February has whizzed by, and I was slightly concerned about getting the second Sew my Style make made in time for the end of the month! However, I did not have to worry as it turned out to be a relatively simple make, even if it was with knit fabric. Continue reading
Category Archives: Craft skills
Picture framing course
Recently I attended a day workshop on how to build your own frames. It’s not something that is necessarily feasible for me at the moment, but it’s definitely something I would like to try in the future. Continue reading
Cosy Winter – the Ivy pinafore
I’ve been enjoying a bit of dressmaking this month and am finally cutting into some fabrics I bought in one go for numerous projects. One piece of fabric was some navy polka dot cotton bought especially for the ivy pinafore pattern by Jennifer Lauren.
One worry I had at the very beginning was that I didn’t have enough fabric. The pattern for view 1 advises to purchase 150cm wide fabric, and my own fabric was 115cm after pre-washing. However, my fabric did not have a one way nap or design, so i was able to re-jig the cutting layout plan, which reduced fabric waste as well. I may have enough to make a tote bag too at some point!
I still have my stash of ceramic buttons from taking pottery classes last year, and have only used one so far, so I wanted to use some of these if possible for the fastenings. The pattern suggests larger buttons, and I was worried that they wouldn’t be big enough. However, I left worrying about this until the button hole stage came up, and decided that my own buttons would work well. It’s a real buzz to see my own handmade buttons on a garment!
I selected a traditional lining fabric for the lining, as I wanted this make to work well with tights, leggings or jeggings. It was a little tricky to work with, and I ended up hemming the lining by hand, but I think it means I will get a lot more use out of it!
side view
Back view of the facing
It’s a real joy to wear this garment. It’s loose fittings with seam pockets, which makes it a great lazy Sunday wear when all I want to do is sit in my rocking chair and knit or crochet with a cup of tea! I can imagine wearing it out on a walk too, when I am on the hunt for discarded rusty items to use when rust dyeing! It’s definitely a make reserved for my days off!
I’ll have to try out the gable top sometime soon as I only have one top that goes nicely with this pinafore! The gable top has a high neckline, which works well with this style of pinafore. Looks like I will be getting the walking foot and ball point needles out very soon!
Reversible loop scarf
One of my goals is to use up my stash for smaller items and gifts before purchase more fabric. For a friend’s Christmas gift, I followed this aim and found some fabrics to use.
Following a guide from Love Sewing Magazine (issue 01), I cut 4 rectangles of cotton fabric, two in each fabric choice, and then stitched them together to create a loop scarf.
One issue with using the stash is finding two fabrics which work well together. Although the purpose of the scarf is to have the option of two different looks, I didn’t want the fabric choices to clash too badly if you could see them both.
This was a nice simple pattern to follow and I am quite surprised at how warm a scarf made from dress cotton fabric can be!
Review of 2016 highlights and lessons
It’s nice to pause and reflect back over the year before looking forward to the new year, so here are my highlights and lessons from 2016:
Highlights
- Ceramic buttons!
I don’t have any plans to continue ceramics at the moment, but a highlight for me has been making ceramic buttons! So far, I have only used one (which may be part of the reason I have decided to leave ceramics for the moment from my stream of hobbies) but I have plans in the new year to use more of them.
- Free machine embroidery
Free machine embroidery has increased the use of my sewing machine greatly. Since taking a 10 week workshop at the beginning of the year, I’ve struggled to stop! I find it very fun and an easy way to personalise makes without the use of an expensive embroidery machine!
- Man Engine Stitch
Following on from my discovery of free machine embroidery comes my most focused project using the method – The Man Engine stitched. It took a day – from editing a photo on the computer which I took in St Austell – to stitching the design onto calico.
- Instagram
I hadn’t really used instagram until this year and I have found it a great way to connect with other crafters and keep up to date with designers and artists. - Poppy Playsuit (by Sew Over it)
The Poppy Playsuit is my favourite make of the year garment wise (just a shame that the UK isn’t ideal weather-wise for it!)
- Upcycled pouffee
The new cover for the inherited pouffee makes me smile!
- Baby showers mobile (from Chloe Owens All Sewn Up)
Probably the longest and probably the most complicated make of the year! However, it does look nice now it’s finished (and I should have started it much earlier than I did)
- Upcycled t shirt cushions
Another Christmas gift make to be shortlisted are the t shirt cushions. They came out much better than expected and it has been great to get them out of my stash!
Lessons
- Sewing with knit fabrics
The main points I learnt were to use stay tape to stop seams stretching too much and to use a walking foot.
- Starting presents much earlier!
I did learn this lesson a long time ago, but I still struggle to adjust my working pattern accordingly! A couple of years ago, I made everyone’s gifts well in time for Christmas. It hasn’t happened again, but it will be something I strive towards in 2017. While I always argue that I need the deadline looming to be motivated, I am going to try new methods to get that motivation working much earlier to make it less stressful! - Don’t always follow patterns blindly
I had trouble making the baby showers mobile by Chloe Owens as the fabric glue made it too hard to attach the flowers at the end. In the end, I had to adapt the pattern anyway.
Clobber Creations 