Denim skirt from jeans - 25/9 to 29/9/11

I found this project on the Singer website (here).
I had a pair of jeans with rips in both knees so I thought I'd make a skirt out of them. The length was dictated by the location of the rips! It ended up just above knee length.

Legs cut off

 It took quite a long time to unpick all the seams so I got a bit bored between unpicking and sewing back together.
Here is the finished skirt:

Front of skirt

Back of skirt

The seams went a bit funny where they changed from the existing seam to mine. This is because I couldn't do the seams the same way the manufacturers had because I'm not good enough at sewing (and my machine can't do zigzag).
Now I need to think of another project to do though we're moving house soon so I might just have a rest from crafty things while we pack everything into boxes!

Sewing covers for things - 20/9/11 & 21/9/11

More adventures with the sewing machine (and projects I've been meaning to make for a while).
Yesterday I made a cover for our printer. It's not a complicated shape, just a cuboid, and it lives under the bed, but the box it came in doesn't. So I wanted to make a cover to stop it getting scratched and to keep the cables together with the printer.

Laid out flat

With the printer

The cover is just a basic cuboid net made out of pink cotton as you can see. The main part wraps around and fastens with velcro, and the sides tie with ribbon at the top of the printer.

The cable tidy loops also fasten with velcro and the ribbon from the sides thread through them for extra security.
It it a simple shape, the long wrap is all one piece and the sides are sewn on separately. All the pieces were hemmed using the hemmer foot so I didn't need much seam allowance.

Today I tried to make a cover for the sewing machine so that the case doesn't get scratched (and so that people don't try to pick it up by the handle!) I used some cloth which I have which has two layers and is an iridescent purple colour. The underneath layer has quite thick threads, so it frays quite easily but the two layers are woven together using regular stripes which makes it easy to cut straight lines!

Fabric ready for cutting

Side pieces cut out

I thought I could use the hemmer foot but the fabric was too thick to fit into it so instead I pinned and sewed them with the normal foot:

Pinned edge

Hemmed corner finished

So here is the finished cover
The only problem is that I didn't leave enough seam allowance so it doesn't actually fit properly around the machine. It ties around with ribbon so it fits around but doesn't cover all of the corners.

I'm going to cut it in half and add a strip of contrasting fabric so that it fits properly. I might see if I can find some aida band and add small motifs to make it pretty.

Marzipan does sewing! - 19/9/11

As I said in my last post, I've got my sewing machine back with me again after two years of it being in storage. It was my granny's machine, so it's about 75 years old and still works really well.
The main thing it can't do that new machines can is sew backwards (which is generally solved by turning the work around!) and sew in zigzags, so I can't easily do buttonholes. It's hand powered so you have to be able to feed the work with one hand, but that's not too difficult and it makes it much easier to regulate the speed. It probably helps that I'm left handed! Here it is:

A thing of beauty

is a joy forever.

Inside the little box are all the extra feet to do things like hemming, attaching braid, quilting and sewing on zips. Luckily I also have the original instructions so I know how to use them. I'm very glad to have it back!

 

So, apart from gazing at it's beauty, I'm also getting on with some projects I've been meaning to do for a while now. First I thought I'd start with something small and (allegedly) simple - a cover for my Bible.

Bible open

Closed up (I managed to get the church on the front cover!)

All unfolded

There's a pocket for a small notebook and a pencil too.

Making it was more complicated than I expected, not having made a book cover before. I probably should have made a paper pattern first but I just used the book to find the sizes. The cover is quite tight-fitting. It's fastened by poppers, which I sewed on the wrong way round to start with!
Not bad for a first attempt at machine sewing for two years though. My friend has asked me to make her a dress so I need lots of practise!

Birthday card - 14/9/11

Today is my friend's birthday, so the other day I made a card to send to her.
The 'happy birthday' is ribbon which goes all around the card, the flowers are cut out of semi-transparent paper, and the name is made of individual sticky letters.
Can you tell that most of my card-making things are still following the purple theme?
I hope she likes it. Happy Birthday Ros.

Hopefully I will have time to do more crafty things now the summer is over. I have my sewing machine now so maybe I can even make some exciting things from fabric!