2017: more of the same

Christmas has been and gone, the New Year blew in on a cold wind and things are slowly getting back to normal - work this week; school again next week. 

Like everyone else I am starting my new year thinking about what and where we are going next. Last year we made the first steps towards moving our family to a new (different) home. This year will be about making the move itself - selling our current home and finding a new nest for our family to grow. It's no mean feat seeing as we live in about the most expensive part of Edinburgh and would really like to continue living in the same area. But, I am a firm believer in things working themselves out, so I am looking forward to it and trying not to be daunted. 

For the moment then, my priorities are about preparing for these changes. Decluttering and tidying up unfinished projects, organising stashes and paring back my (our) belongings ready to move. 

Last night I sat down and tackled the mending pile: 

• one skirt with a falling-down hem 
• one cardigan with a hole in the shoulder/neck seam
• repairs to a shoddily-made RTW hat 
• knee patches for the littlest boy
• a side seam split repaired in a school gym skort
• a hole in a t-shirt repaired

I had the house to myself, a stove to sit next to and an unending supply of tea and music. It was an hour or two well-spent - with things restored to cupboards and wardrobes rather than languishing in a pile. 

Next on my list are the unsewn Christmas projects which didn't quite cross the finish line: 3 pairs of pyjamas, 1 nightie and some zippered pouches of one type or another. 

Happy New Year everyone! 

2016: a retrospective

2016 has been a challenging year. 

Brexit and Trump mean it will have a lasting political impact on the world, but there are other things too. Smaller things about my own life which have been difficult and challenging and which will have ongoing and long-term effects. And, just like Brexit and Trump, these things are also changes that I do not want, that I do not support, and which I have done my best to resist. 

It seems - sadly - that I will have to learn to live with them. To work round them and to rethink my future. 

To get back to the other challenges for 2016, I set myself several crafty objectives earlier in the year, and it's time to take stock. 

1. Tame the stashes 
I did a good job of reducing the yarn stash, and knitting from stash a wee bit (tank top or two, plus a few other accessories), and then bought a sweater's worth of lovely yarn from Skein Queen to make myself a jumper, and two skeins of yarn for hats. 

I did sort the fabric stash, and move a few things around and get rid of some fabric I thought I would never use. But, that didn't shrink it much, and then I found I needed to order some more for a project or two that I had planned, so I don't think I am any further forward. 


2. Use the stash!
Knitting: I made a cowl for myself, a tank top for the bean, another scarf for myself, and a lovely hat. I used the stash to remake a hat for my brother, and knit a Christmas hat for my daughter. I made a slightly too big pair of socks that ended up going to my dad. My needles are currently clacking away on a pair of fingerless mitts for my brother's girlfriend. 

Newhaven Hat by Ysolda Teague

knitted in Ysolda's Blend No 1 

wee scrap hat (own design)

modelled by little bean

scrap hat revisited - own design

I made this for my brother using some frogged yarn from an old scrap hat of his, which was disintegrating from use/wear and washing. 

Sewing: I have made myself two jersey skirts suitable for work, three very small raglan tees for a friend, two pairs of school leggings and a nightdress for the jelly bean. I also made a few upcycled projects using fabric recovered from old t-shirts.

3 x recess raglan tee (See Kate Sew)

made with upcycled fabrics; the fire-engine motif was rescued from a toddler t-shirt and attached using bondaweb

4 x upcycled dusters or polishing cloths. Made from old t-shirts

3. Make some things to fill gaps in my wardrobe: 
I made a cowl, a navy jersey skirt, a lovely raspberry coloured scarf, and a grey hat. It is so satisfying to make things that fit right in to the palette and styles that I wear everyday, and which immediately go into rotation. I also made a gorgeous multi-coloured skirt which didn't really fit into my careful plans, but has been a useful me-made addition nevertheless. 

