Feeling a bit tired as I have just been typing up a load of ebay listings, which is a very tedious job! Today I sorted out the fabric stash and have a bag of scraps to get rid of and some bigger bits to ebay. I am ebaying some lovely fabric which I really like but I can't see myself ever using!
I have to make room for more fabric of course.
I cycled into Lancaster today (yes in this weather!) to pick up my sofa cover pattern and it STILL hadn't arrived. I did have a good look at the wool coat fabrics in there though as I am going to make a coat! There was some lovely dark purple wool which I quite like, but to be quite honest, I am looking for something a bit more wow, such as bright red or checks. If I am going to go to the effort of making a coat then it has to be a statement piece or I may as well just buy a coat from Asda! (although there are some very nice coats in Asda at the moment, including a bright red one)
The picture shows a piece of fabric I am ebaying, some stretch cotton which is pink on one side, purple on the other...a lovely piece but I just don't wear those colours anymore, so I can't justify keeping it.
Had a successful day today sewing wise. It started off with the Croft Mill fabric catalogue arriving in the post, which is always entertaining reading. I will be sending off for several samples from this issue. Then after a board meeting with QSAND (a local arts group), my mother and I bundled James into the car and set off for Standfast factory shop. On route we stopped at Sainsburys to get cash and so I could nip into Fabrix (a very good fabric shop in Lancaster) where I picked up a couple of patterns in the Simplicity sale (4082, 4171 and another one for sofa covers which wasn't in stock so I will pick it up tomorrow.
At Standfast, you have to cross a very busy road to get from the car park to the shop and normally mum and I dodge the traffic and make a dash for it. But with James in tow we had planned to walk all the way to the pedestrian crossing which felt like miles away as we were itching to see the wonderful fabrics! Luckily though, there was a good gap in the traffic so we were able to not waste any time in getting across the road and into the shop (not that I would ever endanger my son's life for the sake of building my stash of course!).
In Standfast, there was a great selection of contemporary furnishing fabrics in stock. I had to pick up some pieces to match the fabric I had aquired for the sofa covers. Basically, mum had given me 12m of a dull mint coloured ribbed upholstory fabric for the covers that she had bought to use as curtains but never used. It wasn't my colour of choice but because it was such good quality stuff it was too good an offer to pass up. My lounge is a biscuity cream colour with cream curtains so I had to find some cushion fabric that would link everything together. I bought three remnants and half a metre of a lovely butterfly print off the roll. I wanted contemporary florals and I think these fit the bill. I have photographed them against the mint fabric although the flash has made the mint look very bright, it's actually a duller shade but you get the idea. I am still worried that the overall look will be too cold looking as at the moment we have dark red throws so this will be quite a big change! To be honest I have had variations of red, burgundy and purple cushions and throws for years so it's time for a fresh new look!
I also looked at the liberty prints at Standfast and was disappointed to see that the price has gone up to £4.50 a metre! When I first started sewing in 2001 they were £2.50 a metre. Mind you it is still very cheap. I think they have had people snapping it up and selling on ebay as now there is a limit to how much you can buy. I love sewing with Liberty cotton as it feels like silk and is so easy to sew.
Then this evening after putting James to bed I sewed most of a dress out of wine coloured jersey. It's an out of print pattern that I picked up for a quid a couple of years ago. I've been wanting to sew it for a while as it's an unusual, but very simple design and is a bit 80's style. I will tell you more about it and show you some pics when I finish it off tomorrow. Anyway, time to go and do some more surfing before ordering my samples from Croft Mills.
Here is the hat making me look even more stylish than usual (ha!) on a trip to the park with my beautiful son
It's a New Look pattern that I've used before
It's a baker boy style which are in all the shops at the moment. Very easy to sew and can be made from left over scraps. I made mine from black needlecord left over from a skirt, and lined it with a remnant of liberty lawn in a cool retro pattern. I added a velvet ribbon bow to the front. I love it and I will wear it all season! (unless I make another one!) The pic shows the inside of the hat showing the lining.
OK, so this is not quite the first time I have had a blog or online journal...but I'll do my best to keep this one up this time!
My name is Clare Anderson and this is my blog where I will be mainly posting about stuff I make...hence the title "Clare's Stuff".
My main interest is sewing, and I will be posting pics of stuff I've made, and documenting the progress. I have been sewing since 2001, which isn't that long, but long enough to get addicted! I love buying fabric and patterns, and every now and again I go on a sewing binge and sew lots of stuff very quickly, before having a haitus! I have been very busy during the past year bringing up a baby, going back to work, changing jobs and moving house and so sewing has been on the back burner this year, although I sewed a fab cap the other day which has hopefully started me off on another sewing kick again!
