Happy Belated New Year!!!

Vintage New Years Postcard

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

It’s been a busy one! Our parents are still with us until the 7th and we have been showing them around, eating and entertaining. I haven’t done as much blogging as I would have liked to… so this post is my ‘starting’ post for 2015!

2014 was quite a good one for us 🙂 We finished renovating our house in the UK, got married and we are now spending some time in Alabama. AND I have had all the time in the world for crafting and blogging!

Starting A Handmade Christmas

Last year, I pinned many handmade Christmas ideas on Pinterest but didn’t quite have the time to make ANY of them.

Well, that has definitely changed this year!  Over the last couple of weeks, I have finished a few handmade christmas projects. I am very eager to share them with you and hope to show many more over the coming weeks. However, I think we will all have a few post-Christmas posts scheduled to show the gifts that we can’t show before Christmas…just incase any surprises are revealed!

The first project started quite a few weeks ago and has taken me a lot of time of on/off crocheting! These little crochet Christmas sets for Santa & Rudolph are from the Molly Makes Handmade Christmas book.
I am still new to crochet but found these instructions easy to follow, and I’m very pleased with how they have turned out! A couple of these sets have gone to the UK for Christmas presents, and we have kept one too!

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Bags Galore…

I’ve just realised that I have been a  little quiet on the blog over the last week or so.  I’ve actually been overwhelmed with projects, and I have been quite busy trying to get things finished.

A few weeks ago I borrowed Lola Nova’s book from the library.  This isn’t a sponsored post…I’ve included a link for if anyone wants to look at it!  It has some great projects in it and has a bit of a bohemian feel to it.  Lovely photography and fabrics.  I used one of the projects in the book as inspiration for my patchwork bathmat.  There was also a couple of bag projects that I wanted to have a go at.

I needed a bag to take to the library, to hold any books or DVD’s that we are checking out or returning. At the moment, I am using a foldaway bag from H&M.  The pouch for the bag is quite modern and has a geometric print on it.  However, the actual bag is just a thin black polyester.  Adam says that it is ugly and he sighs every time I use it!  The Vagabond bag in the Lola Nova book seems like a perfect bag for library visits.  The only thing that put me off was the bias binding; I declared my hate for it here, but I was prepared to give it another go.

Vagabond bag

Something for me :-)

A lot of my sewing at the moment hasn’t been for me.  I haven’t made a garment for myself since the vintage dresses and the vintage pledge I made back in August!  I bought quite a few vintage patterns to have a go at but unfortunately other projects have taken over and they have been sat in a drawer for a while.  I have decided that I would like to make something for myself once per week.  Last week I made the cute little bag, but it doesn’t really fit into the ‘clothing’ category!

The pattern that I pulled out this week was the Simplicity 8830, published in 1970.  A simple one for the vintage pattern pledge!  The trousers and skirt don’t really appeal to me that much but I liked the look of the floaty v-neck top.  This pattern is a size 12.  According to the measurements on the pattern, I would need a size 16.  However, when I made the last vintage pattern bigger to suit my measurements, it actually turned out to be far too big.  I took a risk with this one and made a straight cut size 12 without any pattern adjusting :-/

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Loosely Linked Halloween Sewing

One of the first items of clothing I made in Alabama were these pyjama shorts for Adam.  Adam chose a ‘Day of the Dead’ themed fabric; I made the shorts and he loves them.  I’m not really sure why we both have such an attraction to Day of the Dead themed things and sugar skulls.  The patterns can be so intricate and I like the fact that something that can be so sombre is made into a celebration.  One day, I would like to travel to Mexico and take part in the celebration, which happens over October 31st and the beginning of November.

Anyway, we found some more fabric that was heavily printed with sugar skulls.  We both loved it even though it was more expensive at $9.99 per yard.  This time Adam requested some long pyjama bottoms and a matching top.  I bought 2.5 yards which just covered the bottoms due to the direction of the print, something that I never really thought about when purchasing.  This means that the shirt will be made at a later date, possibly when I get a coupon for Joann’s.  This is the pattern that I used for these pyjamas.  I didn’t pay full price for it either… I used a coupon!

pattern packet for pyjamas

Cute Bag Pattern Alert!

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With all the beach trips we have been on and the many we have planned, I am always finding myself wanting to take a crafty project with me.  Most recently it has been crochet, but I have also had some hand sewing that would have been nice to complete on the beach with the waves crashing in front of me!  I needed a little bag where I could keep crafty bits separate to sun cream, drinks and towels to avoid any damage.

I came across a pin from Lori over at A Bee in my Bonnet.  Right at the top of her post is a row of these adorable little drawstring bags!  Cute and just perfect for the bag I had in mind; somewhere to put a few little bits, easy to access and covers the contents up from any sand that may be blowing my way.  I headed over to Ayumi at Pink Penguin for the tutorial.

Ayumi suggests using oilcloth for the bag, which would be perfect if I had some…but I didn’t and I wanted to try and use some of the fabric that I already have.

I chose 3 fabrics to use, making the handles the same as the main body fabric, and I made the rim the same as the lining.

Fabrics