Sewing To Hide an Eyesore

November 10, 2017 · 4 Comments

Sewing To Hide an Eyesore

You’ve probably seen that meme that says something like, “A clean house is a sign of a broken sewing machine”.

My house is usually a bit of a mess, and my sewing machine works just fine, so perhaps there’s some truth in this! But I don’t believe that it’s all down to having a fully functioning sewing machine. It’s also due to the fact that there are 6 messy people living in quite a small house.

In an effort to get the mess under control, we have had several deliveries from Ikea and I am usually in the middle of a sort out.

One of the recent deliveries included a new shoe rack. 6 people means a lot of shoes, especially in my husband’s case. He seems to have 4 times as many as everybody else, me included!

The old shoe rack had 2 shelves and I was wedging the shoes into it, only to lose them under the piano.

The new one has 4 shelves, so a lot more room, but unfortunately it’s an eyesore.

When hubby put it together and put all the shoes on it, I wanted to cry. It was like we lived at a bowling alley with all the shoes in the shelves. I posted a picture in Instagram if you want to see how bad it was!

Anyway, I don’t like to feel defeated, and this kind of problem is usually solved by a little bit of ingenuity.

So I had a think and a poke around and now the hideous eyesore of shoes looks like this.

Much better!

I used a shelf I found upstairs, bought ages ago but never used, some stick on velcro and a couple of metres of pretty fabric.

This strategy will work for all kinds situations, so if you need to hide an eyesore, this may well work for you!

How to Hide an Eyesore

You Will Need

Fabric (something heavier is best, but you could always line it or use interfacing), a shelf, stick on velcro, paint (optional).

Making the Curtain

1. If you need to paint your shelf, do that first. I used some Annie Sloan chalk paint that I had left over from something else. It dries very quickly and doesn’t smell bad, but it will need waxing.

2. Cut your fabric to the right size. It will need to be wide enough to go around the shelf, plus seam allowance and a bit extra for pleats if you want them, and long enough to cover your eyesore.

You might need to sew several sections together. My fabric became the right size easily when I cut in half then sewed both halves together.

3. Hem the top, bottom and sides.

4. I added some pleats at the corners. You could miss out this stage if you don’t want pleats or don’t have time or enough fabric.

Line up the centre seam with the centre of the long edge of the shelf. Mark where the corners are with pins.

Line the sides up with the centre seam. Using where you’ve already pinned as a guide, pin where the front corners are.

Find the centre of the short edge of the shelf and match it up on the fabric with the midway point at the side between the corners. Using pins, mark the corners. Repeat for the other side.

This fabric between where you marked the corners is the extra you have to make the pleats.

Fold the fabric so that the corner pins are together and the right sides of the fabric are together. Squish the extra fabric flat. Sew the pleat in place. Repeat for the other pleats.

5. Take one piece of the velcro and stick it to the top edge of the curtain. It probably won’t stay stuck down, especially if you wash it, so sew the velcro to the fabric.

6. Stick the other half of the velcro to the edge of the shelf.

7. You’ll need to think about how you’re going to use your shelf. I thought about getting blocks of wood or square brackets and attaching them to the top of the shoe rack, but in the end I didn’t so the shelf is balanced on my trainers!

Easy DIY Tulle Skirt With a Hanky Hem

October 28, 2017 · 2 Comments

DIY Tulle Skirt With a Hanky Hem

I’d been considering making or buying a tulle skirt for a while.

The thing that was putting me off was the idea that I am perhaps a little on the old side to go galumphing through the Norfolk countryside like an overgrown, overweight fairy.

I’ve since decided that life is too short to let what other people might or might not be thinking dictate what you want to do, and if somebody wants to go about dressed in a tulle skirt like an unconvincing ballerina, well, why not?

Nothing gets done in my world withoutl consulting Google first, so I googled wearing a tulle skirt over 40 and found some pictures of people looking amazing. I also found some of people who looked silly, but I’m choosing to ignore those!

So I bought myself some tulle and some elastic and here are the results!

Making the skirt was very similar to making to a circle skirt, except that the pieces are square. It’s gathered a little bit at the waist, then sewn to a piece of waistband elastic.

As the tulle didn’t need hemming, it was very quick to make!

I used 6 layers of tulle. Initially I wasn’t going to line it, but as the tulle was quite fine it was not completely opaque. I’m only ever going to wear it over leggings, but I decided it did need lining after all. I’d already completed the skirt, so I made the lining and just sewed it in under the tulle.

One little thing: make sure that you buy tulle and not dress net! Dress net is stiffer. Tulle is drapey and soft. I’ve seen dress net described as tulle but they’re not the same!

