Midsummer sewing

At this month’s Waterloo Quilters meeting, we had the option to make a multi-pocketed drawstring bag and at times it was a bit like one of the challenges on the Great British Sewing Bee. Some people were regretting their fabric choices, some chose not to follow the instructions and most were wondering if we could finish it in time. I chose to use an old pair of jeans for mine which meant I got two bonus pockets. We all finished our bags, but were very glad that no judging was involved.

My other sewing this month has been a major catch up on the blocks for the tiny nine patch challenge. These have been mainly done while the TV has been occupied by the football and I’ve managed to get over 100 blocks sewn and back on track.

Seeing as there will be more sporting-related TV disruption due to Wimbledon and the Olympics, July may also prove to be a productive month for this project.

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Is it too early to mention Christmas?

Until a few days ago, I had no sewing to show for October, but I finally manage to spend some time at the sewing machine at the weekend and now have these re-usable gift bags made.

These are for a hospice Christmas Fayre and I hope they will appeal to people’s desire to be more sustainable with their Christmas wrapping.

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March Madness

What an odd month we’ve had and it looks like we are in for another few of the same. The coronavirus restrictions mean that my sewing stuff has had to be packed away from the kitchen table so my husband can use it to work from home (how much tech does one person need?) while I work from home in the other room on a Victorian style writing bureau where I feel I should be wearing a bonnet and crinoline and using pen and ink rather than a laptop. We are trying to put everything away on a Friday afternoon so that weekends are vaguely normal and the sewing machine can replace the screens and keyboards.
 

Back before coronavirus, I made a small zip up tote bag upcycling an old pair of jeans and using a very small amount of my Liberty stash. This was supposed to be a sew-a-long with Leeds MQG but that wasn’t to be.
 

Instead of using webbing for the handles, I used more of the jeans and added a Liberty trim. The lining was more Liberty – a misprint from the factory shop which I got a good few years ago.
 

 
The other bit of sewing that I managed to do was to finish a Mystery Quilt kit. This was the first mystery quilt run by Lisa from Modern Quilt Club and started in March last year with the last section being sent towards the end of last year. Right until the last month I had no idea how all the pieces were going to fit together and now it is completed it is probably something that is definitely outside my normal choices for quilts.
 

 
I found some fleece that was an ideal colour match for one of the accent colours so that was the backing sorted and I quilted it using a diagonal cross hatch.
 

 
The binding that was sent as part of the kit was patterned and I felt there was lot going on in the quilt already and so I had to hunt in my stash for something plainer (this was the first weekend of lockdown and I didn’t think fabric would count as essential shopping). I found a navy border print that was just the right shade and there was just enough once the border had been cut off.
 

 
Now this quilt is finished, it will be heading off to Project Linus when coronavirus allows. At least all the shopping restrictions means that the next few months might see me use up some of my stash for new projects.


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2019 - my sewing summary

I’m writing this post in January, but hopefully with some technological wizardry it will travel back in time and appear in the archives for December – a much more suitable place for a look back on my year of sewing.

2019 turned out to be quite a product year. I took part in the Finish-a-Long which gave me deadlines to get things done and I even managed to finish some things not on the list. In total, and in no apparent order, I managed to finish:

• 2 large quilts
• 3 small quilts
• 1 mini quilt
• 1 mug rug
• 2 coasters
• 1 tote bag
• 2 reusable non-plastic bags
• 24 drawstring bags for the Leeds MQG charity sewing day
• 1 ironing mat
• 2 tops
• 5 skirts (including 4 from the Style Arc Faye pattern)
• 2 key fob holders
• 5 mini Christmas stocking

There were also quite a few alterations (shortening 5 pairs of trousers for my husband, shortening 3 tops for me which needed the coverstitch machine being brought back into action, adding an inside pocket to a jacket) as well as various repairs that were quick to do, but had been put off for ages.
 

 

Some progress has been made on an EPP hexie patchwork quilt that is a very long term work in progress. My activity on this quilt seems to go in three year cycles – I started it way back in 2013, decided to change the design back in 2016, and I have changed the design again in 2019. I’ve kept the mirror idea, but switched the mirror effect from one side to the other. 
 

The change in design required a bit of unpicking and then I realised that I won’t have enough of one of the pink fabrics, so I've started using an alternative and will replace some of the other pieces to give me enough to finish the quilt. Even though there will be a bit more unpicking to do yet, I think I have passed the halfway stage now with this and can see progress from the 2016 photo to the 2019 photo.

For 2020, I’ve already got a short list of quilts I’d like to make and I bought some fabric in Abakhan’s sale to make yet another Style Arc Faye skirt. The Finish-a-Long has moved to Instagram for 2020 so I’ll give it a go again and see how I get on with the new format – I can be found on Instagram as @sewlittletosay if you want to see what I have planned.

(A WordPress version of this post is available here as it may be more mobile-friendly for viewing and commenting.)

Finish-a-long 2019 – Q2, finish 3

This bag was finished just in time for this round of the Finish a-long. I'd initially called the project a "building bag", but I'm now thinking of it as the "Tudor Tote".

The inspiration for this bag was a woven striped bag produced for a London department store. I used a supermarket tote bag to give me an idea what size to make and took the opportunity to shorten the handles as most shop bought bags seem designed for someone several inches taller than me. This was going to be a simple bag, but I ended up including three pockets and making padded, corded handles.

I bought several fat quarters with stripes of different widths to use for the main body of the bag. Most were black and white, but one was black and cream, so I tea-dyed all the fabrics to get a uniform colour.

