Sewchet

Sewing, crochet, crafts, accessories, baking, tutorials,


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Sunday Sevens #70

Linking up with Nat over at Threads & Bobbins for another #sundaysevens – a blog post containing seven (in theory) photos of your life outside the blog.

1. Had a cosy breakfast with No.1 Son who was working from home.

 2. This utterly gorgeous alpaca fur Pom Pom arrived from Toft….  3…….and this is the hat that it will sit on.

4. I like to make samples in advance of a project for my students to show them what they will be making next and how they can make it individual to themselves. I chose a patchwork cotton and trimmed it with some vintage lace from my stash.

 

5. I managed to track down another Janome 3300 to match the other three in my sewing school. They were discontinued (and therefore discounted) at the time, and I could only get three. I have been hoicking mine down from my sewing room for each class, which has been a right royal pain in the bum.

 6. My latest project for the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network – a bottle green crushed velvet coat with dark red Paisley lining and horse head buttons. Nothing run-of-the-mill about this!  7. His niece from Hong Kong sent my father-in-law a sensory activity cushion designed for dementia sufferers, specifically tailored to his interests in which music played a huge part.  8. Took the family out for a meal to celebrate No.1 Son’s 23rd birthday (top right with the beard).  9. Daughter’s boyfriend managed to actually eat every last morsel of this ENORMOUS double burger! 10. No.2 Son got tired. Luckily, daughter was wearing a blanket scarf and N0.3 Son brought his cowboy hat with him. Don’t ask.  11. Uncle T was over from France so they all went to watch the latest Star Wars yawn film.  12. I would rather eat my own liver than suffer even five minutes of Star Wars, so I spent a lovely couple of hours listening to La Traviata whilst cutting out my coat pattern in front of a roaring fire. Heaven!  

Oh yes, nearly forgot to mention that I’ve also bitten the bullet and joined the Instagram revolution as “Sewchet” – come and say “Hi” if you like:)


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Vogue Ball Gown

Happy New Year to you all!

Did you have a good Christmas? If it was anything like mine, it will have been crazy busy but fun both at the same time.

As usual I was more than a little optimistic about what I could do in the run up to the festivities and, on top of all the handmade gifts I had planned, I decided it would be a good idea to make a ball gown for Mr H-L’s annual ‘do’ on 18th December.

Time ran away from me (as it has the annoyingly reliable habit of doing every year) and, before I knew it, there were just TWO days left in which to conjure up this dress or – horror of horrors – wear one that I’d worn previously!

Sleeves rolled up, I got stuck in and laid everything out on the dining table rather than in my sewing room – this close to Christmas I didn’t fancy being locked away from the world for 48 hours.

Minerva Crafts supplied all the materials required, including the most gorgeous shot taffeta in a fabulous shade of turquoise which shimmered beautifully in the light and rustled noisily as I sashayed around in it!

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Luckily, the Belville Sasoon for Vogue pattern (V2931) had provision for shortening the torso as well as the hemline. At only 5’2″ I am short in the body and was able to adjust the pattern pieces by 2″ accordingly.

As the skirt featured a fish tail, it had to be shortened at thigh length too, in order to keep the flare falling from the right height – I reduced this by 4″ which meant no further reduction at the hemline was necessary.

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Once the adjustments were applied to all the relevant pattern pieces, I started the somewhat mammoth task of cutting out.

There were 78 separate pieces to cut out.

It took THREE HOURS!!!

Cutting out

At first glance, the dress may appear to have quite a simple silhouette to it but don’t be fooled – there is plenty of construction hidden within the innocent looking exterior and I was in my element!

Time seemed to stand still as I immersed myself totally in the heaven that is sewing a dress like this.

The bow is a separate entity and is different to any I have made previously (and there have been many!), stiffened with dress net and shaped with hand stitching.

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Formed bra cups are essential in this type of dress as it is not possible to wear a bra and, together with the boning, felt secure enough on my (not insubstantial) bust to dance the night away without a second thought.

