Sewing lessons - Bukuro Bag

Well it has been a super rainy holidays and yesterday I ended up with Seven children in our little 85 square meter house with the rain bucketing down outside. So what to do when it is a squash and a squeeze?

Keep them all occupied of course. So the fire was on and I rang the girls to say "Bring your sewing machine". Their Christmas present had been a machine. A while ago when I was at the craft and quilt fair in Christchurch I made a Bukuro bag at the Brother stall. This only involves sewing straight lines so I thought it a good project to do.

I almost had the material cut when they arrived and so we got stuck in. Then I found out that the twins had never sewn before. They had not used their new machine. Amy and Mikayla just got going with just instruction on where to sew their seams etc. The twins learnt how to use a machine, go back and forward and be steady and guide material. Mikayla was a great help.

While queuing for the machine they sat with the boys and looked at games etc on the I-Pads. The time zoomed by and 2.5hours were gone before we realised. The awesome thing was all the girls finished their bags and so next time we will be making pin cushions and lanyards for their snips.

Once they all left I lit the hot tub and had a good restful soak!!!

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Another thing crossed off my list

Now all covered 

Little boy material - gone.

Well it has been over two years since I redecorated Eli's bedroom and I have finally recovered the squab on his side table. He chose the fabric a long time ago as it is NZ themed and looks like the All Blacks material. He decided on a red piping. I used the zip from the previous squab cover.

So he has finally purged all the little boy stuff from his bedroom.

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I declared today a sewing day

And then I promptly did everything but sew.

I changed the beds, did four loads of washing and hung it out, checked the chickens, gardened for an hour, did some grocery shopping, baked a cake, heated leftovers for dinner...... and then finally I sewed.

I did not attack any of my many many uncompleted projects. But I did start and FINISH a project. I made a pile of pillowcases for the pillows in the caravan.

Now this might seem like a daft sewing project but I like 100% cotton, crisp and cool pillowcase to lay my cheek on at night. The caravan gets the rejects - the old towels, the grotty old pillowcases etc and I was sick of yucky polycotton that does not stay cool at night.

I had a fat quarter of the cool retro car and caravan material, the boys immediately tried to commandeer those ones. Then I used another camping themed material.

The main body of the pillowcase was a queen sized valance I purchased from the Op Shop (Charity Shop) for $3. It is a really good brand and 100% cotton.
The total cost of each pillowcase ending out to be about $2.00 each. My kind of price!!

The retro car and caravan material

The other camping themed material

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A finished refashion and a new tool

About a year ago I bought this nightie from and Op Shop. It is a really pretty cotton lawn but rather old fashioned in it's style. Gathered from the top with lace it just kind of hangs over you. So I never really wore it. Then one of my nighties got so old the fabric ripped in the wash. I cut it down the middle and used it as a pattern to refashion this.

Old style top the the nightie

I cut the skirt off at a reasonable height and then gathered the material onto some piping that I had made for the bean bag refashion. Then I cut a new top out and sewed with some piping and bias binding. I was halfway through making this and it was sitting on my sewing table when my purchase arrived in the mail.

What excellent timing. A 2.5cm bias binding maker. No more boring shop bought bias for me, funky stuff to come!! (well that is the intention - we will see how it pans out). I tried it out on some matching red fabric and it made lovely bias binding for the shoulder straps.

The whole outfit even looks a bit Christmassy.

Linking up to Finish it up friday as well as many other places - check out the links here.

Refashion an Op Shop find.

Well my latest refashion I did complete in a night. I guess it could just be called an adjustment. I chose the top at the Op Shop for several reasons -

Before

After

• I loved the pale pink colour
• It is linen
• It has sleeves

But it was too long, down past my bottom and then it looked like I was trying to hide myself. I also absolutely loved the neckline details and thought that it would look more cohesive if the same feature was on the bottom of the shirt.

the neckline detail that I replicated along the bottom of the shirt

So I chopped off about 5 inches from the bottom and straightened it. Added a self made binding to and top stitched it around the bottom to allow for a frayed edge like the neckline. Took the sleeves in more at the bottom binding. Sewed on new buttons.

Now I have a cool summer shirt for the days when I feel that I have had enough sun and need to cover up.