I used patchwork to get the different widths and different directions of stripes and then lightly quilted the main pieces using off-cuts of wadding fused on to a backing of woven interfacing. The handles were also pieced and then reinforced with a woven fusible interfacing before being wrapped around a soft handle cording.

I added three pockets to the bag - a “hidden” zip pocket on the outside, a zip pocket on the inside with striped piping, and a slip pocket on the inside using remnants from making the handles.

The main problem I had making this bag (and why it took longer than it should) was my sewing was significantly impeded by the determination of Not-Our-Cat to sit on the fabric at any opportunity.

(For 2019, I am trialling a version of this website on WordPress to see if it is more mobile-friendly for commenting and posting. The WordPress version of this post is available here.)

2018 - a round up

Sewing has had to take a back seat this year, so my list of finishes is not great. I have managed to complete a quilt for Project Linus and have another top ready to quilt in the new year. I wrote a couple of the tutorials for the BOM club and have added two project tutorials to this website and finished various other bits and pieces. There has also been time to learn some new techniques at Leeds MQG (crumb blocks and a triple Drunkard's Path) which I might put to use in 2019.

There has been a bit of garment sewing (but no photos) and a couple of trips to shows which gave me the chance to meet up with online friends, as well as succumbing to the usual shopping opportunities these events offer.

There was a late addition to the fabric stash - I won some gorgeous Japanese style fabrics just before Christmas in a giveaway from P&Q Magazine on Instagram.

I've also inherited a couple of sewing items - a Victorian style cotton reel stand that used to belong to my Grandma and a Bernina Minimatic sewing machine that was my Mum's. The bobbin stand has been put to use, but I'm now keeping an eye out in charity shops for wooden cotton reels to display on it. Unfortunately, the Bernina will need some attention before I can use it as it will sew a few stitches and then the needle stops going up and down, but I'm hoping this will be fixable.

I hoping for more sewing time in 2019 and first on my list is finishing a quilt for a great nephew who appeared in the summer and is still waiting for his quilt (though I don't think he minds).

A flurry of finishes

My sew-jo seems to have returned and there has been quite a bit of sewing going on in December. First is one of those annoying secret sewing projects that I can't show as it was made for a Secret Santa swap that has been delayed to January.

Moving quickly onto things I can show, I've been working my way through a Block of the Month this year and December's BOM was a 3D Santa. I decided to scale down the pattern and make a tree decoration sized Santa (standard sized visiting cat shown for scale).


Fortunately, I had a spare block from one of the other months and so I was able to use this to complete a quilt top that will probably go to Project Linus. There have been a variety of blocks, but using a limited number of fabrics and adding a narrow dark border to the blocks has brought the various patterns together.

Back in February, I started a FPP challenge for 2018 and I managed to get this completed with a day or two to spare. The original challenge was for the curved pattern, but I made an additional panel using a simplified straight line design and then used the two panels to make a bag for my quilting rulers. I used fusible Bosal R foam to give the bag some structure, but it doesn't want to stay fused so I might try to unfuse it to give a more even effect with the quilting.


After this flurry of activity, I think I need some time tidying up my sewing stuff which seems to have taken over the kitchen table.

2017 - my sewing year in numbers

This year has been more productive than last year and finished quilts actually make an appearance in my annual round up. Again, small and quick projects feature quite strongly and for some projects, a needle and thread has been replaced by glue and a brush. I've started a new EPP project (Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses), but progress has been slow and I have only got as far as chosing the fabric for the linking blocks, and have not started going through my Liberty fabrics for the main blocks.

Not too much fabric has been added to my stash this year, and now Standfast & Barrack no longer sell Liberty lawn in their factory shop, I can't see my Liberty stash increasing much in 2018. I did buy a few dressmaking patterns and fabrics this year, so perhaps some garments will appear in next year's montage.

In summary, this is what I have achieved this year:

• 6 spotty coasters sewn
• 5 boxes/cases repurposed and covered in Liberty fabric
• 4 quilts finished
• 2 garments refashioned
• 1 mini quilt stitched
• 1 cushion made and gifted
• 1 insulated lunch bag designed and created
• 1 bag customised with Liberty EPP
• 1 replacement iPad case completed
• 1 peek-a-boo pouch made
• 1 new EPP project started

Looking back on 2016

This year, sewing has had to take a back seat and so I knew there wouldn’t be a great deal to show for my end of year round up. As you can see, quilts are conspicuous by their absence though I have two quilt tops waiting to be quilted and bound for Project Linus, but they will appear in next year’s finishes. This year’s sewing has been mainly bags and small quick projects, but I am pleased to have finished the blocks for the Morris Hexathon and hope to have this quilt finished early next year.

    

Sadly I no longer have “Not Our Cat” to be a furry pattern weight and help me with my sewing. Leukaemia and old age took its toll and his owners (our neighbours), knowing how much time he spent with us, kindly came over to tell us so that we were not left wondering what had happened to him. 

However, before he went he started training an understudy and so I now have “Not Our Cat 2” (from the same neighbours!) helping me pick fabrics and ensuring that all future projects will still have the black fur seal of approval.

 

 

 

Planning for next year, I want to continue to try to use stash (the cotton sheets and incubator covers I made this year were great stash busters), to finish the two Project Linus quilts and my Morris Hexathon quilt, and to find a new EPP block a month/week project. Though I think my first challenge for 2017 will be to try to resist the bargains in the sales that have now started.