Do you get together with friends for sewing? If not, I highly recommend it. In fact, if you're in Melbourne you're more than welcome to join us, just let me know if you're interested.
Showing posts with label Sewing Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sewing Day. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2012
Fabulous Sewing Day
Yesterday I got together with a few friends for a very enjoyable sewing day. Just like our weekend away there was lots of sewing done and even more laughter had.
Do you get together with friends for sewing? If not, I highly recommend it. In fact, if you're in Melbourne you're more than welcome to join us, just let me know if you're interested.
Do you get together with friends for sewing? If not, I highly recommend it. In fact, if you're in Melbourne you're more than welcome to join us, just let me know if you're interested.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
New Wallet!
I'm back! I'm all moved and settled in and starting to get back into a rhythm, and so I have something to share again... a new wallet!
This past Friday at the MMQG Sit and Sew Evening Bek agreed to teach me and Jocelyn how to make wallets. You see, she had made a beautiful one before but was talking about replacing it, and very kindly agreed to save making one for a sit and sew so we could join in too. It turns out the tutorial that she followed is very well written and we didn't really need teaching, but it was nice to have the moral support!
Now due to how much we all natter on at the sit and sews we didn't quite get them finished on Friday night, so the girls popped over to my flat this evening to finish them off. We all squeezed around the tiny little table I currently have (see above)(which was ok since wallets are small) and finished them off pretty quickly.
We couldn't find the tool kit to use a hammer to put in the snaps, but it's ok, we improvised!
The girls both used some spotty Oil cloth that Bek had for the outside of their wallets, but I tried something different. I used some regular quilting cotton (some Japanese stuff my Gran had given me) and some iron on Vinyl that I bought at GJs. It is a bit like sticky back plastic for fabric and seems to be pretty good. It ironed on really well, I had no issues at all with any bubbles or puckers or anything. I'm not 100% sure how hard wearing it'll turn out to be, time will tell on that.
One thing that came up when we were sewing that I thought I'd share was something to do with the 1/4" foot that comes with many machines. Below is pictured my 1/4" foot. (Now ignore the black guide along the right hand side of the foot, I know that some people detest it and rip it off) The part of the foot I want to talk about is the left hand side.
Do you see the three little lines along the left hand side of the foot? The middle one is level with your needle, and the other two are 1/4" in front of and behind the needle. This is really handy if you need to stop your stitching line 1/4" before or after a point, for example 1/4" before the edge of the fabric when you're about to turn a corner.
The girls hadn't registered those lines on their feet, so I thought I'd share about it on here too incase anyone else hadn't seen it. My foot is for a Janome, does anybody know if there are similar markings on feet for other machines? Had you spotted those lines on your foot? Are there any similar tips for other feet that you know of?
Our finished wallets!
This past Friday at the MMQG Sit and Sew Evening Bek agreed to teach me and Jocelyn how to make wallets. You see, she had made a beautiful one before but was talking about replacing it, and very kindly agreed to save making one for a sit and sew so we could join in too. It turns out the tutorial that she followed is very well written and we didn't really need teaching, but it was nice to have the moral support!
Now due to how much we all natter on at the sit and sews we didn't quite get them finished on Friday night, so the girls popped over to my flat this evening to finish them off. We all squeezed around the tiny little table I currently have (see above)(which was ok since wallets are small) and finished them off pretty quickly.
The inside of Jocelyn's wallet
The inside of my wallet
The inside of Bek's Wallet
We couldn't find the tool kit to use a hammer to put in the snaps, but it's ok, we improvised!
The girls both used some spotty Oil cloth that Bek had for the outside of their wallets, but I tried something different. I used some regular quilting cotton (some Japanese stuff my Gran had given me) and some iron on Vinyl that I bought at GJs. It is a bit like sticky back plastic for fabric and seems to be pretty good. It ironed on really well, I had no issues at all with any bubbles or puckers or anything. I'm not 100% sure how hard wearing it'll turn out to be, time will tell on that.
Left to right: Jocelyn's, Mine, Bek's
One thing that came up when we were sewing that I thought I'd share was something to do with the 1/4" foot that comes with many machines. Below is pictured my 1/4" foot. (Now ignore the black guide along the right hand side of the foot, I know that some people detest it and rip it off) The part of the foot I want to talk about is the left hand side.
Do you see the three little lines along the left hand side of the foot? The middle one is level with your needle, and the other two are 1/4" in front of and behind the needle. This is really handy if you need to stop your stitching line 1/4" before or after a point, for example 1/4" before the edge of the fabric when you're about to turn a corner.
