Dress by Elaine

Last summer Elaine made herself a top which she decided to revamp into a dress for this summer. 

Here's the dress: 

And here's the top she used as the bodice....

 When she first made it she put a zip up the back - which she removed...

Looks radical!

However the end result is a bit of fun!  :D

So we just need a long hot summer now. . .

ME: Another Year on.....

This time last year I wrote my most viewed blogpost ever.

It was a post about ME & Fibromyalgia Awareness Day and called "So How Does ME affect Me?"

Now, it's that time of year again, and I had hoped to write a follow up post that would link to the theme of sewing - but somehow that never happened.  I became rather involved in a project on another blog:

Basically, I collated links to participating May 12th Awareness blogposts written on the day. The project rather took off, and there are now over 80 links on my

May 12 Blog Bomb Link List

My own two contributions are:

"Why NOT Exercise?" and "Why do I use Wheels?".

Please take a look.  Thank you.

Easter Egg Fun! Naturally Dyed with Red Cabbage!

No sewing today! However I couldn't resist sharing this morning's madness.  Boiled cabbage Easter Eggs!  

Eggs, vinegar and chopped red cabbage.

Boiled hard.

Lifting the egg out part way through and it looks like nothing is happening.  If your eggs were brown at the start, most of the brown will now rub off.

It only rubs off when the egg is wet. Here you can see the paler egg colour beneath.

A rubbed down egg!

The eggs look purple when wet, but they dry to a bluey colour. Daubing more drops of the cabbage water onto the egg as it dries creates interesting patterns.

The result - an assorted pile of interesting egg colours.

Now they just need rolled down a hill somewhere. 

Saturday Sewing.

Kerry called in today and we got the sewing machines out. Here's what she was working on.

And to get in the sewing mood we put "Great British Sewing Bee" on in the background.  (Thanks iplayer.)

I had an idea to make another patchwork jacket using an old fleece as a base.  This time in blues rather than reds.  (Previous post here: Crazy Patchwork Jacket)

The donor fleece was an old work fleece of Tim's.  I cut out zip, cuffs, and pockets.  Then unpicked the underarm seams all the way to create this roughly flat shape.

It was a bit large, so I used my earlier jacket as a template and trimmed away the excess.

With a little help from Finn, I pinned more fleece over the holes left by the pockets.  (Check out what else Finn gets up to here Ability for Agility.)

Patchwork fabrics were mostly blue this time, and sewn on using a zigzag stitch, which is much quicker than the turn-under method I used last time.

Kerry meanwhile was also getting help from Finn.

As she started to lay out the layers of material for her quilt.  This is to be lighter than the last couple she has made, so the inner this time is simply a cheap fleece throw from Ikea.

Then the tiresome job of stitching in the ditch in all directions, with the rest of the quilt rolled up.  

On the jacket, I decided that I wanted a smaller collar than was already on the fleece, so I trimmed it back, and used the trimmed portion as a template to cut a curved piece of denim to fit.

As the collar stands up, the outer edge of the denim needed snips cut in it, and these were hidden under the patch pieces coming up to the neck line.

This is how far I got today.  So far I'm pleased with it.

But both quilt and jacket will have to wait until another day to get completed.

Watch this space!

Saddle Bags for my Scooter!

Next week we're going to Crufts and, as my mobility is pretty rubbish these days, I'm bringing my mobility scooter.

And I thought a few extra stowage places might be useful, cos I really don't want to use the pensioner's wire basket on the front!

Two fabrics.  First a bit of black material salvaged from a "once-used" BBQ cover, from which I made the seat cover.  Then a delightful little piece of doggie fabric that my friend Rosie found, and bought for me, last summer.

Two pockets made, with the black fabric as an inner and the dogs fabric just covering the front.

 Then the two big pockets sewn on to either side of the seat section - and these look way better than a wire basket on the front!

Crufts - Here we come!

Adding a Zip to my Bag

I made this bag last year, and have enjoyed using it.  It has one annoying feature however, and that is that the top, being just a flap, can't be secured.  

So I thought I'd remedy that.  First step - Cut the offending flap in half.

Next stitch the removed end of the flap, to the other side of the bag opening.

And trim away the extra material.

Neaten up the edges with some matching fabric.

Add one zip to the opening.

I prefer it already...

Remember to leave enough zip out either end to let the bag open.  The discarded bits of fabric became the tags for the ends of the zip.

And there it is - a bag that doesn't keep spilling it's guts out every time I set it down!

The bag was originally made from an old pair comfortable cotton work trousers.  Check out my post here from last year.