an actual pillow

A long, long time ago, Hugh and I made a map pillow case together. Remember?? Probably not, it was a while ago.

But we sewed it...together. Then we went straight out and bought a pillow to put inside it, and some buttons to fasten it closed. And then, a year and three months later, I attached the buttons!

When we were in Italy, Kasia gave me this super cute owl. He came with little scissors and a spool of twine which feeds through his beak. He helped inspire me to finally finish the map pillow!

I tried to think piratey thoughts as I attached the buttons. When it came to the fasteners, my piratey thought was that the twine wasn't rope-like enough. What would a pirate do? Why, he'd make one of those knotted hair wrap things that we used to make in middle school!

Okay, that sounds a bit absurd, but when I think about, Captain Jack Sparrow definitely had a couple in his hair.

So I got to knotting, and made some little loops to hook around the buttons. And that was it! I finished something! As much as I looove procrastinating, finishing projects feels pretty amazing.

my handsome haberdasher

One day, we went to the local craft superstore to get some jeans fabric to patch up Hugh's favorite pair of jeans, which were going a bit see-through in the crotchal region. He bought half a metre, which was way more than he needed, so after he patched up his jeans, he decided to make a skirt. Two hours later, I had a new wrap skirt! How crazy is that? How did I land myself such a talented man?

He didn't use a pattern or anything. He just winged it. And it's not a simple rectangle of fabric, wrapped around my waist. It has shaping and detailing and a hole to thread the side-tie through! I love it.

mysterious object, made by me!

I made a thing!

(Ignore the dust on the ukelele. We'll get around to dusting soon...) It's supposed to be a pencil case, but is actually rather large and not very strong (see below). The pattern book said I would need interfacing if I was using lightweight fabric, but I thought this twill was pretty substantial. It totally can't stand up on its own, though. Maybe if the whole thing was smaller.

I skipped ahead in my 1-2-3-Sew! book. I made projects one and two, then skipped ahead to seven. Projects three through six wouldn't have helped me make this tube less wonky, though, as none of them have anything to do with cylinders. I found the instructions for this project somewhat on the terse side, but maybe that's just because I'm a bit of moron when it comes to stuff like this.

So yeah, I have no idea what I'll use it for. With the cute vegetable print, I want to use it in the kitchen, but it won't stand up with our wooden spoons in it. I'm almost tempted to fill it with sugar! That would be silly, though, wouldn't it? I'll find something.

crafty weekend

Hugh and I got super crafty this weekend! On Saturday, I was planning to go to an introductory sewing course (for free!) at the Wood Street Arts Space. At the last minute, Hugh decided to come along, too. The Arts Space had sewing machines for us to use, and I took all my bits of fabric I've been collecting for the last few months. The problem was, some bits weren't washed, and others were washed but not ironed. Oops! We decided to make a cushion cover out of the world map fabric I got from Spotlight. The woman leading the class gave us lots of helpful tips about stitches to use and how to make a button closure. We switched spots so we both got to work on the machine. This pillow was a team effort! Couples sewing is fun!

After sewing, we went to Spotlight, because they were having a 40% off sale on all their yarn! I bought 12 balls of yarn, and Hugh grabbed some supplies to work on his own sewing project. Then we came home and got to work!

 

I made napkins! I used my 1-2-3 Sew! book--napkins are the second pattern in the book. In this project, you learn mitered corners. Trying to figure out what the instructions were telling me to do took a while, and there was a point where I wanted to shoot the author, the napkin, and myself. But once I figured it out, I was so impressed! Mitered corners are fun! I was really pleased with the result, even if it wasn't exactly square.

It rained heavily on Saturday, and I was really hoping my softball game on Sunday would be cancelled so I could stay home and craft some more. Joy of joys, it was cancelled and I got to stay home and craft! Result!

tea towels!

I made tea towels! When we moved from Adelaide, I only brought my one tea towel, the Cath Kidston commemorative Royal Wedding tea towel (it's cute, oh yes). But after two months, it was getting a bit, let's say "crusty." So I made some new ones!

Sewing tea towels should be easy, as long as you have fabric, thread, and a needle, right? Probably, for talented types, but for total manual idiots such as myself, a few tools help. Of course, as this was my second ever sewing project, and my first ever sewing project that didn't come out of a kit, I didn't know what tools I would need! The book I bought was all, "cut out your fabric, fold the hems, and sew!" As if it was that easy.

Here's how it happened for me:

August: Get sewing machine from Hugh's mum (it was his paternal grandmother's machine)
February: Get Hugh's grandma's odd assortment of notions (which end up being super helpful!)
March: Get first sewing book of patterns!
April: Buy fabric. Wash fabric. Realise that you don't have an iron.

At this point, my wonderful, wonderful boyfriend bought me a seamstress' iron. Yeah, that's right, he coulda bought me a normal iron, but he fully supports my craftsy ambitions.

