The Sewing Room

hart44

ClickSim wrote: »

Thanks Mooloo, Jerez and anyone else who replied about my curtains query. I really like the friendliness of this thread.

Realised I'd better start on something small before I try and make curtains. Off to a craft fair tomorrow so hopefully someone there can help me choose a cheap machine.

Hope you can get some good advice on a machine if not we are all here to help
When I 1st started sewing I wanted to make so much (still do :rotfl:) but I had to start with a basic tote bag as I had not sewn since school (I made some Bay City Roller trousers so now you know how long ago that was :rotfl:) and Im glad I did as it has given me the confidence to get on with my machine and work my way up to bigger things

PootleFlump_3

Irishgirl I love your cushions!

Sue, Ill send a pair of eyes then (how weird does that sound!) Im away to my mums this weekend but can send them next weekend if thats ok and soon enough? (next week is going to be hectic as we just put both our houses on the market at the same time and its completely stressing me out already!!)

Kaz2904

pennib wrote: »

How big are you going to go with your project? I know what you mean about flappy bits :rotfl: but you do get used to it.

I'm doing the quilt along on crazymomquilts' blog. It was her first quilt along from November 2007. I may actually redo this square as I'm using old duvet covers of DD's and DS's. They are all polycotton but I would prefer to use cheap fabric which I was only going to charity bag anyway. That way I can get to grips with using the machine and the cutter etc before I do her star quilt along.
I realised that I may have struggles though soon as I only have cms marked on my cutting mat and she measures in "s. I have been picking up some bits of cotton along the way and think I now have enough but it's not all pretty. I only have 1 piece which is patterned the others are all plain.
My sister will get some fabric from her local fabric shop when she goes there as she only paid £3.99 per 4 fat quarters. Pretty decent price for pretty patterns huh?

Keiss_21

Glad you are getting on with your first quilt Kaz2904, can't wait to see piccies!

I still haven't quilted my first bit of patchwork...a log-cabin pot holder. Hope to get to it tomorrow...it is tacked together with the wadding and backing, so will be stitching them all together by machine. I want to play with my darning foot and have a go at free stitching quilting, so will play with some small bits of lining material and old towels (as wadding), possibly tomorrow too or perhaps sometime over the weekend, though the garden is calling me!

I got the lining material from a friend who makes curtains, I have a carrier-bag full of plain cream/white. Today I picked up a fabric sample book from her...and what fab samples they are!! I can see a few bags being created with them!! So now she know where to get rid of all her left-over bits of material (and fabric samples! I will make her a bag out of some of them I think as a thankyou, as she isn't charging me anything for them all.

Oh dear...I have just far too many things I want to try and make...so I will have to stop visiting here so often :rotfl:

I will post piccies once I have finished my pot-holder.

Happy sewing everyone!

hart44

PootleFlump wrote: »

Irishgirl I love your cushions!

Sue, Ill send a pair of eyes then (how weird does that sound!) Im away to my mums this weekend but can send them next weekend if thats ok and soon enough? (next week is going to be hectic as we just put both our houses on the market at the same time and its completely stressing me out already!!)

Thank you Pottle Sorry I didn't stay on last night, my PC froze on me and I got so fed up with it I restarted it the gave up
I hope your house move goes realy well for you and your mum I know what a pain it can be, Ive moved 5 times now .

I am going to start on the setting blocks for the crazy mom quilt I have to get as much of them done before my hand op
Just wanted to add this bit I get some cotton fabric from this seller http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Diane-Smith-Fabric she has beautiful fabric it is nice for quilting.

polkadot

Morning everyone

No sewing today-we're off to visit friends near where we used to live.They've not yet met DS2 who was born in August,as both our bigger boys started reception.With an hour train journey its not really worth doing when the kids only get home ay 4.

DH is working tomorrow so Im pplonking the boys in front of some disney movies and do some sewing-starting small with my crayon roll for my cake dec tools,and Im going to do another one to donate to Make for Macmillan.

Hope you all have a lovely day-whatever you're up to.

rufusdog52

hart44 wrote: »

Hope you can get some good advice on a machine if not we are all here to help
When I 1st started sewing I wanted to make so much (still do :rotfl:) but I had to start with a basic tote bag as I had not sewn since school (I made some Bay City Roller trousers so now you know how long ago that was :rotfl:) and Im glad I did as it has given me the confidence to get on with my machine and work my way up to bigger things

Had to laugh at this Hart, we must be quite close together in age. I had a Bay City Roller jacket which was my normal denim jacket I used to wear 24/7 but I had one of those tartan scarves and I cut some fabric from it to cover the collar and cuffs. Used to have pin badges all over the front of the jacket, thought I was the bee's knees lol.

