Learn to Sew, Show and Tell........

My 'Learn to Sew' students have been hard at it again......sewing, that is!

Last Spring term they made a plethora of fantastic items.

Nicole

Nicole with her Union Jack cushion, machine appliquéd picture

and the owl cushion that she designed and made all by herself, at home.

Misty

New to the class, from January, is Misty, above.

Her first project was the frilled cushion cover at the front and

since then her sewing machine has been going flat out. 

She's made a fabulous selection of cushions and bags in class and at home.

I love the orange and white cushion below.

Corine

 Misty's friend and work colleague Corine, above, also joined the class last January.

She has been equally prolific, making cushions and bags.

They both have a good eye for lovely fabrics - maybe helped by the fact that 

they are employees of Laura Ashley ! 

The patchwork cushion is so pretty.

 Kate

 Kate is really into making and embellishing clothes

for her and her girls.

Velvet skirts, appliquéd cord skirt and revamped jeans

are all now part of her growing wardrobe!

This was Kate's 5th term on the on-going course.

 Carol

 Carol attended my Soft Furnishing courses for a year or so,

 but had to move to the evening class due to work commitments.

So she wasn't exactly 'learning to sew'!. She did, however welcome the 

opportunity to work on smaller items and learn some new techniques.

A fan of 'The Bag Making Bible' by Lisa Lam

Carol has made a lovely assortment of bags using Lisa's patterns.

 The bag below is beautifully made from a lovely wool

herringbone tweed.

 Harriet

This was Harriet's second term in the classes and she's

showing a fab union Jack cushion, draught excluder and make-up bags.

Other items she has made - a door stop and other cushions - have been

given away as presents.

I have eight ladies attending the class this Summer term,
with four of them new to sewing. 

I wonder what lovely things they will produce?

Watch this space.......

If you are interested in joining the Learn to Sew class, 

or my Soft Furnishing class 

click here:

http://www.kentadulteducation.co.uk/

to make enquiries for 2012/2013 classes.

A Chair Transformed.

For a recent commission I was given this chair 

and was asked to make a loose cover for it.

Although very nicely upholstered in a Laura Ashley fabric,

my client wanted a cover in a prettier fabric,

to match some curtains I had previously made her.

 She was also no longer keen on the buttoning.

  She chose a new Laura Ashley fabric.

A linen mix, in a pretty ditsy print, called

Luella

 I made the centre back opening first - fastened with self fabric bows,

then pin fitted the back of the cover onto the back of the chair.

 Then I pin fitted the inside back and seat together.

 The pin fitting was finished by pinning the outside back to inside back

and seat.

 Once all the pin fitting was completed the cover was stitched together, 

with piping added at the front between the inside back and little arms,

 around the outside back and all around the top of the frilled skirt.

The finished chair cover,
front......

......and back.

 I think it is really pretty - don't you? 

My Monthly Make - February

Appliquéd linen handbag.

I have used a lovely crisp natural linen for the bag, and some vintage floral linen for the appliqué.

I cut the flowers and leaves individually and then used an embellisher machine to attach them.

The embellisher has eight barbed needles that pierces the fabrics at a fast speed

to effectively felt or mesh the layers together.

It makes for quite a muted effect and

 leaves a soft raw edge.

I then free machine stitched around 

the flowers and leaves to accentuate 

the veins and petals.

For rigidity, I interlined the linen with iron-on, 

heavyweight, woven interfacing.

I trimmed the side seams with recycled cotton lace.

And made some handles from some gorgeous soft leather,

using recycled rings to attch them to the bag.

I used a Liberty Tana Lawn for the lining, which I backed with lightweight, 

woven interfacing to give it more body.

I added two pockets inside and a magnetic 

snap fastener to close the bag.

This bag is for sale in my Folksy shop now.

January Monthly Make

I knew I would leave it until the last minute to do this post, 

in fact I'm a day late!

But I did make these gadget sleeves right at the beginning of the month, 

honestly!

A pretty floral notepad sleeve, the fabric was a new tea towel I bought in town

and the blue one is a laptop sleeve - the fabric from Ikea.

The lining is the same in both - a vintage chintz with a little ditsy print.

I like the contrasting zips and fabric pulls.

I made these for me - though they might appear in my empty Folksy shop or my 

website Pretty Goods

You may think this is a bit measly for a monthly make -

 there are some gorgeous things on the Flickr group

but making is what 'I do' - all the time. Nearly everyday!

I have commissions for curtains, blinds, loose covers, headboards,

cushions, and even for covering bedside tables in fabric!

This is me, in action....

....all photographed ready to write a tutorial for making interlined curtains 

with handworked pleated headings.

Watch this space

Sew Good

for the tutorial in the near future.

Better get sewing!! (and writing)

Show and Tell - students work.

Now that everything is 'back to normal' after all the festivities of the last two or three weeks,  

I can post some photos of the lovely work my Learn To Sew students

produced last term.

All students started the classes not knowing how to use their sewing machines.

They bring along an eclectic mix of machines - some have super duper Brothers and Janomes

others have 30 year old Frister Rosmans, and one student started with a 

hand turned Singer that was about 90 years old.

