U-handblog

And the winners of the Amy Butler Sewing Pattern Contest (Jul 08) are...

So last month it was all about showing us your fave snack with along with your finished Amy Butler goodness.  Yummy food and yummy sewing makes for a yummy combination methinks:

A cupcake and a Weekender Bag both looking absolutely delicious.  By Gretchita 13.

Peach sling.  I love the mermaid motif on this Birdie Sling and the sea horses on the yoke are cute too.  By Jennifer Caswell.

Here's a sweet Barcelona Apron Overlay with a juicy apple.  By MegVS.

Well done Ladies!  Please get back to me with your choice of Amy Butler pattern and your postal address and I'll send you your pattern.  I will probably be on holiday when you claim your prize, but don't worry I'll get back to early October and get patterns out to you  :)


Thanks to everyone else who entered, sorry you didn't get lucky this time.  You could always try your luck in next month's contest!  Next month's contest is about making your own modifications or embellishing your Amy Butler item.   I can't wait to see your entries :)

Sewing World Bag Dec 08. - Diamante party Clutch.

"Diamanté party" - I wonder what happens at diamanté parties?

Not that I am going on about it or anything, but I am flying in 2 days time WOOOOOO!!  So far I am very surprised at how organised I am being about going away.  My enhanced organisational skills can only mean that I am simply a more organised person when Al isn't around, either that or I am going to rock up to the check-in desk with my skirt tucked into my knickers and my passport left on the hallway table and I'll realise that I'm actually just as disorganised as usual...

One of the last jobs to do before I leave was to design the bag and it's tutorial for Dec 08 Sewing World Magazine.  The theme for Dec is Christmas colours, party time and quick makes.  So with this in mind I designed this wool clutch with diamanté buckle.  I have a red dress that will go a treat with it :)  I think wool makes an interesting change from satin or silk and wool makes the colours appear deeper.

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There she glows!  The clutch is firm enough to retain it's shape when tucked under your arm. I made a simple ruched wool decorative band for the buckle.  Simple, but effective (hopefully).

Bag making tip:  I wanted this clutch to be firm and boxy so I have used the wonder stuff that is Flexi-firm Interlining and because wool is a porous fabric I have used Bondaweb to bond the wool to the Flexi-firm.  If you want to bond porous fabrics such as wools, wide weave fabric or knitting to your lining (or interlining) you should used a product like Bondaweb to bond the layers thoroughly together.  Use Bondaweb even if your interlining is fusible because fusible interlining is intended for use on tightly woven fabrics such as cottons, silks and man-made fabrics.

Inside view.  Christmas tree green.  Look no snaps!  I used an Invisible sew-in magnetic snap because I wanted the flap to lie flush and neat on the clutch.

Clutch my bottom.  ha ha ha! :)

Righty, there are still loads of other bits and bobs to finish off - one of them is to locate my passport and make darn sure it is in my hand luggage!

While I get on with packing you might like to have a listen of  this really happy tune from the film Juno; it's just so chirpy :)

Only a week to go...

Wooo!  I'm flying away in a weeks time!  Getting very excited now, but there is so much to do to get things ready.  The office is sea of cardboard and bubble wrap because I have ordered lots of stuff for the shop so my lovely assistants don't run out of things.  We had a good old workout in the yard flattening all of the cardboard boxes for the recylcing. Beanie the dog wasn't too helpful because jumping up and down on boxes looks like a fun game to him.

Gosh! I haven't been away from this shop for this amount of time (I'll be away for 2 weeks) before - the most is a week, come to think of this I haven't not posted in my blog for that amount of time either!  I might cave-in in an internet cafe :)

So preparations are more or less under control; Beanie the dog is staying with aunty Wendy; I have neighbours and  & friends popping into the house to water plants and to check that the TV and DVD hasn't gone walkies; and I have also begun packing (yeah, I don't believe it either).  The only thing is that the loo decided to spring a slow leak (not a gross as it sounds), it's water from the flush tank - great timing eh? Gahhh!

One other thing I want to do is make myself a padded neck strap for my chunky camera and perhaps a lens case too if I have time.

This sweet fabric might do the trick for my travelling camera :)

Handmade Leather iPod Nano Case

Jeepers!  Thank very much for your super nice comments about my dress/top (and even my figure!).  My current dress size has nothing to do with luck, I have been punishing pushing myself at my local gym and living on chunky soup and it seems to be working?  That said, I have been treating myself to just 1 Reese's Peanut Butter Cup a day (sent to me by the clever Florence.)  If you like peanut butter at all you NEED to get your shoes on and pop the shops this instant because these sweet treats are seriously drool-ish!

Everyone knows going to the gym is pretty miserable, but I find it just about bearable if I have some high beats per minute tunes on my ipod.  After shelling out for an a nano I didn't really want to have to shell out for a case as well and I don't fancy wearing an armband at the gym because it will make me look like I take excercise seriously...

