Vintage treasure

 I found a little sewing machine oil can a while ago, when searching through some of the shoe repair tools & old machines my Dad used to use. I would not have even known what it was, but luckily someone in the  Vintage Sewing machine fb group had posted a picture of a vintage oil can, so I recognised it! 

I worked on it on and off for weeks, mainly just rubbing lots of SMO ( sewing machine oil) into it. I also worked in some toothpaste with a toothbrush. I left the SMO soaking into the outside of the van for a week or so at a time. Super happy with how it looks now, and special to know that both my Dad and my Grandpa would have used this little can. 

This is what I started with - 

Making do…

 So it has been an interesting week. I went to Rathdown Fabrics Friday week ago, to check out their range of stretch wool fabrics/ wool jerseys. I bought a metre each of pink marle, purple, and navy; cut & sewed the purple & pink leggings when I got home. The navy I think I will keep & use for a nice warm long sleeved tee shirt instead. 

The pink leggings are warm but a bit loose - it is all about the stretch & weave of the fabric. 5 pairs of leggings made with the same pattern in the last week ( not counting however many I made  last year !) but some fit very snuggly while some are a bit too loose. I will take them in a bit by running them through the overlocker again.

We had a busy weekend with various family events & outings, but somewhere along the line we have unfortunately contracted Covid! After having to deal with the drama of online grocery shopping - such a saga, it really has no appeal at all, but when you are confined to barracks there is not much choice! I had to send the eldest a list of extras to find at the shops - the main item being tissues. However there are none to be found anywhere “ except for one box of vanilla scented which I know you would not want!” ( yes thanks mate! he knows I detest most scented products. Eucalyptus is the ONLY acceptable scent for tissues!).

I knew I had a fairly full box of tissues out in my sewing shed, so I went out to get them earlier. Then I thought well, the overlocker is still out on the table, I have plenty of soft cotton sheets, and I do remember going to an overlocker class a few years ago & learning how to use the rolled edge function. 

So - making do! I cut out some 12” squares of fabric ( when I washed my cutting mat recently I put it on the table with the inch side up, to give the centimetre side a break from always being cut on!). I had to get the overlocker instruction book out to remember what to do, then I sewed up 6 new hankies! I do have some old hankies in a drawer somewhere, but I remember they were always so thin…these are definitely thicker fabric. I doubt I can convince anyone else to try them, but if I can get us through the next few days without running out of tissues until I can leave the house to look for some …

it's cold outside

The weather has turned super cold, and as much as I love my warm skirts - particularly the  woollen ones-  sometimes I need a bit more warmth!  I popped in to Anne's Fabrics on Sydney road on the way home from work last week, and bought a couple of 1m pieces of wool blend stretch fabric. Basically they had 3 colours so I got 1m of each! 

On Saturday I cut out 3 pairs of leggings. I sewed up one pair on Saturday morning before heading off to the Pascoe Vale Spinners & Weavers exhibition. They were so warm! Sewed up the other  2 pairs yesterday. There was also about a half a metre of a dark grey wool mix - not long enough for leggings, but plenty to use for a woolly petticoat/ underskirt.

I wore the black leggings & underskirt to work today, under a non woollen skirt. I was walking around a school in the wind & drizzle ...and I was toasty warm! 

Playing with ( water) colours

 I bought a watercolour set a few weeks ago and only got around to playing with it today. I want to try sketching the outline for a drawing, then painting a background wash before using my markers to colour the drawing. I had a go drawing an autumn leaf today, just to try out the paints. 

I drew around a leaf, then divided it in half. I painted one half, and used markers for the other half. 

I hadn’t tried the paints at all before, what I should have done was do a swatch test first. So I did that afterwards!

There are 25 water colours, plus a tube of white. I tried mixing a couple of colours on my swatch page, using the pale/ flesh pink to lighten the dark pink & the purple. I think now I have the swatch page I will try some more painting.