I kept the design of the mats simple and could make several at a time just by cutting the dimensions across the widths of the fabrics, then piecing and cutting again. I needed to be sure that I could get this done in time for the holiday!
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Table mats and table runner
This has been made for a gift for a house we are staying at in the summer in Ibiza. Ibiza has lots of gifts with lizards on them as they can be found all over the place so I wanted to find some fabric with them one. I finally tracked down this one by Robert Kaufman and so promptly order a couple of metres of it.
I kept the design of the mats simple and could make several at a time just by cutting the dimensions across the widths of the fabrics, then piecing and cutting again. I needed to be sure that I could get this done in time for the holiday!
Having recently been on a free motion quilting course at Hometown in Rochester I was also keen to try out some of the techniques shown, hence the row of hearts down the strips.
I kept the design of the mats simple and could make several at a time just by cutting the dimensions across the widths of the fabrics, then piecing and cutting again. I needed to be sure that I could get this done in time for the holiday!
Friday, 26 June 2015
Crochet baby blanket
I had started this blanket when my sister was expecting a child but sadly my crochet skills were not really that great so it was left and occasionally worked on and then got stuffed to the back of the cupboard for several years, during which time the child grew up and at the time I completed it was 6 years old and I had not got enough yarn to make it a larger quilt.
I wanted my first blanket to be a traditional granny square pattern and learnt how to crochet them on a course at hometown. When I came to do it at home I soon became frustrated with continually having to change my yarn so decided that one granny square would be plenty to make an accent square (oh yes, I know that is cheating!)
I decided to use the opportunity to try out squares in several different stitches to add variety to the project and managed one more patterned square by using stripes. The yarn I used was a selection of cotton dk by Debbie Bliss, colour, 13002, 13039,13009, 13038 and crocheted using a 4mm hook.
Once I had completed all the squares I played around with the layout on the floor in a similar way I would do with my quilt blocks before deciding on the final layout. Once decided I took a picture of it on my phone so I didn't need to number the squares and had a quick reference:
I then crocheted it all together giving a border of a row of double crochet. I finished it with a scalloped edge which is really quite simple but helps to bring the blanket together.
The finished item was then going to be given to my newest nephew but my son has decided that it would be his cuddle blanket while watching television.
I wanted my first blanket to be a traditional granny square pattern and learnt how to crochet them on a course at hometown. When I came to do it at home I soon became frustrated with continually having to change my yarn so decided that one granny square would be plenty to make an accent square (oh yes, I know that is cheating!)
I decided to use the opportunity to try out squares in several different stitches to add variety to the project and managed one more patterned square by using stripes. The yarn I used was a selection of cotton dk by Debbie Bliss, colour, 13002, 13039,13009, 13038 and crocheted using a 4mm hook.
Once I had completed all the squares I played around with the layout on the floor in a similar way I would do with my quilt blocks before deciding on the final layout. Once decided I took a picture of it on my phone so I didn't need to number the squares and had a quick reference:
I then crocheted it all together giving a border of a row of double crochet. I finished it with a scalloped edge which is really quite simple but helps to bring the blanket together.
Monday, 11 May 2015
Beach Bag
This project was started out of frustration knowing we are going on holiday in the summer and I rarely have space for anything in my bag by the time I have tried to get in towels and swimmers for all the family so I designed this bag to be larger that the average tote and have a strap that could fit comfortably over my shoulder.
Being a bag I wanted to use fabric that was thicker than normal quilters cotton and had some gorgeous fabric left over from when I made the curtains for our dining room (I ended up loving the fabric so much that we did curtains for the lounge in the same range but different colours). The fabric was from John Lewis but is made by Malabar Fabrics and is from their Chimichanga collection
I added a pocket on the outside which I stitched across part way down so that I wouldn't be stuffing it too full of rubbish and lined the bag using a curtain lining fabric. The straps to the bag are stronger than they look as I used webbed polypropylene strapping inside the lining fabric, see the link below for this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ES15J76?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00
Once I had thought I had finished the bag I found I wasn't particularly pleased with the way it hung so I got some sew in magnetic bag fasteners see the link here to the ones I used:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00O0WJRR6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
I added one to each side to bring it in slightly so it didn't gape as much and then one in the middle so it would hold it together.
I am really pleased with the way it turned out, the only slight change I would make would be to use an interfacing on the outer fabric to give it slightly more structure.