 Bias stripe scarf (Purl Soho)

Knit with some lovely but anonymous raspberry sock yarn from the stash, and striped with some odds and ends

 

4. Finish the UFOs
There has been progress here. My WIP pile has reduced significantly. I think I just have one long-range UFO in my knitting bag, which I am eyeing up as a Christmas gift. My sewing UFO pile ebbs and flows, but I think it has reduced in size a little. 

5. Continue to work on mending. 
There has been a lot of mending this year. I have darned, sewn, embellished, and ironed-on patches. I even managed to do some of that with friends. 

I haven't blogged much.  But I have been stitching. And I made myself some things. I might not have achieved everything I planned, but I can happily tick quite a few things off the list. Hurrah for that. 

Itchy Fingers

Ah, September. Something about the shift in light and the cooler temperatures and the back to school vibe are making my fingers itchy. 

Life has been a bit challenging here lately with one thing and another (hello chicken pox, hello full-time workload). Our University semester and first teaching block has begun and I'm setting some boundaries early on to try and keep myself sane/well. 12 weeks of teaching is exhausting - particularly as our model of teaching insists that we all work as single traders - that doesn't really suit my style of working or teaching at all well. Sigh. 

In the middle of all that, yarns have been tumbling through my fingers and I have been eyeing up patterns here and there. There are some small projects to finish off too, and a few deadlines coming up that I'm working towards. But, the main thing that has been happening is sewing. 

I've realised that waiting until all three children are asleep means that my evenings are fairly short. So, I have been snatching little pockets of time here and there to move projects along. The other day I cut out a nightdress for the jelly bean (now 7!) while the little bean was having a bit of quiet time. Later in the afternoon I sewed it together, during the post-supper play and homework slot, and quickly did enough during bath time that she could wear it that night. 

A couple of days later, during another playtime lull, I rummaged in my stash for t-shirt fabrics to make up into shirts for a soon to be 1 year old friend. I cut three sets of sleeves, three backs, fronts and neck bands. Batches really are the best when you are short on time! I'd love to hear other people's strategies for sewing/crafting when time is tight.

So, it's September and my creative juices are flowing. I'm stitching here and there and doing my best to make in-road into my stash which is still (ahem) generously proportioned! I'll be back again soon. Promise. 

Mending Monday #4: Kapow

Ahoy there. Apologies for the slight delay. Work happened, or life, or something. 

Anywayz. It's May! Just how did that happen?  One minute it's snowing, and then the sun is shining again and summer is just around the corner. Amazingly, the springiness of the weather, has also returned my sewjo, and over the weekend I blitzed my mending pile like a crazy mending ninja. KAPOW!

Just like that, I stormed through:

• 2 pairs of boys trousers that needed a button replacing (for those waistband elastic adjustor things, you know)
• One girls frilly tutu that needed a bit of waistband stitching to be redone
• Repairs to a toddler grobag (sleeping bag thingy)
• Two mummy-made girls tops that needed fixing in the under arm area
• One pair of boys trousers that needed patching and fixing 
• A school cardigan that needed an under-arm repair (oh - I see a pattern here - something about that girl and her armpits!)
• 7 dribble bibs that have been waiting for poppers
• overlocking the internal seams on dress I made in sometime in the late 1990s.  

That dress I mention, I did really make it in the 1990s. Probably 1997 or 1998 when I lwas a student. It's some kind of rather loose weave viscose, which frays badly, and which I bought from the absolutely fabulous Abakhan Fabrics in Liverpool. I still have a couple of other bits of fabric in my stash from that time too! Overlockers hadn't been invented when I made the dress, and although I probably knew about finishing my raw edges, I didn't. I didn't have pinking shears until after 2003... Anyway - despite being rather see through and having a wonky hem, this dress is still in my wardrobe, still fits and is still the sort of thing I like to wear. I can't work out if that means I have timeless style, or just no style at all. Sigh.

After that flying start, who knows what the rest of May will bring? What are you mending today?

Things I realised this week: why I like knitting

Ah spring. There you are all green and springy, making things start to grow and inspiring me to start All. The. Projects. 

