May

Where has May gone?!  It's been a blur of Birthdays, school, work, sunshine & showers!

At the beginning of the month it was mine and the Eldest girls birthday, we're 'lucky' (!) to share the same day - I'm not sure being in labour on your birthday is the best way to spend it and it does mean I'm usually now running around like a blue-arsed fly on my birthday!  Seriously, it's really nice and while she was enjoying the day at school,my day consisted of putting up lots of bunting/birthday posters and blowing up balloons - how is blowing up balloons with a pump so tiring?!  I managed about 3 before I was bored and my arms were aching!  I did manage to squeeze in some 'me' time for a lovely bit of sewing time with the iPod blasting and singing badly!

Organised chaos!

The sewing wasn't all therapeutic though, I was attempting to make 12 party bags for the party that was due in the next two days!  I'm glad to say I did manage it, even had a few spares!

I was determined to make them using only fabric I already had (which is way too much and needs reducing!)

I made a rough rectangle template based on the size of the 'goodies' that were going in them - mostly small making kits from Hobbycraft and cut each bag on the fold so I'd only have two sides to hem.

To neaten the insides I also decided to do French seams, so I folded the fabric WRONG sides together to do the first line of stitching, then turned it back again to have RIGHT sides together and did another line of stitching down the side and along the bottom, the seam allowance has to be a bit more generous for this so that you hide all the first allowance inside (see last picture).

Then I just need to fold over a hem for the top of the bag, which I did twice and then pinned the handles in place (pieces of ribbon), poking them under the hem.  I did two rows of stitching for strength.

Job done!



The other sewing job I've done this month is a present for my Dad's birthday, it's a key bag, so he can keep all his keys in it, instead of a food bag!

I used the Bento Bag pattern in Sew Hip, issue 29 as a starting point and adapted it slightly.  The denim material was a secondhand pillow-case and the lining a piece of an old sheet!

Putting it all together was easy, instructions for box corners never make sense to me in written patterns, visual instruction for things like that are much better! Basically it's two box shapes put together, topstitched at the hem and a channel for the cord on the outside. I used bias binding for the channel as trying to press a tiny hem proved too much for my fat fingers!  The denim fabric was also quite bulky which restricts the gathering when pulled tight with the cord, but I haven't had any complaints from the recipient!

We've also had some new members of the family..

meet Harold & Tom, our first guinea pigs!

I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying them and it's lovely seeing the girls learning how to look after them.

I've also had my 20 week anomaly scan which went well thankfully, sadly I don't have any good pictures to share as little bump wouldn't keep still!  The poor sonographer had a hard time getting all the measurements, let alone a good picture and we're not very sure on the gender either!  I was convinced it was a boy, but now I don't know what to think!  The suspense is going to kill me, I'm not good with surprises!  I was going to start a Debbie Bliss baby cardigan once we knew what it was, but now I'm not sure what colours to use, cream seems a bit boring!

I've just realised I haven't taken any pics of my lovely birthday presents, I had a lovely handmade brooch from my sister and a lovely bunny by 'The Vintage Magpie', once this rain & greyness disappears I shall have to remedy that.

Well, on to June...which means our holiday is almost upon us, I honestly can't wait!  We're going to Weymouth for the first time, I haven't been to the coast for years and the girls are very excited as we're staying in a caravan!  If you have any Weymouth recommendations I'd love to hear them!

Super Shopping Day

Today I've been up to the NEC, to the ICHF 'Sewing for Pleasure', 'Fashion, Stitch & Embroidery' & 'Hobbycrafts' event.

Had to speedily get the day off work in the end as I was supposed to go on Sunday but then had no one to look after the kids and as we all know, shopping plus kids is a recipe for a hard day!

So I set off after the school run and had an easy drive up the M40, hooray for sunshine and a CD changer full of sing-a-long tunes!

I thought the advance ticket price of £9 was reasonable but then of course you then have to pay £8 for the parking! Thanks NEC but I don't think it's entirely justified.

The venue was halls 11 +12 which is sort of round the back, at the end and they're not the best halls, as there were about two toilet places and two areas for food, so with a lot of old ladies, these were both oversubscribed! 

