A Place to Make and Do.

Thought I might share with you my new love... 

My sewing room!

Ever since I lost my job, my study has been a place I didn't really dare to go. Apart from being one of the rooms we never got around to decorating when we moved in 2 years ago, and having boring white walls that were horribly blemished by badly polyfilled holes. It felt a bit weird in there. I had spent so many hours and days and weeks and months of my life sat in there working away - and now that part of my life was over. Well working in that particular job anyway. 

It made me sad to go in there - so I avoided it, and my daughter soon took it over with junk she had collected to sell on eBay (her temporary solution to my current financial crisis - bless...)

Then I suddenly had a lightbulb moment... maybe I could re-decorate, and re-purpose...

Now that my work computer and piles of filing are gone - we only have one small laptop and printer of our own, so we don't really need a study - we all tend to use the computer anywhere but in there. 

Yet at the same time, I am doing a lot of sewing, but I have totally taken over our dining room and every time we want to eat - we either have to balance plates on our laps in the kitchen or I have to clear up my sewing projects so we can eat together.

What if I turned my study into a sewing room... then that would solve two problems in one go... both what to do with this redundant, and rather depressing room. And give us back our dining room for eating in.

Hooray.

I've been reading a book recently too about setting up a business in the craft industry - and in chapter one it impresses upon you then importance of having a space to make and do... perfect excuse to justify a small shopping trip.

So I persuaded my lovely patient husband to come to IKEA with me on his day off - so we could mooch around their storage solutions without the distraction of the little people. 

We bought me a new modular desk with side storage, a desk top and a trestle support... and loads and loads of shelves and hooks and jars and boxes and storage goodies. 

I sold my old depressingly functional workstation desk on eBay and began to construct my new empire. 

I took my son Louis with me to Homebase after school with one of the teal drawer's from my new IKEA desk - to help me choose a matching colour for a feature wall. He encouraged me to be super daring and go for a really bright blue/teal to match the drawer exactly. 

And we bought more boxes...

The next week was spent re-vamping... sanding and staining the desktop, and painting the walls - two feature walls we decided in the end.

I bought some staining wax online in walnut and antique oak and tried out both on my desktop. I expected to like the walnut best, but actually preferred the rustic look of the oak. I stupidly did two big sample corners - figuring I would choose which I liked best and paint over the sample I didn't want, and if it showed through then it didn't matter as that would be the bottom of the desk, and I would do the top with the selected shade once I had perfected my technique... however... on turning the wood over I noticed that it had two massive metal rails embedded in the bottom to attach it to the trestle and storage until part... ooops... so quite a bit of sanding and staining was needed in the end!

The end result was pretty good. Then my husband very kindly put up my shelves for me, and my rails and spice racks...

So now I have a place to make and do. A little sanctuary to retreat into and make things. And I love going in there now, and my daughter loves going in there too, especially when friend's come to visit. 

And best of all - I can make as much mess as I like, and then I can just close the door and leave it all out for next time. It's like a grown up playroom - and what's not to like about that?

"So if you want me - I'll be in my sewing room." I'm still not tired of getting to say that...

Cos I'm Free - To Do What I Want - Any Old Time...

Free like a butterfly, free like a bee, it's nice to be free, it's nice to be free... 

I have discovered something new this week. And I am very excited to discover it. Anyone who has been in the vague vicinity of me in the past week will know what I'm talking about here, and hence the irritating reference to the Soup Dragon's song which has been buzzing around my head for days but I have broken FREE from the constraints of normal run-of-the-mill sewing. Yes I have. And yes you may very well say - but Anne - you have only been sewing for about a year, how can you be rule breaking already? Well I am... I've dropped my dogs and gone skipping off into the wonderful world of 'Free Machine Embroidery'. 

And what a wonderful world it is too. I like to sew yes? You may have picked that up if you have been paying attention to this blog thus far, and I also like to draw. Put them together and what have you got? You've got Free Machine Embroidery that's what. Or Free Motion Embroidery or whatever you would like to call it. But basically it means you drop your feed dogs on your sewing machine and hoop up some material and off you go - using the needle like a pencil and drawing stuff on material.

Now I have to say a big shout out thank you to the lovely Poppy Treffry here for her wonderful book 'Free Machine Embroidery - Learning to Draw with your Sewing Machine' now I was mightily excited to read that title I can tell you as the concept of drawing with thread just totally floats my boat. I bought the book, I soaked up the contents, and I faffed about for days, on the pretence that I couldn't possibly start actually trying this out until I had the right embroidery hoops that were on order from Amazon. Then they arrived and I faffed about some more. Then I realised that I was scared... So excited was I to discover such a fun sounding thing that I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to do it, or I would hate it, or I would break my lovely machine. 

Now there is only one way to deal with fear isn't there? You gotta just dive in. So dive in I did. 

First of all, as recommended by Poppy, I did some scribbling...

