Inside Out Skirt

Posted on August 8, 2023 by craftycreeky

I can’t remember where this fabric came from, I wonder if I picked it up on a swap table. It’s a fairly firm cotton, the label on the selvedge says Indigo Wax Katagami, Japan. It’s been in my stash for a while. I pulled it out of the cupboard a few months ago, thinking it was nice…and then realised I was looking at the back!! The front of the fabric is quite a stark white on navy print, quite busy too for such a contrast. It went back in the cupboard!

I chatted about it to my daughter and showed her it when she was home one weekend. We decided I had three choices, charity shop it, sell it, or make something using the reverse.

Last week I pulled it out again, I wanted a skirt length to try out a new pattern. I decided this would be perfect as a wearable toile, it was a firm enough cotton to hold the pleats well. I had nothing to lose if it didn’t work out well as I wouldn’t use it the other way round.

The pattern I wanted to try was the Shepherd Skirt by Merchant and Mills. It has pleats front and back and a buttoned pocket opening both sides. I checked the measurements and my new 28.5″ waist should have been a 12, luckily I checked the finished measurements – who wants 3″ of ease on a waistband!! I cut out a 10 instead which gave me a comfortable 1.5″ ease instead.

I ran into issues from the beginning. Personally I think it is a badly designed pattern when the two main pieces are 46″ wide. For the non-sewers amongst you, 45″ is a standard width of fabric, especially for cottons. I decided with the pleats I should be able to lose an inch. The instructions include an optional lining which I wasn’t doing, therefore I didn’t twig that the pocket bags were meant to be in lining fabric, it didn’t cause an issue per se, but it probably does make them a bit bulkier.

The pockets took some concentrating, I’ve done pocket openings before, albeit a long time ago, but these are buttoned pocket openings with a button placket on each edge. If I say there are five pattern pieces for the pockets and you need six button plackets cutting then I’m sure you get the gist! I stitched them and I like them, though I seem to have missed instructions for finishing a couple of edges and I ended up hand stitching the bottom end below the opening as I couldn’t work out what I was meant to do.

You can just about make out the pocket opening on the photo below, there’s one more button hidden in the pocket.

Next major task was the pleats. Now these are not just standard pleats, there are actually four pleats on each side disguised as three, hidden underneath the middle pleat on each side is a second little one going the other way. This was the obvious place to gain the 1″ to compensate for the fact that my fabric was too narrow. Unfortunately it wasn’t that simple for my brain! The order of making the pleats in the pattern was centre front, mini pleat, large pleat over it and then pleat by the pocket. Somehow it just wouldn’t alter neatly. I fiddled and faddled for a whole afternoon and eventually gave up and just made three even pleats and ran a basting thread over the top…and that was just the front!

Next day I reluctantly started looking at the back, planning to just do the same, but I couldn’t get my pleats even, I even resorted to maths to work it out. In the end I decided to have one last try with the pattern pleats, this time I left the mini pleat to last. I fiddled with the big pleat to get a little extra width and then just folded in a little excess to make the mini pleat. It finally worked, so well in fact that I undid the front and refolded the pleats the same way. It probably took me over six hours to work those darn pleats out, it was worth it in the end though!

With the pleats done I could attach the waistband, hem it and make the buttonholes. These were also quite a fiddle as the lower two are on the edge of the pocket, so the machine buttonhole foot (which is about 3″ long, has to go inside the pocket. I’ve made a note on the pattern to see if I could make these buttonholes before the waistband is attached so the pocket will open further.

All in all it ended up being a bit of a challenge, some of it my own doing with my fabric choice. However, now it’s made, I really like it. It fits well, I like the pocket opening although it does bulge slightly at the top of the button placket. I love the wrong side of the fabric, there is a slight discrepancy in the depth of the colour which is noticeable on the side seams, it will be interesting to see what happens on washing! I will make this pattern again, though maybe with slightly wider fabric!

Posted in Dressmaking, Serendipity, Sewing | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on August 7, 2023 by craftycreeky

The Garden is looking very green at the moment, and very bushy too! August is often a ‘quiet’ time in English gardens as the main summer stalwarts like roses are past their best and the autumn flowers haven’t yet come into their own. This year hasn’t been helped by a very wet July and August (so far) and not a lot of sunshine. I really need to get out and do lots of dead-heading but whenever I’m free or feel up to it, it’s raining…and I’m a fair weather gardener! So it is what it is!!

Somehow having fewer flowers does make you appreciate the ones you have…

This hydrangea is by the bird feeders on the patio, the blooms have lasted for weeks, despite the inclement weather, it’s still looking beautiful.