My tip is to get your hand stamped and go out into the atrium, where there are more toilets/refreshments and quieter places to sit down! 

As always take your own lunch to avoid over-priced rubbish and take advantage of the cloakroom facilities for large shopping purchases!

So the halls are split into the three events, with lots of sewing exhibition pieces to look at and lots of shopping stalls!  I was organised this year, I had a list of what I wanted/needed and measurements!  Last year at the Festival of Quilts I was overwhelmed by the volume and choice of fabric and didn't buy much as I wasn't sure what I could justify!

The first stall I clapped eyes on was 'The Eternal Maker' and I was so happy as this is my favourite stall at all the sewing shows. With their selection of fabric, buttons and giant ric-rac it's impossible not to buy anything from them, they are also supremely lovely and helpful if you have a chat. 

I went for a lovely ladybird print (I've been looking for a good ladybird print for ages, as a bag lining, hopefully I'll get to reveal the finished article sometime now!)

and some lovely giant ric-rac, I could have chosen a metre from all the colours but went for the pink as it'll go with one of my other purchases....

They are also now doing SUPER giant ric-rac which is even bigger, which you must see!

Then I found 'Fabulous Fabric' which had some great prices, I spotted this needlecord at £8 a metre and knew it would be perfect for the reversible 'Sew Hip' childs cover dress.  If it gets the nod of approval from my youngest of course!  Should go with the ric-rac?!

Speaking of Sew Hip, they had a stand around the corner, with the new issue on sale (I got mine on Thursday as a subscriber but still haven't had a chance to sit down and properly read it!)

I believe this is Ruth Singer's re-fashion dress from the last issue, which was lovely.

I then found a lovely stall by Dandelion Designs, which had lovely felt & notions, patterns and kits, I chose this doggy kit, which as it looks quite Christmassy should give me time to make it!

Tucked away in the top left of hall 12 was the Fashion Stitch Challenge, which had designers (Charlotte Liddle & Rachel Henderson) re-fashioning and customizing clothes against the clock in front of an audience.  This was a great idea and you got to see them working close-up with the help of the cameras/tv screen. 

Here's the reveal, a jumper made into a bolero/shrug and a dress embellished with fabric flowers, the audience gets to vote on their favourite and the winner appears in the catwalk show in the Fashion area. For this one the bolero won.

Next to this was the truly amazing 'Above & Below the Waves' installation.  You have to see this to believe it, it's a coastal themed knitted display, which you actually walk through like a sea-life centre!  Everything is knitted, from the fish, to the sand and the amount of man hours put into it must be phenomenal and I hope it raises a lot of money for the RNLI.

In the fashion hall was a wonderful exhibition by Ollivier Henry, who is an embroiderer, teacher and costume designer, the detail on these were fantastic.

Hurrah for Clothkits, their designs are so timeless. I've been meaning to get one for ages and I have finally manged to choose a dress for my youngest (I seem to have bought a lot for my four year old, it's harder to find things for older kids isn't it?)

 I shall unwrap this tomorrow and investigate, but I am assured it's very easy!

Now for some Amy Butler love...

 I've finally found a fabric I love enough to try the Anna Maria Horner Mariposa tunic from her Handmade Beginnings book.  It suggests using her cotton voile but after finally finding some today, I found it a little too thin for me, it is lovely and soft though!

So I found this Amy Butler Love:Heart print at Doughty's for £10 a metre and I knew it was the one, it's good when that happen's isn't it, you're not sure what it is you're after but when you find it, you know!  Now I just need some confidence to cut it!

I also managed to find all the magazines I wanted, Homespun & Cloth are both new to me, so am looking forward to a lazy weekend of magazine reading!

Well, I spent too much and my feet ache, but it was a good day, if you are going this weekend, it's on until Sunday, word of warning avoid the Hobbycrafts section unless you like making you're own naff cards and beware of shopping trolleys, the curse of the old ladies!

Flowers to lift the spirits

Flowers are always a bit of a luxury in our house, I don't often buy them as they're not on the 'essentials' shopping list and I must admit to forgetting to water them on a regular basis!
So when I'm lucky enough to receive some as a gift, it's always a lovely treat and I was very lucky at the weekend to get these from my other half, not because it's Valentines Day but just because, ahh!

