Bags and Bag Holder

I have been trying out my overlocker and dived straight in and made this bag

It is reversible as well

Its called a shoulder sling bag and has a nice big square bottom.

I made it from Jennie Rayment's book

Its all made on the overlocker so no hemming to do, it is really the first time I have used the overlocker properly

I tried it out when I first got it then it has just sat there, the bag was really easy to make and didnt take long, my first attempt went wrong as I kept cutting into the fabric with the blade when stitching round corners, I should have read that bit in the book first.

I also made a carrier bag holder for Martin to keep in his room when he is away through the week

One Tea Towel

Stitch about an inch hem top and bottom

Thread some elastic through the bottom and tie the ends together 

You can thread some elastic through the top as well, I haven't on this one so he can drop the bags straight in, stitch some ribbon or fabric for a hanger on either side of the top

Stitch the two long sides together make sure you pull the knot out of the way of the needle, stitch over the elastic.

hang up and stuff with your carrier bags.

Very quick to do and you can get some lovely tea towels these days, or you could use a leg off an old pair of jeans.

All About Dressmaking

It has been fantastic weather this week, sunshine and blue skies, I have been making most of it by being outdoors so not much crafting in the cabin, I have been making a few purchases in readiness for some marathon dressmaking sessions that I have planned.

I really love vintage styles and couldn't resist these patterns, the walkaway dress in the second photo on the right was on the Great British Sewing Bee, it takes an vast amount of fabric approx 5 yards but I really fancy giving it a go. I did have a couple of vintage dress patterns that I loaned out and they were never returned that was about 10 years ago, I don't even have the contact details any more of the person I loaned them to, they were originals as well.

These five patterns came free with the two sewing magazines I picked up this week, so I have plenty of patterns to add to my collection.

Have you seen this new part work

issue 1 is 99p I picked it up in Tesco last night, its published weekly, you get a set of pencils and a sharpener with the first issue, I do like the designs inside, nothing beats a bit of colouring in with a cuppa, I am still undecided if I want to get it on a regular basis.

Chocolate Box Quilt pt2

All the cutting out got done and the squares cut top and tailed and re-stitched, then it was time to start laying it out 

After laying out all the bits I don't really like it, there was still another three rows to be laid out but there wasn't enough room on the table.

these seven strips have been assembled, once all the strips have been assembled they will get stitched together then the borders can go on. When it comes to the top stitching I am going to go for a dark brown thread I think.

When I had all the squares laid out on the table Martin popped into the cabin looked at it and said have you got to sew all those little squares together? when I replied yes he then said but why cut up big bits into small bits just to sew back together? I don't think he understands patchwork.

I have been following the Sewing Bee on TV and thought Matt was a worthy winner, its a shame its finished, I have the Walkaway dress pattern on order along with some other 50's style dress patterns, I don't get many an opportunity to wear dresses, I would like to make a few then perhaps make the effort to wear them on days out.

Today I am going to finish the assembly of all these strips so I can move on to another project.

Chocolate Box

There has been a lot going on the past few weeks but I have been sewing

I wanted to start using my collection of jelly rolls, they ave been lingering around for some time.

A jelly roll is 40 strips of co-ordinating fabric they are 2.5 inches wide and are cut the full width of the fabric, the great thing is all the colour co-ordinating is done for you, there many many books out there on making quilts from jelly roll strips.

This was the first quilt I ever made from a jelly roll a long time ago now

It was made from a batik roll and I have this quilt hanging on my living room wall.

It was made from this book and is called Bars of Gold.

The quilt I am doing now again comes this book

They call it Blue Lagoon mine I am calling Chocolate Box as its a mix of browns

It is really easy to do, a light and dark strip sewed together, then cut to 2.5 inch rectangles then turned top to tail and stitch together to make squares they will then be stitched to plain colour to make up strips again, strips joined into a quilt top.

I have been working on it in the house, as many of you know my dog has been poorly at the moment she struggles with the step into the cabin so I brought one of my other machines up to the house so I can sew and keep her company, Martin has now re-done the step so it is easier for Kara to manage so we can now craft back in the cabin together, well I craft she sleeps :-)