Tuesday 21 April 2015

Leather Pencil Case

I've had this bargain scrap of soft leather for years and not know how or what to make.


After searching unprofessionally for a pen mid-meeting I've decided it's obvious - a pencil case. So after some pinterest searching I felt equipped to have a go.The main lessons seem to be that you can't use pins or re-do stitching as you'll leave holes. As the pencil case is only dealing with short runs of stitches this wasn't going to be a problem.


I added some Liberty and vintage fabric and found a lovely chunky bronze and black zip. I decided to go for a box style case.


My wonderful Pfaff and its IDT system powered through the bulky seams.


 I'm pretty pleased with the result.







Saturday 18 April 2015

Sewing Tutorials - Learn Something New!

Sewing has had a welcome renaissance in the last few years, mainly due to the popularity of programmes such as The Great British Sewing Bee and the make-do-and-mend approach to life.

Learning to sew and craft has equally benefited from the do-it-yourself method. The internet is full of wonderful blogs to follow and tutorials to master new techniques. Here are a couple I really enjoy following:


Colette patterns have a weekly sewing tip called Snippets which is well worth signing up for.


The Purl Bee from NYC's Purl Soho is amazing and I've made many of their wonderful patterns - I promise it will keep you busy for hours!
Sewing Bee's Tilly & The Button continues to be a star with both her wonderful pattens and great step-by-step tutorials - perfect for beginners.

Sew Mama Sew has everything you could want to make - many of the pins below come from this site.

A UK site for both tutorials and stockists is The Sewing Directory.


Pinterest is full to the brim of tutorials that can talk you through every possible new skill you would like to master. Here are some of my boards I've collected:

Sewing patterns and projects for me - dresses, bags and tops.
Children's clothes - mainly girl's dresses
General sewing tips - including bias binding and sleeve de-mystfiying!
Working with leather - a new challenge I'm looking to conquer
Quilts - inspiration and block tutorials
Overlocker tips
Kids Costumes - ideas I might try to recreate plus lots of great step by step guides
Sewing Projects for home
And using the rather wonderful 'Freezer Paper'

This is just the tip of the iceberg - I've not covered YouTube or the numerous shops and evening classes that offer wonderful workshops - so really there is no excuse to have a go!

Friday 10 April 2015

Sew Mag

How exciting - I'm in a magazine!


I responded to a twitter request for handmade wedding stories from Sew Magazine - sending them a link to this blog and my wedding story - I wasn't expecting the final story.


I can't wait to get hold of my own copy - another thing to do before 40 ticked!

Saturday 4 April 2015

Bird of Paradise

Another beautiful bird to add to the growing flock...

 



 The latest versions have useful elastic hoops for arms and thumbs to enable maximum flapping!