sewing Archives - Page 2 of 2

Me Made May

May 27, 2016March 2, 2026crochet, sewing23 Comments

Having a go at Cherry Heart's Victoria Shawl.

Making Things For May

At the beginning of the month, I made a last-minute pledge to join in with Me Made May.

I love the idea; encouraging sewers, knitters, crocheters to make or refashion clothes to wear during the month of May. I pledged to bring out all the handmade items hidden in my wardrobe and wear them. I also pledged to make a dress. The only problem is that the weather has been a bit iffy, and even on nice days, none of my makes have been suitable.

Handmade Summer Skirts

All summery skirts, see? I wore the grey Lycra maxi skirt; that was all. They’re all different: a dirndl, wrap skirt, plain old elasticated waist skirts (with or without pockets!!). I guess I will wait until the sun really shines to prance about in them all.

Altering Handmade Clothes

Talking of that maxi skirt, the hem really needs sorting out. I’m glad I’ve been taking part in this challenge because it has brought to my attention that the hem needs to be taken up an inch. It’s a bit close to the edge. I think wide hems look better. It’s a long enough skirt that I can adjust it. I know this because I keep tripping up in it.

The other project that was brought to light was a very pretty, floral skirt. I remember getting ridiculously frustrated with the sewing machine tension. I didn’t know how to get it right. Then, at the end of last summer, whilst “teaching” my friend how to sew, it twigged that I needed to adjust the bobbin tension under the plate.

Honestly, I felt so dim-witted. I first started using this machine when I was 12, and I’m now in my thirties. The shame! Anyway, now that I know this, I want to unpick the skirt and sort out all the dodgy seams. This was supposed to have been done over the last few weeks… erm, maybe this weekend?!

Crochet Victoria Shawl

This brown crochet shawl, I am pleased with. I love it! I wore it to a wedding last weekend. I made it out of Drops Baby Merino yarn. I think I’ll write more about it next week. I took tonnes of pictures, so I definitely have more to share. It’s a pattern by Cherry Heart called the Victoria shawl.

My Handmade Summer Dress!

And finally, this is the summery dress I made! I reckon the only reason I actually sat down and made it was because it was going to be my party frock for the wedding I went to. At the last minute, I chickened out of wearing it; it didn’t feel smart enough. And it wasn’t warm enough even if I wore a shawl with it!

The pattern is from Simply Sewing magazine and it’s By Hand London‘s Charlie dress. I’m happy with how it turned out. I had to make adjustments for my weird body (I have a long body with a narrow back). I extended the bodice length and widened the front side panels to accommodate the gargantuan bosom. Thank you to 7 year old for taking pictures of me. I felt a bit daft doing this, I have to say.

Untidy Sewing

Right at the end, I spotted that the bands on the bodice don’t meet. I’m putting that down to the inaccurate the extensions I made. I’m not going to complain about the zip; I’m satisfied with that, although it has issues. I’m keen to have another go with a different fabric and maybe with a half-circle skirt instead of the quarter one here. Stitchy stitch.

Right, that is my Me Made May experience. I can’t say that I’ve thrown myself into it with complete gusto but I did make a dress and that makes me feel alright!

Birthday

May 9, 2016March 2, 2026crochet, sewing23 Comments

A Birthday Weekend

I’ve had a week filled with lovely birthday things. I’ve been out for dinner/lunch twice, no! three times. I’ve had lots of awesome presents, and there has been gorgeous weather. Smashin’.

I got my hair cut off too, so when I went out to dinner on Saturday night (The Five Bells in Clyst Hydon- very nice) I felt all new and swooshy. I didn’t feel so new and swooshy when we went out for lunch on Sunday (The Rock Inn on Dartmoor). A roast dinner sorted me out but crikey, I felt rough yesterday.

A New Granny Square Blanket

I also finished a colourful granny square blanket, which I’m really pleased with. I especially love the border, which uses the same scalloped edging as my granny shawl crochet pattern. This blanket is all Stylecraft Special dk.

Sewing Little Bags and Purses

Other things I managed to finish last week were two little bag/purse type things. One is for my unimpressive collection of barely used knitting needles, and the other is for keeping small projects in so I can take it out and about.
I used the fabric I bought in Totnes shops during the Easter hols. They both need pressing again because I made a very lacklustre job of it.

Sewing A Dress

I had all my sewing laid out on the table. I’ve made a half-hearted pledge to take part in Me Made May. Since last week, I’ve worn handmade things already, and I made a dress! I’ll take pictures of the dress before the end of May, I’m sure.

More Crochet Granny Stitches

Another work in progress is a new granny shawl. I’m doing a variation of my granny shawl just to play around. I’m using Drops Baby Merino. I went on a Drops spending frenzy last weekend. They had a sale at Woolwarehouse so I went a bit bonkers.

See! Drops yarn. I have an idea.

More Drops. I cannot wait to start this, Cherry Heart’s Victoria shawl. I have bought the puff stitch pattern, it’s printed, and I’m ready to start any second.

