Woo Hoo!!! The Sailboat Top is finally finished!

And here it is being modelled by The Little Fella!

It is made from a man's extra large linen shirt bought at the car boot for 50p. The stitching details and buttons are in navy blue. I cheated and used a popper on the shoulders and just sewed the buttons on for decoration.
I had such trouble with the sleeves - which I didnt have last time I made this top. I used french seams for the first time ever, (using a book from the library for instuctions) and i also had to use bias binding around the shoulder seams (just dont look as it is not a pretty sight lol)

I made the top in size 18 months to 2 yrs, even though The Little Fella is only 13 months. From experience, if you are not using a stretchy fabric, you need to go a bit bigger for ease of getting it on/off. Also I wanted to play safe with the seam allowance for the french seams.

I am very pleased with it! (although I have no idea if it will survive washing lol)

GRRR

Just needed a place to vent!

I haven't had much luck with my sewing this week. I have been struggling with attaching the sleeves on The Little Fellas linen Oliver & S Sailboat shirt.

My Nan always said that you couldn't bake when you were ill or not in a good mood because it comes out in your baking & you end up with a disaster! Well I think the same can be said for sewing this week. I thought a bit of sewing would help me unwind but I have never had to do so much unpicking! Not great when you are working with linen.

The reason...
On Monday I left my School after 9 years service (although in the last three years, I have spent two on Maternity leave) and all I got was a bunch of flowers, that I am pretty certain someone drove to Tescos to buy at lunchtime. My head didn't even have the grace to present them to me, or speak to me at all on my final day! He is not a great people person & has his favs, I have certainly never been one of them. As I have only been working two days a week - Monday & Friday, I am pretty certain that they forgot Monday was my last day, as the school was breaking up Thursday.

I don't yet have a job for September. The Husband is stressing and not happy that I gave in my notice without having a new position, but this just confirms that I did the right thing.

This months car booty...

On MSE this week a few ladies had some lovely sewing boxes that they had found at carboots/ebay. This is mine. It cost me a whopping £1.
I was quite excited when I lifted the lid & saw a vintage 1950's pattern and some threads but I was dissapointed when I lifted off the top shelf. I was expecting to find some more goodies but it was just full of old birthday cards. I am going to sand it down & paint it. How fab is that pattern?Although hidden at the bottom was this box of old embroidery transfers which got me thinking...

... I often see old embroidered linen at car boots - tray cloths, handkies, table cloths etc. No one uses them anymore, so what about recycling them into a patchwork? So this week i looked out and managed to find this little lot...

An old 70's retro duvet cover for £1 and a pile of hankies & other linens which cost me £3 for the lot. The duvet I am going to (eventually someday) use to make myself a summer dress.

The linen???? Hmm.... not sure now if I am brave enough to chop it up -

look closely at the minute stitches. I love the tiny blue blanket stitched hem and red initials. How to I preserve this if I made it into a patchwork? I thought maybe using what they use for applique? Bondaweb is it??? Otherwise The Husband will not be impressed by another "collection" of mine! lol!

My next project????????

I bought this fabric from a carboot a few weeks back for £1.50. I think it must be sari fabric as it has a border, top & bottom. As soon as I saw it, I thought that it would make a great maxi dress, only I couldn't find a pattern without a zip. (I dont have a zip foot or a clue about doing zips) I have now found Burda 7555, which is meant to be made in a knit but I am just going to make a size bigger & add some shirring to the back bodice. Fingers crossed!

Buttercup bag

I made this from a tutorial from http://www.made-by-rae.com/

but I increased the pattern from A4 to A3. I couldnt work out what to do with the handle so I unpicked the sides, poked it in & then topstiched it in place. I also used heavy interfacing on the lining (calico) as the bag fabric is very thin. Also the handle is quilted. I added a couple of inside pockets, but they are a bit small for any real purpose other than to hold my car park ticket/Oyster card LOL!

I LOVE this bag. I use it most days as it holds my purse, phone & keys and even a bottle of water, yet still fits comfortably under my arm.

Beginners patchwork couse - Tikki London

I spent a great day (4hrs) at Tikki London, learning how to rotary cut, strip piece and machine piece and came away with a completed 16 square block.
It then took me only another 2 evenings to finish off my quilt top!


The course requirements were 5 fat quarters & a metre of background fabric... I had brought along with me some seaside themed fat quarters that I bought on ebay for 99p (plus postage) Together they clashed badly but the lovely shop owner helped me to chose the deckchair stripe, red & yellow dots and blue batik which draws all the colours together. (and I ended up with 6 fabrics instead of 5) I am really pleased with the final result.

I quilted my first quilt "In the ditch" but I am debating whether to quilt this one myself or wait till the next machine quilting class (at either Tikki or Creative quilting)

This one is for The Little Fella (my 1 yr old) I already have some car theme fat quarters to make one for The Little Man (2.9 months)

Oliver & S Sailboat Top

I used an old bed sheet that I bought at a carboot a few years ago for 50p. It was fairly straight forward to sew. I found gathering the sleeves tricky and my first attempt at button holes was very frustrating! (that is my blood from a finger prick by the button holes BTW). Also had to interface the facings as when I zig-zag stitched the raw edges, they went all out of shape.
.

However, I really don't like the stripes - Wished I had made it with the stripes horizontal but both The Mother & The Husband said vertical. Sadly it reminds me of a concentration camp uniform. Think I will dye it & take the sleeves up for The Little Fella as it is a bit tight to get on The Little Man. Oliver & S have a fantastic website with forums for their patterns & a few others have mentioned this, I think in a knit it would be fine but if you fancy making this pattern then I would go a size up if using a non-stretch fabric.

I have already cut it out for The Little Fella using an upcycled man's linen shirt. (50p carboot) and I have some fab retro cowboy fabric from ebay to make another one for The Little Man.

Finally - some sewing...

My first project

I made this from 2 flannel/brushed cotton "jelly rolls" from http://www.creativequilting.co.uk/ An old white flannel crib sheet and the green is a lovely fleecy/minky type material that started off as a fitted pram sheet that I bought at a carboot & then never used as the Little Fella was born in June and it was so hot he needed cotton. I backed it with a beige flannel cot sheet that was reduced to 97p for a pack of 2 in Mr T's. It was the perfect size. I followed http://www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/ tutorial for the binding instructions, but hadnt realised just how much fabric is lost when you join two pieces together so had scrape every last scrap to have enough!

It also folds into this cushion - its called a "Quillow".

I used the instructions in "Magic Pillows, Hidden quilts" by Karin Hellaby. Which is not really the best title for this book as it is BRILLIANT for beginner quilters. It has lots of simple instructions for putting blocks together quickly & easily. All the blocks are the same finished size so can be used together and there are lots of photos & drawings to give you ideas.