Sorbetto Blouse and a Machine Knit

Shortly after I put out an enquiry as to whether anyone would be interested in a Sewing Workshop, I had a couple of takers! Woohoo!! I was half scared and half delighted…still am haha!

Between us we decided on making the lovely free blouse pattern from Collette, The Sorbetto Top

Then, as it was the meet up of my sewing group on Tuesday this week, I decided to draw up the pattern on Monday evening and cut out a version that I could make a start on. I had some gorgeous lawn fabric in my stash which I thought would be lovely for this pretty top. I was feeling tired on Monday evening so thought I would have time to do the continuous bias binding tutorial from the same website before going to the group on Tuesday morning at 10.30am. Well, it all went t*ts up in my haste to make this tape….I should have known it would. I followed the tutorial, drew my cutting lines, then drew them again in the opposite direction doh! The last bit of the of the tutorial tells you to cut the tape round and round following your markings…well mine just went into rings lol!! I know what I did wrong though so will try it again when I’m not up against the clock So, there I was, cutting the loops into strips and joining them before I ran the whole length through my nifty bias binding maker, there were a lot of joins in that binding! I better get it right before I try and teach my students how to do it too!!

Still, at the sewing group, I managed to sew the pleat,  french seams and attach the bias binding. I used my darling mini iron for the first time and it worked really well.

I started to hand sew the binding to the wrong side whilst at the group but finished that off at home. The pattern tells you to attach the binding to the wrong side of the top and then machine stitch it in place on the front. I have done that in the past on different projects thinking I will speed up the process. I think it can lead to problems, you have to get the stitching line very close to the edge of the binding and the stitching line can make the binding too stiff. So I sewed my binding to the front and handstitched it to the wrong side, it has a lovely soft feel to it and moves with the rest of the blouse, I am happy….wonder if it fits me?!?

I love it, however, in my haste to cut this out I forgot to line up the pattern down the centre of the pleat , that design error will annoy me every time I wear it! But hey, it’s a blouse, and I love it…

More news though, a friend of mine, Colin, over on Facebook, showed us a photo of him wearing a gorgeous flecked tweedy jumper which he had made on his knitting machine. This really got me needing to get my knitting machine out of mothballs and give it a clean so I could make Barry a new jumper. Well, he brought it in from the garage for me, and I opened the box to find it so discoloured and cracked that I just closed it back up again and thought I might like a new one , I worked out that the poor old machine was about 32 years old!!  Barry was quite keen for me to look online to find one, but to find a punchcard model would be way too expensive so I went and had a look on Preloved. I found one on there, a punchcard machine, same make as my old one, but even older than mine. It was in very good condition, hardly been used in fact so we bought it and I came home and made myself a cardigan lol. I only have three colours which I could use, either, dark purple, purple or green..so I went with the dark purple

It took me a couple of hours to knit the pieces for the cardigan, and three evenings to crochet the border but I love it and really like the way it contrasts with my new blouse too

close up of the french seam

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I am very much looking forward to the workshop to sew a Sorbetto Top and have written out a plan of action, I think we will have lots of fun, cake and sewing too!

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I’ll leave you with this photo of me, when I was about 25 years old, taken in 1981 by my talented Mum. I was always moaning whenever she asked me to pose for her. So glad she persevered with moody me and took photos anyway. I had two children at the time of this photo, Ali who would have been 7 and Edward would be 2…I look like a baby myself!

Sew busy

I am tired….really weary…there’s been so much going on here lately and it’s taken it’s toll on me. I am going for a blood test on Tuesday to see if my thyroxine levels are low, but somehow, I just think I need a rest and maybe get myself on a proper diet again to lose a couple of stone perhaps

We’ve had such a lovely bank holiday weekend with Ali and her gorgeous four.  Yesterday, Steve (Barry’s eldest) and Janina, Tobi, Laura (Barry’s youngest) and Miyah (4) came to visit too. I cooked roast beef with all the trimmings, all that was left of that meal were a few carrots and a bone for Roo, the little dog, who tried to dig his way out of the garden

After lunch, everyone except me, Ali and Esme went for a walk up to the local park, I sat down and got a few rows of knitting done

I had made loads of cakes in preparation for this weekend, so those that didn’t want Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble and custard had a good choice of cakes. Mostly they went for the chocolate cake but Sullivan (5) totally loved my flapjacks, he asked me how I made them so I told him it had taken lots of practice and an extra squeeze of golden syrup and lots of love , he was happy with that reply  

Tobi is going to be building us a wall to close the gap created by the fence which blew down some time ago, we’re also having a new gate, I can’t wait for it all to be finished. It will be lovely having Laura and the children here for a weekend whilst the wall and gate is put up, I’ll happily feed them all and enjoy their lovely company…Tobi seems to have a soft spot for my food

Can you believe that I didn’t take one photo on my camera the whole weekend? I did take a couple on my phone though

This is Millie and Maddie knitting whilst watching Dr Who…that’s my space in the middle. I bought them both al little pack of knitting wool and they were soon knitting stripes on some tiny Knit Pro circulars I had bought but never used as they seemed too small to be used for anything other than knitting stripes for a phone sock and a scarf for teddy!

