Sew Happy

One of things I thought I would have lots of when we were in lockdown is time.  Oh how wrong I was.  I thought this might be, because we didn't have to be anywhere by a certain time, I was not using my time so efficiently.  So many of the jobs I do still need to be done, the house needs cleaning, the laundry bin needs emptying, food needs thinking about, buying and cooking and of course there is the education of my children.  We have done this from our home for years but now we found ourselves at home, and rather than their needs being fulfilled in part by me and in part by classes, groups, and playdates on every week day, now it was just me and my husband when he was on furlough.  

My time to do the things that I wanted to do was in small pockets, dotted throughout the day, much as it always has been.  I have become the master of breaking projects down into small pieces, choosing things to do that are small enough to be achieved in the time I have or things that can be picked up and put down easily.  It has been a long time since I shared anything I have made or am working on, so grab yourself a cuppa and somewhere to sit comfortably this is a long read!

Way back in April, remember then?  No me neither.  I found a lovely free embroidery pattern online.  I have always loved embroidery, and would love to improve my skills, but am not drawn to kits nor have I found any patterns I would like to purchase. My sewing has always been fairly freeform and that is the kind of embroidery I wanted to do too.  This pattern seemed like a good place to start as it gave advice on what stitches to use, and videos of how to do them.  I didn't however want to do the embroidery for the sake of it, so I did what I always do, I let it sit in my thoughts and waited for an idea to come to me.  Eventually it did whilst the children were sitting knitting with me, they both have me made drawstring bags to hold their projects in, I have made lots of these bags as gifts but I have never made one for myself.  I would embroider onto the fabric for the main panels.  As this was the time of total lockdown I had to make use of what was in my stash, I found some linen which would be perfect to embroider on, the lining is also linen, light green.  I also found a small piece of green fabric with cream flowers which was a perfect match.  The tape for the draw strings was more difficult to lay my hands on.  I have a drawer of ribbons and tape and it is rather messy so diving in there is always an interesting activity, perhaps I should tidy it?  I am rather pleased with the finished bag, I am currently using it for my sock knitting.

We bought ourselves a new bed at the beginning of the year, it didn't have a headboard as the old one did and sitting up reading was not very comfortable and giving us both a crick in the neck every evening.  I needed to make some cushions.  My husband wanted something plain and his was made using an old cushion cover from our futon sofa, I was able to make use of the zip so it was an quick and easy project.  I fancied something a little more patterned and thought I would do some random patchwork using pieces of fabric from my stash, we were still in full lockdown.  I didn't have any suitable zips in my stash so I used an envelope method where the fabric overlaps at the back.  I once again made use of the linen I used for the bag above for the edging and the back.  In fact the fabric at the top right is the flowery trim at the top of my bag too!  As both of these cushions covers were made to measure I had to make the cushions to go inside them myself.  I had a bag of sheeps wool which a friend had given me years ago, I had made use of some of it but luckily there was still some left.  I washed it, carded it, made a cover and stuffed it.  I had exactly enough wool for both cushions.  Reading in bed is now a lot more comfortable.

A dear friend of mine had a birthday back in May.  I wanted to make something to send to her but it needed to be light to keep the postage costs down.  I have made many of these fabric baskets as gifts and for us.  They are so useful for keeping things in and fold flat for easy postage.  The basket on the left was sent to my friend, along with a small green felted bowl.  This was made by knitting on large needles to create holes in the knitting then you wash it on a hot wash to deliberately shrink it.  It makes a lovely tight, thick strong 'fabric'  which is perfect for a little bowl.  The basket on the right was made as a gift for my friend's daughter who has been finding life during lockdown hard and also because I love to make things to gift to people for no other reason than it brings us both pleasure.

A long time ago, I think perhaps last summer?  I bought a metre of purple linen fabric with the intention of making myself a skirt.  I had washed it and it sat in the bottom of my ironing basket, waiting patiently.  Back in January I finally got round to ironing it and cutting out the pieces.  I don't have a dedicated sewing space so I have to be creative storing my work in progress, I found a suitable hanger and hung the pieces in my wardrobe, a ingenious solution I thought except it was out of sight, and out of mind.  When the weather started to warm up in April I discovered those pieces amongst my summer skirts!  It is now all sown up and being warn a lot, hence the creases in the photo above.  The pattern was a free one I found online, however it was unlined,  I don't think linen hangs very well unless it is lined so I adapted it to make it a lined skirt.  Luckily, as I had bought this fabric so long ago, I had a zip and thread otherwise it might have had to sit there for a lot longer waiting until my local sewing shop could open once again.

It hasn't always been about sewing these past few months.  Alice and I tried out needle felting for the first time back in December last year, we made some felted stars using biscuit cutters to help with the shaping.  We have become rather hooked, excuse the pun, and had a go at some other shapes which we felted together and attached to some blank hair slides that I had in my sewing box.  Alice made the one in the middle and I the other two.   A girl can never have too many hair slides.....

Alice loves needle felting so much that she requested a couple of books that we had looked at online for her birthday, along with her own needles and felting wool.  One of the books was full of ideas and tutorials to make dolls and fairies.  When she sat making her first one, I couldn't resist having a go myself, they are fiddly but such fun to make.  The tutorials are really easy to follow with lots of photos which makes it easier for me to follow it, I don't do well with only words.    The fairy in the middle was sent to my friend's daughter along with the fabric basket above.  The other two have been added to our collection of things we have made for our seasonal table, for Spring and Summer, they sit in the little driftwood tree that a friend made for us.

I wouldn't be without my knitting, ever.  I always have a project on the go.  This is the cardigan that I made for Alice for her birthday.  She is still wearing it a lot despite the fact that it is on the small side, she loves it.  The buttons are a little on the large side but they were the only ones she liked that I had in my stash, once I am able to take her shopping with me again we will look for some that are a little more suitable.

This is turning into a year of making socks, I am not the fastest knitter so this is my fourth pair this year.  They match rather nicely with my sock project bag too!  I made a mistake in the first pattern repeat, one that does not effect the overall pattern, it was creating a twist.  I decided to leave it in rather than rip out many rows to get back to it.  I just need to make sure that I do the same with the second sock too, otherwise they won't match!

I have mentioned here, many times, that I am knitting myself a shawl.  By sheer coincidence it has the exact same pattern on it as the cardigan that I knit for Alice.  I am knitting the stocking stitch part at the moment so this is very easy to pick and put down, I can also knit it whilst I am reading or watching something.  I bought this yarn in a local-ish yarn store, it is spun from locally bred sheep and is wonderfully soft and a delight to knit with.  It was, as you would expect, expensive to purchase (I used money I had been given for my birthday and Christmas, the perfect present) but I can see why as it has the most beautiful drape and is creating a wonderful 'fabric' if you can call knitting that.  There is a narrow edge strip all the way round this shawl, some of it has buttonholes knitted into it and some will have buttons sown on.  This enables you to wear the shawl in a endless number of ways, something that attracted me to this project in the first place.  I am hoping it will be in use year round, as a extra layer of warmth in the colder months and as a means of keeping off the cool that we have in the evenings in the spring and summer.

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Embroidery tutorial here

Drawstring bag pattern and tutorial here

Fabric Baskets are in this book 

A Line skirt pattern and tutorial here

Needle Felted Fairy book is this one

Cardigan Pattern here

Sock Pattern here

Shawl Pattern here