Tag: sewing

A tale of two villages

stitchesoftime2 Comments

Hello again

I am amusing myself after a very snowy day again earlier this week and torrential rain and flooding today thinking of happy sunny times in Spain so thought that I would add the rest of my photos from Tabarca.

At the other end of this little island from the wild rocky cost is a little village, just 4 streets at the side of the church, with some really pretty little houses, I took lots of pictures of the windows and doors.

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This was a house that has been turned into an art gallery, lots of inspiration for arty shots.

And there was some lovely crochet in the window of this door.A beautiful place and one I would love to go back to. They do have hostels and rental properties so would love to do that one day as a mini holiday within a holiday.

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The other little village is my growing collection of house pin cushions, have not made any for a while but have quite a few now. Not certain yet where they are ending up but for now they are just populating the craft room.

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Have really enjoyed choosing different fabric and buttons and flowers for these from my stash. Added the cute button headed pins to some as well.Apologies for shadows in the photos, the light was not good this weekend.

The fabric flowers come from some braid that I have cut into individual flowers. So cute! Have just had an order of very lovely flower buttons for the next lot of houses but those will have to wait until the ornaments have been done.

I have made the cathedral window ornament and several folded ones so will show you that next post. Ellie and I are of to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show this weekend so looking forward to that and will try to be good and not buy fabric!

Take care and thanks for visiting.

An unexpected bonus

stitchesoftime2 Comments

Hello everyone

Hope that you are all well and happy, it has been a very busy few weeks here in lovely, mostly sunny, Yorkshire. Term has started and I have a new role at work, new students, new modules, new teams, in fact it is just like a completely new job except with the advantage that I know where the photocopier is and everyone’s names!

I have been on a roll with the house pincushions and have made 9 so far so will do a post later showing you all the lovely little dwellings – am mildly addicted as usual with anything new and keep dreaming up new fabric combinations, they are just so cute!

A couple of weeks ago Ellie and Kerry came up for a pre -planned fabric viewing outing, we had been meaning to go and explore some of the fab shops round here and look for inspiration for kit for next year.

We visited Fabworks in Dewsbury and the wonderful Bombay Stores in Bradford, the latter an absolute heaven of Asian wedding outfits and gorgeous fabric. There was great excitement as Kerry chose the fabric for her wedding dress, may not have mentioned it but her partner Dave proposed at Caldicot and we are all very thrilled that she said yes. They met at that event 3 years ago so it was very romantic  🙂

Anyway Kerry had suggested going to a Steampunk Fair at Leeds Industrial Museum so not only did we get to look at all the lovely stuff there but the museum celebrates the textile heritage of the area so there were brilliant displays of weaving looms, sewing machines and pattern cutting, just my cup of tea!

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Love to think of those women working at their machines in the heyday of Leeds as a tailoring centre. Pattern cutting being very much a male preserve! Hope they enjoyed what they did as much as we enjoy sewing as a hobby.

Also another unexpected bonus, went to Liverpool last week with work, part of my new role is working across the North of England promoting maths teaching, and found time to visit the Elizabeth Hoare Collection of Ecclesiastical Textiles at Liverpool Cathedral. Have been planning a trip for about 12 years and this is a sneak peak of what wonders are there. Need some time to sort out the 120 plus photos that I took and will post more loveliness!

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Rather gorgeous and I really was very excited, even though I only live an hour away had never been to Liverpool before and want to go back to visit all their  museums. Ellie and I have put it on our to do list for next year.

Am off to Spain again on Friday, Mum says the sea is still warm enough to swim in and the beach beds and umbrellas are still for hire so we will be spending at least one day mellowing with lots of good reading and a picnic.

Take care, see you when I get back and thanks for visiting.

Happiness is scrappiness!

stitchesoftime5 Comments

Hope that you all had a lovely weekend, I really enjoyed myself being creative. Much as I love re-enactment I am glad in some ways that the season is over and I have lots more time at home in my lovely craft room 🙂

I was just playing with my scrap drawer most of the time, I have been very inspired by all the lovely things on my Pinterest board and have lots of left over linen from all my years of making kit for the boys so made a couple of pincushions from linen and some of the left over charm packs. Very pleased that everything here came from my stash, mind you I do have quite a large stash!

