Is it too early to say Christmas?

I have been having a play on the embroidery machine recently and making lots of new Christmas designs with a view to getting registered out here and selling some for Christmas.

Here are a few of the designs I have tried out.

Angel wings from Memories in Thread

 This could be altered in colour as a memorial decoration too I thought.

Little Footballer from Memories in Thread

 Again his kit can be changed to suit personal teams.

Reindeer from Memories in Thread

 My children ordered a family of Reindeer for our tree.

Pencil Toppers from Embroidery Garden

Alpha banner or cane holder from Memories in Thread

This guy is getting a brother and going off to my nephews for Christmas.

I know it's early but after half term it all gets busy and suddenly Christmas is upon us.

What have you all been making?

More adventures in jersey.

I had bought a length of jersey in Lisa's in Rheda back when we lived in Germany. My son choose it and thought i could make him a t.shirt from it. This was rather a long time ago so I didn't expect him to still like it but when I showed him he said he would like a t.shirt from it please.

Our printer is out of ink so I decided that the 'winging it' option was the best way forward here. I found a fairly well fitting t.shirt and folded it in half, I cut the fabric on the fold back and front leaving seam allowance and then did the same with the sleeves. I used the sewing machine as the overlocker is still not being my friend. I will get around to figuring it out at some point. 

It sewed up easily enough and I hemmed the sleeves and bottom. I used a strip of the fabric for the neckline, I made a loop which I folded in half and sewed to the neck opening. It worked well enough.

Here it is on my dress form looking a little stretched. He loved it and has worn it many times.

I think my fear of knits is subsiding gradually. I must make friends with the overlocker again and that might make things even easier.

Until next time.

When winging it works

I had been looking for maxi dress patterns for some fabric my aunt sent me one Christmas. I hadn't been able to decided what to do with it and it looked like it might be just right for a maxi dress now we are in the right climate for one. However I failed to find a pattern I like and on opening the stash cupboard I found another piece of fabric I have been harbouring for some time. It's a knit and I am not overly confident with knit but I decided it was either try it or it would sit in the cupboard for another four years, waste of a good fabric really. I believe it was from fabric.co.uk originally.

I also decided that I was going to wing it. If it didn't work it would be salvageable for something else.

I measured my waist and added seam allowance. I had a meter of the fabric, I folded it and marked half the measurement toward the top of the fabric, I then cut it out in a gradual A line the length of the fabric. After stitching the back and front together I discovered I should have made the waist rather a lot smaller so I pinned myself in it and then re sewed it, trimming the excess off after. There was just enough fabric left to fashion a waistband. I measured the strip to the waistband and sewed a loop, I then sewed the loop to the skirt. It's quite wide so I think folding it over works best, to stop the top rolling when it was folded I added a row of stitching to hold the seam flat.

You can see it on the right of the photo over the butterfly. It seems to have worked.

I didn't try pattern matching and I didn't hem the skirt, the first as there would never have been enough fabric, the second as I was happy with the length and as it wont fray I thought why bother.

Overall I was happy with the finished skirt. I haven't worn it out yet but I will and I have had a hankering for a maxi for a while so this should fill that urge for now at least. As the weather should be starting to cool down slightly I think it will be perfect for the school run.

I am slightly more confident with knit and with just going with an idea when it hits me. That used to be how I sewed all the time, then I got all hung up on patterns and doing it 'properly', but there is something satisfying about just doing it.

GBSB Box Pleat Skirt -

After reading a few posts on another sewing related blog knitwitsowls by Frankie Baldwin I decided it was time to use my GBSB book as more than a book end. Don't get me wrong I've been through it on several occasions but nothing has really jumped out at me.

I had first thought of making one of the dresses Frankie has blogged about as I could do with a few more dresses, the ones I have seem to have shrunk around the ribs, or perhaps I have grown, though I am still wondering how my rib cage has grown. But when I went into the cupboard I found my measuring tape fabric which I have been holding onto since I went to Knit and Stitch with my dear friend in 2015. We went on a recci to Goldhawk Road and came away with a few choice purchases.