Isn't so annoying that there is a whole industry involved in keepy your new shiny gadgets looking shiny and new?  There's just too much stress in keeping things scratch free.  Why the flipping heck does the back of a Apple Nano have to be polished steel anyway?!!  Anyways, I am indeed uptight about about keeping things looking new, but as a sewer of bags I think I shouldn't buy cases as a matter of principle.

I had a nice scrap fine navy leather in my stash, shame it wasn't a raspberry red or cream colour to go with the green nano, but hey ho. 

• I chose leather because it would offer protection without bulk and also you can leave the edges raw.  I might make another cover in oilcloth for the same reasons.
• I placed some tracing paper onto the Nano and traced the width of the screen and the scroll wheel to get the template for the hole.  I then traced that shape onto the leather and cut out the shape. 
• I then got some clear vinyl (from John Lewis in London; sold as shower curtain by the metre), placed the vinyl onto the wrong side of the leather cut-out and then slowly top stitched around the shape (which was pretty stressful). 
• I made a loop and hook for the cover and stitched that onto the front of the cover. I then cut out the leather back of the cover and stitched the front to the back all around the sides and top of the cover. Job done!

I don't like having small gadgets in my pockets because they can fall out (especailly whilst attempting sit-ups in the gym).  I think hooking things onto things is safer and the metalware makes things looks more gadget-y (Lisa is a geek, Lisa needs to get out more, la la la!)

I'm happy with the way it turned out except that my machine wasn't too keen on sewing through 3 layers of leather (where the loop is attached to the front).  So my machine went a bit wobbly. I had to go back and sew some recinforcing hand stitches through the loop.  I mean, how annoyed would I be if was on the treadmill and my Ipod escaped it's loop and went whizzing into the mech. of the treadmill?  It would be hilarious - not.

The cover is open at the bottom so the nano just slides in and out.  The cover is snug enough at the sides so the player doesn't jump out.

Back of cover

Cheeky Jersey dress sewn on my overlocker / serger

There's nothing quite like shutting-up talking about it and just getting on with it is there?  I've been going on about rustling up a jersey top on my overlocker for ages.   So last night instead of going to the gym I concocted this tunic/dress.  I can't believe it doesn't resemble a pile of ironing.  Like; I'm really happy with the way it turned out - blow me down!

This dress is my own design (no really it is!!).   I bought the white top below and then I traced the outline of the main body of it to get the overall dress size and I then made up the arms and the neckline myself. I also made the overall length of my top longer so I could also wear the top as a dress.  It was so much fun to make because I didn't really know what I was doing so I just sort of fearlessly made it up as I went along (jersey isn't expensive, so there was less pressure!).  I just made sure that everything I did was symmetrical and I measured things carefuly.

What do you think folks?  Have I actually made something that I can wear out in public?!

 

Contrary to popular belief jersey (or any other knitted fabric) is your friend (I know that Jo will agree with me on this).  Knitted fabrics can fit nicely over your hippage and boobage without any need for darts and tucks.  The way that Jersey drapes and stretches over your body means that it is far more forgiving when pattern drafting (which is such a blessing for a maths numpty like me).

I LOVE this machine!  She is so reliable, completely predictable, and strong.  At the shoulders of this dress she had to stitch through 8 layers - 6 layers of jersey and 2 of silk, and she sailed through them like a hot knife through butter.

To read more about my overlocker click here.

Heh!  I'm thinking this a good top to wear to dinner; you can let your tummy reee-lax as it fills up on lots of lovely nosh!

I was going to make the tie out of the same grey jersey then I thought 'hang-on" I have a scrap of plum coloured silk that is too small to make a bag from...

Worn as a dress.  Right, this is probably the only time I'll get my legs out in this blog.  This is very uncharacteristic of me as I am usually glued to jeans and T-shirts, but then I don't make clothes for myself every day so I thought why not push the boat out a bit?  Mmmm, I think if I don't stand up straight in this dress I might look like I have a Santa Claus tummy!

I think I'll take this dress on holiday with me as it's way too cold to wear it in windswept and rainy London.

And the winner of the Big 'ol Bag Making Booty is...

Yaaaayy!!!!!! I'm seeing my man in just over 3 weeks.  I'm joining him for 2 weeks (his work at the hospital will have finished by then).  Flights booked, diet commenced, and now I just have to find a knock-out airport outfit.  Soo happy!  :) :) :)

If you'd like to see Al's pics of Thailand and the clinic he's working at click here.

What!?!  He's gone and grown himself a beard...

So onto the draw winner....

Up for grabs was a big 'ol bag making booty.

So, there were 162 entries and the Random Number Generator stopped on the number 132,

So will Tina who wrote:

"I found these awesome paperart:
http://www.ragandbone.com/blog/

(crossing my fingers so they hurt... just neeeed to win ;) )"

Congratulations Tina!  Please get in touch with me so I can get your prize to you'.

Thanks for your fabby links; I really enjoyed checking them out (yep I did look at every one of them). I'm sorry to all of of you who didn't get lucky this time.  There's another fabulous giveaway around the corner - just waiting for the postie to deliver the prize...