Project and craft bag

The fabric in this bag has probably had the quickest turnaround ever in my house! I bought it online last week and it arrived on Thursday, by the end of Friday it was made up into a lovely bag. I think the fabric is so cute I couldn't wait to get it made into something.
This is a basic drawstring bag, it has interfacing on the outside fabric and a yellow lining. I used a ribbon for the drawnstring as I have lots of pink ribbon for a project I was doing a few years ago.

Front view

Side view

Close up of cute design

Overall I am really pleased with this bag and know I will use it a lot.

It can fit comfortably a large 100g ball of wool, A4 pattern and the project on circular knitting needles. It also fits a medium size sewing project too.
I have some fabric left over which I will be making into a small case for notions.
What do you use as your sewing bag?

Supplies
1/2 metre of fabric
Blue and white dot fabric from stash
Yellow lining fabric from stash
Pink ribbon from stash

A simple skirt

I have been updating my blog and noticed that I wrote this post but did not publish it in April 2012.

Written April 2012

I am very excited to make this post as I have finished making my first skirt. Hurrah!

I have always liked the idea of making my own clothes however it has taken a while for my skills to catch up with my ideas.

This was my first time to work from a commerical pattern, and I must have bought the pattern about 8 years ago, took one look at it and get very confused. Being slightly older and wiser I was determined to figure it out.

The pattern I used is Butterick 6834, 'nine sew fast and easy' The pattern is for sizes 12, 14, 16, UK.

Firstly it took me a while to work out even how much fabric I needed and how it all works.

I am in my twenties and although at school have always used cm and metres, at home I used inches for this aswell, and always used ounces for cooking measurements. I often use inches for measuring as it is easier for quilting and sewing and most people talk of 1/4 inch seam allowance etc. However, I buy fabric in metres. 

So on the pattern we have imperial in English and metric on the French side. I used the cm as I find it more accurate, even though it is French. I digress.....

The skirt was to be an a line skirt with a lining, a zip at the centre back and 4 darts. The front is made up of 1 piece and the back of 2 pieces, joining at the zip line.

It mostly went ok, there was alot of reading and re reading, discussions with my mum on how it could work, and eventually I figured it out. I was pretty pleased with my zip insertion, and think it was ok for a first time in a garnment.

There was a band of intefacing which went inside the lining and that helped the skirt to have shape on the top.

I am pleased with the outcome, it fits well and I think I can wear it out an about without any strange looks. 

A couple of issues were that, you can see the top of the zip does not match up, I think this is to do with how I folded the top hem and that I had cut off some of the top of the zip while figuring out how the hemming and folding would work. I don't plan on tucking a top into this, so no one will see it.

Another bad point is that in the lining of the skirt, I have not folded back any of the seams (not sure of right wording for this) so the edges of the fabric are exposed to fraying. I realised this later on and therefore cut the interfaced band with pinking shears to make it fray less.

I also used navy blue thread as the flower fabric is blue, however my lining is black so should have changed thread when doing lining.

New techniques and materials used

* Reading a pattern, cutting a pattern.

*Sewing darts

*Inseting a lining

*Sewing a zip

Flower fabric, no name

Black lining fabric

Blue 7 inch zip

Gutterman polyester thread, navy blue.

Label

Shopping list

*Boyds, Lincoln

*Callyco, Lincoln

Two cushions, one for people, one for cats.

Following my post from the other day I have also finished a cushion which I actually started about 2 years ago. I have been working on it on and off for ages and I finished it last week.
I really like this cushion and I think the bright colours work really well together.

Liberty hexagon side

Star side

The hexagons were bought in a pack from Liberty of London and they are made from the gorgeous Liberty tana lawn fabric which is so lovely and light. The variety of designs is great and there is a real mix of older and more modern designs in there. Originally I was going to quilt this as well for some quilting practise but then I changed my mind as I was concerned that it would make it too bulky when putting it over the cushion.
On the reverse side I have used fabrics which I would describe as Eastern inspired, they all have a hint of gold or metallic in then and I had some small scraps of each design so though it would be good to use them up. I like the star design the diamonds creates and I chose a white for the edges of the hexagons to create a contrast with the stars. I added a boarder to this side as it was a bit smaller than the hexagon side. I sewed it together with a zip and put it over a cushion I already had.
I am pleased to have finished this and the cushion is very comfy.