It called out box pleat skirt to me after again seeing Frankie's versions of the skirts. Now also being in a Facebook sewing group with Frankie I asked her about sizing from the book and she thought it was fairly true to size, so I measured my waist and got cutting.

I am not sure quite what happened next as after basting my box pleats, adding my pleasing zip, went in first time for a change and attaching the waistband I found it was too small. I think I made a mistake on the back pleats. So after a day of muttering to myself for not checking before sewing I unpicked the waistband and redid the pleats. This time checking and checking again before basting. I had enough of the fabric to lengthen the waistband but I didn't pattern match it, I am assuming no one will be getting that close to my waist to notice. And I reattached the waistband, backwards leaving a row of top stitching on the outer of the skirt rather than inside. By this point I decided it wasn't a big deal and went to the hemming. This however I did unpick after the first few stitches and decided to hand sew it, (for the first time), as I didn't want the stitching being too obvious and with the shades of the tape measures being so different I couldn't find a shade of thread that would work. I finished with a black kam snap rather than a button on the waistband. I know it's a bit lame but I have to admit to being done with this project after the hemming took so long. (There is probably a faster way but I have yet to find it). So for me a kam snap will suffice. 

Apologies for the awful picture, we don't have a great picture spot in this house.

All in all I think I am pretty happy with it. I have yet to wear for anything other than the photo but it's been so hot it's been vests and shorts for the last few days. I do need to wear it before I decide if I will make another, but it has opened me up to the possibilities of using the GBSB book more.

Bedtime for the smallest person is calling but I shall be back soon with some more summer sewing. Perhaps some experimenting with knit this time.

Some making and some remaking.

We have finally settled if you can call it that into our new home and new routines, well except that it's the holidays and routines are all out of the window. However we are getting used to the heat and the sun and the heat. Sorry for those of you in currently less warm and dry areas.

And more importantly our stuff is here. All the little things you don't realise you will miss as much as you do. It's still strange not having everything here but the main thing is I have my essential sewing things. And they have proved useful. I found myself fashioning a WW2 top and flat cap from a donated jumper for the school play, I needed to create two outfits for a dress up day, I had the small people order cushions for a couple of birthday parties and the little miss was desperate for a skirt.

One of the cushions.

 This was partly because I bought her a dress for 20c in the thrift shop. But it was too big. I took the straps off thinking to revamp it for her and was caught by the thought I might just try it on myself as a skirt. I did have to take it in an inch as the shirring was completely shot but it's had many an outing since. I was impressed with the result for 20c. Hence the need to make her a new skirt. 

Before

After

. 

The make up skirt.

The skirt went down a treat, it was worn to nursery and she received several compliments so that was me out of the doghouse for using her dress to make something for me.

Come back soon for some more new makes and a bit of winging it with knit.

Living in limbo

It has been four weeks since the movers came and packaged up our world into two sections. And we have been living in limbo ever since. We started out with a week in a chalet style self catering place with a laundry and all the basics. This was where our children attended school for the shortest period of time ever. An afternoon! 

Then we were taken to our new accommodation. It's furnished but lacks stuff. We have one pillow too few, a box of dolls lent by the neighbour who felt sorry for us and a tiny TV also on loan. We have no car and it's half term so we are starting to go a bit stir crazy. Our allowance until our own stuff arrives is a frying pan and two saucepans, not even a baking tray. But we are managing to get by and it should only be another week before we get a call to say out ship has arrived.

However we do have these beautiful views to keep us going for the time being.

I can't wait to unpack my sewing machine and craft boxes. And the children are looking forward to seeing their toys again. And the luxury of cooking with proper utensils.

Hope you are all having a grand day.

Another adventure

I know it has been forever since I posted and there is no real reason. I have been checking in on the blogs I follow and following a few new ones not on Blogspot. I keep thinking about posting and then not getting around to it. To be honest I should be doing other things right now but I thought I would take a couple of minutes just to say HI.

We are on the move again. I know, I know we bought our house not that long ago, but this is a work thing for my husband not because we don't love our cottage anymore. We do very much. We have put so much work into it I am sorry to be saying Goodbye but we are not selling it just yet. We will keep it until we come back in a few years. If we still love it it will still be ours, If we are not as enamoured we can sell it then for something new.