Instructions For Making a Tulle Skirt With a Hanky Hem

You Will Need

Several metres of tulle. I used 4.5 m of tulle that’s 280 cm wide. This gave me 6 pieces roughly 140 cm square. If I was making a circle skirt, this would result in quite a short skirt, but as the bits are square, it was fine.

You’ll also need waistband elastic (enough to go round your middle plus a bit extra), tape measure, calculator (there’s probably a calculator on your phone if you don’t have one), pencil and paper and a needle and thread.

If you want to line it, you’ll need enough fabric to make a square about the same size as the tulle squares. I used anti static lining fabric, but you could use cotton or polycotton.

Working Out the Measurements

As the points of the squares will be quite a lot longer than the straight edges, you can get away with the straight edges being shorter than you’d want the hem of a circle skirt to be.

1. Measure your waist, then around your hips. Jot both of these measurements down.

2. Take your waist measurement and divide it by pi.

If you don’t know what this is, don’t panic!

Pi is the relationship between the distance around the outside edge of a circle (ie your waist) and the distance across the circle passing through the centre. The distance around the circle is about 3 times the distance across it. The actual number is more exact, which is why you need pi, otherwise people would have to remember a number with lots of decimal places.

So divide your waist measurement by pi.

As we only need to know the distance from the edge of the circle to the centre, not all the way across it, divide this answer by 2.

The answer you get here will tell you how far down the fabric to measure when you’re cutting the hole for your waist.

Cutting Out

1. Cut your tulle into squares. The fabric I used was 280 cm wide, so I cut it in half, then into squares. This gave me pieces that were 140 cm x 140 cm.

2. Take one of the squares and fold it into 4. Identify the corner that is the centre of the square. Find the number you got when you divided your hip measurement by pi and then by 2. Measure down from the corner along one side by this much and mark with a pin.

3. Do the same on the other side, then measure all the way across.

4. Cut out the circle. Now you can use this is as a template to cut out the other pieces.

If you want to line your skirt, cut a square of your lining fabric an the same way. You might have to join 2 pieces together to get it the right size, but don’t worry if it’s a bit smaller.

5. Cut a piece of waistband elastic the same as your waist measurement, plus 4 extra cm.

Making Up the Skirt

1. You’ll need some space to do this! Lay out one of the squares flat so that one of the straight edges is facing you.

Take a 2nd square and put it on top of the 1st one, on the wonk, so that the corner is facing you. In other words, you have one piece square, then the second piece diamond.

Layer the squares up in this way, so the odd numbered layers are all square, and the even numbered layers are all on the wonk.

2. Using strong thread or normal sewing thread doubled, hand sew all the layers together around the waist line.

Pull the thread to gather the waist so that it is 5-10 cm larger than your waist. This is to allow for some stretch so you can get the skirt on and off!

3. Mark halfway round the skirt, then mark the quarters. Do the same on the elastic, leaving a couple of extra cm at each end.

4. Now sew the elastic to the skirt. Start a couple of cm from the end of the elastic. As you sew, pull the elastic gently. Try to match where you marked the quarters on the elastic to where you marked them on the waist of the skirt.

5. Fold the ends of the elastic over and sew.

Now your skirt is finished and you can go off galumphing!

How to Sew In an Invisible Zip

September 25, 2017 · 10 Comments

How to Sew In an Invisible Zip

When it comes to sewing, zips are tricky, and knowing how to sew in an invisible zip is especially so.

If you’re sewing something using a pattern, the proper way of attaching the zip is often fiddly and awkward and the results are possible less than perfect.

Or if you’re sewing something that doesn’t need a pattern, like a cushion cover, you might need to sew in an invisible zip, but suddenly realise you have no idea at all how to sew the zip in. Bewilderment and possibly panic ensues, and the project is abandoned.

I know of people who are so put off even by the idea of sewing in an invisible zip that they’ll go to any length to avoid zips altogether!

Thankfully there is an easy way to sew in an invisible zip into a seam. I actually use it to sew in the non invisible kind as well!

How to Sew in a Zip the Easy Way

As is often the case with this kind of thing, the proper way of going about things often not the easiest way. Yet if you do things the easy way, most of the time there’s no obvious difference than if you did it the proper way.

In fact, it may well end up being neater if you did it the easy way because there’s less chance of things going wrong.

This is the method I use when sewing a zip into a dress or a skirt, and it would probably work for sewing a zip into a cushion cover as well.

1. Pin the seams and check the fit. When I’m making a dress like this one (or this one!), I’ll put the zip in the side seam.

2. Sew up the seam where you’d like the zip to go. Press it open.

3. On the wrong side, pin the zip to the seam face down. Check that the teeth of the zip are aligned with the seam.

4. Tack the zip in place. It’s very important that the teeth are lined up with the seam, so keep checking!

5. Sew the zip in place. It’s easiest to do this with a zip foot. They’re not expensive (this is an affiliate link for a universal zip foot on Amazon) and they allow you to get nice and close to the teeth and keep the stitches straight.