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My recently purchased invisible zipper foot proved a good buy, even if I have managed forty years without one – anything that makes life easier is always a good investment.

The invisible zip went in a treat.

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By midnight on Day One, the shell was finished.

I don’t normally like to use flash, but at midnight there is no other option. The benefit was that it shows how the fabric shimmers in the light – it really is stunning!

P1070006The anti-static lining was constructed in pretty much the same way as the dress, minus the bow detail and neck strap.

 

 

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The two are then pinned wrong sides together and basted in place.

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Onto the foundation which consists of a boned layer and a lining. I used cotton covered polyester boning.

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Checking the fit is critical as this stage as it is so closely contoured to the body.

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Once satisfied that the fit was exact, I attached the hook and eye tape to the back opening edges of the foundation corset.

Ball gown

The foundation was sewn, right sides together, to the dress and understitched where possible around the top edge.

French tacks were made to loosely connect the foundation to the lining – such a useful technique that I use a lot in linings.

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Just the lining to sew by hand to the zipper tape….

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…..TADAH!

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Four poppers secure the halterneck strap and a hook and eye finishes the dress above the zipper.

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I was in rather a rush as we had to leave in an hour, so narrow-hemmed the bottom quickly on the machine. Ideally, I would like to have had the time to sew it properly by hand.

In reality, no one noticed:)

I wore the designer shoes that I bought for our wedding.

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After a three hour drive to the hotel, I could finally relax and get ready for the party. Here’s the dress laid out on our bed whilst I took a dip in the jacuzzi with a G&T!

Four Poster

Unfortunately, if you trust your husband to take a decent photograph of you wearing it – this is the best you’re likely to end up with!!!!

Ball gown pose

As you can see, it fits like a second skin – thank goodness for all that scaffolding within!!

 

 


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Sunday Sevens #69 – A Festive Special

And….relax!

The last guest has left and we have the house to ourselves for the first time in nearly two weeks…and I don’t much like it!

For us, the Christmas and New Year period is ALL about family and we have had lots of different house guests coming and going since 23rd December. Our home has been filled to the brim with the sound of laughter and excitement and, of course, song – imagine a constant stream of the very refined and beautiful Downton Abbey’s Christmas album interspersed with the equally fabulous Wurzel’s Christmas CD and you might get the picture.

Cooking for an average of fourteen people twice a day and three changes of bed linen for the same over ten days was self imposed madness, but wonderful at the same time. Fantastic mayhem, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

It started with the Christmas Eve Carol Service in our church.

Carol Service

The dogs accompanied us in their Santa outfits and The Boys took part in the annual five minute Nativity play, whilst a packed church sang Christmas carols, drank mulled wine and nibbled on hot sausages and mince pies.

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The Boys sent their letters to Father Christmas the traditional way before going to bed whilst the grown ups enjoyed a comforting stew and dumplings in front of the fire.

letter to santa

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Christmas morning – The Kids all came in at 5:10am to open their stockings in our bedroom.

stockings

“Pin The Nose On Rudolph” at 5:30am seemed like a good idea at the time!

Pi the nose on Rudolph

As did wearing silly faces:)

Christmas masks

We were far too busy having fun to take many photos, but here’s one from Christmas Day lunch.

Christmas lunch

Presents are opened one-by-one after lunch at about 4.30pm and lasts two hours as we each watch every single present being opened separately. The Boys were thrilled to bits with all their new riding gear!

Riding gear

Boxing Day was more of the same – eating, drinking (the Sloe Port and Sloe Gin didn’t last long!) and generally making merry. Games were played, films were watched and a good time was had by all.

Boxing Day

Remember the Hansel & Gretyl Gingerbread House I ordered, complete with all the characters and lit up by a tea light inside?

gingerbread house

The Boys loved it and, I have to say, it was the tastiest gingerbread I’ve ever had!

gingerbread house eating

Monday meant a change of house guests for a couple of nights – this time all six kids (including the two that live in Brighton), one boyfriend, one Fiancé and the newest addition, baby Lilah.

