66K in action!

 Reading through my lovely vintage 1954 Singer book inspired me to get sewing again! And I also wondered if I could get my 66K to sew - without having to wait to buy a hand crank next year. I gave her another quick clean, & a few drops of oil, studied the manual and threaded up a bobbin by winding the balance wheel. Buoyed by my success, I threaded her up and ta-dah! She sews! 

There is no backstitch, and the only adjustment is by winding the knob to the right of the Singer badge, this adjusts the stitch length. The longest stitch is really quite long, so I am using it as a basting stitch - much quicker & neater than basting by hand. 

I cut this dress out last summer & was not sure of the size  & fit - duh I should have written a note back then for my future self - now- to read! So I have compared it to one of my favourite basic summer dresses ( which is actually sitting in the to- do pile, because I want to put some darts in it to give it a more classic vintage shape).

I have been tacking pieces together, re cutting, measuring, & am now ready to do the actual sewing. Will sew it up on the Janome as I will give myself RSI sewing the whole thing in fine stitches turning the wheel on the singer…

I have decided to name my 66K Clara, having just finished reading this book about a remarkable rhinoceros named Clara. I have been trying to think of a suitable name, & Clara  just felt right.  

Can’t wait for Anne Bonny’s locker to open in Hawthorn next year, & buy a handcrank for her! 

Life in reverse

 Making a vest/ corset style vest has been on my to-do list for a while. I made a green fine corduroy practice one ( not sure I have posted it yet!) then sewed a blue cord vest but forgot I had tweaked the size a bit ( and I had done such a good job of lining it & turning it out the right way!)  Lucky I had not made button holes when I tried it on & realised it was too big…

A couple of my favourite cos-tubers have sewn corset-style vests recently, including some that were reversible! I like the 2-for-one idea, & finally got this one sewn up over the last 2 weekends. I wore the purple side out today, & will try it with the floral side out later in the week ( although with this cold spell I might wait a few days!). Pretty happy with how it turned out!  

Will have to start on the next one now,will do buttons & button holes next time, which is what I did with the first green  one.

Pattern tracing

 I found a box of  carbon sheets at an op shop a while back, & for $1 figured it was worth buying in case it came in handy for something someday… I thought of it on the weekend when I wanted to trace a pattern, why did I never think of it before! Tracing a paper pattern was SOOOO easy using the carbon sheet! Will definitely be using this method from now on! 

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! 

Random Round Up featuring a dog, a bear, and a fish.

Hmm where have the last few weeks gone?heck where did March go?

So anyway, in the last few weeks - and in totally random order although I did select the photos in order, blogger has kindly mixed them all up… this is what I have been up to…

Wished The Dog a happy 3rd birthday yesterday!

Caught up with a crafty friend for a sewing challenge - draft a pattern & make  a graduation hood for her daughter’s Uni graduation next week. 3 hours & lots of laughs later we got there! One very weird shape, but came up great after she iron the bejeebers out of it! ( The bear was purchased fully dressed, but no hood)

The Dog, again.

Designed & sewed a quilt for a special retirement gift. Nearly done, just the binding to go now. Sewn up on the vintage Singer 201k

Graduation Bear, again. Hmm when I said he came fully dressed, of course that does not at all imply that he is wearing pants! 

 I drew a fish! Not a flower for a change - a brown trout, from a photo my H took of a fish he caught a while ago ( catch & release, but I’m sure some of them must have been big enough to eat …). Drawn for his birthday recently. Think I might try drawing some more fish, looks good on the brown paper.

 

Legs!

 I downloaded the free leggings pattern from “ Patterns for Pirates” ages ago! As the weather has warmed up a bit lately, I decided I really must try and make some bright, funky leggings. Mine are pretty much ALL black, in 3 different lengths ( full, 3/4, and knee - marked with 3/4 or K on the label because I got sick of putting the wrong length on when they all look nearly the same!)

I have one bright pink patterned slinky knit pair, an op shop find which I wore last week for a pop of colour under a grey dress. They were quite comfy and looked nicer than black and grey! Plus being a lighter weight fabric ( the black ones - all RTW Rivers/ Kmart/ Best & Less brands I think; are made from lightweight cotton/ elastane T-shirt fabric). 

( books work as patterns weights right? They were the closest thing I had to hand, using the bed to lay out the slippery fabric!)

So I dug out the pattern, laid my pink leggings on top & used that size/ shape to cut out the pattern. I made the first pair from a  remnant of stretch net print, bought from Rathdown Fabrics years ago. 

Well... why did I wait so long!?!

Super duper quick to sew! Super comfy to wear! I wore one pair yesterday, and another today. Seriously they could be PJ’s they are THAT comfy! 

I made 6 pairs so far ( ok I sewed 7, in all different fabrics, but the last pair in a sort of grey/ lilac heavy spandex sort of fabric are too tight! Same pattern, different fabric, different fit! Exactly what PFP say on  their website! 

I may be planning on making even more...

