Elasticated Skirt

The March part of my Stashbusting Sewalong Challenge is Impending Seasonal Change. As I've had so little time because of university work I decided to make something I already knew how to make: an elasticated skirt. I made this before for my friend Bailey so I know it works well - you can see hers and the tutorial here. 

I made it with some fabric I had bought with no intended use.. story of my life before this year.. It's got a really nice weight for a skirt and is navy blue so versatile as a wardrobe item. As you can see from my pictures I used my pinking shears I got for Christmas  and my dummy I got for Christmas! It's beautiful! I may shorten it a little but it looks pretty good on my dummy for now until it gets a bit warmer here in Brighton!

Bow Tie

Happy Valentines everyone! For the February part of my Stashbusting Sewalong pledge, I made a cute bow tie for my little Valentine D who lives in New Zealand.

I followed a really great tutorial from delia creates - so good in fact that I won't try to top it or simplify it here but simply send you there!

I did make one small change however - as I couldn't measure D's neck so I added elastic to the collar instead of velcro. 

Hope you all have a great day!

Heat Packs

As part of the Stashbusting Sewalong January Itty Bits, I managed to make, along with my pocket warmers, heat packs {I did finish in January - just!). There are many tutorials out there for heat packs but I really liked this one from fellow fellow with the split compartments and stop stitching around the sides. It was an easy project apart from the end trying to sew together the hole with loads of rice in the pack already! I made a bit of a mess with my thread but it's small and white so not wholly noticeable :)

It's not worth me writing out the tutorial as the one I followed was so good - so head there! The bags are filled with rice - easy to get and cheap!

So for January, I managed pocket warmers and heat packs - pretty fitting for the weather! I think I will continue January's theme throughout the challenge as I really love short projects and have plenty of small scraps left.

2013 re-SEW-lution: Focus on Enjoyment!

I have been spending more time recently enjoying being by myself and taking time to look through other people's blogs and plan my own projects. I came across So I sewed this's post on 2013 re-SEW-lution: focus on Enjoyment and immediately wanted to take the pledge. So many pledges this year; 2013 is the year! So without further ado;

I will focus on enjoyment this year!

Sewing related, I will be taking more time over my projects to end up with something of better quality, I will not cut any corners like I have done in the past. I want to really love my creations and want to feel proud of them. And, in accordance with the Stashbusting Sewalong, will be using fabric already in my stash so I don't spend any more money on fabric I do not need.

However, I am going to extend my pledge beyond sewing and just to my life in general. Within reason, as I need to pass my law degree this year (!), I will make time for my friends, the things I enjoy and for myself. I won't be convinced into doing things I do not enjoy. I will do things that make me happy and make others happy.

That is my pledge!

Spread the enjoyment!

Pocket Warmers

For my first Stashbusting Sewalong project I have committed to I made pocket warmers. These probably would have been a really great thing to make before Christmas for gifts, but there just wasn't the time. The last term has been very hectic and coming back to Brighton after my unusually long holiday at home this year is very different and I felt inspired to tackle my ever-growing pinterest list. Short projects really appeal to me as I never have enough time and I can get these done in an afternoon.  They were super easy and I quickly made three pairs, one already gifted to my Aunt. I used some Cath Kidston squares I ordered a while back which are so tiny it was difficult to find anything to do with them. 

You will need:
Fabric scraps
Pencil/fabric marker
Thread
Rice
Pinking shears

Draw a circle on one of your pieces of fabric with a fabric marker or pencil.

Place your chosen fabrics right side out and sew around the circle leaving a small opening for the rice. Using a funnel or jug pour rice into your pouch (mine were about 5/6 full).

Sew the gap closed then cut around the sewn circle with pinking shears.

These will be great gifts next Christmas!