So we are off to Cyprus for our next adventure and the children are all very excited about it. Wobbles are starting to set in now and again, making new friends is always a worry and leaving old ones behind. But on the whole they are counting down the days until our flight. Me, well I'm wishing I could sleep until we are there. There is so much to do in the interim and it feels like time is slipping away from under me. But I suppose it will all fall into place. Well one way or another it will have to.

So that's me for now. I hope to be a bit more active when we are settled in our next home.

Christmas is coming. . .

I've been doing a bit of prep. I love this butterfly fabric. The picture really doesn't do it justice.

This Liberty fabric is so luxurious, I hope there is enough left to make a bag. Just a small everyday tote would be perfect. The piping on this cushion was a challenge. A piping foot might be on the wishlist this year.

And I have had a little play with an embroidery design. I bought it last year but never made it what with one thing and another. I rather like the little chap. I'll try him on some felt next. Maybe in red.

Oh and I almost forgot my snowman. He's clearly having a lot of fun out in the snow. You can't see but under my fingers is a hole for threading ribbon. Again I might pop him on some felt next time.

That's all this week. What have you been up to?

I've got my eye on you

I decided to try my hand at something new and made this little fabric tray. A treasure tray made with eye fabric and some plain black for the backing. I loved it and apparently so did my friend who asked me if she could have it. So off it went. And I tried a bigger size. I think I actually prefer the smaller size but the elephants are fun too. 

Also with a plain black backing. Ideal for oddments that have no home.

I also made this cute apron for my sons school fete. And followed it up with some scrap busting fabric bookmarks. 

I really enjoyed making these again for the school fete. I hope people like them as much as I liked making them.

So what have you all been up to?

A quick hello and some memory covers.

I have been absent for a while, though still popping by other blogs but with my husband away and what feels like a million things to do on the never ending job list I've not had much time to think.

However I thought I would pop on and share a picture I took tonight of 15 memory cushion covers I made for a friend from her late step mothers clothes. It was a bit of a challenge and there were times I wondered what possessed me to offer to do it but finishing up tonight it wasn't so bad.

She has seen a picture and is coming to collect them over the weekend. They are for the grand children and brothers and sisters of her step mother.

I was a little hesitant when I realised it was all t.shirt fabric, but a week and a half later I decided t.shirting isn't so bad. And even my machine didn't get in too much of a tizz.

I have found myself offering to do a shift at preschool tomorrow as one of the staff is ill and they need another body to keep it open for the day. (Small village preschool). So I am off to get a good night sleep before the onslaught but I promise to try and be less slack with my next post. 

A real quilt.

While in the past I have made lots of patchwork and backed it with fleece or soft fabric for blankets for my family or friends and I have even sewn a few 'quilts' with batting but just backed them and turned them right way out like a cushion cover with a bit of top stitching to close the gap I have never actually quilted before. Until now.

On Monday I had the crazy idea it would be good to sew a quilt for my father who has been a bit under the weather and needing to rest. I thought a lap quilt for the living room would be a nice gift to take home when we visit later today. I found a picture on Pinterest that I quite liked, raided the stash with the help of my three year old and cut 5" squares until the sight of my rotary cutter made me shudder. The white was no problem as I could just cut strips and then cut them up. After that to my daughters confusion I cut all the squares into triangles and proceeded to sew them back together again. And press all the seams. When the little people were in bed I laid them all out on the floor to make my design and carefully pinned them row by row in neat piles to tackle later. I managed to get all the rows sewn and the seams pressed and then three of the rows attached by the end of the first day. On Tuesday I completed sewing the rows then I had a date with my eight year old to spend his birthday money so I had to take a break. After our successful escapade I added a surround to the top and pressed it all. I found a piece of fabric big enough to back it and my batting and discovered my batting was three inches too small. Hubby insisted I didn't botch it by sewing an extra cut off on and took me over to Hobbycraft to get some new batting. We left with some FQ's my five year old bought for me, some play doh my oldest the eight year old bought for his sister and a glitter pen on top of the batting. Not too bad for a quick trip out, we also drove around looking for grey grout for my kitchen floor only to find it had been discontinued and our floor will be two shades of grout.

