SEWING FOR PLEASURE

A few weeks ago my niece asked if I had any cross stitch books that she could borrow as she didn't like many of the designs she had found in the magazines. I mentioned that my sister and I were planning to learn stump work embroidery and this lead (of course) to our own little sewing club.  Four of us met at my house on the seventh of June and did a lot of talking and a little sewing.  I have never sewed in a group like this and it was a lot of fun.  
It was a bit of a mixture - my niece worked on a piece of applique she is making for a friend. My sister unpicked the bodice of a dress we are making over for my niece and I helped my nieces friend with her first piece of machine sewing, a hair tie to match the dress she will be making in the next few weeks.

I had quite a few plans for what I would do and although I didn't get any of them done I was inspired to carry on after everyone had gone home. 

 
To begin with I mended my favourite Tee shirt - ok its about ten years old and I could get a new one but I love it so.

http://www.tamstreasuresonline.co.uk/krink-fantasy-t-shirt-5407-p.asp 

I mended a tear near the hem of a very full skirt and then embroidered lazy daisy stitch and french knots over the mend. I am not that fond of mending so feel quite pleased I got it done.

I also finished lenghtening the pockets in my parteners new jeans so there is room for his phone.  The original pockets were very shallow.  Finally I traced a blouse pattern from the BURDA magazine for me to make.

Many ways to use a catfish

A little bit of doodling lead to the creation of the rather cute little catfish. 
Adjusting the size with the printer to the pattern I made some keyrings from leopard print felt (what else could I use for catfish?)  http://folksy.com/items/4217686-Keyring-CATFISH

 The keyrings were so sweet I thought the same pattern would look lovely as an applique on tote bags.


 

I have some lovely floral fabrics that I feel will work well.  The first bag I used a red cotton with yellow spots, and I have started a couple more with this vintage check fabric.

Part finished bags - hand stitched faces and the applique done in black by machine.  To highlight the design,

  The completed bags have cotton handles with sweet mini heart button detail. There is a useful back pocket with a button fastening.  And like the keyrings the catfish on the bags have a lucky fin which gives a 3D effect.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/127406057/tote-bag-applique-catfish-tote-bag? 

 

 Bright sunshine colours to banish the winter blues.

pot holders and lavendar bags

With the fabric I got from strawberry fayre http://www.strawberryfayre.co.uk/  several different projects came to mind: -

Pot holders either done in patchwork - a craft I had not tried or applique which I do like doing and which would give me a chance to try simple quilting techniques.  The pot holder idea would also work to stand pots on.

 Patchwork (of a fashion) was the only thing I could think of to do with 400 inch squares of fabrics.   Because the squares were so small this was a nice project to carry around.

 A selection of pot holders ready (mostly) to be pressed. Then to have a layer of wadding and a backing piece added, a little bit of very simple quilting and the edges bound.

  The other project being lavender bags.  I promised my Mother that I would make her some.  I still have a bag of dried lavender from my garden last year and she just wanted plain and simple bags to put under her pillow. 

 These have to have been some of the simplest things I have ever sewed.  Just two squares from a charm pack sewn together with running stitch, no turning right sides out and then filled with lavender and the last side sewn up.  The lavender is still very fragrant - last year must have been a very good year.