And I had quite a few snarl ups and my poor Janome made some quite concerning growling noises... and I played with my tension and I learned that you have to keep an eye on what is happening with the flappy bits of material around your hoop, or you end up sewing all your material together in a big mess on the back...

And believe me when I say, you do NOT want to unpick this stuff! So then I tried having a play with some applique pieces as in the main photo above. And nothing went too horribly wrong... So I tried making a couple of birthday cards for my friends whose birthdays are coming up this weekend. 

My good friend Mandy really likes owls, and it so happens that I have some owl fabric left over from a dress I made for my daughter last year. So I thought for a start, I would try a 'cheat' applique and see if I could draw around the owl shape. I even added some eyelashes to the girl owl... clever huh?

The Happy Birthday bit is very wobbly indeed. Maybe a little more wobbly than could strictly be classed as 'charming' but hey - it is my first attempt - and I know Mandy is very forgiving and won't mind me practicing on her card, I am sure she will be greatly honoured to have the very first Free Machine Embroidered masterpiece off of the production line!

Then I made a card for my friend Rachel, who is super dooper amazing at making cakes. So I thought a cupcake would be appropriate. And my writing is slightly less wobbly... I made a bit of a mistake with the cupcake case... sssshhh don't tell anyone but there is actually two layers of cupcake case as the first one went wrong as I sewed it on before the cake layer... ooops. Not to worry, you can easily patch over the top. I was quite pleased with my daring change of stitch type to zig-zag to make the top of the case.  Shame I didn't think of that to start with, then I wouldn't have had to unpick the straight line I did originally.... :-)

My next project is a notebook cover for my daughter's brownie badge book. She is always trying to steal my notebooks... that girl is very organised for a 9 year old and has notebooks galore for all her cunning plans. Now she wants one for plotting which brownie badge she is going to go for next. 

So I have been inspired by the lovely Josie Day over at Sew for Soul and used her brilliant tutorial to create a notebook cover for a cheapo notebook from Wilco's. This time, following Josie's advice I have dispensed with my restrictive embroidery hoops and just used some interlining on the back to avoid too many puckers and just went for it free style! Much easier. 

And not too shabby for a first attempt, even if I do say so myself.

Might be brave enough to attempt some thank-you teacher notebooks for my children's brilliant teachers next. 

It's quite funny, because before discovering this technique, I was already doing similar stuff, as on my son's applique pirate curtain and my peg bag and a few cards I made for folks at Easter and for mother's day... but I didn't realise it was an actual 'thing'. I was just feeling a bit renegade and using my sewing machine to sew on applique and blast through card and pivoting like mad because I didn't realise you could drop the feed dogs and be free! 

So big thanks to Josie and Poppy and Google and Amazon for helping me realise this was a thing. I have not stopped grinning and humming happily to myself since I started. And hopefully with a bit more practice - who knows what I can draw?

Life before Free Machine Embroidery!

Peggy Sue, Peggy Sue...Pretty Pretty Pretty Pretty Peggy Sue...

It's been bugging me for some time now that my peg bucket for hanging out the washing is just all kinds of wrong.

It's a pretty enough oval tin with a hook, which, at the time of buying I thought was pretty and cute. However, over the years I have come to realise it is not really practical for the job in hand.

For starters you can't keep it attached to your person, so you have to keep hanging it on the line and then as you peg more and more clothes up, it gets buried and lost and you have to dive under layers of clothes to retrieve it.

I have dropped it more times than I would like to admit, spilling pegs all over the grass.

It is not big enough for all the pegs I have, so I have to peg some pegs all the way around the edge which both uses up some pegs and makes the bucket taller to house more pegs inside, but it takes longer then when you unpeg your washing to clip them all back on again.

It rusts if you leave it out in the rain.

It hurts when it falls off and lands on your foot.

In short... it is no good.

I started thinking that if I could create some sort of bag that had a shoulder strap then I could put it on and have the pegs with me wherever I went around the washing line and not lose them. They would be close at hand and I could pull them out like a revolver from a holster to peg up the washing, quick and easy. Quick and easy too, to put them away again in the midst of a rain storm when you rush out to get your washing in.

So I started looking at tote bag patterns and thinking about how I could make one with some kind of hook on it too, so that I could hang it on the washing line while the washing was out.

Then I stumbled upon this lovely pattern for peg bags made with a child's coathanger from Just Jude Designs I love the hole for putting pegs in and out and love love loved the applique washing line.

I started wondering if I could adapt this pattern to include a shoulder strap? How hard can it be, I thought to myself...

So I bought the pattern and yesterday spent a very merry couple of hours making up the peg bag. So proud was I at the end when it looked pretty much as it ought, much better and neater even than I had imagined possible.

My husband came home from work and I showed him my bag and said look look, see how beautiful it is... look what I have achieved today!

And he said... "That's very nice dear, where is the shoulder strap?"