Birthday Presents

Some lovely presents were received. I got a bunch of fat quarters from my mother-in-law. She went to a quilting shop in Bovey Tracey. I know about this shop, but I’ve not been. It’s supposed to be good.

I got lots of fab books. Looking forward to getting stuck into those…

I got these bowls too. I got loads of stuff, I won’t show it all, but needless to say it’s all good gear. One of my favourites is the drawing from the photo at the top. It’s by my friend, who is an artist and graphic designer. It’s a picture of me doing my crochet! I guess I should frame it, I think it’s beautiful, but then so is the subject matter, obvs.

Craft Blog Club

And then the week before last, I got this wonderful bundle of stuff from Samantha at createitsamantha.co.uk. We took part in the #craftblogclub spring clean challenge on twitter. Essentially, it was a craft stash swap.

It was such a lovely surprise to open up the parcel and have lots of delightful things tumble out. The Power Ranger didn’t come with my new stuff; Three year old thought I should take a picture of it. I have some ideas of what I might do (not including the Power Ranger). I’m looking forward to playing around in the next week or two.

I love getting birthday flowers!

Anyway, I’m off. Got a house to tidy and a child to entertain. Can’t watch A Bug’s Life all day. Actually, we did sit down and watch the local secondary school do a live Q&A with Tim Peak on the International Space Station a couple of hours ago (via the internet). I thought it was interesting but Three year old only managed five minutes before going off to look at a Lego book.

Handmade Patchwork Bag

April 6, 2016March 1, 2026sewing40 Comments

After many years I've finally finished my patchwork knitting bag.

English Paper Piecing – New Project Bag

My skewed memory tells me I started my patchwork bag three years ago, but it may be even longer than that. The main fabric is hand-stitched using English Paper Piecing. All the fabrics I used came from purchased fat quarters that had caught my eye, or they were scraps leftover from old projects.

I am properly happy that it’s all done and in use; it’s great for storing my crochet projects! It looks so much better than I thought it would, too. I was getting bored with seeing lots of little unstitched hexagons, waiting to be sewn together.

Time To Start Sewing

Lots of individually tacked hexies sat in a paper bag for over three years. Now and again, I’d get them out of the bag to look at them, and that was about it. Back in they’d go and I’d do something else instead. Eventually, I found that it was time to start sewing.

I laid out all the hexies and took a picture of them to work from, so I knew the “random” order that they’d go in. It’s nice to have a picture to reference. That way, I know that each fabric print is evenly spaced, and I don’t have to worry about two matching hexies accidentally being placed next to each other.

Eventually, I began the slowish process of stitching them together, and I was happy to discover that it wasn’t really that slow to do afterall. It had never occurred to me how useful it was to have them all wrapped in their shaped paper. I mean, of course it was, that’s the whole point of EPP, but still…

With a couple of weeks of sewing the hexies together, in a little and often sort of way, I was finished with stage two.

Handsewn Patchwork Fabric

I liked the crinkle of the paper as I had it on my lap, a very tactile and auditorily calming experience. With stage two finished, it dawned on me that I’d have to actually put in some effort to move on to stage three. I knew I had to do it immediately because it would otherwise sit in the cupboard for another three years.

The Patchwork Pattern

The pattern for this patchwork bag is from Cath Kidston’s book, Sew! The book has so many lovely looking things, but I have to be honest, I think the instructions are rubbish! For this particular pattern, it wouldn’t have hurt to have a couple of illustrations demonstrating how to insert the lining, would it?!

I had a look online but only found other bloggers or reviewers who were frustrated with it too. Nothing that helped, unfortunately. With that in mind, I decided to take photos of what I did. Maybe it’ll help someone else. Or maybe it’ll just remind me how I did it, in case I fancy having another go.

And I haven’t even mentioned that the instructions were just plain wrong! It said to fold the lining fabric lengthways. They don’t mean that, they mean the other way. Who wrote that?! That wasn’t the first mistake either. The other error was to do with sewing the hexies together. When joining the outer sides together, it told me to sew three rather than four of the hexie strips together. If I’d done that, my bag would have had a massive gaping hole at one of the sides! Jeez! Anyway, moving on…

Making the lining for a patchwork knitting bag

Making and Lining The Patchwork Bag

Here are a few pictures showing what I did. Hopefully they’ll do the trick. Do I need some words to go with them?

Step 1: Fold the lining fabric in half.

Step 2: Measure 25cm from the bottom fold and mark with a pencil. Or line up the bottom seam of the hexie fabric with the bottom fold of the lining and mark where the opening, near the top, sits (which should work out as approx 25cm).

Step 3: Sew that bit on both sides. Then press, continuing the fold to the top of the fabric. Press a seam across the top bits too.

Step by step pictures to lining a patchwork knitting bag

Step 4: I snipped the corners to avoid bulk. The instructions don’t tell you to do this, but the seams are bigguns.

