Tag Archives: sewing

Tricky Corners

29 Thursday Jan 2015

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I’ve been making a quilt for my daughter, to mark the occasion of her moving into her own place. A kind of housewarming quilt, based on the log cabin pattern, which I believe was traditionally used for such quilts. It was also partly inspired by a quilt I saw in the book East Quilts West, by Kumiko Sudo. I’m pleased with the way the top came together, and the quilting, which I did freehand with the machine. And I must have got the basting pretty right too, since I got no wrinkles at all when I did the quilting. When I came to the binding though, a different story!

I wanted to do a double fold bias binding, at least I think that’s what it’s called, and I went straight to the first tutorial I found – How to bind a quilt with mitred corners and invisible joins, by MadebyMarzipan. It looked straightforward, so off I went.

I cut the binding, joined the strips, pressed, and stitched all around the edges of the quilt, all eight metres of it. Then I sat down to hand stitch the folded edge in place. I was still going well until I reached the first corner. It’s a disaster. I’m not sure why, but mine doesn’t look anything like the video. The only explanation I can think of is that I chose to make a wider border, about one inch wide finished, whereas the video shows a much narrower binding. I didn’t think it would make a difference, but apparently it does. So, my corners look more like the ends of rugby balls than neatly mitred corners. As usual, I was trying to get the quilt finished at the last minute, and no way was I going to unpick all eight metres of binding to try a different way, so the corners have stayed like rugby balls.

Next time, if I ever make another quilt, I will try the binding out on a practice piece first, to make sure that the corners will work. I might even have a go with strips of paper, since I’m sure it’s got to be a principle of geometry that has let me down. But I find it really hard to envisage without actually doing it.

Other than the corners, the quilt was a success, and well received. I was so last minute in finishing it that I haven’t yet taken any pictures, but when I do, I sure won’t be including the corners!

Another thing which I did photograph, because it came out pretty well, was a Thermomix cover I made, again for the same daughter. I had found some fabric which goes with her monochrome apartment, and also her love of travel, so here it is.

Thermomix cover

Thermomix cover

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Interior, I went with a splash of colour here.

I used a pattern I bought online, from The Pattern Emporium. I’m pretty pleased with it, but a Thermomix is obviously bigger than I thought. The pattern says that it will fit an average overlocker as well, so perhaps when I get my sewing space organised I’ll make matching covers for my machine and overlocker. It also has useful pockets on the sides for accessories etc., which is another idea worth pursuing.

 

On starting a New Year, what I intend to do with this one!

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

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As is often the case, I was struggling for a topic to write about. Don’t get me wrong, I have lots of ideas in my head, but discard most of them, usually because I think they will be uninteresting to anybody but me.

Today I turned to other sewing blogs for inspiration, and landed on Hand Made by Carolyn. I have read Carolyn’s blog quite often in the past, and been stunned by the clothes she makes, not least by how she finds time to do so much sewing. I have great admiration for a fellow West Australian.

Her most recent post was what got me thinking. She wrote about ‘thoughtful sewing’, using less, using locally sourced materials, and taking time to make fewer more labour intensive garments.

So, I have decided that this year I am going to concentrate on using up some of the stuff I already have. Like most sewists, I have a fairly comprehensive stash of fabric. I had planned last year to re-vamp my sewing space, and get some organisation into the storage, but so far that hasn’t really happened, at least not as much as I would have liked. I have started to go through the stash, with the result that I now know where most things are, but I haven’t started on the workspace yet. That always seems to get put off until I have finished my current project, but I am determined that once I have finished this current project (a quilt for a recently moved out of home daughter), the workspace comes next.

The sewing is bound to continue though, and I will really focus on using up the stuff I have. Fabric, patterns, notions. I have patterns I have never sewn (some with good reason – those 80’s dresses, what was I thinking!). Probably unlike most sewists though, although my stash contains a good number of uncut, garment size pieces, it also contains a lot of scraps. When I cut out a garment, I don’t throw away the odd-shaped bits that are left over. I gather them up, wrap them in whatever large bit of fabric is left over at the end of the piece, and stash them. I’ve been doing this for well over 30 years, so there are a lot of left over bits, varying in size from quite large to hardly useable.

