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!

Toddler apron again

I've been making a toddler sized apron for one of my daughters friends, like the one I made in March (tutorial here), but this time instead of getting applique letters I decided to cross stitch the name onto some aida band. I haven't done cross stitch for ages and had to unpick a few times due to not counting correctly, but now it's sewn on I like it.

And I even had some ribbon to use as a label!

I hope she enjoys wearing it.

Finding pins: finishing things off

So a while I posted about my unfinished projects. One of them was this quilt square, which only needed the binding finishing around the edges. I’ve finally got around to stitching it! Shame the baby I was making it for is now five years old. Luckily I have a couple of friends expecting so I’ve got one new baby present sorted! Also, look how many pins I have now they’re not stuck in this project

Reversible toddler sun hat - free pattern from Oliver + S

It's getting to be that time of year again where the child needs a sunhat, so I decided to make her one out of some fabrics from my stash. I used this free pattern from Oliver + S. Here are my fabrics, I used two fat quarters that I already had and some ribbon that I also had so I have managed to make a project without buying any additional stuff (which I never normally do!)

Mainly I followed the pattern instructions, with a couple of variations: - I pressed the edge of the side pieces 1/2" to make it easier to create the seams between the side, crown and brim. It's quite tricky to pin otherwise.

- I added two ribbon ties at the side seams when attaching the sides to the brim so that we can tie it to her head (it doesn't actually keep it on her head much more that usual unfortunately) - Initially I hand stitched the final seam as the pattern instructed, but I don't like how the hand stitching looks so I am planing to machine sew a seam very near the join and take out the hand stitches. I am using a contrasting thread as I like the way it stands out.

And here we are! A reversible sunhat which can also double as a rain hat if it’s not too wet.

She even kept it on her head long enough for me to take a photo< Br/>

More children’s backpacks, and an adjustment to the ribbon ends

I've been busy lately making more backpacks for my friends children. Here they are all together:

I also noticed that cutting the ribbon ends diagonally wasn't enough to stop them fraying, so the ones that were already done I sealed with clear nail varnish. The ones that weren't done yet, I cut a small square of iron on interfacing to iron to the end and folded over so that when the snap was attached it would be through a double thickness of ribbon.

Hopefully this will stop the ends from fraying, though on reflection I should have used hemming tape not interfacing.
Anyway that's enough bags for now! Next on the list is a sunhat for the small one.