This is Super Sullivan in his new pyjamas…he’s such a charming little chap xx

I made the children (and us) American pancakes for breakfast yesterday, served with Lemon Syrup and this morning I made some French Toast served with jam or syrup,  as the loaf I made on Saturday was a bit dry for anything else

Lots of kisses and cuddles later and they were all back in their car and driving back to Southampton

Shortly after the precious family had left us, Barry and I managed to fill the trailer with some rubbish that needed clearing and then we took that to the dump. We cleared the hidden area at the side of the house, Barry used the pressure hose to clean the paving slabs and we moved the little plastic greenhouse to the back of that area. We’re going to put the old wooden patio table in there too so it can be used as a potting area out of sight of the rest of the garden

Barry has cleaned and set up his tomato planters with the clever watering system. I cleared an area under the kitchen window and moved the clematis there and have encouraged it to climb up the frame which is attached to the wall. A hot sunny wall it is so I’ll have to make sure the clematis is well watered!

Next job on our list is to clean the decking with the pressure hose and put all the tubs and planters that Mum helped me fill, into their final positions

I am really looking forward to a lovely garden, we’re also creating a vegetable plot from a gravelled area in front of the decking, we’ll have to look up when we can plant certain things as it will be a few weeks before we can actually use it…I definitely think that some purple sprouting broccoli will be on the list though, I love picking it for a meal in the cold January weather

So, another busy fun filled weekend, I am totally pooped, really….I might just sit and knit or do a little bit of spinning

I’ll just leave you with the 2 gorgeous Poplar Bags I made for a customer recently…that Kaffe Fassett Fabric is just so cheerful!

PS If any of you know the Stitching Dragon can you direct her to my blog so she can pick up her prize in my recent giveaway…I’ve sent her a couple of emails but not had a response yet…

Did you win?

two jugs, one for the fibre prize and one for the sewn prize

no Barry, you don’t need to jiggle the papers for the photo!

we have the winners!

was it you?!?!

Cathy Wood wins the fluff

and

Andrea (AKA StitchingDragon) wins the sewn prize

 

Well done the winners….!!

PS Sorry Joanna

10 days with Mum

We have had the most wonderful time with my lovely Mum, those 10 days seemed to go in a flash!

I’m just back from Stansted, after making sure she was in the right place and all booked in with her flight back to Belfast.  It felt very quiet in the car on the 1.5 hour drive home, with just a bit of Ken Bruce and then Jeremy Vine for company…

Mum and I went out every day apart from the Sunday just gone…we managed to buy most of the plants I needed to fill my pots, baskets and planters. I’ve got a few more on order but still I’ve forgotten to look for Astrantia, one of my very favourite garden plants. I’ll just have to have another peruse of the online plant stores

Before mum arrived, I bought a few patterns and some fabric with which to make her a couple of nighties, a couple of tops and a pair of trousers. I washed and tumble dried the fabric in readiness so it would all be easy care for Mum in the future. I managed all but the nighties, and now I know that the pattern suits her, I shall be making a couple more tops for her in various fabrics

Mum would like the trouser legs to be less roomy so I’ll make her some more with that thought in mind

Was so lovely seeing Mum knitting again, she really took to my KnitPro interchangeable needles. I could never knit with straight needles again as I find them really awkward and I have the feeling that Mum feels the same. I found some pretty cotton yarn for her and she knitted me 4 or 5 new flannels/dishcloths. They are so soft and pretty

Here’s Mum sewing in the ends on one of them….

We went to a Knit & Natter group with the local U3A on Friday afternoon, was good to see my new friends again. I love how Mum can just fit into any situation and chat and laugh and get on with everybody, it’s a rare skill! They were also fascinated by her dishcloth knitting pattern…here’s the one she uses:-

Aran weight soft cotton, size 4.5-5mm needles
Instructions: Cast on 4 stitches
Row 1: Knit 4
Row 2: Knit 2, yarn over, knit across the row.
Repeat Row 2 until you have 44 stitches on the needle.
Row 3: Knit 1, Knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to the end of the row.
Repeat Row 3 until you have 4 stitches on the needle. Cast off

So now, I am just having a much needed cuppa and recharging my batteries so that I can get on with my sewing orders tomorrow

The Giveaway is now closed…I have numbered and printed off all the comments and will put them into 2 piles ready for the number generator Barry to pull the names out of 2 bags this evening….

