Sew,Sew.............

.............a sudden urge to sew something saw me digging out my old and trusty sewing machine the other week but after faffing with the tension, adjusting and re-adjusting, things weren't going to plan so I took myself over to Gumtree and just as a matter of coincidence, a lady not very far from me was selling a machine which sounded just what I was looking for........

......nothing elaborate but enough for me to get by with, affordable and the new-to-me machine even had the added luxury of a few new stitches for me to practice my sewing skills with! The lovely lady who sold it to me had just bought herself a real state-of-the-art sewing machine which was all singing,all dancing and did practically everything except the dishes! I was agog at the price of it too - you could buy a small car with that amount of money!! Anyhoot, once my new-to-me machine was firmly settled into its new surroundings, I dug out some material which I'd acquired at a recent upcycling swap event (you take some of your old crafty stuff and exchange it for 'new-to-you' crafty stuff so no money changes hands).......

 found a pattern that had come free gratis inside a sewing magazine........












and got busy with the scissors.....

....and the iron to get rid of the creases! Do you iron your patterns before you pin them out?

 It's been quite a while since I made anything to wear and the pattern on the material may seem big and blousy to some but I love my new dress, imperfect though it is and the best news is, it fits!......Meredith, I hope you're proud of me!

.......since this pic, I've finished off the neckline with a little edge stitching, unpicked the waistline and fixed the darts on the bodice and the skirt so they match up perfectly now, finished off the hem and given the dress a good ironing! I love the kick-pleat in the back too!Woo hoo!

So, of course, one thing leading to another and itching to put my new machine back to work, I bought some nice polka-dot linen fabric a couple of days later and got busy again........

 ...this time using an old New Look pattern I've had lying around for ages but I had to put extra darts in at the armholes to stop them gaping so much - the scourge of large bosomed ladies! If the tunic looks huge, that's because it is! For comfort, I prefer wearing things a bit looser at the moment but once I start back to work, I hope the extra pounds which I've gained from my enforced 'leisure' period will soon evaporate. That's the theory anyway!

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Another New Look:

So, you know when the Summer gets here and your house maybe starts looking a bit tired and jaded after those long Winter months, what could be better than doing a little D.I.Y.! The bannister in my house was badly in need of a facelift, being one of those '70's pine efforts and therefore long past it's sell-by-date, so I set to work sanding,priming,undercoating and then giving it two topcoats of satinwood (which takes a-a-a-ges to dry, by the way, have you noticed that?) and now it's so thoroughly modern and bright-looking, I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to doing it! Of course, no new look is complete without a couple of new embellishments so I found a rather baroque-looking mirror at my local furniture recycling warehouse but it was painted in a horrible black/brown colour so I gave it the same treatment as the bannister and now it's perfect in its new position on my landing. I also needed a new lampshade and had spotted a friend of a friend was doing workshops on upcycled lampshades so I had a look at what she had to offer but the workshop was rather expensive so I just happened to have some dress* fabric left over so set to glueing it on to the old lampshade with textile glue and hey presto!........... matching dress and lampshade!!....what could be finer?

.......oh, and in between watching paint dry and a spot of gardening in this glorious weather, there's a pile of crocheted circles waiting to be turned into hexagons, my latest craze!!

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What have you been up to this fine weather? 

Would love to hear about it 'cause I love you all!

Have a great week, Everyone.

xxxXXXoooXXXxxx

*the fabric is actually Ikea curtain fabric but hey, no point being fussy when it's for free!