Thursday, December 29, 2016

It's been a while

The last few months have been very busy for a variety of reasons, including various sewing and embroidery projects, which I'll try to catch up on in coming weeks.

My granddaughter, Emma, showed me this picture and asked if I could make this outfit for her for Book Week. The character is connected with My Little Pony, which having started life as a toy has now progressed to an animated television show and a comic book. Not really my idea of a book character but she did ask nicely and gave me lots of warning - plus it was a challenge - so what else could I do?


Here's my interpretation. Of course, Emma is normal girl shape and size - I think the girl in the picture above would have to be about 7 feet tall and thinner than Emma.



Monday, August 1, 2016

Jodie's Wedding Dress

What do you do with a wedding dress when you decide that you're not going to wear it again? My niece, Jodie, gave hers to me, saying that I could do whatever I liked with it. I decided to give some of it back to her in a different format. After much trepidation, I eventually pulled it apart and used some of the fabric, lace and beads for a crazy patchwork. I only added the stitching threads.







Monday, July 11, 2016

Denim, denim and more denim

I had some scraps of fabric left over after making denim bags and decided to use them up on a project that I've had in mind for some time. There weren't many scraps so I also pulled out my box of old jeans, which I've been collecting for at least 10 years. I have used some of them in the past for cushions and even a journal cover. But now I was ready to attempt something a bit bigger - a queen-size bed quilt.

Now, I could have cut the fabric into squares but I thought it would look good in 2.5 inch strips (I'm really good at making things difficult for myself). So I cut lots and lots and lots of strips and joined them together into a strip that was about 140 metres (over 150 yards) long. It rolled up into a very large "jelly roll". I then cut it into 50 strips, each a bit over 2 metres long, sewed them together, and quilted it with ditch stitching (it felt like wrestling a boa constrictor).

And here it is all finished:


Sunday, July 3, 2016

Denim bags

I have made a lot of bags but this one, made from a sturdy denim, is the first one I've made for myself:


I lined it with some hand-dyed fabric I had in my stash and included a zip pocket on the inside:


I also made open pockets for the other side of the lining:


And I made this bag, with an external zipper pocket, from the leftover fabric:


Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Princesses Anna

Emma and Olivia both asked for Princess Anna (Frozen) dresses for Christmas but for various reasons (mainly my sewing machine being in the shop for repairs for 3 weeks) I didn't finish them until April.

The decoration also caused some problems. I was going to use the applique design that came with the pattern (McCall's 7000) but it was a bit a bit too big and clunky so I bought a machine embroidery design from My Sewing Art (through Etsy I think) and it stitched out beautifully. 

And, finally, here they are in their dresses - still waiting for their cloaks:




Saturday, March 19, 2016

Cushion with a message

I made this cushion as a gift for someone with a quirky sense of humour. It was much appreciated.


Monday, March 14, 2016

What do you mean, Easter is almost here?

It feels like Christmas was just a few weeks ago. In any event, here are the outfits I made for my granddaughters for Christmas.

Olivia was delighted with the Elsa dress I made for her:


But Emma was not impressed with her outfit. "It's pants! What were you thinking, Grandma?" I even had to bribe her to try it on for a photograph.


So, while she was enjoying a holiday by the beach, I made a skirt to go with the outfit. And she was much happier with my second attempt.


Saturday, February 27, 2016

Turquoise dress with a peacock

I was surprised when Emma asked me to make her a turquoise dress with a peacock - because her favourite colour is purple. When I asked her why she wanted this particular dress, she replied, "Because I think it would look good!"

I could't argue with that logic, so here's the turquoise dress with a peacock, plus a hat and bag:


Friday, February 19, 2016

Catching up - turtles

It's a long time since I blogged - for all the usual reasons of being busy - but I have been making things over that time. The theme for Olivia's birthday party was turtles and her favourite colour is green, so I was very pleased with the fabric I found for her birthday outfit - if you enlarge the photo, you will see that the dress and bag are covered with turtles.


This photo gives a better view of the dress: