Category Archives: Scrap Sunday

Scrap Sunday: Small tissue issue

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Small tissue issue means there will be a big tissue issue post too, I just don’t get much time for crafting or blogging these days. It is all about decluttering and phone calls. Speaking of decluttering (I know, I am already getting off the track in line 3), I realised that the best way to declutter is to transform clutter into gifts for dear friends. Imagine, you are giving someone a pot and this person will then always remember you when she or he uses that pot to cook a delicious meal for family and friends (it is a big pot). Or when you give away some precious yarn instead of a knitted item. That way people can remember you not only when they are wearing or using whatever you knitted for them (which would be very time consuming for you) but you are also giving them the pleasure of creating something with their own hands. Of course I wouldn’t recommend giving someone hand dyed silk/merino if that person needs … say… two years for a tiny knitted square.

Anyway, back to Scrap Sunday and the tissue issue.

In my last knitting class, when we were celebrating the most outstanding projects people had finished over the course of a couple of weeks, months or even years, I realised that whilst I had helped many people to fall in love with knitting, I seem to personally have moved on. I rarely find the time to knit and focus much more on the sewing recently (or not so recently). In fact I am slightly jealous of my own students who have progressed so well and achieved so much whilst I am not able – for whatever reason – to stretch myself knittingwise.

So I decided to get started with a new and cool project soon, there is no point now just before moving and in the meantime to knit at least a little something for a friend who has patiently been waiting for a promised birthday gift since…. well, a while.

I came across a pattern for a tissue cozy (I guess a mobile phone would fit too) and made one using some left over pink Rowan Purelife Revive that I had used for a dress for my friend’s daughter and some green Stylecraft Cotton Classique.

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I added a bow because the little girl is always wearing cute hair clips. Well until she looses them.  I am so pleased to finally have used my knitting needles again, I even took the time to put it on ravelry.

 

 

 

 

Scrap Sunday: What I meant to say

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It is Sunday evening and I so wanted to write the weekly Scrap Sunday post. Except that it has been a looong day, party with 6 cakes included and I am tired. Too tired to write a post.

I meant to tell you the good news that my former friend is my friend again. Life is too short to be angry at people who were probably trying to be nice when they actually make you suddenly have to question your (sewing and blogging) existence.

I meant to tell you that my sister in law inspired me with a picture of her latest make – a mobile phone charging bag: A little cute bag where you put your phone during charging so the phone and the cable are safely stored away. She hade made hers out of thick woolen felt. Looks really stylish and grown up.

I would have told you that I experimented with left over fabrics and very heavy interfacing as I do not own any felt. I would probably have made and shown you some pictures of the process, including a change of mind pocketstylewise. And I would have taken some nice pictures of the result. A little bag with a perfectly sized opening to put the plug through. With a pocket big enough to hold your mobile phone and he cable. Neat edges.

But I can’t tell you any of this. Because I went to a party where I ate too much cake and Tiramisu. Now I am tired and this is all I have got:

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Such a shame, it would have been a gread Scrap Sunday project.

 

 

 

Scrap Sunday: No jokes today, sorry

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This was meant to be a really funny post full of anecdotes about a certain person in my life who is slightly, just slightly hypochondriac. But to be honest I don’t feel like making jokes these days. I am shocked and sad about the UK’s EU referendum. So many things went wrong, I don’t even know where to start and yet it is so simple. The European Union is like a marriage, built to make us all stronger for the good times but even more for the bad times. It was far to important to use it for silly power games by short sighted little boys on the playground politicians who are then all shocked by the result and its consequences.

Anyway, this is not the place to discuss this, so lets go back to Scrap Sunday.

I found a nice little project to use up some scrap fabric. A little wallet for your homeopathic remedies. I followed the Globbi freebook by madiGreen on farbenmix.

Unfortunately I followed the instructions too closely as actually my homeopathic remedies seem to come in bigger containers than the ones used in the e-book so the result is a bit tight.

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Plus, when I ironed it flat before top stitching, the iron was a bit too hot for the woven trim and shrank it a little bit which subsequently gathered the fabric a bit. (a lot of bits in that sentence).

Other than that I am very pleased with the result and I find it an extremely useful gift for people who pick up deadly diseases such as rhinopharyngitis like others catch a cold.

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It also reminded me that I should pay more attention to Scrap Sunday and think a bit harder about small projects. So watch this space! (She said boastfully whilst ignoring the fact that The Move was happing in about a month)

 

 

Scrap Sunday: A few Me Made May thoughts and a perfect match

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May is long gone and I still haven’t summed up my Me Made May experience. So lets have a look.