Students learn to thread the machines, change feet, wind a bobbin
and simple troubleshooting (always the tricky bit!).
Then they start a small project - they all made make-up/washbags
with a zip opening, flat bottom and a waterproof lining with all seams hidden.
This was all in the first 2 hour lesson!
The little bags were finished in the second session.

They then progressed onto lined shopping totes, simple cushions,
piped cushions with a zip in the piped seam, and then projects of their own choice.
I was really pleased with  their enthusiasm and their achievements.

Here are their photos.......

Above is Denise, a complete beginner in September.

She is showing some of her 'makes'. 

A cushion cover, her apron, and make-up bag.

What she is not showing are the PJ bottoms she made from a recycled sheet.

Norma started the classes in September 2010, so has now learnt to sew!

She has made loads of progress and loads of lovely items.

In the picture above she is showing her 'carpet bag' with the wooden handles,

a make-up bag, scissors case, piped cushion cover and a large set of hanging pockets

for her Granddaughter.

Nicole started with Norma and is showing her Advent Calender - a work in progress -

with appliquéd pockets, and lovely Christmas stockings, machine embroidered and appliquéd.

Here's a close up of Nicole's stockings.

Kate also started in 2010

and became the proud owner of a new Janome sewing machine soon after.

She has been a prolific maker - bags, box cushions, dresses for her girls,

and herself, a skirt for mother-in-law; has appliqued her jeans, duvet covers and, as you see here,

has made 'hundreds' of make-up bags and handbags for Christmas gifts.

Jackie is showing a few of her makes - a ticking make-up bag and a scissors case.

She has also learnt to upcycle charity shop items by altering skirts to fit.

I try to encourage the students to recycle/upcycle items and fabrics from our local charity shops.

They all do pretty well and find some lovely bits and pieces to use.

Sophie, below, finished off a pretty little smocked dress that her mother

 had cut out to make up for her when she was a baby!

Sophie made it for her little baby girl.

Sophie has also made several replacement piped box cushion covers for her sofa and

some matching piped scatter cushions. 

Sarah started in September 2011, so has just attended for one term.

She has really got the sewing bug and has made loads of items - bags, a stocking,

a room full of cushions, all beautifully piped and zipped, a pegbag and a draught excluder.

Harriet also started last September, and bought herself a spanking new 

Brother sewing machine after the first week! 

She's also got 'the bug'.

She has made bags, and cushions. The dog print ones (three of them)

were made for a wedding present, and beautifully made they were too!

Not all ten students were in class to show their makes when I took the photos,

but they had all made equally lovely items.

I'll do another show and tell at the end of this term!!

We start on Wednesday evening and I'm looking forward to it!

A bit of garment making this term I think, using patterns.

The Future of Vintage Fashion?

Have you ever wondered if the clothes we buy and wear now will be 'Vintage' fashion in 30 or 40 years time? Or will they stand the test of time? Is high street fashion made well enough to last that long or will the throw away society that we have become mean that it all ends up as landfill or shredded for recycling?

Dani, the daughter of a friend of mine has written a thought provoking blog post for a university assessment on this subject.

Her research was done in Cardiff, but it is relevant to other areas too.

Here's the link to Dani's blog - please read it and comment on it. She needs to get lots of people to read and comment on her blog as part of an assessment for her print journalism masters.

The Future of Vintage Fashion in South Wales

The post certainly made me think about the items I make.I use vintage fabrics, embroidered linens and handmade lace, but am finding it increasingly difficult to source and buy pieces at a reasonable price.

Charity shops, who used to almost give away old curtains, embroidered table cloths, tray cloths and napkins, are now labelling all things 'old' as vintage and charging a fortune!

And there is always competition at auctions, which then pushes the prices up.

I do think well made curtains and soft furnishings will stand the test of time and will always be available as 'vintage' buys in the future, however.The fabrics I'm often given for commissions are beautiful and the curtains I make from them will probably (hopefully) not be thrown away at the end of their usefulness - more than likely resold or given to charity.

But who embroiders now, or makes lace? In years time all the linens will have been sold and there will be nothing to replace them.

But then perhaps we will go bonkers for machine embroidered items and mass manufactured lace and trimmings!

What do you think?

Deck the Halls......

......well, the sitting room and dining room!

Always a real tree, adorned with

red and gold, a touch of silver and cut glass

and lots of tiny lights......

.....candles and shiny red baubles on the mantlepiece.

Fairy lights in the hearth

Christmas bunting and decorated twigs on the dresser...

with a charity shop pressed glass dish, loaded with mercury glass baubles from TKMaxx

and a charity shop decanter engraved with tiny little stars. 

Just the thing for my homemade sloe gin, and, when that's all gone,

the cherry brandy I made last summer. 

Gosh, I have had those twigs for over 22 years! 

they have somehow escaped 

attack by mice in the attic.

 Not so lucky, some years ago, was a faux foliage wreath - 

all the (polystyrene) berries had been shredded and eaten.

What did the mice find so tasty?

Purdy dog finds all this decorating lark soooo tiresome....

Purdy - you have no sense of decorum!