They have been cut out and ready to sew for far too long - think the sparkly stretchy material was putting me off, but it wasn't too bad to sew up after all and is a bit festive :-)
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Morsbags
The arrival of the Morsbags winter newsletter spurred me into action and I whizzed up these two Morsbags this avo:
They have been cut out and ready to sew for far too long - think the sparkly stretchy material was putting me off, but it wasn't too bad to sew up after all and is a bit festive :-)
They have been cut out and ready to sew for far too long - think the sparkly stretchy material was putting me off, but it wasn't too bad to sew up after all and is a bit festive :-)
Saturday, 10 July 2010
A Brief Foray into the World of Polyester
Well, one of my sewing goals for 2010 was to attempt to make something I could wear and I have achieved that! Well, sort of...I suppose technically I could wear it but M would probably file for divorce if I didn't dehydrate from sweating so much in the night first. Yes, it's a nightie made from some ahem..."vintage" polyester sheets!!
It hasn't been a total waste of time because I have learned a few things:
(a) polyester is not nice to sew. and even not nicer to wear.
(b) I may have erred on the side of caution a little too far with the hemline...
(c) my gathering stitches will be seen so it might be an idea to use a coordinating thread :-P
I may give it another go using cotton...
...or I may just stick to patchwork!
The Village is Growing
In the meantime, I have put together a few more blocks on Waif's houses quilt. I am enjoying this process. Take the house, add a tree, or a star, or some flying geese until it's the right width to fit together with the others. Fun!
It hasn't been a total waste of time because I have learned a few things:
(a) polyester is not nice to sew. and even not nicer to wear.
(b) I may have erred on the side of caution a little too far with the hemline...
(c) my gathering stitches will be seen so it might be an idea to use a coordinating thread :-P
I may give it another go using cotton...
...or I may just stick to patchwork!
The Village is Growing
In the meantime, I have put together a few more blocks on Waif's houses quilt. I am enjoying this process. Take the house, add a tree, or a star, or some flying geese until it's the right width to fit together with the others. Fun!
Sunday, 13 June 2010
A Thrifty Week
Ooh, it's been an exciting week of bargains, charity shop finds and swapping stuff.
First of all I spotted this book for sale in a charity shop:
It has some sweet projects in it (though really not sure about the patchwork shower cap ;-)) and quite an extensive section on English paper piecing, including this picture of an antique English quilt from the 1830s which I could gaze at for hours:
Even better, there was a leaflet inside from The Quiltery (not dated) all about hexagons:
I was quite intrigued that both of these referred to simply backing the hexagon patchwork, rather than actually quilting it.
The second excitement of the week was receiving this fab selection of 2.5inch squares from a scrap swap on Flickr. Thanks Jan! 25 more hexies for the price of a first class stamp!
And thirdly, drumroll please......................................................
I am now (thanks to a lovely lady on Freecycle) the proud owner of a 1940 Singer handcrank sewing machine. 70 years old and she works beautifully. Can't wait to use her for some Morsbagging.
First of all I spotted this book for sale in a charity shop:
It has some sweet projects in it (though really not sure about the patchwork shower cap ;-)) and quite an extensive section on English paper piecing, including this picture of an antique English quilt from the 1830s which I could gaze at for hours:
Even better, there was a leaflet inside from The Quiltery (not dated) all about hexagons:
I was quite intrigued that both of these referred to simply backing the hexagon patchwork, rather than actually quilting it.
The second excitement of the week was receiving this fab selection of 2.5inch squares from a scrap swap on Flickr. Thanks Jan! 25 more hexies for the price of a first class stamp!
And thirdly, drumroll please......................................................
I am now (thanks to a lovely lady on Freecycle) the proud owner of a 1940 Singer handcrank sewing machine. 70 years old and she works beautifully. Can't wait to use her for some Morsbagging.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Warm and Fuzzy Morsbags Feelings
I must admit, I haven't been doing much Morsbagging lately, for a few reasons. Firstly, because I have been so busy with my patchwork/quilting but secondly because I was beginning to feel that I had given one to everyone I could think of, and more than one to some people (!), and that I was too scared to hand them out willynilly on the streets! My experience with Transition King's Lynn of trying to give things away for free (fresh veg in that instance) wasn't altogether a positive one. People are very suspicious of free stuff!!
However, this week, I took a Morsbag in to Sara at Nourish Cafe (a local wholefood cooperative cafe) and she loved it and asked if I could let her have some to give to customers in the shop. First off, she wanted to buy some, but I explained the ethos of Morsbags and the fact that it remained very important that they were given away for free. She suggested putting a poster with them explaining Morsbags and that she would be happy for the cafe to act as a collection point for people to donate their unwanted curtains, sheets etc for future Morsbags. Newly inspired, I set to work and made loads of Morsbags this weekend:
The second warm, fuzzy Morsbagging incident occurred in the local sewing shop. I was buying some blackout curtain lining for Gman's curtains and had a rummage through the remnants while I was there, looking for morsbaggable material. The lady at the counter remembered before that I made bags from the bits and asked me about them - I happened to have a couple with me, which she exclaimed over "they're beautiful!" and "look at these, aren't they wonderful?" to passing customers and other staff. So of course, I had to give her a bag (even though it was one of my personal faves lol) and she was gushingly happy with it :-). I came away with a lovely glowing feeling of having made her day!
Morsbag tally is now up to 88 so think I will have to make a couple more this week, just to get to a nice round 90.
However, this week, I took a Morsbag in to Sara at Nourish Cafe (a local wholefood cooperative cafe) and she loved it and asked if I could let her have some to give to customers in the shop. First off, she wanted to buy some, but I explained the ethos of Morsbags and the fact that it remained very important that they were given away for free. She suggested putting a poster with them explaining Morsbags and that she would be happy for the cafe to act as a collection point for people to donate their unwanted curtains, sheets etc for future Morsbags. Newly inspired, I set to work and made loads of Morsbags this weekend:
The second warm, fuzzy Morsbagging incident occurred in the local sewing shop. I was buying some blackout curtain lining for Gman's curtains and had a rummage through the remnants while I was there, looking for morsbaggable material. The lady at the counter remembered before that I made bags from the bits and asked me about them - I happened to have a couple with me, which she exclaimed over "they're beautiful!" and "look at these, aren't they wonderful?" to passing customers and other staff. So of course, I had to give her a bag (even though it was one of my personal faves lol) and she was gushingly happy with it :-). I came away with a lovely glowing feeling of having made her day!
Morsbag tally is now up to 88 so think I will have to make a couple more this week, just to get to a nice round 90.
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