This clematis is up by the Amber and Amethyst garden, it put on a good show of flowers in June, so I was surprised to see this stem had twined itself through the Port Sunlight rose bush below and had several beautiful flowers.

The buddleia nearby is one of the more pinky ones, it’s coming to the end of the flowers but the bees and the butterflies still love it.

I did manage to spend a whole day out in the garden, mainly sorting out this bed. This is where the old compost heap used to be within the chicken run. It’s been quite a battle trying to get on top of the weeds, not helped by the fact that it is such gorgeous compost! When I reached the bed that morning it was literally knee high in weeds! Luckily I managed to pull up most of the annual weeds before they had set seed. The bindweed had taken hold again big time, so I unwound what I could and shoved it in a carrier bag so I could safely spray it. I then leave it in the bag for a couple of weeks so I know the poison will have got down to the roots. There was also a large clump climbing the beech hedge so that got sprayed too.

Round the pond the hostas are starting to get a bit nibbled but they’re not bad considering how far we are into the season and how damp it is (good slug weather!) The alchemilla mollis needs tidying up before that seeds all over the place too.

This year I’ve finally had some success with sweet peas. I started them off inside and transplanted them into their final big planter whilst they were still living in the conservatory. I found a really pretty and well designed stand for them which stores flat but folds out into three sides for them to climb up. They look particularly pretty next to the perovskia which for some reason is insisting on growing sideways instead of up! I really need to cut off those pea pods or they will stop flowering.

From the upstairs window it’s looking very green and somewhat overgrown! I think I need a good session with my gardening friend. It will soon be time to start the autumn tidyup!

Posted in Garden | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Owl and Hare Hollow HQAL

Posted on August 6, 2023 by craftycreeky

I feel I’m making reasonable progress now with my Owl and Hare Hollow quilt, it’s the embroidered blocks which are taking the time, so rather than trying to do those first, they have become my ‘handbag’ stitching, so I stitch these at work in my lunchbreak, waiting for appointments or buses, sitting in cafes, they are getting done slowly. At home I have a box for all the EPP blocks stuff which I can do in front of the TV.

Last time I shared my progress I was half way through a couple of blocks…

I stitched all the wedges together for the Dresden plate and added a pink circle in the middle before stitching it onto the background.This is the fourth and final Dresden plate square I need for the quilt…

I made the EPP border round the hare together with the mini hexagon blocks. I was a bit concerned about the arcs making the circle becoming distorted, but I took Kate chiconi’s advice and starched it to death before I took the papers out and it held it’s shape on the whole. Thanks Kate 🙂

The mini hexies were pretty fiddly as they’re 3/8″ hexies, that’s the measurement of each side, so they’re fairly small! I decided when choosing the fabrics for this block to have green folliage ones towards the top of the circle and pink flowers at the bottom, so it’s like the hare is running across the flowers, hence the very pink hexie choice.

I finished the Queen Bee embroidered block and added the circle of hexies round it, these are 1/2″ hexies, so not quite so fiddly! I positioned them so there’s a bee block at the bottom centre, I’m meant to have 20 hexies round each block but so far I’ve only managed 19. The instructions say they should all fit within the 7″ circle, but a comment on facebook suggested that the photos look like hers are a fraction outside the circle, which might explain why she can get them all in!

I’ve also made a start on the next embroidered block which has more bees and flowers…

I’ve now made eleven blocks so I put them all on my design wall to see what they look like and I’m pretty pleased with them all! I like the way the colours are working too, especially since this is a scrap quilt, I’ve bought some background fabrics and a couple of fat quarters, but it is mainly otherwise fabric from my stash. There’s 48 blocks altogether in the quilt, so I’m nearly a quarter of the way through.

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

I’ll also be linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday, please follow the link for more hand stitching and quilting.

By the way, complete change of topic…did you see the final of the Great British Sewing Bee, the finalists had to make a dress that transformed into another, like the stars do on the red carpet. Asmaa’s dress was absolutely amazing, stunning! You knew she would win as soon as you saw it, the way it unfurls is just beautiful! The video clip of it has now gone viral, here’s a link on YouTube. Watch and enjoy!

Posted in embroidery, Owl and Hare Hollow BOM, Quilt-a-long, Quilting, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

Stitching my Garden SAL

Posted on July 30, 2023 by craftycreeky

It’s three weeks since I last shared my garden embroidery, progress has been slower than I would have liked on this one, possibly because its the last big one and I want to get my garden book finished, it’s one of those projects that has grown somewhat since the original idea, rather apt for a garden book really!

