My Sewing Space

It's always fun to see people's sewing and craft spaces. With the help of my father-in-law, I've finally got my space set up the way I want it. It's still a work in progress - I think it always will be - but it's become a lovely area for me to spend time in.

My sewing space is set up in a corner of our dining room. You can be assured that it isn't often this neat! We live in a three bedroom weatherboard house which was built just prior to World War 2. It's typical of many homes in Melbourne, and the floor plan is almost a carbon copy of the house my Grandparents lived in when I was growing up. We have a lot of period features including picture rails, which was a great help as we used them to hang the peg board. Being a three bedroom home, all bedrooms are accounted for and there is no study, so I don't have a dedicated craft room.

The peg board is a new addition - my father-in-law Alan is a very talented woodworker and he made it for me. Apart from the peg board backing, all the other parts are made from recycled and reclaimed materials. A few months ago, my friend Amy sent me an email showing me this peg board she found on Pinterest. I showed the picture to Alan and voila! He made it for me! I wanted it modified for my own equipment so mine ended up looking quite different from the original. I'm really pleased with it - it keeps everything close to hand, but also keeps things away from little hands! I've also got lots of my vintage sewing items on display. I haven't filled it completely, there are still things I need to add and change around, but all in good time.

No space is left unused - the side of the shelving unit is a home to my rulers, some stickers and lots of lovely cards sent to me by friends and swap partners. The desk and shelves I bought from Ikea.



On the top shelf I keep my small stash of craft books. I don't have many but I use the ones I have quite often. The Crafty Minx by Kelly Doust really started things for me. By chance I went to Spotlight to buy something random - I hadn't shopped there for years. I picked up a free magazine they had on the counter and read an interview about her. As a result, I bought her book and the simple projects in there really kick started my love of sewing. That was about three years ago. Zakka Style by Rashida Coleman Hale is another book on my shelf that I love and refer to often. I am ashamed to say that I've never made any of the projects from The Liberty Book of Home Sewing, but it is a beautiful book that showcases Liberty fabrics, which are classic and stunning. I love flicking through the pages just for the colours and designs.

I recently changed my fabric stash arrangements, and all my quilting cottons are now on display on my shelves. My big cupboard now houses my flannels, fleece and home dec fabrics, as well as my scrap basket and ever growing number of patterns.

So there you have it - Sew Delicious Head Quarters. I am looking at it right now and I have a lot of tidying up to do to get it back to looking like these pictures!

Things for Baby Boys (A Virtual Baby Shower) - Baby Change Mat Liners

This post is part of the virtual baby shower for Abby from Things for Boys! She is due to have her baby boy in the next few weeks so some of her friends around the blogosphere have joined forces to make and share some gorgeous handmade newborn gifts. Best part - because I live so close to Abby I am the lucky one who gets to deliver them all in person! (Edit: I delivered them this afternoon! She was very shocked and excited. It was lovely to be there - I wish everyone else could have been there too!)

What do you make someone who has been sewing forever and has lots of baby stuff already? It took me ages to think of something and decide. I went for a practical gift. I've always used liners for my change mat, especially when the girls were tiny because there was often little accidents when the nappy came off for a change. My liners were just old style cloth nappies, but I thought I'd make some special ones for Abby.

To make 4-6 liners, you need at least a metre of a flannelette print (or cotton) and 1 metre of towelling. Personally, I find the towelling at my local store expensive and poor quality, so I bought a large white bath towel that was in the clearance area of the manchester department.

Cut your pieces to size - I used my own change mat as a guide and cut the towel and flannelette pieces 32cm wide and 52cm long (12" x 21").

Once you have your pieces cut, lay a piece of towel and a piece of flannel right sides together. If you wish, use a small dish or a CD and a washable fabric marker to mark curved corners.

Stitch your liners, leaving a hole for turning. Trim your edges.

 Turn your liners right side out and topstitch all the way around, making sure to stitch the turning hole closed.

You are done! Quick, simple and practical.

The flanelette is very soft and just gets softer with every wash - lovely for little bottoms. The towel is thick and absorbent and provides extra padding.

These liners could also double as burp cloths. Quilting cotton would be a great alternative to flanelette.

Congratulations Abby, Greg and Roman, I can't wait to meet your new little man!

Make sure you check out all the other beautiful gifts made for Abby by these other awesome bloggers!

