March sewing - catch up post

 Apparently I'm too busy making things to blog about them at the moment...

I've managed to carry on with the 52 week challenge so I'll organise this into weeks again - weeks 9 to 13

Week 9 - Sew something Timeless or Classic

I found a free pinafore dress pattern on the Halla patterns facebook group which is reversible so I made rainbows one side and dinosaurs the other. The instructions were a little confusing, eg there's optional patch pockets but they're not mentioned in the instructions so I only remembered them partway through. The end result looks nice, though my daughter has now decided she doesn't like dinosaurs so she will only wear it rainbow side out!

I also made her a birthday crown (complete with her favourite animal elephant) 

Week 10 - Sew a Bag (challenge rejected)

Continuing the elephant theme, I made her a dress made from elephant fabric - this is the Beachcomber from Waves & Wild (formerly Made by Jack's Mum). I thought the elephant fabric was jersey, but it's not stretchy enough for the neckband so I'll have to replace it with ribbing at some point. I also have a panel in the same design that I'll probably make into a sweatshirt eventually.

Week 11 - Act of Craftivism

So this is to sew something to support a cause etc. I saw a request on a sewing group for drawstring bags to be used as washbags for patients in the children's hospital, so I made ten over the week and sent them off. I got a lovely card as a thank you.

Week 12 - Sew something for yourself

I made a few things this week - I had some lovely sewing-themed fabric that I wanted to make into a dress for myself (Halla Agnes dress). But also there were a couple of birthdays so my daughter helped me make a rabbit for her friend (Patterns for Pirates Plushie Pals freebie), and I also made some flowers for my mum (tutorial on Facebook here)

Week 13 - Upcycle something

A relative is expecting a baby girl, so I made a dress (Twig + Tale Petal Wrap dress) from an old dress of mine and some needlecord that I got as a gift.

I also made a t-shirt (Halla Stardust) for a charity raffle. TGCGS Charity Fundraising

Links to pattern designers that are in this post (not affiliate!)

Hallå Patterns

Waves & Wild

Patterns for Pirates

Twig + Tale

February Sewing

I seem to be making about two things a week at the moment, so let's see what I can remember. I'm still doing the 52 week sewing challenge so this will be weeks 5 to 8.

Week 5 - Sew something for Storage

My daughter likes to bring her favourite cuddly toy everywhere, so we decided to make a little sling for her to carry it in so it doesn't get lost. 

We made a mini mei-tai from The Art of Simple tutorial and it came out quite well. If I make it again, I think I will just use webbing or ribbon for the straps as sewing and turning out and topstitching took quite a lot of time.

I also made myself another top - this one was Hallå Stardust top (free pattern again!) which has some nice other colour blocking options but I made the plain version for now. It came out quite nicely.

Not to mention, another cuddly. This time it's a fish.

Week 6 - sew something with buttons or snaps

I actually had a pattern to test this month - exciting! It's a scarf/bib and it has snaps so I made it for the challenge too. It's not released yet but when it is I'll put a link in. It's from The Cajun Girl

And I made a pirate jumper too - this is the Altitude pattern from Peek-a-boo patterns. 

Week 7 - sew something "green" or eco-friendly

I didn't do the weekly challenge as I couldn't think of anything I could easily make that we would actually use. So instead I made some leggings (Made by Jack's Mum lightning leggings) and a giant bean bag ball (Ellie & Mac Stuffy Ball) to store all the cuddly toys in (you could argue that this prevents me throwing all the cuddly toys in the bin! Not sure)

Oh I almost forgot - I made a little twirly skirt out of a glittery remnant that I had. She didn't believe I'd made it at first because it has glitter on it.

Week 8 - sew something that's not fabric

I was planning to make something out of some Capri-sun packets for this, but as it happened I was busy with other things.

I do a monthly handmade gift swap (The Great Crafting Gift Swap on Facebook) so I made an infinity pocket scarf for that - The Patterns for Pirates one which I did before Christmas. I suppose a zip for the pocket is kind of not fabric?

And I've got a springy foot to do free motion embroidery but I'm not very good yet so no pictures of that.

 

Links to pattern designers that are in this post (not affiliate!)

Hallå Patterns

The Cajun Girl

Peek-a-boo Pattern Shop

Made by Jack's Mum

Ellie & Mac

Patterns for Pirates

January sewing

 So this year I signed up for the 52 week sewing challenge on Facebook. I've made it to week 4 ok, I'm not sure I'll be able to do all the challenges as I find myself thinking of new things I could do to meet the challenge instead of making things from my to-do list!

Week 1

Week 1 was "organise your sewing space", as I'm currently using the kitchen table for sewing, I organised my storage space instead and I went through and catalogued my fabric into albums on my phone so I can plan things without pulling everything out constantly. It was also annoying me that all my cotton thread was stored upstairs in my sewing box, so I found a tin to keep it in instead so I could bring it all up and down instead.

Week 2

Week 2 was "complete a work in progress/unfinished project". I had started making myself a tshirt and got really annoyed with the neckband after I had done it wrong twice, so I sat down and finished that off. It's still not perfect (the neckband should be ribbing really and I don't have any, so I used jersey which isn't really stretchy enough) but I will wear it anyway because I like the main fabric. And maybe one day I'll re-do the neck. (Pattern is Slim Fit Raglan from Patterns for Pirates, fabric is from Fabricasa but looks like they've sold out of that design)

Week 3

Week 3 was "make up a pattern you own that you've never made". Now I have several that fit that description, but in the end I decided to make up Hallå Patterns Twirly Skirt. It's a simple circle skirt so doesn't really need a pattern, but hey it's a free pattern and I don't have an easy way to draw a circle that big. Also it has pockets! Love pockets. I made it from some modal fabric that I'd acquired - mainly because I seem to buy 1m lengths of most things so I didn't have many pieces big enough - the modal feels nice to wear but it was very stretchy so a little difficult to work with especially on the hem.

Week 4

Week 4 was "make something for your head or feet" well I had promised a while ago to make a birthday crown for my friend's little girl so I did that. It's the same as the Christmas crowns I made, Crowning Glory from Made by Jack's Mum.

I also seem to be doing a "make all the cuddly toys" challenge with my toddler. I got a lovely panel from Bugweed's Fabrics and Crafts with easy cut and sew cuddly toys, and we've been making some of those up. She also requested an orange dinosaur, which we drafted from a picture in her dinosaur book, and soon it will be her friend's birthday so we made a pink bear using the free Plushie Pals pattern from Patterns for Pirates. (free patterns may be a theme - I do buy patterns but the free ones seem to be easier!)

New year, new post

 First, the UFOs:
The only one I finished was the Fabric baby book. One of my colleagues was expecting a baby, so I finished it all except for the cover - and then we all started working from home before I could give it to him, and he's now left the company, so I guess it will keep for another baby! It's quite nice though

Once that was done, I made a rainbow blanket for my friends who were also expecting. It was made with rainbow yarn so I didn't need to keep switching colours, and it came out quite well, if a little bit longer than I meant it to.

 

I even made an easter chick from a kit!

By then lockdown/working from home was in full swing, so I didn't get much else done till later in the summer as work was busy. I did manage to make a "bumblebee costume" one evening thanks to a random request:

Once work quieted down a bit at the end of September, I had more free time in the evenings (bed times had also got a bit earlier I think). So I made quite a lot (well, quite a lot for someone only sewing two hours a day) of clothes for the small one - mainly leggings but also a dress. I also made some for a couple of her friends. And we managed to finish the hat to go with her red pinafore, she requested doll's clothes for her scary looking doll one day, last of all I made her a party crown for Christmas.

I did manage to make some things that weren't children's clothes, too - mainly presents, but hopefully I can make myself something in the new year!

The best thing I got all year (got it in January, which seems so long ago) was my zigzag attachment which means I can do zigzag seams with my Singer sewing machine - otherwise I couldn't sew all these lovely knit fabrics!

And this year I've signed up to the 52 week sewing challenge on Facebook, so who knows I might be able to post a few more blogs since I'm documenting it all there anyway.

New lining for a shoulder bag

The lining is more like interfacing than proper fabric

A few years ago, my parents got me a bag which they'd got embroidered with my name while they were on holiday.

The embroidery is really nice and the bag is a useful size, but the manufacturing quality of the bag isn't great - I had to reattach the strap as it frayed and detached within a week of getting it, and after a few years use the lining was all ripped so I kept losing things inside the bag.
So I decided to re line it with a bit of fabric I had (it was a fat quarter from a bundle I got a while ago)
Step one - remove the existing lining, detach the strap and prepare two rectangles of fabric for the new lining

 Step two - hem the top edge of the lining fabric which will be attached to the opening of the bag
Step three - sew on the fabric wrongly to the bag so that there are raw edges inside the bag

Oh no! 

Step four - spend an evening unpicking all the seams from step three (you can skip steps three and four! I'm bad at this)
Step five - pin and sew together the two rectangles of lining fabric right sides together
Step six - pin lining to the opening of the bag front and back so you can sew around it in a circle and carefully sew it.

Step seven - reattach the straps

And it's done! Looks much better than it did before, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Clothkits peekaboo birdie dress

When we were children, my mum used to make clothes for me and my sisters from Clothkits and when I found out that the company had been re-started, I asked for a kit for my birthday present so I could make something for my daughter.
I then put off making it for ages but I finally got around to it over Christmas and it was easier than I expected!

Main fabric pieces cut out

Cutting out the lining fabric

The instructions were clear and easy to follow, though as I was making a bigger size I did have to re-sew the arm hole seams as the lines for the smallest size were still showing (clothkits have the pattern printed on the fabric so you don't need to trace from the paper pattern - of course this also means you can't re use the pattern unless you traced it from the fabric before you start (which I didn't).

Ready for sewing

The small one was very interested in my sewing machine so she helped wind the handle!

My little helper

I did have a bit of trouble with my buttonhole attachment but once I sorted that out the buttonholes came out really neat. I had several practices on some fabric offcuts to make sure they would be the correct size.

Buttonholes and buttons added

I also have a kit to make a hat and bag to match the dress so if she wants those too, I'll let her help a bit more with those!

In her new dress! 

This was the "peekaboo birdie dress" which I made in age 3 size. Here's the link if you want to make it yourself : Clothkits

UFO review post

Back in April, I posted about some of my unfinished projects. Most of these are still unfinished but I've done three:
Crochet shawl (which my friend no longer needed, but my daughter has claimed as her "green blanket")

The quilted square (still not quite sure what to do with this to be honest)

My mending pile 

Not done yet:
Dress - started May 2016. 75% complete

Fabric baby book - started 2007. 5% complete. I know a few people having babies in 2020 so I might get around to doing this eventually

Camp blanket - started 2000 ish. I might get around to this at some point as I could do with another blanket.

Kingfisher cross stitch - started 2003. 60% complete. I've just got back into cross stitch over Christmas so the next cross stitching I do will be this.

New UFOs:
Crochet hat - I was going to make my friends some hats, and I found a pattern, but somehow I gave up halfway through so I will probably just unravel it and use the wool for something else.
Bag - I was going to make a laptop bag for work but then I got a backpack for it instead so not sure what I'm going to do about this. 25% complete.

Next up is a dress that my mum got me from Clothkits which I need to make up before my daughter gets too big for it!