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This one is also a scissor holder, again inspiration from Pinterest.

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This one was scraps from the various craft room accessory projects that I have made over the years like the sewing machine cover, needlebook and pincushion. Am quite tempted to keep this as it goes so well with the craft room though am supposed to be making these as gifts.

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I used some of my vintage linen for this one, the motifs come from a lace collar that a friend gave me and the button was also from the collar.

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I have wanted to make a little house pincushion for ages and found a great tutorial here at Retro Mama’s site  that explains how to make them. There are also some beautiful colour combinations here at Craft and Creativity’s website  to inspire you. Look at this loveliness in Tilda fabric and with some cute birds – picture from Helena’s site.

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I have made two so far , using an offcut from the red charm pack square in the previous pincushion for a little window box. The pink and aqua one is definitely staying with me in my craft room !

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I think these are just the cutest things ever and will be making a few more. Jake suggested putting a cat in the window and if I can work out how to cut a cat that small I will.

So many more lovely ideas on my board still left to do, must make a start on the Christmas ornaments soon though, it is nearly October and only have one made so far which is not like me!

Yarndale went very well, Sarah sold lots of books and I sold nearly all the baskets and some of the pincushions. She will be doing another book and stall next year and wants more things from me, especially needlebooks so that gives me plenty of opportunity to get making.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Pinspiration and perspiration

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello, hope you are all looking forward to a nice weekend whatever you are doing. I am planning to make some pincushions, have got so many lovely ones saved on my Pinterest board that it is time for some doing rather than just looking.

I have got my friend Sharon’s dog Ted staying with me for the weekend while she and Sarah are at Yarndale  so Jake and I will be taking him for walks later on.

Jake is home with me for a few months until he hopefully goes to Japan next year. He is starting a Japanese course the week after next and in the meantime is working part-time doing bar work and dog walking so he is getting very good at canine control!

Have been working hard over the last couple of weeks getting the last of the baskets finished for Sarah to take to Yarndale so just thought I would show you the last few.

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I got this fab vintage sheep motif from Ebay, sadly only had the two, really love the pattern on the sheep.

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I also made another mini basket to put the needlebook and pincushion I made last year in, I also made a pink one of these a while ago.

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Along with the other baskets I made earlier and the Liberty and linen pincushions I had quite a lot of things for the stall so am very pleased.

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I do love the combination of Liberty fabric and linen and so will definitely make more things using that combination. These are the ones from last year that I made for Yarndale.

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I also still have lots of lovely themed stitching and vintage print material to make more as gifts for crafting friends. I also definitely need a couple more for me for craft room storage, you can never have too many cute fabric baskets 😉 and there is a gap on my shelf now these have gone to Yarndale.

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Sarah is selling copies of her latest pattern book at Yarndale, not only does it feature some gorgeous patterns again, this time inspired by the Beaubaton Castle from Harry Potter but also Ellie modelled again for Sarah and her picture is on the front cover!

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This would make a fab Christmas present for a knitting friend so do go and get some from her website here. It is great value and there are some beautiful designs as usual, the woman is a knitting genius.

I love the promo picture for Yarndale this year, look at the cuteness of this sheep!

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I now have an I Pad, courtesy of work which has the Pinterest app on it and I am loving the fact that I can add things from the suggestions really easily. I came across this wonderful site the other day, Gentlework.

Christine makes the most amazing things from vintage textiles and I have been so inspired by the beautiful things on her site. Do go and have a look at them, they are really delicate and inspired by nature and just lovely.

Right off to make pincushions – see you later and thanks as always for visiting.

 

 

A little more making and a fab(ric) find!

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello again. Inbetween sorting out a Steampunk outfit and re-enacting I have been able to make a few things. Firstly a ring pillow for Ellie’s best friend Becky from University who got married this week.