Stashbusting Sewalong 2013

I am joining the Stashbusting Sewalong 2013 organized by Cation Designs and EmSewCrazy. The idea is that instead of buying new fabric you use the fabric and scraps you already have. Because I have been so rubbish at sewing this past year this is a really great opporunity to be pushed into using my fabric and actually making things again. I have pledged to use at least 12 different pieces of my stash fabric to make 12 different creations by the end of the year. Mine will be a mixture of clothes and other things. If I can use more than 12 pieces of fabric that would be awesome! I will post everything I make here and also on the Flickr group dedicated to the Sewalong. There are themes for each month so I will be following these the best I can:

"January: Itty Bits! Sew up those remnants left over from another project, use up some of those tiny scraps that you've been saving...as long as it's less than a yard of fabric, it counts! February: THE LOVE CHALLENGE. March: Impending Seasonal Change. Regardless of your hemispherical location, the weather will be changing soon...what will you make? Something fun for the coming spring, or something cozy for fall? April: THE VIBRANT COLOR CHALLENGE. May: THE KNIT CHALLENGE. June: Containment! Get ready for those long car trips, summer outings or some good old fashioned cleaning and organizing! We're thinking bags, boxes, totes, purses, pouches, you name it; this month is all about making things to put other things in."

I need to decide what to do with my stash fabric so here are my potential ideas for the first six months! I would like to make one or all of these things but one a month will probably be the limit!

January: Itty Bits!
Heatpacks in any of these fabrics:

Pocket warmers in my Cath Kidston samples (ironed!), perfect size!:

Ruffle diaper covers (for a friend who is pregnant!) in one or both of these fabrics:

February: The Love Challenge

A bow tie for my little 5 year old Valentine who lives in New Zealand in some cool truck fabric as below. 

March: Impending Seasonal change
A skirt for myself ready for summer. I made this skirt for Bailey as you can see in this post and it worked out so well I was going to make one for myself. I haven't yet, clearly, so am planning on making it in this fabric - it's a really nice dark royal blue and has a great weight to it for a skirt. I wear a lot of blue so hopefully it will be a versatile item in my wardrobe.

A sorbetto top like I did before in this below fabric that I initially bought for pyjama pants (and now do not need anymore!)

April: The vibrant colour challenge
Something in this awesome vibrant oil cloth. I don't yet know how to sew with oil cloth so this is my aim for April.

May: The knit challenge
As I have exams in May I may skip this one, especially as I have no leftover stash wool. Maybe I will go my own way with it instead though. Stay tuned.

June: Containment!
Sewing machine cozy in this fabric:

Fabric basket in these fabrics:

As you can now see from the right side of my blog in the panel, I am also doing the No New Clothes Challenge. For 6 months I cannot buy any new clothes and have no upcycle at least one thing I already have in my wardrobe to make it wearable again. I feel like these two challenges tie in nicely with eachother! I'm looking forward to keeping up with my sewing this year!

Sorbetto Top

When I was in Luxembourg a few weeks ago I started making the Sorbetto top. Since Wendy sent me the pattern I have seen it on numerous blogs and now I know why. It's so simple and such a great pattern I'm planning it in numerous colours and patterns.

You can play around with different bias and different box pleat and even lengths which I really love. For my first top I.. wait for it.. MADE my own bias binding in the same fabric! I used Wendy's bias binding maker. You can get them in different sizes for different projects. I have one on my christmas list now!

Because it's quite a loose-fit top I put in some darts at the back as well as at the front to pull it in at the waist a bit which worked well. I'm looking forward to being reunited with my sewing machine so I can make more!

Pattern Pyramid Giveaway Winner

Well done Tina from Down the Retro Rabbit Hole who won the third round of the Pattern Pyramid Giveaway.

Good luck to everyone who enters future rounds of this awesome giveaway.

Pattern Pyramid Giveaway - round 3

I am incredibly excited to be hosting my own first-ever giveaway, thanks to winning the second round of the Pyramid Pattern Giveaway at dottiedoodle. It was very exciting to receive this package this morning.

As mentioned in my previous post, this is a chain giveaway so there are rules! One of which is I get to choose my own pattern before passing along the bundle! So I chose..

If you want to win the third round of the Pattern Pyramid Giveaway, your pick out of one of the below and the chance to host your own giveaway just read on..!

1. Anyone, anywhere can enter by leaving a comment on this post by midnight GMT on Wednesday 1 August but you must have an active blog. Sorry this is quite a short draw, I fly off to New Zealand on Friday and so want to get them off and posted. If you have entered, please do check your emails as early as you can on Thursday as if you're a winner I'll need your address ASAP! [If you don't, I'll try to stuff the pack in my luggage and send it from down-under.]

2. I will randomly select one winner, and post them the collection of 4 patterns along with hand woven labels to be sewn into anything made from the picked pattern.

