stash.

Here are the cut fur pieces ready to sew up another day.