Charlotte skirt - lining

Bought my lining fabric - a simple grey. Knocked together the basic shell of the skirt very quickly. Machine stitched round the top and then hand blind stitched round the zip, all as By Hand London instructed.

Table runner

My best friend is moving out of town so I wanted to make her a present for the new house. And what a perfect opportunity to play with my new sizzix die! I'd seen a quilt using this this applecore die a while back and fancied having a play with it, so when I saw the die in a store I had to buy it. Handily, the sizzix website has instructions for this table runner so that helped.

I used fabrics that I bought ages ago from the V&A quilts exhibition in 2010. They are floral ... well, leafy and are from Liberty.

And I enjoyed this make. It took some time as the curves are a bit tricky but it was quite satisfying.

And my friend seemed to like it too, which is a bonus!

Charlotte Skirt 2

Well step two has taken quite some time! Simple stitching of darts and seams. My challenge came when it got to finishing the seams. When I made the  Victoria blazer I wished I had put more thought into fin7shing the seams. Not having an overlocker (yet!) I just used pinking shears, but it doesn't look great. So I decided to bind the seams. Bizarrely I seem to have purchased about 50cm of bias binding, which is no good to man nor beast.

So first attempt at proper fitting. I tries on the skirt and it fits well at the waist (yay!) But is way too baggy at the hips (boo!) Essentially meaning there is about 2 sizes difference between my waist and hips.  Two attempts later and I think it now fits. As recommended by the lovely ladies at By Hand London I tried it inside out and pinned the excess, sewing new side seams. Hopefully this is gonna work!

So I spent ages making binding from the offcuts of the fabric ... and then having used them on the centre back seam I think itnis way too bulky, so scrap that! Although, I used the binding on centre back before inserting my zipper so I've left those ones, but the other seams I have just folded under the raw edge and sewn them to neaten.

And now I've decided I want to line the skirt so another pause whilst I purchase that.

Plushie monster 2

And another Plushie monster. Bit of a variation on the previous one but essentially the same. Incrediblg cute and fun to make.

Charlotte skirt 1

I'm not doing this sew-along 'live' but as one exists I thought I'd blog along.  I bought the Charlotte Skirt pattern from By Hand London a while back and the fabric I've got is from Pumpkin Patch in Hailsham, again, bought a while back. I've decided to do the variation without ruffle or peplum. That all feels a little too girly for me.

Step one is sizing, pattern and cutting. I haven't had a lot of success in getting sizing right for clothing so far. The only thing that seems tk have been right is hubby's trousers. For this skirt, having measured myself, I've gone for the biggest size, although the waist is too small, so I've added some more on at the waist ... we'll see if that was a sensible plan!

Placing the pieces and cutting out is all very simple when it's just three pieces. So onto part 2!

Quick Christmas make

Just a quickie I made whilst watching a DVD. I cut two snowmen from white felt using my Sizzix machine them embroidered the features onto one side. A simple running stitch to hold front and back together, a ribbon and a little toy stuffing.

Cute right?

Scrap quilt

My god did this one take a long time. I did write a post on it back in May. This is another of those ones that spends weeks being laid out on the living room floor, much to the annoyance of hubby. Othervthan the sashing, binding and backing fabric, it's all made with scraps. This took a long time to piece together but I'm really pleased with the result.

Then came the quilting. I decided to do a complex wave pattern which was taking forever. I just have a standard sewing machine so I was having to roll it up and feed it through which was annoying so I put it to one side, thinking I'd do a few rows every now and then ... but of course I didn't. So I unpicked it all and just went with a classic 'stitch in the ditch'. Binding on, bish bash bosh done. Now to give it to my friend.

Plushie Monsters

I wanted to make a present for a friend's baby for Christmas and I remembered seeing these funky toys in Sew magazine.  I tore the instructions out and threw the magazine away. I'm sure I downloaded the template before doing this but apparently not. I drafted the pattern based on the magazine pictures and the finished size in the instructions.

I thought this was so cute. I really enjoyed the applique / embroidery. Making those little faces was satisfying. Having made one I decided to make another - equally cute!

Moustache Hairclip

Cute and very quick make. Just a simple bit of embroidery,  mostly done on a tube and in a car. Our staff conference was at the end of November and during the evening festivities there was a Movember competition. I had heard tell of the 'fake mo' competition so knocked together a quick mo should this happen. In the end I didn't enter as there were two team entries, but it was a useful hair grip!

Baby book

Using up more scraps I had another go at a baby book for a friend. (You can see my previous one earlier on my blog). I got the measurements a bit wrong for the front patchwork meaning I had to do more, but it's fine. I actually had enough white fabric to make all the pages this time. It's cute - I like it.

New Year catch up

Having been told off by my sister for not putting anything up in a while, I guess it's time for a New Year catch up. So there will mow be a brief flurry of short posts with the things what I has done that I never got quite as faf as recording.

But ... just so that this post has some contdnt I want to tell you about my newest, favouritist store. The hubby is a big comic fan and his favourite shop is on Berwick street in London (Gosh Comics if you must know), and Berwick street is full of fabric shops, many of which intimidate me. Unfortunately the first shop I set foot in had beautiful fabrics that were about £60 a metre! Anyway, today one particular shop caught my eye, the Cloth House at 47 Berwick street. It is a beautiful shop. Wonderful fabrics including hand printed silks and Japanese cottons, as well as a beautiful building. I could have spent a lot of money there. I was eyeing up some beautiful Japanese cotton for a Polly Top from By Hand London but at £28 per metre I thought I ought to try the pattern on something a little cheaper first so I went for a pattern with the two colours reversed. So once I have access to a printer I'll have a go at this ... and then splash out on the fancy fabric!