70's style

I was born in 1969 so consequently spent my formative years in the 70's and I think that the colours of that time have seeped into my brain. I remember my parent's house where I grew up had a bright orange carpet and purple walls plus brown furniture. This seems to have made a lasting impact on my tastes as I was extremely excited by these fabrics (which I've started to make into yet another bag).



The blue is Carnaby Street by Robert Kaufman & the other is Poppy Dot Orange by Erin McMorris.

Of course other things in the 70's were lousy. I grew up in an industrial town in the North of England and it got pretty grim as the industries began to disappear and people began to lose their jobs. And in the 80's it got yet grimmer without even the benefit of funky fabrics.

On the knitting front, last week I blocked a Clapotis that I actually finished mid January. The Claoptis isn't the most interesting pattern to knit, but it's good for knitting groups and on the tube when you need something semi-mindless. I made it in Sea Silk & I'm very pleased with the drapyness and the weight of it.

Another Bag

I decided to have a go at making a bag without using a pattern, so here's what I came up with:

The front (with a pocket)


This is the back


There is also an inside zipped pocket in the lining.

I'm quite pleased with it. It's big enough to hold a book and a sock project plus my tube pass.

I used odds and ends of fabric left over from my Amy Butler bag because I was worried about ruining some of my other fabric. This means I've unintentionally ended up with a matching set:



I didn't put a closure on the top; I had bought a zip but I decided that it wasn't long enough and nearly added some press studs but decided against it. In the end I decided that the bag will hang just under my elbow and so I it ought to be OK without one & I can add one later if necessary.

Amy Butler Sophia Bag

I've finally finished my second Amy Butler bag: Sophia.



I like the shape of the bag with it's 50's feel. However I think that the handles should be longer and the center of the bag (where the zip is fitted) should be narrower so it's easier to carry.



The fabric is from the Joel Dewberry Ginseng collection.



The only modification I made was to omit the cording at the bottom. This was because various people on the sewing pattern review forum gave this advise to avoid having to sew through zillions of layers.

I'm going to use it to hold all of my sewing machine things that don't have a home.



Next time I'm going to design my own bag. I have quite a good idea of what I want and the Amy Butler patterns have given me a good introduction to bag making.


As I'm sure I've mentioned before I love sewing and I love my sewing machine. I especially love the little packets of sewing machine needles. I imagine the design of these needle cases must have been the same for decades.



I'm still figuring out the system of grading of sewing machine needles whereby the numbers are something like (90/14) or (100/16). I understand that the higher the first number the thicker the needle so 100 is good for denim and 70 is good for satin. I think the second number is just another way of expressing the first number. It gets more complicated because the number doesn't relate to the type of end that the needle has, so you could have a 100 ball point needle that wouldn't work on leather. I suppose you just have read what it says on the packet. 'UNIVERSAL' is pretty self-explanatory.

I also love the colours of the threads. When I bought my sewing machine I was lucky enough to get loads and loads of free threads which was almost as good as getting the sewing machine itself!



One more thing. Look at the weird vegetable I got in my vegetable box:


It's called scorzonera and apparently tastes like artichokes and asparagus. I can't wait to give it a try tonight.

Sewing

Now I'm obsessed with sewing which is quite new to me. I'm a big believer of trying not to be intimidated and 'jumping in the deep end'. The two projects below show the good side and bad side of this approach!

My biggest project (and one which I'm very pleased with) has been the Amy Butler Weekender bag. This bag is huge - big enough to store a sewing machine:



I posted a review of the pattern on the pattern review website and I've pasted it in here:

I thought I'd write a review of this pattern because I'm very much a sewing beginner so it might give other beginners an idea of whether or not they want to commit to this pattern (especially since many of the reviews do not recommend this pattern for beginners).

I loved making this bag and was very pleased with the result which did look a lot like the photo on the pattern envelope. Also I've had some very nice comments from friends who were genuinely surprised that I hadn't bought the bag in a shop.

Making the bag took me a long time - much longer than I expected. I spent more than a day just cutting out the pieces because I realised that if I cut them as recommended in the instructions that the various elements to the pattern would not line-up and then it might look pretty messy. I learnt that I might have had an easier job choosing a smaller pattern repeat!

After the cutting out it took me about another 3 full days of hardcore sewing. The most difficult part for me was making the cording and 'crowding' the cording - and just the concept of cording! The zip was very easy and I didn't have too much problem with the thickness of the sewing but I used a substitute of Timtex* (I don't think you can get it in the UK) that was recommended to me (on u-handbag.com) so maybe it was slightly thinner.

*The substitute was - Vilene Craft/Pelmet Sew-in (edit)

One downside was the cost of this project - it worked out to be hugely more expensive than I expected when I bought the pattern. I'd recommend that people price this bag out before starting sewing because it easily cost me> £100.

I followed the instructions exactly. I thought that they were very clear although I had to read through some parts a number of times before getting them. I am a much better sewer now - I learnt a whole heap of techniques and I am now much more confident with my sewing machine as a result. I would recommend this pattern to an enthusiastic beginner who is prepared maybe to do a little research on the internet if they get stuck.


However all has not been successful in my sewing mania. I bought some Kaffe Fassstt prints with the intention to make a quilt from last minute quilted gifts. So here are some of the beautiful original prints:



And I did this to them (which in real life looks even worse):




I've learnt that just because the fabric look nice separately they won't necessarily look nice all together. And although I think unpatterned neutrals are boring - that is sometimes exactly what is needed. I will use up all of that material in different projects but my punishment for my bad taste is having to unpick all of those stitches.

So if you're going to be brave and jump in you have to expect to occasionally get into a bit of trouble!