Travelling light

While shopping for trimmings for Pandora's Hatbox, I picked up these gorgeous vintage-look 3D stickers from The Paper Mill at my local art supply store. How cute are they? I can't wait to find a use for them, perhaps along with some pages from the giant atlas that I found at the op shop.

Finally, a map of the future!

If you have been patiently waiting to see the finished Map of the Future visual journal cover, please accept my apologies. I've been unable to sit at my computer for several weeks now due to a compressed disc in my spine – ouch! The project is now finished, and I've been scribbling away in the journal with more ideas for designs and patterns while I've been ill, so please come back to this blog soon to see what's next. 

After completing the embroidery of the map I had fun finding and adding the brass embellishments shown here, including the compass of cogs and watch parts, the ornate brass hinges and the hasp-and-staple lock to keep it safe.

The pattern and full step-by-step instructions are available from my etsy store, if you would like to make your own visual journal cover. And please add your email address to my mailing list using the form in the sidebar if you'd like to know when new patterns and designs are available.

Map of the Future embroidery

With the embroidery for the Map of the Future visual journal cover complete, today I have rinsed the whole piece of fabric in lukewarm water to remove the water-soluble fabric marker, and spread it out to dry. Because it's linen, I won't let it dry completely before I iron it, pressing from the back on a soft towel so as not to flatten the stitches. There's just a little more preparation (which I'll discuss in detail in the pattern that will soon be available from my etsy store*), and then it will be time to assemble the cover and put it on the visual journal.

* If you'd like to be informed when the pattern is available, simply sign up for the newsletter in the sidebar. I'll email you when a new pattern is available, and I promise I won't contact you for any other sales or marketing.

Decorating the landscape

The embroidery for the Map of the Future visual journal cover is almost done. I've used fairly simple embroidery stitches, and kept details to a minimum: waterways, major roads, parks and bushland. I'm tempted to add signposts to my favourite cafés, bookshops and cinemas, but I might find that the map is complicated enough by the time I've finished all the little French knot trees.

There will be instructions in the pattern detailing which colours and stitches I used, including photographs showing how to do the embroidery stitches. Keep an eye out here on my blog, or sign up in the sidebar to receive an email when the pattern is available in my etsy store.

Map of the future

I'm making a cover for my visual journal that will feature an embroidered map of my local area. The first step is to cut the fabric slightly larger than the finished size of the cover (so that it can be held in an embroidery hoop), then mark the outlines of the map design using a water-soluble fabric marker. Here's a tip: if you make a mistake with the marker, simply redraw the line then use a cotton bud (Q-tip) dipped in a drop of water to remove the unwanted line.
The water-soluble marker will fade with time, because of the moisture in the air and on your skin as you handle the fabric. So begin by stitching the major outlines and shapes on the fabric and leave the other details for later.
Please keep coming back to this blog to see more progress on my Map of the Future and, eventually, to find out when the pattern will be available from my etsy store. Or sign up for my newsletter in the sidebar to get a free pattern and an email whenever a new design is available.

To the ends of the earth

My partner has recently acquired a couple of new books that might be of interest to steampunk afficionados. The one pictured, To the Ends of the Earth: 100 Maps that Changed the World (Harper Collins, 2006) is a beautifully illustrated history of cartography from Babylonian clay tablets to 21st-century interactive virtual maps.

Looking at the maps of past ages makes me nostalgic for times when the world was still there to be explored; when dragons and sea monsters might feasibly have lurked behind the next mountain range or in the depths of a vast and uncharted sea. These days, with cameras everywhere accumulating data and satellites giving precise locations of everything on Earth, some of the magic is gone.

As author Jeremy Harwood says:

The electronic linking of such maps to other maps means that the amount of information that can be accessed is almost limitless. The availability of downloadable map data also means that today's mapmakers are spoilt for choice. Put at its simplest, provided that they possess the necessary software and skills, everyone who wants to can be a mapmaker.