I Sew Because

Sometimes you just get to the point when you cannot take any more arguing over the doll’s fold up changing mat….

The Next Generation

This young lady associates my house with sewing for some reason! Usually it’s monsters, but today hand bags for teddy bears. One to keep and one as a present for her cousin (she’s getting ready for Christmas already). I was looking after her for the morning but she asked to stay for the afternoon too so that she had time to sew!

Of course, The Girl had to do some sewing too. She designed a handbag for herself, complete with star on a ribbon hanging down, you saw this new trend here first! The star was cut from the reflective band on an old cycling vest and she drew around a pastry cutter for the shape. The pocket, I confess, was my idea, but she embraced it, and my mitred corner suggestion.

I even managed to knock up a quick bag myself, a little too quickly perhaps (the pocket isn’t quite centred and the ribbon, while very cool and matching, is probably too thin for straps).

All in all, quite a productive afternoon.

Major Surgery

On my to do list for Mend it May was Fix Growl (formerly known as Ted), my son’s bear (once my husbands) who threadbare fabric (long since devoid of any fur) was simple wearing through in places. I didn’t do it. I was too scared. I have darned him a little before, put a little improvised extra stuffing in him (cut up knit fabric scraps) and replaced his pupils and nose, but this was somehow too big a job. Growl has therefore been on the side in The Boy’s bedroom for months, only hugged in emergencies as he’s too ill ill for everyday use. Bad Mummy.

I finally plucked up the courage recently. It was a complicated operation that involved cutting him open (eek), taking out the horrid assortment of stuff that was inside his tummy, restuffing him with lovely new toy stuffing and then giving him a skin graft on his entire stomach that was the fleecy reverse side of some scraps of sweatshirting (I really couldn’t see how to darn such threadbare fabric). I fixed his slightly lose ear at the same time, put his shirt back on him and hoped for the best.

The boy was not overly impressed with my efforts at first, but didn’t actually get cross and has now seemed to accept it and Growl is back in bed with him.

And now he’s pointed out that his snout is going. Eek…

 

Must Make ALL THE THINGS

 

So, my sewjo, which went on holiday for a while, is back. Unfortunately while it was away it drank too much coffee or something and now has the demeanor of a hyperactive puppy. My list of things I am about to make is currently

• a lady skater dress (fabric was washed a couple of weeks ago, just bought pattern, printed it, trimmed paper, got half way through taping it, put it on one side last night)
• a hoodie (fabric washed in the last couple of days, pattern bought)
• 4, yup that’s 4, pairs of jeans (a new pattern bought, denim for one pair washed, denim for other 3 pairs going through complicated ordering process)
• maybe a cardigan, and then there’s that nice fabric that would go with it….

So today, have I worked on any of these projects? Nope (not unless you count draping a piece of denim over an airer). I added another one to the list. A baby quilt. Yup, a quilt. I should point out at this point that I do not quilt and have never made such a thing. However, I have a new niece, and it seems that whereas some people get all broody when they hear of newborns, I have reached a stage in my life where the thought of little feet makes me want to quilt.

I have some inspiration, I have a pack of 6 fat quarters (given to me by bub’s parents none the less as a birthday present, so fingers crossed that means they like the colours/designs), I have some plain fabric I just bought to tie it together (albeit in an in your face orange which wasn’t what I was imagining on the way there, but trust me, it was the hands down winner), I have a new “last chance” blade for my rotary cutter (got last year, struggled to use, hoping a non-notched blade will help, but if I can’t manage to cut straight lines with it then I will have to admit that they’re just not for me) and a new quilting ruler thingymagic, I can already sew straight lines. How hard can it be?

I should point out that the small sensible portion left in my brain has forbidden me to buy backing fabric or find out about batting until I have finished the patchwork top.

Hello Goodbye

This week the wonderful Jewel is hosting a pop up sew a long over on the Sew Alongs & Sewing Contests Facebook Page to encourage us to finish up some UFO’s (Un Finished Objects, aka abandoned projects). Her enthusiasm is infectious and my 3rd finished UFO this week is this Jalie 3132 .

Scuse the wet hair, this was a rather rushed “while you’re on your way to work could you just take a pic of this” photo shoot this morning, the reason being so that I could take it with me to a coffee date to donate to a friend.

This top is just too tight for my liking (see concertina effect on my inner elbow). Yes, I can wear it, but I don’t find it comfy or flattering and rather than keeping it in the hope it’ll fit better at some stage in the future, or to wear as a base layer, I’m liberating it so that it can find a forever home where it is loved and appreciated.

I got this fabric about 2 and a half years ago on a tourist visit to Guthrie and Ghani thinking I’d make something for my then 6 year old with it, but when I got the pattern from Katrin in a CSC sewing swap I decided to use it for that instead. I got as far as tracing the pattern and doing a FBA but only cut out the back. The reason being that this fabric is thin and shifty and I was struggling to match the stripes up. Well, this week I commenced Operation Lower Your Standards and Get On With It and the top was duly cut out. The make itself was fairly straight forward, I even managed the binding on the V neck as per the instructions without any tears.

With such a big gap between tracing the pattern and doing most of the cutting out and sewing up, I can’t really comment on if the sizing issue was my fault in choosing the wrong size, the pattern drafting, or my shape changing in the meantime. The pattern came together nicely and had a sensible amount of notches for matching up. It’s drafted with a 2″ hem, wider than the markings on my sewing machine, so I had to use masking tape to help me line it up for sewing! The sleeve is cut on the fold, which is slightly unusual and I must admit as someone used to asymmetric sleeves I’m a little skeptical that this is the best way to go. My main conclusion about this top is that pretty as it is, I don’t like working with this fabric. It’s a bit see through and not that fun to work with. However, I think it’s made up into a lovely top and I hope it gets lots of wear with my friend.

Hello Goodbye it is then.