Fruit brooches and an eggplant outfit

Hello! I feel like I've had fruit on the brain lately! I have been craving smoothies constantly, plus I've been seeing so many awesome fruity crafts around the place!

Case in point, I used a pattern from Repeat Crafter Me to make these adorable little crochet fruit coasters. Although, since I already have a set of coasters I am making these into brooches instead. I can never have enough brooches! ^___^
 

I think the strawberry is probably my favourite, but I'm looking forward to wearing all of these! I can also highly recommend the patterns; they are very easy to follow and very cute! ^___^

 

Another thing that caused me to have fruit on the brain was an invite to a "fruit salad" party. Apparently aubergines are technically a fruit, so I decided to to go as an eggplant, because, you know, why not? ~___^ 

 

I didn't have to buy a single thing for this outfit, which is a definite plus! I didn't have a purple bag to bring though, so I used this vintage green bag, which was possibly crocheted by my grandmother. It's definitely handmade, but I'm just not sure by whom! ^___^

 

Of course, just dressing in purple does not an aubergine make, so I also made myself a little fascinator and also an eggplant buddy in case people didn't know what I was meant to be.

 

They were both very easy to make and I used felt for both. For the fascinator, I cut out two shapes from felt, plus a slightly smaller piece from thin cardboard. I stiched the felt around the cardboard with a running stitch. For the stem, I rolled up a piece of felt, added a few stitches across the bottom so it wouldn't unravel and then sewed it to the main hat piece. I didn't add any stitches to the top or sides because I liked the way it looked when slightly open.

 

For my aubergine brooch, I just cut the three shapes from felt and then stitched them together. I used a running stitch here too as I thought it would complement the fascinator nicely ^___^

 

And I gave him a little face because, well, everything is cuter with a wide-eyed smile! ^___^

I loosely stitched a hair comb to the underside of the fascinator so that it would stay on my head which, I am pleased to report, worked wonderfully. Giving the stitches a bit of flex is a good way to ensure your fascinator will be able to adjust around the comb without it breaking! I have ruined many a haircomb with handmade fascinators, but I am apparently starting to learn my lesson now ~___^

 

I'm not over the fruit craze yet though; I'm just getting started! I think I'll do something with pineapples next ...

- Lisa xx