It's a little bit country/cottage but I love it

I could feel the anxiety rising this week...

I was itching to keep stitching but my fabric stash is still pretty non existent so desperate times call for desperate measures........

I raided my linen cupboard and found this old doona cover which has hardly ever been used and is in excellent condition.

I decided to pair it with the left over denim from the skirt I made last week and make another Tote.

(sorry the colours are a bit off as the photos were taken in low light with my ipad)

I used the same Tote pattern as I did with my Vintage Tote that was by Debbie Shore but I modified it a little this time to incorporate the two fabrics on the outside and the straps down the sides as well as a pocket on the inside.

I forgot to do a row of top stitching at the top of the bag where the flower fabric meets the little strip of denim before I put the straps on but I did add it to the bottom.

I used my usual method of stitch and unpick for most of this project and I think the main problem may have been that I was somewhat distracted by the eye candy on TV ;)

I am really happy with how this Tote came together quite quickly. My confidence is growing and I like that I can "tweak" designs now to suit my needs.

I added a pocket to the inside that was large enough to hold my phone, a note book (and my big bunch of keys!)

I was also really pleased with how successful I was at lining things up this week!

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. I really appreciate your kind comments and words of encouragement.

I will be sharing my bag on the following linky parties this week.

Threading My Way - Bags and Totes

Sew and Show

Show Off Saturday

 A Round Tuit Linky Party.

Michelle :o)

Something for me

Well, how chuffed am I on a scale of 1 to 10?

A solid 10 I'd say :o)

I decided to make the leap from bags to something wearable this week. My favourite skirt that I have worn till it was completely thread bare finally fell apart so it seemed only right to start with a new skirt for me. Turns out I am capable of creating something completely wearable within a couple of days, how cool is that! 

I started out by having a close look at how my most comfy skirt was constructed.

Then I  de-constructed it so I could use it as a pattern.

I had hoped to find some fabric that was similar to the original skirt fabric but no luck so I settled on some light weight denim.

I managed to get all the pieces on to about a metre of fabric. (There were more pieces than shown in the photo)

Re-constructing the skirt was not too hard although fitting the yoke (I think that is what it is called) to the skirt panels was challenging and it took a few tries.

I love the extra row of stitching on each of the panels of this skirt. Gives a really nice finish.

I still need lots of practice with zips but I am not as nervous about them as I was in the beginning.

Turns out the style of skirt with its flowy sort of hem with the sides being longer than the centre didn't really work with the denim as it was too stiff so I decided to cut the skirt a bit shorter. I have to say that I was pretty nervous taking the scissors to my newly constructed skirt but I think it looks much better at this length (sorry I didn't get a photo before I cut it)

I wore my new skirt out on Saturday and it was so comfortable, I felt so proud that I was able to make something like this :o)

Thank you for stopping by my blog today and for your kind comments.

Remember to please leave me with a link so that I can come visit you too.

Michelle :o)

I'm linking my skirt up to the following linky parties:

Threading My Way 

 A Round Tuit Linky Party.

Don't look too closely

After doing my head in for the last couple of nights trying to figure out how to do the concertina part, this wallet it is finally done!

But don't look too closely!

I was thinking to myself I really need to wait until the day time to take better photos but then I thought about it and figured the poor lighting is probably going to work in my favour in this instance :o)

I made this wallet to go with the Vintage Tote I made last week.

I didn't use a pattern, figured I could work it out for myself, yeah, I was chewing that bite for a while, lol.

Actually, it wasn't too bad until I got to the part to put the coin pocket in, then I realised I was going to run in to some difficulty. That is a lot of layers for my poor little machine to sew through, but it managed. What I didn't take in to consideration was that the stitching would show through on the outside of the wallet. Nothing like bright red stitching against light fabric to show up all your mistakes hey!  Still I must remind myself this is only my third sewing project and that I will improve with practice.

With this patterned fabric I had to give some consideration to which way it would be facing when the wallet was folded closed so I decided to do it in three pieces.

I created a pocket in the back of the wallet. I had actually done a pretty good job of this in the first instance then when I turned it over I realised I had sewn through the pocket. Second time around I didn't conceal the red lining well enough. Oh well,live  and learn

Whoops!

I considered making some bias binding from the red lining material to put around the outside edge of the wallet to hide my wonky stitching but I'm not sure. Sounds like a lot of hand stitching to me....

All in all I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Again, it's all a learning experience and I think I am improving with each project.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and for your kind comments.

Please leave a link so I can come visit you too.

Michelle :o)

I am added my wallet to the following linky parties:

 A Round Tuit Linky Party.

Threading My Way - Bags and Totes

Show Off Saturday

Any Thing Goes Mondays

Vintage Tote

The internet is proving to be an excellent source of inspiration and instruction in my endeavour to teach myself to sew.

I found this wonderful YouTube video by Debbie Shore for a zippered, lined tote. 

It seemed like a great project to step me up from the first bag I made  as it involved zippers (yikes).

Having some tension issues here. Could be the fact that I was stretching and pulling that thing so tight it was a wonder I didn't bust a needle :o)

This little exercise really helped confirm that the name I had chosen for my blog was perfect (stitch, unpick, repeat) as there was a fair bit of that going on.

I am also learning that I have perfectionist tendencies which I'm obviously going to have to get over, at least while I'm learning.

It was a bit easier for the second zip.

I forgot to take photos as I was going along but I have made up for it with photos of the finished bag :o)

I am really pleased with the finished product. It came up much better than I thought it would and there was only a couple of places that I had to unpick and try again.

Thank you for visiting today and for you kind words of encouragement.

I will be looking for a few places where I can link my new bag up and to see if I can find a few more new blogs to visit.

Michelle :o)

I'm adding this Tote to the following linky parties:

 A Round Tuit Linky Party.

Threading My Way - Bags and Totes

Show Off Saturday

And Sew It Begins...

My obsession with beautiful fabric that is.

I was invited to attend a sewing class a couple of weeks ago and in desperate need for some new creative mojo (having been paper crafting for the last four or five years) I decided to go along.

Well,  it was fantastic. We got to make a cute little tote from start to finish and I was hooked!

I picked up this gorgeous fabric from Spotlight.

Having never sewn before I am really pleased with the end result.

Now I am on the hunt for some inspirational sewing blogs and I am looking forward to gaining some new crafty friends and learning lots from all of you!

Thanks for stopping in to say Hi.

Michelle :o)

I'm adding my bag to the following linky parties

 A Round Tuit Linky Party.

Threading My Way - Bags and Totes

Show Off Saturday