Anyway, three weeks ago I was just starting the buddleia in the corner of my Amber and Amethyst garden…

I finished the buddleia using lots of French knots for the flowers. I then thought I’d better stitch down some of the circles as a couple were looking a little loose. The one by the rose arbour is meant to be a skimmia, the one down by the standard rose which looks like it has an attack of green measles, is meant to be a hebe. I think I might put a few more French knots in a lighter green and maybe a few light mauve ones for the flowers.

I then decided to be a bit more methodical and just work my way round the beds, rather than jumping from one side to the other, hoping it will spur me on more…

So, I’ve stitched a purple geranium under the standard rose and a hellebore next to the hebe, this is the deep purple one which is one of my favourites;

…only I’ve just realised I’ve stitched it on the wrong side of the hebe and maybe a bit too dark! Artistic license! I’ve stitched the honeysuckle up the arch with split stitch for the stems and open chain stitch for the flowers. This is wishful thinking as although it did have some nice flowers this year it’s pretty weedy really!

I’ve also started stitching one of the big rosebushes, this one is called Port Sunlight and it’s a lovely warm tangerine colour. I’ve used three strands of DMC for a French knot in the middle and surrounded it with stem stitch.

Hopefully by the time it’s due for the next update I will have finished the right hand side.

This Stitch-a-long is organised by Avis from Stitching by the Sea, we share our progress on our chose piece every three weeks, just enough to keep us motivated. There’s some amazing embroidery, so please follow the links and see what everyone else has been stitching.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, 

Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Cindy, MaryMargaret

Posted in embroidery, Garden, Stitch-a-long, Stitching my Garden | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Oh Sew Cute!

Posted on July 28, 2023 by craftycreeky

I’ve just made a pair of baby shoes for my grandson and they are so cute! Fiddly to make but worth it!

I spotted the pattern on Etsy in a store called Happy Baby Patterns and pressed the ‘buy now’ button immediately as they are just so cute. The bunnies would also fit with the Peter Rabbit rompers I’ve made for Hugo.

I haven’t got many progress photos as I was concentrating so much on the instructions, well actually I only have one! The pattern went together well and the instructions were actually very clear, it just took a while to understand how some of the techniques were going to work, but they did!

I used a batik cotton for the rabbit, Peter Rabbit fabric for the rest of the outer and the upper lining, the sole is a thick brown felt lined with fleece, I meant to put the fleece fluffy side up but I managed to insert it the wrong way up, it still feels soft though. Another time I’ll use a thinner felt as it has made the edges quite bulky.

As you can see clips came in very useful, the photo shows the sole lining ready to be stitched, the whole shoe was then turned through a gap in the lining stitching, this could then be hand-stitched closed before turning the shoe the right way….you see why I had to concentrate!

The baby shoes didn’t actually take that long, I made them in an afternoon.

Aren’t they just the cutest!!

I love the little tail at the back. I just need to see how they fit and whether they stay on before I make any more.

Posted in Dressmaking, grandchildren | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Little Boy Blue

Posted on July 27, 2023 by craftycreeky

At Easter my daughter-in-law spotted a romper pattern she liked and asked if I could make it. I ran out of time to make it for Easter and this is part of a belated birthday present! Luckily at 12 months he doesn’t know any different!!

The pattern is by Brindelle and Twig, it’s called Summer Romper and it’s a traditional romper style with a gathered waist around the bottom. What my DIL didn’t realised is that it’s for stretch fabrics and really she was thinking of wovens. I decided that with the elasticated bits, I could just make it one size bigger and make it in cotton. He’s still in 9-12 month clothes so I made the 12 to 18 months instead. It’s a pdf pattern which I like for children’s clothes as I can reprint them in a larger size as they grow.

I had some Peter Rabbit cotton left from a previous romper as well as some fat quarters from the same range, it is lovely and soft to touch, I decided to use it to line the romper fully and use a plain cotton for the outside. I used a white background to line the front and a blue/green one for the bottom. Fully lining it did mean I had a few head scratching moments with areas like elastic casing round the legs, it’s not perfectly neat round there but I’m sure Hugo won’t complain.

It went together surprisingly quickly – I’d have cut out and sewn it in an afternoon if I had enough of the right size of elastic! The pattern went together easily and the instructions were nice and clear. I also checked with mum about buttons or poppers as the pattern calls for poppers for safety reasons. Mum wanted buttons so they would stay fastened when he was moving round…so they are very securely stitched on!! I’m particularly pleased with the buttons, I fussy-cut a Peter Rabbit head and covered the buttons, I think they look very cute.

