I have certainly got my sewing mojo back, there has been steam coming from my machine this week! For my birthday at the end of last year my Hubby got me a subscription to a fabric club – every quarter you receive a load of fabric samples (mainly Kaffee Fassett and Phil Jacobs).
A while ago at a vintage fair in York I bought this dress
It has been sat in my wardrobe since then, occasionally being brought out a longingly looked at. I have not yet been able to wear it as I am unable to fit into it. Now you may wonder why I bought it if it didn’t fit, however I really couldn’t leave it there, it is made from a gorgeous Liberty fabric and it is so me! The only part that doesn’t fit is around my chest at the back where the zip wont do up. The rest fits perfectly and looks lovely! Read the rest of this entry
Welcome to another Handmade Monday and the last of my projects for my 30 day challenge, where has that time gone?! As I mentioned in last weeks post, my last project is taking longer than I thought so I can only show you where I am up to so far. I have been following a tutorial from Moda Bake shop on how to make a Floor cushion using a jelly roll. I have adapted the instructions slightly as I only had 20 strips in my roll to use, after cutting them diagonally in half I am slowly piecing them all together and have done about a 1/4 of the cushion so far.
Two weeks ago joined the Liverpool Sewing Club, giving me the chance to meet other lovely sewers and also have 3 hours of uninterrupted sewing time. I have therefore decided my Jelly roll cushion can be my take along project. I think if it wasnt brown and in more interesting colours I would enjoy doing it a little bit more!
In other news I have been busy creating lots of lovely things for my Christmas swaps. I have almost finished getting things together for the decoration swap with Amy and I have made 7 out of 12 things for the advent swap with Emma. I am going to pop along to the affordable vintage fair with Nic at the end of the month and hope to get a few more bits and pieces then. Would love to share with you all the things that I have been making for the swaps but as it’s all a secret you’ll have to wait till they both open all their parcels in December! i have also been busy making bits for my stall for CRAFTfest at the end of November. I hope to get some bits onto my Folksy page soon!
Why don’t you go and see what everyone else has been up to for handmade Monday over at Wendy’s blog.
Sarah x
Another handmade Monday and another 30 day Project! This is my 4th project and something I have put off doing for sometime now so I was glad I have finally got round to making it! It is from the Cath Kidston book ‘Sew’ where you get the fabric and pattern to make a lovely handbag. One of the main reasons I had put off doing it was that involved making buttonholes. Since getting the book I have bought my new machine which has the option of doing 4 stage buttonholes, so it seemed like this project should be fairly straight forward!
The pattern pieces were already cut out, so I followed the instructions on how to join the main exterior fabric. I also decided to make a lining for the bag, and so attached this also.
In the instructions it gives details on making a rouleur loop as the fastening for the bag. However after many attempts I got a little frustrated with trying to turn out the very small bit of fabric and took the easy option of using a magnetic snap instead!
Next step was making the strap then making the buttonholes. I practiced on a spare bit of fabric first and then went for it…I think I could have done them a bit better, and I spaced them too far apart but not bad for first attempt!
So here is the finished bag…
I think the only thing I’m not happy with is the strap seems really wide. I also found the instructions in the book a little confusing and took several reads to understand the next step. I do love Cath Kidston fabric though and love how you get the little badge to sew on the front too!
Please go check out everyone elses Handmade Monday posts to see what they have been making this week.
My next and last project is the jelly roll floor cushion. I have already started this and I think I have underestimated the length of time it will take to finish. I fear I might have to extend past the limit of the 30 day challenge, but I am determined to finish it! So will keep you updated on my progress!
Sarah x
The lovely Maeri at the Make and Do Studio gave me a lot of fabric that she was no longer going to use. Determined to try and use each and every bit of the fabric I decided to make some cushions for our living room. Using the skills I got from my first Make and Do class I made 3 envelope cushion covers using a bright red floral fabric. I even splurged out and got some feather cushion pads to give them a lovely feel to snuggle up to in winter! I am rather pleased with the results…
Sarah x
Time again for another Handmade Monday! As promised last week, here is my 3rd Project of the 30 day Challenge – the T-shirt Tote. This was quite a nice quick and easy project so didn’t take long to complete! I got the idea from a Pinterest Post I saw a few weeks ago, which gave a really quick tutorial on how to convert a t-shirt into a tote bag! I had a few t-shirts lying around that I no longer wear, but still liked and couldn’t give to the charity shop, so thought they were ideal ginnea pigs for my next project!
Very simply, lay out your t-shirt and cut off the sleeves, as close to the seam as possible. Get a dinner place and place around the neck of the t-shirt and when happy with the look, draw around and cut out. Turn Inside out and sew the bottom of the t-shirt together, I also boxed of the bottom to give more shape and voila…here it is!
It has now been renamed the chopper shopper!
Check out everyone else’s Handmade Monday posts over at Wendy’s blog.
Next weeks 30 day challenge is the Cath Kidston Bag!
Sarah x
Another handmade Monday and another 30 day challenge ticked off my list of projects! This week I have completed making the Upcycled Bag, now renamed the Beano Bag! A month or so ago I dragged my Hubby around the charity shops in Warrington, in search of some inspiration for my next unusual sewing project. I came across a ‘Beano’ single duvet cover and pillow case for £2. I couldn’t leave it there for that price and my fingers were itching to get making something out of it!
The main thing that attracted me was a large image of Dennis the Menace which I thought I would be able to cut around and turn it into a bag. So I set to and got snipping with my scissors. I found that by smoothing out the duvet cover, as I cut around the image on the front I also cut out the fabric for the back of the bag, therefore getting both pieces the same size. The size
of the bag was determined by the size of the image and it looked like it was going to turn out to be a rather large shopper style bag! I had some left over fleece interfacing which was just the right size, therefore I ironed it on to both front and back pieces.
Since the back of the duvet/bag was white I thought It would be a bit plain. I therefore cut around the Beano logo on the pillow case, arranged, pinned then sewed around the edges of the letters. I think it gives a bit more interest and gives 2 different choices for which is the front of the bag!
With right sides together I sewed a 1/2 inch seam around the sides and base. Then pinching sides seams together, making sure they were in line, I made a triangle measuring 4 inches across. I 
sewed across this line and trimmed off the top of the triangle to give the boxed bottom for the bag.
For the lining I had found a red and black striped material which I though was very apt! I measured it out the same size as the exterior, and fitted a magnetic clasp. On the duvet cover there was a part of it that read ‘Menaces for ever’. Using my rotary cutter I carefully cut around it and created a shaped that could be used as a pocket for the interior. I ironed on some left over interfacing to give it a bit more stiffness and then sewed around the sides and bottom and also down the middle to create 2 pockets. I then sewed together the interior as for the exterior, leaving about a 10 inch gap across the bottom seam.
I chose a cream webbing f
or the handles and after playing around with the length pinned on the handles to the exterior and sewed using a box and cross to make sure the stitching was nice and strong.
Then with right sides facing I placed the exterior inside the lining and pinned together at the top, gathering the material for the lining and making sure the side seams for both the lining and the exterior were matching. I then sewing a 1/2 inch seam around the top therefore attaching the lining to the exterior and then turned it right sides out through the gap in the bottom of the lining.
With a bit of pressing with the iron here and there and with the sewing of the gap in the lining done the bag was complete!
I am really chuffed with my efforts, especially making something new out of something old! I also kind of made it up as I went along and think it kinda turned out ok?!
Why don’t you check out Wendy’s Handmade Monday blog to see what everyone else has been up to this week 
Next week I will tell you how I get on making my T-shirt Tote, number 3 of my 5 projects in 30 Days challenge!
Sarah x
This gallery contains 6 photos.
I am so pleased to have finished the Molly Handbag pattern from Reba Collins. In my last post about Molly I had just finished the exterior part of the bag. I was therefore determined to finish the interior and assemble the bag this week. The pattern is so easy to follow, so within an hour [...]
As you might have gathered from reading my previous posts, I seem to collect projects, flit from one to another and never quite finish any of them! I decided I needed a bit of focus for my sewing and therefore have set myself a personal challenge of completing 5 projects over the next 30 days, starting from Saturday 17th. I have picked a variety of projects, some easier than others and all will challenge me in different ways:
I still have many more projects that I want to do, so I might sneak a few in along the way if I have time! But I hope by giving myself a bit of direction I’ll get lots of lovely things made! I will use the handmade monday post to let you all know how I get on with my challenge each week!
Sarah x
After looking through the posts for Handmade Monday this week I came across Amy’s bits and blobs blog where she talked about gifts she had received through an international craft swap. This is something I keep reading about and really want to get involved in. After more searching of blogs I came across Hookin’ with LaaLaa via a link from Mrs A’s Blog. It involves making a christmas decoration to then send to your designated partner. I have to admit that I am a lover of Christmas and its never to early to start thinking about it! I already have my fabric etc ready to make all my presents – my aim is to limit the amount of ‘shop bought’ presents I give out this year. So I thought this swap was a perfect one for me to start off with and I already have lots of ideas as to what I could make! The closing date is Thursday 15th September so get over there quick if you fancy joining in!
Sarah x
