It seems like everyone has signed up for Elsie Marley's KCWC and I'm no exception. I definitely need some motivation, the weather is warming up and Lizzy and Martin have both grown so much over the winter that they need some new clothes. (desperately!) My challenge is to take all of my patterns and inspiration out of my sizeable stash of Japanese pattern books. I'm passionate about them but definitely don't use them enough. I am forever buying patterns when in reality I have enough to keep me going in my Japanese pattern books till my kids move out. While at times the patterns can be little confusing (hello hiragana!), there are lots of amazing resources out there to help you out. Last year I blogged about them here. Why do I love these books so much? - Their aesthetic is beautifully simple ( I don't think I've ever seen a diamonte in a Japanese pattern book...)
- They sew up beautifully ( as long as you don't forget to add seam allowances!)
- There as many gorgeous patterns for boys as there are for girls
- The patterns are timeless - they aren't caught up in the latest trend or fashion and they are just as suitable for a ten year old as a three year old
- The books contain lots of basic shapes - They make a perfect blank slate for your own designs and inspirations
- While the books seem expensive, they all contain at least 8 patterns in multiple sizes. When you look at it like that, they're a bargain!
So - the sewing challenge has been set. Seven days of sewing, all Japanese patterns and no fabric buying. Easy.... Are you sewing along with KCWC? What are you plans? Do you use Japanese patterns? I'd love to hear all about it!Caroline
Today we get to meet the best friend of Margaret. She blogs at With or Without Nap. She has two gorgeous daughters and a little boy due in October. She lives in our part of the world and it is lovely to see the sewing on her blog that matches our seasons! Today, she has come up with such a great idea for embellishing a pattern that many of us know and love.Thanks for being with us Margaret... It's a pleasure to be here with Caroline and Maryanne and be a part of their 'My Best Friend' series. I have long admired these lovely sisters and their amazing sewing creations and I must say, I especially love Madeleine's new cape!;
My name is Margaret, I am Mum to two little girls, with a baby boy on-the-way (due in October).
When my second daughter was about 5 months old, I was itching to make some pretty little dresses for my girls... but I had never used a sewing machine before! So, I enrolled in a Beginners Sewing class (where I was so sleep-deprived from looking after my colicky baby, I struggled to even stay awake... however I was determined to learn how to thread my new machine and simply sew a straight line!). When I accomplished those two goals, I felt well on my way to being able to 'make stuff'. And now, that's what I love to do!
You will find lots of sewing and craft ideas on my blog, With or Without Nap. My girls and I are constantly creating together and our dining room table is often covered in a wonderful mess because of this. I have found that my favourite thing to make for my girls are skirts... and lots of them!
Over the years, I have learned a few new techniques, nothing fancy ~ just how to make ruffles or add a pocket or pleats.... but I still consider myself very much a 'Beginner' when it comes to sewing. I tend to make similar things, using different fabrics and embellishments. I find this allows me to get started on a project and finish it relatively quickly (and besides, I have really never been able to make heads or tails of those tricky paper patterns!).
I would have to say that 'My Best Friend' when it comes to sewing, is the Lazy Days Skirt Tutorial from Oliver & S. In those early days, when sewing still seemed really intimidating to me, it really opened up my eyes to there being simple ways and 'short cuts' in sewing. Using a strip of fabric, selvedge to selvedge, eliminates the need to finish the seams at the join - genius!
I have made many a skirt using the Lazy Days tutorial, it's so quick and easy, I can whip up a few little skirts at once. The best part is Liesl's unique technique for hemming the skirt, and I love that there are lots of ways to embellish a Lazy Days Skirt, by adding contrasting ribbon, a fancy button, fabric flower, ruffle trim or simply leaving the hem plain.
With a little baby on the way and spring just around the corner for us here in Australia, I have made a few new Lazy Days Skirts for my girls recently;
As you can probably tell, I love colour and find it hard to 'tone it down' when it comes to sewing. I see this in my girls' art and creations too... a reflection of a bright, happy and colourful childhood, I hope!
However, when I came across some Denim on sale the other day, I had an idea... for a Lazy Days Skirt... with remove-able yo-yo flowers (just to add a little pop of colour!)
This skirt can be be the feature of any outfit and any colour-scheme your little girls likes!
It's as easy as un-buttoning the yo-yo's and adding whichever yo-yo's she likes!
(As you can see from the picture above, Livvie switched an orange yo-yo for a pink one, which I didn't notice until after I had taken the photos!)
Yo-yo's are so simple to make and there are many online tutorials...
Putting a button hole at the back is my little way of making them more versatile. The fact that these yo-yo's are removeable, gives your little girl the ability to switch them around, as often as her heart desires.
Why not add a button to a headband...