I spent what felt like forever pinning the three layers together and trying to ensure both sides were fairly smooth, the only place big enough while renovating was our bed so it wasn't perfect but I managed. So glad I always keep safety pins. ;) I wish I had taken a photo at this point but I didn't.

After putting the small people to bed I dug out the walking foot I had been gifted and started to play. Wow I can see why people use long arm quilting machines. My little Brother has guts and it managed but it was a tight squeeze at times. By the time I had finished I had gone off the idea of adding my own bias and luckily had some wide ish in my drawer, (it was getting late and I needed to get it finished) which I was able to use on this occasion. I had meant to make a label and I forgot. It is full of little flaws but it's my first attempt and I am pretty pleased with it.

Quick refashion on a stay at home day.

If you have young children of your own you will be all to aware that it's the holidays. After a day out at friends yesterday we had a stay at home day today. I had mountains of washing, some washing up and mountains of clothes to put away so we needed a day to catch up, not to mention the ironing. . . 

I grabbed a bit of time this afternoon to refashion a Good Deed dress made with some fabric from our trip last year, the bodice was getting too small but the skirt looked new still. Rather than adding another skirt to the mass of skirts already in her possession I decided to turn it into a loose tunic for the summer heat we have been having. I am well aware that in doing this I am probably cursing us to a month of rain but you can't blame a girl for trying right?!

Rather than unpick the bodice as I had also top stitched and sewn on ribbon as an afterthought I cut the skirt as close to the bodice as possible. I then cut two J shapes on either side of the top of the skirt. I used the cover stitch foot and hemmed the top of the back and front then I switched out to my normal foot and did a rolled hem along the new armholes. Finally I sewed a channel along the back and front top to thread my ribbon ties. As an after thought I stitched my ties not just in the middle to stop them slipping out but also at both ends as the width was a little too much to just scrunch when tying up the ribbons. I have found it can unscrunch in wear and then there would be far too much across the top in this case. If I had been making from scratch I would have made it slightly a..line but the idea was to make it as quick and easy as possible with the least sewing as it will probably only last until the end of summer anyway.

It doesn't look fantastic on a hanger but it didn't look too bad on when she tried it briefly in between wrecking her brothers room and trying to see how easy it would be to bounce through the ceiling. Only six weeks to go hey!

Happy holidays everyone.

Monday Madness

It's getting towards the end of term and everyday seems busy and full of things to do. We had a very busy weekend with a party for our soon to be 8 year old and his friends at an outdoor Forest School center. It was in the words of the children EPIC. Then we had three of them sleepover so six children in the house and bed time was ongoing. I think I gave up at about 11.45 and there were still odd mumbles from the boys room. Then we had a gathering to go to on Sunday afternoon which with our sleepy children went surprisingly well. I also managed to squeeze in an MRI on Saturday.

I have been busy with leaving gifts and cards the last few days so I thought I would share a few of my latest makes with you today.

A puppy bandanna for a friend who was entering a show. They came second!

A birthday present ordered by son for a friend.

This was for a friends son. Lining up the tartan was fun. I really like this little fellow.

A thank you gift for an above and beyond pastoral carer at the school.

A retirement card and bracelet for sons reception teacher.

A retirement card and partly done hoop frame for the receptionist at school.

I am about to back the second hoop. The first I had to ad lib a bit as the fabric wasn't quite the right size so I glued it in place. This one has enough fabric to try and finish it properly. I hope it works.

I have done the preschool drop and collect and popped to HobbyCraft for a hoop. I would rather have bought an old one but I need it for tomorrow so I didn't have time to do a charity shop hunt.

The weather is beautiful on this side of the country today. Lets hope summer is finally here.

Enjoy your week.

A home coming and some new embroidery machine projects.

We are a family again. After several weeks of being in Kenya Daddy is back and the children are loving having him home. It has been rather noisy I have to say but noisy happy children are 100 times better than noisy unhappy children.

No 1 son made a banner for the door. The door desperately need sanding and re varnishing but that's another post I think. Renovation never ends.

