Each summer for the last few years I have made small bears on the boat. A good small craft to keep me occupied. I enjoy hand sewing.
The antique gold Schulte mohair was chosen for this year as the couple I made last year went down so well.
I really love the tradition look of this gang.
No walking the plank for them.
I was lucky to find this William Morris fabric at a pop up shop on Darwen market. Herbert Parkinson is a local company and they were selling rolls off for charity. £5 for 2 metres.
After much deliberation about the pattern and how best to make 4 cushions, 8 sides with the same design I chose to have the two birds and the strawberries in the centre. The ‘Strawberry Thief’ is a famous design. I have seen other people use the other birds in the design as the centre but with the piece I had choice was limited.
Adding to previous posts about piped cushions I learned from experience. The dark bias binding I bought for the edges has previously shown through the white cord used in the piped edge. This time I bought black polyester cord. It is cheaper and it does not show through, but it is slippery to work with. Putting a pin through the whole piece of piping while sewing helped a lot.
Cushion one.
And repeat, repeat, repeat.
The bias binding 2m per cushion, cord 2m per cushion cost £15 and the padded inners were £16 for four. Total cost £36.
Seems expensive, but in the shops WM cushions would be very pricey.
These are for us in our own home. Love ‘em.
More Tote bags, I am addicted.
Very interesting fabric, which feels a bit waterproof. I thought it would be hard to sew but it wasn’t at all.
This one is lined with black polyester and has a dog bone fabric pocket.
This one is padded with curtain liner. I was not sure the white would work with the black outer, but I really like it and as usual the liner gives the bag substance.
Inside with doggy pocket. For my dog mad relly.
I really like small zipped bags and they are so useful. I have made a number for my stall at a local charity craft fair.
There are dozens of YouTube videos showing how to make these. The trick is to line everything up well and cut the fabric accurately.
Front
Back
Padded inner, lined with curtain liner.
Butterflies
Spots, I know I am a nerd, it took me ages to line up the spots.
Sweetie Jars, yum.
Following the previous post on Rag Rugging, I liked the look of Hooking, which is like rugging in reverse.
I chose to use fleece fabric for this mat as it is light weight and does not fray. T-shirt material works well too. Fleece is harder to pull through the hessian than t-shirt material. Professionals use wool, old wool blankets are good, wool does not fray either, and the results are very refined.
The backing is hessian which I sewed around with a zig-zag stitch to neaten the edges. Some people cover the edges in colourful cotton on completion.
In rugging we thread small pieces of fabric through hessian, leaving the ends on the surface.
For hooking a one inch by ten inch strip of fleece is cut. The length of the strip is a personal preference.
The strip is rolled between the fingers so that no raw edge is showing.
With the strip underneath the hessian, put the crochet hook through the hessian and pull the fabric strip through the hessian to the front, forming a little ‘pebble’.
The first pebble is tricky as you often pull the end through to the front. Practice makes perfect.
In this picture you can see that the curled up ends are in the front of the piece. I decided I did not like this and spent quite a while when I had finished pulling them to the back and snipping the remains.
As an example the dark frame of this mat took half a metre of fleece fabric. So this is a great stash busting craft.
The finished item. It was intended to be a welcome mat on the boat. But the writing drove me nuts as half the time I was reading it upside down. Note to self, make mats bi-directional.
It is now on the small floor in the boat bedroom, and is lovely and cosy to step out onto.
I have loved this fabric for years and was lucky enough to come by a fent piece. It is called the ‘Strawberry Thief’ by William Morris and is now sold in many sizes of pattern and a variety of colours.
Liz and I were going to the Chelsea Flower Show on a big treat to ourselves and I needed a bag for my water bottle and stuff of life that we cart around, just in case.
The basic shape was from the bucket bag in Lisa Lam’s ‘The Bag Making Bible’. The rest is pure nerdi-ness. I only had 3 repeats of the pattern to play with so accurate cutting was essential and pattern matching had to be as near to perfect as I could manage.
I sewed the bucket shape first and pinned it 3 times before I got the pattern to match down the sides and on the bottom. The corners of the bag were then shaped by sewing across the pointed, squashed/opened corners.
Bottom.
I made a liner from curtain liner, for stiffness and inserted it into the bag.
At the same time I added a bottle holder and a pocket.
I then constructed the zip section. This keeps the zip from the top of the bag for extra security and makes in neater.
First attach the zip to the flaps and then add both to the bag sides. Then add the whole thing to the top of the bag, whilst inserting the ends of the handles. This involved MANY pins.
NOTICE THE PATTERN MATCHING AROUND THE ZIP, YEAH!!
