I Spy Bags

"Are we nearly there yet?"

"No.  No we're not.  And asking that question 248 times does not seem to be getting us there any faster."

Ah, you have to laugh or you'd...stuff playdough in your ears, turn the car right around and swear never to take them anywhere again until they're at least eligible to vote.

In the interests of not giving my toddler and pre-schooler electronic games or endless supplies of food to keep them quiet in the car, I made these I-spy bags to hopefully keep their little hands occupied for while. 

Each containing the same (of course!) random assortment of items hidden amongst the polystyrene beads, the bags should hopefully provide some tactile entertainment, as well as the obvious who can find it first competitions.  The girls seem to have enjoyed them on the first outing today anyway.  So far so good.

They were made from a 9" x 18" rectangle of interiors fabric from Ikea, with a 2.5" square cut and turned back to make a 3.5" window.  A square of clear plastic tablecloth was then sewn in the window - I went around it three times, just to ensure the beads stay firmly inside the bag.

I then folded in half, sewed around the edges (leaving about 3" for turning), turned it right side out, pressed, topstiched around the edges (apart from the 3" gap), filled with the goodies, and topstitched the gap closed.  It definitely needed a lot fewer polystyrene beads than I expected - I had to unpick twice and remove some, as the goodies inside couldn't be seen when it was stuffed too full, much to the consternation of my four year old.

I have to admit I saw this idea on somebody's tutorial, way back in the mists of time, and can no longer remember where that was, so apologies to wherever they are due, and also thank you!

Tissue cosy gifts

I think I might be onto something.  Wouldn't these cute little tissue cosies make a lovely end of year teacher's gift?  You know, made up in apple for the teacher fabric?

I made this one up following a great tutorial from Don't Look Now, using a remnant from my Royal wedding skirts.  I realise now that my handbag tissues have been positively slumming it up until this point.

We have at least 7 teachers to provide for.  I'm off to scour eBay for suitable appley fabric.

Flower wrist cuff pincushion

I am constantly flitting between the sewing machine in my office, the ironing board in the sitting room, and the dining room table for pattern cutting, etc, and en route I inevitably misplace my sewing paraphernalia.  Well, no more!  May I present my new BFF in the sewing room - my wrist pin cushion!  Barely two days old, and already I know we're going to be inseparable through sewing triumphs and disasters for years to come. 

Following the pincushion cuff tutorial at Keyka Lou, I used a scrap of Amy Butler fabric for the pincushion itself, and a cute interiors fabric from Ikea for the wristband.  I slipped a piece of card (held in place with double-sided tape) inside the wristband behind where the pincushion would sit before stitching closed, so no pin-perforated wrists for me!  It seemed a bit tricky to neatly stitch the pincushion onto the stiff cuff, so I did a teensy cheat and hot-glued it on, which seems plenty sturdy enough so far.  The only other change I made was to sew the velcro on lengthways instead of widthways, to make it more adjustable for a perfect fit.

My mind is now racing at the thought of what other sewing equipment I can carry about my person to save even further time and exasperation.  I am definitely going to attach some small scissors to a ribbon to hang around my neck, but what after that?  A sewing utility belt of some kind?  A glue gun holster??  A step too far maybe...

Overcoming my dressmaking fears III

Having done some minor pattern alteration I was ready to put together a test garment, which could potentially be the start of a whole new level of sewing for me.  Exciting times loom ahead in my little craft room!

At the outset, my best hopes were that I would merely be able to follow the instructions and produce a wearable item, but by methodically working through each step it actually came together relatively painlessly.

By far the most fascinating and novel part of the process was seeing how the darts shape the fabric to create the 3D curves needed, in a way that is obviously not required for constructing children's clothing.  Of course I also recognise that this will be where the challenges lie, but for now I'll focus on the fascination and try not to think about the hair-tearing-out sessions ahead.

So, the end result is that I have a handmade dress...of sorts.  Bed sheet chic - ooh la la!

I am now in a dilemma as to what to do next.  It fits...kind of.  In fact, it fits better than some dresses I've bought, but it's not right.  I tweaked the darts at the back, but it's still a little wrinkled.  I moved the shoulder seam as everything I ever buy is too long for me between bust and shoulder, and it was an improvement, but that adjustment has probably thrown the placement of the bust darts.  It feels a bit wide overall between bust and shoulder, although according to my full bust and also high bust measurements I have cut out the correct size.  An experienced dressmaker would probably identify another dozen issues, but these are the obvious ones to me.

Despite its faults, if it were made up in a nice fabric and finished properly I think it would be a wearable dress, which was all I initially hoped for, but I think I may have inadvertently moved the goal posts.  I now want it to be a great dress, which is clearly an unrealistic expectation for a first attempt.

My options are to a) make it up in the nice fabric (a gorgeous blue floral Amy Butler number since you ask), call it my everyone-has-to-start-somewhere dress, wear it and love it; b) experiment with more/alternative adjustments with this or another toile or c) try my luck with a different pattern altogether.

I may revert to the safety of one of my many projects planned for the girls while I mull it over.

Royal Wedding Skirts

Lurking in the remnant bin at John Lewis I found a piece of fabric to commemorate the Royal Wedding.  It cost about £5 and looked to be just enough to run up a couple of skirts for two little princesses to wear to the street party today.

These were such easy skirts to make, and light and comfortable to wear.  It is a very simple rectangle of fabric, joined at the short edges to make a tube.  I then turned over a narrow hem at the top, and did several (6/7) lines of shirring, using the edge of the presser foot as a guide.  I dampened the shirring and pressed, to shrink it up, then hemmed the bottom, adding on a band of organza to trim, and it's done!

Overcoming my dressmaking fears II

With the pattern spread out in front of me, the theory started to become clearer.

I carefully took my measurements, and, after initially swallowing my pride at suddenly gaining a couple of dress sizes (!), I traced around the size 12. I am basically an hourglass shape, but the pattern allows for the hip measurement to be a couple of inchs larger than the bust, so I traced around the size 10 from the hips down, and "blended" the outlines together between the hips and waist.

I know I am short waisted, so after holding the cut out tissue pattern up to my body, I estimated a 1" adjustment to the waist, which was made by folding and taping the pattern at the appropriate line.

So far so good.

Now came the difficult part. Being bothered to make a toile to test my pattern. I'm usually more of a jump right in kind of a person, but feeling acutely aware of how out of my depth I am, I dug out some spare bed sheets and got on with the task at hand.

Overcoming my dressmaking fears

I've always loved making stuff. I'm usually keen to give anything a go, but my creative focus always returns to sewing in the end.

The one thing I have always shied away from, however, is making clothes for myself, which in a way seems ridiculous as I am mildly obsessed with clothes.

I think I have previously been deterred because I always assumed that a handmade dress wouldn't suit or fit me well enough. I am the kind of person who slip stitches trouser pockets closed to give a better line, or takes up a skirt hem by just 1" for a better proportion. And the older I get, the pickier I become about the fit of my clothes.

What hadn't occurred to me is that this pickiness is precisely the reason why I should be making my own clothes.

I knew that it was possible to adjust commercial patterns, but it all seemed a bit hit and miss, not to mention intimidating. Spurred on by my latest fabric purchase though, along with a healthy dose of curiosity I have unearthed my easy New Look 6643 pattern (purchased some months ago and promptly filed under "D" for "Don't even think about it"), ready for some serious action, more on which in the next post.