This week I realised just why I like knitting so much. Sure, it takes a relatively long time to get from a ball of string yarn to a finished sweater - but: 

1.  it's pretty portable. You can do it on the bus, on the sofa, in bed and standing up (and in most other places and positions, although please don't knit whilst driving or operating heavy machinery obvs).  

2. it's also highly pick up and put downable: you can do it for a few hours or a few minutes at a time. Just pick up the needles and knit a row, or two. 

3. Knitting is quiet - you can do it on your own, or in company.   

4. knitting is easy. If you go wrong, you can tink back (or frog) and put it right. 

Sewing on the other hand. Well, it's not quite the same. I want to sew, and to make all of the things, and I have lots of fabric. But:

1. Sewing requires quite a lot of preparation - getting the machine, scissors, rotary cutter, cutting mat, thread and fabric all together. 

2. Sewing has lots of stages: pattern tracing, cutting the fabric, making a toile, adjusting the toile, adjusting the pattern, cutting out the real fabric, sewing it up, adjusting it, finishing it off. 

3. Sewing often involves multiple gadgets (sewing machine, overlocker, iron, ironing board, tailors ham, tailors dummy)

4. Sometimes sewing requires all of those gadgets at almost the same time. 

5. Using the sewing machine and/or overlocker is not compatible with watching TV. 

6. Cutting fabric is final - although mistakes in stitching can usually be retrieved. 

Note to self: if you want to finish that quilt you actually have to do some sewing. Just thinking about it does not appear to be having any actual effect on the number of blocks which have been trimmed to size and stitched together.

Sigh. 

Pass my knitting bag. 

Bag Lady (FO) Take #2

Yay! A finished project for February. I managed to polish off that fat quarter shopping bag I cut out before Christmas. You know, the one I cut out wrong...

Having made this pattern three times already meant I had a vague idea of what I was doing. It was still a bit fiddly sewing and pressing and turning and top-stitching - but the result was rather pleasing. IBecause I ended up with an extra (centre) seam owing to my cutting mishap, the facings were slightly out of whack. I just added a little pleat/fold to the facing when I pinned it in place. I am mistress of the lazy way. It worked pretty well, so, a worthwhile fudge, and I like the fact that each side of the bag shows two fabrics. 

Here are some awful phone pics. It was dark and late when I remembered to take a photo (note to self: neither of those things makes for good photos). It's gone off to live with my brother, along with the other green one I made earlier. 

Things I realised this week: about quilting

On Friday last week, my mother-in-law suggested that I spend the afternoon at the Spring Quilt Festival being held on the outskirts of Edinburgh. She went in the morning with the ladies from her sewing group, and came over afterwards to look after little bean while I skipped off for the afternoon. 

I had never been to a quilt show before. I've read a lot about QuiltCon and those mind-blowing American quilt shows with millions of breathtaking quilts and booths and yeah, and I've seen all the lovely pictures of the Quilt Show at Malvern and places. But, it was nothing like any of that, and it was not at all what I expected. 

There were lots of forbidding signs saying that you Must Not Take Photographs, and Dont Touch the Quilts. And then the exhibition itself was slightly underwhelming. There were some small pieces displayed downstairs, and some full-size quilts upstairs. Some of it was very lovely and impressive, but there just wasn't very much of it. 

Above all, the festival seemed to be about the stalls. Crammed with fat quarters and quilters gadgets and bolts of fabric in every colour under the sun. Fat quarters were this price on one table and that price on another, and there were Frozen fabrics and Star Wars fabrics and Japanese fabrics and batik and flannel and prints and solids and cottons and tweeds. There was some very lovely stuff. I'd show you some photographs, but all those forbidding signs put me off. 

I was rather overwhelmed. I looked at the quilts. There were lots I didn't really care for. There were some I admired (wow, you  collected 205 colours of silk, and appliqued them with invisible thread; you quilted that amazing design with a regular sewing machine: respect) but none that really made me want to study the colours and techniques and patterns and then rip it off the wall to take it home. 

As I wandered round and round looking at this and that, I had a few thoughts. 