I have recently rediscovered the joy of the embroidery function on my machine. I have been having a bit of a play. It started when I saw someones 5x7 Three Wishes by Titania Creations and commented on it. I only have a 4x4 hoop and was a little disappointed but by that evening there was a 4x4 download on the freebie page. It's a lovely website with some beautiful patterns if you have an embroidery machine I highly recommend popping over for a look. Here is my practice piece, it stitches out really well.

This was just a trial on an old pillowcase but I think it's headed for a cushion or possibly a bag.

The dandelion is the symbol of the military child so this one is particularly poignant.

After getting my embroidery juices flowing again I went on the hunt for some more patterns to play with. Here are the results of a few evenings playing about.

This elephant was a freebie from Ann the Gran. I posted his progress on my personal Facebook page and my friends were going mad for him. He became this cushion, I thought the fabric was quite complimentary to the stitching. I love him and he has already marched off to live at a friends house.

These bunnies I actually bought from an American site, it was probably EmbLibrary but it might not have been. I should really have made a note of it. This picture does not do them justice at all. They stitch out very well but the silvery grey thread is impossible to photograph, I paired it up with this beautiful sparkly star fabric which is also very hard to photograph well and a friend of mine has requested it for her daughter who is bunny mad.

I have also been playing with some cows but that's another blog post and hopefully one I will get finished and sharing with you very soon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

The end of MMM#16 AND The Everyday's a Party dress because when you're three every day is.

I never got around to finishing off the post about Me Made May mainly because my sons helped me tidy one day and I haven't found the laptop charger since. I have managed to resurrect the old one until we find it though and it is very slow but it works.

So I found that I didn't wear as much Me Made as perhaps I could have but I then realised that I had worn Me Made pyjama bottoms and underwear in the last week, so I didn't feel so bad.

I did find there were a few warmer days in June that I wore some dresses and skirts but May was a bit of a flop really.

The downside of the laptop situation is I can't see my photos so I have to hope I have the right one. For that reason I am not sharing pictures of the outfits worn but I am adding a picture of this little beauty I made over the weekend. I am calling it the 'Everyday's a Party' dress.

In the spirit of  'Buying Nothing New' I didn't buy the cute cow fabric my daughter loved and I went through my stash and found this organic cotton from Birch Fabric, there is now none left. It came in a bundle I bought last year. The lining for the bodice was gifted to me and the sash and band are form a set of pillow cases we bought but turned out to be the wrong colour. I knew they would come in handy for something. I love it.

MMM#16 catch up and a little bit of sunshine

So I have to admit to not doing very well on the MMM challenge since last time I checked in with you all. I have been wearing my owl pj bottoms last week.

This material was left over from a dress my husband made me for a bet in Germany, (It's actually a great dress and has been worn on more than one occasion), it had been waiting for a project to come to me. I finally decided after sewing pyjamas for everyone else in the household I would make some for me. I used Lauren's pattern from her Learn to Sew book and was pleased with my contrasting pockets, I am the first of us to have pockets in my homemade sleepwear. I could have made the elastic an inch longer but it's OK and I love them anyway.

I have also pulled out a top which while I didn't sew it I did refashion it from a dress that didn't fit anymore. I don't have any pictures, I will have to work on that. It was a dress I bought for a wedding years ago and then I had children and it never really fitted again but I liked the fabric so I chopped it up a bit. I am not sure it entirely counts but it's all I've got this week. Now the sun seems to be out I will try and be a bit more MM next week.

As the sun has graced us this weekend we did a spot of den building in the garden.

It's not quite finished but everyone was feeling a bit tired, we had to clear around the base of the tree before hauling the branches over from the uncut log pile. But it was a lot of fun and the three smalls enjoyed it a lot.

Enjoy the sunshine. I'll see you soon.

Procrastination. . . and some MMM#16

Today is all about not doing the washing up. I washed the same dishes every day for the last week, it's really boring! So instead I have sorted out a present for madam to take to her first pre school party tomorrow and wrapped it and also wrapped a present for oldest son to take to his sleep over tomorrow. I have played on Pinterest and watched some crafting TV. I know I really ought to do the house work but it's such a nice day.