It can be tricky to sew past the zip pull, so start a little way down past it. Sew both sides of the zip.

When you check the right side, there should be a neat row of stitches on either side of the seam.

6. Now grab your unpicker! Unpick the part of the seam that is covering the zip to expose the teeth.

7. To sew the top end of the zip, move the zip pull down. Sew the top ends of the zip.

You should have a perfectly sewn in invisible zip!

There will be little threads where you unpicked the seam, but they are easy enough to pull out.

If you find that on the first attempt it goes wonky, don’t worry. Just unpick it and try again. The important thing here is to make sure that the teeth of the zip are lined up with the seam. The other thing is to not unpick the seam until you’ve checked that the stitches are in the right place.

Quilted Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

May 11, 2017 · 10 Comments

Quilted Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

The best thing about having my own little sewing corner is that I can leave my sewing machine out. One of the drawbacks with doing this though is that it gets dusty. Too much dust and fluff in a sewing machine can cause it to stop working. If you leave it out it needs to have a cover.

My sewing machine actually came with a cover, which I have used when I’ve remembered!

Unfortunately it is not very nice. It’s made of some weird grey stuff and I don’t like it.

The answer to being both fussy and forgetful is to make my own! My theory is that if I have a pretty sewing machine cover, I will be more likely to remember to use it.

So far, my theory has proved correct 🙂

The cover is quilted, with an appliqued Scandi style flower on the front and the back. I used a print for the inside, because I like to know that the inside is pretty if even nobody sees it! The bottom edge is finished with bias binding, that I made myself so that it would match the stems of the flowers.

The construction is very simple. It’s basically a rectangle with the sides sewn up and boxed corners.

As I had no intention of carrying the sewing machine around, I didn’t need access to the handle, so there’s no opening for it. You could probably make one if you needed to but this tutorial doesn’t show how to do this. I put a pretty green bow on the top instead.

Here is my quilted sewing machine cover tutorial.

How to Make a Quilted Sewing Machine Cover

You Will Need

1 metre of cotton fabric for the outer,1 metre of cotton fabric for the lining, 1 metre of wadding, scraps of contrasting cotton for the applique, bias binding (or a bias binding tool plus fabric if you want to make your own), a scrap of ribbon for the top.

There might be a fair bit of fabric left over, but half a metre will not quite be enough.

You will also need templates for the appliqued flower. You could either make your own (I have a Pinterest board of inspiration here) or you can download the ones I used for free here.

Cutting Out

You will need to cut out out 2 lots of the flower pieces. If you are using my template, you will need to cut:
4 leaves
2 stems
4 halves of the flower (2 in each colour)
2 circles
2 ovals

For the cover itself, you will need to measure your sewing machine. Measure up the front of the machine, over the top and down the back. This will give you the length. For the width, measure around the bottom and divide it by 2. Don’t forget to add a seam allowance and a few cm extra cm. Some will be lost in the quilting and you also need it to be fairly loose over the sewing machine. I would add probably about 8-10 cm extra in total.

Using these measurements, you will need to cut a rectangle from the outer fabric, lining and wadding.

Sewing Up

1. Arrange the flower pieces onto the ovals and then pin them on. If you don’t want to pin them, you could hold each piece in place with a dab of a glue stick. It might not hold all the pieces in place while you sew, so, you’ll need to stick each piece down and then sew, rather than stick them all down and sew them all at once.

Applique the flowers to the ovals.

2. Position one of the ovals onto the outer so that it is in the centre and 10 cm up from the bottom. Pin it in place, then applique it to the outer.

Do the same with the other oval on the other side of the outer.

3. Pin the outer to the wadding and the interlining (if you’re using it). Using a long ruler or a tape measure and pins, mark the first line of diagonal quilting stitches.

If you’re worried about getting the angle right, take a square of paper and fold it in half diagonally. Line the edge of the square up with the bottom of the fabric. Where the folded diagonal edge is, you will need to pin your line for sewing.

4. Sew the first line of quilting stitches using a long, straight stitch.

5. To work out where the rest of the lines of quilting will need to go, use the first line as a guide. Measure 4 cm away from it, and 4 cm on the other side. Sew them, then measure the next line.

Keep going like this until you have completed the quilting in this direction. Don’t forget to turn your fabric each time!

6. Make the lines of quilting in the other direction in the same way.

7. When you have completed the quilting, trim your outer so that the fabric and the wadding are the same size and the whole thing is a neat rectangle.

Check it against your lining piece. You might need to trim the lining down so that it is the same size.

