New Fabric for New Project

I don't know about you but the heat we've had this summer has made me not feel like doing too much of anything! I know we shouldn't complain, as it's the best summer we've had in years, and I'm not complaining - honest! :) I'm just saying it's made me feel a bit more lethargic than usual!

However, I have been doing some scrapping and the Smash book I bought at Ally Pally earlier in the year is getting nicely full with little mementos of the year. Not that we've done all that much but even small things, like going for a cup of tea and lunch at the adorable tea shop we found in Brighton is definitely something I like to record and pop in there.

I also finally got around to recording the story that surrounded a funny picture my husband had. It took me a while because I wasn't involved in the story so I needed to get it from him and him finding the time to sit down and tell me about it wasn't the easiest. But we got there eventually. I used this paper, because it was about a helicopter flight.

 

I jazzed up the heli itself with some diamond stickles and there's now a 4x6 photo in the bottom left corner with a few embellishments and a title. For the most part, the paper is covered in journaling as there was quite a long story to tell but it made the picture make sense and was really something I wanted to put in the album. I think it's important to try and include other people's days in your scrapbooks. Even if it means you have to really work at trying to get the story out of them, it's worth it in the end! :)

 

 

And sticking with the helicopter theme, I recently bought this fabric:

 

 

 

Hubby has asked me to make a cover for a mini tablet type thing and I knew about this fabric, so thought it would be fun to use. It comes in a blue colourway which was what I originally wanted, but unfortunately couldn't find any in the UK at the time, so I've gone with the cream background instead.

 

The project itself will be along the lines of the Kindle cover I made here, just slightly different in size. I'll post a picture when I'm done. It's a case of trying to find a time when he's not using the thing in order to measure it at the moment! Also, I have to admit, it's been a case of trying to finish the above layout and find my desk in order to be able to make space to sew.

 

It's going to be a bit of an adventure, because for those of you that follow this blog, you may remember that I got a new sewing machine last year. So far, I've sewn precisely two small things on it. One was a super quite felt cover for hubby's phone when he cycles and has to put it in his rucksack and the other was blind hemming a lined wool skirt from a suit my Mum had bought for herself that was longer than she wanted. That was my first project on the machine and I wish I'd kept going because my confidence has plummeted again now. I don't want to mess up this project so it'll be a case of fingers crossed!

 

Wish me luck and any tips would be much appreciated!

 





Sewing a Blind Hem

I did it! I did my first blind hem and it looked fine! This is something that has always baffled me because of the whole folding it this way and that thing that goes along with it. Until I found this video. It explained the folding bit so well that it made you think - what was I worrying about?

I forgot to take a picture before I gave the skirt back to my Mum (for whom I was altering it) but it really did turn out well. I was pretty chuffed with myself. I did use a blind hem foot which came with the machine and I can see that not having this would make it more difficult as you wouldn't have the little guide that special foot has.

It really has made me happy that I got this done - I've had the skirt there for ages and whilst for much of the time, I was without a machine and therefore unable to do it, I was also a bit nervous when I did have one as I didn't want to mess it up, as it's part of a suit. I unpicked the lining and just did a normal hem on that, as had been done on it originally. I nearly cheated and did a normal hem on the main fabric but I really wanted to learn the technique.

Now I have done it once, I'll hopefully be less intimidated another time.

If this is something you're struggling with, I'd highly recommend you take a look at the video I mention. I watched it at 4am whilst unable to sleep and even got it then, so that must say something about how well she's explained it!

Happy Sewing!