One point in my favour is that I am rather keen on clothes made out of more than one fabric. I like contrasting trim, or toning trim, and garments made out of updated patchwork. I’ve made a couple of things in this vein in the past, a vest made out of about 6 different black fabrics, another made out of various scraps in lime green, white and grey.

Green, white and grey scrappy vest

There are a couple of things I’m not happy with here. First is the fact that when I made this I couldn’t get the overlocker to work properly, so in the interests of getting it finished I just overcast all the inside seams with a zig zag. It looks fine when I’m wearing it, but not so good for a photo shoot! I thought I would just do up the buttons to conceal most of the inside, but then I found that I couldn’t. I used quite large buttons, and because I hate the look of really large buttonholes, I made these smaller, so the buttons don’t actually go through them. Again, not a problem when I’m wearing it, since I would never wear it buttoned up. Here are some closer up shots. In order to blend the plain grey a bit with the other fabrics I did some machine embroidery – at the time I had just bought my new Bernina and was trying out some of the stitches.

Machine embroidery panel

Buttons and too small buttonholes

Now is the time to really focus on this sort of garment sewing, and see if I can make a dent of some sort in the pile of scraps which is my stash. Obviously there are going to be some things made out of the uncut lengths (which of course will give rise to more scraps!). And I’m not entirely ruling out buying the occasional piece of new fabric, but I am going to try hard not to. This is also going to give me ready made subjects for blogging, since I will try about once a month to write about what I have been doing for this self administered challenge.

Handmade Christmas sewing gifts

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

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Our group of the Australian Sewing Guild had the last meeting for the year on Sunday, and had a Christmas gift swap. I always like to make something for these swaps, and so this year I did a needle book, following a tutorial by Nana Company.

It uses some tiny bits of fabric, 1.5 inch squares, so I was easily able to find some in my scrap box. Actually I think I have enough scraps in the scrap box to make at least a hundred of these, but that’s probably not going to happen! I had to buy some flannel, or at least it was flannelette, to use for the pages, and I bought pale blue instead of the more usual white or cream. There was white in the shop, but although they were both labelled the same the blue was definitely thicker, so I thought it would be better. Not sure of the difference between flannel and flannelette, I guess the latter is probably just thinner. I was quite pleased when it was done, but what doesn’t really show in the photos, but does in real life, is the fact that I originally put the transfer of the word ‘Needles’ on the wrong way up, so the wording was reversed. I turned the fabric over, and did it on the other side, but the mistake does show a bit, and I should have just cut a new piece of fabric instead.  A lesson in being more careful, even if it is late at night!

Here are some photos:

Handmade needlebook

Needlebook 1

Inside of needlebook

Needlebook 2

Outside back and front

Needlebook 3

Back of needlebook

Needlebook 4

Close up

Needlebook 5

Another member made some really cute sewing weights, which is something I’ve never used, I always pin my patterns. Sometime though I’m going to make myself some and give them a try. I remember long ago a reader of Threads magazine wrote that she used hockey pucks as pattern weights, because ‘they were readily available at garage sales’ in her neighbourhood. Not in Western Australia they aren’t! But the ones I saw on Sunday had fishing weights inside them, that’s what’s readily available around here! I’m going to be interested to try out the difference between pinning patterns and using weights.

An Accidental Tourist in Sydney

27 Thursday Nov 2014

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At the end of September I travelled to Sydney for the Australian Sewing Guild annual convention. I joined the Guild around 12 months ago with the specific intention of going to the convention, and I’m very glad I did. I had a really good time, and I can thoroughly recommend the event to anybody else considering going.

Held at the Shore Grammar School in North Sydney, the event was a full week of sewing, with no cooking, no cleaning, and no washing up! Absolute bliss! I did workshops with Lorraine Parker, Larraine Jenkins, and Leanne Abbott (there were some tuturs whose names didn’t begin with L, I just didn’t pick them!) Textile manipulation and embellishment, some seriously useful tips for things like turning collars, and lots to do with buttons, including bound buttonholes. Unfortunately I did come home with another UFO, which I had promised myself I wouldn’t, but I have since finished it, just need to take some photos and then I can blog about it.