We take a group photo of them all which has been lovely to see over the years as it doesn’t happen very often that they all get together at the same time.

Kids portrait

Wednesday saw six more guests who had Eggs Royale for breakfast which was declared “The best breakfast I have ever had” by one of the men. He can come again!

Breakfast

My auntie and cousin joined us later in the day – here’s my cousin complete with all her travelling paraphernalia from her recent knee op.

Helen

Talking of ops – I went in at 7am on New Year’s Eve for surgery and waited in my hospital gown and sexy anti-thrombosis socks for six hours…

Hospital

….before being informed that my notes had been lost meaning the surgery had to be postponed until the New Year!

At least it meant I could rejoin the party at home and enjoy a great New Year’s Eve celebration.

Christmas table setting

New Year's Eve

Yesterday, we were invited to another family lunch at my dad’s cousin’s ancient farmhouse. We LOVE visiting, and have happy memories of staying as children. Such an unspoilt building with heaps of character and has, rather wonderfully, escaped ‘modernisation’. This is the view through to the dining room with the Christmas tree glowing in the background. Perfect.

Pauline's farm

Pauline's lunch

Just one last photo for Teresa – this is the dress I was talking about:)

purple dress

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series linking up with Nat over at Threads & Bobbins. To find out how YOU can join in, just click here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


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#stitchingsanta Reveals!

It has been totally brilliant, not to mention ridiculously exciting, to watch all your #stitchingsanta parcels coming together over the last couple of months.

I’ve loved seeing how thoughtful and creative everyone has been, really getting to know their recipient through their blog and sending the most appropriate gifts possible.

For those of you new to this concept, and for anyone considering joining in next year (yes, I’m going to organise another one!), here’s the link to show you what it’s all about – #stitchingsanta 2015.

I took part in both the knitting/crochet swap and the sewing swap but, before I show you all the amazing things I received, I thought I’d show you the final handmade gift that I included in my sewing swap parcel.

A hexagonal French ‘Cartonnage’ sewing box (pattern by Tialys on Etsy) which nearly didn’t get sent as I only finished it an hour before the deadline for Christmas post!

Cartonnage sewing box 3

It took quite a few hours of construction over a week or so to complete, the glued parts needing overnight to dry before moving on to the next bit.

Cartonnage sewing box 1

It’s a lovely pattern though, and I thoroughly enjoyed making it – I first saw it on Lucie’s blog as she was a tester for the pattern before its release and it is designed by the talented Lynn who blogs over at Tialys.

Cartonnage sewing box 2

The box made it into the parcel along with the other things which I blogged about here and was posted to the loopy-but-lovely Ali, better known by many of you as THIMBERLINA.

stitching santa

Below is the bundle of presents (blogged about here) that went off to my knitting swap recipient, Pippa, from Beads & Barnacles.

The first I knew of Pippa was when she signed up for the swap, so I spent some time looking through her blog to see what kind of things she might like before deciding on a few. There are fewer handmade items obviously, as knitting takes so much longer than sewing.

stitching santa gifts

I took a chance by not adding sender’s details on either parcel so they would be a surprise until the last moment, as I had blogged in detail about all the handmade elements in the run up to Christmas.

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Ali, bless her, hadn’t even received my parcel but had already sent me these lush quilted coasters as a ‘thank you’ for organising the swap!

coasters

The fabric she used was ace and had funny, and perfectly apt, little quotes in speech bubbles all over it. Thanks Ali – I love them!!!

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Now, onto the myriad of gorgeous things that I was gifted.

As the organiser, two people had to draw the short straw and have me as their swap partner, so neither were able to blog about their parcels.

