Spring Mornings and Afternoons

 The worst thing to do in the early warm spring days of the year is to stop in and make something to wear on a warm day! Oh, the irony of that choice. With this in mind, I have been sewing on colder mornings and gardening in the warmer afternoons.

This is the Fen Dress by Fancy Tiger Crafts. I made a winter version in brushed cotton with a round neck in January and now this summer one with a V neck. You can also make tops from the same pattern. The fabric is a lightweight cotton sateen. I thought I would choose a large print for a change which I really love.

Another successful make is this reversible Agave skirt by Deer and Doe. The one side is black linen for winter and the other is floral cotton poplin. It fastens with two buttons and has an asymmetrical wrap front. It is genius!

Then I had a go at some bag making this is a REAL handbag! It looks and feels so much like a real one. I had to use a leather needle in my machine and it sewed up like a dream. There are useful front pockets, inside slip pocket and a back zip pocket. It is the noodlehead traverse handbag made with faux leather - an absolute keeper.

I am of course true to my sewing roots and have used up some smaller fabric pieces to make a Linden sweatshirt using up leftovers. I have two of these now and I wear them regularly. I had a few handmade sweatshirts that shrunk a little after washing so these have gone to my big girl.

The view from my studio is unique and when the lunchtime hotspot lands right on the french doors it is time to stop sewing and head outside for some sunshine. 

Bloke has worked hard finishing off the steps outside which I am so happy about. I tripped up them in January which caused my bad arm which I am struggling with at the moment. The sun shines right in my eyes at the sewing table about 1:30pm so it makes me pack up and go outside for the afternoon.

It is refreshing to take the dog out, give my daughters some fresh air and enjoy the spring weather with them.

I have lambs to show you next.... exciting times.

Jo

PS. I have managed to get my blog admin all set up on my laptop so I can blog more regularly and catch up with you folks now. I only used to be able to load stuff on the main PC in the office but we have lambs in there and it stinks! 

Old Habits Die Hard

My sewing adventures of late have been varied - a mix of new habits and the old ones I can't let go of. I make online media content for Minerva which they are going to release later in the year so parcels of wonderful fabric and patterns arrive at my house weekly. It is my job to sample up the patterns and share the process so that makers can sew-a-long. Hopefully my teaching background and endless enthusiasm will stand me in good stead. This brushed cotton winter dress has been one of my favourite garments of late. It is called the Fen dress by Fancy Tiger Crafts. The pattern has lots of variations so I will enjoy exploring more.

Sometimes however I have to make a garment out of a fabric I am not so keen on and at first this was hard for me to do. In the past when sewing was a hobby, I tried hard to make sure that what I made was a really good use of my precious time alongside my teaching job. Now I have got over this and can happily make a garment as a sample because I am being paid to do so. I have to give some items a new home but my mum and my friends are happy with that! On the plus side, it does give me the opportunity to toile a pattern using a delivered fabric and then make it later for myself in a self-chosen fabric.

The Charlotte dress by Atelier Jupe patterns was the perfect example. The fabric above was so soft, drapey and such good quality but boy, who put those colours together?! Anyway, it might be right up someone's street but not mine. I absolutely loved the dress pattern though so I made it again in a piece of seasalt fabric I had been saving for just the right thing...and this tie waist dress was it. I made it a little shorter on the second run and got myself the perfect dress.

I still hold on to my own deep rooted sewing ethos which is to sew for my family by recycling as much as I can. Here is a shirt made for Andy from a tablecloth ready for summer. Well, why not? The cotton was beautiful quality.

I also like to support local sewing shops. If we bought all our fabrics online some shops would be gone altogether...a balance is good I think.

This embroidered cotton was in the sale at Abakhan from £21.95 a metre to £6.59 a metre so I just had to have 1 metre. It's green. It's cotton. It's botanical. I love it. One metre was perfect for the Datura blouse by Doe and Deer. Such a wonderful pattern with beautiful techniques which enclose all the seams and gives a brilliant bust fit for a vest top.

And finally, a trait you will know me for if you have followed this blog for a while - the using up of all the scraps in the most creative of ways.

This is the Scout Tee by Grainline Studio. It is a mix of embroidered fabric scraps I just didn't want to throw in the recycle bin. The Scout Tee is probably one of my most expensive pattern purchases, but definitely my most used. I could wear variations of these tops everyday.

I have also been working on a wedding guest outfit for my teen but it has been quite the negotiation. Can you imagine? More on that one later when I next round up my sewing adventures.

