Yummy colours

I'm still busily making items to sell at the village fair (in aid of the church roof fund). I haven't done any freestyle machine embroidery for quite a while so last week I had great fun creating these flowers and hearts to make into brooches. I want to decorate them with buttons so have scattered a mixture of sizes and colours over them to make the button choice easier . . . hmm! I think this could take quite a while.

As you can see, my sewing machine has been working overtime recently. After making the flowers and hearts I machine embroidered some little dollies onto white linen. Each little girl then became a panel in the centre of a tote bag.  

Over the past few days my machine stitching has been interrupted by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The UK is currently awash with red, white and blue and I couldn't resist making these patriotic little mice. They are only 15cm (6in) tall and just fit inside this tiny basket. The arms and legs contain pipe cleaners (chenille stems) so positioning the little rascals is quite easy, and fun! The pattern for the mice can be found here. I altered the clothes slightly when making them and gave the girl a fabric dress rather than a knitted one.

The Diamond Jubilee celebrations are over but the many flags will remain in readiness for the Olympics in July. I'm happy to escape to the sewing room where red, white and blue is cast aside in favour of vibrant shades of every hue. As always there's no shortage of helpers!

I love working with yummy colours don't you?

Beautifully upcycled

One piece of advice will always remind me of my mum and dad.

"Don't throw it away because you never know when it might be useful."

How right they were! One person's 'junk' is very definitely another person's 'treasure' and my parents kept cupboards full of treasured bits and bobs of every shape and size. As a result they were able to create, repair and rebuild all kinds of things over the years. Sadly my parents are no longer here but I know they would have been amazed and delighted to see some of the beautifully crafted pieces of jewelry that are featured on Etsy these days. All cleverly utilise upcycled materials. Here are just a few of my favourites.

Necklace and bracelet by Dishfunctional Designs (uses broken china)

  

 

Necklaces by Mermaids Tears Jewelry (uses sea glass)

  

Necklace by Button Soup Jewelry (uses vintage buttons)

Bracelet and necklace by The Key of A (uses keys of all types)

Ring by London Particulars (uses vintage watch parts)

My final choices are created from vintage silver spoons. They are all made by LTCreates Jewelry 

Bracelet

Watch

 Variety of rings

If you have an upcycled favourite that is featured on Etsy feel free to leave the name of the shop in the comments box, I'd love to take a look.

Ready for school

My school days can seem a lifetime away, but as the long carefree days of August slide all too quickly into September I find it easy to imagine myself back in the infant classroom once again.

On the first day back, when everything was shiny and clean, you were met by a pungent smell of disinfectant and floor polish. This soon disappeared of course as the classroom quickly regained its familiar infant aroma mixed with the smell of plasticine and blackboard chalk.

The lucky young children of today enjoy many varied activities but in our small country school the funds and equipment were limited and we used whatever was available in the classroom cupboard. Needless to say, doing anything creative appealed to me and making pictures from gummed paper was an activity I always enjoyed.

Of course, infant play soon gave way to more serious study. Ball point pens were banned and fibre tips hadn't been invented so we all carried bottles of ink in our school bags. Do children ever use fountain pens these days I wonder?

Wooden pencil boxes like this one were very popular during my early years at school. With care you could hide all kinds of bits and pieces inside that would invariably keep you (and your friends) amused whilst the teacher's back was turned.

This particular box belonged to my mum and made me the envy of my school pals for a while as it had a secret lock. As you can see I still have the box so I can show you what made it special.

A narrow ruler slides into a groove on the side of the box and when the ruler is removed a tiny keyhole is revealed. No one else had a pencil box like mine and I treasure it more now that my mum is no longer around. Amazingly the original key has stayed with the box throughout its life.

We all had leather satchels which when filled with books and other paraphernalia could be quite an effort to carry, especially when school was some distance from home. Few mums had cars in those days so you either walked to and from school or caught the bus if the distance was considered too great.

But let's get back to the present . . . . . . .

Belinda Jane has been very busy at the sewing machine this week.

After much cutting, pinning and stitching she produced little drawstring school bags for four little dolls and on each bag she stitched the name of the owner.

Of course each doll wants to pack as much into her school bag as she possibly can. Somehow I don't think there will be much room for books and pencils. 

The bags can be carried in the hand or on the back like a rucksack.

School doesn't begin until next week but each doll has her bag packed and ready for the start of the new term.

If you'd like to make a drawstring bag for a dolly you will find the pattern below. The patterns for the knitted dolls pictured above can all be found in my Etsy shop.

