So I’m enjoying my new crochet hooks but folks, I like to keep my stuff in pretty things and the thing they came in was not pretty. Plasticky, yes. Pink, yes. Pretty, no.
It’s a little bit nasty. And Boy 4 has broken it. Sounds like an excuse to make something, doesn’t it? I considered making a thing like a crayon roll but I did make some crayon rolls quite recently and I also don’t want to be reminded when I inevitably lose a couple of hooks and I’m left with empty spaces. I also really wanted to use a scrap of fabric that I had left over from my Tardis Bag but there was not even close to being enough to make a roll stylie thing. There was however enough to make an envelope crochet hook holder for my nice new shiny hooks.
I hemmed the short edges then folded it around a crochet hook to make sure it was the right size, then I sewed along the long edges.
Although I remembered to put the top edge of the envelope underneath so that it would be on the top when I turned it the right way out, unfortunately the top was too long and I couldn’t get the top over when the hooks were in it! Thankfully this was easy to fix with my trusty friend Mr Unpicker. I cut a bit off the top edge of the envelope so that it just covered the bottom. Now I can get my crochet hooks in and out, yay!
Crocheted Lace Flowers
I’ve been crocheting for years but it’s only very recently that I bought a set of crochet hooks. Usually I either manage with the hooks I have (I’ve got three) or I have to go into town to visit the craft shop to get one. All I can say is i can’t believe that I’ve managed so long without a complete set! There are 12 of them, from tiny to very chunky. I’ve got plans for the chunkies but it is becoming less and less scarf weather. If I was knitting a scarf I would need to start now to have it finished by the autumn but I find crochet much quicker and I hopefully won’t have need of a nice warm scarf in June.
I have some thread that Husband bought me from either Aldi or Lidl, and as I was looking at my shiny new hooks, i decided to try the tiniest hook with this thread. I don’t really know what the thread is actually for, it’s too thick for ordinary sewing, it’s on a disc thing rather than a spool but it’s not like embroidery floss either. Maybe its purpose is to be used to crochet pretty little lacy things.
I have made some crocheted lace flowers using the pattern that I posted about previously. It 
was a bit fiddly and the first one I made ended up with 7 petals. I’m not sure how that happened! Also energy saving light bulbs might be good for the planet but they’re not great for seeing by, which didn’t help as all the spaces in the tiny flowers were also tiny.
I’m pleased with the results though. I might turn some of them into jewellery or I could sew them onto something, a top or a wristband or something. I’ve also got plans to experiment with edgings. We could end up with quite a lot of frilly stuff!
Quilted Waterproof Kindle Case
I just love to read and, since Husband bought me a kindle for a couple of years ago, I read even more. It is fab. I have also managed to get out of the trashy thriller rut that I had found myself in.
I’m now onto my third kindle. The first one broke after I stepped on it. It turns out that the screens are not so robust. I am a rather chunky human, but I didn’t even nearly put my whole weight on it. Boy 1 has my second kindle as I now have a paperwhite so I can read in the dark, yay!
Unfortunately the paperwhite is a bit bigger than the original kindle so the case I had was too small. Also it seemed best to give the case to boy 1 along with the kindle as it lives in his bed along with his buses.
I realised I needed to make a new a case a couple of weeks ago when we got to church (the Bible on kindle is not nearly so heavy!) and I had to carry my precious book collection across the car park in the rain. Thankfully I had some lovely ripstop fabric left over from my Tardis bag, so I set about making a waterproof cover for it.
How to Make a Quilted Waterproof Kindle Case
ripstop fabric 2 bits 18 cm x 24 cm
Cotton fabric for lining 2 bits 18 cm x 22 cm
Batting 2 bits 18 cm x 22 cm
Extra cotton fabric 2 bits 18 cm x 22 cm. This will go between the batting and the rooftop so it doesn’t matter but it needs to not be visible through the rooftop. I used white cotton.
1 button
About 15 cm of bias binding. You could also use elastic or ribbon.
A seam allowance of 1.5 cm is included in the measurements.
1. Cut your fabric. The measurements I have included are for a Kindle paperwhite. If you are making a case for a gadget of a different size, remember to allow a generous seam allowance because the quilting process might result in bits that are slightly smaller.
2. Layer up the pieces for quilting. Put one piece of batting onto a piece of plain cotton and lay a piece of lining fabric on top of the batting to make a batting sandwich. Pin together.
3. I’m no quilting expert, but this is how I did it! Starting at the top of
one of the short edges and half way along, sew down the sandwich in a straight line using long stitches.
4. Turn it up the other way. This to prevent distorting the fabric and ending up with a thing that looks wonky. 
Line the edge of the presser foot up with the row of stitches you have just completed. Sew another straight line parallel to the first one. Keep going until your batting sandwich has lots of rows of stitching all about a cm apart. Make a second batting sandwich and repeat.