I just have to do my next sewing task of adding pockets to a couple of my grey dresses! I figured since I had the overlocker out on the weekend, I would cut out then overlock a pile of pocket pieces, ready to unpick some dresses & add pockets ( inspired by a Morgan Donner post I watched recently!). Time to start unpicking...

budgie business

The new flock of budgies! Sorry the pictures have posted in reverse order - starting with the finished birds and going backwards in the process to the initial painting!

Sewing is tricky with the tiny tail piece - because of the fabric paint the pieces stick slightly, which makes turning the tail right side out quite tricky! I end up using my jewellery pliers, and also sewing with the Teflon foot on the machine, as shown.  

Blue budgie bits painted, cut out ready to sew. I am experimenting with different ways of shaping the tail, seems silly to cut out 2 small pieces when they are going to be sewn into one rectangle anyway!

6 birds ready to sew.

Birdie bits traced, painted and hanging up to dry. The tricky bit is drawing the face on the yellow head - I can’t trace it on the light box so have to draw it freehand.

Sewing a special gift - part 1

Planning and cutting...

Sewing...

More sewing...

Making bias binding...

Quick make over

I got a little bit of sewing done this week - ploughing through the basket of repairs & minor " finishing off" jobs.  These 2 calico bags have been hanging around for a while, I wanted to cover up the branding printed on them.
A piece of Aunty Cookie fabric and a rainbow patch piece  sewn up as a test run for the rainbow cushions I made last year ( it was too small for what I needed) did the job.  Much nicer than the branded bags!

Mollie Makes jacket take 2

I bought a 1.1m piece of scuba fabric from a  40% off remnants sale at RR a while ago. I had originally thought of making a dress or skirt, but figured I would probably get more wear out of a jacket.  

I used the zip front jacket pattern from a Mollie Makes sewing special, which I have made once before. I don't wear it much, but always get compliments when I do. I think one of the issues was I didn't have enough plain long sleeve tops to wear under it, but I have made a few more now so it will probably get more regular outings now!

Like the first, I opted to leave off the zip, and use a hidden press stud and large button on the front instead. 
The scuba is weird stuff to sew, the needle was skipping stitches until I adjusted the stitch size and tension, but I probably should have tried a new needle. I didn't realize how tough the scuba was until I was hand sewing the button on!
I added some extra facings which aren't in the pattern, but think it sits better than my first version, plus I left the darts out.  The fabric is pretty loud, and like the first, I will wear it more like a top, I don't like the way it sits when it is open...but that is ok, it makes it into a very funky top I think!

Latest sewing

I haven' t made any new tops for a while, and some of my previous makes are looking a bit worn from washing & wearing- so I made a couple more! Plus I found a gorgeous vintage look jacket at the op shop last week ( 1st pic)

Bright orange tees- made from an offcut from RRems- there was enough fabric for a peppermint jersey long sleeved tee and a scoop tee.

  The fushia/ grey stripe is from super cheap fabrics I think, as is the red/white marle- which is slippery and was a bugger to sew, but feels lovely to wear!

Look what I made!

I was quite inspired by this book I found at Savers recently, I like the story telling and other ideas - it even includes a couple of recipes. And I have bookmarked a few pages in some craft magazines, looking for ideas. 

I ran out of oomph- and time-to knit another blanket, but still wanted to make a special gift for a lovely work friend - in time for her baby shower at work today.

So I spent the weekend sewing this-

There's a "new look" chair in there (part 2)

Tah dah! Here is my made-over chair.  I used some lovely grey upholstery fabric off-cuts, from a bag of bits bought from Rathdown Remnants a few years ago. There was just enough to cover the seat cushion  with one piece, and the back cushion with another- using another piece for the side seams, but they match the slip cover for the back frame of the chair. (Which wasn't actually planned, I kind of hadn't thought about the back, but it all worked out fine!)

Then the next day I decided the chair needed a cushion, so I used an offcut ( long term stash, I think it actually came from a box of offcuts from Nicole Mallalieu's workshop in Brunswick years ago!). A little touch of vintage style floral for my " new" vintage grey chair! Yay!

There's a chair in there...( part 1)

Many years ago when I first moved to Melbourne, our lounge room furniture consisted of 2 deck chairs and a sofa bed couch.  We still have the deck chairs (updated January 2014) with wood stain and cushion covers)  and the couch ( also recovered). 
Then we discovered the giant Brotherhood store nearby in Brunswick, and started adding more furniture to the house, including 2 60's recliners. I covered them with cream fabric ( purchased from the original GJ's fabrics out the back of Barkley Square. dyed darker cream with tea & coffee).
Then we bought our house, moved to Coburg, had 2 kids...and needed more seating in the lounge room!
I found a great blue couch at Salvos, but didn' t have space to keep my 2 chairs, so I swapped them for the couch.  But I always regretted getting rid of the chairs.  I loved their lightweight, the timber frames, and the way they reclined when you lean back on them.
I have seen similar chairs in scandi furniture shops for upwards of $200, so when my neighbours put this chair out for hard rubbish I couldn't resist!

It looked like it had been a bed for a cat, and had several layers of covers in a range of colours and fabrics!

Definitely ripe for a makeover!