I chose Joey, from Littleblackdogsa, to be my knitting partner as she lives in South Africa and the post can be notoriously unpredictable. It wouldn’t matter if her parcel didn’t reach me for a few months but, in fact, it arrived in plenty of time!

yarn stitching santa

The outer bag was quite badly damaged when it arrived, but the contents were intact so I put everything in the bright red bag that she sent with it and it stayed under the tree until yesterday.

Yes, you read that correctly, yesterday – Boxing night to be exact. Why? Well, it certainly wasn’t because I have masses of will power or patience (quite the opposite, in fact) but because we host Christmas for the family and I spend two days cooking, tidying and making sure everyone is having a good time. I wanted to wait until lunch was over and they were all watching a festive film in the lounge so I could open and photograph my parcels at leisure.

Boxing Day lunch

And this is what Joey sent me!

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Would you like to see them in more detail?

Firstly, there are two Indian cotton tea towels onto both of which Joey had crocheted a beautiful border. Far too nice to use, really, but I will.

yarn stitching santa 2

A pretty pin cushion in the shape of a pear. Can you believe I only have one pin cushion which I keep in my sewing room? This one will be used on a daily basis by the children in my sewing classes – I think they’re going to love it.

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Four fab cakes of organic cotton yarn, local to South Africa, which I am thrilled with and can’t wait to use – crochet hooks included!

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A length of festive cotton tape featuring the music of “Jingle Bells”, some hand sewing needles and an atmospheric South African sunset disguised as a fridge magnet.

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I love the little rustic angel that she included, too – I am guessing it is handmade from recycled materials?

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Finally, there were some sweets, a project bag and a card with a lovely message inside. Thank you so much Joey – I am thrilled with all the thoughtful gifts that you obviously spent a lot of time putting together for me!

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By the time I had finished opening and photographing Joey’s parcel, I was dying to open the one from my sewing swap gifter and almost forgot to take a picture of the parcels themselves!

sewing stitching santa

Teresa, the smiley one who blogs over at Navybluethreads, sent her gifts in two separate packages which arrived a day apart – I only knew there was going to be another parcel when the first one arrived labelled ‘Part 2’!

Look at all this!

There were Christmas cards and a letter – Teresa, you should be a doctor with writing like that, beautiful but illegible!!! No.1 Son and I worked it out in the end though!

sewing stitching santa 1

With the help of the newly-translated letter, this is what Teresa sent: –

Loads of amethyst-coloured knit fabric which WILL be made into the dress on the pattern that she included. She knows that I like strong colours and, being a lady of ample bosom herself, obviously knows that the wrap dress is perfect for that. I will make the long sleeved version and wear it with long boots during the Winter.

sewing stitching santa 2

I simply cannot resist any pretty vintage lace, fabric or doilies that I come across in charity shops, so when I opened these I was beside myself with excitement! I believe most of these came from Teresa’s stash so I am doubly grateful – I wouldn’t be able to part with any of mine!

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With my new sewing school, The Stitch Academy, in mind, she kindly sent me a publication that would be ideal for the children to use as their skills improve. The stocking pattern is brilliant, too, but I already have it so I hope she won’t mind if I pass it forward to somebody else to enjoy?

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Teresa even thought of The Boys – they will absolutely LOVE making these fox brooches and fishy keyrings!!

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So many generous and thoughtful gifts but my favourite from Teresa has to be this one – a beautifully soft infinity scarf, handknitted by the lovely lady herself, in a self-striping yarn of various jewel shades which looks exactly like it does in the photo. I just love it!

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What more can I say, except a huge ‘Thank You’ to Joey and Teresa for all the fabulous gifts, and a massive pat on the back to all the #stitchingsantas that signed up for this swap and made it so successful and enjoyable.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did – judging by the blog posts I have seen so far, you did and I wasn’t the only one who was more excited about this present under my tree than any of the others!

Look out for the swap again next year when I get the feeling we’ll have an even longer list of participants than the thirty-five that took part this time.

Happy New Year to you all!

 


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Sunday Sevens #68

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series where you show seven-ish photos of your week. Visit Nat at Threads & Bobbins to find out how YOU can join in.