Apart from the sewing, I really enjoyed being a tourist in Sydney. I had not been before, apart from about half a day some 20 years ago, which I spent looking at the Opera House, and Darling Harbour. This time I still only got to see a small part of Sydney, the area around the school in North Sydney, and a walk across the bridge to The Rocks, but I was fascinated. I walked around almost with my mouth open looking at all the old buildings! Alright, I know that in the overall scheme of things Sydney isn’t old, but coming from Perth it looks positively pre-historic.

I grew up in England, living in houses which were one or two hundred years old, in one case probably even three hundred years old. And I’ve hardly seen buildings that old since. Perth was settled in 1829, and most of the original buildings have gone now. In the Rocks there were little cottages which might have come straight from any number of cities in England, logical I suppose since the people who built them had only just come from England, or the UK at least. Even the old buildings which are left in Perth have an Australian flavour to them, showing the evolution of building styles to suit the climate in the new country I suppose.

A couple of photos:

City street in Sydney, Australia, with Orient Hotel

Sydney Street with pub

Row of terraced houses in The Rocks, Sydney, Australia

Houses in a Sydney Street

Next year’s convention will be held in Brisbane, and if you are interested in sewing I can recommend it.

Sewing competitively

19 Wednesday Nov 2014

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Now that I have finished a few other things, I am thinking about a new project. Another motivator is that summer is coming, it will be too hot to do much outside, so I find myself doing more sewing and crafting during the summer than the winter.

I’ve been looking at entering competitions again. Competitive sewing is something I’d like to do more of, although the opportunities are a bit limited, particularly in Australia. One avenue of competition is the various agricultural shows held around the country, and although most of them are in spring, the Sydney Royal is held over Easter. After my experience last year, I am decided on two things. First, I will get my entry or entries finished and mailed in good time. Second, I will make something which is easier to mail!

I downloaded the schedule, from here, and have been studying it. It’s a bit disappointing though, because just as I am reviving my interest in dressmaking, or at least garment sewing, there are only three classes in that category. There are options for garments in some of the other categories, like embroidery, beading, felting etc., but I know my skills in those areas are nowhere near up to the challenge. And of those three classes, one is for a mixed media article, I’m not sure that really counts as dressmaking.

However, I do have an idea for the ‘wearable art of original design’ class. I acquired some odd pieces of what I think is actually a lightweight furnishing fabric last week, and I think I can collage or otherwise combine them into something. It will mean burrowing deep through the stash to find some other bits to go with them, but I’m sure there must be something suitable in there somewhere. I need to figure out when the entry needs to be finished, and create a time line back from there so that I make sure it can get in the mail soon enough.

I wonder what other opportunities there are out there for competitive sewing?

Inspiration revived, fabric brooches

14 Friday Nov 2014

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One of the ‘Inspiration in Every Issue’ projects I did finish, but have not yet written about, was inspired by issue number 68. There was an article entitled Pieced Silk Pins, by Karen Schmelzer. Her pins, which are what English and Australian people call brooches, were intricately made in silk, and more complicated than mine. She says they are generally about 2.5 inches in size, and one of the examples in the photograph has a beautiful strip of ‘flying geese’ across the middle of it, which must have been quite a challenge.

Mine are no bigger than hers, in fact only about 2 inches square. I didn’t go for such complicated piecing though. Strictly speaking I think they would all be classified as ‘crazy quilting’, since they are not even or regular. I made one based on a log cabin pattern, but without being square or regular, and the other two are just randomly pieced. I also decided that it would be easier to make the brooches themselves just random shapes, instead of aiming for the perfect square or rectangle. I added some beads for decoration, and sewed brooch pins on the back. Actually before sewing on the pins I pressed them, and that made a huge difference. What started out as a squishy odd-shaped lump became a quite flat, smooth and relatively even object, which looked quite professional, and like the pictures in the magazine!
Two of the brooches I gave away as gifts at our Red Hat chapter’s Christmas gathering, (that’s why they are purple and red) and kept the third. I would certainly have a go at making some more, they are quite satisfying, and use up tiny scraps.

