A Summer of Sewing

 Just a few of the things that I made this year.  I have always sewn but since lockdown in the Spring, I have used my sewing machine lots and lots.  

Pen Pouches my own design

Morning Glory Top by Sara Kirsten

Wiksten Shift Dress

Sorrento Bucket Hat

Olwyn Pants from Lotta Jansdotter

Alice Top from Tessuti Patterns

Pilvi Jacket from Lotta Jansdotter

Hillarys Blind Country Crafts Fabric Competition Part Two

Continuing the Saga of the Useful Skirt. Part One is here.

I must apologise for my photographs. As my laptop was away I had to use my tablet which does not have a macro function, and apart from that I am not the best photographer.

So far I have cut out the pieces, using the Calluna fabric from the Country Retreat range, fitted them to Diana and sewn the darts on the back. Then I placed both back on front on Diana to make sure they matched.

Putting Back and Front on Diana

When happy I sewed the side seams together.

But only went up a few inches on the left side as I wanted to be able to get it on and off (naturally) and therefore needed a fastening.

Please bear in mind that I was doing this as I was going along, with pattern. Therefore some of the things I did might have been better done earlier.  Anyway, I then thought about the facing. I used more of the lovely fabric and some interfacing.

Thinking About Facing

When the facing was sewn on, I then proceeded to make a placket for the fastening. Before watching the latest British Sewing Bee episode, I had know idea what a placket was although I had obviously had one on a garment before.  I kind of did one without really knowing what to do. But it worked. I have a little flap of fabric onto which I sewed hook and eyes to fasten up the skirt. And when they are fastened you cannot see them.

The Placket

Oh I have just looked up placket, and it is the whole opening not just the flap of fabric - '

plack·et

ˈplakit/

noun

noun: placket; plural noun: plackets

1. 1.

   an opening or slit in a garment, covering fastenings or giving access to a pocket, or the flap of fabric under such an opening.'

   
   

This is the skirt finished. I hand sewed the hem.   At this stage you may notice it looks a bit wider than in Part One. That is because it is. After I sewed the seams I tried it on and it was too small, so I redid the seams. So please try it on yourself before sewing the seams. (You really get a good idea about my prowess as a confident, knowledgeable sewer, don't you?!)

And here is the skirt on me! Done. And I am rather pleased with it.

Pigs in Tweed

In my last post you saw one of my new pocket pigs, so tiny they sit happily on top of a cotton reel, or in your pocket. Here are all of them, so far:

They are all made from the same pattern (my own) but due the the different fabrics and their own innate pigginess, they have different looks and character.

Green pig is quite slim and perky.

As the oldest, Brown and Mustard Pig is a bit wise.

Purple Pig is a bit plump and frivolous.

All pigs are available now in my etsy shop.  

Honing My Craft

What an interesting word 'Honing' is.  Is sounds odd as it rolls on your tongue.

'Hone' means 'sharpen on a whetstone' - so it means giving a sharp edge to a tool.   My tool, I suppose, is my needle and my fingers. And if I 'give them a fine edge' it means I am making my skills better and better.

I was looking at my flickr page, this morning. I have a set 'Dorset buttons' and there right at the bottom is one of the first buttons I ever made.  Here it is:

It is off-centre and the stitches are wonky.  Compare it with these which are the same size, more or less:

and these which are much smaller:

I am getting better. I am honing my skills, sharpening the old metaphorical tool on the old metaphorical whetstone.

It is good to look back and then look forward.

Blueberry and Spider

I made a couple of hair snaps today.  The first was this pair of Blueberry and White. Such a lovely fresh combination.

The next hair snap was this Halloween inspired Spider on a Pumpkin.  Last year I made a smaller version for the bobby pins that I also have in stock.  But I thought it would work better on a larger button.  I added a pair of red eyes too.

Both are available now in my etsy shop. 

New Headbands

I have just listed some of the head bands.  Each one is individually cut and sewn by me.

Here is a quick view of them.

Yes, my model is a very cheeky girl. Also quite patient while her mamma takes shot after shot.

The last headband is available in two colourways so far. I haven't listed it tonight but will do tomorrow.

All available from my etsy shop.

Crafteroo Mystery Package Challenge

On Crafteroo, a bunch of us are taking part in a challenge. The idea is that everyone receives the same  package and we have to make something(s) out of the contents.   What everyone makes is not revealed until the publication of the Crafteroo magazine. This is really exciting.  I have made my item(s) but I am not going to show you. Oh no, no, no.  You will have to wait until the magazine comes out but here is what I received.

Following the Pink and Green Theme

Day 9 of Make a Day (Wednesday)
My pink and green hair snaps proved popular. I had a darker version of both colours and decided to make another pair using those. The buttons are also different as I have done one more row of the inner colour mainly because I forgot how many rows I did in the original ones.



Day 10 Thursday
I thought I would continue the theme of pink and green and make a beaded button. I have made these before in the bigger sizes but this is the first one in the tiny buttons. The middle colour looks redder in this photo which gives it a Christmas feel.  I might stick this on a hair clip. I am still deciding.


