Tiki Table Runner

What better time to dig out some WIP and actually make some *progress* than when your machine is in its death throes? With my poor sewing machine at the menders under a death sentence I felt obliged to get on with a hand sewing project I'd started about 6 months ago.

Tiki Table Runner Applique.

This is my sitting room - getting ever more Tiki by the day.

I have a wonderful oil cloth table cover which I bought here many years ago - I wanted a daintier fabric something or other to alternate with it.

Armed with my Cath Kidston applique book I got for Christmas, I decided to focus on one of the Hibiscus designs from the oil cloth and add a couple of humming birds for good measure.


I bought some fabric scraps from the local haberdasher - nothing fancy - and a run of linen. I was ready.

Then work and life got in the way...




Ho hum.




But hey - now I'm back on track! Last week I painstakingly transferred the pattern to iron down paper and then to the fabric. The fabric pieces were reassembled into the design on my length of linen.

The main pieces have been ironed in place and I'm now in the process of edging the design with tiny stitches (yawn) which is in fact quite speedy once I'm settled on the setee with a good movie.

Once I've stitched most of it place and found some backing fabric, I'll take some good snaps in situ on the table and blog further progress.

The runner will be made up of 3 pieces eventually - a longer central panel and then two smaller end pieces that hang over the table edge. I haven't started work on the end panels yet, but more humming birds will be the order of the day.

The humming birds are essentially tattoo swallows - I'll give them an extra long beak with some embroidery silks, along with some fancy stitching on the leaves and flowers.

I'd like to finish the whole thing off with a couple of tablecloth weights to make the thing hang nicely - which happily means a trip out to some bead shops!

I Made Blueberry Muffins

Which is just an excuse to show off my cake stand which I bought at a Frock Me event in Chelsea a few months ago - isn't it fab?

Fiesta!

Here's a fairly recent acquisition - my lovely Fiesatware jug. It's not particularly old, these pieces are still being made I believe. Those in the know will be able to tell you which Fiesta pieces are vintage and worth holding to by the glaze colour etc.. and which are contemporary.
This piece is such a lovely shape, I buy more flowers since I've had it.

It's Too Darned HOT

Isn't the weather lovely?
I usually go to my dance class in jeans and T - shirt. Have you tried jiving in this heat? I had to come up with a cooler alternative.


I made this little Lindy dress over two days, it's a New Look pattern I've used before and ever so simple.


I must now take this dress off to wash it - it's so comfy I'm wearing it all the time.


Also - I've had a little more success with a reproduction 1940's swing dress pattern that's been in and out of my sewing box for months. The skirt fits perfectly, the top needs a little attention. I will blog it as soon as it's 'come together.'

My day job is easing off a little and I've been so chuffed to get back sewing, until my machine did that poltergeist thing and started sewing all by itself at 100mph. Poor thing - it was my mother's circa 1970's .. it's going to have to visit the sewing machine hospital soon.

Here's a corsage I made for Flib, you can see the delightful claret coloured retro machine..

I Made A Tweety Dress

I want a bright sunny summer. This fabric said it all, bought on a whim the same time I got the bebop fabric - see previous. It's cute in a Looney Tunes way and I'm in love with yellow at the moment.


Wrap dresses aren't usually my thang - I never quite feel secure in them, especially if dancing is on the cards. However, this fabric called for something simple and chic - a shift dress might have made me look like a 7 yr old so I found a simple wrap pattern.


Simple - hah! The actual construction is very easy, what wasn't so easy was getting the dress to fit. I am two different sizes top and bottom - I had to take the bodice off the skirt twice to re-dart, shorten and get the bust line right.


Phew. It was worth it though, and with that work done, I can run up a few more before the summer ends (begins?) and perfect for the South Of France, non?

I Made A Be Bop Skirt

Yo Daddio, what does every mama need to get hep to the jive? Why, a Be Bop Skirt of course.


I've lost count of the number of these swishy skirts I've made, it's such a lovely pattern. I saw the fabric here and knew I just had to have it for a dancing skirt.