5. Trim the now quilted batting sandwiches so that they are neat. This is to reduce the chances of getting into a muddle, not because I 
am a neat freak! Keep checking with your gadget that the bits are big enough and that you are not cutting too much off.
6. Pin together with lining pieces inside. Sew around three of the edges, leaving one of the short sides open. Check that your gadget fits inside, then trim seams closely. That’s the snuggly, quilted lining completed!
7. Using the lining as a guide, pin or tape your exterior pieces with right sides together. If pinning, be sure to only pin in the seam allowance as the holes will show!
8. Sew around three of the edges leaving the short, top edges open. Check that the lining fits inside snugly, then trim seams and turn right side out.
9. Put the lining inside the ripstop outer. Match up the side seams. Fold the top edge of the outer down over the lining. Fold the raw edge under and sew.
You may have noticed that I did not fold my raw edge under. This is because I got into a muddle. Thankfully ripstop does not fray.
10. Almost there! Sew a button to the front of the case near the top. 
Work out how much bias binding you will need for the loop and attach to the back using a second piece of tape.
11. Put your Kindle in its snuggly waterproof case and wait for an opportunity to take it out in the rain! Just don’t drop it in a puddle and then step on it. 🙂
A Fabric Lined Basket
I find myself in a permanent struggle with mess and grot and junk in my house. I am always having a sort out but most of the time it feels like two steps forward and five steps back. You probably know the kind of thing. I deal with the pile of junk in the kitchen counters but another pile of junk starts to grow on the table. I sort out one bedroom only to find that my boys have trashed another bedroom. It is bad. It’s kind of like giant triffids growing and growing, only its not triffids, it’s boy art and man shirts and wires for stuff only nobody knows what and craft gubbins, bits of Lego, old bus tickets that are apparently not rubbish. Awful. So I decided a little while ago to properly attack the kitchen. The shoe rack was bothering me most so I started there. It was so covered in coats and bags there was no room for shoes! The clue’ s in the name, people! So I bought some coat racks off Ebay and thus began my war on the kitchen.
Fast forward a few months and the piles of clutter that had colonised the top of the fridge, the piano, the dresser, the counters (and behind them and down the side of them) have been sorted out. I’ve painted the dresser, we have somewhere to hang coats and the kitchen is blue. Mostly.
I’m really happy how the dresser turned out! I don’t have any before photos, but perhaps you can imagine a grotty, old pine dresser, knobs missing, weird stains, piles of post all over it. It was the mankiest thing in the universe. Maybe. So I dealt with the mess, painted it, got some new knobs and it’s like a new dresser!
I had previously tried to address the issue of post being dumped on the dresser and we had been using a old cat food box to put it in before sorting it out but I didn’t want to put a nasty old box on my pretty dresser. Fortunately I had a little basket that was just post sized! It had a calico lining already but it wasn’t very nice and as I had some Tilda fabric I decided to make a new lining. I used the original lining as a pattern. The basket handles were an issue. On the original lining the bit where the handles were had not been finished properly, so on my new, pretty lining I made binding for those sections and allowed enough so that it could be tied. I’m very happy with my new fabric lined basket!
I now have plans to pretty up a basket for pegs in the same way!
Boys who Sew
Boys 1 and 2 have been mithering for ages to have a go on my sewing machine. I’d thought that having all boys and no girls meant that I would never be able to sew with my children, but my boys have proved me wrong! Anyway, a few weeks ago we got our act together, decided on a project for each of them and ordered the stuff.
Boy 1 decided to make a cushion,
inspired by one that I had made for their room (and which will be featured in next month’s Sewing World, I can’t wait!). He raided my fabric horde and chose all the bits himself. I helped him cut out the main cushion pieces as my scissors are not very sharp, due to Somebody using them to cut paper <rage!!!>. Boy 1 cut out the other bits himself, pinned them and sewed them on. The cushion has an envelope back, so nice and easy for a first attempt.
Boy 2 wanted to make himself a pair of trousers. We opted for trackie 
style trousers, mainly because, apart from school trousers, they are the only kind he will wear. He chose himself some fabric but when I looked at patterns, I couldn’t believe how expensive they were! As children are an easy shape when it comes to making clothes, I decided that it would be a useful lesson to teach Boy 2 how to make a pattern from clothes that he has already.
We drew around a pair of his trackers, adding a bit extra for a seam allowance. I cut out the pieces and Boy 2 sewed them up. Being trackies and therefore baggy and having an elasticated waist, it doesn’t’t matter that his sewing is not entirely straight.
I’m very happy that I have boys who sew! It’s not that weird surely? Patrick Thingy from the GBSB must have started somewhere, and so must have all the other Savile Row tailors.
They’ve got the bug now and they want to make more things. Next they’re going to make box purse pencil cases and I’ve given them the task of making drawstring bags to contain some of the mess that’s upstairs, so useful too!
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