  1. We took The Boys to a local farm to choose our Christmas Tree. Don’t you just love the farmer’s hat with tractors on it?

Christmas tree shopping

2. The tree stood in the corner of the dining room for a couple of days before we had time to do anything with it ( I was sewing). In the end the men put it up in the corner of the lounge.

Putting up the tree

3. Another day passed before No.1 Son realised it wasn’t going to decorate itself so got into his Santa Onesie and did it by himself (whilst I carried on sewing…..)

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4. No.3 Son decorated the little ‘fake’ tree that we put up in the kitchen room each year whilst dressed up in a Prince’s outfit, as you do.

Meanwhile, I did some sewing.

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5. Remember those Angel costumes I made last week for The Boy’s Nativity? We went to said production on Tuesday. What you can see in the photo is the ENTIRE school which amounts to 100 kids aged 4-11.

Nativity

6. One of the activities in the advent calendar was to get into PJs and drive around looking at the Christmas lights.

Christmas lights

7. The Boys took flasks of hot chocolate and I took a glass of Bailey’s:)

Bailey's

8. On Wednesday I started my ball gown for Mr H-L’s annual company ‘do’.

The ‘do’ was two days later.

There were 78 pattern pieces.

It took me over three hours just to cut it out…..

Cutting out

9. My Thursday class finished their skirts in time for Christmas and were VERY pleased with themselves!

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10. I was also very pleased with MYSELF as I finished the dress with an hour to spare on Friday morning. Here it is all lined and ready for the corset to be sewn in.

Ball gown

11. Hubby and I drove the two and a half hours to Stanhill Court Hotel where the company puts us all up overnight and where the party is held.

Stanhill Court Hotel

12. Here’s a sneak peek of my dress laid out ready on the bed.

Four Poster

13. We stopped at the services on the way home to rehydrate after the previous night’s excesses. A brass band was playing Christmas carols for charity so we sat outside and enjoyed the music for a while.

Brass Band

14. This morning I’m getting on with the last of my #stitchingsanta gifts which involves glue and……

Tialys hexagonal sewing box

……more sewing!!!


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#stitchingsanta – NOTICE

I have just found out (an hour ago) that somebody who signed up for the #stitchingsanta never received the email from me regarding a swap partner.

If you see your name on the list below, YOU HAVE A PARTNER!

All emails were sent on 4th November and contain full details of the recipient. Please check your junk/spam folders or I can resend the original email.

Please, please get in touch if you haven’t sorted a parcel out for anyone, or there will be some very disappointed people out there – I will help as much as I can.

In fact, could you all please leave a comment at the bottom so that I know who has definitely sent, or is sending, their parcel(s)?

sewchet (that’s me!)


36 Comments

Personalised Christmas Sacks – A Tutorial

In case you hadn’t noticed, Christmas is just around the corner – nine days, to be precise and I’ve got a great last-minute make for you; a personalised Christmas sack for that special little person in your life.

Christmas sacks2a

 

 

I’m not joking when I say last-minute as I made TWO personalised sacks yesterday afternoon, each one taking about two and a half hours from start to finish. They’d make great gifts, too, with a little something popped inside and they only cost £12.94 each to make so won’t break the bank.

This is the parcel that arrived from Minerva Crafts: –

P1060959For each sack you will need:

Trim your gingham fabric to the same size as the hessian – 39″ x 56″.

Put the offcuts to one side as you will use these for the tie and the fabric letters.

Draw a reindeer on a sheet of paper and cut out the individual elements separately.

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Cut these out of the felt squares using the picture below as a guide.

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Stitch the nose and eyes onto the felt face – I used free machine embroidery throughout to achieve a ‘scribble’ effect which works well on children’s gifts.

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Fold your hessian in half and arrange the felt pieces in the centre as shown.

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Hessian has an open weave which tends to move quite a lot, so either tack your appliqués on first or use LOTS of pins to keep them in place while you sew them on.

