I was delighted to hear of the arrival of Mabel, one special baby girl. A strong desire to make her a unique gift led to the thought to make a fabric baby book. After some browsing of Pinterest I decided to make a book with a page for each letter of her name, represented by …
Sewing
Starting the year as I mean to go on, I have created a stylish upcycled cushion cover out of one of the many shirts in my stash. Our cushion covers are somewhat tatty, and the worse for wear. In fact I was rather embarrassed when I came to look at them closely! I started …
Sneaking in at the last minute I have finally finished one of the three Naughty Secretary Bags I have cut out for this competition running over at Sew Mama Sew! Rather handily this tote bag is doubling up as competition entry plus a Christmas present – yeah, I have started making presents! (nothing like last minute) …
I am delighted to introduce to you the Rhine Valley Bag. Having just finished testing the pattern for Anna over at Charmed Liebling I am chuffed with the finished bag, complete with two external pockets, two internal pockets and zipper closure. As usual the pattern was well written, and easy to follow step by …
I am so excited about this recent make that I just had to write a tutorial so you can make your own Tooth Fairy Palace Pillow. This latest commission started with the inevitable Pinterest Board for toothfairy pillow ideas:) There are so many different ideas, but when I heard that the little girl in …
The idea of different bag designs interests me, as I am sure you can imagine:)! This week I have been thinking about smaller shoulder bags. My current range of stock is for large shoulder bags, influenced by my own bag requirements – drinks, changes of clothes for tots, the compulsory packet of wipes, snacks. Feedback …
Create your own man’s messenger bag – Today I am very excited to be guest blogging for the lovely Kate over at crafts on sea. Why not pop over and read the tutorial for making an upcycled man’s messenger bag, using a former jacket. An ideal gift idea:) Do check out her lovely blog, and …
This week I have been inspired by Kids Clothes Week. This great project encourages you to sew for one hour a day for seven days – I’ve made one of the seven!! I am delighted with my upcycling project – one rather large skirt altered to fit my daughter. I trimmed off from both sides …
Midweek it dawned on me that I was about to attend a 40th birthday with no gift – which is just not right! I find making an item for someone I know I add pressure to myself, am I going to make what they are envisaging? Is the finish going to be good enough? …
I’ve been busy pattern testing for Charmed Liebling, this time for a ladies shoulder bag. My gut instinct was that I would be keeping the bag for myself, so I raided my wardrobe, there’s nothing quite like a recycled bag! I just love this olive green, which goes perfectly with a pair of shoes …
This week has been busy writing guest posts and magazine articles. My research reminded me of the shocking amount of fabric that geos to landfill. The ‘Valuing our clothes’ report from Wrap includes news that around 350,000 tonnes (31%) of used clothing out of a total of 1.13 million tonnes are sent to landfill. There are …
I don’t know about you but I tend to stick to what I am familiar with. I have confess to owning my sewing machine for nearly a year now and only using two stitches, straight and zigzag!!! A while back I saw this idea of creating a stitch guide for your machine, and I have …