Sewing Adventures

I used to be afraid of my sewing machine. My machine is a 1974 Singer and belonged to my Granny who used it for many many projects. When I first got it, I has now idea how to get it to do what I wanted and we fell out a lot!

Over the years, I have taken the odd sewing workshop here and there and have made friends with old faithful who has helped me make some great wee frocks for Poppet, a table runner in our family tartan, and even some clothes for myself!

Pattern matching this was a total nightmare! It looks amazing though.

Usually, I'm sewing at the dining table, among all the debris of every day life!

I'm hugely into flamingo print at the moment! I made a skirt with this fabric and I love lfouncing about in it!

I had some of this leftover from a dress I made myself, so naturally, made shorts for my girl

The mustard bias binding totally sets it off

Ice cream shorts

Shorts for a boy, these were a fun print!

One of my most recent makes is this beautiful cape in Liberty purple

I used Liberty tana lawn bias binding and covered my own buttons to match

9m of hand sewn binding...

Pattern cutting

This is my latest make, a Merchant and Mills Trapeze dress in a grey/pink tartan print

 I have plans for some more skirts and a few short sleeved tops for the (hopefully) upcoming spring weather, so watch this space for more!

Until next time,

Kx

Pram Hydration Station

I always have a bottle of water with me whenever I leave the house. It's a habit I've had for years, and it greatly contributes to my drinking 2-3 litres a day. Pushing a pram around, especially in the heat we've had recently, is thirsty work and in a bid to make my life a bit easier when it comes to rehydrating, I have been on the lookout for a nice but practical water bottle holder. Well, they apparently don't exist! So I decided to make my own based on a few ideas I found floating around on Pinterest.

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm not a great sewer and me and my sewing machine have a love/hate relationship, but I decided to look past that and get making. And boy am I pleased with my first water bottle holder!!

Pram Hydration Station

The way my pram (I drive a Mothercare Spin in limited edition black jacquard, for those of you who may be interested) folds, I need something that can quickly and easily be taken off the handle bar, and many of the shop bought items I've seen just don't offer that, hence my own creation. This bottle holder wraps around the handle bar and secures with two popper studs. It literally takes 5 seconds to put on/take off and that's just what us Mummies want when packing and unpacking the pram for a trip out of the house.

I used some scraps of floral fabric I had in my stash and borrowed Mr PC's popper stud gadget, so this wee project didn't cost a penny! Those are the best kind of projects, aren't they? 

What I really like best about this bottle holder is that it's so versatile. It will fit onto pretty much any type of pram and can be positioned anywhere you want it, unlike so many branded bottle holders which have to go on a specific part of the pram chassis. You can also use it for a baby bottle, and possibly for your takeaway coffee cup, although I have yet to test it for this purpose.

I uploaded a pic onto my Instagram feed and it was very well received with several people wanting to purchase one, which was a great surprise! I am currently working on some ideas and they will be appearing in my Etsy shop in the near future, so keep an eye out there for them. 

Finished WIP: Patchwork balls

I've got a number of projects on the go at the moment which means that I don't feel I'm making any real progress on any of them! This week I finished two patchwork balls I've been wanting to make since I did one for my friend's baby, so now that they're done, I thought I'd share some pics. Photos were taken using Instagram, which I just love!

The first ball is completely zebra print, and while I'm not really an animal print fan, I do quite like this fabric. Also, as babies don't see colours very well for the first few months I thought this might be nice for my little poppet when she's tiny. 

Two sleepy cats 'helping' do some sewing

The second ball is a mish-mash of random fabric scraps I had lying around. The good thing about patchwork is that you only need a tiny scrap of each fabric so it's a good way to use up your odds and ends.

Planning the layout, I was one patch short!

The fabrics I used on this one are all very feminine (as is 99% of my fabric stash!) so the finished ball is perfect for any girlie girl and I'm sure that when she is bigger, my little poppet will be playing with these as they're perfect 'indoor balls'.

What have you been making recently?

2 into 1

Have you ever bought a dress that's not your normal style but are convinced that it will become a firm favourite anyway only to discover that you probably should have left it in the shop? Well, I've done that a few times!