This weekend I have been wrestling with the pattern sheet from this months Sew Hip,

My youngest liked the dungarees so to be actually 'asked' to make her something is a rare privilege, so I photocopied the sheet at work on Friday, then sat down for a cutting out session on Saturday morning.  It was then that I actually looked at the pattern and realised that one copy was not going to be enough, in usual fashion the pattern pieces are all overlaid and a real nightmare to 'de-tangle' visually, I realised I should have made multiple copies.  This faff with all Sew Hip's pattern's is a real bug-bear of mine, it's such a long winded process to copy the right pieces, even with a photocopier, I much prefer the pattern layout from 'Sew' magazine, the copy price is similar so I do wish Sew Hip would convert, or just not overlay everything into a dis-organised jumble, colour coding is worth nothing on a b/w photocopy!
Ok, gripe over! And I should say that I prefer the actual things to make in Sew Hip rather than Sew!

Well I was in the mood to finish this, so I had to go old-school and crack out the pencil and greaseproof paper and get tracing!

No light-box but a large window!  After all that when we went into our local fabric shop I couldn't find any material that a) daughter liked or b) was a suitable thickness!

Will have to trawl the interweb, but it's so hard to gauge fabric/weight on-line, I may wait until I go to the NEC in March for the 'Sewing for Pleasure' show.


Speaking of Sew Hip, here finally is a pic of the mouse I made for my sister for Christmas, I was quite pleased how it turned out, the eyes were a bit wonky though!

After a gorgeous sunny day yesterday, I was very proud when my youngest came home from school to show me what she'd been practicing at school...

At four & a half she has learnt to ride her bike with no stabilisers!  I was so proud of her, she didn't want any help but gamely went back and forth, wobbling around looking very pleased with herself.  One of those milestone moments that makes you realise how time is passing.

Have a good week!

Sew Hip Letters Page!

Sorry about this, but have you seen the letters page of the latest Sew Hip??!!

Well I was very proud to see on p.16 my pictures of the pillowcase dresses I'd made this year.

I put them on the Sew Hip Flickr page and they emailed to check it was ok to publish (big thumbs up for proper procedure, I work in image permissions!) and of course I said yes!

They were a very easy make and I would make more but the girls haven't been that keen on them! My youngest refuses to wear her pink one! Still she does love the Oliver + S 'Lazy Days Skirt' I made for her last year in Ikea fabric, I think I shall try and rustle up some more of these instead!

Sew Mag

I found this new mag in my local Sainsbury's before holiday last week, it's a new magazine, this is issue one and at first glance I thought it was jumping on the 'Sew Hip' bandwagon, but after reading I was pleasantly surprised.

It comes with a proper tissue paper pattern (with every issue it promises) and covers a wide range of sewing makes from dressmaking to homewares to a kid's project. It is also a lot more professionally put together than Sew Hip, the photos are a lot glossier, the research and information is accurate there are not so many typos! I am a subscriber to Sew Hip and I loved the first 3 issues but the content and feel of the magazine has been slowly dwindling, the content is thinner on things I want to make, the design and layout is too sparse and it feels lacking in direction, which coincided with the loss of the first editor maybe?!

So I have read 'Sew' from cover to cover and I'm hungry for more, the cover price of £5.99 is a sticking point though, slightly over my usual budget so I shall wait and see what issue 2 offers from the shelf before parting with hard earned pennies!

Sew Hip

This is my latest magazine addiction!
I can't stop picking it up even though I've read it cover to cover, I have the previous issues by my bed for a little persual before bedtime with a cup of tea!
I have been lucky enough to receive a subscription from my sister for Christmas which is so lovely although I suspect she will be wanting her mitts on them too!
Last issue had a great dress pattern that I really want to make up but looking at the fabric in my local shop it's so pricey, 2m for £26, I wouldn't pay that for a new dress, sorry but money's tight and the likes of Matalan/Primark make it hard to justify the luxury of dressmaking. Especially when with my skills it's likely to look a tad wonky! What happened to the days of people made their own clothes (like my mothers generation) because it was CHEAPER?! The world has gone a little mad.
Anyway, I can't recommend this magazine enough it's trying to tap into this 'new' world of crafting without being twee or complicated.