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Sewing Adventures – patchwork quilt

 

The problem with wanting to make ALL of the things means I can get easily sidetracked. Hence my work in progress box is always overflowing. So I’ve decided to knock it down to size one project at a time.


First off the rank was this quilt top I pieced last year. It’s made entirely from scraps leftover from other makes.


After finishing the piecing I laid 2 layers of bamboo batting underneath and a piece of vintage cotton for the back. Pinned together it’s been folded up and abandoned since then.
So today I took it out and quilted the pieces together. I kept it simple and just did one line of stitching one foot width above each horizontal join line.
The batting and the backing extended past the top panel. Once I was finished with all the quilted stitch lines I cut the batting and backing to the same size as the top. I have no idea if that’s how you are meant to do it or not? It seemed to make sense to do it that way and I’m glad I did as there was a bit of movement from the stitching.


Digging in the stash I came up with this cute striped binding for the edging. I briefly considered trying to attach it in one step but then thought better of it due to the thickness of the pieces. Attaching the binding by stitching it onto the back all the way around and then turning it over to stitch from the front. Am so happy with how neat it looks, I’ve never done any kind of quilt binding before and it’s quite fun.

The mitred corners aren’t great but I’m ok with that for a first go.
All that was left was to trim the spare threads then pop into the top roof for some photos on a rather hazy day.

Pattern: just cut squares and placed them in a pleasing arrangement
Fabric: scraps from other makes
Changes for next time: perhaps full bed size?

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Working with Prym Products

A few weeks ago I was introduced to the team at Prym Consumer who were interested in getting more sewers using their products. I’d seen some of their products being used online and was impressed at how clever they were.

After some back and forth discussing ideas they decided the best thing was to send me a bunch of products and essentially let me play.

Cue  2 enormous boxes of products turning up just after The Englishman broke his shoulder. I had to unpack straight away as the boxes were too big to stay inside our tiny apartment (though the cat was thrilled with having more boxes to sit in). I had a quick look and my jaw dropped at how fabulous a quality the products were. Due to all that we have had going on I packed them all up and popped them to one side.

Fast forward to this week and it’s been my first time to sit down and go through everything properly and figure out how I’m going to use it all. Seriously it was like Christmas, so much good stuff and my brain kind of exploded on all the ideas I kept coming up with.

As always I’m going to be honest about the products. If I love them I’m going to say so, if I’m impressed I’ll say so, if it’s too fiddly or tricky or just plain doesn’t work then I’ll be telling you that too. While I got the products for free and intend on using them all, I’m going to be upfront about the whole thing and it will be utterly transparent.

Am hoping it will introduce you and me to some great new products.For anyone who is keen on giving some a try? The awesome team at Minerva Crafts is offering you a discount on any Prym products. Just enter SUSAN at the checkout

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How to Style a Quiff

Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Here’s the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls. In a freak mishap Ranger 3 and its pilot Captain William Buck Rogers are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems and returns Buck Rogers to Earth five-hundred years later. If you have a problem if no one else can help and if you can find them maybe you can hire The A-Team. They were four men living all together yet they were all alone. Got kind of tired packin’ and unpackin’ – town to town and up and down the dial. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer go! Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale a tale of a fateful trip that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship. Maybe you and me were never meant to be. But baby think of me once in awhile. I’m at WKRP in Cincinnati. Sunday Monday Happy Days. Tuesday Wednesday Happy Days. Thursday Friday Happy Days.Saturday what a day. Groovin’ all week with you.

These days are all Happy and Free. These days are all share them with me oh baby. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you came. Here’s the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls. Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed – a poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed?

The first mate and his Skipper too will do their very best to make the others comfortable in their tropic island nest. Doin’ it our way. Nothin’s gonna turn us back now. Straight ahead and on the track now. We’re gonna make our dreams come true? It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights. It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight. They’re creepy and they’re kooky mysterious and spooky. They’re all together ooky the Addams Family.

Come and knock on our door. We’ve been waiting for you. Where the kisses are hers and hers and his. Three’s company too. Makin’ your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. Takin’ a break from all your worries sure would help a lot! Movin’ on up to the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie. Movin’ on up to the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie. Movin’ on up to the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie.

