Catching up on life - part 3

It has been a great feeling seeing the backlog of jobs gradually diminish and I really do feel that I'm really getting somewhere with my sewing jobs this year!

But back to the task in hand - my next job was a little more demanding and I did ask our local dry cleaner for her advice.  It is a tunic belonging to DS and the fabric on the sleeves at the sleeve seam had pulled. DH's opinion, when I showed him the damage was 'it's dead'! I hope I'll prove him wrong ;-)

damage from the inside with patch tacked into place

Patch now stitch into place

So, before resorting to removing the sleeves completely, on the dry cleaner's advice, I unpicked the facing on one of the sleeves to use as patches to cover the 'holes'.  But before cutting it up for patches though, I made a pattern out of it so that I'd be able to replace it with some other fabric.  And in the hope that it wouldn't be quite as obviously patched, I unpicked part of the shoulder/sleeve seam so that the patches would become part of the seam (and also hopefully strengthen the area so that the same problem doesn't arise again).  I just hope that DS approves and didn't mind not being able to wear it last summer because I've been so slow.

Hopefully restored to use

Inspired by the success of this task, I'm going to try to repair a couple of table cloths we'd managed to burn holes a couple of Christmases ago and 'canibalise' some matching napkins for the patches.

[photos of repairs]

Now all I need to do is declutter the sewing room (again). I've got some left-over Liberty print fabric that I intend to make into some pretty handkerchieves.

But I'll leave those for another day/post and keep you in suspense!

Catching up on life - part 2

As promised, following my last post, I moved on to my hemming jobs and the remaining summer clothes have now finally been stored away until the better weather arrives.  But before I progress to something more adventurous, I came across some more darning jobs - yuck!

Hemmed trousers, repaired/
altered pj's and peg bag

While I was at it, I decided to repair a pair of pyjama bottoms and alter another that was a bit loose.  And hidden amongst the repair pile was a peg bag that I'd embroidered years ago, but still haven't got around to making up.  So this was the chance.  All I need now is to find a suitable wooden hanger to finish it off.  It is a shame that it is rather small, as my parents need a new one (the one I made for them donkey's years ago is literally coming apart at the seams) but there is no way all their pegs will fit in this one.  Instead I'll use this one and their current one as a pattern - one for size, the other for design and I have plenty of the pink sprig fabric left over too.

Feeling quite pleased with myself for finishing off these long awaited odd jobs, I gave myself a treat and made some Christmas decorations a la Kirsty Alsopp's Crafty Christmas.  I know it is way too early, but I was glad to have a use for the polystyrene balls I'd had hanging around for ages and something slightly different to what I'd used them for in the past.  I'll leave them to dry overnight then spray them with hairspray to fix all the glitter in place before embellishing them with ribbons for hanging.

My glitter balls as they dry

Catching up on life - part 1

I've been a bit slow getting back into this blogging business since the summer.  Part of that was a lack of motivation to get on with projects and part of it was a serious illness in the family.  But I'm trying to get back into things gradually now and you will have seen that in November last year I made a coordinating shower curtain for our en-suite.

I'm also relieved that I've finally altered my kitchen blinds to fit the new windows.  I still have one to sew from scratch and I hope that the altering will have refreshed my memory of how Roman blinds are constructed.  It was nice to do some tidying up of the kitchen done over the New Year with DH and finally get pictures etc back up after redecorating last summer.

Well, I've moved on to repairing stuff.  Not my favourite aspect of needlework to be honest, but needs must sometimes and the pile was growing and in danger of smothering the sewing machine completely.

First in the pile was a quick darning job for DH - the second time I've had to repair the seam under the armpit on his sweater.  Then another darning job - I'd stupidly clipped my hair clip to my cardigan and left it there while I got on with other stuff without realising that it had made a couple of small holes in it :-(

But now it is time to get back to some sewing - making a new lining for the guest room curtain.  I made a new lining for one of them months and months ago and have been meaning to get around to making the 'pair' for equally long.  Once again, the New Year break came into its own and after altering the kitchen blinds I felt on a roll.

Next?  Well, re-hemming my summer trousers before it is time to wear them again.  What an exciting life I live!