Little vinyl bags

I was going to start off by linking in with a very old project (2010 old to be precise) but it looks like I never blogged about it, so why not now?  Once upon a time I found a lovely tutorial on a blog called Three Bears which you can find here.

I loved it and with some vinyl fabric, which I think I bought from John Lewis, I made my very own Little Box Pouch!

It's one of those projects which has been in near constant use as it holds my darning needles, stitch markers, measuring tape..  Basically it is crammed with little things!  I'm surprised and very happy that after 4 years it's still as good as new ♥

I haven't quite perfected matching the zip with the seam but I think this was quite an early sewing project, and because the vinyl was sticky it stuck to the sewing machine.  I ended up putting kitchen roll paper between the vinyl & the machine and had to pick it out of the stitches after.  Not my favourite thing.

For Christmas I wanted to make something for my Mum, who is a big appreciater of craftiness.  She also wanted a wash bag to leave at our house for her collection of lotions and potions.  I Googled "Diy Wash Bag" and literally the first link which came up was perfect.  So back out comes the fabric.

It was actually a tutorial on Mollie Makes and very easy to follow, but when the instructions say that "top stitch is optional they lie, it's not optional!  They said it might be tricky, so I thought "Nah" I'll skip it then if it's optional.

When I finished the zip wanted to be all on show, "look at meeeee, I'm supposed to be inside" so that's why I went back and did a row of top stitch but only across the middle (because I couldn't actually get to the edge of the bag!!)

It's fine though, I mean who really minds, it's a wash bag!  My mum certainly didn't notice but for some reason I told her anyway.  I wrapped up a few presents to put inside and stuffed it with tissue paper.

And that's it, the last thing to come off my sewing machine in 2014.  I think I'd quite like to make a pencil case with the left overs for my silly collection of Sharpie marker pens.   I don't know why I love them so much!

Happy New Year all!

x x x x

Christmas and wrapping up

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas or festive season this year



It's not been so nice out there recently...  The grey gloom reminds me that January is almost here and all the twinkly decorations will soon be gone, my least favourite thing.

Without a doubt staying indoors is the best plan but we're going to have to venture out later, although we'll be spending it in someone elses indoors so that's ok.

We spent Christmas down at my parents this year.  I treated myself to a Christmas Cactus and inevitably it flowered while we were away, but it still looks lovely!  I made a fairly nice table setting although as usual forgot to take any photos of us!



Some of my favourite decorations came down from the loft.  I love unboxing them and remembering the things put away from years ago which I'd forgotten about

And some new!



Last year I made this for my mum but completely forgot to take any photographs of it.  I can't remember where I first saw it but I've been able to trace the design back to this blog and discovered she has loads more adorable embroidered hoops!  I'll definitely be making some of these for the house...



I think there's just time for one last cup of tea before getting ready to face the cold and New Years Eve! Stay safe & keep warm!



x x x x

All of what's been going on

I feel a bit like I've lost my blogging-mojo and I want to find it.  I've been really busy when it comes to making things but when I look at my photos I'm not feeling inspired...  I'm just going to give it a go.

I've finished my Solstice cardigan but I haven't managed to take any photos of it yet, although it's been in almost constant wear since casting off.  I think these were the last photos I took but it shows you something I guess...

I had to do the sleeve again because my needles were a size smaller than the pattern said so it was too tight, but I'm really glad I did and I'm very happy with the fit.

I made some rather cute baby mittens for a friend and I forgot to photograph them.  I'm one hand into making some mittens of my own and I've only got a WIP photo to post ,but lets have it anyway

Lets see...  Oh yeah, my Uncle wanted a rag-doll style Dr Who so this is something else I've been hooking

He is meant to be the Eleventh Dr Who, although obviously he shouldn't be bald and hopefully at some point he'll have a mouth and a fez.

Christmas decorating began in earnest on the 1st, I've heard a lot of people say the start of December is still too early to think about Christmas but I want to make the most of it, so there ♥

I also wanted to see whether the cats would destroy the tree so for the first week I only put a few Ikea baubles on, but low and behold we have ANOTHER cat success story and that is they're not remotely interesting in destroying my tree.  Huzzah!

I've even managed to bake some mince pies (and I remember to do them in cases instead of straight into the tin...)

And I've been enjoying hot chocolate in my varying festive mugs.

And as with most years since discovering them I've been enjoying the Christmas Markets in town, made even better by the fact that I only work down the road now...

And a couple of weeks ago I got reaquainted with my sewing machine and made a cushion from an lovely off cut of fabric I found in John Lewis.

I realise that's a bit of an info overload but I think I needed it!

x x x x

Rubbish, Revamped!

Yesterday I went along to a series of drop in workshops run by a group called Rubbish Revamped who were training some of our WI to make things out of pre-used, pre-loved and pre-worn stuff. Their motto is 'Reduce, Reuse, Revamp, Recycle' and they're a fabulous bunch of ladies who seem to be able to make anything out of anything!


My first workshop( and the one I was most looking forward to) was button jewellery ♥

I bought along some of my own Papermania buttons in red and green, the same I used for my upcycled skirt.


I can't rate these buttons enough! For £3 you get so many! I quite like that lots of them are patterned or have writing on them so you can end up with something quite funky.  I've not been paid to say that, but Papermania if you're listening feel free to send me more ;-)


I was quite excited by my creation! I've told J at least three times, "Look I made this!!" and he's humoured me so far. I hear though that there are people out there who have button phobias, and can't stand anything with buttons on them! I can imagine that would make life quite difficult. Jeans? Nope!

I bought some of the elastic so I could make more at home.  It probably only took 15 minutes and that included getting a cup of tea and chatting.  I like short therapeutic projects like this!