You can see the size of the little beaded button in this photo where it sits next to hair clips using the bigger ring.

I also have been thinking about making new tags for items I send out. In tidying my fabrics I found this one and decided this will do very nicely for my first ones.

 I embroidered the 'Bigbluebed' on a ribbon some time ago using left over bits of embroidery thread. I thought that people could use bits of the tags in their own projects if they wish. I can see that the one on the left is over embellished, so I will just keep to the simple looking ones like on the right perhaps with one button.

Jellyfish & Buttons

Day Seven (Monday 7th November 2011) - Making failure.  We left the house for the morning and went to town for Christmas present browsing. This was so our lovely plumber could put in the new radiator.  Our flat is tiny and 3 people in it would have been a nightmare.   In the evening I had an annoying headache and  made nothing. Sorry but I am not going to overly worry as there will be days when I can do nothing.

Day Eight - Rushed about this morning.  On our shopping trip yesterday I bought a voucher for my niece's 18th birthday.  My husband forgot to take it out of his bag and it went to work with him.  So I had to do a trip to get it back and give it to my niece.

 In the between times - I moved my sewing things from my daughter's bedroom where I dumped ..I mean stored them, back to lounge.

I also practised making this jellyfish in a bottle as I wanted to do it with the children at my work.

This is a really good thing to make.  The children enjoyed making them. Water everywhere. I still have blue fingers from the food colouring.  Great fun.

In the evening I made some Dorset Button Hair Clips.  I love playing with colour and seeing what would look good. I was going to make them with two different shades of green but then I found the pink!  I love pink and green.  A bit shocking and some may hate them. But I love them. They are now in my etsy shop.

I will try the two greens another time.  

New Week, New Day, New Things - Day One

I am going to try and make as much as I can each day, without losing quality of course.  It is not so much that I want to make lots and lots; I just want to make something each day.  So I thought I could share here. There will be days when I cannot make anything but that is ok so please do not give me a hard time.

So let us begin. Today, Day One, I made

A HeadBand:-

 It has two flowers. One chocolate brown velvet with tweed button and...

 one tweed with chocolate brown velvet button.

 I also made one shoe clip in brown tweed, with mustard yellow button.

I have to go to work soon so will make the other shoe clip tomorrow. There you go I have something planned already!

So catch up with you then.

I Have Finished! - Little Button Heart Picture

I have finished the little Button Heart Picture.  You have seen some of these photos in previous post but I thought I would show you them here in sequence.

I really enjoyed making it. Playing with three colours was good fun although I could have gone on and on experimenting and not actually making the picture.  I think I will make more of the buttons and have them available to sell individually or in little sets.

The heart picture is in my etsy shop and you can see it here.

Creative Colour Challenge - Week 1 - Sunshine Yellow

I have joined the Creative Colour Challenge as created and organised by Louise Gale.

Each week in August we will explore a different colour (and just add white or black).

The first colour was Sunshine Yellow. I was a little bit late with this one and did not do anything until last night. I played around with some simple embroidery stitches - just doing the first thing that came into my head and out of the needle - so it was doodling with thread.

I think this challenge is going to be a great way to find out about colour and texture. There were some wonderful creative projects from other people and Louise is showing some on her blog here.

Week 2 is Raspberry Red. Here I come...

I am Back!

Not that I have been away (apart from Butlins of course)...but my camera and I have been at a distance. This was caused by a virus attacking our pc and then our laptop refusing the camera connection.

So it is lovely to be able to take photos again and upload them. HOORAY!

And also I am making things again. So this is just to show you what I am mainly working on at the moment. These are teeny teeny Dorset Buttons. They are just under 1.5cms across.



I love green and pink and think these two colours work together really well. I am working towards making sets for a craft fair but get so interested in trying out different colour combinations that I have not been able to make enough for a set yet.

But I will. I will keep you posted.

Folksy, Sue Ryder and Upcycle Christmas

I was in a mad rush last week. As usual I had left things to the last minute to make my entry for the competition.

It had to be something from a charity shop that you upcycled.

I went to my local Sue Ryder shop and got a huge quilt/duvet cover. I loved the fabric and wanted to use as much of it as possible so I designed a skirt. Lacking a dressmakers dummy, I made it round me which was fun.

The skirt was made in time for the deadline and the results are out. The standard was really high and I think everyone did brilliantly.

All the entries are now on ebay and any money raised will go to Sue Ryder. So do have a good long look here.

And although I did not win I am rather pleased with myself at even attempting something and now I want to make more clothes so I am hunting for a very cheap adjustable dressmakers dummy.

There is still a prize for 'The Folksy User's Winner' so basically people on folksy get to vote for their favourite by marking the item as a favourite. So if you are on folksy and like my skirt then please favourite it - deadline is Thursday at 8pm. But have a look at all the other entries as they are all wonderful.

My skirt at folksy

My skirt on ebay

All the entries on folksy

All the entries on ebay