Monday 21 January 2013

black on black

I have lovely black fleece jacket but it has logo on the back that I don't much like. So today I finally got round to doing something about it. If it was a jacket for Grace I have a 101 cute ideas for applique patches but I wanted something a bit more grown up, in fact didn't really want it to show up at all.

I couldn't think of anything which meant I defaulted to my usual applique flowers, so it wasn't too obvious I chose some black fleece. So that is black on black with black thread. If any one else is thinking about doing that, don't! Seriously, don't. Even in good light I had no clue, I did it mostly by feel.

In the end it turned out ok, I'd take photo but that is impossible too!

Tuesday 8 January 2013

skirt - from part of a t-shirt and a sock!

I kept my self awake the other night thinking about how to make a dress for Grace out of one of Marks old shirts. Anyway, in the dark that night I went round half a dozen ideas until I was thoroughly awake.

This morning I am still no closer to what I want to make, so to remedy the sewing block I made Grace a skirt out of the bottom part of a t-shirt, that I'd been wearing as a belly band when I was pregnant and a sock! It took all of half an hour.

 I wanted to make a nice thick waist band, as it had worked so well on the knit trousers and I thought a contrasting colour would be nice. I have saved lots of old vest tops but the fabric is thin, then I spied my socks. I have far too many and most are past their best. One knee sock with the ribbing and foot cut off was perfect.

I cut the sock in half lengthways.

Stitched the short ends together to make a loop. Folded the whole lot in half and ironed it.


I slipped the waistband over the top of the skirt piece lining up all the raw edges. I pinned the side seams and the mid points between the seams then stretched and pinned the waist band to fit the skirt. I wasn't very accurate.

I have several stretch stitches on my machine but I used a small zigzag to sew all the layers together, stretching the waist band as I went. The inside is a bit rough looking but nothing will fray so I am not too bothered. The sock stretched more than I thought it would so the waist looks a bit big, I think it'll shrink back when I wash it.


I am rather chuffed with my super quick upcyled skirt and I have a spare sock to make a sock monkey, or bear or socktopus....

Sunday 6 January 2013

bib

It suddenly dawned on me the other day as I was using an emergency disposable bib, that I could make one in the PVC fabric. The little toweling bibs are not big enough and the hard plastic ones don't pack up small enough.

I used the disposable bib as a template. I like it because you turn the bottom part back on its self and it makes a scoop. Great for catching dropped food. The only problem is because it gets flipped back you end up with the wrong side of the material at the front.

I didn't like the look of that so I made an extra turn up, that I hemmed and top stitched to keep it in place.

Once that was done I stitched the scoop, wrong sides together to the bib. The last thing I did was stitch a press stud to the neck. I am not sure how durable it will be. The seams look like they will get a lot of stress where it gets flipped back on its self. Normally I'd back stitch a few times, but this will just make an extra row of holes in the PVC. I did think about sewing some bias tape over the seams but it will end up in the scoop of the bib where it is going to get mucky with food. I'm not sure how strong the stitching for the press stud is going to be either. I figure we'll use it a few times and see how it works... it might be the prototype.