This bag is big enough to hold a couple of A4 folders and to fit comfortably over your shoulder, but you can make it any size with straps any length you wish (just make sure you cut the two main bag pieces and the two lining pieces all the same size) For this size you…
A few months back now I was going through some boxes in my loft. I knew I had a box full of bits and pieces that belonged to my Great Aunt Gladys which had been passed on to me by her son who knew I was interested in family history.Anyway I spent a few hours…
A while ago I shared a post on Social media about a vintage blouse that I’d owned for years but which had fallen apart in places and was beyond repair. I had kept this blouse because I really loved it and eventually (20 odd years later) the idea hit me to unpick it and make…
I have always loved dungarees. Or anything with a pinafore type top. When I was pregnant I had a pair of maternity dungaree shorts and I also used to slop around in a pair of vintage men’s Lee dungarees which were so comfortable. I’ve been on the lookout for another vintage pair for a while…
I have finally gotten around to scanning in the last of my Weldons Dressmaking magazines. I left this one until last because it was ripped almost across the whole thing and it took me a while to make it look decent in Photoshop (which isn’t my forte) But anyway I think it was worth the…
Sometimes I struggle to find ideas to share in my blog posts (and social media in general) I tend to save interesting bits and pieces as I go about my week but occasionally I find I haven’t got anything that I want to write about. That happened this week but as I was searching through…
This was originally going to be just a social media post but I had too many lovely photos so I’m making it into a blog post so that I can use them all. At Christmas last year I was given a set of good quality makeup brushes. I’ve never had any decent makeup brushes. In…
If you follow me on social media you will have already seen a couple of these pictures. I bought a few vintage magazines a while ago from a vintage fair and have been scanning some of them in. The illustrations are beautiful so I’ve cleaned them up a bit and will share the whole magazine…
A few months ago I decided that I would like a brushed cotton plaid shirt. I wanted it to be a mens style but with a ladies fit. This Marian Martin pattern seemed to fit the bill. It’s one of my favourite pattern envelopes. Being a mail order vintage one, it still has the original…
I have got so many sewing projects to share it will take me forever to write up the posts, but I am going to keep adding one now and again just so you hopefully don’t get bored with the same sort of blog content. It was only after going through all my photos that I…
I’d always wanted to crochet a blanket and I also always like something to do once I’ve sat down in the evening so this project was a bit of a no-brainer. My lovely sister-in-law who is also very crafty, bought me a brilliant book ‘200 crochet blocks for blankets, throws and afghans’ by Jan Eaton….
Last year I had a spate of sewing bags. I was kind of experimenting with ideas for new products I could sell but I didn’t get around to sharing them for opinions, so I thought I’d make a blog post out of them. The first one which I love is this fortune cookie style bag…
I have recently bought myself an overlocker (or serger to those of you in the US) I mainly wanted to be able to make myself T shirts and tops in knit fabric and despite buying a walking foot and stretch needle I could not achieve the finish I was hoping for with my sewing machine….
Just take a look at this fantastic advert from the Coats and Clark ‘Fashions in Quick Crochet’ book for their ‘Speed-Cro-Sheen’ crochet yarn. I hope you all like the crafty things I share on here because I keep on finding more of them! Although I guess you don’t actually need to like crafty things to…
I made this dress ages ago. I’ve just checked and it was 4 years ago to be precise and I am only now getting around to sharing it. I did take lots of photos during construction but I think they often make for not very interesting reading, and believe it or not I had only…
A while ago I bought a few magazines from a vintage fair, one of which was ‘Popular Handicrafts and Practical Homecrafts’ from August 1957. It has loads of lovely adverts and quite a few interesting projects to make and I thought since I love to find free patterns online and from other blogs, that I…
This has been the scariest project I have undertaken on my sewing journey. I cannot deny I was really nervous about it, and for those of you who follow me on social Media you will already know that the buttonholes spooked the hell out of me! I do love a coat with a hood. I…
I have 2 teenage daughters and despite my love of crafting from a young age neither of them has had any inclination to take up sewing. They are both incredibly arty and very talented on the drawing and design front but have no interest in actually creating anything that they can wear. So I was…
Recently I was thinking about using up scraps of fabric and making something useful so I set about trying to find a pattern to use and share with you all. In my Etsy shop I sell what I call ‘scrap packs’ which are useable bits and pieces of my prints. I try to make sure…
How many of you have ever had a go at sewing your own bunting? I made quite a lot of it for when I was selling my wares at various fairs using my original range of dress fabrics. I was often asked if I sold it (which unfortunately I don’t) but I thought I’d share…
About 5 years ago my husbands Aunt sadly passed away. She had been a machinist all her life and worked in various sewing factories up in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. When I used to work for M&S suppliers she always used to ask me ‘what are the colours going to be next year?’ because she knew…
Sewing another vintage blouse pattern… So last year I decided to have a complete wardrobe review (if that’s the right word for it) I had become aware that although I had too much in my wardrobe I wasn’t really wearing a lot of it because I didn’t have things to pair with a lot of…
One of the benefits of designing and printing your own fabric is that you always have a plentiful supply on hand for those little craft projects that you’ve always been wanting to make. A while ago I bought a pattern from Etsy seller ‘My vintage wish’ for a 1950s tote bag. I liked the look…
Just a quick post to show you all something I made recently. I really liked the idea of having some placemats to match my Melamine coasters so set about sewing some up. I wanted them to be double sided and found a tutorial on Google that looked interesting and that I thought relatively easy. (Famous…
I received the ‘Gertie Sews Vintage Casual‘ book for Christmas and have to say it is fantastic! I spent ages just reading through it and making notes of additional bits and pieces I wanted to buy. I do love to have an excuse to buy new sewing supplies. I quite fancied the idea of sewing one…
This post is long overdue. I actually relined this coat about a year ago, took photos and meant to write a post on it straight away, but as with a lot of things I didn’t find the time. It has sat on my to-do list for the last year but finally here goes. I absolutely…
These are the final 2 garments that I made – well apart form a shirt that I made for my husband in the ‘Modesto’ print. Maybe I’ll be able to persuade him to model it for a couple of photos, but for now I’m happy that I have managed to show the ones that I…
I thought the Coronado fabric was quite suited to a shirt or blouse and I liked the idea of adding one to my wardrobe so I settled on Simplicity 2076 for this garment. I made the sleeveless version. There’s not really too much to say about this pattern, I didn’t realise when I started it…
I am determined to finish showing the garments that I made using my 20th Century Cloth fabrics. It is taking me some time but to speed it up a bit I’m going to try to cover 2 garments in one post. If I keep in the order that I made them the next in line…
Still trying to keep things simple I made another skirt – this time though a circle skirt. I chose Butterick 6167 from my pattern stash, it only has 3 pieces so couldn’t be that difficult! Cutting it out proved to be one of the most difficult parts – although there are only 3 pattern pieces…
The second garment I made was a skirt from the Butterick 9347 pattern. I was still trying to keep things simple (didn’t want to jump into anything too complicated too soon!) and this was basically a wrap-around skirt with a tie waist. As an added bonus it had lovely big pockets too, I love big…
Way back on the 9th October last year I posted on my Facebook page that I’d blog about the garments I made with my 20th Century Cloth fabric. Well 3 months on and here I am, finally! I am struggling with finding time to keep up with the social media side of running a business…
Last month I took part in my first ever online ‘Sew-Along’It was organised by Natasha of www.bygumbygolly.com and Rochelle of www.luckylucille.com To take part we had to choose a decade between the 20s and the 70s, choose a pattern and a cotton fabric – it HAD to be 100% cotton, hence the Fall For Cotton…
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