Here are some photos:

patchwork or pieced brooches, pins

Three pieced brooches

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close up shot of brooches in magazine

Close up

And here are some shots of the magazine and the original article.

magazine cover

Threads magazine issue # 68

magazine article

Article by Karen Schmelzer

How I wish I knew how to make WordPress align text and photos on the page where I want them to be! I’ve even tried playing with the html, since I am learning (trying) to build websites at the moment, but I still can’t get it to look the way I want it. How hard can it be?!

Another project, and the end of a UFO

12 Tuesday Nov 2013

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I originally intended to go through my back issues of Threads magazine in chronological order, and choose a project fromm each. I’ve already skipped one though, and now I’ve given up on that idea and am going through them reasonably randomly. The main reason is that the next project I found would have been perfect for something I’ve already started. When I went to find said half-finished project though, I could only find some of it, and not the rest. So, no finishing that, not now anyway. I wasn’t going to start another project to use the same technique, so I moved on to a different issue.

This is from the very first issue of the magazine I ever bought, number 65 from July 1996. Really, this is cheating, since I started to make this project over a year ago, and had just never finished it. All I had to do was get it out of the cupboard, sew on some ribbon ties, and a fastening, and it was done! Still, extra kudos for having ticked a UFO off the list I reckon.

Portfolio front

Portfolio front

I was having a rather Art Deco phase when I did this, but I quite like it. This is the back.

Portfolio back

Portfolio back

I’d really like to think that one day I will have written a book, and will be going to meet a publisher with the first draft safely tucked away in this portfolio. Realistically though, even if I do ever write a book, I’m far more likely these days to submit it online than in a portfolio, however arty and creative one might be!

Also, one of these days I might figure out how WordPress decides where to put photos. Try as I might it’s still hit and miss as to whether the photos end up where I want them on the page, and in relation to the right bit of the text. Seems to have a mind of its own somehow.

Now to find the next issue of Threads, and the next project!

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Detail

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Inside

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and the inspiring issue of Threads

Next project, a useful apron

05 Tuesday Nov 2013

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I’m continuing my self-set challenge to make something inspired by every issue of Threads magazine I own. I originally intended to take them in chronological order, but I must admit here to skipping a couple of issues already. There were (are) projects I could do in them, but they were more time-consuming than I’m looking for right now. Quick and dirty is the answer at the moment.

So I’ve moved on to Issue number 62, from January 1996. Here I found a design for an apron, and since I don’t possess an apron that seemed like a reasonable project. Also, I’m going to a fabric painting/printing workshop next weekend, and an apron is on the list of supplies to take. Normally I just tend to wear old clothes and accept that they get dirty or painted or whatever, but an apron is probably a good idea.

I also intended to use as much as possible out of my stash for these projects, but in the interest of speed I did buy supplies for this project. A stripey blue and yellow heavy cotton, and some yellow twill tape. I thought of using some print scraps for the pockets, but decided to stick to the one fabric. Here is the result.

Apron

Apron

I broke one of my cardinal rules with this, in that I didn’t preshrink the fabric. I thought, it’s an apron, it doesn’t have to fit, won’t matter if it shrinks a little. And it wouldn’t have mattered, except that I decided to use the fabric sideways on the pockets, to get a bit of interest. The fabric obviously shrank more on the lengthwise grain than the cross grain (which is expected I think), and the pockets now have little puckers at the edge, because the pocket is shorter than the underlying fabric. You can see in this photo:

There is a slanted pocket near the

pocket

pocket

top for glasses, and a small pocket on the side for a pencil, along with three other pockets. There is also something which I couldn’t at first understand. The article suggests a piece of twill tape along the inner hem of the apron, to make what it calls another large pocket. This puzzled me, how can this be a pocket, but then I figured out that you can take hold of the piece of tape and lift the hem of the apron so that you can carry things in it. Like the archetypal farmer’s wife collecting eggs from the hens, or apples from the orchard. Not sure how often I’ll use that feature, but I’ve included it anyway. Just forgot to take a picture, so you might have to imagine it for now.
I’m also unsure about the fact that the apron is made from a double layer of fabric, as suggested in the article. It saves some hemming etc, but I’m worried it might be too hot now that summer is coming here in Australia. Perhaps another apron needs to be on the to-do list.
I’ve decided to give my challenge a title, in common with all the best blog challenges, Me Made March, Self Sewn September etc. Mine is ‘Threads magazine – Inspiration in every Issue. I’m already looking into the next issue to decide on a project. I think I might be able to get extra kudos, since I can possibly use this to finish an existing UFO – double whammy!