1: Baby Change Mats by Ros from Sew Delicious

2: Flat Teddy by Narelle from Cook Clean Craft

3: Handmade Baby Boy Shoes by Janelle from Emmaline Bags

4: Baby Hats by Jenny from Mend and Make New

5: Upcycled Cashmere Baby Pants by Dara from Coffee and Lilacs

6: Nappy / Baby Bag by Jo from Bubala

7: Little Kid Kimono Set by Laura from Craftstorming

 

Sewing for babies is SO much fun!

Quilted Mat Sew Along

I've been thinking about doing a tutorial for one of these ever since I made my first one back in February. I made first quilted mat just to test out my then-brand-new walking foot, but I loved it so much I've since made a couple more. I started putting together the tutorial, and it was getting quite long. Then I was chatting with a few sewing buddies and we were talking about how getting started with quilting was quite intimidating as the projects are often so large and such a commitment in fabric.

So I thought - why don't we do it together as a sew along? Then everyone can encourage each other, ask questions and show off their finished products!

This project is aimed at anyone who has thought that they would love to make a quilt, but the thought of actually sewing up large sized quilt is just overwhelming!

Advanced quilters are SO welcome to join in too - you guys could mix it up a bit by using small blocks or half square triangles rather than squares!

The Sew Along will start on Monday 20th May and will be scheduled like this:

20th May - tutorial 1 - sewing the quilt top
22nd May - tutorial 2 - basting and quilting
24th My - tutorial 3 - binding the mat

Here is one I made earlier this year for a swap partner (I love that pink and grey combo so much!)  You will need 12 x 5 inch squares. You can either use charm squares that are pre cut (like the mat in the picture below) or you can cut your own, which I did for the pink and grey mat.

This one is the first one I made to be used as a sewing machine mat - I used the yellow, green and orange charms from a Half Moon Modern charm pack. They were left over after I made my Quilted Sewing Machine Cover from the aqua, grey and red charms.

What can you use your mat for? Anything really. This latest one that I made using some Cuzco charms will be a mat for my overlocker. You might like to make it as a small table runner (you could add more charms and make it longer), as a place mat for the dinner table, or a mug rug.

It would be AWESOME if you wanted to join the Sew Along in real time and make your mat with me next week. If not, don't worry, the tutorials will always be here on the blog and you can come back any time you like.

So to get ready for the first tutorial, you might like to get your materials ready. You will need:

• 12 x 5" squares (12.5cm)

• a 20" x 16"  (50 x 40 cm) piece of batting. Cotton or polyester - as it is not a garment to have against skin, I am happy to make these from cheap batting.

• a 20 x 16"  (50 x 40cm) piece of coordinating fabric for the backing (an fq will be perfect)

• 2 yards (2m) of bias binding (tape) - I used a store bought one, single fold 1" wide (2.5cm)

• quilt basting pins (they look like safety pins but with a curved shape. You can buy a packet for a couple of dollars at your local quilting / fabric store)

• thread, rotary cutter and ruler, pins

 Optional - walking foot. If you don't have one, just your regular presser foot will be fine!

I strongly recommend you try and use what you have from your stash! 5 inch squares are a great way to use large scraps. If you need some tips on how to accurately cut them, check out this tutorial. The blue polka dot I have used for my backing is a small piece of voile I've had in my stash forever but thought it went nicely with the blue and pink squares I chose for this mat. The pink and grey one was made from me going through my stash and cutting squares from every pink and grey fabric I owned!

I'd love to see your fabric choices and your progress - share it on Instagram and in the Sew Delicious flickr group!

So what do you think? Are you in?

Quilted Kindle Case

This year my brother organised for all of us to pool our resources and buy Mum a Kindle for Mother's Day. Exasperated by her plans to go and buy some books last week, he ended up giving it to her a week early!

Mum & Dad live in Queensland and travelled down to Melbourne for the weekend. After taking her Kindle on the plane, Mum expressed her worry that she didn't have a cover for it. Hmm...I asked her what colours she liked - she said, green, yellow, and orange. Off she went to take the girls to the Werribee Zoo for the day and I ran straight to my stash to investigate what I had in those colours! After a couple of very focused hours, I had it completed and ready to give to her when she got home.

Here is the finished result! I used the quilt-as-you-go method, referring to this tutorial by Oh! Fransson to make the exterior panels.

