One lady's junk is another lady's treasure!

One of my friends has been having a major clearout ( she is having her entire house decorated in the space of about a week! ). She knocked my door the other day with a bag full of embroidery and sewing patterns, she was almost apologetic... she said she didn't want to clutter up my house but couldn't bring herself to throw them away without offering them to me first! To say I was thrilled is an understatement...it was like having a birthday! The only problem is I want to do almost every project there is in that bag...My to-do list has just got longer! Thank you lovely friend, you have made me very happy! :o)

Doxie

I Love the rain

When life gives you rain, sew!

The weather is terrible here today, strong wind and heavy rain. I don't look at it as a bad thing though, it just means I can do some guilt free crafting! The housework is done so what else is a girl to do? I think I will make a start on some birthday pressies and surprises for various friends.

Bring on the rain, thunder and lightning ( just spare me a power cut as I really would like to use the sewing machine today ).

Doxie in her element, not braving the elements!

Cleaning and oiling the machine.

I did my main machine today. How often do you all clean and oil your sewing machines? The instruction manual says do it frequently...what is frequently?... once a month, every 10 times, every 50 times you use it? I'd be interested to know what others think.

Cheers,

Doxie

what do you do with x stitch cards

My sister has the patience to do lovely X-stitch cards and I alyays keep them. I was wondering what other people do with these after the occassion passes.

Rest assured if you have ever given me one, I have NEVER thrown it away.

Here is an example of what I did with one she made for DS's b'day one year.

sewing gauge V tape measure

I have had a pair of thrifted trousers in the wardrobe for a few months now, waiting to be turned up. I despise taking up trousers. Recently I bought a sewing gauge so am keen to see if this makes it a more pleasureable job.

Please imagine the delights of muzak playing gently in the background whilst I whizz off and do the deed!
back....Williams on the packaging. It is in a red and grey packet with the wording " Sewing Gauge, ideal for marking seam allowance." It has a ref no: CWH8.

10/10 the sewing gauge wins over the tape measure.

Doxie the pleased. :o)

Translating non fabric designs to fabric

I thought you might like a look at one of my recent challenges. Something for Mr Doxie and learn a new process. I wanted to see if I could turn a design from a non-fabric material into an image on fabric...this would also be a lesson to myself in how to use bondaweb. :o)

Whilst looking for something suitable to translate into an applique I found one of Mr Doxie's old key rings ( see below ). He LOVED LOVED LOVED this keyring's little devil. This really fired me up as I usually do more feminine stuff. BTW if anyone knows where we can buy another one of these ( it broke after much use ) please let me know as this was his favourite and the shop has since closed...There was no name on it when I looked, or if it was once there it has worn off...it is made of rubbery type stuff.

If I am making something for just us I like the challenge of recycling so this was a good excuse to dive into the used clothes pile.

Next came the drawing.

The plan was for this little devil to feature on a dinner mat. I thought the devil on the left and then "Dad's Hot Stuff" embroidered next to it would look fun.

Next came the Bondaweb. Amazingly it was the first time I had used this product.

This is where I say always go with your gut feeling and have confidence. I followed the instructions to a T...but it didn't feel right and I pondered on marking it up as a mirror image...but on double checking and checking the Bondaweb instructions again, I saw no mention of this, so I just went ahead...and yes it turned out that I should have done a mirror/reverse image...but luckily it did not make a big difference to the design...although it was a little exasperating when it came to the eyes ( I had to re-cut them ). It is not a bad thing though, it was a learning experience and something I will remember next and every time from now on!! :o)

The mouth worried me a bit. the blue outline was cut as just that, an outline. I thought if I attatched a solid piece under the white cotton I used for the mouth it would be a nightmare trying to embroider the teeth through that many layers of fabric. Thankfully going slow I managed to position it all okay and everything fitted with none of the under fabric showing through between the blue lips and the white material.

Well, I had given myself 2 tasks, make something for Mr Doxie and learn something new. I reckon it turned out pretty well. I not only learnt how to use the Bondaweb but also how to break an image into layers...he is made out of t-shirt material. I am not sure how that will fair with repeated washing when adhered to a dinner mat. I think that I would have to finish the edges in zig zag or button hole stitch to stop fraying, but I don't know if that would spoil the crispness and clean cut look of the image.

The only thing is... Mr Doxie decided that the little devil might be wasted on a dinner mat and suggested to wait a bit and maybe put him on a cushion or something...we shall see.

I will say that I am a real fan of Bondaweb now and have already used it a few times since...infact I feel a slight obsession looming on the horizon. I can't believe I hadn't tried it before... if you haven't, go for it, we've really been missing out. The posibilities are endless. I think it would be great fun applying favourite characters for your children on their bags or t-shirts. One assumes if it is for personal use and no money is being made that it is fine...In my case it was definitely educational! :o) I think I will have the confidence to start working on my own designs now that I have learnt about layering and the order that you would have to apply the layers...it will be fun making up designs with that process in mind. :o) ...On that point I want to make clear just in case it wasn't at the beginning of this post that I am not the artist who created this devil image and do not want to or plan to take any credit for the image itself...this was purely for personal use as an education for myself...

Try something new today.

Doxie :o)

Charity Shop Treasure

Look at what I found in the charity shop the other day!

It is just perfect for one of the little girls I am teaching to sew. She was using an empty icecream tub to keep her current projects in...adequate for the smaller projects but not exactly pretty.



As if that wasn't a good enough find in itself, it was full of embroidery thread. They are not a brand I am familiar with so I won't be using them for main projects, but they will certainly be good enough for practice pieces and experiments and little bits for myself!




Sometimes the sun really does shine on you!!! :o)

Doxie the happy!