The girls hadn't registered those lines on their feet, so I thought I'd share about it on here too incase anyone else hadn't seen it. My foot is for a Janome, does anybody know if there are similar markings on feet for other machines? Had you spotted those lines on your foot? Are there any similar tips for other feet that you know of?
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Two new skirts
Things have been quiet on this blog as I've been ridiculously busy in other aspects of my life - working during the day and trying to finish my thesis in the evenings doesn't leave much time for sewing, and even less time for blogging. However, I have managed to fit in a little bit of sewing by combining it with seeing my friends in the form of "sewing dates"/"crafternoons".
Today I took some time off from writing for one such "crafternoon" and managed to finish two skirts that I've been working on for a while. The blue and white gingham skirt I have been making with Mindy, and the red-flowered skirt is my crescent skirt that I have made together with my friend Laura as part of Tasia's sew-along. (By the way, by making together I don't mean we will be sharing the skirts! We have made a skirt each but made them together.)
Proper photos of the finished skirts will be posted in due course once I've worn and photographed them.
Today I took some time off from writing for one such "crafternoon" and managed to finish two skirts that I've been working on for a while. The blue and white gingham skirt I have been making with Mindy, and the red-flowered skirt is my crescent skirt that I have made together with my friend Laura as part of Tasia's sew-along. (By the way, by making together I don't mean we will be sharing the skirts! We have made a skirt each but made them together.)
Proper photos of the finished skirts will be posted in due course once I've worn and photographed them.
Monday, April 11, 2011
MMQG April SASD
Yesterday was the April sit and sew day (SASD) for the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild (MMQG), so it was nice to have a scheduled day of sewing away from any guilt that I should be working on my thesis.
This month we were at our south melbourne venue, which is only one tram ride away from my house (unlike our other venue, Ashburton, which is a tram and two trains) so I decided to take my sewing machine to a meeting for the first time. Thankfully my machine fits perfectly into my suitcase, so with some cushions as padding it was very easy to transport.
I took along my genome quilt to work on, which has been stashed away in a shoebox and not touched for the best part of 9 months.
I made good headway and finished 4 more 5x5 blocks, bringing my total number of blocks to 12. There are 35 of these blocks, so only 23 left to go...!
The advantage of having this project stashed away for so long was that the fabrics were no longer at the forefront of my mind and I could rediscover my love for them as they popped up in the blocks I was piecing.
Beautiful, beautiful fabrics! Although given how involved the project is, I'm really glad I'm still in love with this quilt
This month we were at our south melbourne venue, which is only one tram ride away from my house (unlike our other venue, Ashburton, which is a tram and two trains) so I decided to take my sewing machine to a meeting for the first time. Thankfully my machine fits perfectly into my suitcase, so with some cushions as padding it was very easy to transport.
I took along my genome quilt to work on, which has been stashed away in a shoebox and not touched for the best part of 9 months.
I made good headway and finished 4 more 5x5 blocks, bringing my total number of blocks to 12. There are 35 of these blocks, so only 23 left to go...!
The advantage of having this project stashed away for so long was that the fabrics were no longer at the forefront of my mind and I could rediscover my love for them as they popped up in the blocks I was piecing.
Beautiful, beautiful fabrics! Although given how involved the project is, I'm really glad I'm still in love with this quilt
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sewing Day!!
Yesterday (Sunday) two of my girlfriends from work came over for a 'sewing day'. The day was super-fun and super-productive.
I did some work on a second advent calendar using some more of the same fabric.
My friend Amelia started her advent calendar - she cut out all her squares, arranged them (which took QUITE a while of both of us pondering over them and making swap after swap), cut out and ironed on all her numbers:
And my friend Kylie started on her very own coffee date dress - and for a girl who hasn't sewn before did very well, especially since I'm probably the worst sewing teacher EVER!
Sadly nothing was finished, so more sewing days will be necessary (which isn't a bad thing!)
I did some work on a second advent calendar using some more of the same fabric.
My friend Amelia started her advent calendar - she cut out all her squares, arranged them (which took QUITE a while of both of us pondering over them and making swap after swap), cut out and ironed on all her numbers:
And my friend Kylie started on her very own coffee date dress - and for a girl who hasn't sewn before did very well, especially since I'm probably the worst sewing teacher EVER!
Sadly nothing was finished, so more sewing days will be necessary (which isn't a bad thing!)
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