Make what you wear

 I have been thinking while planning what to do with some fabric that has been left forgotten in my sewing box that I'm sure many of you watched the sewing bee when it was on.  I bet you also wondered if you could tackle some of the challenges that were presented to the contestants as the series progressed, they always make sure they have to show a range of skills to get crowned the sewing bee (whatever that means!)  I always think they all do remarkably well and are far too hard on themselves.
A lot of what they have to make I wouldn't want to have a go at, for example corsetry, millinery and 3D fancy dress design.  They always throw in some weird stuff and I wouldn't want to tackle that  at home let alone with a camera crew breathing down my neck.
People do love a challenge though and some may also love that that challenge if it takes place on T.V and good for them.  My sewing is preferred in private, where I can curse the mistakes and quickly turn them into something else before anyone else sees!
So this brings me to what I was thinking about with the fabric, don't make something just because you haven't got one or haven't made one, it will likely end up at the back of a cupboard unworn.  I know this now from experience, I also know I don't like waste, time or money.  If on the other hand you will happily spend hours and hour on  replica gown from the 19th century complete with accurate corsetry and petticoats just for the thrill of knowing how to do it, well go right ahead and have fun.
My wardrobe does need some variation but usually the stuff I make I wear as it is similar to other items own and sticking with this involves less waste for me.
Below is a variation on a dress pattern I made myself which I have shown before, but here the dresses are side by side so you can see that I have just altered the sleeve, neck or length to change the look.

 All of these have been worn often including the cream checked one which is the latest.  My least favourite is the one in beige with small dots on the end, I did a tapered skirt on that one, not pleats or gathers. The fabric is a bit dull and I don't think it will be around for long. (charity shop calling)
Sometimes sleeves or detail at the front can change the look and really, dresses are all pretty much the same shape.
With this in mind there will be more of these added because they only use a metre of fabric and are very quick. I do really need to make some t-shirts though as I often need these to go with jeans and just find I have a wardrobe full of dresses, a couple more skirts in solid colours would also also be useful.  I did buy the fabric to make a grey skirt last year then made a bag out of it instead, but at least the bag sold.
I've been feeling pretty rubbish this last twenty four hours with a migraine that has only just lifted, I will try and resolve to make t-shirts and add a bit of variety.

Books and Garden Plans

The weather today has not been very good here, lots of rain and grey sky. So while we were having a cup of tea and looking outside at the gloom we were thinking about what to do with our pond.  We have had a pond at all three houses we have lived at and my husband has built all of them, recently however we have lost all of our fish in quite a short time, over a couple of months.
 We had ten very large koy carp, we had them from small and some moved here with us, a few months ago they started to disappear and three died. This has left us with an empty pond, my husband thinks it was a heron that took them as we have seen it around but due to the nature of where our pond is they can't usually fly in at that angle or so he thought.  It did crash into the kitchen window one day though and went with a right bang!  So, I'm not entirely convinced that it got away with so many huge fish but what other explanation?
This has made him think is there any point adding more fish for them to be poached by the heron, so earlier he suggested keeping the stone base there and building me a greenhouse on top. He would have to cut an opening at the bottom and build the wooden frame and roof.
Here is our empty pond...

So I quite like this idea, I have a bit of extra time in the week now that  I finish at lunch on Thursday, it would be good to try and grow stuff we can eat. We would probably keep the little pond at the side for a feature.

I had a look at a few images and liked the look of this one...

I don't know if this image will last it's just one I found on google images, just as an idea that sort of door, plain frames, painted but we would probably have it all wood at the back as we wouldn't be able to get to clean the glass on the other side.

So if we can source materials cheap enough this may be happening later on.

I visited the library earlier and got three books to read, well two to read and one cook book.

I thought the Allergy free cook book might be useful as I am not impressed with the gluten free cooking so far! It used to be the case that I could make pastry and buns and everything would be edible, now it is all very hit and miss and sort of puts you off trying any baked goods.. The gluten free bread that I made was great when fresh but when I froze it as recommended it did not taste good defrosted! Or toasted. 

 The other two looked interesting the cover of smart change mentions how technology is supposed to make our lives easier but people are more prone to procrastination than ever, checking facebook etc.  I can see that would be a problem I know there are people who are on that all the time, I choose to have a look about once a week just in case there are messages for me on there but I  have thought maybe I will close it. The only benefit I see is  that you can sometimes sign into stuff with it for speed. 

Black Swan is about random, improbable events and how we can't always rationalize or have predicted them, it looked a bit different and was likened to Outliers on the cover and I enjoyed that. 

Repairing Shirt Sleeves

Today  I tackled a ripped sleeve on one of my husband's favourite shirts, it was not a long job but one that had been put off.  Why is that always the way? You have these little jobs hanging around which are really quick to do but you put them off and keep moving them out of the way when really you should just get on with it.
So this rip in the sleeve is a common problem in men's shirts that get a lot of wear, pressure at the elbow and a gradual thinning of the cotton means eventually they just give out. Usually it is a neat rip in a straight line rather than the jagged tear you get from snagging it on something.

Now a lot of people would just throw the shirt in the bin (wasteful!) if the shirt was looking worn or damaged in other areas or was no-longer regular wear then maybe I would break the fabric down to be used as something else, failing that take it to the charity shop. They do get paid for the weight of rags they receive also so don't go thinking things are not good enough to take, just check with your local store.

The shirt is in very good condition every where else, it is still a favourite (Paul Smith shirt found on a sale rack a few years ago) and therefore worth the time.

So what I usually do is just add a fake seam going across the back of the sleeve to hide the frayed, torn bits. 

Turn the sleeve inside out and pull it flat...

Sew a straight line of stitching just on the back part of the sleeve tapering it as you start and finish just like you would if you were sewing a dart.  When you have done that set your machine on a small zig zag and sew across again to capture all the frayed bits.  Then repeat on the other sleeve making sure you sew in exactly the same place, this way your shirt will not look odd.

Now on the good side as you can see this shirt is checked so you lose a little pattern, however this is a close up shot and it is not noticeable when hung up or worn. I think someone would have to know and be having a really close up inspection of your elbow to see it. ( Who does that?) 

Another nagging little job done and it didn't take long at all. If you have more damage to shirt sleeves than this you could always consider making them short.

I have also used this similar method on my son's chino's when he fell and made a small hole to the knee (they were new!) I did the same seam across both knees and on that occasion I also top stitched it. It just looked like a design feature and so saved them from being ruined.