July's sewing

I'm glad to say there has been some sewing in July - some of it fun, some of it routine, and some of it very much a group effort.

First was a quick and easy cushion cover as a birthday present for a friend. We usually exchange one sensible and one silly present – this was the silly present (just in case you were wondering!).

I used an invisible zip from stash which could have done with being a bit longer in order to get a slightly neater finish at one end. Other than that, it went in very easily using the concealed zipper foot for my machine.
 

The next project was shortening four pairs of trousers for Mum and again it was a case of the right tools making the job much easier. Two of the trousers were woven fabrics and so it was a straightforward job of turning them up. The other two were knit fabrics and required a stretch stitch. I knew I would get the best result with my coverstitch machine, but it was stored in the depths of the box room and hadn’t seen light of day for several years. I had read that a twin needle could be used for stretch hems and thought that might be quicker than trying to find the coverstitch: it wasn't. I wasted about half an hour trying to get a balanced stitch before admitting defeat and venturing into the box room. Once the coverstitch machine was set up, it took me less than 10 minutes to do both pairs of trousers.

(Twin Needle)

(Coverstitch)

The final sewing was done at this month’s meeting of Leeds MQG. I took the little red sewing machine and spent the day sewing together blocks sent to the Manchester Quilting Bee. The little red machine is not the speediest of machines, but I managed to get the blocks of one quilt stitched together before having to head home. At least the slow stitching meant I had plenty of time to admire the variety of blocks that had been sent in and to appreciate the effort that had gone into some of the blocks in particular.

Next month is Festival of Quilts and thanks to a ticket giveaway from Jo at My Bear Paw, I am now planning just how much (or how little) I can fit into a five hour visit.