All of them had hair of gold like their mother the youngest one in curls. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer go. So get a witch’s shawl on a broomstick you can crawl on. Were gonna pay a call on the Addams Family? Knight Rider: A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Here he comes Here comes Speed Racer. He’s a demon on wheels. In a freak mishap Ranger 3 and its pilot Captain William Buck Rogers are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems and returns Buck Rogers to Earth five-hundred years later. It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Its a neighborly day in this beautywood a neighborly day for a beauty. Would you be mine? Could you be mine! Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale a tale of a fateful trip that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship.

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Sewing Adventures- Boxy pouch with pandas!

I rarely indulge in ordering from Miss Matatabi because well let’s face it. I could ship the entire store to my house and still want more? I adore the prints, the quality and the entire Japanese aesthetic.

So last year after a particularly crappy time of it, I made up an order and eagerly awaited my parcel. As suspected it was all amazing.

I knew I wanted to make a boxy style pouch to carry some of my sewing bits and pieces with me to classes that I teach. I tried to make up a pattern and got distracted, I tried searching for a pattern and could never find exactly what I needed. Then I spotted it, the perfect boxy pouch.

The Thrifty Stitcher is Claire Lousie (or CL) is a good friend and I sent her an email asking her about it? She kindly sent me the link to the handouts she uses for class and they are genius! seriously if you want to learn how to sew in London go and see her. Not lucky enough to live in London? Then take her online class she is brilliant and her way of explaining things is spot on. You truly are “learning to sew with a pro”

Following her expert guidance I made my pouch and I added a lining too (that bit I did on my own, it wasn’t in the notes). Super happy with the result too. I’d actually like another one that is bigger, I might add some kind of stabilization to that one to help maintain it’s shape.

Pattern: Boxy pouch from The Thrifty Stitcher
Fabric: pandas (not currently available but here are other awesome Panda fabrics) from Miss Matatabi
Changes for next time: brilliant as is, perhaps do a second bigger size with stabilization just to carry a few more things?

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Sewing Adventures – sock Giraffe

A good friend recently had her baby shower and I had to make her a gift. I knew I wanted to make a sock toy as that’s my go to gift for all the small people in my life. Naturally I used a Craft Schmaft pattern as Claire’s patterns are the best and the cutest!

The patterns are wonderfully laid out and simple to follow. I didn’t have any grey socks in my sock toy supplies but a quick trip to Uniqlo and a beautiful textured pair was found. I had stuffing on hand and the yellow double satin ribbon I got at Pitt Trading.

Because I used men’s business socks he ended up quite tall which is kind of cool but did make his neck/head combo a little floppy.

I love the horns they are so cute! The ruffle is created by sealing the ends of the ribbon (I used a match), gathering it and stitching it along the head and down the back. It’s looks speculator but I had a little difficulty because the ribbon is such thick amazing quality my handsewing needles didn’t want to go through it! I ended up using my super sharp very fine embroidery needles to get it done.

I hope the soon to be mum liked it and that her soon to be born baby likes it too?

In my pre blogging days I had made another version of the Giraffe for one of my sisters kids. A slightly more colourful version.

Pattern: GRaff from Craft Schmaft
Fabric: grey socks from uniqlo, yellow ribbon from Pitt Trading, stuffing from stash
Changes for next time: none

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Sewing Adventures – Shibori Dress

This one has been sitting waiting to be posted for oh forever. I’ve never been happy with the photos I get of this dress and well today I decided it doesn’t matter just go with it.

Sometimes it’s just ALL ABOUT THE FABRIC and this is certainly one of those cases. When we attended the Shibori workshop I knew I wanted to create a piece of fabric that I could turn into a garment. With that in mind I found some nice quality 100% cotton, pre washed it and took it with me to the workshop. It dyed fantastically well but it’s a super solid fabric so it has zero give in it, sometimes while wearing the finished dress it feels somewhat restrictive. You can see here how it pulls at the waist and the strain on the invisible zipper.

After learning about the techniques and having a bit of an experiment (the results of those I used here) I decided to go with an Itajme resist, where wooden shapes are used alongside the folding and pleating to create the design. It’s wonderfully effective and I loved the end result. What I really loved those was the pieces where the folds weren’t perfect and you go these cool spiderweb style designs.