I loathe tacking so I opted for pin overkill instead.

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With the reindeer face stitched securely in place, it’s time to move on to personalising your sack.

You can download a suitable font or just freehand it like I did onto thin card. As I was making two sacks I had both blue and red gingham offcuts to cut the letters from. I also decided to use some paper backed fusible web to secure the letters to the hessian before stitching them.

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Arrange the letters evenly in a curve around the bottom of the reindeer, remove the paper backing and iron in place.

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Two rounds of stitching on each letter gives a good effect.

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When all your stitching is done, sew the top edge of the sack to the top edge of the lining with right sides together (sorry, no photo). Press the seam flat to create a crisp edge.

Then, lay your fabric out on a large table or on the floor and fold in half lengthwise, right sides together to create a ‘tube’.

Pin all the way around, leaving a gap in the lining where shown through which to turn. (I forgot to photograph this step on the first sack so the lining is shown in red).

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Put pins at 8″ from the top edge and 9″ from the top edge – this will be a break in the stitching to provide a channel for the tie.

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Sew all the way around the three sides with breaks in the stitching as described above.

Trim the corners and turn the sack through to the right side. Sew the lining closed at the gap through which it was turned. Press.

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With a soft pencil or tailor’s chalk, mark two parallel lines all the way around at 8″ and 9″ from the top edge of the sack. Pin through both layers of fabric. Stitch along the lines.

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For the tie, use your remaining offcuts of gingham to assemble a length that measures about 70″ x 2″.

Fold in and press 1/4″ at each short end.

Fold in and press 1/4″ along each long edge.

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Bring the folded long edges together enclosing the raw edges.

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Stitch close to the edge to finish your tie.

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Use a safety pin to thread the tie through the channel in the gap left for this purpose.

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And that’s it – finished!

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A beautiful sack which any child would be delighted to have on Christmas Day to pop all their opened presents into.

Christmas sacksa

They’re huge, too, I would have added The Boys to the photo for scale except that the sacks are a surprise for them.

You’ve still got time, so who fancies whipping up a Christmas Sack for their little boy or girl?

 

 


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#stitchingsanta Sewing Update

I’ve been making steady progress with the handmade items that I’m including in the parcel to my #stitchingsanta recipient and it’s about time I showed you.

I’m taking part in the knitting/crochet swap as well and have already given you a glimpse of the things I’ve made for that – you can have a look here.

As soon as the latest issue of Love Sewing dropped through the letterbox, I knew I was going to make this cute tree decoration, so that’s going into the parcel – although I’m going to have to make another one for our tree ‘cos I’ve rather fallen in love with it myself:)

tree decoration

Having bought these colourful stork embroidery scissors, I added a needle-keeper to one of its handles.

needle keeper

I embroidered an image of a sewing machine on one side together with the word ‘needles’. The other side is kept plain with a tiny floral print cotton.

needle keeper back

Not a very Christmassy make, I know, but this daisy print ‘Ikea’ bag can be used all year round. I wrote a tutorial on this which you can find here.

Flowery Ikea Bag

I had a few hours fun covering some buttons with tiny cross stitched motifs. My eyes could barely see to sew such minute stitches!

Stag head cross stitch button

covered button4

covered button6

I had a small amount of leftover Rose & Hubble fabric in my stash which was just enough to make a coin purse and matching tissue holder, both handbag size.

Coin Purse tissue holder

These bright orange gloves are made from the softest cashmere sweater and, although I’ve never seen her wear orange, I think they suit her bubbly personality.

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I snapped up this unused Simplicity pattern from a charity shop for just a pound – I can see her looking good in all of these!

sewing pattern

There are a few other bought bits and pieces to go in and the main handmade gift – if I can finish it in time!

 

 

 

 


33 Comments

Sunday Sevens #66

Sunday Sevens is here again – seven-ish photos of your week to show what you get up to between those bigger blog posts. Check out this article over at Threads & Bobbins to find out how YOU can join in.

