Simplicity 2603 Cardi Wrap in Cream

I've sewn this Simplicity 2603 Cardi Wrap in cream cotton tshirt fabric for my lovely friend B. I hope she likes it. I have another one cut out in sparkly gold!

VIKING Husqvarna 190 selectronic - worth buying??

Hi, I have seen a VIKING Husqvarna 190 selectronic for sale locally for £45.
It has been PAT tested (tested for electrical safety) and is working.

Would this be a good buy do you think?

Thanks Ruth

SWAP 2016 - in pictures

Here's my SWAP showing the 4 categories
Pod 1 - one colour
Pod 2 - another colour
Combo - combining the colours from Pod 1 and Pod 2
Wildcard pod - a 3rd pod which works with some of the other garments

 And finally a few more outfits

SWAP 2016 more pictures

And unfortunately there must have been dust or something on the camera lens. (Maybe whale blow form the holiday!)

SWAP 2016 First Outfit

Denim slim leg trousers, ivory tee, navy long cardigan.

The outdoor shots seems to be over exposing unfortuantely, may need to try the other camera.

SWAP 2016 Completed Wardrobe

Here are all the completed items shown together

Hanging on the fence

from left to right
PAC 1 is navy, this includes a long navy sweater knit cardigan, a navy drape neck top and denim slim leg trousers
PAC 2 is ivory, this includes a short taupe cardigan, an ivory tee and a long panelled taupe skirt.
The combo items bring in the navy and ivory with an asymetric panelled skirt and a shawl collar jacket in ivory and navy check.
At far right there is the wild card PAC, this introduces a pop of colour with a red knit top and dress plus a denim skirt.
I have lots of necklaces, a scarf containing all the colours and lots of shoes. Hopefully Saturday will give some time to take some modelled photos - weather permitting.

 

and indoors on a rail

SWAP : Taupe cardigan

Using the same cardigan pattern as before (Prima Nov 2010) this time in the shorter length in a lovely silky viscose (rayon) jersey.  As before I've reduced the flare on the front for a straighter look.

The jersey fabirc is a great match for the panelled taupe skirt and I am now removing the cream skirt from the collection.

** Prima is a general women's magazine published in the UK, which if you subscribe comes with a free sewing pattern, often a very simple style, this one has worked very well for me.

Charity Craft Stall - Natural Fabric Bags

Ive taken a selection of my Craft stall items into work this week for my colleagues to have a chance to buy things. A few items have sold so I now have a bit of a headstart for Monday plus some change for customers.

One lovely colleague bought a little drawstring bag (not shown) and then came the next day with fabric pieces for me.
These are bags made from the bottom of some overlong Ikea curtainsshe gave me and twill tape handles. I love the unbleached cotton look and hope they will appeal on Monday.

Charity Craft Stall - drawstring bag

This bag was destined to be a shoe bag but I decided not to sew up the middle to seprate the shoes in case someone would rather have it for lingerie or laundry instead.

A bit more romantic than my personal aesthetic, hopefully someone else will like it.

Charity Craft Stall - Neck cushion and leaf bag

More simple sews for the craft stall.

 a rather small bean bag neck cushion with a pale blue and gold chenille cover

and a very large shopping bag with a leaf print design (I like this a lot and want it for myself!)

SWAP ivory tee

Modified Kirsten Kimono tee in a beautifully drapey ivory jersey.

Hopefully simple, elegant and wearable rather than just boring.
Here's what it looks like with the other things in the wardrobe.

I might swap the cream skirt out if I make another ivory top as its feeling a bit bottom heavy, however this plan would meet the rules as well as my taste.
Once SWAP is over I have all sorts of extension pieces I want to sew to enhance it.

Charity Craft stall - dark floral cushion and some denim shopping bags

I had some of the dark floral left over from the other things and decided it should be a cushion front.

I backed it with some distressed denim, and then used the denim to cut out some more shopping bags. I'm trying not to make too many things the same to give my customers some choice.

After this I switched the thread over to ivory and made a cushion pad for the cushion cover.

I make my cushion covers any size and shape I like and then make the cushion pad to fit myself. The cheapest source for stuffing is to buy new cheap bed pillows and cut them open, reusing the stuffing in a new polycotton inner in the right size for your new cushion cover.

Charity Craft Stall - leather bookmarks

I had some bags of leather scraps bought some time ago. I cut them into strips based on the size of the piece of leather using a rotary cutter, quilting ruler and seal healing board.

The red ones have an embossed texture already so I left those plain, but I used gold acrylic piant and some small rubber stamps (2 stars and a heart) to decorate the plain ones as they seemed a bit boring.
I took these, the fabric bags, earrings and scrunchies into work today and a few colleagues bought some, so I have a start on my change for Monday 2nd.

Charity Craft Stall - fabric shopping bags

I made these on Sunday, 7 more shopping bags to have on my stall on 2nd May.

I already made one of each design, so now I have 9 really nice bags to sell.

Leather bookmarks next, cut from some bags of leather scraps I bought years ago.
I'm going to start with boring rectangles and go from there, I saw some cool leather bookmarks in the shape of a leaf.
 A few of my colleagues have said they would buy the bookmarks before the event, so definitely worth doing as I might get some presales.

Charity craft stall - more earrings

I made another 12 pairs of earrings from my beading supplies, and found a few previously made necklaces too. These will be on my craft stall on 2nd May as well.

I think that is enough on the earrings now, so I'll move on to something practical (which has sold well in the past) - shopping bags.