The theme was linen and lace with dark blue so I used some of my vintage crochet stash and Jenny of Elefantz’s monogram patterns  as well as some flowers from an old pair of sandals that had worn out to fit in with the something old something new, something borrowed and something blue.

I am very pleased with how it turned out, I love the combination of linen and crochet and lace and have been saving lots of other inspiration pictures to my Pinterest boards.

I have also been saving all my tiny Liberty scraps from making hexagons and inspired by Pinterest and Crazy Mom’s month of pincushions  made these for Sarah’s Yarndale stall.

Was very pleased as well to find a fabric stall at the Steampunk market selling another version of one of my favourite haberdashery fabrics. The lady was called Jill from English Rose and she was very lovely. You can find her Etsy store  here.

Steam Punk fabri purchases

I have got this print in grey and black and cream and black and have used it for the cute baskets  and now have a whole metre in blue and cream as it was such a bargain 🙂 I also bought another print that I had seen on Ebay from the stall, love that sewing machine.

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I am aiming to make a few more fabric baskets  this weekend as Yarndale is only a few weeks away so better get crafting! Have a lovely weekend and thanks for visiting.

A little buying and a little making….

stitchesoftime3 Comments

Hello everyone, hope that you are all having a good weekend. It is raining again in lovely Marsden but as my sister and her cute dog are here for the weekend we have been out in it enjoying the beautiful countryside. The moors are amazing at the moment, all purple and it is great to be able to walk that far again after the mobility problems earlier in the year.

Not much has been going on craft wise, I have some progress on the Christmas ornaments and embroidery but nothing to show yet. However I can show you another cute little basket, this one made as a present for my cousin’s daughter. I made the smallest size of the Friends of the One Hour basket and filled it full of hair clips and she really loved it.

Anna-Mae's basket 1

As I mentioned in my previous posts I was very good at the Quilt Festival and only bought a little bit more stash 🙂 Firstly these gorgeous little mini charm packs, I am going to be going on some more bag making courses in the autumn so thought they would be great for that.

Quilt Festival mini charm packs

Charise has also got a great zipper pouch tutorial  on her blog which make use of these so might try that, look how cute the finished result is.

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I also had to have some more Liberty from Alice Caroline’s fab scrap bin. Thought they would look lovely with scrap linen and have recently come across this lovely hexi idea from Pinterest from Lola Rose Patchwork.

Quilt Festival Liberty fabric

Liberty hexagons

I have also been acquiring more cute vintage text and sewing related prints from Simply Solids over the last couple of visits. Apologies but I have no idea of the fabric names or details of the ranges, these are earmarked for baskets or sewing related gifts. I particularly love the one with all the quilt block patterns on.

Well off to make brunch now before we go for another walk, my very energetic sister has just been for a 5K run but we will be doing something a little less strenuous as my knees can’t cope with fast speed!

Have a nice rest of the weekend and week ahead, take care and thanks for visiting.

 

 

Catching up

stitchesoftime2 Comments

Hello everyone

It has been a bit of whirlwind here and I have been catching up on myself, the trip to Lisbon was great as was the event this last weekend, I have now just about caught up on all the housework and washing so now time to catch up on the fun blogging stuff!

I have so many lovely things to show you and lots of pictures from all my trips but will start with a little bit of making, here is the tabard that I finished for Jamie a few weeks ago, I finally found the pictures inside another folder.

It was a fairly simple make but had a lot of hand finishing, Jamie designed it himself and it not only looks good but works in terms of protecting his nice new brigandine which you can see in this first picture.

Tatton - Jamie's new tabard

 

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It is made of wool and lined in linen, I didn’t do the lining all the way down to the bottom so the scallops are just raw edges.

I was doing quite a lot of photography to back up my research and took this of one of the other groups in kit outside their tent, what lovely costumes!

Tatton - King and friends

I also have a few pictures from Tewkesbury, there were a few old friends who we had not seen for a very long time.Here are Bev and Kat dressed in the 15th century Burgundian dresses walking onto the battlefield.

Bev, the one on the right in the red gown, was one of the founder members of our old group and we haven’t seen her for a while so it was good to catch up.