1. It seems vaguely completely ridiculous to me to spend many many ££ on fabric to make a quilt, when I have oodles of fabric scraps and old clothes which could be repurposed into equally beautiful quilt tops. And, it seems completely ridiculous to spend many ££ on fabric to make quilts when there is so much textile waste in our society. 

2. I love the bright and modern and clean looks of modern quilts. I like quilts with space. I don't like the traditional flowery and busy designs involving lots of piecing. I also like improv quilting and quilts which are given meaning because of the fabrics included in them: uniforms from soldiers lost in conflict; clothes from people we love - the things children wore when they were small; a life time of scraps from a grandparents house. 

3. I have one quilt top in progress (and not finished yet), so what do I know?

Of course, I didn't let the opportunity pass me by, and came home with a few fat quarters in my bag. I managed to resist the sparkly Frozen fabrics, and the cool Star Wars prints, but bought a few Christmas sorts of things to make something festive. There's nothing like long-range project planning is there?

Bag Lady (FO)

Christmas was a bit of a crafting disaster this year.  I don't think any of the craft projects I planned actually came to anything, so the only things that got made were fudge and peppermint bark (which were both excellent by the way).

No-one noticed about the crafty stuff. 

Sniff.

Even if I didn't finish anything in time for Christmas, I did start a few things, and one afternoon -  before the big day - I cut out a wee pile of these fat-quarter shopping bags. I was given some fat quarters by my MIL a year or two back, and this seemed like a perfect project for those particular bits of fabric. 

Last week I summoned up the effort to get the sewing machine out and start stitching. For something so simple, there seemed to be a lot of sewing to do, and it took me two whole evenings to progress from a pile of fabric shapes to three finished bags!

Let's just go through the details then. These bags have a handle facing, which is finished at the raw edge (2 seams), attached to the bag fabric (6 seams), then joined at the handles (2 seams), and top stitched (3 seams). After that the sides and bottom of the bag are finished with French seams (6 seams) and the corners bagged out, again with French seams (4 seams). 

Add to that pressing, turning inside/outside and pinning (where required). All together it's a lot of small seams to stitch and restitch, and takes a bit of time. A 20 minute tote this ain't. 

Sigh.

I  cut out 4 bags, but because I am very stupid a design visionary, on the first one I omitted to place the fold of the pattern piece on the fold of the fabric and ended up with some different shaped pieces. I decided to leave my hacked version to last, and made up the other three as per the instructions. 

I say that as if I followed the instructions to the letter, but I didn't. We'll just gloss over the other mistake I made with the French seams shall we, oh, and the fact that I completely forgot about the elastic loops too? Ye-es. 

So, here they are: three pretty cute bags. 

The flowery ones have been sent off to live with my parents. The green one is for my brother, and should soon be joined by the design hacked alter-ego version (when I get off my a*se to sew it up, ahem). 

So, my overall verdict: a nice project to do if you don't mind spending a bit of time sewing seams, and you have some fat quarters to 'use' up. Things might go a bit quicker with the overlocker perhaps, so I might try that for bag four.  (I did pink all my raw edges, just because). 

I like the integral handles and the handle facing - because, well I might be over those webbing or self-fabric handles that most shopping bags have and which inevitably break/wear through. 

I guess the bottom will fall out of these first...

Making Monday #9: pocketses

Here we go again, some more mending to share. This time, it's of my own creation. See here, a fine pair of enjoyable purpley velvet troosers, I bought a couple of years back. They have quite a lot of stretch (good) but on the downside, the corners of the pockets started to tear quite soon after I bought them. Major apathy and a newish baby, meant I couldn't be ar$ed to take them back (pun intentional) at the time.

As I've been mending my way through these last few months, I picked them out of the mending basket a couple of weeks ago, and zigzagged across the weak points with my machine. Despite having enough thread to sink a small ship, I didn't have anything that matched these fine trews. The upshot - as you can see - is a natty and bold explosion of bright blue across my b u m.

Yay! another quick mending project and a garment restored to full use....

Except. 