In order to show it off I went with my basic bodice that I’ve been trying to perfect and a pleated skirt. The skirt is just 2 rectangles pleated. At the centre back I even had to cut down the centre of the rectangle to get an invisible zipper in. Not wanting to waste a single millimeter of this fabric I’ve used all the way to the selvedges, have tiny seam allowances and just let the fabric do all the work. The entire dress is lined in cotton voile to help make it more opaque.

I love it! It is beautiful to wear and the inky lines are so pretty. I think I can safely say this is not the last time I will be experimenting with creating my own fabric designs using Shibori techniques.

Pattern: my own bodice block, pleated rectangles for skirt
Fabric: 100% cotton shibori dyed
Changes for next time: increase size of bodice to allow for zero give in fabric as the bodice gets too tight.

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Sewing Adventures – McCalls 7417 rash vest and pants

Sometimes accidents happen and this is one of those happy joyous accidents. Where I’ve made something I really love the fabric combinations.
Earlier this week I posted this image on Instagram.


I was intending to make my niece a rash vest to go with her roarsome swimsuit. Well I’m not sure if I’ve lost a sheet or am reading the pattern wrong but I cannot find the child’s pattern in this? I kept unfolding and rechecking and still nothing? Instead of getting stuck with searching for it it falling down a rabbit hole of internet research on it, I opened up my swimwear fabrics tub and started pulling out likely fabric combinations for myself.
This navy self spot was a The Fabric Store purchase from a few years back. It’s nice and thick but doesn’t have really great stretch as it’s a nylon knit with just a little spandex. It is however super cute.


The pattern fabric was something I spied on Instagram, had a meltdown about and was assisted by the amazing @_littleblackcloud in getting me some from Rathdowne fabrics. It’s super stretchy but quite lightweight.
Much laughter occurred at the idea of a cropped rash vest on Instagram. I mean it’s not exactly practical is it? However if you are not blessed with height the cropped version is actually a decent length. I added 2cm to the hem length of the crop version to make this top (keep in mind I’m only just 5 foot tall so this mod won’t work for taller people). EDIT: I’ve just come back from paddling and I have to say the cropped version doesn’t work, it keeps moving around and exposing my stomach. Unless you are wearing it over a one piece do not cut the cropped version.


To keep the top as lightweight as possible I used the navy spot as the side panels and cut the rest in the pattern. Once it was together I tried it on and ended up slimming down the arms as they were too baggy. I deliberately didn’t make it skin tight as I want to use it for stand up paddling. I paddle for about an hour each time I’m out. For the final few minutes of each session I take off my rash vest and paddle in my bikini. This gives me a huge dose of vitamin D but also ensures my fair skin doesn’t burn. If it’s super tight it’s really hard to get off while standing on the board.

Sleeve hems were overlocked and turned up to be topstitched down. The garment hem I added some clear 6mm elastic into the hem to help keep it in place during the paddling motion.


Now for the bottoms. As mentioned previously the patterned fabric is lightweight so I reversed the top layout by cutting the center of the pants in the navy and the sides in the pattern. As I do with all swimwear, all major seams were sewn then I try it on and adjust the fit. I took evenly off each seam allowance until they reached the desired fit. I also added a full lining and applied the elastic as I usually do and didn’t bother with their instructions on it.
There are some serious issues I have with this pattern.
1.5cm Seam allowance on swimwear, utter craziness. The seams are way too bulky and it makes the crotch way too wide causing odd bunching.
The bottoms only come with a gusset lining. No and no. Once the panels were together and adjusted I laid them flat and used them as a template to create a full front and back lining. The gusset is also far too wide, I found it went across and then down my legs and kept folding back up. So I cut it narrower. Perhaps use an existing swimsuit or even bikini knickers to judge your correct width?


It indicates the patterns are to be cut on the cross grain. To me this suggest cutting on the bias. Why on earth would you cut swim fabric on the bias? It certainly doesn’t need to be. Surely the correct terminology would be tell you to cut with the greatest amount of stretch going around the body?
This combined with some odd styling notions makes me think it was designed by someone who saw a picture and went we need one of those but has no practical knowledge of how swimwear works?
Despite the crazy pattern I am very happy with the set, mostly due to the awesome fabrics. The fit is ok it could be improved but they are functional and that’s always a big plus when it comes to swimwear.

