face lift…

Tags

clock, diy, ikea, painting, spray painting, transformation

… I expect most homes in countries where there is an ikea have one of their plain white wall clocks. They aren’t pretty, but they aren’t especially ugly either, and they are really cheap.

… I used to have a wonderful stainless steel clock, but it got dropped once too often in one move too many, and just didn’t have the same style once it was dented. It was discarded somewhere along the line.

… since then I have had this simple white clock hanging on my wall. I suspect it was bought as an interim solution, until I found something I liked better to replace the metal clock. But while it worked I never got round to replacing it.

… I have spent hours on etsy looking at clocks, but while there were a ton of wonderful clocks, nothing ever jumped off the screen and shouted “you need me”…

… the other day perusing design sponge, a sneak peek, my eyes fell on a beautiful yellow clock. I searched for something similar, but couldn’t find anything affordable, or where the shipping wasn’t exhorbitant. I kept thinking about that clock, every time I was in the kitchen I glared at my dull white clock. It just wasn’t cheerful enough for me any more. I needed color!

… then I had a moments inspiration. Why not paint the dull clock? I had bright orange paint left over from painting the legs of my table. Perfect! I carefully taped over the face of the clock, placed it on a piece of cardboard and cleared a patch in the snow on my terrace. I primed then painted and painted and painted over 4 days, bringing the clock inside between paint layers to allow it to dry…

… now I smile every time I check the time.

so that is where I went wrong…

Tags

minoru, pattern, renfrew, revelation, sewaholic, sewing, sewing school

… Wednesday night is sewing school here. Every week a group of friends come round for a few hours of sewing, usually with a break for soup and cheese at some point in the evening. It all started about 6 months ago when a friend asked if I could teach her to sew, another friend decided she wanted to learn too, and a couple more friends decided to come along. We started off with simple A-line skirts, elastic waisted then zip and waist band, and then moved on to dresses, each person choosing their pattern and me guiding them when they need. Since then they have made baby blankets and baby clothes and pyjamas and tunics… it is always a wonderful way to spend an evening.

… but this week no one could make it, so I found myself with an unexpected free evening. I decided to finally have a go at the Renfrew top. I bought the pattern ages ago, and I have a couple of pieces of fabric that I have picked up with it in mind.

… after the trouble I had with sizing the Minoru, I was a bit worried about what size to make, so I measured myself, and remeasured myself, then I measured the pattern pieces, before finally settling on a size. I traced the pattern and cut out the pieces and was laying them out on my fabric when it suddenly occurred to me that maybe the pattern included seam allowances? I read and reread the instructions but it wasn’t really clear, I went on to the Sewaholic website and looked at the photos from sew-alongs from other patterns… and it seemed like the patterns were being cut out without adding any extra.

… the reason for this confusion? For the patterns I generally use, from magazines, you have to add seam allowances, and on the old “packet” patterns I have from my mother’s collection the seam allowance is drawn onto the pattern as a second outline…

… so now I know why the Minoru ended up quite so big – not only did I chose a wrong size, I added 1.5 cm to every seam! I still haven’t decided whether to unpick the coat completely and start again, or whether I might be able to fit it to myself…

… anyway, in the mean time the Renfrew sewed up quickly and really is a nice fit.

quick fix…

Tags

cover, diy, iron, ironing board, sewing, update

… it has been on my to-do list for ages, but somehow I never remembered to buy the fabric, despite coming home with all sorts of unplanned projects every time I even walk past a fabric store…

… it was cheap, ridiculously cheap, and rather nasty… For some reason a friend bought me an ironing board not long after I moved to Belgium, I think I had asked her if she had a spare one when she told me she was clearing out a lot of stuff from her basement. She didn’t, but then one day she turned up at my place with a plastic wrapped ironing board, with 10€ scrawled on the plastic wrap. It wasn’t pretty, but it would do the job, and has done for the past 2 years.

… but not only was the cover swirls of red, and I really don’t like red at all, the cover was too small, so every time you ironed it would slip off. I knew it wasn’t complicated to make a cover, I planned to make a cover… I just needed some suitable fabric.

… finally, another trip to the fabric shop yesterday with another friend – who wanted advice on some future projects – and I remembered to pick up 50cm of brightly patterned heavy duty cotton. This afternoon after finally plucking up the courage and tackling a belt for a friend’s wedding dress, I needed a simple project to decompress. I followed this tutorial for dimensions, but as I didn’t have elastic in the house, I used string, and one of those squeezy toggles.