I thought I would also mention my second MMM day which was yesterday when I wore a tunic I made with fabric I bought in London last year at Knit and Stitch, well actually I think it may have been on Goldhawk Rd after Knit and Stitch I can't quite remember now.

It was my first (and only) invisible zip and I used the Willow Tunic from Serendipity. I LOVE her patterns. I own three but there are many more I would like to add to my pattern library at some point.

As I mentioned before I don't have a mirror to show you the outfit but I wore the tunic with some dark grey skinny jeans my MIL bought me last year from Monsoon, black ballet shoes and a bracelet I made several years ago which happened to match the fabric perfectly.

This is an old picture I took when I made the tunic. It's not the best picture.

I was pleasantly surprised in the playground as I had lots of compliments from people and I did enjoy being able to say I made it when they asked where it came from.

How is your sunny Friday going?

MMM 16

I hesitantly joined in with Me Made May last year and it was a lot of fun. I haven't made an official MMM pledge this year but I am going to attempt a two to three times a week goal. I say this as most of my made clothes are summery and the weather just hasn't been playing ball recently.

The other issue is we don't have a mirror, last year we had a full length mirror in the bedroom and I used this for pictures but since moving we just have one small bathroom mirror. This doesn't effect the wearability but it does mean I won't be able to share the challenge with you pictorially.

Today I am wearing the skirt I made last year from the bags of fabric I was gifted by a school Mum with a long length purple jumper with 3/4 sleevs, faux fur body warmer and a necklace that was a free gift from Amazon for messing up on an order.

The skirt is this one.

This was from last years MMM. It's quite a heavy fabric that was I understand used as tunics for some costumes made by the mother of the lady who gave me the fabric. I loosely used the Tilly and the Buttons pattern from her book but just in shape, I scrapped the waistband and put in a lapped zip on the side. It is one of my successful hash ups, I decided in an afternoon I was going to make it and wore it on the school pick up, I had lots of compliments and I still love it now.

So that's me for today. I'll be back later in the week with another update.

I look forward to reading about what you have all been up to.

Renovation in progress. . .

I haven't been about much recently as we are mid mess. Renovating is time consuming and really dusty. I should of course know this from my childhood as lots of it was spent playing in the dust with putty and off cuts of wood. However after spending almost six months with a cooker, sink and one half cupboard I am quite excited at this.

It's all a bit chaotic still as I am not sure where to put things in my new found space, and I envisage things will be moved more than once, I need handles and tiles, paint and a floor but you know I am just happy with cupboards for now. At one point I did actually open and shut my friends cupboards in her kitchen just because I hadn't had any for so long I felt the urge to.

All this work means I haven't done much crafting, also the fact that we had to move all the kitchen stuff out into the living room so the new units could be stored in the yellow room while we fitted them gradually means I can't actually reach my table but it's getting better.

So that's what I have been up to. How about you?

RAOK - March

I was thinking of what I would do this month for my RAOK as nothing had really sprung to mind so far. We had a big a clear out and I boxed up lots of bits for Fiji as a work mate of my husband is collecting items to send to friends and family put there but that didn't seem quite right as this was something we would have done anyway and my challenge was to do something we may not have done normally. I made a cushion, bag, skirt, bracelet and necklace for the PTA but again it didn't seem quite enough. Then while we were out today I managed to slip it in.

We were at a National Trust property completing the Easter Trail and had popped in the shop for ice cream. A man was asking about getting cashback or a cashpoint so he could get some money for his son to do the trail but he was told their was no cashpoint and no cashback option.

On a whim I gave him the money, he tried to protest but I just asked him to please take it but to do something nice for someone else when he could. He said he would, thanked me and took his son off to the start of the trail. Both the shop managed and cashier were taken aback by this but hopefully it might make them think of doing something for someone else one day.

I don't usually have a lot of change so this is not something I would normally be able to do but I am pleased that today on such a beautiful day I was able to complete my RAOK this month and make a little boy happy.

I hope everyone is enjoying the lovey weather this weekend. We certainly are.