Pattern: McCalls 7417 size Large for top with extra 2cm added to the crop length and narrowed sleeves. Cut size large for the bottoms but probably adjusted down to an M but check stretch % on next fabric before cutting a straight M.
Fabric: navy self spot from The Fabric Store, print from Rathdowne Fabric, lining and elastic from Pitt Trading
Changes for next time: cut down seam allowance before making it up. Cut crotch narrower, make full lining for pants and narrow the arms more.

And now I need to go search for the children’s pattern hidden inside? or I might just head out for another swim

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Sewing Adventures – The Georgiana Knickers

To say that 2017 has started with a heatwave seems to undersell just how hot it has been in Sydney. I don’t mind hot weather as mostly I can escape it by staying in during the hottest parts of the days, going swimming and walking on the shady side of the street. Heat at night is a whole other thing. I honestly don’t think I’ve slept properly in weeks it’s been so hot overnight.


So I’m looking for every ounce of coolness that I can get. With an hour or so spare today I whipped up 2 pairs of woven cotton knickers using my Georgiana knicker pattern. They are quite fast as all the edges are done using the roll hem function on my overlocker. I love the neat finish my Bernina 800DL gives on roll hems.

They are bikini cut so sit on the hip but have plenty of fullness to the bottom ensuring full coverage. The woven cotton however is delightfully breezy and cool and the perfect thing for this hot weather.


The patterned fabric is part of my stash busting efforts for the year as well. I had this top


Cut out for ages and half made. It was one of the free Peppermint magazine patterns. It just looked weird on me and so I never finished it but I loved the fabric.

Laying it flat I placed the Georgiana knicker pattern over it and cut them out. You can just see some extra seams on the front where I had to add side panels to make it work. A great rescue from a piece that had been condemned to the bottom of the stash.


Fabric: spots from the stash, patterned fabric rescued from a top that went badly. Original fabric from Pitt Trading.
Trims: plush back elastic from my stash
Pattern: The Georgiana Knickers available in the shop
Changes: added extra seams to the front of the patterned pair to be able to fit the pattern onto the top.

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The Cotton-Jersey Zip-Up Hoodie

Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Here’s the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls. In a freak mishap Ranger 3 and its pilot Captain William Buck Rogers are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems and returns Buck Rogers to Earth five-hundred years later. If you have a problem if no one else can help and if you can find them maybe you can hire The A-Team. They were four men living all together yet they were all alone. Got kind of tired packin’ and unpackin’ – town to town and up and down the dial. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer go! Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale a tale of a fateful trip that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship. Maybe you and me were never meant to be. But baby think of me once in awhile. I’m at WKRP in Cincinnati. Sunday Monday Happy Days. Tuesday Wednesday Happy Days. Thursday Friday Happy Days.Saturday what a day. Groovin’ all week with you.

These days are all Happy and Free. These days are all share them with me oh baby. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you came. Here’s the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls. Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed – a poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed?

The first mate and his Skipper too will do their very best to make the others comfortable in their tropic island nest. Doin’ it our way. Nothin’s gonna turn us back now. Straight ahead and on the track now. We’re gonna make our dreams come true? It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights. It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight. They’re creepy and they’re kooky mysterious and spooky. They’re all together ooky the Addams Family.

Come and knock on our door. We’ve been waiting for you. Where the kisses are hers and hers and his. Three’s company too. Makin’ your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. Takin’ a break from all your worries sure would help a lot! Movin’ on up to the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie. Movin’ on up to the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie. Movin’ on up to the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie.

All of them had hair of gold like their mother the youngest one in curls. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer go. So get a witch’s shawl on a broomstick you can crawl on. Were gonna pay a call on the Addams Family? Knight Rider: A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Here he comes Here comes Speed Racer. He’s a demon on wheels. In a freak mishap Ranger 3 and its pilot Captain William Buck Rogers are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems and returns Buck Rogers to Earth five-hundred years later. It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Its a neighborly day in this beautywood a neighborly day for a beauty. Would you be mine? Could you be mine! Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale a tale of a fateful trip that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship.

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Must-Have Skater Girl Items

Next level Godard locavore freegan Odd Future, butcher Marfa sartorial drinking vinegar leggings mustache you probably haven’t heard of them Pitchfork readymade. Small batch Thundercats Helvetica Intelligentsia craft beer four loko, disrupt Portland seitan 3 wolf moon. Vegan Kickstarter leggings PBR Pitchfork Williamsburg.
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