Bed VS Sewing: Which do you need?

Well, some holiday this is turning out to be... I've been de-cluttering and shifting what seems to be piles of stuff from A to B and then getting distracted by stuff in pile C. Hahaha! My front bedroom which is a spare room with a bed, computer desk, and a sewing table was sadly in need of a declutter. The room wasn't bad; it just needed clearing up and re-organised.  To be honest, we hardly ever use the single bed except for perhaps guests staying over, so when Paul said we could get rid of it and extend my sewing area, hell; I jumped at the chance. So with the bed gone, things started happening pretty quickly. Books started moving around; fabric started getting sorted into weight and colour, sewing equipment started finding new homes and then a biggish purchase was made in the form of an overlocker.  I've been yearning for one of these babies since, well, forever.  So when Paul made a purchase of a new bike, he agreed that I should go ahead and get a new machine. Woohoo!  Who was I to ask twice, off I ran to phone Sewing Machines Direct (yes, this is my rave review).  I phoned late on Wednesday afternoon, and my machine arrived on Thursday afternoon (I live in Central Scotland, and the company is in Wales.)  How quick and cool is that?

So, since my new machine arrived I've been crafting like crazy; overlocking seams on the material for my craft room curtains and then using my regular sewing machine to embroider tiebacks which I then pleated. This was a job that was incredibly satisfying and long needed; the previous curtains were made by Paul's gran and looked a bit dated and old fashioned, extremely well made, but they had ruffles. I've also made a new vest; the tie top cami by House of Pinheiro which was featured in Sewing Network Magazine.  The fabric used is called Bittersweet Red Gingham Cotton Jersey Blend Knit by Girl Charlee. This was a relatively easy top to make, just take a few body measurements, find your favourite vest top; trace it and away you go. I did get a sweat on though when the pattern said to make bias binding; this was needed for the front and back neckline and armholes.  It took me two days to build up the courage to have a go and during that time I must have watched quite a few YouTube videos on how to start.  Verdict: even though this was my first time making bias binding, I think I will be trying this in the future, and I may never buy store bought again. Gasp!

I've also returned to making craft bags;  I put my Folksy shop in holiday mode when I lost my Rhodesian boy and couldn't face opening it again while I was grieving.  I've been thinking about re-opening for a while but life just kind of got in the way.  I've had lots of ideas and I've been busy making a few new products so, stay tuned for a big launch of new stock, different makes and a few giveaways.

The jumper in this post is Chuck and was a test knit for Andi Satterlund over at Untangling Knots.  This is the fourth version of this I've made so far, and I'm hoping to make a few more for the winter season in different colours. I already have 2 x red, cherry and blue, so maybe a forest green or duck egg blue would be a nice change.  What do you think? Colours here and here.

                                                                   xoxoxoxo
                                           

And we're off.....

 

Today is the first day of the Outfit Along (squee) a challenge that I'm going to be a part of over the month of June.   This is a two part challenge in which I have to make a cardigan and then a dress.  I should be able to manage this even though I have lots of other projects on the go.

Now, one thing has changed since last week,  I have made an adjustment to the yarn; I was originally going to use Cascade 220 but decided to opt for Cascade 220 Superwash. Why? There isn't any difference in the texture of the two yarns, just, the colour choices appeared a better match for the material of my dress. I only sat in front of two different computer monitors for half and hour ummming! And ahhing! over what colour of green I should choose and then when push came to shove I hit another button colour instead and bought Candy Pink. It doesn't go with the big star flowers in the design, but it does match the little flowers perfectly. I don't know if you can see the other feature in the pattern, yes, it's  my favourite insect of all time, a ladybird.
Also in my previous post, I mentioned that this material was destined for another dress pattern, which I think is now lost in the wreck of a room where I do my crafting.  If I remember correctly the pattern was a halter neck dress, to be honest,  I'm not really a fan of them (I have wide shoulders and biggish boobs, feels like I have a ready made table in front of me) so I don't know why I bought it.   The new pattern, well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it suits my body image, it should look good  once I have lost a few pounds and stopped eating Jelly Tots (this weeks craving, lol) been dreaming about them all week and yesterday I decided to succumb and bought a bag, well a biggish bag.....ooppp's.

Anyway enjoy the rest of your day peeps,  I'm going back to potter in the garden, then I'll maybe watch some catch-up T.V. and do more rows of my cardigan. 

Bye for now
Shirley xx