I had a lovely summery dress which I bought under the whole 'I need something interesting in my wardrobe' theory and after wearing it twice decided that it just wasn't 'me' so it was shoved to the back of the wardrobe and forgotten about.

A while ago I found a tutorial on Pinterest about how to make a maxi dress using a vest top and some jersey cotton. This got me thinking about that (expensive) dress which hadn't seen the light of day in eons. I also had a white tunic top which I never wore either. Then I had the inspiration to chop them both in half and sew them into a new dress! It took some thinking and a bit of planning along with some hoping that it would work and a couple of hours later I had this:

 

I kept the pretty lace waistband which was on the dress and managed to also incorporate the existing shirred elastic back that it had so it will be nice and comfy.

If the summer ever graces us with its presence this year, I hope to get to wear it. At the moment though, I'm not sure how much longer it will fit as my baby bump is growing every week! This is a long flowy dress with acres of skirt so hopefully I'll get a few wears out of it this year.

NB: The photos are awful because it is once again a dark and dingy day with little chance of any good photography, even with a 'proper' camera.

Weekend sewing

This weekend I shall be forcing myself to sit down and get through the pile of mending jobs that have stacked up recently. I particularly dislike sewing jobs, like mending a hem or sewing buttons back on. Urgh, so dull! But they have to be done and this weekend they will all be fixed, washed and put back into the wardrobes because I am fed up looking at them!

I will also be finishing the christmas stockings which I mentioned last year. I started them earlier in the week and had some real hissy fits about them and I really lost it when I screwed up the ribbon trimming, so I packed it all away and decided enough was enough. I will not let them beat me so this weekend I'm hoping to conquer them! This is what the first one looks like at the moment, it needs the trimming unpicked and resewn before the front and back get sewn together and hey presto, ready for Santa's delivery!

What are you doing this weekend?

I'm sew organised

Earlier in the week I posted about my (finally) finished sewing box, and the lovely Kath requested some pics once it was full.

Well I got my Organiser Hat on and tidied up my stash last night and got most of it neatly into the sewing box. I was like a pig in poo...

full to the brim with crafting goodies

staple gun, staples, pliers, mini screwdrivers, scissors, string, studs

buttons, bobbins, needles, pins, beads and button maker. fyi the pink pin cushion velcros to the sewing machine!

jar of spare buttons for clothes I prob don't have any more

jar full of ric rac and yes it does say 'fluff' on it!

I've pretty much fitted everything I wanted to into this lovely vintage storage solution. It's not really a 'sewing box' but more of a 'crafting box'. I still have my small sewing basket for threads and scissors etc but this big box now houses all my other paraphenalia. The down side is that the sewing machine pedal doesn't fit but Mr PC has promised to make an insert box which will sit on the bars at the bottom, thereby giving me even more space!

How do you store all your crafty equipment?

Behold the vintage beauty!

A few months ago I showed you a vintage sewing box which was a total impulse investment buy for me. Well, it has finally had its interior makeover with a bit of neon pink fablon! The fablon was a nightmare to find as apparently the company that makes it has gone bust, but thanks to eBay Mr PC found me some. I originally wanted a flowery or stripey pattern but choice was limited and so when in doubt, go pink!

Now all I need to do is reoganise all my sewing and crafting supplies! 

Vintage Sewing Box to the rescue!

As my sewing adventure continues, I'm accummulating more and more supplies. You know the kind of thing, multiple pairs of scissors, pins, needles, cotton thread, buttons etc etc. My lovely pink sewing box is not too small for my burgeoning collection, and some of the larger items have migrated to a white gift bag.

 

A few weeks ago while stitching up some tea cosies, I resolved to find a larger home for all my tools. The next day I went to a crochet workshop which was held in a vintage homeware shop. On the way out after the class, what should I see but this!

A vintage sewing box!! I instantly had a 'love it, want it' moment and purchased it immediately. Sewing box, oh how I love thee, let me count the ways...

Now, I don't really like wood of this colour, but for this I make an exception. It is in perfect condition and all is needs is a prettier set of wheels and some new drawer liners and it will be perfect.

 

It's actually huge inside and will be big enough to house all my sewing praraphenalia which means I can still use the pink box for the essentials, and have a bit more order so everything is to hand when I need it. 

Squeak also likes the new sewing box!