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.

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

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.

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.

Drawstring backpack

My daughter loves trains, so a while ago I hunted through my local crafty shop for some train fabric, bought a metre and then thought “what can I actually make with this?” Someone suggested I make her a little bag, so I figured I could make her a drawstring bag that she could use as a backpack to carry her toys around in. I’ve made myself a drawstring bag previously to use as a dice bag, so I knew they weren’t too hard, I just needed to work out the size and how to attach the strings so it could be a backpack.
I then got a bit carried away with myself and decided to make some for her little friends, too, so the pictures in this will have a few different fabrics but the bags are all made the same way. You could probably make one in an evening or two, it took me less than a week to make three (and some days I only have an hour to do sewing).
I based my design on this tutorial by Kristin Omdahl, but I’ve adapted it so I thought I’d do a proper tutorial for this version.

Materials list - for a toddler sized backpack
Fabric - depending on the pattern of the fabric, you might need more but you should be able to make one bag out of a fat quarter, or two bags out of half a metre of fabric.
Cotton thread - to sew it together with
Cord or ribbon - for the drawstrings. For toddler sized straps, you’ll need two metres length. For it to be comfortable on an adult, you’ll need 2.5 to 3 metres.
Something to attach the strings to the corners of the bag - I used Kam snaps so that I can easily detach and replace the strings if they get broken or are the wrong length, but you could also make a reinforced hole in the corner of the bag (using a metal ring or something similar) and thread the strings through that.
Other useful items - sewing machine (as it’s all straight stitch you could sew it by hand but it would take a lot longer), iron, needle to sew in the ends, pins, scissors, bodkin or safety pin to thread the string through the channel. If you’re using Kam snaps as an attachment, you’ll need a press to attach them with also. Most suppliers of the snaps will sell the presses too.

How big a piece of fabric do I need?

This took me a while to figure out, but finally I worked it out with help from a sketch that I made. Measurements are in inches because the numbers are smaller for me to work out, but the principle is the same whatever measurements you use.
1. Decide how big a bag you want.  Length (x), height (y) and width of the bottom (w).
2. How much seam allowance (a) do you want? (I used half inch seams, partly because it made the numbers easy to work out, partly because that was in the tutorial I was following)
3. How wide a channel (c) do you want for your strings? (As I am using ribbon, my channels ended up about an inch wide).
4. Are you using one piece of fabric folded at the base, or two pieces sewn together? (If you’re using one piece, double the length and take off 2a)
5. Maths time! (See my sketch)
a) Two pieces of fabric: x + 2a by y + 2a + 2c + 0.5w
For a bag 10” long by 10” high with a bottom width of 3”, I used two pieces of fabric 11” by 15”. As it’s a bag, the size can vary to suit how big your fabric is - i had a piece of fabric that was 40” wide so I cut the pieces 10” wide for that so that I could make two bags from the one piece of fabric.
b) One piece of fabric: x + 2a by 2(y + 2c + a + 0.5w)
For a 10” long by 10” high bag, I would use one piece of fabric 11” by 28”. This only works if you have a fabric pattern that doesn’t matter if it’s upside down, though!

These instructions will be for making the bag out of two pieces of fabric, but the tutorial I linked above uses only one piece so refer to that if my instructions are confusing you.

Step One: Iron your fabric!
It might seem like a waste of time but it is essential if you want to measure the fabric properly and have it turn out looking good.
Step two: Measure fabric, mark out, check it! Cut it.
Especially check that you have marked out a rectangle with square corners and not drawn one of the edges slightly wonky.
Step Three: Press and sew the hems
Fold over half an inch of fabric on each side and press it with an iron (if you get a good enough crease with the iron, the fold will stay and you won’t need to pin it). Sew the hems a quarter of an inch in from the fold (if you have fabric that’s likely to fray a lot, you might need to do a double fold so that the raw edge is turned under when you sew it.)

Step Four: Channel for the drawstring
Check how big of a channel you want and fold down the top edge of each piece of fabric so that it will be wide enough for the string to run through easily. You will have two strings so make sure you allow for them both if you’re using thick cording as a string. Stitch along the line you sewed for the hem so that the channel stays the same size all the way along.
Step Five (optional): decorate your fabric
If you have anything to decorate the bag with (I added a letter motif for the child’s initial), now is the best time to add it as you can judge the position on the finished bag. Remember that the final bag will be an inch or so shorter than the fabric you have now as we haven’t allowed for the base yet.
Step Five: Pin together and make up

If you’ve been careful with your measuring and consistent with your hems etc, you should now have two rectangular pieces of fabric the same size as each other. I was slightly lazy with my hemming accuracy so the two pieces were not quite matching. Either way, the critical bit is that the two channels line up with each other - any excess at the base of the fabric will just go into the seam inside the bag and nobody will ever know except you!
Press the fabric again so it looks neat, then pin the two pieces right sides together, making sure that the two channels line up. Stitch along the hem lines of the two sides and bottom (if your fabric isn’t perfectly aligned, put the smaller piece on top so you can check that you are catching the edge in you stitching). Stop just by the top hem that is now forming the channel so that you don’t sew up the channel or the top of the bag.

Turn it the right way out. You now have a decent looking bag! You will need to use something like a pencil to make sure the corners are turned out as well as you can get them - the two hems meeting make the corner a little too bulky to turn out all the way.
Step Six: The base

Fold the bottom corner flat so that it’s like a triangle. (See picture). Measure across the width that you want your bag to be, mark and pin along that line. Stitch along the line - you will now have your bag with two little flaps at each corner, that you can attach the strings to.

Step six: the drawstrings

Cut two lengths of string/ribbon/whatever you’re using. I’m using ribbon so that I can attach the Kam snaps to the end easily. For toddler size straps, you’ll want two lengths of one metre each approx. Using a bodkin or a safety pin, thread them through the channel so that you have two strings, running all the way around the channel, in opposite directions, with the loose ends coming out of the ends of the channel at each side of the bag. Attach the snaps - I wanted each end to be separate, so I used four snaps total for each bag. You’ll need one on the corner of the bag and a corresponding one on the end of the ribbon. If you’re making a reinforced hole to thread the strings through, you can do that before or after you thread the strings. The just thread them through the hole and knot them.

And there you have it! A lovely bag!

Note: A closed loop like the drawstrings can be a strangulation risk for babies and small children. That’s one reason why I used the snaps and attached the strings separately - in the hope that the snaps would form a weak point in the event of getting caught around the neck or arm. HOWEVER snaps like the ones I use are not actually designed for that purpose, so you should never leave a baby or child unsupervised with it just in case.