Hope you’ve all been behaving yourselves whilst I’ve been busy with Maeve, I know lots of my woolly friends went to Wonder Wool last weekend…I’m looking forward to seeing my friend Heather on Friday so she can tell me all about it.

On Saturday, Ali (my eldest) is coming to stay with her 4 precious darlings for a couple of nights. On the Sunday I think we’ll have rather a houseful too….hope the weather is kind to us

I’ll be back tomorrow to announce the winners….fingers crossed that you win the prize!!

The Actual Giveaway Details ~ Now closed

I can hardly believe the flurry of activity over on my Facebook Page…thank you all so much, and hello to all my new likers 307 to date…woohoo

There will be 2 prizes, A Fibre prize and a Sewn prize

The Fibre prize will be 350g of my Seduce blend of fibres dyed up in one of my colourways, you can choose the colourway from my previous dyeing, you could even ask me to do you a custom dye lot…Seduce is a wonderful blend of BFL, Baby Alpaca and Silk

The Sewn prize will also be in 2 categories but it will be just one prize

A Quilted Basket and a Zipped purse to match, in fabrics of your choice from my stash collection

or

One of my Double Needle Tip Organisers for the knitters amongst you, again in fabrics of your choice from my stash collection

you can find out more details of these items over in my shop….

These are valuable prizes, both of them are worth around £50……

Now I’m afraid that I am going to make you do a little work for your prize…before you leave a comment on this post, I would like you to promote this giveaway somewhere. Then, I’d like you to come back here and share the link or details of where you promoted this giveaway in your comment. It could be as simple as a tweet, or a message on Ravelry, or your own blog or on Facebook somewhere.  Also, I’ll need to know what sort of prize you’d like (fibre or sewn) and if you feel like writing a little more then tell me why you’d like that particular prize…that bit is optional   It’s not compulsory to ‘like’ my FB page either, but it would be lovely to have even more likes…so there you are, lots of options.

This giveaway will close at 10pm UK time on the 29th April, so you have three weeks in which to spread the Fluff-n-Stuff lerve….

**you have to leave a comment telling me where you have shared this blog post to be entered into the giveaway draw ~ I also need you to tell me, in your comment, which prize you’d like if you win, fluff or sewn***

Oh and sorry family members….this giveaway isn’t open to you, but you could always ask me to make you something if you’ve a birthday coming up or something…

A Giveaway

I am doing a giveaway as soon as my Facebook Page reaches 300 likes, you will still be able to enter even if you care not to use Facebook. It has been so useful for me as a seller though and I wanted to say thank you for all the support everyone has given to Fluff-n-Stuff since I started selling back in 2009…

Watch this space….

Details here

Sewing, knitting, eating..

I have mostly been sewing…making these rather delicious little coats for my 2 youngest granddaughters. They are hopefully big enough to be of more use in the Autumn.

I used an Oliver & S pattern, the School Days Coat. I already had the pattern in the larger sizes but needed the smaller sizes so I bought a digital version of the pattern. I printed off the pattern pieces and then traced off the 2 different sizes. 12-18 and 18-24 months. There are loads of pieces to this coat. I loved cutting out the main fabric. A lovely melton coating which I’d never used before but will definitely be using again. The bunny ears were a request from my son so I just drew an ear shape and cut them out, folding the sides to middle at the top to add a bit of shaping.

The details in this coat are beautiful and it all went together like a dream. I always love a bit of a challenge with my sewing and this fitted the bill perfectly!
The lining even has a little pleat down the back for ease of wear…

Then I got the sewing clothes bug and cut out a jacket and a skirt for myself…I’ve not sewn the skirt yet but the jacket came out better than I had hoped for

The black fabric was perfect, a knitted boiled wool, with a lovely soft hand and drape to it. I lined it with some gorgeous heavy satin, a bit wriggly to work with but the end results are worth it…

I love how the lower sleeves are attached to the lining, so it looks like you’re wearing a knitted top underneath the jacket.  The pattern is classed as easy but I would put it at a moderate. The cutting out and marking took ages but needed to be done carefully as the two front pieces are totally different. I used some wool ribbing in a charcoal grey for the sleeves…I am making myself a skirt which will tone in perfectly with this jacket, just need to make a top then I’ll have a whole outfit!

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Has anyone else found this week tricky? I always hate the clocks changing at this time of year, my body really doesn’t want to get up an hour earlier…so I’ve been trying to catch up with myself all week. I have managed to almost complete a project bag order and cut out another 12 of my grab bags. I sewed up 10 of them over the last couple of days and have a few more to finish. I just need to trim off all the ends and sew on the buttons.

there is still free UK postage in my shop but that will probably change next week now I am understanding the new Royal Mail postage changes a bit better…it always unsettles me for a while..

