New Toy

I have a new toy! What do you think?





Not impressed? You'll have to admit it's a gorgeously retro cabinet, but the exciting thing is how it converts....






It's a sewing cabinet! Finally I have a proper place to sew rather than lugging my machine through to the kitchen table. Now any of you that know anything about machines will have spotted that the machine didn't originally go with the cabinet. The cabinet is a 1960s model whereas the machine is from the 1940s.



It's a Singer 201K, and as these instruction books I found in one of the drawers show, this cabinet originally came with a Singer 317.






I'm not complaining though, as the Singer 201K is a lovely machine, and this particular model has just had a service so runs like a dream. It has also come with an intriguing array of attachments I'm yet to figure out.

I've inherited this beauty from my Grandad who has decided his sewing days are behind him. I can't wait to fully try it out!

Present for the best mother ever!

It was my mother's birthday on Bank Holiday Monday and I found myself totally without the funds to get her a present she truly deserves. My mother is a wonderful, amazing, inspiring person and I really wanted to make her something to let her know I appreciated her.

I decided to pour my heart into crafting every part of it and made her a special bag containing two jars, one filled with mini handmade lavender bath bombs and the other with handmade chocolates.




I used the material as an inspiration to decorate the tops of the jars and to sew a card.





I hope it went some way towards letting her know how important she is to me :-)

Kit aka Darly

I wanted to make something special for Povey's best friend's birthday present so I decided to make him a Clothkits doll. They have just recently re-released one of the original 70's doll designs, a boy doll called "Kit". In a classic case of taking on waaaaay too much I only gave myself one evening to sew him and his clothes!

I started at 7.30pm and finished at midnight! I sewed the doll, his trousers, his shirt, his waistcoat, and his bag.









The only thing I didn't manage was his pyjamas so I'll do them at a later date. I want to use them as a pattern to make pyjamas for Papaya and Povey's dolls too. I followed tge original instructions although I must admit I adapted him ever so slightly in that I reduced the size of his scarily Prince Charles-esque ears!




The Best Friend loved his doll and re-christened him "Darly"!





I'm looking forward to making three little pairs of pyjamas, but I think I'll give myself more time for them ;-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Heathcote Rd,Whitehill,United Kingdom

Party bags

I've been kept pretty busy over the past few nights sewing up these party bags for the pirate party Povey is sharing with his best friend.

Papaya lives pirates as much as Povey, but I know not all girls feel the same, so I made sure there were some Dora pirate bags too! All the rest of the fabric came from my own stash I've been collecting since Povey the pirate was born!










Today I'm at Povey's best mate's house so that his mum and I can paint up the decorations for the day. Should be fun ;-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Upper Manor Rd,Witley,United Kingdom

Fire fire

Here's a present for my friend's little boy who is obsessed with Fireman Sam. I used some Lego blocks and fabric paint to print up a special t-shirt....

...and then sewed up one of Samantha Yoon's railway design fire stations into a bag to store it (and all his toy fire engines!) in, using fine cord lining fabric rather than stuffing it.








I added a strap to it later (that I never managed to get a photo of) to make it a proper bag.

I was pretty pleased with how it all turned out, especially the t-shirt, I will definitely be doing some more Lego printing! It was a bit nerve-wracking as I didn't do a practise run first but it turned out okay in the end :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Heathcote Rd,Whitehill,United Kingdom

Elf-work

Lots of "Elf-work" for me over the last couple of weeks. Santa has kept me busy most evenings sewing things up for the stockings. Papaya and Povey don't read this blog so I can show you a glimpse of what I made for them; the Comedian will have to wait ;)

First is a rag doll each. Clothkits (again) with two outfits each including one for Povey's doll that matches his dungarees :)






Povey also gets a train track play rug/blanket with squidgy cushion houses that velcro to it.




Other than that there is of course the various gift bags to complete my whole year of not using wrapping paper.


That's all I can show you without giving too much away! I'll be back in the New Year to show you the rest once the surprise is past.

Merry Xmas everyone!!!