… what a difference a piece of cheerful fabric makes!

sewing up a (snow) storm…

Tags

fleece, jalie, sewing, summer, top, v-neck

… a few weeks ago I went with a friend to our favourite material shop. I had no plans to buy anything, I had “won” a bunch of material from an expensive shop a few days prior, and I have a bunch of projects on my to do list. Somehow I still managed to come away with 2m of soft fluffy cream fleece and some gaudy Chinese style material!

… a few days earlier I had discovered Jalie patterns, and more specifically their 2682 V-neck top that Aleah from “no time to sew” had made – it was love at first sight. But when I searched for Jalie patterns I couldn’t find a European distributor, and the shipping from Canada to Belgium was more than the cost of the pattern… I thought about it, and thought about it, but I couldn’t bring myself to press the “add to cart” button.

… kindly Jalie have their instructions and schematic diagrams available on their website, and the top didn’t look too complicated, so I took a basic top pattern and added bits and chopped the front in half lengthways and found some sleeves from another pattern, and was pretty sure I had the pattern kind of sussed…

… but I didn’t want to risk making a mess with my wonderful fleece, so I dug into my material box and found some remnants of cotton, from my failed attempt at a quilt. I used the green for the v-neck front, polka dotted turquoise material for the top back and plain turquoise for the rest of the body. I decided to forego the sleeves on this trail…

… and it actually worked out quite well. I have a summer top in case summer ever decides to appear!

… as the snow came back, and temperatures plummeted this past week from a balmy 15ºC to -10ºC. I decided I hadn’t missed the boat for my fleece top, so I made a few adjustments to the pattern, and cut it out. The fleece is gorgeous, so soft, but it sheds like a snow storm, my whole apartment is covered in white fluff, as am I. Even the dog had fluff on him, but as he is white anyway it didn’t really matter.

… because the material shed so much I wasn’t so diligent trying on between steps, so when I did try it on the seam that was supposed to be below my bust was actually at my navel, and the shoulders were half way to my elbows… hmmm – I tried unpicking seams, but that was mission impossible, so I just chopped them off, and made the top slightly more fitted. Overall I am very happy with how it turned out, it is super cosy and very flattering… although the back doesn’t lay perfectly flat.

… I may buy the pattern yet!

sparkle and color…

Tags

carpet, cushions, diy, home, living room, sewing

… when I bought my beautiful orange Moroccan carpet home I decided I should tone down some of the other colors in my living room. For a year I have lived with a sober palette of beige and brown, with just a dash of lime green…

… last autumn at the fabric store, in a dark and dusty corner, I came across a bolt of brown corduroy – with a pink and orange sequinned design – I knew it would be perfect to bring a bit of sparkle to my living room as a cushion cover. I brought home half a metre, whipped up a simple zipped cushion cover and there was some missing sparkle back in my living room!

… last month, accompanying a friend to the fabric shop, with no intention to buy anything, I somehow ended up purchasing a couple of metres of soft fluffy cream fleece… and then, as I was waiting to pay, I spotted some gaudy pink and gold Chinese style material. The magpie in my couldn’t resist the shininess. Fifty cm in my pile, a pink zipper, and now I have 2 bright cushions cheering up the sober browns and beiges.

winter trousers…

Tags

japanese pattern, sewing, snowdrops, trousers, winter

… working my way through the pile of fabric I “won” from fabric shop, my next project was a pair of trousers.

… I am not sure what the material is, I thought it was wool, but I carefully washed a 10×10 cm square, and it came out the washer 10x10cm, so I guess it isn’t wool after all. Phew, I don’t do unwashable clothes willingly. Just to be safe, I threw the whole length of material in the wash. I forget to do this too often. Luckily I have a short thin friend who is happy to receive the countless trousers I have made, that then shrank on the first wash. It happens embarrassingly often!

