Sewing buzz

I've had a super sewing day today!

I've mended the blue dress I made here as the ribbon ties had frayed a little.  Then I decided that my knitting needles probably needed a better home than the plastic bag they used to reside in.  So I made a knitting needle roll thingy.

I think it's turned out quite nicely

I made it out of some scrap fabric I had around the place and a strip of bias binding I bought originally for a friends present, but I changed my mind about which binding to use so had this stripey stuff spare.

All the knitting needles that are currently free can now be tidy!

I have quite a lot of the blue poly cotton left, but the white which I used to line it is almost all gone.  Just enough for a couple of squares of patchwork, which is going to be happening some point soon I think.

As by this point I was in the mood for finishing projects I thought I may as well crack on and make the pyjama top to go with the bottoms I made a month or so ago

I admit, it's not the most exciting thing I've ever sewn...

Once I found the left over blue fabric I modelled the design on my favourite t-shirt nightie but I made the skirt a little more flared and I gave it long sleeves from the blue dress pattern

I will never be cold again!

So yes...  Quite a busy sewing day for me really.  Tomorrow I think a new patchwork blanket will be started and of course I need to spend some time deciding on my new years resolutions.  Anyone else have any sewing/craft related resolutions?  I think I'm going to post mine here to encourage me to stick to them!

Christmas Week Crafting...

So since being given '18th Century Embroidery Techniques' on Christmas Day my fingers were itching for needle and thread!

Needless to say, not having any of the fabric I was supposed to be using, or the correct needles and thread didn't stop me in the slightest.  I drew patterns inspired by the section on crewel work and set off making a bag inspired by the reticules ladies used to carry.

Modelled by my lovely dressmakers dummy.  She needs a name really...

I am very proud of my embroidery, but I think what makes this bag is the tassels.  I adore them!

As you can see, I've gone for a floral theme.

I drew and sewed the design without aid and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.  It's really pretty but I should be able to use the bag on a regular basis, so practical as well.

A closer look at the embroidery

I used chain stitch, satin stitch, something called seedling stitch (such sweet names!) and good old back stitch.  Oh, and button hole stitch for the centre flower.  It's stitched on plain old white cotton, which I had some scraps left over from a Christmas present I was making.

You can't see it to clearly but the back has machine embroidery in white

The back was machine stitched as I was a bit worried that hand embroidery wouldn't stand up to the constant friction against my leg this bag is likely to suffer...

Oh and hello to all the lovely new people who have been introduced to this blog!  If you're wondering why I've suddenly gone promotion crazy it's because I'm a little bit keen on my stats page and I'm hoping to get 1000 views of this blog before the new year.  Only 39 to go last time I checked.  Yes I know, I'm mad.  Try not to let it worry you :D

Presents!

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas!  I have and I've been very spoilt.

I got lots of lovely presents, including books on sewing and embroidery :D

However my three favourites have to be...

How cute is this necklace?!

Yup, a hand driven sewing machine necklace.  It's so adorable!  As you may have guessed, by what is it hanging on my next favourite present is...

A dressmakers dummy

Never again will I need someone to pin my hem!  Also means I can play with draping and pinning fabric.  And means I don't have to model for this blog anymore, so expect to see a lot more of it on here...

Now the last and best present I want to show you...

This is a K28 Singer.

I love my new (well to me...) machine to pieces!  In fact, when I'm done writing this I'm going to have a go at threading it up and stitching on it! 

I'll try and post again in the next day or so, and hopefully show you what I've been making recently!

Princess Peach and the Sock Monkey

Are the only two things I can show you this week.

First up is Sock monkey.  Who has been named 'Missmas Monkey' by his recipient.

Walking in the snow...

He's quite a lot of fun really.  And he has a friend all lined up to go to someone else!

Ready for a larp adventure!

The only item of clothing I've made this week is a very silly dress!  I got asked if I had any dresses suitable for Princess Peach.  Now whilst my wardrobe of princess dresses is large, it didn't contain a pink satin one, so this was a good opportunity, right?

Please excuse the clothing underneath, it really was chilly today...

It's been a lovely pattern to sew, though I think I need to shape it better on the bodice.  It did however, do the trick quite nicely for Princess Peach, Barony style.

So much snow!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go get back to my Christmas sewing...  See you all soon!

Back on track?

Well...  Maybe!  I've borrowed a card reader off Sam so I can at least move pics from the camera to the computer again.  Now, what have I been up to since I more or less disappeared?  Well it's not been a great time for crafting.  My car's been smashed into (fortunately we do have their details, unfortunately it's still a major hassle I could really have done without) and my great uncle has died.  Added to that I've had the usual social whirl that accompanies this time of year making for a very busy Luthaisea!


I don't know how many of you remember but in September I headed up to London and made these and the other day I got around to making a dress to go with the black and white one.

I really like this lace...

It's a vogue pattern and whilst it doesn't look quite like the picture on the pattern envelope I do quite like it.  That said it was a very boring and stressful sew.  If I go to another Fan Makers occasion convention not withstanding I plan to make a more period feel dress.  They're more fun to make and I think they flatter me more.

The back view...

That said, the fabrics (taffeta and lace)  are lovely and I only melted the smallest amount of lace onto my iron...  Plus the advantage of making your own dress is you can make sure it hides your bra...

Anyway, it looks nice (I think), many people were impressed with my skills (no-one else in the room could say they'd made their gown to match their fan...) and I had a lovely evening and met interesting people.

And finally a photo of us all looking dressed up and pretty!

See how well my dress matches my fan?  I was quite pleased with that.  Also, see where I get my sewing skills from... My mum made her outfit and my sisters dress!

I also made some hair clips to match my dress, but I totally failed to get a picture of my hair do so I'll try and photograph them another day.  Not sure if there'll be any more blog this week, it depends how well I do with my Christmas crafting and whether I have a chance to do something with the metres of embroidered taffeta I picked up the other day...

He-Man

So, my best friend Peter is off to a fancy dress party this weekend.  He asked me to make him a costume.  After hearing his request and giggling for ages of the sheer silliness I agreed. 

Only Peter would go as He-Man...

See?

The boots are fake fur sock cover things, made essentially as tube with elasticated tops.  The loincloth is fake fur attached to an old pair of boxers and the belt and wrist cuffs are gold lame and velcro.  The chest strap thing is drill and yet more velcro.

It's all held together by velcro...

It was a fairly quick job, but quite tricky as my image 'brief' as it were, came from googled images.  Still I think it's worked fairly well.  Have fun at the party Peter!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I didn't take the photos, so I didn't need to upload them onto this computer.  Yay!

Err...

I've just switched to a new (well new to me) computer, so there may be a small lack of updates whilst I figure out how to get photos from my camera onto here...

Still, hopefully it won't be too hard... right?