...and let your little girl decide which yo-yo it will be today? Thanks so much for having me here today. I have enjoyed following the ' My Best Friend' series and look forward to seeing more in the days ahead. What a great way to use yo-yos... I know my girls would love these skirts and they are definitely on my to do list.So, head over and check out Margaret's blog. Have a look at all her great sewing and the lovely things her children get up to.
And if you are like me and love the arrival of a baby in the blogging world, keep checking back - I am sure Margaret will keep us posted!
So, I was so excited when I was drawn out of the hat to be the June Giveaway Guest Challenger. And when the package of scraps arrived in the mail I squealed with delight! (Think about it... you go to the letter box knowing that the most likely thing to spring from it is your latest credit card bill and instead you find Liberty Fabric. That is definitely squeal worthy)
I've come up with two ideas.
Today, I will show you a little Liberty head band - more of an idea than a tutorial. I made two last night (in a rush as usual) for Pippa to give as gifts at a birthday party she went to today. They were very quick to make and I'm pleased with how they turned out.
Have you ever made a Suffolk puff? They're funny little things. I think they are also called yo-yos. I have to admit - I think they are quite old fashioned, but I have been playing with them a bit lately. I have seen some very sweet necklaces and some great embellished t shirts that use Suffolk puffs. And one day... if Caroline and I can ever get the motivation we will finish our Project Run and Play Signature Look which uses... you guessed it... Suffolk puffs. Suffolk puffs are very simple to make. You can cut yourself out a circle of fabric and turn a small edge under. Do a running stitch right around the edge and pull it up tight. That's it - your doneEven easier - you can buy yourself a Yo Yo maker. I used a Clover one. You only need a scrap of fabric about 7cm in diameter to make a puff that is 3 cm wide. If you are desperate and working with really small scraps you can actually piece scraps together to make the 7 cm circle. I did it a couple of times and the puffs worked out just fine. I won't give you detailed instructions on how to use it, because the yo yo maker comes with those. But this will give you an idea: When I was making these, I got to the stage where you start to draw up the gathers and decided this must be how fairies make shower caps!! I can't imagine any thing more perfect than fairies wearing Liberty shower caps.
I had bought the head bands for another project that was not successful(!) involving hot glue. The satin ribbon that originally covered the band ended up ruined by the glue so I ripped that off and was left with a thin black plastic headband. I found some gros grain ribbon in my stash that was a little wider than the band and stitched a channel in the ribbon so the band fitted in snuggly. If you are going to cover your own head band don't forget to turn the raw edges of the ribbon in before you sew it on both ends. Once you have put the band in your ribbon cover, you can hand stitch the ends closed to create a nice neat finish.
I hand stitched the puffs onto some felt leaves and then stitched them onto the ribbon band. I am now scared of the hot glue gun!!
Here is Pippa modelling a band for us:
Let me interpret this look for you:
"Mum, why are we on the front foot path taking photos? Can't we just wrap this head band up and go to the birthday party? I'm late!!!!"
I'll be back soon with Liberty Scrap Challenge 2.
Maryanne
It's finished...
I have to say the piecing of the star was so much easier than I expected and fitting the white squares and triangles so much harder than I expected. I must ask Mum how she does it. I just made it up!! More and more I am working out with patchwork - there is an easier technique. I just didn't know it this time.
I think it is lonely and needs some friends. I was thinking about playing with this collection of fantastic stars and making a red and white star sample quilt. I'll keep you posted. Maryanne
PS I know... I'm still playing. But I promise I am working on our great blog series Beyond The Basics. Caroline has got me on a timetable so the play has got to stop!!
This is the time of the year when I most productive when it comes to sewing. I am so productive, I feel like I could rule the world (if ruling the world involves cutting up fabric into tiny little pieces and then sewing it all back together again really fast!) The problem with spending every spare moment making Christmas gifts, is that there is not much time for anything else, including blogging. So I will make this quick.I loved this tutorial for Where the Orchids Grow so much: that I made this:
It was fun to make, so I made these too:
Filled with stationary, they made great presents for Madeleine and Pippa's teachers.
I hope they like lime and orange as much as I do!
Make sure you pop by on Tuesday. We are participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day and I think you'll like what we have to give away.
Maryanne
I guess most crafters associate the term scrappy with fabric, but today I'm thinking a little laterally.