Back in the saddle

Last night I finally found the box with the sewing machine in! Hurrah!

After the kids went to bed at 8.00pm I wasted no time in finding the huge pile of sewing I need to get done before Xmas and setting to work. First up I did all the little bits of mending and darning that were needed on various items of clothing.

Then I started up on some new stuff. I sewed 12 napkins (old BA first class ones... don't ask) together to make a tablecloth to match the 8 remaining ones. It's pretty rough and ready as I just zigzagged them all together but will be fine as an under tablecloth. I actually dyed these napkins from dark blue to black, but they look blue again in these photos! Weird, they are definitely black in real life. Difficult to take photos of a dark tablecloth really.






Next up were two little Clothkits items I've had waiting. These are the final little bits of sewing I need to get done before I can start the sewing I'm doing to help Santa ;)

The first is a simple doorstop for our bedroom. Our old house had doors that just wedged in place but in this nice brand new house the doors swing freely. It was a very easy pattern to sew together and I'm hoping to copy the design top make doorstops for other rooms too. It is filled with some black-eyed beans that the previous residents here left behind.




The last bit of sewing I managed last night before my eyes started going funny was a little Clothkits skirt for Papaya. A Jane Foster design again, I just love her stuff! I'd fill our whole house and wardrobes with them if could. This is called an "Easy Peasy Skirt" and it really is. I did take the slightly more difficult option though of a drawstring waist for my snake-hipped girl.



Here's the girl herself modelling it she says it's very comfy and was particularly enamoured by the flowers on the bottom!




Note the further pile of boxes to be unpacked in the background... maybe the phone is in there?! I have no photo editing software on this computer yet so photos are having to go up as is.

It was wonderful to finally get some sewing under my belt. Felt like I was back in the saddle with it all. Such a relief as well to finally make a dent in the huge pile that has been building up!

Purple

Two months since I wrote anything here! That's shocking! I have been crafting but have been too busy to pick up a camera and photograph it, let alone write about it! I've finally got a moment now so I wanted to show you two bits of sewing with a purple theme!

The first was for a baby shower. I wanted to make the present specific to the mother rather than the child (I'll do something for the baby once he's here!) so rather than baby blue or pastel pink I went for a rich purple. The fabric is some nice thick Indian linen with a waffle texture. I used it to make a bag with some silver ribbon for the drawstring and to make a flower brooch attached to the bag. Inside the bag are pregnancy toiletries.


You can't see the brooch particularly well unfortunately as it blends into the bag. I made it using strips of the fabric, with the edges left unfinished. In the centre is a fabric covered button from the huge button collection I inherited off my Grandmother.



The second little purple collection was put together for my friend's birthday. She is a real fashionista and as my budget didn't stretch to her usual labels I decided to make her something more personal. I found this beautifully soft vest in her favourite purple colour and thought I could make a little brooch for it. In the end I went a bit brooch crazy!


Four little brooches, each handmade. I could have kept going but didn't want to overpower the delicate little vest. My friend doesn't have to wear any of them with the vest, she could take them off and put them elsewhere or maybe just choose them one at a time. I think my favourite is the two button brooch, although I'm quite fond of the simple little bow too.

My heart in your hand

Here is my Valentine's day present for the Comedian.

We usually give each other underwear but I changed that by asking for the perfume below this year. Left to my own devices I decided to get my man something that may not seem romantic to anyone else but I know he'll be really touched by. He suffers from psoriasis on his hands and has tried most creams and often spends the evenings with cotton gloves on while the cream soaks in. I decided to buy some extra nice cream and make him some soft red gloves plus a bag to hold it all, oh and a little heart brooch....


and a card to match.....



I really hope he likes them :D

Birthday Gift Bags

There are 15 pupils in Papaya's class including her. That means 15 5th birthdays this school year and 14 gift bags I need to make for the presents! Here are two of them for a party tomorrow. I love the 50's style little children fabric! The flowers that are holding on the gift tags are actually little brooches so kind of part of the present themselves.



Inside the bags are a book and card for each girl. I hope they like them :)