Last week, the bean (age 8) told me I had holes in my trousers. I think he observed them while I was on the floor doing a jigsaw with little bean (age 2). So, despite the repairs holding firm, the fabric -  in combination with my ar$e area and my energetic bending/stretching lifestyle(!) - means that these fine trews are in the unwearable pile. Again.

Sigh. 

Mending Monday #7: pyjamarama

No patches this time (phew), but just a straightforward seam repair on some pyjama bottoms. 

Overlocker to the rescue!

What are you mending today? I'd love to hear about it - so please leave a comment!

Kids Clothes - sizes, sustainability and consumption

I've been thinking about kids clothes recently - it's kids clothes week again - and then there is Slotober and all of the stuff on the tinterwebz about capsule wardrobes, and project 333, and slow fashion and self-made fashion. 

One of the things that strikes me is that much of the discussion around ethical fashion, fast fashion and capsule wardrobes focusses on adult clothes. There seems to be little of this discussion directed at children's clothes. Why is that? 

We all need clothes, and arguably, children need more clothes than adults, because (in my experience anyway - your children may be different!) they tend to get their clothes dirtier, more quickly, and their clothes need washing more often. In addition, because they are growing, clothing a child necessarily involves an on-going process of discarding and acquiring items, as things become too small and bigger clothes are needed.

The prevalence of supermarket clothes for children - cheap and plentiful and often v e r y cute - make the temptation for parents, and grandparents and others to add something to their baskets when they do the weekly shop.  As ever, this sort of mindless consumption is problematic  - creating demand for low price items which are often produced at great social and environmental cost in communities far away, and adding to an already bursting wardrobe rather than filling very specific needs. And then, all the fabulous childrens clothes available from indie designers and presented in Stylo and other places, just seems to add to the feeling that kids need to have lots and lots of stuff. 

On the other hand, acceptance of hand-me-down and thrifted childrens clothes seems to be greater than for adult clothes. I have received, and given, many bags of clothes to friends, colleagues and neighbours with new babies, or smaller children. Then there is the in-family recycling that goes on when clothes are passed from child to child. And, I have been to many nearly new sales which give parents the opportunity to buy and sell baby clothes and baby equipment.  So, should I feel guilty about the clothes my children have when a good proportion of them are not new?

I might fairly smug about the things I have made or upcycled for my children, and the things that I have been mending (like this, and this, and this) but should I, if its in the context of overflowing drawers and wardrobes and no attempt to curb consumption? 

Zoe shared some thoughts related to this recently, particularly in relation to charity-shops. My advice to her was to identify things that she really needs (for her daughter), and be fairly ruthless about not picking up lots of other cute stuff which simply duplicates existing items/sizes. For example, I know that my 8yo doesn't need ANY short-sleeved t-shirts, but has only 2 or 3 long-sleeve tops, so if I'm browsing anywhere then that's what I focus on.  

I am also ruthless about passing things on when they are too small. However, one note of caution here - some things can have a longer life-span than you might think, so my other tip: don't believe the age labels! Baby leggings are one example, once nappies are abandoned they can find further use as toddler shorts/capris. Some dresses also work well as tunic or top as girls grow, and shirred sun dresses can easily become skirts later on. If you have slim kids, then baby/toddler trousers can double as shorts for older kids. As a case in point, earlier this summer I noticed my older son (aged 8 1/2) wearing a pair of grey shorts I didn't recognise. They looked great - but seemed just a little bit neat around his backside. He had been wearing them all day - so they obviously were comfortable enough for summer camp. I asked him to take them off, and we checked the label. They weren't his shorts, they were his 2 yo brother's trousers, and were labelled 12-18 months (little bean has REALLY short legs and all my kiddos are slim around the waist/hips)

I don't really have a conclusion about all this - but I think bloggers and designers and parents need to think and talk as much about the sustainability and ethics of childrens clothing and fashion as we do about adult clothing/fashion. Children aren't in a position to think about all of this. We need to model the behaviour and habits we would like to see them adopt (e.g. conscious consumption and a recognition that we cant have ALL the things), but we cant expect them to weigh up the options - we need to do it - accepting of course that children should be able to influence what they wear and be given the agency to choose for themselves.  

