More Sewing

Hi Everyone 

At last, I’ve managed to cut out the fabric for my baby outfit. I mentioned this little project last week (read about it here) and I’m hoping I can finish it later today. It should be a very easy/quick Make, however - famous last words ! The fabric is lovely, a fine green and white stripe jersey which is so soft ; perfect for a new baby.

                         

I’m making a 3 months size and need such a small amount of fabric for the outfit. I have 2 meters in total and have lots, leftover. I’ve been wondering (for a few days) what I can make with the excess. I think, I’ll go for a Tilly And The Buttons CoCo top (see the red stripe version in my photo story). This is a simple easy to make top with a round neck and side splits.

The baby outfit includes some little trousers and a hat, all to be overlocked. I don’t see any problems sewing up the pattern, so I’m hoping the gift can be finished and wrapped before the end of the day. I’ll share a few photos before I wrap and any issues I come across.

The CoCo top will have to wait for a few days, perhaps I can find some time over the weekend ?

Thanks for calling in today.

Gathered Skirt

Hi Everyone 

Just a quick update on my latest cord skirt. I featured the plan here on the blog. The pattern is very simple (read my original post for more on the detail). I didn’t know (initially) about an error in the length of the waistband pattern piece . It appears there was a new updated version of the waistband measurement (about 6cms shorter). I didn’t see the update and developed the whole skirt around the initial waistband. As a result, the skirt did not fit, approximately 12 cms too big !! However, after some adjustments, all is well. The skirt is almost complete. I love it. I’ve overlocked the bottom and will handstitch the final hem. I also need to complete the waistband fastening. 

                

As you can see from my photo story I’ve practiced a button hole closure, there’s also an option to use a bar clasp (I’m hoping it’s delivered today). I’ll finish these little jobs and get back to you with the finished skirt in a few days.

Thanks for calling in today.

Polymer Beads

Hi Everyone 

I spent some time yesterday, developing my beads for the Turkish Flat Crochet bracelet (read back yesterday for the back story). My plan for the day, was to blend clay colours for beads to match my inspiration shirt and create an interesting polymer cane using the same colours.

              

My colour blending took quite some time. I created five shades in total. The blue colour in particular, was difficult to get just right. However, I managed to produce all the colours I needed and had a lovely time developing my cane. My plan was to use the pattern on my shirt to inspire some kind of pattern in the clay. I love how the cane cane out and will be making more beads using the cane. The tricky part is keeping my pattern while shaping the bead. Ideally, the bead shape needs to be flat to maximise the surface pattern area. I’m considering trying to make a flat bead alongside a gentle rounded shape. I’ll decide which beads work well with each other and which combinations.

The next move is to crochet the beads into the Turkish Flat technique. I’ll use the plain coloured beads in a random fashion and have decided on a navy thread.

Thanks for calling in today. I’ll be back tomorrow with another Making story.

Making Beads

Hi Everyone 

I’m working on a new Making Project today. This time it’s a beaded/crochet bracelet. The beads will be handmade using polymer clay. I’m taking inspiration from an item of clothing, my sample inspiration is a shirt. I’ve used clothing as inspiration before and find it a very successful way of choosing colours. It can be quite daunting to be faced with a full spectrum of colours ! where do you start ? 

My plan is to take the colours from my shirt ie red, blue, green and white and develop similar polymer clay, similar to the shades of colour in the shirt. I will shape the clay into lots of small beads. At this stage, I’m going for an organic round shape. It’s important that all the beads are as close as possible to the same size. I think, I’ll go for a red thread but this may change ?

The beads will be threaded and crocheted to make my bracelet. I’ve made some initial samples using a range of beads (see my photo story), the idea behind my samples was to explore thread size as well as bead size/shape and check how I could crochet the beads together. I had thought a finer thread would work well (top right image on my photo) but found this is not the case. A thicker material works better. I’m using something referred to as Turkish Flat Crochet.

                   

This crochet technique is very simple but a little practice is needed to get the initial loops nice and tight against the first few beads. As with most yarn/ stringing tasks, the beginning tends to be the tricky point. Once the pattern is established, the crochet technique is very simple. If you can cope with a double crochet, that’s about it. Initially, the crochet can seem complicated but very quickly the pattern becomes intuitive.

I’m planning to develop simple multi colour canes for the beads as well as making some single colour options. The pattern in my shirt will help me create the pattern on my cane. I would like to replicate an element of the organic, square shapes from the shirt into the cane. Not sure how that will turn out but I like the idea ! 

The workshop will be about developing specific clay colour and using the clay to make a unique bracelet, inspired by a piece of clothing. One other thing which is important with the crochet technique is using beads of a similar size and shape, so that will also be a key learning element of the workshop. Techniques for producing a batch size/shape beads will be included.

I’ll share the results of my experiments later this week. Thanks for calling in today.

Baby Sewing

Hi Everyone 

My next sewing project is a little baby outfit for a newborn. I’ve not actually made baby clothes before, not even for my own children (now grown up). But a friend has just had a baby boy and it seemed the perfect thing to do - make a little outfit. Im going to make a pair of little trousers and a hat. I’ve found a great (free) pattern by Pattern for Pirates, you can find their patterns here.

                

I have some green striped stretch cotton jersey for my little outfit. I’m hoping the outfit will be a very quick make and I will use my overlocker for the whole project. The pattern pieces are tiny, the trousers pattern is one piece (cut twice) and is printed on an A4 size piece of paper ! Unbelievably small. The hat pattern has several choices, I’m choosing the design with a little knot at the top. I like the option for little ears but as the baby is very new, I thought the knot design would be better. There are quite a few sizes in the pattern and I’ve gone for the 3 months size. Baby is 81/2 lbs, so not tiny. I’ll share my finished outfit in a few days, fingers crossed all goes well.

Thanks for calling today. 

Have a great weekend, I’ll be back on Monday.