The next item I made this winter was a cushion for our two cats. At night they sleep in the kitchen but seem to have grown out of the cushion we bought them. They love sitting on my small quilt which was the first quilt I made, so I thought I would make then a quilted cushion so that we don’t have to keep folding up the other quilt to put in the kitchen.
 

Floor cushion

Base of floor cushion

Being tested by the new owners!

The top of this is from a book called Love Quilting and Patchwork and they say it is a small sampler quilt. I chose it because I liked how it has 5 different patchwork layouts and the size of the design was a perfect size for my cushion. Once I finished the top I then made the cushion itself by using the instructions for the floor cushion in the Great British Sewing Bee book. I bought some foam for the inside and there is a zip on the bottom so I can wash it if I need to. I made this all on my sewing machine and tried to avoid reverting to hand sewing for the awkward bits.
The cats love this cushion and although then only seem to sit on it at night time they are still using it 4 months on.
I enjoyed trying the different patchwork styles, however I don’t think the fabric I chose is the best to see the contrasts in the patchwork layouts. It would be more striking if it was made in different colours. The fabric I used was a set of 5 or 6 fat quarters I had in complimentary patterns and I had had these for a long time. The base was made from left over fabric from the first quilt as I wanted a thicker hardwearing fabric for the base.

A few gifts and small makes - Make up bags

Here are some small makes that I have done recently. Some are for me and some are gifts for other people.

Make up bags

This is a make up bag which is from Cath Kidson's book 'Sew!' I have made three of these so far. The first one was a present for my Mum, for her birthday last year. She really likes it and says it quite tall so you can fit a lot of toiletries in it. It is made from a Moda fabric which is a William Morris style pattern. The lining is a mottled red called Marbles, also Moda. I used this pattern in green for the binding on my hexagon quilt. I was pleased that I got the zip right on this the first time.

Finished make-up bag

Inside - you can just see the zip edge and fabric

Topstitching on the zip

 The next one was a hen party present for my cousin. This was made from Joel Dewberry’s Notting Hill collection. I find it interesting that I am drawn to the same designers even when I don’t know who has designed a fabric. I saw this in the shop and the idea came to me that this would be perfect for her.
With this one, I managed to work out a way of cutting the outer fabric so that I could use just one fat quarter. This can only be done however if you are using a geometric print or one without an orientation which can be seen as up side down.
I really love the colours of this one.
 

Laying out the fabric for cutting

Pining the zip on

Finished bag

I then made one for me so I am not left out! I have been using a very small make up bag from M&S, but it has got a bit tatty and it was too small for my foundation brush to fit in it. I have it sat on the top of the toilet in the bathroom as it is right next to the sink and the mirror.
I like the fabric I chose, it is quite grey and neutral, but has a bit of colour with the small birds in it. It will be useful to keep my make up in at home, but also my other toiletries for when I go away. As this pattern is only one way up and I just had a fat quarter of this pattern I shrank the size down a bit to fit in. I think maybe I could have made it a bit shorter though. I also changed the way I sewed the zip so it was neater on the inside. In the original instructions you can see the zip piece on the inside and the edge of the lining is exposed. I cut it with pinking shears to reduce the fraying, but for my one I managed to sew the zip so the edges are all enclosed. I think it makes a much neater finish and makes it more durable and less amateur looking.
I haven’t yet sewed the tabs on the ends, but I wanted to take a picture to show with the other versions.

My make-up bag

Inside lining - I have folded the edges inside to make it neater

All of them have been lined with a cotton or polycotton, the book suggested a shower curtain fabric and I like this idea so it is washable for it having make up and toiletries in it. However I didn’t have any.
I will probably make more of these over time as they are a very quick pattern to make. The instructions in the book are clear and easy to follow.