Being a bag I wanted to use fabric that was thicker than normal quilters cotton and had some gorgeous fabric left over from when I made the curtains for our dining room (I ended up loving the fabric so much that we did curtains for the lounge in the same range but different colours). The fabric was from John Lewis but is made by Malabar Fabrics and is from their Chimichanga collection
I added a pocket on the outside which I stitched across part way down so that I wouldn't be stuffing it too full of rubbish and lined the bag using a curtain lining fabric. The straps to the bag are stronger than they look as I used webbed polypropylene strapping inside the lining fabric, see the link below for this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ES15J76?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00
Once I had thought I had finished the bag I found I wasn't particularly pleased with the way it hung so I got some sew in magnetic bag fasteners see the link here to the ones I used:
I added one to each side to bring it in slightly so it didn't gape as much and then one in the middle so it would hold it together.
I am really pleased with the way it turned out, the only slight change I would make would be to use an interfacing on the outer fabric to give it slightly more structure.
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
World Book Day 2015 - Gingerbread man and Peter Pan
This year the school decided that they wanted to stick to a theme of fairy tales for world book day, I was rather hoping my youngest would like the gingerbread man idea but no, he is not big on dressing up but I was glad my daughter loved the suggestion.
Gingerbread man
I attempted to make the rough pattern/sizing by having my daughter lie on a long rolled out piece of paper but drawing round her was tricky and it wasn't that successful, although I did refer to it occasionally for rough measurements when she was in bed.
Given she had to wear the outfit all day at school I wanted to make it easy for her to work so parts of the outfit were detachable - the head was attached with velcro and the hands were a basic mitten shape that I made a little long so that they didn't have to join the sleeve.
The fabric was thin fleece which gave some texture to the outfit and didn't fray. I couldn't believe it when I found some large ric rac in Hometown in Rochester, it was perfect for the embellishments. My daughter wanted the look of it to be similar to the gingerbread man in Shrek so we roughly followed the colours for the face. The facial features were made from felt with the mouth aligned with her eyes for her to see through. I did cover the mouth opening with some pink netting to keep as much of her hidden as possible.
The head also had a large cardboard cut out inside to get it to stay up, I had started by putting boning round the outside but this wasn't sufficient.
There were some last minute messy alterations to the arms so that she could move freely and that was it. It wasn't the neatest of sewing but it was effective.
Peter Pan
This outfit was so simple to make - but I did ensure I made it before the gingerbread man as I could see myself not getting round to it with all the sewing on the other outfit. The top was a basic t shirt shape, loose fitting with a belt round it to hitch it up, trousers I sort of made the pattern up using another pair of his but I didn't make the seat long enough so they did slip a bit when he sat down. The hat was trial and error!
The descriptions for both outfits are not great, when I sew for costumes I know that I am never going to be making the same thing again so don't keep track of what I do, in addition I am always running late getting them done so barely stop for photos either!
Gingerbread man
I attempted to make the rough pattern/sizing by having my daughter lie on a long rolled out piece of paper but drawing round her was tricky and it wasn't that successful, although I did refer to it occasionally for rough measurements when she was in bed.
Given she had to wear the outfit all day at school I wanted to make it easy for her to work so parts of the outfit were detachable - the head was attached with velcro and the hands were a basic mitten shape that I made a little long so that they didn't have to join the sleeve.
The fabric was thin fleece which gave some texture to the outfit and didn't fray. I couldn't believe it when I found some large ric rac in Hometown in Rochester, it was perfect for the embellishments. My daughter wanted the look of it to be similar to the gingerbread man in Shrek so we roughly followed the colours for the face. The facial features were made from felt with the mouth aligned with her eyes for her to see through. I did cover the mouth opening with some pink netting to keep as much of her hidden as possible.
The head also had a large cardboard cut out inside to get it to stay up, I had started by putting boning round the outside but this wasn't sufficient.
There were some last minute messy alterations to the arms so that she could move freely and that was it. It wasn't the neatest of sewing but it was effective.
Peter Pan
This outfit was so simple to make - but I did ensure I made it before the gingerbread man as I could see myself not getting round to it with all the sewing on the other outfit. The top was a basic t shirt shape, loose fitting with a belt round it to hitch it up, trousers I sort of made the pattern up using another pair of his but I didn't make the seat long enough so they did slip a bit when he sat down. The hat was trial and error!
The descriptions for both outfits are not great, when I sew for costumes I know that I am never going to be making the same thing again so don't keep track of what I do, in addition I am always running late getting them done so barely stop for photos either!
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