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And now it is Friday evening, almost the weekend again! How did that happen? Anyway, the weekend is my time for creating things for myself, I have to draw the line somewhere otherwise I’d just be working for my shop and never get anything done for myself…

Let’s hope the sun shines a bit over the weekend, we might even get to Peterborough Museum again, this time it might even be open!

Ooh I nearly forgot, I’ve also been designing…some fingerless mitts, which I have named after the wonderfully named Phryne Fisher. Miss fisher is a bit of a female Poirot, not only do I love her name, pronounced FryNee but I watched the whole of the first series on our way back from Australia last year. I am totally hooked and delighted that I found the series on Sky to watch here! It is set in 1920’s Melbourne…just a lovely little programme that is very entertaining. Anyway, I digress, these mitts have been tested and now I just need to write up the PDF and make it look pretty…

so that’s me done for now…have a lovely weekend

Announcing the Japanese Sewing Book Series!

Announcing the Japanese Sewing Book Series!.

thought I’d share with you this lovely blog all about sewing darling clothes for children using Japanese sewing books….

A new shop and some new bags!

I’ve been busy getting to know my new website for Fluff-n-Stuff…it’s taken a while and there is still plenty to learn.

I’ve added a few items and sold out of some of my new Grab Bags already. I was very relieved when the transactions went through without a hiccough. Is that right, that word looks wrong, hick up!!

Anyway, these are my new grab bags

I love them! Like a little row of beach huts….they fold flat too which makes for a cheaper postage price for now, I’ve yet to work out the new prices for postage. Hope I can find a way around the big increase in Royal Mail prices which come into effect in April

The grab bags measure 18cm or 6in square!

The first ones I made were not as substantial as the final product, which is interfaced and wadded for extra support. The bag has an inner pocket and closes with a button and rouleau loop. The original bag is not my design but it was a great starting point but those ribbons really did nothing for me!

Then I had my designing head on and put together a new larger bag featuring all the best bits from bags that I’ve made previously

I’m keeping this one for myself but I am very keen to make more. In fact I’ve already been given one order

I’ve called this design The Poplar Bag as I finished sewing it as the recent series of Call the Midwife finished…it was set in the Poplar district of London

Last weekend was lovely, Barry and I were invited to a wedding of an old school friend of mine Graham. He married the lovely Adrian, and even though I’d never met her before, we both got on really well. I feel like I’ve known her for years!

A wonderful wedding, so privileged to have been invited to such an intimate event. Only 28 guests I think..

The next day we went to visit my son Laurie, his lovely girlfriend Rosi and their delicious baby Indi…precious moments…we live so far away from all my children

So….we got back home late Saturday, then on Tuesday Barry went to Glasgow, came home late Wednesday and then went off to Melbourne on Thursday…2 weeks working out there but he has managed to get himself a ticket to see the Australian Grand Prix which is on in the UK later this evening so I might go Barry spotting later 

Don’t forget to go and check out the stock in my new shop, not a lot there but I’ll be adding more, especially fibre very soon

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I’m just about to watch casualty and finish a bit of baby knitting which is such a delight to do!

Seasonal Flu

I am ill….the flu….I am not a good patient, I am in fact an impatient patient.  I have had the hot cold hot cold thing, the headaches, the runny nose, the itchy throat and now I have a cough, hopefully, I will feel better once the cough becomes productive eugh….

Anyway, all I’ve done since last Wednesday is knit!

This is what I‘ve been working on

A slouchy layering top…this was an order, and if it hadn’t been for the absolutely delicious yarn, I might have given up as the pattern was a pain in the you know what! However, after contacting the lovely designer, she has made amendments, all good! You can read more about it here

I have also finished this lovely cardigan…I bought the yarn last year when I was in Australia. I have very special memories of the day I bought the yarn, pattern and buttons needed to complete it

I made and sold all these baskets

I also completed my Moira jumper…which is so so luxurious, but the neck has grown rather too much as I suspected it might, so I shall crochet a row of holding stitches behind the rib so it doesn’t keep slipping off my shoulders

 

I have also been to Scotland to visit my lovely Aunty Sally and Allan…oh crikey, as I look through my photos I’ve done far too much lately, lol!! No wonder I’ve got the flu!!

I was asked if I’d like to test a new little sewing pattern, which I did…sooo gorgeous, I’ll show you when it has been published

Anyway, I’m whacked now, need to sit and do nuffin’ other than knit of course…wonder what I’ll be casting on next?