Baby bear is for Lukas and so he had to be baby friendly.
I used safety eyes, and he has no joints or anything else to worry about.
The fabric is very soft acrylic fur fabric, which should be grob-snobble resistant.
The nose was very tricky as the bear was so soft and the fabric so soft too.
He’s a real cutie and the bears not bad either.
Continuing my mission to learn how to make clothes better, I bought 2 lots of relatively cheap fabric to experiment with.
The pattern is a McCalls, number M6964, Size F5, 16-24. I cut out the 18 thinking i was giving myself some margin for error.
The first was made from light weight Viscose and had very little give. I used the overlocker to edge all the pieces but stitched it together with the machine. The seam allowance and the lack of give made it a snug fit.
Also the lack of give meant that the neckline turned out all wrong. The pattern is for stretchy material so I thought I would make the neck edging longer. But it just made the neck edging stick out awkwardly. So I super-cheated and folded it forward and top sewed around the edge again.
Looks OK and it gave a little with wearing.
TAKE 2
Much stretchier fabric and I stuck to the pattern with the neck edging.
This time i used the overlocker to sew the whole thing, this gives about a centimetre extra on each seam and with the stretchiness it fits great.
I consulted Annette and she said I had to stretch the fabric as I sewed it, to make the neck edging fit, and it did!!!
Top sewing the neck and double top sewing around the cuffs and bottom finished it off beauitfully.
The fabric is light and a bit pajamery, but perfectly OK for everyday.
Jackie bought some of this wool and made a really groovy pair of socks and I could not resist buying some when I found a ball in Jenny Wrens wool shop in Ipswich.
It is OPAL Happy with Silver Effect. 4-fach (4 ply?) Pullover & Sockenwolle. Farbe 9094 Part No. 1340.
The wool knits into the pattern itself, no brains required.
I love how jazzy they are and the silver freck appeals to my inner magpie.
My friend asked me to repair her trusty old favourite bag, as the lining had given way. This one was a joint effort with myself and my husband Mick.
The weight bareing straps also needed some attention.
So first we used Gaffer tape on the inside of the bag to repair the holes.
Then we sewed the weight bareing strapp back into place and added a few lines of stitching for good measure. Fortunately we have been given an old Singer sewing machine, which we intend to use for sail mending, but has come in very handy already for other projects. It is quite amazing how well this machine penetrates thick material. In this case 4 layers of leather.
I then made the lining out of light weight Viscose material. If you use something too heavy it makes the bag to heavy. Simply 2 pieces of material measuring just more than the total width of the bag and 10cm longer. Then I mitred the bottom corners to add width to the shape, and made a zip pocket on the inside.
Now the tricky bit, hanging the lining inside the bag. Much cajoling, pegging and unpegging, until it fitted snuggly. Then another 2 handed job to sew the lining into the bag. One row of stitching on each side of the bag, we had to leave a gap where the straps were.
I then hand sewed the lining to the very top edge of the bag using blanket stitch.
Bag lining.
Bag Front
Finished item.
I would now give it a good polish with leather food, but the owner may prefer the used look.
Job Done!
For my birthday this year I was promised a Dressform (Tailors Dummy) on our return home.
My friend had done all the hard work and found that Hobkirks which is close-by had the best selection and keenest prices. My only set back was that I forgot to buy one with a trouser separator.
I bought some really nice padded fabric in Gouda (Holland) and wanted to make a Gillet. Not wanting to spoil nice fabric I bought some cheap fleece for a practice run and this is the result.
Not bad, but sadly I could not find any matching plain binding and it does have a touch of the ‘Von Trapps’ about it. The Hills are alive…. with the sounds of sparking fleece.
Anyway it was worth the effort as the second version turned out pretty well.
The fabric was quilted to start with and the cloudy shading is the pattern. Interestingly the inside seams, once sewn, showed the inner padded wadding and so I ended up hand sewing every inside seam under to give a quality finish. All the binding around the edges was also hand finished on the inside.
__
Spurred on I tackled by trickiest item to date. I have worn and worn a grey light weight jacket I bought in a Kaliko sale and am still very fond of it. But I have been looking to make its successor for several years. The material has proved to be very elusive but this year, thanks to our Craft n Chat trip to ‘Abakhan’ head office in Mostyn, North Wales (well worth a trip and there’s an excellent cafe for the non-crafty friends) a suitable length of material was purchased.
I am told repeatedly that I don’t pick easy projects and this was a corker. The material is very thick in comparison to normal fabrics and once cut, it curled up from every edge. Grrr. So the over-locker was dusted off and deployed to edge every exposed seam edge in an effort to make life a bit easier.
The strangest thing was the collar which came out of the front of the jacket and around the back of the neck in two pieces joining in the centre. There was also interfacing on the inside of the front of the jacket so the brain cells were doing summersaults trying to figure out what went where.
I also realised that the over-locker was the best way of piecing the whole thing together. However, the armholes were a struggle and more hand sewing was required to make the bottom edges lie flat.
So I ended up with this. Not too bad and very warm.
I am still undecided as to whether I should add a button or three buttons or leave it as an open jacket, as I never fasten buttons anyway.
I shall continue in my quest for the perfect fabric. I did find some at the Harrogate Knit and Stitch show but the very obvious pattern would have been a mare to match up. Need a bit more practice first.
I think it looks a bit camoflagey, so you might not see me coming.
Knitting is not my forte but encouraged by my Ninja Knitting sister-in-laws I thought I would have another try.
My previous experience consists of a hat, which my husband will not let me wear, must admit its pretty bad.
Jackie told me socks were easy, everyone else has chimed ‘Socks are difficult, and that wool is difficult and those needles are a bit small’. Undeterred I continue to produce not one but two pairs.
First my rainbow socks.
Wool : Rico Design, Superba Poems, Superwash No.383893
Michaels Blue Socks. Spot the matching stripes!!
Wool : Woolcraft, Superwash Sock Yarn, Shade 985
I cannot yet profess to be a knitting convert as its pretty slow, but it is very portable and small and easy to pick up and put down so more items may appear.
They are also super toasty to wear.
Here are the bears I made this summer on the boat minus three who have found homes en-route.
I just thought it was nice to see them all together.
I found an egg cup in Brightlingsea which looks cute with a small bear sat inside.
We bought this purse many years ago and it has served as a holiday change purse ever since. It finally fell apart this year and I decided to give it an over-haul/rebuild.
The fine front fabric had fallen off.
So I patched together a few pieces of nautical fabric and covered the whole thing with a new outer shell.
The finished result was very pleasing and we once again have a serviceable and easy to find change purse.
I love making bears with good fabric and this mohair is lovely to work with. I bought it before we started this years trip with the intention of concentrating on small bears. I was diverted for a while by the Brighton bears but finally got round to making these. I have been reading ‘Gone with the Wind’ too which is an epic and also diverted me.
I first made this short haired bear and thought he had turned out really well.
But though I say so myself, this shorter haired bear is nigh on perfect.
They are 5 inches tall (12.5 cm) with small cotter pin joints and glass eyes.
I made scruffy (left) previously and the new ones make him look a bit Neanderthal.
All three together, blue bow, safety bear and two cotter pin bears with red bows.
I used the last of the cream fabric bought in Brighton to make two more 10 inch (25cm bears).
Sadly I do not have any safety joints left so have had to make them with Cotter Pin joints, so not suitable for children.
The bear above has safety eyes.
This bear is totally child un-friendly with English Glass Eyes.
They are all the same pattern but look different.
The thick fur made the nose trimming more effective and gave them individuality.
They all have subtly different coloured paws and pads too, but you need to look close.
