The Sewing Room

hart44

Hi everyone

Ive not done any sewing this week but just wanted to say I love the dress Avstar :T I think it might be something to try to make for my DGD

I have given my sewing corner a good sort out and have all my fabric tidied and my books put on a shelf now so I can see what I have

I hope to do some sewing this wkend but it's free listing on ebay so I need to put lots of stuff on so I have some room to move in my tiny cottage :rotfl:

Have a good day eveyone

jemtom

not been on for absolutely ages, so going back bit by bit and loving all the makes! finished my sons advent just got to get some green felt and do the tree and then its done.

sorrry i know the pic is huge didn't show up very well in little one. and also made him a pyjama case out of some material

i have put his name on the top but dont think it comes up in pic. now to start on my friends cushion for christmas. i am also thinking of doing a door stop in the shape of a wine bottle for my auntie and uncle to go in their "wine lovers" hamper. what material am i best using underneath the fabric with it being haevy dont want it to split? i have got my sons old waterproof materess protector would that be ok? never done a door stop before so its all pretty new to me.

avstar

Ooh love the garland Jemtom !

I've never made a doorstop but I'd probably use a heavyweight dense cottton type material for the inside, (heavy calico or curtain type?).
I find plastic type fabric tends to be weaker at the seams and split.

PootleFlump_3

Avstar well done, thats so cute and looks mega professional! I still havent attempted shirring yet.

Jemtom, love your advent. You are so organised! For the doorstop you can just use cotton (poplin or calico might be best as its heavier but 100% ordinary cotton would be fine). I think your matress protector would be fine to line the bottom. I would probably interface the whole thing with medium or heavy weight as well. You could use oilcloth but if you want it to be in the shape of a wine bottle it wont be very easy to sew into the right shape. Nice idea! Might be quite cool to do a label on the bottle too that you can personalise for them. If you buy reynolds freezer paper and iron it to some plain white cotton you can put it through your printer (providing its an inkjet one) and when you remove the freezer paper the fabric will have the image printed on it (or you could just use image transfer paper but it might not look as cool) x

cuddles123

Some great makes happening on here - well done everyone :beer:
I am still busy with knitting but have some sewing planned soon.

In the meantime, can anyone identify the fabric on this knitting bag please?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400193664736&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

mysk_girl

If anyone fancies a little freebie project, I have couple of the free kits from the Mollie Makes magazine, I'm not enamoured of either of them so am happy to post out if anyone wants them? Will have to wait until Tuesday to go in the post so I can photocopy the instructions at work, and the kits have been opened but are complete. Any takers? There is a set of 3 felt rings, a felt flower necklace and an iPod/MP3 holder. PM with address if you are interested.

PootleFlump_3

cuddles123 wrote: »

Some great makes happening on here - well done everyone :beer:
I am still busy with knitting but have some sewing planned soon.

In the meantime, can anyone identify the fabric on this knitting bag please?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400193664736&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

I think its upholstery tapestry fabric. x

PootleFlump_3

Rufus!!! or anyone else that does quilting - I need your help (again) please.

You kindly gave me instructions before about a quilt. Now Im about to try and make a proper full size one for my bed. A king size duvet cover is 87" x 91" so I was going to make it the same size as that. The instructions which I kept from you are:


When working out how much fabric you need for a quilt you need to know the measurements of your quilt so say you want the quilt to be 80 inches by 60 inches then you need to know how big you want your squares to look when finished so if you want 5 inch squares when finished you divide each number by 5, so 80/5 = 16 and 60/5 = 12. then you times these two figures together to tell you how many squares you need altogether, 16 x 12 = 192. You need to remember now to add on 1/4 inch seam to your squares so you will in fact need 192 x 5 1/2 inches squares not 5 inch ones (iyswim).

If you are getting fat quarters, they measure about 18 inches by 22 inches so you would get 12 x 5 1/2 inch squares from a fat quarter. This means you would need 16 fat quarters to make the quilt. You would need extra for your binding around the edges after.

Im doing a quilt that uses layer cakes although I dont mind using metreage if it works out cheaper and I can just cut it up so its 10" squares. Some of the squares need to have a border stitched round them. Anyway, Im still confused about how much I need (particularly if I use fat quarters) and wondered if you or anyone could help me. I worked it out that I would need 80 full squares (I think although that includes the white bits) but I get confused after that as dont know how much I will need for the white borders that go round some of the squares and if I have to get quilt weight cotton for them - Im assuming I do.) Also, what on earth should I buy for the backing (wasnt sure if a king size sheet would do the trick or if I have to get loads of white quilting weight stuff??)

Im probably being really thick but I cant get my head round it so any help would be great.

This is the pattern (I need to do something simple as I tried a more difficult one before and it all went horribly wrong....)

http://www.sameliasmum.com/2011/05/1-2-easy-quilt-pattern-tutorial.html

rufusdog52

Hi Pootle
If you are using 10 inch squares then the finished square will only be 9.5 if you are having 1/4 inch seams. You wont be able to get the exact measurements this way but if you want the finished quilt to be slightly longer than it is wide then you will probably need to use 9 across by 10 down (sounds like a crossword lol). This would make the top bit approx 85.5 inches by 95 inches. This would mean you need 90 x 10 inch squares. If they are in a chequer board design then you would need half and half so 45 in the pattern fabric. These would be the whole squares. For the white squares with the patterned middles, one 10 inch square would make 4 middles so if you need 45 small squares you would need 12 x 10 inch squares to get them out of (you would have 3 small squares left over). So that makes it 57 patterned 10 inch squares.

Are you with me so far?


Now for the white strips, you need to cut the strips along the width of the fabric in three inch strips, these would then be 44 inches long. For each white square you need 2 x 10 inch strips and 2 x 5 inch strips so 3 x 10 inch ones altogether and cut one in half. You will need 135 of these 10 inch x 3 inch strips altogether (45 x 3) and you will get four out of a 44 inch wide fabric per long strip. You will need 37 strips 3 inches wide altogether so if you are buying metres you would need three metres approx of the white fabric.

I hope this works out correct. Going by the pattern they are saying 2 metres for the smaller quilt so I think it should be right. My head is a bit all over the place today but I have gone through it a couple of times and think I am right.

If you think its wrong or anyone else let me know and I will have another go at it xx

PootleFlump_3

Wow! You are fab at this!! I actually got my higher maths but I cant apply it to sewing for some reason! Im a dipsh*t when it comes to anything to do with quilting! :rotfl: Thanks so much.

Do you just use white quilting cotton? Its about £7.50 a metre for the moda stuff online. Is that about right or can I get it cheaper elsewhere (ive never really bought plain stuff before so not sure if the stuff you get in shops is quilting weight?)

Also, Can I just use a new king size sheet for the backing of it (i cant think how else I could get something wide enough?)

Thanks so much again for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it loads!! :T