Kat and Bev at Tewks

They were in the Queen’s party for the first time and were very pleased to be walking onto the battlefield at the start, the Queen is in the dark blue gown on the right of the second picture next to the prince. Pictures from Facebook.

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And we were thrilled to meet up with two of our oldest friends from re-enactment, Carl and Denise. We haven’t seen much of them for a few years and it was great to spend time with them, here we are with Carl outside the beer tent on Sat night, Ellie looks fab in her pirate theme costume.

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So a brilliant weekend, am now very glad of a couple of quiet weekends at home. Need to sort out lots of pictures from my holidays so will be back with more lovely stuff for you soon.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

May miniature madness

stitchesoftime1 Comment

Hello there, happy 1st of May.Hope that you are all having all had a good weekend, I am thoroughly enjoying the extended weekend here.

It is not feeling very Spring like yet but luckily all the snow has melted. Could not believe it when I woke up on Friday morning as it was all completely white. Bizarre even for Yorkshire.

I have always been drawn to making little things, whenever I craft it always seems to end up being a small project, mini hexagon patchwork, cross stitch so small you need a magnifier to do it, knitting little animal parts, I am always making tiny things. Ellie’s Barbie dolls used to be well kitted out with clothes 🙂

Maybe it is because I don’t have much time and like to get things finished, or maybe I was a pixie in a previous life but most of my projects seem to end up small. I take great inspiration from crafters like Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts  as she loves making things out of tiny scraps.

This weekend I excelled in making small things, I started with a basket (another!) and wanted to use up a small piece of the fusible foam that I had left. This became a basket which is only 3 inches high – so cute! I used Perle thread to topstitch which gives a great definition to the top edge.

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Being a make do and mend sort of crafter I used the cut outs from the bottom of the bag again to make a pincushion only this time decided to add from my scrap drawer and use half square triangles so here is a very tiny pincushion.

Pictures show bag and front and I suppose it is a Bow Tie block.

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This is only two inches across and I am very pleased with how neat my seams are, even the one underneath the button has great matching. I might crack this piecing lark after all.

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There was a small piece left over from cutting as well so I thought a little needlebook would be nice, this is just less than two inches wide and is lined with batting and has a little bit of felt inside. Both pincushion and needlebook have detachable straps as well.

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I am very pleased with everything even though it did take hours to make as most of it needed to be hand stitched as it was too small to machine. And look I am using stash less that a week after it arrived in the house, before it has time to go off 🙂

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I did make a normal sized one as well, this is the very cute sheep fabric, look at that one knitting.

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The pattern, Friends of the One Hour Basket by Kelby Sews, is very well written and easy to follow but I have made some adjustments to the process that I have detailed here in case they are useful.

  • When I cut out the squares from the bottom of the padded exterior section I tack the bottom and side seams flat, this seems to make it stand up easier without rocking.
  • I tack the handles into place before sewing the lining so that they stay still as I found the first couple slipped out of place when I pulled the lining up.
  • I hand stitch the lining inside at the top rather than topstitching, I am not the neatest machine sewer and like not having a line on the patterned fabric.
  • I iron the bag again at the end, both on the inside which makes the lining stick down to the other side of the fusible fleece and carefully around the outside, trying not to iron my hand as I hold it 😉

With my extra day tomorrow I am going to do something different and make something for my sewing room, something I have been meaning to do for a while, don’t know how far I will get but watch this space.

Hope you have a great Bank Holiday if you are in the UK and commiserations if it is just a normal Monday for you. Thanks for visiting and have a great week ahead.

 

 

‘What this old fabric? I’ve had it for ages darling!’

stitchesoftime4 Comments

Do you ever feel that you have to hide your stash enhancements from your nearest and dearest? Luckily for me my family completely understand my need to buy fabric.

Well Ellie very much appreciates knowing that she can raid the craft room whenever she needs to and I don’t think Jake would be bothered unless I spent all of the food budget on fabric and didn’t feed him when he comes back for the summer 🙂

I have recently been reading a great blog called Dresden Lane  whose tag line is, ‘sometimes I distract myself from buying fabric by sewing with it’, which I think sums up many of us.

