Today We Made – 2010 July

Amy Butler Wallpaper!

July 27, 2010 By Joanne 5 Comments

I must have missed the memo but I was quite excited to see Ms Butler’s wallpaper, available from Graham & Brown, in August’s Living Etc:

I’m not a regular reader of the magazine – I used to be, before I realised that monthly house envy wasn’t good for my mental health – but we’ve decided to convert the loft and as a consequence redo the hall, and so I thought a flip through a homes magazine would be inspiring. Did everyone else know about this development? Nice to see some of my old favourites writ large for a wall, even if I can’t see Mr J agreeing to many of them.Â Tremendous idea though – bringing a fabricaholics obsession into the living room. It would be like living inside your stash (possibly not a good thing now I think of it).

Don’t forget you can still leave a comment for a chance to win ‘Made At Home’ and some lovely fabric…

Filed Under: Other Things - 5 Comments

A Make a Month – July

July 26, 2010 By Joanne 17 Comments

A little while ago I swore off making clothes for me, because my shape was all wrong. Well, I still wouldn’t go as far as saying that it’s all right, but it’s better. I have a little more definition, I’ve lost a few more pounds – nothing major but enough to make me feel a little bit better about it.

oh I’m all on an angle!

I had more of that red jersey cluttering up the stash – you remember, from February’s make? I haven’t worn that out of the house, but I’ve worn this t-shirt two days in a row (yes, I’m putting it in the laundry later). The pattern, sunshine tops from Hot Patterns, is what I can possibly call a TNT (tried’n tested), since I’ve now made a second and I’m as happy with it as the first. Incidentally, I just used the pattern pieces I’d traced and cut for the first one, and do you know, it fits pretty darn well. There’s a little issue with some pulling round the mamas, since they’re still a bit larger than before, but it’s not enough to make me want to howl and tear the t-shirt into pieces.

ok that’s a little better…

The thing to remember with Hot Patterns is that they are cut looser than your big 4 (in my experience), so to get a closer fit I think I made a size down from what was suggested by my measurements. I just like a t-shirt that doesn’t swamp me, but you might want something more floaty. I do really recommend this pattern, but don’t take size recommendations from me as gospel – see what happens in your sewing room, with your body and your fabric. Or, to use an ancient internet term: YMMV.

The only thing I would change could only be remedied by the purchase of a twin stretch sewing needle – apparently the twin stitches can prevent the lettucing effect you can sometimes get on a knit hem with only one line of stitching (think cover stitch machine finish). I actually didn’t get any lettucing this time around, and maybe this was because I was good and did all the pressing I was supposed to, and maybe I was just lucky. Whichever, July’s make has Win written all over it. (Not literally though, because I probably wouldn’t wear that.)

Filed Under: A Make A Month, Finished Things, Hot Patterns, Sewing - 17 Comments

300 – a Giveaway with 'Made at Home'

July 23, 2010 By Joanne 25 Comments

What was the first thing you made when you began your sewing adventures? For me it was a cushion cover. As simple as you like, two squares of fabric and a zip. I didn’t know enough to be scared of zips, and I thought silk was a lovely fabric to work with, and I didn’t know a thing about interfacing. It stood me in good stead for longer than you’d think, considering how slap dash it was.

I was reminded of that cushion cover when I first looked at Made At Home, which Quadrille kindly sent me to have a look at. The chances are you’ve picked up a cushion cover in a shop and swiftly put it down after looking at the price tag, yet still been consumed with the desire to strew your home with textiles that make you glad all over. Making a house into a home is one of the biggest motivations there is to learn to sew.

The book has great style: slightly retro and homely, but with a funky edge that leaves you in no danger of creating old-fashioned furnishings. Not a pelmet in sight, in other words. The mix of photography and child-like illustrations gives the book a light-hearted ‘give it a go’ feeling, which is a nice contrast to the ‘must do it this way or be shot’ tone of some sewing manuals (not that there isn’t a place for that too). It’s a book to encourage rather than frustrate, I think. Lawks I wish this kind of book had been around when I started sewing…

I started the blog a little while after I started sewing ‘for proper’. This post is number 300. 300! Amazing. To mark the occasion I’ve decided to give away this copy of Made At Home to one lucky commenter, together with a metre of Heather Bailey’s Fresh Cut from my stash, so you can start sewing straight away.

Just leave a comment below by midnight BST on the 28 July (you can say something nice if you like) and I’ll pick a winner next Thursday. Thanks for the last three years, internet, and here’s to the next three!

Filed Under: book review, Giveaway - 25 Comments

Crochet Hook Roll Revisited…download it!

July 22, 2010 By Joanne 7 Comments

Something else half remembered from the past: there was a poll of Stephen King fans asking which of his books they loved the most. The overwhelming winner was the Stand, a book I loved myself. The response from the author was a slightly grumpy acknowledgement that it was good to have written something so well loved, but it was slightly galling that it was something he’d written twenty years ago, as if nothing he’d written since quite lived up to it, and he was therefore past his best.

When it comes to posts on this blog, and search terms that bring people here, the overwhelming winner is the Crochet Hook Roll tutorial I wrote a couple of years ago. It’s not a complicated project, but it’s a darn popular one, and I’m glad that so many of you love it. Unlike SK I don’t mind that I wrote it a while back, because frankly, I’m just pleased you like it.

So, now that I’m a mum, with nary enough time to fiddle faddle about, I thought that it might be nice to have a downloadable version, rather than a blog post that means you either have to stay close to the internet, or do some boring copying and pasting. I know it’s what I’d want, and hopefully you will too. While I was at it, I acknowledged that with a couple of tiny tweaks you could put pencils in it too. Now who wouldn’t want that?

I’ve made a new page for downloads (hey, I’m optimistic there might be more) so off you go, and get it here.

Filed Under: Downloads, Tutorials - 7 Comments