How to make a drawstring bag for a doll

For doll height 30cm - 35cm (12in - 14in)

This bag pattern was designed for my Polly and Kate dolls who are 32cm (13in) high. For slightly smaller dolls simply adjust the length of the bag by about 2cm.

The bags can be stitched by hand or with a sewing machine. I haven't mentioned seam neatening; it is up to you to decide whether you neaten the seams or not.

To make a bag you will need a piece of fabric (gingham is excellent) measuring 32cm x 15cm (13in x 6in). Cut in half as shown below.

With wrong side facing you, fold over 1cm along one short edge of each piece. Press to hold flat. The folded edges will be at the top of the bag.

Place the two pieces together with wrong sides facing out.

Begin the side seams 5cm (2in) down from the top edge of the fabric and 2cm (¾in) in from the sides of the fabric. Stitch to the bottom as shown below.

Keeping the top folds in place, press open the side seams (below).

Fold over the top to the point where the side seam stitching begins. Pin in place as shown below. This makes a casing for the drawstring. Stitch this close to the bottom edge.

Before stitching the bottom seam, place the bag on the doll's back to make sure it isn't too long. If it is then adjust the length to fit.

Pin the bottom edges together. Stitch the seam 1 cm from the bottom edge.

Turn the bag right side out and press.

Cut two pieces of narrow cord (or string) each measuring 60cm (24in).
Start at the left of the bag and thread one piece of cord through the casing all the way round so that it re-appears at the left (see below).

Repeat with the second piece of cord threading it from the right.

You should be able to pull the cords on each side to draw up the bag.

Open the bag and let the cords hang down on each side. Knot each pair adjacent to the bottom corners of the bag (see below)

Stitch the knots to the corners (below)

Pull the cords to draw up the bag.

If you want to put dolly's name on the bag then write it on a short length of white cotton tape (or similar) and stitch the tape to the front of the bag.

Have fun!

Daisy chains and a doll's apron

Does anyone remember this curtain fabric that was popular in 1970s Britain?

The name of the design was 'Daisy Chain' and it was available from John Lewis stores. As you can see there were several gorgeous colourways available. My mum could never resist buying pretty fabric and acquired quite a bit of Daisy Chain, not for making curtains but to turn into aprons which she sold to raise money for various charities. The aprons, which were made in all sizes, were very popular.

    

    

A few years ago I inherited the contents of my mum's sewing room and still have a few remnants of Daisy Chain in my stash. It always brings back fond memories of my mum and the many shopping trips we made together to choose fabric.

In the playroom today Posy was busy at the sewing machine and guess what she was making . . . a little Daisy Chain apron.

The apron was soon finished and the purple and pink combination toned perfectly with her knitted outfit.

On seeing Posy's handiwork four other dolls decided an apron was an absolute 'must have' for them also and enthusiastically began choosing and trying the various colours available. After much thought Posy agreed that if she made aprons for the other dolls they would no longer have an excuse not to wash the dishes . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . Posy showed the four friends the large stack of dirty crockery and pans waiting to be washed. On seeing the stack it was quickly agreed that perhaps aprons weren't such a good idea after all.

Everything went very quiet in the playroom after that and so Posy neatly folded the Daisy Chain fabric and put it away. Somehow though, I don't think she's heard the last of the apron making idea.

If you'd like to knit any of the dollies that you see in my blog posts you will find patterns for them in my Dollytime Etsy shop.

Meanwhile, to make an apron for your own doll or teddy simply follow Posy's easy pattern below. The apron is designed to fit toys 33cm - 38cm (13in -15in). If you cut out a paper pattern you can check it for size against the toy in question. It is very easy to make the pattern longer, shorter, wider or narrower. You will require a piece of fabric no less than 15cm (6in) x 18cm (7in) and approximately 1m (just over a yard) of tape for the ties.

Cut the fabric on the solid black line as a single turn of 6mm (0.25in) has been allowed. Use your sewing machine to neaten the edges with zig-zag stitch before turning them under, or use 'Fray Stop'. Alternatively you can bind the edges with bias binding. If you decide to do this then don't forget to make the apron a bit smaller all round as you won't need to turn the edges under.

The cutting line from the waist to the top of the bib can be straight (cut on the solid line) or curved (cut on the broken line). Posy cut her apron on the curved line.

1). Fold and stitch the sides.

2). Fold and stitch from waist to top of bib (straight or curved).

3). Fold and stitch the bib top

4). Hold the apron against the toy and adjust the hem if necessary and then stitch.

5). Stitch tape to the apron. Each piece will be approx 25cm (10in) but toys' necks and waistlines vary so check before cutting the tape.

When finished, enjoy a nice cup of tea!