… I went back to the Japanese pattern I already used for my pyjamas, they fit really well. This time I sewed in the darts, added the invisible zipper. I also added a side pocket. I hate trousers without pockets. I followed the pattern instructions and added belt loops, lined the waist band to ensure a neater edge, and voilà. A super pair of warm winter trousers…

… I know I should be thinking about spring, the snowdrops already made an appearance in the garden, but they were too early this year, and are now under a thick layer of fresh snow!

serial knitter…

Tags

cowl, instructions, knitting, pattern, scarf

… I seem to have an unhealthy obsession with scarves and even more so cowls. I hate to be cold, and there is nothing worse than a draft down the back of the neck.

… last winter I decided to teach myself to knit. I had learnt as a kid but hadn’t touched a pair of knitting needles since, I had forgotten everything, but seeing a friend producing beautiful sweaters and scarves I decided I wanted to learn again. Plus I needed an easy activity for the evenings, to switch off from a crazy job, something that didn’t take up too much time or energy. I love sewing, but so often sewing projects take a lot of time – and commitment – not great for a stolen hour or two between getting home from work late and dog walking and needing to get to bed early to get up early to start another crazy day.

… I chose a pattern, found a local knitting shop, chose my yarn and bought a circular needle, then I hooked up to youtube and video by video learnt to cast on, knit in the round, purl and knit and eventually after how ever many rows, cast off again. It took me a few attempts to get it right, but that is the beauty of knitting, if it goes wrong, if you don’t like it, you can just pull out the needles and unravel (or frog) your work.

… finally I had a finished cowl – and I decided I didn’t actually like that pattern, the cowl was too stiff and chunky for me, so I took it all apart, and loosely based on some other patterns I had seen on the internet I invented a new design using my single circular needle and the same yarn, it took me a couple of attempts, but finally, with a simple design in seed stitch I was much happier.

… once I had a green cowl I liked I decided to try another pattern – I found one I liked on the internet, I trotted back to the wool shop with the instructions, and the saleswoman pointed to which wools were suitable. I chose a light grey, came home and looked at the instructions more closely – wow – this time I needed to cast on provisionally, and would end with the kitchener stitch. The instructions clearly said “this pattern is not for beginners”. Beginner me? I had already knitted 1 cowl (3 times)!

… back to youtube for the provisional stitch, a few rows later I had to learn how to do cables, and a few evenings later I put my youtube video on repeat as I kitchenered my project closed. At work the next day compliments all round as everyone admired my new cowl. And a friend asked me to make her one too… why not!

… and then another friend asked me to make her one too… and that made three.

… then I decided I really should become more adventurous, so I found another pattern online for a tank top, I bought the wool, knitted about half the top and realised I wasn’t going to like it… oh well – I undid it and made myself another cowl.

… when I went to visit a friend in New York she wanted me to organise my trip in advance, but I couldn’t get excited about monuments and museums, couldn’t decide which landmarks I had to see, the only place I knew I had to visit (apart from Grand Central) was Purl Soho, I love their blog, I was dying to explore the shop. We went, I loved it, she waited outside, I bought yarn and needles to make a hat – a 2h hat according to the instructions, it took me the better part of 2 days, but it was worth it!

… an evening on etsy, a couple of vintage patterns purchased for sweaters , a lunch time visit to a craft supplies shop, and I came home with a couple of big balls of bright wool that would be perfect. Several evenings, careful pattern following, and half way through the first pattern I gave up and started making a scarf instead…

… summer came, and with it unemployment, I had more time to sew and less inclination to knit, until the hottest weekend all summer (the only hot weekend all summer). It was 40ºC in the street and I walked past a craft shop with a fabulous display of huge, cosy scarves and cowls in the window, and something compelled me to go into the shop and buy a big ball of wool to make another cowl! A new pattern, a different length, but another cowl! I ended up giving that one away.

… and once that one was made I forgot about knitting for a couple of months, until my eyes fell on another ball of lovely yarn, and I couldn’t resist, and I knitted another variation of my favourite cowl. Different thickness yarn, different sized needles, different number of stitches, but a variation on the same pattern…

… the pattern
Using Rowan big wool and (EU) size 10 needles:
Provisionally cast on 27 stitches
rows 1-4: stocking stitch (knit 1 row, purl the next)
row 5: k3, cable 3 to the back, k9, cable 3 to the front, k3
row 6-10: stocking stitch
row 11: k11, cable 3 to the back, k10
row 12-16: stocking stitch
repeat until your project measures about 60 cm
join the 2 ends using kitchener stitch.
Wear with pride!