It’s lovely having little ones to sew for again, they’re quick makes, don’t take much fabric and so cute too!

Posted in Dressmaking, grandchildren | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Love Makes the World Go Round

Posted on July 24, 2023 by craftycreeky

Yesterday I finished my blue quilt, I think that’s the quickest I’ve ever made a quilt, helped of course by the 12″ blocks being already made, even so a few days round working is pretty quick for me!

I wanted to make a quilt for my aunt, she’s just had to go into a care home at the grand age of 101 (or it may even be 102!) so using ready prepared blocks was perfect. These are blocks made for me by quilters around the world taking part in the Footsquare Freestyle swap back in 2020, organised for several years by Kate from Tall Tales from Chiconia.

I used 25 of the blocks to make a square quilt, put a couple of borders around it so its about 66″ square. Here it is as a flimsy last week…

I decided to cross-hatch it to keep it simple. I drew the lines on with a Frixion pen as I knew otherwise my lines would be no where near straight! I checked on the UK quilters facebook page for advice on the direction to stitch in and the consensus was to stitch the lines in the same direction in order to avoid the herringbone effect. I quilted in a pale blue which has worked well and matched the backing too. I was pleased to see even on the back I’d not got any tucks in the cross-hatching, concentrating on holding the quilt smooth round the needle clearly did the trick.

I bound it with a pale blue cotton with a script and music design, it’s subtle enough to blend in nicely.

I had a bit of a lightbulb moment when I was stitching the binding on…one of those lightbulbs which you think really shouldn’t have take so long to work out!!! I thought I’d share it here in case anyone is as dim as me :-D…

I’ve mainly hand-stitched bindings down after a couple of early attempts to machine stitch it as I could never get it neat. I was stitching in the ditch at the front so it would catch down the back, invariably bits missed or the line was no where near straight on the back…and that’s where I was going wrong, I was stitching from the front, thinking I wanted that neat. This time I stitched from the back. I realised that if I lined up the fold with the stitching line and stitched just inside, then on the front it would be just inside too. And it worked!! It’s not 100% perfect, but for a quick finish or a quilt that needs to be particularly durable, like a kids quilt, I would certainly do it again.

All that was left was a label. I usually embroider a label straight onto the back of a quilt, but I knew with this one that would take too long. I decided to pluck up courage to print one using freezer paper to stiffen the fabric so it would go through (my husbands!!) inkjet printer. It worked fine, though my OH tried to put it through a second time (other way up) to see if it would print a little straighter but it then got lost somewhere in the depths of the printer. Luckily it was still OK. I stitched it on the back and the quilt is complete.

I’ll pop it in the post on Wednesday, hoping it fits in nicely in her room.

Posted in F2F, Quilting | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

Blues Quilt

Posted on July 20, 2023 by craftycreeky

Someone dear to me is about to go into a care home, I was planning to send some flowers until I had a lightbulb moment, I could quickly finish a quilt for her!

You may remember back in 2020 I took part in a quilt block swop organised by Kate from Tall Tales from Chiconia called F2F (Footsquare Freestyle). The idea was that we chose a colour scheme each and then each month everyone would make three 12″ quilt blocks for someone in their chosen colours. There were ten of us taking part so we each ended up with 30 wonderful blocks from all round the world in our chosen colours. This would make a quilt 5 blocks by 6 blocks. Somehow I’ve ended up with 31 blocks so one kind quilter made me an extra one.

(Edit…I’ve just revisited the F2F website which has details of who made each block and it was me that made the extra block!!)

I’m afraid to say mine have been sitting in my quilt block folder ever since, so these are perfect for a quick quilt!

When I started to arrange my blocks three of them were a lot more purpley than the others and I just couldn’t get them to gel with the others, so I put them on one side. As it happened one other block which could have worked in the quilt, actually went perfectly with the purple ones as although it’s blue, it shares a similar background colour… it goes better than it does in the photo! I think they will make a nice table topper.

Another block was beautifully appliqued but was a fraction too big and trimming it to size would have trimmed the design too. It will look great on a tote bag or a cushion as will one more block which I needed to discard in order to have a square quilt left. It was hard choosing which blocks to leave out as I know the work that goes into them but I felt happier having a plan for these ones.

That left me with 25 blocks which makes a nice square throw size quilt. I arranged them with the darker ones round the edges and the stars in the middle, I felt it needed a border so I made a 1″ border from some dark blue batik and then some plain beige.