I only ordered two meters which is just enough to make it up (not cutting on the bias mind you, which I really aught to). Having cut all four pieces out I found to my horror that I'd laid the back with the fabric pattern upside down .. not such a crime given all the instruments are jostling around  - but the drum kit was upside down.


I decided it didn't really matter too much (a man on a galloping horse wouldn't notice).

I was in such a hurry to finish the skirt before its first outing to a jive party, that my machine practically chewed up the hem on the lining - my needle was blunt but I wasn't about to change it..

I wore this last week to the 100 Club to see Laura B and the Moonlighters - great swinging night!

Bag Tags!

I don't think I have ever forgiven my mother for not allowing me to go to dance classes as a kid like my friend Shirley. As a result I now go dancing every week - Jive and Swing/Lindy.

I decided I needed a bag for my dancing shoes (not a pink one and minus the ballerina). I found this dinky little number on Ebay a few months back.



The bag is just the right size for my shoes, a hand towel (it's sweaty work) and a bottle of water. It was a little plain though and I knew just what embellishments it needed - luggage labels!

It only took a quick search on Etsy to find these wonderfully handcrafted vintage tags from Swallow Song Designs. Just what I'd been thinking of.



Do take a look around Corinne's Etsy store, her tags are beautifully finished, reasonably priced and with the added option of customising the back - a cool touch!
This is the added info I chose...

I Made Cloud Cakes

Actually that's not entirely true.
My youngest daughter made the Cloud Cakes, I whisked meringue and shouted encouragement.
She's bought herself a Cupcake recipe book. So far it's 2 down : 110 to go
MMmmm.

I Made Some Bling

What's a great way to spend a Saturday morning? Making stuff naturally.
I had enrolled on a wire wrapping jewellery course run by the Make Lounge and was eager to get to grips with some wire and beads.
I have wielded a few tools in my time, power tools to boot - in my previous incarnation as a prop maker and this felt a little like 'coming home.'

The day before I had rather cak-handedly tried to alter a skirt that was way too big for me. I took off the waist band, removed the zip, shortened and narrowed then re-assembled. It worked .. sort of, but the finishing was inelegant.

I needed to redeem myself and moving from fiber to hard stuff did the trick.

Flibb came for the ride and produced a wonderful set that I coveted - see it on her blog. I was nothing if predictable in my choice of bubble gum colours and kitsch, but under expert tuition I managed to produce a wearable set of earrings and a charm bracelet.




In the dying moments of my creative burst, before Flibb and I hunted out some much needed lunch, I threw together this elegant pair.

BBrrrr...

Did I ever tell you what the cold snap a few weeks back did to my Pink Flamingos...

I Made Xmas Gifts (er.. a while ago)

Christmas crafting was such a long time ago now!
I made a whole handful of these towel turbans for my girlfriends, each with a different colour sequin flower - a very simple make. Two pieces of toweling stitched together with an elastic loop at the back for securing the towel once your wet hair is fully under control.


I was determined to get some Jeanie B labels made up for the Xmas gift giving season, these came with only days to go before Xmas eve .. just the job.


Santa was very kind to me!
The wonderful Flib bought me this knitting bag from Knittiotherapy.




I worked out eventually it was for socks - it's quite a stumpy little number and my regular knitting needles are too long for it. Now I had to learn to knit socks.

On a crafting outing last month I visited Loop for the first time - a pick and mix knitters paradise, Flib guided me in my sock yarn quest and I cam away with some Jitterbug (how appropriate) and a pack of double pointed needles.


After one sock tutorial - this is how it's going! Can be a bit like grappling with an unruly porcupine at times, but really not as hard as it looks.



I have a bit of a crafting frenzy going on at the minute (just as the day job starts to pick up .. avoidance tactics eh?).
My sister and I both bought each other a Cath Kidston book for Xmas.


We hadn't planned it that way - we just looked at our identical xmas wrapped packages and said "Oh!"
I have great applique plans, watch this space.