In addition, I would really like to see some indie designers producing garments which are designed to be long-lasting - with features that make them adaptable over several seasons for growing children. I love making things for my kids, but when they grow fast, I want to invest my time in making items that will last for more than a couple of months. Has anyone got any links/advice to share about building a coherent/capsule wardrobe for kids? 

I'd love to hear what you think. Do share your thoughts!  

Mending Monday #6

More patches on knees here (yes, the stream of holes does seem to be never ending, thanks for asking). This time a pair of worn cords have been rescued from the can't-be-worn pile. 

They belonged to the bean, but are now much too small (nothing to do with languishing in the mending basket, ahem). 

I ironed on a couple of those cute car patches again (see the iron shapes?) using my friend bondaweb. 

And then, I got my Boro mojo on again and stitched on top to secure the patches really firmly. You can see that I took care to stitch across the edges of the patches to make them extra secure.  You know, because boys.

Cute huh? They are much too big for little bean, but have been stashed in the appropriate place for later.

When everything goes to plan (FO)

Today I impressed myself with a little project, fixing up a favourite RTW skirt. I bought it from a sale rail last year, and have really enjoyed wearing it. It's navy jersey - with some wool - which makes it super cosy. It's also super comfy, and has been in heavy rotation through the year. When I realised it worked with bare legs and sandals, it became a summer staple too.

Recently, the fabric has begun to get a little translucent, and rather than reveal the details of my undergarments to the world, I've been thinking about how to fix the problem. I researched wool jersey, a lot. I knew I could attach another layer of fabric on the inside, but couldn't quite decide what to use. 

And then the other day, I found myself looking at the Alabama Chainin website. I was smitten by all those lovely jersey projects, embellished with itsy bitsy piecs of fabric. Super inspiring slow fashion sort of stuff, and I can foresee some of this ideas coming along here sometime soon.  It got me thinking about that skirt again, and what I could do with it, and then I realised I could do something with colour. 

And, I had something in the stash that would be perfect. Double win!

Once the idea crystallised in my head, my fingers started to get impatient. This afternoon I took advantage of a sleeping child, and got to work. My methods were not particularly refined, but they worked!

First I laid my skirt on top of my chosen fabric (folded) and using a kids washable marker I roughly traced the shape I needed, adding a small seam allowance as I went.  I cut the shapes out and joined each side with my overlocker. 

The skirt has a double layer yoke/waistband which is attached to the single layer skirt with an overlocked seam. I used this to add my new skirt lining - lining it up carefully and overlocking over the existing seam. I was really careful here, and didn't remove any fabric with the blade of the overlocker - I wanted to preserve the length of the skirt as it was.  

Once the lining was attached I cut the it to the same length as the skirt, and finished it with a double fold hem. 

I'm so pleased with the result. I used about a metre of jersey from my stash - a remnant I bought earlier in the year for £5. I used my overlocker - so fast! The whole thing took less than hour, including all the setting up, the clearing away and hugging a toddler who was not best pleased about waking up from that sneaky nap. I'm so happy with the result, and so proud to have done it - to have rescued a favourite skirt, with a little bit of skill, a little bit of time and a few pounds worth of fabric from my stash. I don't think I'll be able to resist flashing my pink petticoat at everyone!  

Mending Monday #1

My active children, who love climbing trees and doing sliding tackles on the lawn and lots of other rough and tumble things, can be quite hard on their clothes. The jelly bean in particular seems to have an ability to shred the knees of a pair of leggings in no time at all. 

I don't mind at all (and feel a little bit proud when I am shown a hole that happened during whilst climbing a tree) - but I do seem to have a never ending mending pile. I have thusly declared that Mondays will henceforth be Mending Monday, when I dedicate whatever small portion of the day remains after everything else is done, to the activity of mending. 

Some recent casualties, here awaiting triage. 

Today, then is about patches. 

