Tag Archives: Sewing

Decorative mending tutorial

I’m delighted to have a ‘decorative mending’ tutorial published at From Britain With Love here is a link to it frombritainwithlove.com/easy-visible-mending-with-sequins . From Britain With Love is a blog and directory of ethical UK makers, growers and creatives.

This year two of my favourite cardigans emerged from Winter storage full of moth holes. In years gone by one of them would have been binned but now I see the damage as a creative challenge, thinking of ways to give them a new lease of life.

I disguised the damage with clusters of sequins, and in the process gave them a really unique and personal touch. I was really keen to share this decorative mending idea, because it needs so little sewing knowledge but looks amazing!

Brookmill Park Volunteers waistcoat update

The sample is now made up in a wonderful thick canvas, I had some lovely organic cotton tape (in my stash) which works perfectly for the ties!

The next part of the brief is to draft ‘making instructions’ , so the Brookmill Park group can make their own waistcoats! As I made the sample I photographed all the stages (here are just a few), to help me improve the instruction notes and diagrams I’d made for myself. You can see that the waistcoat is made inside out and turned through a gap in the facing seam on the back, so it’s all ‘self neatening’ and reversible.

Fabric layout calculations day…

Spent all yesterday working out pattern layouts for No4:5, No23, No14:2 on various fabrics with different widths – calculating out how much fabric needed for each apron and the most economic use of fabric. I keep layout sketches on file, for reference when cutting out new aprons.

No14:2 pattern layouts for 210cm wide fabric & 140 wide fabric
No14:2 Potters/Craft Apron Sample. Ochre canvas

Linen scraps bag….

Last summer I made a dress using Merchant & Mills ‘Scandium’ linen, a beautiful neon yellow woven with a natural beige colour. Perfect for sunny days! I still had some leftover pieces of fabric, so last weekend I pieced them together making a stripe feature of the beige selvedge – the straps are made from webbing I use for my market aprons (No12) which is from a UK supplier on Ebay.

….just a few teeny scraps left, to make into lavender bags.

….cardboard, paper & glue

Quite regularly I make batches of game pieces/cards to replace lost ones from the Myatt Garden School Storysacks Library – missing pieces stop play! Some years ago I scanned all the Storysack game pieces, so when they are lost I can print them out on paper, glue them to cardboard and seal with more glue – making new pieces so the games and Storysacks can continue to be used!

Occasionally I need to make replacement clothes for character dolls, this week it was a pair of new pj’s for the lazy farmer in the Farmer Duck Storysack – a few weeks ago a tiny shirt for Nelligan from the Pig in the Pond Storysack. Recently all the dinosaurs were ‘lost’ from ‘Harry & the Bucketful of Dinosaurs Storysack, so I did some scanning (from the storybook) and drawing in Photoshop to make ‘lollystick puppets’, then found some great Harry and the Dinosaurs activities online, improving the educational value of the sack too!