The Sewing Room

MissPixie

Sorry Ailsb I had a look at all my bookmarks... there are far too many now and I couldn't see the sort of thing you are looking for but I will keep my eyes peeled.


I posted pictures of my bag. I love the fabric so I will I had made it sturdier now because I will be sad when it rips I do still have enough of the dotty fabric to make another though

http://misspixiecrafts.blogspot.com/2011/05/phoebe-bag.html

wendym

Ailsb wrote: »

I have just bought half a metre of this fabric whilst on holiday in dorset.

Ooh where in Dorset please? I'm going next week!

hmo

Ailsb wrote: »

I have just bought half a metre of this fabric whilst on holiday in dorset. Haven't clue what I'm doing with it but had to have it. My husband has suggested I make myself a new toilet bag, one that rolls up and has a couple of zipped compartments and can hang up. One problem haven't a clue how to do this and don't have a pattern.

If anyone can point me in the direction of a pattern or on line tutorial I would be extremely grateful.

On another note, I now have all my material to start my quilt. Before I went away (have been out of contact for nearly a month) someone was talking about doing a quilt along. If anyone knows who this was again I would be grateful.

is there anything here that takes your fancy

http://tipnut.com/makeup-bags/

Ailsb

wendym wrote: »

Ooh where in Dorset please? I'm going next week!

In Bridport. I can't remember the name of the shop and you will need to know where it is to find it. The easiest way to find it is as follows:

Go to Waitrose on the main street and facing Waitrose there is a small alley way on the left which goes through to a back carpark. Go through this alley as far as the road which separates the back of Waitrose with the carpark. Turn right along the roadway until this road comes to a t junction with another. There is a small house clearance / antique centre ahead of you, . If you go into the entrance of this there is a doorway on the right with an old steep stairway up to the material shop.

The staff in the shop are extremely helpful. The material is £7.50 a metre and the minimum you can buy is half a metre. They then allow you to buy it in additional 10cms. I had 60cms.

Hope this helps.

wendym

Thank you very much Ailsb. I need to run out of something vital on the grocery front, find Waitrose, then 'accidentally' find the fabric shop.

Kaz2904

Ailsb, it was me who was interested in doing a quilt along. I'm in the depths of making DD a pettiskirt at the moment but also got my quilting material on Saturday. I got 4 FQ's for £3.33. Result! I fancy doing the star quilt along on crazymomquilts' blog. What do you think?

I came home and carried on sewing for 2 hours this morning. It was too sunny and lovely to sleep ALL day . I gave up in the end because the machine was driving me crackers (or more like I was driving IT crackers!). I went back to it this afternoon and was having the same problem. Fabric kept jamming in the machine, thread kept snapping etc etc. In the end, I couldn't even get the bobbin thread up through the machine. MiL comes to see the kids on Tuesday and took them out this afternoon so I didn't feel too bad spending the afternoon on the machine (well, on the sorting of the machine). Eventually, I dismantled the whole lot and popped a drop of oil on before reassembling it. It then ran like a dream!
I have ditched the first waist band (into my fabric scraps pile) as I couldn't unpick all the stitching without it ripping in the end where it got so snarled up in the machine. The same goes for the narrow frill which I had attached already. I have pressed and measured and pinned out for the new waist band. I've not trimmed it this time so I can use the selvages as a straight edge. Funnily enough, when I measured the small frill up against it at full width, it fitted lovely. That will make it much easier to sew on.
I have re cut the 3 3" strips. Had a minor mishap when I was joining them together, suffice to say, I hope DD doesn't notice that it has the cat's teeth marks in it . Both sets of frills are overlocked now on both edges. 3 sets of frills left to be shirred. Tomorrow I will sew up the waist band and then crack on with the shirring (I wonder where I put the loaded bobbin for safe keeping?). I would like to get it all assembled before DD gets home from school because then I can see how much length I need to add (she's a tall 9yr old). Dunelm also sell polyester voile and organza for <£2/m so I don't mind too much if I need to get extra fabric for the frill around the bottom. I think I may go for white unless they have a suitably hideous day-glo colour!


Anyway, enough wittering on from me. Mooloo, I'm ever so sorry that you've had such a pants day. My thoughts are with you .

Ailsb

Kaz2904 have looked at this quilt and think it's lovely. I've not done any patchwork/quilting for many years (if I say it was for O level you may see just how long ago it was - probably 30 yeas or so). Do you think this would be too hard for a novice like me. Might give it a go with some fabric from a CS and if it works then use my "good stuff".

Off to bed now - night all.

Kaz2904

Ailsb wrote: »

Kaz2904 have looked at this quilt and think it's lovely. I've not done any patchwork/quilting for many years (if I say it was for O level you may see just how long ago it was - probably 30 yeas or so). Do you think this would be too hard for a novice like me. Might give it a go with some fabric from a CS and if it works then use my "good stuff".

Off to bed now - night all.

Hmmm, well, you'll have a head start on me then, 'cause I've never done any quilting! In fact, I had never sewed anything AT ALL until I made my cushions in March. Now I'm making DD a pettiskirt :eek:. I'm learning fast!
I've read the how to's and watched some tutorials online and figured that this would be a very good way to learn how to quilt something. She shows the patterns already made up for you so that's easier I figure.
Heck, what's the worst that could happen? :rotfl: (If you'd seen me over the last few days, you'd understand my mirth, but I've survived and learnt lots along the way).:D.
Let's do it!

Savvy_sewing

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Hmmm, well, you'll have a head start on me then, 'cause I've never done any quilting! In fact, I had never sewed anything AT ALL until I made my cushions in March. Now I'm making DD a pettiskirt :eek:. I'm learning fast!
I've read the how to's and watched some tutorials online and figured that this would be a very good way to learn how to quilt something. She shows the patterns already made up for you so that's easier I figure.
Heck, what's the worst that could happen? :rotfl: (If you'd seen me over the last few days, you'd understand my mirth, but I've survived and learnt lots along the way).:D.
Let's do it!

Hi, no expert quilter, only ever made one 30 years ago by hand. But re the sewing machine. Becareful if you have oiled her that this doesnt get onto your fabrics when you start sewing again.
Normally the things that are the simpliest are the solution to snarl ups. I have found that sometimes the top thread has come out of one of its series of steps. Often its the sewing arm that the needle is attatched to. (Not easy to see in most machines), and when the needle starts to go up and down without that stage of the threading everything starts to knot up.)
2) The bobbin must be in the correct way round for coming off of the spool.
3) The needle is not sharpe enough or the wrong type of needle.
So check all these little things before you fiddle with tensions etc etc.
I tend to keep my tensions on around 3 - 4 on my machine, and change the weight/feed dogs depending on the thickness of my fabrics.

Hope that this helps someone.
Mooloo
(p.s. I dont have a computerised machine, just a few very old ones now, compared but the consesus has been the same for the last 40 years of my sewing!).

nykied

MissPixie wrote: »

I posted pictures of my bag. I love the fabric so I will I had made it sturdier now because I will be sad when it rips I do still have enough of the dotty fabric to make another though

http://misspixieworks.blogspot.com/2011/05/phoebe-bag.html

Love the bag! As for the magnetic clasp, it looks great but I know what you mean about it ripping off if you keep using it. The first bag I made is the same, but I tend to put the edge of a fingernail in between the clasp bits and open it that way.