These trousers belong to the bean - but need a swift repair before 8 year old fingers make that wee hole a lot bigger and turn the trousers from mendable to binnable. 

As the trousers are lined (see that blue lining peeking out?), I didn't want to sew patches on with my machine. The potential for wonky/twisted and uncomfortable results was too high, so out came the bondaweb. 

I went for a patch on each knee, rather than just the one that was holey - and used a cute cotton fabric I picked up in a remnants bin last year sometime. I eyeballed a suitable shape, and then whizzed around with the overlocker to finish the edges. 

I might have slightly overlooked the fact that the overlocking would affect the stick at the edges of the patches. However, after ironing the patches onto the trousers, I hand-stitched the edges of the patches down. It was a bit quick and dirty, but I figured the stitches would be lost in the overlocking and noone will ever know. 

The bean put them back on at the first opportunity, and tested the newly restored knees/patches by slide tackling his way across the lawn. Those cute patches stood up well to the rough and tumble, but who knows if the grass stains will ever come out... sigh. 


Feel free to join in with the mending thing y'all. What are you mending today?

Inspiration

The sewing stars are aligning, at last. The jelly bean will be 6 (?!!) in a few days, and I am making her a top (or two) for her birthday. 

I snaffled this viscose jersey the other day, from the splendid stitch  (with splendid customer service - a very quick turn around and a couple of free swatches in with my parcel) and got to work last night tracing the pattern (from Ottobre 4/2015).

I bought a goodly length (2.5m) so there will be plenty left for me to make myself a thing or two. Just don't tell anyone I bought more fabric, okay.... 

Upcycled baby wipes (or whatevs) FO

I've been having fun playing with my new overlocker. And, since Zoe started the whole thing off with her comment about making washable wipes for her daughter with hers, I thought I would make some too. 

An easy first project :-)

Fortunately I had stashed the cut-off sheet edges after making the muslins a couple of weeks ago. I cut the remnants into pairs of squares (eyeballed rather than measured) and serged rounds those edges, using Winnie's tutorial on scarves to work out how to turn the corners (although I notice that I didn't actually follow her instructions at all really, but things turned out okay).

A few minutes later, I had a gratifying stack of 5 smaller, and 5 larger washable wipes to go with that pile of muslins.

The overlocker thing is going really well so far. I even managed to rethread one of the loopers when the thread broke. It was a bit fiddly, but really not too bad. I will just gloss over the small accident that befell one t-shirt that I was trying to repair.  Corners are tricky, it seems, and I managed to make a much bigger hole than the one I was trying to close up.  Oops!

Shiny. Happy. Gadget

Confession time.

Today I bought a new gadget. A new sewing/crafting thing that I really *need* (cough) so that I can do stuff, and more effectively use up. The. Stash.

Yeah.

Cos, obvs I am on a stash diet, so I cant spend any ££ on yarn or fabric, but it's okay to buy a new toy, because that is Not Stash. No. Sir. It. Does. NOT. Count.

Actually, I blame Zoe. She made me do it. I had been idly thinking about buying a new sewing machine, cos the one I have got has been with me since I was 21. And that was roughly (cough) 20 years ago, I was wondering about replacing it. And then Zoe commented about using her overlocker, and a light bulb went on.

That's it.

That's what I need. An overlocker. 

I googled. I waited. I thought. I googled more. I googled all of the overlockerz and all of the overlocker tipz. 

I casually mentioned to my husband that I was thinking of buying myself a birthday present (as noone showered me with lovely things this year, and I got to eat my birthday dinner at a service station in Exeter, but I am over it now). You know, just to see the reaction.

I thought more. I googled more. I slept on it. 

This morning I rang up a shop, gave them the long number on my credit card, and a few hours later I dropped in to pick it up. It's sitting here, in front of me. All shiny and white and full of promise. 

Wish me luck as we get to know each other. Over and out. 

Upcycled muslins (FO)

Howdy chaps. 