By the end of the year our crayon box is looking pretty tired - lots of stubby ends and broken pieces - quite a lot like this, actually! We thought we'd give them a bit of seasonally themed make-over with the help of a couple of gingerbread shaped ice-cube trays. There - don't they look happier? There is a tonne of information out there on how to do it. Here's an example. I don't think you're supposed to heat them, but I used ice cube moulds for mine and melted the crayons on a very low heat and they turned out just fine. Packaged up for friends - they make a lovely scrappy gift! Caroline
A little while back Maryanne blogged about the embroidered serviettes that she made for The Haby Goddesses' Red and White Kris Kringle. She's way more organised than I am and finished her contribution before the deadline. Me? I'm a deadline kind of girl and managed to finish my present right. on. the. due. date. phew! This project kind of evolved. I've really enjoyed my brief foray into patchwork in the last couple of weeks so I decided to make a spotty, scrappy table runner. Staying true to our scrappy Christmas goal, I managed to make it out of my stash. I machine appliquéd lots of hand cut red circle scraps on to white to make the front of the runner and while I planned a plain red backing, I found that I didn't have enough fabric so I stripped (is that even a verb? ... in the sewing sense I mean!)up a panel for the middle. Luckily, a gross miscalculation (maths was never my thing) when I was making advent bunting meant that I had plenty of red and white checked binding to finish the project off.The hardest thing about this project was taking a reasonable picture of it ... hence the collage. Like Lizzy's cushions it's a little bit wonky but made with lots of Christmas spirit and the very best of intentions! Thank you so much Jodi for organising this - I have really enjoyed it and you have inspired me to make my whole Christmas a red and white one this year!Caroline
This is a quick one today! Use some of your scraps to make some gift cards.
I cut my fabric at 3inches x 3inches.
I even found an old brown cardboard folder to sew the fabric on to, so these cards really cost me nothing.
Triple stitch gave me a look that I liked. I lengthened the stitch to 3.5mm and a jersey needle seemed to punch through the cardboard better than a sharper needle.
Here's one close up:
I know the photos would have looked better if I had included a half eaten mince pie, but today I resisted the urge!
Maryanne
My head space for sewing right now is Christmas, Christmas , Christmas. My physical space for sewing is mess, mess, mess - fabric, stuffing, embroidery thread, books and patterns from one end of the small room to the other. I can't show you any pictures, I am too embarrassed. Just feel very sorry for my husband who shares this space with me for his study. We are being walled in by my sewing stuff. Caroline and I have been talking in the past few weeks and both think that for so many reasons a scrappy Christmas is a happy one: - Christmas is usually a time of mass consumption. By using what we already have we can try and reduce buying too much new stuff.
- By using scraps we can justify our sewing time as tidying time - with each project I complete there will be one less scrap on my sewing room floor!
- Scraps often have lovely memories associated with them. Re-live them while you sew!
- Scrappy projects are often small and fast to make - this means you can give more of your family and friends a handmade Christmas
So over the next few weeks we will be posting some of the Christmas gifts we have been making, with a commitment that (most of them!) will be from the scrap pile. To start things off I thought I would do a bit of a scrappy gift idea round up.  I love this little organiser. I have already made one and done the patchwork outer for another 5! Madeleine and Pippi's teachers will all be getting them, filled with some little stationary loveliness. I am obsessed with this patchworking technique. I'll write more about it next week. You can find this great tutorial here at Where the Orchids Grow
 Sew a rainbow of scraps? Who wouldn't want to do that? Susan, from Living with Punks had a Scrap Your Stash Month with lots of fantastic tutorials. This Pen Wrap and Roll is one of my favourites. Its made by Katy from No Big Dill
 This fabric bowl is made using cotton clothes line wrapped in scraps - something I have never seen before and would never thought of. I love the way it allows you to create a bowl with structure. You can find this great tutorial at CraftStylish.
 In 2009 Sew Mama Sew did a Scrap Buster Month. This sweet dolly quilt will really use up your tiny scraps - the pieces you need are 1 x 2 inches. Wouldn't it be a great way to use the scraps from all the clothing you have made a special little girl to make her dolly a quilt. The technique looks a lot easier and quicker than you think. Thanks to Amanda Jean for this great tutorial
 This tutorial from Jeni at In Color Order is the cleverest way to make a lined drawstring bag that I have seen. I have made a few to use for gift wrapping. With a rotary cutter and a big ruler you could make 5 or 6 of these in an evening.
 These Juggling Balls were also featured in the Living With Punks Scrap Your Stash Month. They were created by Sachiko from Tea Rose Home. They are beautifully constructed and I love her choice of fabrics. She has sewn them by hand and I am really enjoying a little bit of hand sewing. These are on my list for Will. I will make a fabric basket to toss them into and store them when they are not being used. I could also make them for my brother - he could use them to improve his juggling skills!
So that's just a little taste of some Scrappy Projects on offer for your Christmas gifts. All these tutorials are well written and simple enough that if you have done a beginners sewing course ( like ours!) you would be able to complete them with ease. Don't forget our tutorial page - many of the projects there only require small amounts of fabric and would look great made up with some scraps. Have fun! I am off to do some sewing... I mean tidy the sewing room...Maryanne
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