3. The winner will pick one pattern to keep for themselves, then host their own giveaway on their blog. They will randomly select a winner, post the remaining patterns to that Person D. Person D will pick a pattern for themselves, host their own giveaway and post the remaining patterns to the winner... etc!

For more information on this chain giveaway including details of the charity supported by generous pattern donor visit Did you Make that?

Get commenting and good luck!

I won!

I have been avidly following a chain pattern giveaway I stumbled upon on Did you make that? recently. She inherited a bunch of patterns and decided to do a giveaway; The Pattern Pyramid - "a pyramid construction for spreading pattern love around the world". I entered the draws of the people who won from her initial draw and much to my absolute DELIGHT, have just found out I won at dottiedoodle. I've been trying to zoom in on the pictures of the patterns she has up to see what I'm getting. She's also running a Twelve in Twelve giveaway in which one lucky commenter each month wins a pattern so check that out too!

Watch this space for the Pattern Pyramid Giveaway - while you're at it you could add the button and get excited.

 

<div align="center"><a href="http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/" title="Didyoumakethat"><img src="http://didyoumakethat.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/pattern-pyramid-small-button.jpg" alt="Didyoumakethat" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

 

Tied with a Bow Pouch

As I had a strip of patterned fabric left over from Bailey's skirt I wanted to do something to match the skirt as an extra gift. I looked around mostly on Pinterest but Wendy found a cute little pouch tutorial on Mommy by Day Crafter by Night.

I made it smaller than the tutorial as I didn't see a use for such a long pouch although I did intend to make it a little bigger than it turned out. I still need to learn how to properly sew the ends of a zip! I rarely get it right.

Using Wendy's ultra-cool sewing machine I machine embroided Bailey's initials on the lining of the pouch.
 I would say one thing to change if you are attempting the pouch yourself is to sew the bow into the circular mid section. Otherwise it is quite easy to pull your bow right out of the pouch.

Elasticated skirt

In June when I was still in the UK and had my sewing machine I decided to get working on a present for Bailey, who was my inspiration for all this creation as well as blogging. As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, she made me such a beautiful quilt for Christmas one year and I can't get over how wonderful it is. It was her 21st this July so I wanted to make her something nice with my improved sewing skills. I had some fabric that suited her perfectly but there wasn't that much. I was toying with the idea  of a bag or purse but she has made them in the past probably better than I could have made. I found this tutorial and really wanted to try it out but I didn't have enough of the fabric I had saved for Bailey. So, I bought some red cotton that coordinated with it and it worked so well.

I followed the instructions mostly apart from the fact I sewed a strip of red cotton onto the end of my patterned fabric - both to make the skirt long enough and to add a little something to it. Even though it is risky making clothes for people with no measurements (otherwise it would have ruined the surprise!) I wasn't too worried as it was a elasticated waist so there was a big leeway - also I could have quite easily shortened the elastic or brought up the hem to fit after I gave it to her. I made a huge mistake at the beginning and started to cut the fabric in half before I realised I didn't want to, so it worked out okay in the end as I could cover the cut bit with the red.

I made another mistake when I wasn't following the instructions properly and made things difficult for myself - sewed up the ends to make the skirt before hemming or putting the elastic in! It wasn't a huge problem with the hemming (just a bit more fiddly) but I had to undo the stitching to get the elastic in, and redo it when I had done it.

As a pointer, once you have the elastic through you can safety pin one end to the other so you can try it on and amend as you like without the risk of you losing the end of elastic. I had to look at pictures of Bailey and I and decided we were about the same size so measured the skirt on myself to fit.

I also hemmed this skirt properly so there isn't an ugly fraying seam under the skirt. I'm learning new things all the time.

I love the way it turned out and she was delighted with the skirt. I'm definitely going to make one for myself! In my next post I'll show you the little matching something I gave her with the skirt.

Travel Wallet and Luggage Tag

It was my friend Lucy's 21st last week and so I made her a little something I've had pinned for a while. I want to make one for myself because they are awesome and it was fairly easy and quick. The tutorial can be found here.

I did two holders instead of the three in the tutorial as I think that I would only use one for a passport and one for a ticket - I didn't think what else could be put in there as most things would be in a wallet.

  

I would have liked to put on a different colour button but this was all I had.

For the luggage tag I just used some plastic cut from a plastic folder, simple!