The fabrics I used are: Dot Spots in Lime from Moda Half Moon Modern (a left over charm square),  Citadel Sun Gold and Orchid Tangerine from Cuzco by Kate Spain (charm squares), Elephants in Olive and Hearts in Persimmon from an Umbrella Prints mixed trimmings pack.

I didn't have any cotton batting scraps left - argh - but I am being a good girl and trying not to buy too much at the moment. I had some polar fleece scraps that I cut to size and quilted the cotton onto that! I also lined the pouch with the polar fleece - it is nice and soft and will keep the Kindle well padded, and it will also clean the screen as it is slid in and out of it's case.

I made the back more simple, mainly using a green polka dot, but in hindsight I wish I had have added some yellow strips on either side of the elephants. I didn't have any more of the Cuzco Citadel print left though, as I only had one charm square to begin with.

I didn't really use a tutorial for this - I used the Kindle itself to measure the size of the panels I would need - I just added an inch all around.  I based the design of the case on this iPad case tutorial that I have used before - earlier this year I also made this quilt-as-you-go case for my iPad.

Quilt-as-you-go is fast becoming a favourite technique of mine because you can use tiny pieces of fabric and really scrap bust! It's hard to tell the size of this case in the pictures but it is very small - most of those pieces of fabric are only 2 inches in length, they just vary in width. It's also a great way to use up those little pieces of favourite fabrics you can't bear to part with.

Happy Mother's Day Mum! And to all of you who are Mums, Grandmothers, Great-Grandmothers, Step Mums, Foster Mums, Carers and Mums-to-be. Hope you get pampered today - or at least get a sleep in!

Quilted Sewing Machine Covers - Made By You!

When I write blog posts and tutorials I never know how they'll be received. Honestly I can't really imagine other people reading them! It's funny how that works - I write and I share and it goes out there into internet land and I have NO idea what will happen next. And I really like that!

I have an idea when my projects are well received because lovely people leave comments, they get pinned and shared and I see that reflected in my blog statistics. Which is great. But the warm fuzzy feelings and the dancing around the kitchen happens for me when people show me something they've made using one of my tutorials. It's a real WOW thing for me - that someone would open a page on my blog and have it sitting there on their computer, tablet or phone, and they follow the steps and MAKE IT.

My quilted sewing machine cover has to be one of my all time favourite projects I've ever made, and it's been a pretty huge favourite for you too! Today I'm sharing some AMAZING versions that other fantastic sewers have made and shared with me. I am in a group on Facebook called The Sewing Library and the April project was to make a sewing machine cover. All these lovely ladies are in that group and chose to use my tutorial - thank you :)

This first one was made by Erin P from Mumma Mia Designs. The pinks and aquas work so well together!

This one in purple tones was made by Alison from This Novice Sewist. I have that owl print in my stash!

 Love the fabric choices for this one - that black and white bird print works perfectly with the aqua and red! Jama from Little Denim Duck made this one for her Mum.

Kylie made hers with a gorgeous selection of greens.

Check it out - my cover now has a twin! Erin B. made this one, also using a Half Moon Modern charm pack. A few differences - she went with red chevrons on the side and a grey binding around the bottom. Of course I adore it!

As you can imagine I am pretty thrilled to see my cover made up in all different fabric combos and keeping these ladies' machines dust free! I have seen several others as well and they are all as gorgeous as these ones! If you've made anything from my tutorials I'd love to see it - feel free to email me, post it on my facebook wall or add it to my flickr group.

If you are inspired to make one now, you can check out the tutorial here. I really must get myself organised and make one now for my overlocker!

ModernQAL - Getting Started!

For a change I'm playing by the rules.

I am making a quilt that actually has some sort of plan. I'm joining the girls from And Sew We Craft (a fantastic blog of Aussie crafty collaborators) and participating in their Quilt Along. I've been a bit shy of Quilt Alongs until now, but they had me when they told me about the book they were using for the blocks. Modern - yes!

This is the first block - Follow the Leader.  Made from a series of smaller flying geese blocks, I was a bit nervous at first. Accuracy with cutting and piecing is not one of my strengths, but the tutorial in the book made it fairly straight forward.In hindsight I would have liked to take more of a risk and make the background black instead of white, but I've still got 11 more blocks to play with.

For the QAL, I have chosen to use solids and only one print.

