Sensible cords

I made these cords for my little fella Nat. Deep red with an elasticated waist and leg cuffs, I bet they feel amazing. 

Sometimes I think one year olds have all the fun. All this and you get to eat cat food when no one's looking. Stairs are unbelievably exciting. Naps in the day. Drop your bunny and someone adoring will pick it up.

Nice and roomy for his big old nappy clad bum.

I got the pattern from the wonderful Minikrea brand that I wrote about here. I did the simple view and appliqued on some kneepads because this kid's knees are seeing some heavy work at the moment.

This were so painless to make that I am going to do more. Next up in this cotton lawn for the summer. 

 After that, perhaps in denim and then a mustard corduroy for the autumn. To be teamed with a smoking jacket and cane. Boy's fashion: it's a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

Scooter girl

I may have mentioned that I find dressmaking a bit of a teeth-gritting battle. But if the pattern is simple and quick I love it. 

Danish pattern company Minikrea has been a great discovery for me. I found out about them at Raystitch. I am so lucky to live a bus ride away from this beautiful shop.

I bought this fabric ages ago, perfect for my little scooting girl.

So much that is interesting and beautiful comes out of Denmark doesn't it? My friend Ane for one. The pattern was very simple, just two pieces sewn together. My kind of dressmaking. I've bought the trouser pattern too.

They design the garments so they can be dresses, tunics or tops. I am hoping, with a little alteration, this can be all three.

Every time she wears it she gets compliments. But every time she wears it, being three, she screams and protests. Sometimes I wonder why I bother.

From the same pattern I made it as a long sleeved blouse for her big sister. Another piece of Liberty tana lawn from the sales.

She is so elegant, this one. This does not come from me.

I can see this being made again and again. Maybe in chambray, or denim, or needlecord, or gingham...

The Humanities Shelf

I am working on a larger than usual project at the moment. It's going fine, I'm just coming up against the age old-hours-in-the-day vs stuff-to-do problem.

So I had to get creative gratification elsewhere this week. With that in mind I finally spruced up this little corner of my home and that made everything feel better:

No good having them all piled up: these are big ideas and they need to be free to breathe.

The wallpaper is a vintage roll picked up on holiday in Sweden three years ago. What a country. From design, through music, to belief in the value of a large state: I love it.

I also went to the exquisite John Stezaker show at the Whitechapel gallery and felt very much in the hands of a master. 


Back soon, with that big project.

Swedish sewing

I saw this Almedahls fabric in Skandium and it was love at first sight. Only one metre mind, beautiful Swedish design does not come cheap. I wanted it on the sofa in our kitchen, but I have wasted enough of my life straightening crumpled sofa throws. So I made it into a sort of quilt-throw. A thick one so it would hold its shape and not need any attention. 

This was going to be a world speed record project. I did not even measure up, I just chose the other pieces from my stash and cut to size by pinning them right sides together with the Almedahls piece. I then sewed the backing pieces together, added the 'filling' layer of the batting, and did a couple of lines of quilting to keep the whole together.

The large black patterned piece was brought back from India by my mother years ago. It is hand block printed and still smells of sandalwood.

I spotted this elegant linen round the neck of a dapper friend who kindly sent me an identical piece. To finish off I bound the edges with chocolate brown linen. And this is what it looked like yesterday:

Oh dear. I recently discovered the joys of the bias binding maker. A little gadget that helps you make your own trim, giving you nice neat and strong edges. 

I used the one on the left  to bind this quilt-throw with chocolate brown linen. It was too thin, and I am not a skilled and patient enough seamstress so it did not bind properly. So I found the larger, 50 mm one (the site I got it from does not seem to be around anymore but you can find one here) and it worked brilliantly.

Lovely mitred corners.

Here it is in action:

So yesterday I made the above pile of bias strips and re-bound it. And here it is:

There are a few tutorials out there to do this properly, which all seem to involve a lot of hand sewing. I bet that is a lovely job to do whilst watching a film. But as I said, I tend to make things in a hurry so I just pinned around and sewed it and that was that. Very smart, comfy and low maintenance.