Moving on I started on making something called a Suffolk Broach. You only need a tiny scrap of fabric and a button for this project and it's pretty simple as well. I went for fabrics that clashed a lot but it seemed to work bizarrely.  You can make them into badges or hair pieces, anything really.  Smaller puffs make good necklaces and rings too.


I found that absolute perfect button to sew onto the top of mine, see how it's a bit like the fabric puffs?


There was also a do-it-yourself table with scraps of paper and punches of different shapes. Who'd have thought that the inside of envelopes could be so interesting! Next time you get a bill have a look, you might find something useful :)


I made some paper bunting out of the heart stamps in two sizes and it fits nicely on my greenhouse ♥

Now we weren't just learning how to make lovely things out of recycled materials, no! The ladies at Rubbish Revamped were also giving us tips on how to train others you see, because we're going to share these skills with the world*!

*maybe just a little part of it

We're probably going to run some sessions next year but it occurred to me this morning that I could also share it online with you! I need better light so I think I'll have to wait til next weekend so I can take photos as I go, but if anyone is interested then come back soon :)

x x x x

More clothes!

I definitely don't need to buy anymore clothes, but making them's okay right?  OF course it is!

I bought this pattern ages ago because I fancied a change from skirts and dresses.  I think it might also have been on sale which helped.

They're not the most adventurous of tops I admit, but I reckoned a few of these would be great for work.  Because I always need more work tops, don't I?  No.

This was a new one for me, cutting on the bias.  It was a right pain to fold properly to pin out the pattern pieces but once pinned it was a piece of cake really.  No zips, no sleeves, no waist bands!

One very nice (if I must say so myself) dart.

And there you have it.  I used linen, mainly because the pattern suggested it and who was I to argue.  When J took a photo of me wearing it I blended into the curtains.  Camouflage for when I need to hide from him, like possibly later in the week if when he discovers I placed an order for more Stylecraft.  Yep.

I reckon being me it could do with some livening up.  Given that I've not finished sewing the red buttons onto my skirt I don't think buttons are necessarily the answer.  I'd quite like to give embroidery a go, I have some lovely books on sewing that my Dad of all people bought for me.  He is awesome!

So perhaps an embroidery ring will be added to my wishlist.

x x x x

Upcycling!

I love the ethos and mentality behind upcycling but it isn't something I have done all that much of.  Has anyone been watching Kirsty Allsopps 'Fill Your House for Free'?  I've only caught a few episodes (J thinks she sounds like she's telling people off!) and I wish she'd set up her free-stuff shop near me instead of in Scotland ;-)  I'd happily take some of that lovely furniture off her hands :)

I suppose I do a fair amount of charity shop shopping but despite my love of shopping I genuinely would like to reuse more of what I have and be more intune with the make do and mend culture...

 

Ok so I have to be honest, I didn't chop all of these buttons off of old clothes myself, but I suspect someone did though!  There were lots of brand names amongst this lot that which I picked up from my local craft shop for around £3/4. I love buttons, who doesn't love buttons, but oh my there are so many!! I love them so much I bought another pack in green, they're an absolutely bargain in my opinion.

♥

I had good fun dividing them up into sizes in my melamine Ikea bowls because I had a plan...

 

Way back in...  I can't remember when... but months ago our WI had a clothes swap and I bought this skirt for 50p, which I thought despite having lots of skirts would be okay for work.

(This is not the greatest of photographs).

 

It's not very exciting though is it...  And it was obviously meant for someone taller because it was far too long, which is why you can see the bottom is full of pins where I chopped a good few inches from the bottom.

I haven't taken a photo of the back yet but it's actually quite a nice shape so I thought there was surely something I could do to bring it to life and make it more me. 

Buttons....

Skirt....

Buttons...

Skirt....

Yep

 

Bingo!   I've sewn about 50% on so far and need to get some motivation to finish it.  J thinks it's a bit weird but he'll see.  I'm not going to do the same on both sides, I think maybe a small cluster on the bottom right to balance it out et voila!  A fairly work suitable skirt that doesn't say I work a 9-5 office job (if only that were true!)

So there you are.  Maybe not truely upcycled as I bought everything but surely a lot cheaper than buying a brand new skirt from a shop?  Someone elses junk = my treasure. As soon as I'm done sewing I'll get some proper photographs taken.

x x x x

The afternoon tea dress

It's been said that the BBC has a lot to answer for recently, and no I don't mean any of that stuff that's been going on - this is a crafty blog! - I'm talking about the Great British Sewing Bee...

♥ 

 I'm not new when it comes to sewing, I've knocked up all sorts of things from...

...Cushion covers

 

...to bunting...

... and I've made a couple of skirts.  But when I watched the first episode of The Sewing Bee I was like "right, I NEED to make a dress now!" And apparently I wasn't the only one, the

♥ 

So I bought this simplicity pattern, it's 3 dresses and two little jackets (although I'm unlikely to make those) and at the time it was half price so I was pretty chuffed with that.  It's Simplicity pattern 1873 :)

I should warn you, this next bit is very photo heavy so if you just want to see the finished this just scroll to the bottom :)

cutting

pinning

learning tailors tacks

my first ever darts

cutting the lining that I decided I didn't need & quickly realised I did

a sewn bodice!

pinning & sewing the sleeves

attaching the sleeves!

finishing touches on the waist band

And finally after a couple of days, of pins in my thumbs, of ripping out stitching I'd done wrong & consulting books and YouTube when the pattern made me think "you what?!"....  it was finished :)

Wooooop!  I'm more surprised than anyone that it even fits, ok it's not perfect & I could do with working on my measurements & darts but hey you know what I really like it.

Typically it's not stopped raining since so I haven't worn it out :(  Maybe we'll have a nice bank holiday?

♥

Anyone else inspired to get the sewing machine out?  I'd love to see what you've been making! 

x x x x