Step 5: Put the lining inside the bag, wrong side out.

Step 6: Pin together at the bag opening.

Pinning the edges. Patchwork knitting bag.

Pinning the bag opening.

Getting out the sewing machine. Patchwork knitting bag.

Machine stitch the lining to the top of the hexies. Do this on both sides. I think I did this after slip stitching the open sides. In that picture above, I can’t see any stitches. I was drinking Cava at this point, so it’s a bit foggy (it was the weekend!). Not sure that bit matters, it’d probably work either way.

Attaching the handle onto the patchwork knitting bag

Attaching the Bag Handle

This was a fun bit. I managed to catch the end of Adventures in Babysitting, so I sat and watched that whilst pinning the handles in place.

By the time I got around to sewing the hem down, I was watching Alien. I haven’t seen it in years; it is such a good film. A proper film (not like Prometheus, ugh, terrible).

A patchwork knitting bag from Cath Kidston's Sew! book.

I’ve impressed myself by finishing it; I still can’t quite believe it. It’s good, isn’t it!?! I took the pictures of the completed article at Grandma’s house.

The only thing I might change is the green fabric at the top. It’s a bit deep and makes the bag slightly too long.

Would it be that much of a bother to unstitch it and do it again? I could take the time to shorten it, but I think I’m nitpicking; it’s probably OK.

And I did it with many interruptions. I took many photos with a child sitting on my head (see the odd middle picture), and the cat kept sitting on it at any given opportunity!

I was asked via Instagram if I would like to link up with Me, You and Magoo for Crafting is My Therapy. I’ve not done a Link up before, but I think I just share this lovely badge and everyone can share a bit of creativity! Is that right?

Old Craft Projects and New WIPs

March 18, 2016March 1, 2026crochet, sewing17 Comments

Random Craft Projects

This is going to be a bit of a random post today. I’m chucking up pictures of where I’m at with my crafting this week. There isn’t a theme as such, just sewing and crochet I’m tinkering with.

English Paper Piecing

I’ve had all these EPP hexies stored away in a tatty old paper bag for about three years. I think I was pregnant when I was basting the fabric to paper, and now my boy is turning three soon. A long time.

With spring on its way, the change in season has created a new surge in enthusiasm for this sewing project. I have the painstaking task of hand-stitching all of the fabric hexagons together. It’s actually not that bad. I think I put it off for so long because I thought it was going to be a nasty job. I’m actually enjoying it!

I’m not going to go nuts, it’s only a patchwork bag. It’d be a definite labour of love to go bigger. I’ve got an amazing patchwork blanket my Nanna made for me when I turned eighteen. I think she was at the EPP for years.

Handmade Jedi Robes

Next: a pile of Jedi-appropriate fabrics. Both my boys have birthdays on the way, so they will each have something Star Warsy. If I’ve got enough fabric, I’m thinking reversible Jedi robes. The kids can decide whether to be a Jedi Knight or join the Dark Side!

I’m not sure how this’ll work right now, but I’d better get on with it and start the design process.

Handmade Summer Dress

For me, I want a summer dress. I saw a really pretty handmade dress on Instagram about a month ago, did some nosing and found out it was the Charlie Dress from Simply Sewing magazine.

The sewing pattern was spread over two issues, and it was the second issue that was in the shops. I ordered the back issue of the first one, and it arrived within a week. I’ve sorted the pattern pieces and dug out some ancient fabric from the depths of my fabric drawer. Fingers crossed, I will actually do this.

I have repeatedly got to the cutting out stage with many a dress pattern over the last few years. Then all stops. I chuck it all back in the fabric drawer and forget. I think I’m pretty consistent like that.

Using Up Fabric Scraps

Also kicking about is my sweety tin. My sweety tin is a good size for keeping embroidery-type projects in.

I’m not very far ahead with this idea. I’ve drawn a rough sketch of what I want (a bouquet of wild flowers) and now need to sort out all the little bits for it. I’m not sure how it’ll turn out; it’s more of an experiment at this stage. I just really enjoyed making my spring flower stitching a few weeks ago and want to play some more.

I’m thinking of a fabric collage, which is a great way of using scraps of felt and fabrics. Colourful embroidery thread adds more depth and shaping.

A Baby Crochet Ripple Blanket

Then there is an actual finished object! A baby crochet ripple blanket. I’m going for a plain border. I guess I could add something a bit snazzier, but I feel like I’m finished with it.

I thought that was it for WIPs, but I’ve got garter stitch knitting kicking about somewhere.

It feels a bit weird to write this post as I reckon I’ve mostly been banging on about crochet for the last few months. This has actually been quite effective because traffic here has gone bonkers (relatively speaking). It’s tempting to try to force new crochet ideas upon myself to keep up with momentum. Not gonna do that though. Since I don’t get paid for blahing about my hobbies, I’m going to carry on and do whatever I fancy. But it is lovely to know that people like things I do, so thank you. I’m loving it here. x