Ah... oh yes... that was sort of the whole point wasn't it... I wanted to add a shoulder strap so that I could have it with me as I peg out the washing and pull out pegs revolver style... remember?

Ooops.

So I leave it for a day, and today I have another look, pull it all inside out again and hum and haw about whether or not I can face unpicking my beautiful neat stitching to add in a strap...

I did in the end, and of course it got twisted and some of the seam ended up poking through as well and it is not quite perfect but... I do now have what I set out to do - a lovely new peg bag complete with shoulder strap! 

Now I just need to go do some washing...

Land Ahoy Shipmates!

What's a Pirate's favourite shop to shop at?

Arrrrrrr-gos!

That's my son's favourite joke at the moment, or it's the only one he can remember. But it works well for a pirate mad six year old and he gets a few giggles from it, which is more than can be said for some of his made up jokes...

We recently decided to build him a new bed in his room as he had outgrown his Ikea toddler bed, and as his room was so small, we thought a mid-sleeper might offer him best use of space. So my clever hubbie set to while we went swanning off to visit my parents for a few days over the holidays. When we returned he had a new bed! Ta da! But... he needed some sort of curtain to make the bottom half into a den. This is where I come in...

Now, I thought to myself, what sort of curtain would a pirate crazy little boy like in his room? I know... an applique pirate ship - I'm sure I can do that... how hard can it be? Says me... never having appliqued anything in my life before.

So I toddle down to Hobby Craft and buy a shed load of felt, I google how to make tab tops and I find a old cot sheet that happens to be pretty much the perfect size for the gap we need to cover and then I began.

And I made this little fella...

So proud was I to have made him, I decided to make more, and you know what? I really really enjoyed it. Who knew applique could be such fun? And felt... what a marvel - it doesn't fray so you don't need to worry about sewing some fancy zig zag stitch all the way around. And it is so easy to cut and shape.

I bought some leather looky likey material too for the top edge of the ship - which also does not fray - hurrah!

And some hessian for the ship - which frays like mad... (not so hurrah).

Had great fun buying bits and bobs to make it more textured, like the feather for the parrot's tale and the buttons for the pirates coats, and the polystyrene rings for the portholes.

I learnt a lot making it. And had a lot of fun. And when Louis grows out of Pirates, we can make a new one with a different theme. I hope he wants space or something inspiring, am already thinking up how I could applique spaceships and stars...  might be a little tricky if he gets heavily into tupperware or stamp collecting! 

Here is the finished article... my son is delighted... at last something for him - not just girls dresses for his big sister... ha ha... or should I say....oooo arrr!

I Wish Tamara Was My Mummy...

Although this blog is primarily about the skills I hope to pick up since my redundancy, I think it is only fair to start from the beginning, my first 'how hard can it be' moment.

There I was innocently watching 'The Great British Sewing Bee' last year with my daughter Eloise, when she gave a big sigh and said: "I wish Tamara was my mummy and that man was my daddy, then I would have lots of lovely clothes to wear."

The sound of the gauntlet crashing down was still ringing in my ears as I was madly googling 'sewing classes near Bishop's Stortford' the next day.

Now I think it is only fair to say at this moment that up until that point, my sewing skills only extended as far as sewing on a stray button or a brownie badge, possibly taking up a hem, although I had even discovered wunderweb to avoid the horrors of that particular sewing task.

My mum often reminds me of my first sewing project as a child, when after hurtling down the driveway with my brothers on the back of our 6 wheeler scrambler toy, I tore my pleated woollen skirt - and after much shouting from my mother, I flew upstairs in a rage - determined to prove this was no biggie and fix it myself. Well... the results were not very impressive and my relationship with sewing took a rather sour turn after that.

Aside from making a fried egg bean bag at school, I was never taught to use a sewing machine, and they terrified me. I didn't understand them, how on earth can a single needle going up and down possibly produce a row of neat stitches. And from what I had seen, you spend the far more of your time untangling and unpicking than you do sewing.

So sewing and I had parted company at an early age.

Until now, until my own flesh and blood decided that no matter how many things I did for her, it was a mother that could SEW that was what she wanted. And me, being of quite stubborn stock, thought well fine... in that case... I shall learn to sew.

How hard can it be?

Lucky for me, I stumbled upon Rebecca Woollard's wonderful sewing school:  and it wasn't very far away and I could do a one day course on dress-making on my day off.

Arriving at her shop on that Friday morning with my daughter's £39 John Lewis sewing machine I was surprised to find the whole experience a wonderful retreat of peace and calm and creativity. I made a blouse. Me... a whole blouse! With princess lines and buttonholes and set in sleeves... oh brave new world...

Since then, I have made 4 summer dresses for my daughter, I have altered and added borders to curtains, made an applique pirate curtain for my son's mid-sleeper bed. A picture of a tree and some greetings cards.

Sewing - I love you! All is forgiven. Now, armed with my new best friend - a Janome electronic sewing machine, I am venturing out into the unknown... oh happy days...