Love this joke that I found. That is so me!

 

fabric buying joke

I have had a few lovely deliveries this week, one of the other compensations about not going away this last weekend for the re-enactment event was that I had more in my treats budget this month for fabric as I had a very economical weekend here at home.

As I mentioned I found some very cute sheep fabric – this grey one was from Thread and Loop and the red one from Marilyn’s Patchwork Mania , both from Ebay via an image search.

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These very unusual sheep hexagons come from The Vintage Fabric Market  and I will applique them onto some linen.

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I was lucky enough to find some more of the lovely Makower Sew Retro Notions fabric, which is now out of print, both the small motif and the larger ones.

The small motif one on the bottom came from Lovely Jubbly Fabrics and the larger print from Fabrics and Much More.

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I was also really pleased to find some more of some of my favourite type of designs, this blue with little red roses comes in several colourways and versions and I also bought a similar fabric in purple.

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This along with an ivory version of the lovely French sewing notions fabric that I used last weekend in grey comes from a site called Always Knitting and Sewing. I think this might be my favourite sewing notions fabric, I love the detail in these adverts.

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This shop has lots of the very pretty ditsy flowers and floral prints that I love and some very pretty bundles, so tempted but am being good for now! Look at these lovelies though.

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Pink fabric - Always K and S bundle

I am trying to buy more sets of fabric, I have had a tendency in the past just to buy random things that I like and have ended up with a very eclectic collection where nothing goes together.

I have a very random assortment of dinosaurs, cats, elephants, rabbits, tigers, penguins and owls and lots of other novelty things that I can’t yet find as use for. At least Mum has done something good with the dinosaurs now but still have a bit of menagerie to rehome!

My plans for this weekend are to turn some of this into baskets and to get on with some medieval kit – still got 30 feet of braid to put on Ellie’s outfit and a surcoat to make, though thankfully not as complex as the checkerboard from last year!

Hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy the Bank Holiday if you are in the UK – yippee an extra weekend day 🙂 🙂

Thanks for visiting.

Compensations

stitchesoftime6 Comments

Well unfortunately I didn’t make it to our event this weekend as have been struck down by a horrible flu bug but I have been feeling well enough to sew and have finished off one little fabric basket and made two others.

I may be slightly addicted, but they are so cute! And so useful. These ones will be for Sarah’s stall in September at Yarndale as she is producing another book of patterns and has asked me to make some more things to sell alongside that again.

The first one was to go with some of the things I made for the stall last year that I had left over, I thought this would make a good threads or scraps basket along with the matching pincushion and needlebook.

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I adapted the pattern from the original one from Kelbysews at Hearts and Bees on Craftsy   in order to make this smaller one but have since bought the Friends of the One Hour Basket Pattern by the same designer on Craftsy which gives you the sizes to make all these lovely ones. Picture from Craftsy.

Friends of the Hour Basket

I used this new pattern to make two of the Melanie Baskets which are the second from smallest of the sizes. The pattern contains sizes for 8 baskets including a tote bag and is great value at about £3.50.

Do you remember this lovely fabric that I bought at Harrogate last year, (proof that I do use my stash!).

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This is the fabric I purchased recently, just couldn’t resist more sewing notions patterned fabric.

I made the little detachable matching pincushion for this one out of the scraps from when you cut out the corner squares to make the box shape, waste not want not. It has a press stud on the strap for removal.

I am going to make a matching pincushion for the French sewing themed bag as well, the motifs on the scrap corners were too small but I have plenty of this lovely fabric left.

They look so cute in my craft room 🙂

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I may just have ordered a few bits of sheep themed fabric to make some for knitters as well, could not find much in the way of nice wool or knitting motifs but found plenty of cute sheep and as Yarndale is held in a cattle market and is full of sheep stuff thought those might sell well.

Hope you have a lovely week ahead, my students are back this week which will be very lovely and then we have a Bank Holiday weekend to look forward to – yippee three days of making bags!

Thanks as always for visiting.