Sewing

I get there eventually

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I've been wanting to make a new handbag for myself for, oh, about three years. It's funny, because I usually make decisions really quickly, but for some reason I just couldn't make my mind up. There are too many options. Fabrics. Patterns. Zips (or not). The 241 Tote pattern has been popping up all over blogland for ages, and has been high on my "probably this one" list for just as long. It took this fabulous bag by Kelly to finally push me over the edge. That, and the fact that she told me I wouldn't regret it. Kelly, I took you at your word. Luckily for both of us you were right ;-)It's a fantastic pattern. Really well written and easy to follow. And the bag itself is a lovely size - [Read more...]

I may have said this before

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I really hate keeping secrets!The London Fat Quarterly retreat is coming up in June (make time go faster!) and Trash has organised a little sample swap. Basically, people are randomly assigned to groups of five and everyone makes four of the same item to swap with the other members of the group. We won't know who is in our group until the day of the retreat, so there is no stalking to be done. This is both liberating and scary.I've made quilted coasters for people before. I like the way that they are absorbent and don't do that annoying thing where they stick to the bottom of your cup and then fall off with a loud clatter that makes the cat jump off your lap. Anything that prevents the [Read more...]

Presents for me, presents for the boy

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With all the hand sewing that's been going on around here lately I had come to the conclusion that I really should be more careful about where I stick my needle. I tend to just poke it into the arm of the couch, but I was getting worried that I might absentmindedly stick it into the cat. I saw this spectacular armrest pincushion a while back, but it looked way too complicated. So I took the main design features (weighted pincushion, pocket, little bag thingy for bits of thread) and sort of made it up as I went along. It is basically the same, just a bit bigger and slightly less detailed in terms of its construction. It is made from a real mish-mash of fabrics. Some Little Apples, [Read more...]