April (later): Iron fabric. Cut fabric completely crooked because you don't have a rigid ruler and have never in your life been able to do anything in a straight line. Also, realise that your scissors are totally shit.
Even later in April: Buy new scissors and long metal ruler.
May: Nod, "yeah, yeah, I know" to your sewing book which has crossed its arms at you and is saying, "I told you so," regarding having the correct tools for the job. It turns out that having a rigid ruler and scissors that work and a little blue chalk pencil (thanks, Hugh's grandma!) makes your life a million times easier! A simple task that took ten months to prepare for is finished in a couple hours (it would have been finished sooner but my prowess with the sewing machine means that several mysterious knots of thread appeared on the "right" side of the towels.)

All done!

(P.S. The pictures are pretty awful. Sozzles!)

Strategically-placed leg slit

Oh my gosh, I cannot stop laughing! I can't breathe!!

Hugh asked me to find a sewing pattern for him to learn to sew (isn't he awesome?) So I searched "men's sewing patterns" in Pinterest and this came up.

from Daddy Likey

I don't do the one-word sentence thing very often, but: Oh. My. Word. I am totally making Hugh a pair of those trousers as soon as I have any sewing skill whatsoever.

Easter fun times

When I lived on London, every once in a while I would stop and think, "Holy crap, I love in London! This is awesome! I'm awesome!"

I realised the other day that I haven't had a single moment like that in the nine months I've lived in Australia, despite Australia seeming to be so much more exotic and cool. I've had moments where I marvelled at the fact that I'm in a real relationship, with someone awesome, and I've marvelled at the soft sand beaches, but even in Melbourne, I don't feel like I've achieved something big by living here.

But it's early days. I'm still recovering from the move and settling into this vibrant new city, finding my place in it. I'll get there.

I've been working lots, but got a few days break at Easter. Easter is a big deal here. Not like, people talking about Jesus or rushing to church, but it's a four day weekend for lots of people. I was surprised to learn that pretty much everything was shut on Good Friday, including my store. The rest of the retail world and I had to work on New Year's Day, but Good Friday is off limits to retail. And it's a bigger deal here than Easter itself. Hugh pointed out that the important bit was that Jesus died. The rising again on the third day was a bonus. He has a point...

Anyway, I didn't have to work the Friday, Sunday, or Monday, so instead, I decided to get a urinary tract infection that traveled up to my right kidney! Woo hoo! I had no idea UTIs were so painful! Holy crap, I now feel suitably sorry for anyone who gets them frequently. Yeesh. Thank The Lord for antibiotics and painkillers.

Photos: I wasn't too sick to buy a new teapot. Ain't it perdy? And pretty fabric for new tea towels. Jody and Amy sent me birthday presents! Yay, Redneck Life!!

New Books!

Pops and Michele got me an Amazon gift card for Christmas, and I finally spent it. After extensive research, I got 1,2,3 Sew! Each pattern builds on techniques used in the previous ones, and the patterns look like things I might actually make for the house. I'll tackle clothing at a much later date, I think.

On a whim, I also purchased the Meet Me At Mikes craft journal. I wasn't sure what the inside would be like, but I was really pleasantly surprised. I love it! I've really enjoyed using it so far, though I have have a few things in there at the mo'. I was thinking the week before it arrived that I need a vision board with organisational bits where I can write down what I want to make and when I need to do it by, and the craft journal comes with a huge poster with prompts for all that! It's grrrreat!

Koala stuffie

I finally tackled my sewing machine this month, in order to make the saddest-looking Christmas gift ever. I bought a kit, and all I had to do was cut around the dashed lines and sew two pieces of fabric together, then stuff it with the included stuffing (made from recycled plastic bottles!)

Since I've never been able to do anything in a straight line, I was slightly encouraged by the wavy shape of the animal. But it appears that it is not the straightness of the line that is my problem, but the existence of a line at all! As you can see, her ears are not quite smooth. I totally clipped one of them. Anyhoo, I think she is still cute in her quirkiness and I hope Kasia and Corrado's itty bitty new baby likes her.

Book belt hack

After I'd purchased most of my Christmas gifts, I finally gave in and bought myself the diary I wanted (with employee discount, wot wot!) We also sell book belts that hold your notebook or diary closed while it's in your handbag, and they have a little loop for a pen. After using the diary for a week or so, I decided it needed a belt.

Sadly, the belts we sell aren't intended for my size of diary (A6). The belt fit around my diary vertically but was slightly tight, pinching in the plastic cover, and it meant that any pen in the loop pointed horizontally across the diary.

I decided I could improve on that, so I undid the stitches and pulled belt apart, keeping the pen loop intact. I shortened it a bit so it would fit horizontally on my diary, then restitched it. But all I had for thread was what Hugh's mom left in the sewing machine she gave me, which didn't include gray, but did include a lovely bright blue. Once I'd stitched around the leather rectangle, I couldn't stop. I personalised it!

Everything in this picture makes me happy.