Today I sandwiched it with a plain light blue backing. I love seeing quilts when they’re all neatly laid out on the floor…

I’m going to quilt it with a simple 3″ cross hatch, I drew all the lines with a Frixion pen this evening which took quite a while. It may seem excessive drawing all the lines in when it’s just diagonal lines across 12″ blocks, but some blocks are based on four squares, others nine squares, I struggle to sew a straight line corner to corner on a three inch square so I’m hoping it will make it easier and neater!

With a good wind behind me I might finish it over the weekend.

Posted in F2F, Quilting | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Owl and Hare Hollow HQAL

Posted on July 16, 2023 by craftycreeky

I’ve made good progress on my Owl and Hare quilt over the last few weeks, I did some prep work before I went on holiday, making sure I had everything I needed for some holiday stitching and it paid off. This is the BOM by Natalie Bird which is being published in the bi-monthly Homespun magasine, July/August has just arrived this week and whilst I’ve not finished the last magasine yet, I’ve done a lot of catching up.

Last time I shared my progress was actually six weeks ago as I missed the week we were away. Despite several weeks work, at that point I had just two embroidered blocks and one coffin wheel block made…

In Cornwall I made another three coffin wheel blocks so the blocks from the first magasine were now completed.

I also made inroads into the next magazine’s blocks. I made three penny circle blocks first, though my 1″ circles look more like dodecagons! I then started the Dresden plate blocks, I like these, I’m beginning to think I’m more of a straight line quilter!! They’re easy to get nice and neat! I’m also a convert to the stick and stitch method of English Paper Piecing, using a light fabric glue to baste the fabric round the shapes, though the next block might prove a bit more of a challenge…

…For the next block I need to make a narrow circular border from ten arcs of EPP, I’ve started gluing, my concern is the fabric distorting and fraying as I remove the papers as so much is on the bias.

The hare was meant to be needleturn appliqued but I decided I wouldn’t get the lovely flowing curves with needleturn so I opted for bondaweb and raw edge applique with a blanket-stitch round it.

As you can see I have my final Dresden plate prepped, I just need to stitch them together. After those two I still have two embroidered blocks to do, I’ve started one, it’s called Queen Bee…

There seems to be two of these blocks in each magazine, these are the ones that take the time. With the first magazine I started with these which is why I ended up feeling so far behind, this time I’ve just put this one in my handbag and I’m just stitching when I can. It’s simple enough stitching to do in my lunch break or in Doctors waiting rooms, I’ve a couple of weekends away in the next couple of months so I’ll probably take them with me for evenings or journeys.

At the moment I’m mulling over the idea of quilting the blocks as I go and then stitching them together with a sashing, I did a couple of quilts with similar size blocks a few years ago and it worked pretty well as I could easily machine quilt different blocks with individual designs. I suppose in theory I could hand quilt them this way but I think in practise it would be adding too much to my current work list!…although I suppose if I waited until I had finished all the blocks (which will hopefully be early next year) I could then just work my way through them…decisions!

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

I’ll also be linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday, please follow the links to see what everyone has been stitching.

Posted in Owl and Hare Hollow BOM, Quilt-a-long, Quilting | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

Elephant on Cloud Nine

Posted on July 11, 2023 by craftycreeky

My grandson was one at the end of June, I didn’t quite manage to finish his presents so we gave him a little something to open on the day and as today was my first free day since holidays and visitors, I concentrated on finishing it.

It’s an elephant mobile, I found the pattern on Etsy in a shop called Cloud of Joy Art. She has some gorgeous designs and interestingly you can either buy the pattern or she also sells larger mobiles ready made. The pattern went together easily enough, I just blanket-stitched all the seams.

Before I went on holiday I had stitched the elephant, a cloud and three stars, I then lost a star which is why the mobile wasn’t finished before we went on holiday! I’m sure it’s somewhere in my sewing room but it’s still hiding…

I made another star, a silver grey one…then realised I actually needed four stars, so I made another blue one. I added eyes using chunky French knots, the pattern calls for beads, but just in case he gets hold of it I thought I’d embroider them instead.

The elephant is sat on the cloud using the hanging thread, he’s not actually stitched to it. I found some long doll needles in a drawer but they were really thick so I found the longest needle in my embroidery box and squished the elephant down! The thread goes from head to bottom of the elephant, through the cloud, it’s knotted before I carried on and hung the central star. It other two stars are then on one thread so they can be adjusted if wanted. The star on the end of the trunk is hand-stitched down and to my surprise it does stay upright!

I think he’s pretty cute!

Posted in Sewing for Grandchildren | Tagged , | 20 Comments