  1. We made a grand total of £609 profit from the Christmas Supper in the Village Hall – and leftover veg meant bubble ‘n’ squeak for breakfast on Sunday!

Bubble and squeak

2. Whipped up a couple of very basic Angel costumes for The Boy’s school Nativity (that’s another bedsheet gone). Don’t they look sweet?

Angels

3. As part of their interactive advent calendar, this week The Boys donated some of their old toys to charity….

Toys for charity

……we had a family “Top Trumps’ night….

Games night

….and we bought a bagful of shopping to add to the box in church for The Lord’s Larder, a charity that helps the poor and homeless.

Donate to the lord larder

4. On Friday, H-R and I went on our annual Christmas shopping trip to Bath while the Christmas market was still in full swing. We’ve been going every year since she was four, so this is our twentieth anniversary!

Eggs Royale for breakfast

We usually have Eggs Royale for breakfast as soon as we arrive and this year was no exception.

Eggs Royale

5. I bought the latest Big Issue from a lovely chap who dressed his companion up for the festive season.

Homeless dog

6. A local school was fundraising for a new piano by carol singing in the high street.

Carol singing

7. Mulled wine and mince pies outside is a great way to rest your feet in between all that shopping.

Mulled wine and mince pies

8. A day of Christmas Craft Workshops on Saturday resulted in these colourful stockings….

Christmas Stocking Workshop

….and Christmas Bunting.

Christmas Bunting Workshop

9. Finally, to round off a brilliant week, last night hubby and I went to a party dressed up as Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones in ‘The Mask Of Zorro’.

It took an ENTIRE king size duvet cover to make his outfit!!

Zorro fancy dress

 

Hope you didn’t choke on your croissants:)


70 Comments

Handmade Christmas Presents – Progress

Q: What do you get if you cross seven jewel-coloured balls of Drop’s Kid-Silk…….

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…..with 266 of the finest Swarovski crystal beads?

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A: Seven of the softest, lightest lacy scarves you will ever come across!

Party Lace Scarves3

Using the FREE ‘Party Lace Scarf’ pattern by Lisa Sisk on Ravalry (available here), I thought these scarves would make perfect Christmas gifts for the women in our family.

The yarn is 75% Mohair and 25% Silk (so no itching) and weighs just 25g per ball. Each scarf requires just one ball which means you end up with a superwarm scarf that is so lightweight that you barely know you’re wearing it at all!

In case you are interested in making your own, you can buy the yarn from The Wool Warehouse or Love Knitting.

From the top, the colours I chose are: – Beige, Pink, Off White, Light Beige, Lavender, Medium Pink and Sea Green.

Party Lace Scarves2

I bought mine with an introductory 15% discount at Love Knitting, getting each ball for just £3.91.

I also used 300 Swarovski 3mm Xilion Bicone Crystal Beads (£2.50 for 50) from The Bead Shop, which equates to £2.14 per scarf.

Assuming you already own a set of 4.5mm straights, each scarf works out at a £6.05 and takes about ten evenings to complete – a bargain, if you can spare the time!

Would you like a closer look?

Party Lace Scarf 4

Party Lace Scarf 6

The lace pattern is a two-row repeating pattern, alternating with a row of purl – very easy to memorise and a great one to start with if you are new to lace knitting like I was.

Party Lace Scarf 5

Party Lace Scarf 7

It’s so hard to photograph the crystal beads, seen here along the edge, but they sparkle in the light and add a subtle glamorous touch.

Party Lace Scarf 8

Party Lace Scarf 9

The beads can, of course, be omitted for a plain scarf…..but why would you?!

Here they are again – don’t they look lovely piled up together like that?

 

Party Lace Scarves

This one was reserved for a follower of the blog and is ready to be sent in time for Christmas.

Party Lace Scarf

I think they make a great present, a real touch of luxury at a ridiculously low cost.

You’ve still got time to make a Party Lace Scarf – who do you know that would love one?