Sewing Birds

Day one of my little pinterest challenge for myself and I chose to make a little bird.  This is another great way of using up tiny bits of fabric (or bigger pieces depending hoe big you want it) and also a nice little project that can be finished in front of the T.V for adding the bead eyes and wings.  I actually clicked on the link on pinterest but couldn't see the templates, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, here is the link if you want to see the original here. So I just drew my own, it is quite a basic shape for a bird but if you need you can always google bird silhouettes and print one from there I expect.

I had fun going through the scrap bag to see which fabrics would look well together, I have a feeling there will be more of these popping up all over the house I think they may be quite addictive!  As an added bonus my mothers day plant proved to be just the setting for a picture and the colours go well too.

It is different fabric on each side, also the underbelly bit is also different.  I chose to do the wings in felt but if you are hand stitching the whole bird would work well in felt and then you wouldn't have to turn in the fiddly seams.

I couldn't put my hands on embroidery thread (I know another sort out is in order)  so I just used regular thread doubled up.  There is some somewhere I will have to find it for the next one.

For stuffing I cut up some little bits of scrap fleece, so all of the bits are recycled.  In the pinterest image these birds were hanging with thread from a twig and that looked cute, you could also put a keyring on them.  For now this one is sat beside my machine waiting for the rest of the flock.
Here are the shapes that I drew and cut out but I decided not to use tail feather piece it just didn't add anything, maybe on a bigger bird it would work.

The piece for under the belly didn't need to be that long either or as wide it sort of evolved as I stitched it.

On another note this last few evenings we have started watching My Brilliant Friend on Now T.V it is based on the book by Elena Ferrante and I am really enjoying it, so if you like watching drama with subtitles (it is in Italian) this may be for you.  It follows the friendship of two girls and I have to say the actors both play excellent parts.  If you would rather read the book it is available from the library in digital format that I mentioned yesterday, just add rbdigital then log into your library account.  I may read it after I have watched it, my husband doesn't get it when I do that but sometimes it is good to compare.

Back soon, take care.

The Liberty Dress

Hello I hope you are all keeping safe, I am trying to do a variety of things to keep things interesting and yesterday I checked my compost bin to see if any of it was ready and at the bottom there was dark rich looking stuff!  So I have planted to some flower seeds in my greenhouse.  Now I know I am supposed to use seed potting compost but as I have been unable to get out to get any I am doing this experiment to see if they will still grow.  You can plant some seeds straight into the ground so I am not entirely sure why it would be so wrong but I am just trying things out.

I did get a lot of the garden tidied up this week as I am sure many of you are doing the same, making the most of this lovely weather while we are at home, I found a couple of stray pansies growing out of the side of the path and gravel so I transplanted them to a bed.  Those sort of free plants are super don't you think?  I found quite a few last year springing up in odd places and a little collection filled a planter.

Sewing wise I made the liberty dress from Simply Sewing magazine, it seems a bit odd to call it that as in the pattern images they have used liberty style fabrics.  I on the other hand have used this John Kaldor stretch sateen from Minerva.  I did make the dress with the three quarter sleeves and knee length to begin with but I didn't really like it like that so I shortened both the sleeves and the hem.  I think it was my fabric choice with the pattern, in my head it looked different but we all have our off days and I am usually better at matching pattern to fabric.  That said I am happy with the result in its current version.

Here it is now, complete with dog bowls!  Then below the first take looking a little more dowdy I think.

So I have now utilised two patterns from the first simply sewing magazine I received, a few weeks a go I used the simple burda top pattern to make the top for my mock jumpsuit here.   The aim is to try and make something form each copy although I know this may be tricky if they replicate items I already have/make or if I just don't like what is on offer, so we will have to see.

You can see the lovely sheen and colour of the fabric in this image.

