At last

At last, some sewing! I have been working away at various bits and bobs recently but not really much fit for showing on here. However I do, finally, have some things completed.

A couple of Saturdays ago I treated myself to a trip to Leeds to join a Greycircles sewing workshop (run by Manda and Karen). As much as anything it was an excuse to spend a day sewing and have some time to myself (although by 9pm when I was getting off the train home my 5am wake-up was starting to tell!). I loved it. Despite both feeling under the weather Manda and Karen are great teachers and lots of fun. I got to meet Justine too - she and I started blogging at around the same time last year and have become good blogging buddies. Lovely and such a pleasure.



The aim of the workshop was to make a child sized dress or tunic top and reversible trousers. I made both for Islay (don't worry my boys couldn't care less!). I reduced the length of the dress to make it more of a tunic but perhaps was a bit overzealous so it ended up a bit shorter than I had intended. When I got home I unpicked the hemming and, instead, used a ribbon to enclose the bottom edge - which gives it a bit more length and finishes it prettily (tutorial here, it works really well and I have used it for hemming skirts for Islay quite a lot). I liked the effect of the ribbon on the bottom hem but didn't have enough for the sleeves. Instead I used a similarly coloured robot ribbon. I like the way the red in the ribbon helps bring out the red on the stripe of the sleeves.



Next up were the trousers. Couldn't be easier as long as you remember that linen doesn't have a 'right' and 'wrong' side so you need to keep track of which is which. As you can probably guess I didn't think about this first time round and when I came to sew the legs together I had fronts meeting backs - not a good look! Still, I'm much more likely to remember in future having stuffed up so annoyingly (alongside ironing unpicking is one of my least favourite activities. I'm good at avoiding ironing but less so with the unpicking.).



Islay loves both the trousers and the top so I can't really ask for more especially after such a fantastic day. I was also quite shocked at how much difference a really good quality sewing machine makes (I'm always wary of being a 'bad workman that blames their tools' and I manage fine with what I have....but I do now realise that life would be easier with an upgrade. Will just have to dream for now).



Next up are some new cushions for our sofa. I would have loved to have made some bright and breezy cushions but our walls are two kinds of blue wallpaper (both of which are shiny) and the carpet is a patterned green (unfortunately such good quality that it refuses to show any signs of wear)....one day we'll at least paint the walls but it is a huge room and the ceiling is high so we keep putting it off. So, cushion choice is rather restricted.




I used some wool I've had for a while for the cats and their bows are from the wool felt scraps I bought at the Country Living Christmas Fair (with cushions in mind). The remaining felt went into a strip on a bigger blue linen cushion (with one more, of slightly different design, still to make). And I felted a tank-top, which I loved but had lost it's shape, to make another two.





Snow white, and her grubby nose, likes them.



And finally, for no real reason beyond their prettiness and lovely scent (which I do realise will be lost on you), here's my very cheery hyacinths.