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A new ironing board cover

my gorgeous new ironing board

A while ago there was a swap for ironing board covers. At the time I thought that I should have participated but I just had too many things going on.

the manky old worn out board

In the weekend I was ironing (no not household stuff - that never happens- it was crafty things) and my iron kept going in the holes on my cover. I looked at several of the ironing board covers that people had made and I thought of using my random sewing from the other day. When thinking about the practicality of it I realised that something with lots of seams could end up making my ironing bumpy.

I also realised that it gets a bit of a workout so I would need a heavier weight of fabric. I knew just what to get as I had seen it in The Make Cafe. So I went online to order and got a bonus free shipping!!! yay

The little embellishing

So 1/2 metre of Dandelion in Storm and half a metre of a matching drill in Slate was ordered. It arrived yesterday (wow super fast only one day). It arrived beautifully bundled up with yellow ribbon. I immediately realised that would make a great accent and in my stash I had some wide yellow bias binding and some smaller yellow, just enough for an accent and around the edges. I hunted around and found the measure ribbon that I had bought for only $0.60 per metre on trade me.

Even the underside is neat and matching!!

So during a stormy stormy night last night I re padded my ironing board, sewed and new cover and put it on. All the while thinking the power may go out at any moment.

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A Protracted Project

Yes after 2.5 years I have finally finished the Hussif (short for housewife - a term from the roll of needles, thread etc men took with them to war). I still need to make a needle case and put a few bits and pieces in. So it is not quite finished but sort of is.

I made the applique pattern and did the applique over two years ago, we had a different caravan even. Aaron has been hassling me for AGES saying why can't I get a Hussif done for the caravan when I make so many. Hmph.

Anyway I am pleased it is done and it is good practise as I have enrolled for the zip purse swap with chocolate over at Sew Delicious. Am brainstorming about what I am going to do for that.

What's on my washing line and sewing table

Piles and piles of gorgeous Thai silk. I bought this silk when I was 20 and went overseas. On a Singapore stopover I could not resist all the silk and at amazingly cheap prices (well at that time compared to NZ they were).

These materials have been in storage since then (yes I kid you not - 24 years!!!!). As you know from my previous blog posts we are going to try to get to the Victorian Festival in Oamaru in a couple of weeks. I have an Edwardian dress I made for Aaron's 25th birthday party. But the boys and Aaron need something. I was going to make them vests and bow ties for my sisters upcoming wedding anyway. So I am now doing it a bit earlier.

I had kept these in storage, as from memory I thought I only bought a metre of each and that is not really enough to do anything particular with. BUT wouldn't you know it - I actually bought decent amounts. Some are 1.5 metres and some are 2 metres. Oh my but I might need to do a skirt for me for some occasion.

The pattern

So over the next two weeks it will be busy busy busy sewing silk. The boys chose their silks this morning before school. They want reversible waistcoats and two different bow ties each. I washed the silk this morning and maybe will get to cut out something tonight.

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A newly sewn basket for the laundry

Thanks to Roz at Squiltz for the fantastic idea of making a laundry bag for the washing trolley out of laminate fabric. I got my fabric from Sew Pretty, an online shop that is fabulous and I use a lot.
Over my retreat weekend this was one of the non quilt things that I made. I did receive a lot of hassle about it as it takes more time and money to make a new laundry liner than buying a cheap one. Also being laminate it was pointed out that the water will not seep through when it rains. Which means either I need to bring it inside when not in use OR the water can collect in it and weigh it down to stop it blowing away when we have bad weather (it always happens to me - go outside and it is strewn across the section).
I used the old ripped one as a template and was quite worried about the fit. But it fits really well. The bag bit could do with being a tad smaller but at least it will hold a lot of washing.

Amazing amount achieved in 72 hours

Well I think that I achieved a lot anyway. Way more than I have ever done at my yearly retreat.
I finished

• two entire quilt tops
• 1 pieced quilt back
• I sandwiched two quilts together
• I quilted two quilts
• bound 1 quilt
• made the top of a patchwork cushion
• made a funky laundry basket
• two small bags, one for buttons and one for selvages
• one apron from a business man's shirt.
• Turned up one pair of jeans and put patches on it - to make it "cool" for Eli.

I still had piles of projects that I took that did not even get looked at. But I am happy with this achievement.

Over the next week I will show you each one more indepth.

And the amazing news is that next year the retreat will be FIVE days not three. I will be attending FOUR days of that. Wow can't wait for next year.