Given that it's called the ModernQAL I decided to make it really modern (with an 80s twist!) I love that cassette tape print that was given to me by my lovely friend Catherine, and I decided to make a feature of them by choosing coordinating them with solids so there are no other competing prints. This first block doesn't really make a feature of the tapes but there are lots of other blocks that will.

The book the And Sew We Craft team have chosen is Modern Blocks by Susanne Woods. I've found the layout and instructions to be simple and great for beginners, with a really interesting variety of blocks. With 99 to choose from, I think this book is a must for any quilter's bookshelf.

I'm looking forward to busting out the next block soon! Here's the plan for the full QAL:

1. May- Follow The Leader with Amy at And Sew We Craft
2. June- Spool with The Crafty Mummy
3. July- Megan’s Star with Samelia’s Mum
4. August- Quatrefoil with Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts
5. September- Escalator with Cate of Life Behind the Purple Door
6. October- Best Friends Samelias Mum
7. November- Pogo Stick with Ros of Sew Delicious
8. December- Crosswalk with Me over at my personal blog Actually Amy
9. January- Everything Equal Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts
10. February- Parisian Star with Tonya of Crafty Mummy
11. March- Binary with Cate of Life Behind the Purple Door
12. April- Stacked Squares with Ros of Sew Delicious

Yep - I'm one of the contributors for the QAL and I'll be featuring two detailed posts about November and April's blocks right here!

So if you are looking for a slow burning project to last a year, this is great! Or you could purchase the book and cruise on ahead using the block list above. There are awesome prizes for the QAL - this month's prize is a Bonnie & Camille Layer Cake from the Fat Quarter Shop! Just link your finished block over at And Sew We Craft to be in the running each month.

When I ordered my copy of Modern Blocks I also ordered a copy of Patchwork Please! Yay - I've been wanting to get it since it was released!

I hope you consider joining the QAL with me! Feel free to email me or ask on facebook if you have any questions!

Upcycle Tutorial - Baby Blanket to Kid's T-Shirt

During Kid's Clothes Week I made a couple of t-shirts for Lucy using baby blankets and I got such a lovely and positive response for them! Thank you! So I thought I'd share a quick tutorial showing how I cut the pattern from the blanket in order to get the blanket edges to form hems and cuffs. It's a great short cut!

I've found that my local fabric stores have a really boring range of jersey fabric - it's all solid colours with tiny selection of prints. I've found that the best way to get interesting jersey without buying online is to hunt through thrift stores and buy items that can be upcycled, which is how I came up with this idea.

If you are like me and your children are still young but not babies anymore, I bet you have lots of these little blankets in your cupboards somewhere!

I've made two now, and have been able to get size 3T t-shirts from the blankets, but I don't think I would have had enough fabric for a bigger size. If you need a bigger size, you will need a larger size blanket or use an adult size top and use existing cuffs and hems.

What you need:

• A baby blanket with bound edges (mine were approx. 65 x 65cm / 26" x 26")
• Your favourite t-shirt pattern (I use this one)
• Rotary cutter / scissors
• Sewing machine or overlocker

 Take your blanket and open it out. Fold the outside edges in so they meet in the middle.

Neaten it up so the blanket binding is aligned. Place your back and front pattern pieces along the folds on either side. Pin or use pattern weights to keep in place - I use small cans of food from my pantry!

You can see that I leave the bottom of the pattern overhanging the blanket - this is because you don't need a seam allowance, as there will be no hemming.

Cut your pattern pieces and remove them. You will then have this:

Depending on how much fabric you have remaining, you can keep the fabric folded as above, or you can open it out and fold the upper edge down. Whichever way you can get the most fabric to successfully cut your sleeve piece on a fold.

This time I didn't have enough fabric left to create a full length sleeve, so I went for a 3/4 length. If you a sewing for summer, you can shorten it further for a short sleeved tee.

Your pattern pieces are now cut! And you can see in the picture that they already have cuffs and hems! You will most likely have enough fabric left to cut a strip for the neckline - check the pattern you are using to see how much you need.

Now sew up your tee according to the pattern's instructions. Not having to cuff and hem will make it a really quick stitching session.

Now pop it on your child and send them out to play!

I hope you will give it a try - if you make a t-shirt using this tutorial I'd love you to share! Tweet me, post a picture to my facebook timeline, send me the link to your blog or upload a picture to my Flickr pool! I love seeing what people make from my tutorials, it makes my day!