My youngest daughter wants a dress made for her prom. She has borrowed a dress from my other daughter which fits her well, it is one with out straps, doenst have a zip, just elasticated around the top. The fabric is like a soft feel which I think is called peach skin. I have had a look on the web site efabrics and they have some on there in black which is what colour she wants and its quite cheap to buy. The fabric the dress is made out of is stretchy, quite a bit across and a little bit up and down if you get me. The fabric on the web site is called "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Valentino Peach Skin Crepe Fabric" [/SIZE][/FONT]which they say is quite heavy, this is also like the dress itself but I am not sure if it will be stretchy. Does anyone know whether crepe would be stretchy and if they think I am ordering the right thing?

The dress has a big band going round the waist in a shiny fabric which ties in a bow at the back, I am thinkiing this is probably just a lining fabric kind of thing although it feels very soft, it is shiney to look at and is not stretchy. I have put a metre of white chine lining fabric in my basket hoping this is the right stuff.

Another thing I am not sure about is that the lower half of the dress is lined with some really fine fabric that looks like some kind of sheer fabric a bit like tights but more open and it is exremely stretchy going across and also a bit up and down. I cant seem to find anything similar, but I have found some stretch satin jersey which they say is good fro dance costumes and underwear so thinking this might do instead.

Any help would be much appreciated. I am trying to keep the costs down as I cant see her wearing this dress again after the prom although big sister might for clubbing. The things in my basket at the moment come to just over £15 which is about as much as I really want to pay, includes elastic and thread as well as the fabrics so good price to pay as long as I am ordering the right stuff, Rufus xx

hart44

Good luck with finding the fabric you need for the dress Rufus, I wish I was as talented as you with clothes making I had to cheat and buy my DD's prom dress but still MSE style it only cost £21 (her ticket was £28 ) but it looks amazing on her
I still don't know where the time went
Im off to work in a mo then hope to make a start on the quilt blocks and I will go to my local fabric shop this afternoon for some fabric to make a super pig :rotfl:
Hope to catch up with you all later

rufusdog52

hart44 wrote: »

Good luck with finding the fabric you need for the dress Rufus, I wish I was as talented as you with clothes making I had to cheat and buy my DD's prom dress but still MSE style it only cost £21 (her ticket was £28 ) but it looks amazing on her
I still don't know where the time went
Im off to work in a mo then hope to make a start on the quilt blocks and I will go to my local fabric shop this afternoon for some fabric to make a super pig :rotfl:
Hope to catch up with you all later

Prom dress is sorted I think (fingers crossed), daughter says this morning that her BF's Nan has given her a lovely dress she can wear to the prom and it matches his outfit so she sounds happy, cant wait to see it when she comes in later. Glad I didnt just go and order the fabric without waiting to hear from her first.

tiamai_d

polkadot wrote: »

Thanks for that-I've been wondering about the holes for straps-never thought to use the buggy.DH and I were talking about the straps as you cant really take them out to thread the straps-so I was thinking of another adaption,cutting the hole through from the edge of the fabric where the elastic is and making a drawstring effect to tie it to avoid tugging.

I'm going to just use the leftover cotton I have from my green and blue bag to make it to start out-at the moment he's "just in the trolley chair" so I dont think I'll bother with lining for this go.Once I've been shopping with him I can see what needs changing.He's driving me mad today...clingy clingy clingy (I suppose at least DH is here to see-he's been saying he'll take the boys over work anyday,think he's ready to go back to work now and he's only been home two days;))

Or two longer slits so that the full strap can go hrough and then velcro to close it? If you have any idea what I'm on about! :rotfl:

http://www.twins-store.co.uk/WebRoot/StoreLGB/Shops/62046134/4648/8802/5C1F/8F2D/076F/D44E/D1C5/26C1/buggysnuggle.jpg

Kinda like that?

Or you could make something similar to a star wrap? I bought one when DD was younger and it was great. It also means that you wrap them in the wrap and then any harnesses go over baby and the wrap.

Funny how they say they will take the kids over work... then after a day with the kids they are eager to get back to work... :cool: Mine has gone camping for teh weekend so I'm here with 3 :eek:

Also, I have fabric, I have elastic and soon I shall have prett dresses! Unfortunately, I also have a camera that is too shy to store pictures.