The handles are normal bag handles, 10cm wide fabric strip, folded and sewn. These are sewn three times across to secure them into the body of the bag.
Then I tried twice to insert hemp rope into the handle to make it strong. I had to resort to nylon rope as it was thinner and easier to sew. Even with a zipper foot I could not get the needle near enough to the edge with the thicker hemp rope. But it is simply the normal handle folded in half, rope applied down the length and then the halves seamed together.
I was previously going to apply the handles to the outside. But the pattern had two flowers in the same place and I preferred the flowers.
Another picture of the bag as I am so darned chuffed with it.
The rope came out of the handles during our trip and had to be pushed back in. They have now been stitched into place. It performed well and is now my Summer 2018 bag.
My Craft n Chat friend Grace is much more experienced at rag-rugging than me, but we still fancied doing a course. Our friend Fiona had recently made a magnificent, memory rug, inspired by Monet, which made me realise rugs can be art. Grace found out about a lady called Lorraine Cooper who runs ‘Rag Rug Workshops’, see facebook.
Grace sorted out the course and we drafted in some of our W.I. and craft friends to attend. Cakes were made and tea consumed. 11 ladies learning and chatting, lovely.
Lorraine provided the hooks, she had hemmed a bath mat sized piece of Hessian for each of us. We were told to bring fabric scraps, t-shirt material and fleece work really well as they do not fray. She also brought a large pile of fabric for us to use.
Lorraine brought the hooker on the left. You simply cut a piece of fabric 1 inch by 4 inch. Prod the device through the fabric from the front and back 1 cm away. Take the fabric, hook it at about 1 third of its length and pull it through. Then because you are a beginner, straighten it up. Lorraine can do this at lightning speed.
I bought the device on the right which enables you to prod through the fabric, pinch it and pull it through, both are good.
I was using T-Shirt fabric and Fleece as I wanted to make a bath mat. It is easier when you begin to work in stripes as it is hard to judge how much fabric you need. So if you run out it looks like its designed!!
The back looks pretty neat too.
I had to fill in a bit on the edges.
The hemmed edge makes it very neat.
Ta dah!
Nice blue rug for my blue bathroom.
Think the boat might need some rugs!
Simplicity Pattern 3696
I had this fabric left over from a dressing gown. I just wanted some light shorts. I tried to copy a pair last year but it didn’t work.
This is really a PJ pattern shortened.
Overlocked inside.
Wide elastic through the top.
Think they will be useful.
After knitting socks the next step had to be gloves.
The pattern is from the same people my original socks pattern was from. Can’t tell you now as my knitting bag is elsewhere.
The wool is from Pendle Stitches in Clitheroe. WYS (West Yorkshire Spinners) Signature 4 ply.
The palms look ridiculously long, but look fine on.
I made them on small 2.5 circular needles.
Very interesting process, a bit mind bending in parts, but it all works out. You knit the palm, make the thumb hole and put that on a separate needle. Then start each finger from the little finger and finally knit the thumb. Who knew. I do now!!
I saw a post on Facebook advertising an Embroidery course by Lisa Nathan-Goucher of Wildman’s Vintage Linens.
It was being held locally and seemed like a no brainer. It turned out to be in a delightful location, with beautiful china and food, with a group of highly educated like minded ladies. Proving professional women value the relaxation provided by crafts. Lisa gave excellent instruction and was totally prepared for her guests.
She provided the hoops, fabric and embroidery threads and gave us lots of food for thought for future projects.
Our first item on the right and my next attempt on the left. The hoops are flexible and have wood effect surround so can be given as gifts.
We started a second item, which I finished at home.
I was inspired to make a Wedding Embroidery for my Step-Daughter and Fiance.
I found a design online and copied it by hand in pencil.
I then drew in the names, copying the font from the Wedding Invitation.
Then highlighted the design, so that it would show through the Calico. Then traced the design through the calico.
After embroidering the design, using wedding colours, I secured the back using a running stitch.
I then inserted wadding to made the item softer.
Then finally fitted green felt on the back to cover the workings.
It was well received and I wish them the best life together in the future.
More jersey tops. No excuses, they are really useful and I wear them all the time.
I am please with this blue and white design, the fabric from Abakham is Modal, feels luxurious and hangs beautifully.
Lighter weight fabric, very practical, but not that pretty.
Twin needle stitching around the cuffs and bottom hem.
Nifty collar.
Nifty-ish Collar
Back
Pattern matching was tricky again.
They are functional and wearable.
I spilt oil on the best one but thankfully it came out, phew.