Off to check out your blogs with a cuppa now. Jo xxxxx 

Happy New Year! I like to make three crafting resolutions each year to keep my hobby interesting and challenging. Last year I decided to:

1) Learn to use the ruffler foot for my sewing machine... and do you know what? I still didn't use it so I guess in a whole year of sewing clothes for all of us, I just don't need it. I think maybe I have had it for so long that now my girls are in their teens, I have possibly missed that gathered-pretty-phase of their clothing choices. I can put this one to bed I reckon and never speak of such a thing again.

No regrets.

2)Make a dent in my fabric scraps especially the thin strips... this is actually going very well in the background although not to completion. I have made a strip quilt topper but it is a shade off a single bed size and now that I like the concept of it so much I want to make it into a double bed topper to store as a future wedding present. 

3)To sew a raincoat... Total success here, I made three. One for me, my mum and my youngest. It is the Eden raincoat by Tilly and the Buttons and Meg's was from a vintage pattern.

For 2022, I would like to improve some of my making.

1) To work with different fabrics. I have never used silk before because I am frightened of cutting it out so I would like to overcome this fear and of course have something beautiful to wear.

2) To stop knitting on when I know that something has gone wrong. I am an absolute sucker for it. Fudging each row until it gets right never happens but then I am always a little disappointed when I know there is a mistake. I am going to become a frogger starting with this yoked sweater. The black dots are all the mistakes. The one massive mistake is that the coloured yarn is too thin against the brown so I started making mistakes and not loving it enough to unpick them. 

3)To Crochet a chunky throw that has straight sides. I have been gifted some lovely yarn and I would like to use it well and keep my stitch count correct for each row. Sometimes I do slapdash crochet too!

Generally this year my sewing has improved in quality massively because I have been recording my makes for Minerva for freelance media content which will be released later this year. There is nothing better than videoing yourself sewing for others to learn from for making you sew properly! It has been my dream job and I am so looking forward to sewing more. 

Has it made you think of something you would like to finish, start or improve?

Happy New Year! Jo xxxx

It's All About the Scraps

It has been such a finishing kind of week. You get those sometimes, where knuckling down and getting things to the very end seems woeful in your mind but then it doesn't really take very long.

I think I have falsely shown you this as a finish in the past but really I knew after 'finishing' it that the large grey border swallowed up the patchwork centre and needed more work. I started to machine stitch it but it just made a huge pucker at the end of each row. This is when I might have shoved it in a bin bag for a day when I felt more motivated/less sweary.

I got it out again earlier this year and began hand quilting it. I really made some progress and then, as any hand quilter will know, I got a touch of RSI in my hands. Away it went, for a second time, back in the black bin bag.

Things started to get a bit more crucial of late because this quilt is for my friend's son on his 18th birthday which is a week away! Out is came for the third time however, to my surprise, it took me one more evening of stitching to finish it. The back features some of his old shirts which he doesn't know his mum gave me for the quilt. It will either feel like a big surprise or that I have been stalking him by stealing shirts off the washing line! All wrapped up and ready to go now.

Finishing something arduous always makes me believe I can do anything. On Saturday afternoon the girls had a friend to play so I had couple of hours thinking about how to join these scrappy strips together which the girls and I made in January 2021 school lockdown. 

I hope some of the followers here can spot some of their gifted fabrics. These are the long strips which I collect from sewing;anything rectangular gets sorted into the 'strips' box. At the end of the afternoon I had sewn the ready-made long strips together and assessed that I need about four more to make a single quilt. A long way off yet but a very satisfying afternoon of enjoying the quilting process rather than the eventual outcome.

Another scrappy Ski hat (Free pattern) flew off the needles this week. One more for the present box. Making the pom pom even used up the last of some balls completely without a scrap of waste.

Finally, for myself, I have completed a crocheted sock yarn shawl. The pattern is on my sidebar if you have scraps of sock yarn or 4 ply to use up but it would work for any yarn. It has been a year long project (from last Christmas I think) to use up all of the sock yarn ball ends. Between larger projects, I would add a row here and there to use the yarn up to the very end. Recently, I have added some of the 4ply wool from Heidi's fair isle jumper and leftovers of leftovers from the socks. It is finished with some bought pom pom trim. Well why not?

Honestly, I think I love creating with the leftovers more than the initial product choice! Are you making for Christmas?

Jo xxxx

No Waste Sewing

 I try not to waste anything, it is part of my DNA I think. I especially try to use up my craft materials the best way I can. Today I have a few things to share that use up my purchased fabrics to the very end.