I pledged

To declutter my wardrobe. Which I did.

To wear me made items three times a week. Which I think I mainly did. Sometimes not for the whole day. But you try and live with a little vomitter and don’t get changed 7 times a day.

To create some new me mades. Which I definitely did.

And to make some progress on the perfect breastfeeding top. Which I haven’t really. Except if you are accepting a head full of vague ideas as progress. Oh well, I will just have to continue breastfeeding for a while.

I guess, I did the challenge only half heartedly as I have so many things on my plate these days but it was still a very good and inspiring experience. And I am already looking forward to taking part next year.

I have realised that my wardrobe consists of lots of ill fitting and mismatching items. I still kept those that might fit again one day. Even though it is hard to tell where kilos things will be going.

The mismatching is another problem, probably unsolvable. I have the colour palette of a parrot so it is difficult to match things. I guess i should add some neutral colours to the mix to be able to combine things better. But if you know me, that will be a difficult task. I might just accidentally turn something that started as a navy blue top into a parrot coat again.

I have also realised that I tend to think that me mades are precious and not to be worn at messy times. For the children I might be making casual items but I still have a tiny bit the feeling that they shouldn’t ruin them because mummy made them. So they shouldn’t be wearing them when they play. Or eat. Which is basically what children do. So whilst in my knitting classes I am always preaching of “making and letting go”, I do struggle a tiny bit of following this for my own makes.

For myself it is even worse. I love making dresses. Especially nice dresses. But I am not an everyday dress type of person. I am a jeans and whatever shirt I pulled out of the wardrobe type of person. So I don’t really have occasions to wear nice dresses and if I wear them for the school run I feel uncomfortable and overdressed.

I guess the main lesson learned from Me Made May 16 was to make not only more clothes for myself and the children but to focus on staples and more wearable items. And to take it more seriously in general. The ideal would be to be able to make all the clothes for the family myself, wouldn’t it. Which would also mean to not only look out for those cute and special printed fabrics but some plain colours too. Even I wouldn’t mix a patterned top with a multicoloured even more patterned skirt. I said “wouldn’t” because I have done it in the past. Due to lack of a plain item in the right colour.

Oh, and when I say “all” the clothes, I don’t include things like rain clothes or winter coats,… Not for now at least. But I am actually planning to make trousers. As I am clearly wearing trousers more often than dresses.

One good side effect of that new plan would also be to reduce my stash considerably. It had gone down lately. Until dotsnstripes had a super sale, selling some lovely fabrics for £3 a metre. So I am back to huge piles of fabric. I wish a day had 48 hours.

So this week started pretty well, I cut out a T-Shirt and a dress last weekend and managed to sew both on Monday. Then I thought, I could continue with one piece a day but this was it 🙂 Well, apart from a Pippi Longstocking apron which I will show you in a seperate post.

Both patterns  are from my klimperklein book Naehen mit Jersey Kinderleicht!

For the dress I used some of the fabric that had been in my Advent calendar last december. And what a perfect match for the size I had to use 🙂 (the pattern doesn’t even include seam allowance yet!):

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I love it, it is obviously girly but not the usual boring pinkish stuff.

For the pirate shirt I had plenty of fabric because I had bought that fabric for  a onesie which never happened. So for once I actually looked at the position of the pattern when cutting out rather than just squeezing it into a corner of the fabric to have as little waste as possible and so the motives are spread out evenly.

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I combined it with palm tree green stripes for the sleeves and orange for the neck and sleeves.

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After I had made the sleeve cuffs too tightly, I panicked and the neck binding is now slightly too loose. But I love the combination and have decided to make a similar combo for his brother. I don’t normally like matching children but I guess pirates usually do come in bunches.

Oh, I almost forgot. I also made a pair of shorts out of scraps. The pattern suggested jogging sweat and I had grey or blue. The boy chose blue (believe it or not but I would have preferred the grey) and as I am struggling with plain colours I put lots of other stuff there, like a double layered application. Which is also a good way of using up tiny pieces of scrap 🙂

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I am a teeny weeny bit unsure about the material choice. Obviously a certain thickness is needed for robustness. But then it might get quite warm. Which doesn’t make sense for a pair of shorts. Hmm. I might just try the same pattern with a woven fabric. It will be much cooler and we will see how long it will survive. But that will have to wait a little bit as this week it will be my and mini pirate’s turn.