Catching Up

Now that my elbow is almost better I'm starting to catch up with things.

The tank top that I bought the wool for in October at the Knitting and Stitching show is finished,

my second Kate dress is almost made (ignore the all the 'stuff' in the background I really must have a tidy up!

and I'm starting to reclaim my garden in which the snowdrops are emerging.

I'm also about to give the bathroom a make over, more about that another time, but tonight I shall be found knitting my next project - a lovely Brooklyn Tweed jumper -

which may will end up with extra cat hair knitted into it due to the difficulties of knitting with a cat on your lap!

Golly - What a Week!

It's been one of 'those' weeks. I won't bore you with the details but if I say 14 hour days and having to cancel social events yesterday just to catch up with everything you'll get the gist.  But yesterday, in the midst of trying to claw my way back to being on top of things again, I did light the fire in the dining room for the first time.

Not only was this the first time of lighting since I'd lived here after renovating it this summer, according to my neighbour it was probably the first time it had been lit in over 20 years.  It was so lovely to have a real fire again.

Over 1/2 term, as well as visiting London,  I did some sewing too, using some of the fabric I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show.  I used the stripey grey linen and viscose fabric to make a tunic top from this pattern by Sew Liberated.

I altered it slightly as I couldn't cope with the fact that the stripes in the fabric didn't line up between the bodice and the skirt (not my fault, it's to do with the pleats), so I added a bias strip over the seam to break the line of vision up.

I also made a denim dress from the Kate dress pattern by Sew Me Something (the same pattern company that I made my reversible skirt from).

I ended up taking the pattern in quite a lot and made it less flared at the bottom.  That's not a fault of the pattern more to do with my pretty much straight up and down shape!

I used grey top stitching thread to give a contrast and eventually got it neat on the pockets by hand stitching the last few stitches as the machine didn't like that many layer of denim.

I'm pleased with it and I'm sure I'll wear it loads.  I will definitely make this pattern again.

I'm hoping for a quieter and less busy week this week!

Shirt Tales

Back in April, after I'd visited the Textiles in Art Exhibition at the Fashion Museum I strolled along to John Lewis and bought some fabric.

The fabric on the left I made into a reversible skirt but the pieces on the right remained in the fabric pile until August when I cut out and started to sew a shirt.  I was making good progress with it and then I tore the tendon in my elbow.  Since then sewing has been a painfully slow (in the literal meaning of both words!) affair but I have eventually finished it.

Although I had 2 different prints I didn't want it to look like I'd used them just because I'd bought them so I've used the contrast print very sparingly.  It's on the inside of the cuffs,

and on the arm opening band.  It's also on the inside of the yoke (which no-one will ever see!) and on the collar band and the inside of the button band.

I also covered all the buttons in the contrast fabric.

I have to admit that the double lines of top stitching brought out the worst of my perfectionist nature and many 2nd lines were ripped out and re-stitched as they'd strayed off course by a millimetre or so!

But despite that, and my arm injury, I have now finished it - ta daa!

(You'll have to excuse the poor ironing of the finished shirt, that's something I'm still struggling with as I can't actually lift the iron in my right hand yet).

I'm hoping to go back to the Fashion Museum at the end of October to see the Knitwear Chanel to Westwood exhibition - have any of you been yet?

Repurposing

Repurpose - verb. To alter to make more suited for a different purpose. (wiktionary)

I'm not sure when this term came into use in the English language but it's what I've been doing this weekend.

About 10 years ago I bought a skirt which I loved and wore and wore and wore.  It was long and floaty and eventually started to fall to pieces - the seam around the zip had ripped and the hem was starting to fray too.  But I couldn't bring myself to throw it out so it lay in the fabric pile until Sunday when, after watching an old episode of 'This Old Thing', I had the idea of turing it into a top.

Armed with a stitch ripper I took the yoke off the  top, removed the zip and green band and started to work out how it might change into a top.

This involved lots of cutting and pinning and trying on - what I'd forgotten was that the skirt was cut on the bias and this made it an absolute pig to work with. At one point I added the original green band around the neck (after phoning a friend for emergency supplies of green thread!) but the bias made it all twist so I unpicked it.

After a lot of fiddling it has become this:

I'm pleased with it and I know that I'll enjoy wearing it.

A 24p Bag

I needed a new bag. Not just any old new bag but a bag that both fullfilled the size requirements for the '2nd small hand luggage bag' of a certain low cost airline and one that I could fit my ipad in.  I have loads of bags but would you believe it, not a single one that met both of these criteria.  So I decided to make one.

I rooted around and found some lovely striped fabric lurking on a shelf, some shot silk taffeta that would do for lining and a strap that was from my broken laptop bag. 

Not having a pattern I based it on an existing bag, used some wadding left over from something else to pad it and basically made it up as I went along.

It was finished but slightly boring so I had another rummage ('helped' by a feline assistant!) and

the old silk curtain from the lounge and a red resin rose became a flower brooch,

which when fastened onto the front flap livened it up nicely.

And the 24p?  That's what it cost me to buy the 2 D rings to attach the handle to the bag. 

It'll do the job nicely :-)

A 150 year Skirt

When I went to London in April I bought this fabric from John Lewis to make a reversible skirt as I'd been inspired by Gina's.

I bought it not realising it was part of their 150 year celebration prints.  The yellow fabric is in the Cummersdale print which dates back to their founding year in 1864 and was originally a furnishing fabric, whereas the Bricks print on the right was originally a 1950s dress fabric.

I used the Viola skirt pattern from Sew Me Something, and despite a few problems with the fit (it seemed to grow and be much bigger than me!), I'm pleased with the finished result.

It can be worn either with the yellow skirt on top,

or with some clever turning, with just the longer skirt showing.

I reversed the buttons too, yellow on bricks, 

and bricks on yellow

I won't tell you how long it took me to get the pattern on the yellow buttons all centred the same but it was a long time even for my perfectionist nature!

I was going to wear it to work this week, but I had scabby knees from gardening so I'm hoping to wear it next week instead!

I've also just bought another of their 150 year prints, daisy chain, to make a blouse from,

but not just yet as the sun is shining and the garden needs my attention :-)

Five Little Makes

The first thing on my 2014 list of 'Nice Things for Me to Do' wasn't to go anywhere but was to have some sewing/making days at home.

First of all I made a pincushion.

I'd made Fran one for Christmas but couldn't blog about it before Christmas for obvious reasons! They involve a bottle lid (for the base), pretty cotton fabric, cotton velvet, ric-rac and emery grit.

This is the one I made for Fran.

Then I made a necklace from a glass tile, fabric and some velvet ribbon.

I think I'll make some more of these in different colours as they're really easy and effective.

Next I made a new case for my work phone as I managed to lose the previous one a few weeks ago during a muddle of phones ringing, loading the boot and getting into the car!

And finally, today, I made a new case for my glasses as the hinge had gone on the old one.

It has a stripy bottom, is slightly stiffened and has a co-ordinating lining, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

I've had a lovely few days, even though I did make a bit of a mess!

No More Burnt Hands

A little while ago I was given a very cute little enamel saucepan with a metal handle - cue lots of 'ouching' as the handle gets very hot and using a tea towel to hold it is a bit risky as it tends to catch in the gas!

So at the weekend I had a lovely few hours sifting through fabric scraps to and sewing them together to make a pot holder.

A mix of vintage and new,

quilted, backed and edged.

No more burnt hands

and it looks rather nice hanging up too.

I also made this card for my Dad's birthday, from silk tops and threads worked together on the embellisher with beads and wire hand stitched on.

I hope he likes it as the beads made it too thick for a standard stamp and it cost me a fortune to post it!