My fourteen year old has been struggling to find T-shirts that are slim enough but old enough in design for her size. She needs a child size but they have unicorns/fairies/princess slogans on - you get the idea right? So I made a pattern purchase that was rather an investment - The Rio Ringer T-shirt by True Bias. It is not a massively versatile pattern but it does come in a range of smaller sizes which was what I was after. It was eye wateringly expensive but I knew it would work for two of us. The fact that it worked out for all three females in our house made it even better value.

I ordered three colours of jersey from Minerva which I thought would work well together: a red stripe, blue and yellow.

Firstly, I made a size 2 blue T-shirt with a join down the back. It saves on fabric and my girls like it because you can see which way round it goes without the need for labels. It was a touch small for Heidi so Megan snaffled that one. Next up I made size 4 in the pink stripe and this was a good fit for Heidi. She liked the high neckline, the slightly curved waist and the contrast bands. Finally using up the last sizeable pieces I made a size 12 which was a good fit on me.

To cut multi sizes from one pattern without going out of my head with tedium tracing off each size, I simply roughly cut out the front, back and sleeve pieces then used dressmakers carbon paper and a serrated wheel to trace through the paper straight onto the fabric. The wheel has been a new purchase for me and it has been a game changer piece of kit for transferring darts and markings. It was the perfect way to trace multi sizes from one pattern. 

 We found the neckband to be a little tight causing some ripples around the neck but I will just add another centimetre next time, that's all it will need.

Heidi liked the T-shirt shape so much, I found some other jersey pieces and got creative. There was a small piece of blue striped and chocolate brown for a front paired with a yellow back which I trimmed with the yellow and brown. That one had a 1970's vibe about it.

I spent a mindful hour listening to the radio the other evening while cutting out all of the last little pieces into underwear parts. Both of my girls love these knickers which is a size up from the largest Speedy Pants pattern by Waves and Wild (free pattern). Essentially, I made my own sized pattern based on my girls leg and waist size from the speedy pants pattern shapes then used picot elastic. 

And if that wasn't enough for you, I pulled all the thin pieces tightly to roll the jersey strips into garden ties. Jersey makes fab garden ties for tomatoes etc. because they are snugly allow the stems to grow without cutting into the stalk.

All done jersey but not all done with the Rio ringer T-shirt pattern. There is a T-shirt dress which my big girl would like for next summer - without unicorns!

Jo XXXXX

Octobering

Enjoying - the slow season change this year. Nothing to harsh or nasty all in one go; a slow wind down into Autumn.

Wearing - my new autumn inspired shirt in a plum colour cotton lawn.

Celebrating - The youngest's birthday with a Death by Chocolate Cake from her new cookbook 'Jane's Patisserie'. Meg had followed this blog for a long time and asked her Nanny to get her the book. We had a kind of 'Bake Off' moment where we sat watching it cool down and were too impatient for it to do that properly. We iced it anyway and the icing melted and oozed out of the sides. Luckily, it was in the fridge during this process so it set at a funny angle. Who cares? It was the most delicious cake Meg has ever made.

Hanging - from a harness at Go Ape in the Wyre Forest as a birthday treat. We all went on it so we only have terraferma photos!

 Using - my Jamie Oliver 30 minute meals recipe book. I love it because obviously it takes around 30 mins to make a great meal but the best thing is there are a range of side dishes I would never have thought of which include lots of veg. This is a broccoli pasta sauce ( I may have been a bit more liberal with the other veg there) accompanied by melon and prosciutto ham salad with a strawberry smoothie dessert. It was a big family hit.

Buying - some re-usable plastic straws which you can slide open and wash easily in light of this smoothie hit.

Loving - my new vase. I saw it in an antique shop for £8 and thought that the short 14cm height would be perfect for home grown flowers which often have shorter stems than shop ones. Modern vases are either too wide in the neck and leave a big hole in the middle or are really narrow and make the flowers stand to attention. 

Being - blown away by a rainbow I saw over our house on Tuesday!

Patching - THE jeans. Yes, they are still going...

Finishing - a huge pile of log cutting ready for colder days. Bloke has really relished this task over the last few weekends.

Pulling - up most of the Cosmos and courgettes to give the garden a general tidy before it all gets really slimey. 

Teaching - my eldest how to skin a pheasant. I appreciate that this photo and concept isn't for everyone but it is important for us to use what we have and not waste anything.

Slogging - it out making curtains. I hate making curtains, however my friend has a stock trailer and I have a sewing machine. He took my sheep to market and I have made his curtains. Sometimes that is how things work.

Mucking - out the studio. It had all gone a bit feral in there but normal floor space has been resumed.

Watching - the views as ever from our back door. 

Thanks for dropping by. Are you enjoying the changing season?

Jo xxxxx