The Sewing Room

hmo

Florenceem wrote: »

I am still working on shoe stuffers and sock monkeys. I have completed a Santa sack for my youngest Grandchild. I have made them all sacks for their pressies - eight Grandchildren so far. Tradition was - when my children were small - they took a pillowcase up to bed on Christmas Eve - Santa then put a couple of pressies in the sack - on the end of their bed - the rest he put under the Christmas tree. I will take a photo of the Santa sack tomorrow.

Well done that's lot of sewing hope they enjoy them

tryingtosave21

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

Hi Samantha I'd have look and see if you can find any old clothes or sheets that you could practice with. Cushion covers are a good starter just to give a bit of confidence. Little stufed fabric hearts are pretty easy if you like them. Even if you don't they make great presents. Buy decent quality thread from a sewing shop because thread lasts ages and cheap thread breaks and will frustrate you. Most of all have fun and you will learn from your mistakes.

Thank you very much, I actually cut out a love heart from an old pillowcase the other night but it wasn't very symmetrical, so I'll look for some templates online.

Thanks Avster too! If I manage to ever make something worthwhile I'll post a picture of it You're all so helpful on this site.. x

cuddles123

Loving the monkeys and the shoe stuffers.

I've made this very quickly but can't get a decent pic. Will try for a better one tomorrow

(If you click to enlarge it's a bit lighter)

Justamum

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

Little stufed fabric hearts are pretty easy if you like them. Even if you don't they make great presents.

I was looking in the window of a shop the other day and saw some stuffed fabric hearts on sale. All the things in the shop are locally made crafts, but I was shocked at the price of them. The hearts are made from Manx tartan, so probably aimed mainly at the tourist trade (such as it is these days). They didn't look particularly well made (it looked like they hadn't properly clipped the curves so the shape wasn't very smooth), they had a button sewn on the front. They were charging £5 :eek:. Being a bit like my mum in clothes shops I said "you could make that for pennies". Obviously not everybody can, but there's probably money to be made doing stuff like that.

In the same shop there was a stuffed rectangle about 5" x 4", the only embellishment was a strip of ribbon and the words "Isle of Man" embroidered on. The price was £8! I honestly think I might start churning stuff like that out then get a stall at a fair.

shirlgirl2004

Justamum wrote: »

I was looking in the window of a shop the other day and saw some stuffed fabric hearts on sale. All the things in the shop are locally made crafts, but I was shocked at the price of them. The hearts are made from Manx tartan, so probably aimed mainly at the tourist trade (such as it is these days). They didn't look particularly well made (it looked like they hadn't properly clipped the curves so the shape wasn't very smooth), they had a button sewn on the front. They were charging £5 :eek:. Being a bit like my mum in clothes shops I said "you could make that for pennies". Obviously not everybody can, but there's probably money to be made doing stuff like that.

In the same shop there was a stuffed rectangle about 5" x 4", the only embellishment was a strip of ribbon and the words "Isle of Man" embroidered on. The price was £8! I honestly think I might start churning stuff like that out then get a stall at a fair.

Believe me £5 is relatively cheap. Look here for a £45 stuffed heart!

pogie2

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

Believe me £5 is relatively cheap. Look here for a £45 stuffed heart!

Thats alot of money. Happy Christmas everyone. Hope everyone enjoys a well deserved rest. Xxx

Florenceem

This is the Santa Sack I made for my youngest Grandchild - for putting all his pressies in! It is 68 x 75 cms with a drawstring tie.

Justamum

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

Believe me £5 is relatively cheap. Look here for a £45 stuffed heart!

Horrifying! :eek: I think I'm going to get out my fabrics in the new year and start sewing little gew-gaws like that. :cool:

ETA - it's even worse - it says they start at £45.

cuddles123

Just a thought for all you busy ladies...

Do you know what would have happened if it had been 3 wise women instead of 3 wise men?
They would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, brought practical gifts AND there would be peace on earth.:rotfl:

Pass it on to the wise women in your life - Happy Christmas!

jpscloud

Help! I bought a sewing machine for my Christmas present and have tried to thread it up and use it for the first time today.

Before I start, I am a total beginner but I am trying to use the correct terms where I know them - please forgive me if I don't get something right.

I bought the machine from Argos and am just a little puzzled because it already had a bobbin wound and inserted in the bobbin case inside the machine. There was a small stitch sampler in the case too. I'm now wondering if the machine is a previously returned one that doesn't work properly - if it is, I'm in bother because I threw away the polystyrene packaging already and the bins went today

Anyhow before I really panic, I thought I'd ask for your collective wisdom.

The problem is that the upper thread is getting all caught up in the hook race (the mechanism around the outside of the bobbin case?)

It jams up immediately, and I have to dismantle the hook race to get the thread out.

Is there something obvious I've done wrong do you think? I cannot be 100% sure I've threaded the machine correctly but I followed the instructions as best I could.