The other night I got a little bit of sewing time and decided to mop up one of the WIPs on the 'pile'. A wee while ago I found a threadbare sheet softened from many washes, but too narrow for any of our beds. I decided to upcycle into some muslins (or burp cloths for those of a North American disposition).

Easy peasy. Here's what I did:

1. Cut the sheet into squares about 22 inches square (I think).

2. Because the sheet was worn - and had a few thin patches, and because I wanted to end up with something that has a bit of life left in it and can withstand quite a lot more washing, I used two squares for each muslin. I lined two squares up, whizzed around the edges with the sewing machine, leaving 3 or 4 inches open for turning.

3. Turned the two layers, so that the raw seams are on the inside, and finished the muslin with some top stitching to close. 

4. Inspected for thin patches, and darned using a zigzag stitch on the machine. 

5. Tidied up loose threads and press. Folded and admired. [Take pictures for blog*]

6. Gift to expectant friends. 

* optional, obvs.

Clearly, these could have a number of uses, and small ones (about flannel/washcloth size) make good washable baby wipes, or window polishers, or dusters or whatevs. You know it. 

Snip, snip

Hello!

We've been on holiday and come back again. And we've been to help a cousin get married, so now Normal Life can be Resumed. As if there was such a thing.

There are projects a go-go here, and in the midst of allotment clearing/tidying, washing, cleaning, working, playing, making jam/cake/jelly/supper, delivering children to summer camp and all that stuff I am trying to polish off a few UFOs and clear the mending pile, and generally, you know Tidy UP.

So, to get back to the previous post, I have decided. I have thunk and thunk and then I worked it out. Best thing to do: trim and square.

I was a bit loathe to size my squares down and lose overall size in the quilt top, but as a newbie quilter I figured I ought to learn how to do it right, rather than learn how to do it badly. So, I am downsizing my squares, but they will be much easier to piece together and the overall result will be better (I hope). 

My parents will be visiting later in August, so again - I have an eye on the clock and wonder if I can turn this thing round this time? 

Sew

Howdy chaps.

Just back to report on last week's sewing adventures. In the midst of the rain, I got an annoying sewing job done - involving replacing a zip on my husband's hi-viz bike jacket (I broke the zip, so I really had to fix it!) It is a major cobble - I broke two needles in the process, unpicked a lot of very wonky stitching but managed in the end to return the jacket to him with a functional zip. And, he was happy with that. Phew.

Once that was out of the way, I moved onto other things. I refashioned one of my old hoodies into a sweatshirt/hoodie for the bean. He's got lots of sweaters that are almost too small, so I hacked apart one of my sweaters to make something for him. I cut the sleeves off, the hood off and cut along the side and shoulder seams. Then I narrowed the back and the front by several inches (taking things in at the sides) and lopped a chunk off the top of the sleeve, using one of his other sweaters as a guide. After rejoining the shoulder seams, I set in the sleeves and joined the new side seams. The neck was very wide  - much too wide for my 8 yr old, and I couldn't find an easy way of reducing this because of the logo on the back and the kangaroo pocket on the front. [Note to self: these features make refashioning much more tricky!] I opted to reattach the original hood - just tucking a wee pleat in the centre back to make everything line up. The neckline is still super wide, but with the hood attached it's not very noticeable. 

The best bit. He loves it. A photo will follow at some point - but each time I try and take one he has covered the sweater in milk, or mud, or something splattery.

Just so you have something to look at, here is a stack of freshly stitched squares that I am making into a quilt top for my mum. The fabrics all came from my grandma, and a duvet cover she made for me when I was a teenager. 

The duvet cover was made from vintage fabric scraps from clothes and other household textiles in my nana's house. The duvet cover disintegrated a long time ago, and I've been trying to decide how to make the remnants into a quilt top for some time. Last week I finalised my design/approach, cut the squares to the right size and started to stitch. There are 100 patterned squares, and I chain pieced the lot while the children ate their supper the other night. Wowzers that was fast! Who knew?

There might just be a deadline with this one. My mum's birthday is at the end of the month, and they are coming to visit. Maybe I can get it done before then?