Back to Blogging

28 Monday Oct 2013

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After some interruptions, daughter’s wedding, extra work etc., I am making a commitment, or renewing one, to blogging. And, in common with many other bloggers, I have decided to set myself a challenge, and record my progress.

I have been a subscriber to Threads magazine for many years, over 15 in fact, and have frequently been inspired by articles and features. Often, I have had every intention of using the technique or idea, but almost never actually got around to doing it. So, my challenge is to go back through my collection of magazines, and use an idea, a technique or a design from each one. I will document this on my blog.

I can remember buying my first issue of Threads, I had never seen the magazine before, or anything like it, and I was completely blown away. I bought a few issues from the newsagent, but soon decided to subscribe. This was in about 1997 or 1998, there was no internet, and even subscribing to an overseas magazine was a big issue. You had to go to the Post Office, buy an international money order, and send it off via snailmail. Later it became possible to enter credit card details on a form, but still send the form in the post. Then, of course, the internet arrived, and now renewing my subscription is as simple as entering details on a website.

The first magazine I bought was number 63, but since then I have bought a few back issues from before that. Actually, I have all the older issues on DVD, but for the purpose of this challenge I am restricting myself to only issues I have in hard copy. Even this leaves me with well over 100 copies.

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Kwik Sew pattern for seam roll and tailor’s ham

The first issue I have is number 34, from April/May 1991. Looking through it, I noticed an article on basic pressing equipment, and remembered that I long ago bought a pattern for making a tailor’s ham and a sleeve roll. That decided my project for this issue. I dug out some fabric, leftovers from my stash, and the pattern and set to work. I looked for sawdust, but the local pet shop only had shavings, which I settled for. They are not perfect, but since they were quite small and soft shavings they are not too bad. I also made quite a mess with them, but the vacuum cleaner fixed that. I’m not all that happy with the shape of the sleeve roll in particular, it’s not as smooth as I’d like, but I think it will still do the job.  I already had a sleeve board, which is many years old and still was in its original cover, so I gave it a new cover to match. Last part of the project will be to get a box to keep these in, along with my pressing cloths, and other yet to be acquired pressing tools.

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Finished articles, seam roll, tailor’s ham and sleeve board

All I need now is a title for my challenge, something cool and catchy like other bloggers have! Then on to dig out the next magazine and find myself another project.

Two very different projects

20 Thursday Jun 2013

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Two projects currently on the go. Actually there are more, but these two are centre front!

First, the automatic gate opener. I bought this some time ago, and started installing it, and it’s still not finished. The first part of the job was to re-hang the gate so that it would open and close smoothly, or, as the instruction manual had it, ‘oscillate fluently’. Having done that, best part of a day’s work, we then had to wire up and instal the solar panel, battery and motor. The instruction manual, which was so eloquent when it came to describing the movement of the gate, was sadly slightly obtruse over the details of the wiring. Like many things, I’m sure it would have been OK if I knew what I was doing, but since I didn’t ….

However, I have since been emailing the technical support guys, and I think I know what I have to do. Just have to find time to do it, in daylight. At least we got the battery connected to the solar panel, so it should have been charging over the last few days, although it doesn’t seem as if the battery is fully charged yet.

The second project I am on firmer ground with. A friend of my daughter’s just had a (very premature) baby, and I wanted to make a small gift. I found a cute fish here and downloaded the pattern. It’s pretty simple, and I probably could have drawn it myself, but I needed something straightforward. I dug around in the stash to find some suitable scraps of colourful fabric, and I’m halfway there. Will post photos when it’s finished. It might be something that I can get into and get finished within a couple of days, unlike most of the other things I take on.

i got a reply from an online journal that I had submitted an article to this morning, and got excited when I saw the subject and sender in my email inbox. Short lived excitement though, ‘thank you for the opportunity to read the piece, it is not for us’, or words to that effect. I can’t remember now how many submissions I have out there, but I’m sure I should be doing more, there can’t be many left that I haven’t heard about. How many at one time is a good number, I wonder?