Sewing

Peg bag

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imageAn old tablecloth remnant has become useful again

wooden coat hanger (we didn’t have any children’s hangers so Edward cut an old padded hanger down by about an inch each end

Materials- water resistant outer fabricwide as the hanger plus seam and about twice as long, lining same size

method; draw around the hanger on to reverse of fabric to create a pattern for the back and extend the sides down to make a square ish shape , cut a half inch outside the line for a seam allowance

lay the remaining outer fabric on top and cut a top front panel and bottom front panel to match. I used the tablecloth binding as the mouth of  the bag but otherwise would have added a half inch to the bottom of the top panel and top of the bottom panel for a seam allowance

cut lining fabric to match each of the three pieces

blanket stitch about one inch in the centre of the back and top pieces where the hanger will go through

place front panel lining and outers right sides together and seam where the mouth of the bag will be ie top of the bottom and bottom of the top, flip out and press lightly

place back panel lining face down, back panel outer on it face up, front panels face down  with partially fixed lining on top- clip in place and seam from edge of blanket stitched top all the way round back to the other side of the top

turn, wriggle the hanger in place and decorate with ribbon to finish

bathroom bandana

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I briught back two pretty ikea fleeces from Anna and VIlle’s wedding with the promise of transforming them

so far, tissue holder from previous pattern

and new

bathroom bandana- keeps your fringe off your face for a face pack

Elastic that is one or two inches wide cut  one inch longer than the snug circumference of your head

strip of fleece six inches wide and double the length of the elsstic

For the bow, strip of fleece four inches wide eight inches long And a strip of fleece two inches wide four inches long

sew each fleece strip into long tube using straight stitch and narrow seam, turn each tube to hide the seam

thread elastic through the long tube and , keeping the fleece edges away from the needle, zig zag the one inch overlap to form a circlet, slide one end of the fleece tube inside the other then zig zag the overlap closed, try to centre the elastic in the tube and go slowly as it is bulky

fold the edges of the next size tube in half to create a bow shape with the raw edges facing the overlap raw edge of the circlet, tack in place, wrap the little tube tightly over this and straight stitch the back to fasten it all and finish the bow

No logo fleece

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Covering a logo on a dog walking fleece looked a bit odd with just one patch. So I have begun layering on patches in random places to balance up the cover up. Simple blanket stitch and or zig zag to fix on each patch and, yes, the walking foot is essential for this.

an ongoing project I plant to add decorative stitch lines and more patches until it looks ‘right’.

Book cover

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take a quality corporate notebook and personalise it with a piece of beginner’s applique that I didn’t want to throw away…

cut applique and lining fabric one inch bigger on each side of the fully opened book. Cut two panels of pocket fabric the same height as the other pieces and double the width of the pocket you want. Fold each pocket piece and sandwich between lining face up and cover face down with raw edges to side so they will get caught in the seam.

hem all the way round leaving a gap for turning, a walking foot is useful here. Turn out and flip pockets to inside. Iron well. Fit book inside to see how much wriggle room you have. Tighten up the wriggle room with a decorative top stitch around the edge. I just did top and bottom, this also closes the turning gap..

so much fun I did another one with crazy quilting but this time made it wider than the book and just 1 inch taller, hemmed the edges all sides then folded back the two sides to make the pockets before blanket stitching them in place and turning right sides out. Ironed an applique on to use it up

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Ribbon trimmed towel

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imageBack from holiday and itching to craft, but first I had to tidy the ribbon drawer. Thought these contrasting lengths would decorate a plain bath sheet – and reduce the stash a little.

I used a walking foot and a zig zag at 2.5 width along each edge of each ribbon and the job is done.

Sewing failure…

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imageWho said “mistakes are the portals to new discoveries”?*

well a few doors should be opening for me right now…

usually when I follow a ‘sew very easy’ tutorial on you tube it goes well but this project was a big fat failure.

The interfacing wouldn’t manipulate, it was tough to seam and top stitch so the end project won’t be the intended ‘designer clutch bag’ but just another lingerie holder living in a drawer.

I do like the darts to form the curved shape though and will one day try again

On to the next crafting project then

  • I looked the quote up, james joyce apparently

Hessian mats

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Hessian cut to fit a bedside table. A few strands plucked from each side to create a fringe. Then my sewing machine stitch selection is put through its paces to create a frame for the mat. No backing, no embellishments but a quick and useful mat in minutes.

Crazy quilted dust cover

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An attack on my scraps bag was needed so I I cut a piece of old tablecloth big enough to cover my scan n cut then crazy quilted scraps all over it. I included a piece of black work – yellow and navy  – embroidery started 20 years ago and added appliqué shapes, scraps of lace and ribbon and then used decorative stitches to tidy up some of the edges. A contrast bias binding finished it off (sewn back to front, whoops).

 

it may not be fitted and my scrap bag is still full but this useful little addition to my craft room is full of stitching memories, I love it.

Machine stitch sampler

~ guernseyjane ~ 2 Comments

As recommended, when I got my Janome decor doc 3050, I made a stitch sampler. But rather than have a useless but decorative piece hanging around – I decided to make it into a bag to hold the presses feet and accessories.

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main challenge for this was putting the continuous zipper together, I find threading the zip on tough despite following YouTube videos carefully. Nevertheless continuous zips make financial sense and are worth the fiddle. Maybe I will be organized and thread all the bits together before I need them ?

Appliqué bags, ScanNCut assisted

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An old tablecloth up cycled into a shoe bag and a something else drawstring bag with appliqué decoration.

i used my new ScanNCut to transform scraps into appliqué shapes. Heat and bond lite gives lightweight cotton enough support for the machine to cut fine lines.

after ironing the shapes into position on the bag front panels I used zig zag to stitch them down.

Then I cut a matching back panel and pinned the panels top sides facing. I marked a gap for the drawstring channel between 2 and 5 cm from the top of each side and sewed around the rest of the sides and bottom. I boxed the corners to give a bit more shape to the bag as well.

rather than lining this heavy fabric I just ironed a 0.5 hem at the top and used a length of 4 cm bias binding to form the drawstring casing as well as fix the hem down. I zig zagged each side of the bias binding in place to make sure it was firmly attached.

I folded two more lengths of the same binding for each bag as I didn’t have any ribbon long enough for the drawstrings. These were pinned to a safety pin and threaded through the gaps in the seams and around the casing, one from each side seam. Finally each length of binding was knotted to secure it, on one I sewed some buttons to make the knot even firmer.