Wednesday, December 16, 2009

my creative space

I have a decent collection of old silk scarves and decided it was time to turn them into some soft summer dresses for my friends shop
The range of possibilities are endless as each scarf has its own personality almost

Red and blue is so nautical , I think this is my favourite...

how i do my bias-binding

Ive been thinking of doing a tutorial on bias-binding for a while. It has come to my attention that people tackle it different ways. Its such a nice way to finish off edges and maybe, just maybe, theres someone out there who'll read this and try it if they never have before. Hopefully ill make it seem easy. This is how I do mine.

If youve seen my earlier post you'll know that I like to make my own from linen and pure cottons, this is what ive used here. They are good fabrics to use because you can finger pleat them as you sew them on and they'll stay in their folds readily as they are the type of fabrics that crease easily.

Sew the binding on to the inside edge making sure that both the fabric and the binding are upside down when they enter the machine.



                                                  armhole being trimmed to size

I dont cut the binding to size before I sew it on as 9 times out of 10 it will be too short, plus I dont like to waste even small pieces of it. Trimming the ends neatly is helpful at this stage, cut straight across the binding as you will find it easier to start the top-stitching

Pin at the important points where you will notice if you sew it wonky or you will see the stitching come from underneath, also at the seams as its hard to sew thicker parts on ( I go very slow over these bits)
If you are doing a wrap dress that has ties that extend past the ends of your hems then begin sewing at the ends of the straps... this way you can continue sewing all the way around and end up with one professional single line of stitching.


I like the finished result to be as slim-line as possible.




Just do the best you can and happy binding!






Tuesday, December 15, 2009

sunday stash


Here is my sunday stash.These are some special things that I recieved from two very close friends recently. I love to just sit and look at them and dream of the possibilities....

Friday, December 11, 2009

brown paper packages

I cant wrap presents! I always end up wrecking the paper and having to iron it. I love to give things to people though and having my Etsy shop now is challenging me to wrap things perfectly and quickly too. I really hope to have my own signature style that I can perform over and over again. I came up with this what I hope to be fool-proof approach. I folded the item as small as possible and placed it on a diagonal to the paper, yes its one of my etsy dresses....


I just kept folding and made sure there was enough overlap but wasnt quite sure if it was going to work out nicely or look professional at all. Secretly I was aiming for an old-fashioned, simple Japanesie-esque style without the hassle. One more fold and I placed some string around it and used my Vistaprint stamp for a professional finish. The tree print is a woodcut from my husbands studio and I managed to smudge it terribly




Here is the result which I think looks, dare I say, ever so slightly origami-ish ( better than if I tried too hard and creased the paper in the process)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

bias binding

This is my sewing pile for tomorrow. Some dresses for my etsy shop with homemade bias-binding for that real nanna feel. I highly recommend making your own as its satisfying to say the least, not to mention so much cheaper than buying it. The really funny thing is that you can slice up the most unattractive of fabrics and give them a new life as an edging.

seasonal cushions

After I had tidied my lounge today I decided that I was so sick of my cushions I felt like throwing them away immediately. I get like this at every change of season.

The cushions you see have wandered to this room from various other rooms in the house and only two of them were purposefully made for here, astonishingly enough. Needless to say, these uninvited ones were promptly thrown into the washing machine (not the bin as that would be silly), and are now on the line, and will be stored away for next winter.
I looked through my pile of covers and found one leafy one that would be nice and fresh for summer but needed a couple more in the blueish colour range to match and tie in the black one, which I had decided to keep as it is very soft and also my husbands favourite.

Here is the result of my afternoons sewing...



I found a tablecloth with just the right amount of blue to be summery and to mix with the black and red one i was keeping.
I chose aqua because its my favourite colour for summer. I do love different versions of it throughout the house at all times of the year.



All of these fabrics were bought at different times too, even different years now that i think on it.
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