There has been lots of reading going on both on and off line, my current paper book is The Milkman by Anna Burns and was winner of The Man Booker prize 2018, now I am not always a fan of books that win awards some are fabulous and others leave you wondering what the judges were thinking. However I have enjoyed this but it is not a quick and easy read, she has a very different style of writing and episodes of rambling that leave you either laughing out loud or wondering what on earth is going on. It is very thought provoking and witty, it also reminded me of my childhood and hearing about the troubles in Northern Ireland on the news or from family ( my uncle lived there as my auntie is Irish).  We hear about things on the news with no idea what life must be like for those involved, restricted movements, freedoms and having your choices taken away, currently we are all having to live differently to try and slow this awful virus.  

Just today I have also been browsing the elibrary set up, I got a message from the library as we are unable to borrow actual books at the moment saying we should make the most of this service.  While I do have a few library books left I thought I would take a look, well it worked fine on my phone but I needed support from my son to get it on my laptop.  You have to download RBdigital which is fine on a phone or tablet but will vary on your laptops, have  look around but there is an icon at the bottom of their homepage for adobe at the bottom right so click on that if need be.  Using that app I read half a book this morning then got bored with it, at least it didn't cost me, there are also lots of audio books on there to listen to while sewing.

Another thing I have been doing is looking through my pinterest boards, I actually have one called stuff to make.  I have decided to work my way through it over the next few weeks, some of the things are very small and some are slightly bigger  and with that in mind I will be trying to post more frequently.  That may be each day or every other day as a way to share ideas that may help  keep you busy but also to keep my brain focused on an actual goal.

What have you all been up to? Please feel free to share in the comments I always enjoy reading them. 

The Bibi Skirt

Well here is my latest make from the Tilly Walnes Stretch book, I don't think I will make all the items from the book as I have very similar patterns already but the ones I have made are very nice.  I didn't have a contrasting fabric in jersey to make this the same as it is in the book but I did have some scrap pieces so I made mock piping to go down each seam so you would still get he effect of the panels in the skirt.   I really like the effect and I will do this again, so having less really does force you to be creative as I do not have the fabric stash of some sewers just a few pieces but lots of random bits that are not big enough for garment but might come in handy!

Here I have the top of the sweater tucked in but I don't wear it that way I just wanted to show the top of the skirt.

I am still undecided about the sleeves on this sweater but as I have been wearing it loads as it is so comfy and warm it can't be bothering me that much can it? Plus I was told it looked designer so I'll take that ha, ha.

With  the sizing on this skirt I played it safe and made the next size up but then it was too big so I just had to redo my seams, no big deal.  I think I was over cautious  as the first item I made from the book  the sleeves were a little snug and had to be redone and I always think it is much easier to take things in a little.

This is the cute version in the book with the two fabrics together, I do now have some stripy fabric but I have other plans for that.

While I was rooting around looking at left over bits of fabric I also found one my boys old t-shirts from when they were younger.  I managed to cut out the sleeves for another Frankie t-shirt and again used up various left over bits.  I  really love this make and my son said it looks like something you pay a lot for in a shop, high praise indeed.

I had to send these to myself from my phone and I have no idea why, wouldn't then save properly so screen shot from my email!  Weird, I hope these last few are clear enough.

I just have a feeling I am going to be making these tops for some time using all sorts scraps, oldest son has plans on one already.

This past week I finished The Handmaids Tale, remember I said I was reading them in reverse.
 I did really enjoy it.
I also read The subtle Art of not Giving a Fxxx.  I know, apologies if you are sensitive and he does use that word a fair few times in the book but I did watch a talk he did some time ago and he made a lot of sense.  The book was not about not caring about anything but the fact that what we care about day to day is just irrelevant and usually what people think of us, and that of course will really not matter and in a week or maybe even a day.  Priorities and finding what you really care about was really the message.  So if you can avoid the bad language and the fact that he can talk rubbish also sometimes (which he does of course admit his failings) then you will find some gems of wisdom in here too.

We will not be going anywhere anytime soon as my husband is now not well, constant cough and hot to touch. He is at the moment sleeping, we went online and of course we have to isolate too.   He was on the rota to work from home next week as was my son so if he feels ok he will still be able to get something done, at the moment I think he is too tired.

It is a worry for all the small businesses out there, I hope there is enough support  so that they don't go under but also wonder how long this period will last.  Stay safe everyone.

•