8. Take your outer piece and with the wrong sides together, fold it in half widthways. Pin, then sew up the sides.

9. Squash the corners flat so that the side seams are next to the fold at the top. Measure 8 cm up from the corner and pin. Sew across the corner, then cut the corner off.

10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 with the lining.

11. Pop the lining inside the outer so that the wrong sides are together. Pin.

12. If you’re making your own bias binding you will need to do that now. There’s a tutorial here if you need one. Sew the bias binding to the bottom edge, taking care to enclose the raw edges on both sides. More detailed instructions for doing this can be found here.

Make a bow and sew it to the top. Now you have a sewing machine cover your machine can stay dust free!

Linking up here.

Easy Plastic Bag Storage Tutorial

April 28, 2017 · 11 Comments

Easy Plastic Bag Storage Tutorial

One of my tasks for this week was to venture into the black hole that is the utility room and declare war on the mess. I battled with the mess in the autumn and won 🙂 but unfortunately the utility room has been a dumping ground for stuff that we don’t know what else to do with for so long that six months on it is a mess again.

I’ve seen so many beautiful laundry rooms on Pinterest I’m determined to make ours if not beautiful then at least less manky.

In the last War of the Utility Room I did not tackle the bags of stuff that were hanging on the back of the door. My main objective was to clear it up enough to be able to admit a man who could fix the boiler, so this was a job that was overdue!

Most of the mess was carrier bags. Some of them had stuff in them. Most of the stuff was rubbish. So stuff that was rubbish went in the bin, stuff that was not rubbish went away, leaving me with a pile of plastic bags.

Now I know it would be a good thing to go bag free. Apparently turtles mistake them for jelly fish and they take forever to biodegrade. However I do actually use plastic bags a lot: for nappies, for rubbish, for clearing up cat sick, for putting clothes in that have been weed on/ pooed on/ sicked on/ are wet/ are filthy, as a dry patch on a wet bench, for wellies, for shoes, even for shopping sometimes.

The plastic bags were living in another plastic bag, but this had spread to a couple of other plastic bags, a rucksack and the floor. Needless to say none of the beautiful laundry rooms on Pinterest had plastic bags on the floor.

So I’ve made a pretty plastic bag storage bag from a couple of fat quarters I had lurking upstairs in my fabric hoard. Here’s the tutorial if you want to make one yourself!

How to Make a Plastic Bag Storage Bag

You Will Need

Some fabric (2 fat quarters or half a metre is enough), 40 cm elastic, safety pin, usual sewing supplies.

Cutting Out

For the main part of the storage bag, cut a rectangle approximately 64 cm x 56 cm. If you’re using 2 different fabrics, join them together to make them the right size. I used one piece 45 cm x 56 cm and a second piece 21 cm x 56 cm, then joined them along the longer edges.

For the handle, cut a strip 56 cm x 12 cm.

Sewing Up

1. Fold the strip in half lengthways.

2. Fold the raw edges into the middle, then fold it in half again so that the raw edges are enclosed.

3. Sew along the open edge. To keep things symmetrical, you might like to sew along the other edge too.

Put the handle to one side.

4. Fold the large rectangle in half so that the long edges are together. Pin, then sew.

5. Take one of the ends and fold the raw edge over about a cm. Fold it over again and pin it in place. How much you fold over depends on the width of your elastic, so make sure it is wide enough, plus a bit extra.6. Sew along the lower edge, keeping close to the fold. Stop sewing about 2 cm short of where you started so that you have a gap for threading the elastic.

Repeat with the other end.

7. Take the handle and pin it to the casing. Sew it in place over where you sewed the casing, and also at the top of the casing, close to the folded edge. 8. Pin, then sew the other end of the handle to the opposite side of the storage bag.

It’s probably a good idea to sew over the handle end a few times. Although bags are not heavy, people might pull on it while they’re getting bags in and out.

9. Cut the elastic in 2 20 cm lengths. Using a safety pin, thread one piece of elastic through the casing at one end. Tie the ends together. Repeat with the other end.

10. Turn your plastic bag storage bag right way out and stuff with plastic bags!

Sewing To Hide an Eyesore

How to Hide an Eyesore

You Will Need

Making the Curtain

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DIY Tulle Skirt With a Hanky Hem

Instructions For Making a Tulle Skirt With a Hanky Hem

You Will Need

Working Out the Measurements

Cutting Out

Making Up the Skirt

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How to Sew In an Invisible Zip

How to Sew in a Zip the Easy Way

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Quilted Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

How to Make a Quilted Sewing Machine Cover

You Will Need

Cutting Out

Sewing Up

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Easy Plastic Bag Storage Tutorial

How to Make a Plastic Bag Storage Bag

You Will Need

Cutting Out

Sewing Up

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