I'm so 'down with the kids'

Hello there

You may or may not know that I've recently become the very excited owner of a sewing machine/embroidery machine and I've looked at loads of embroidery designs available online. One favourite site is Urban Threads, as their designs are so modern and fresh.

Over the weekend I bought this skull and crossbone design for $2. You buy them in whatever format suits your machine and at the size you want; all sizes and formats are the same price.

It starts off life being inserted into the software and then you set the machine to action. Now this all sounds very easy and it is basically but there are a few essentials which need dealing with. You can re-size letters in the usual select item with the mouse and adjust the box marks around the letter. You cannot do that with images imported in, I found out!

I sewed the 'All Time Low' section without issue and also the star, which I imported for free (gotta love t'internet sometimes). Then came the skull and crossbones which I had made smaller to fit in with the whole design. Boy! You should have heard the racket of the bobbin case jumping up and down like a fool, whilst the poor machine carried on regardless. It normally alerts me if the thread gets trapped or snaps but it didn't bother at all. It was still moving around though and sewing, so I tolerated it for a while but then had to stop as I was concerned about breaking the machine. I left it overnight and then did the larger one in the middle the next day after reading the manual about re-sizing and it said that you have to use a 'design' menu with 'change size' in order to allow the machine to know how to process the stitches. I then made another one, larger, for the other side of the pencil case. Yee hah! No more clanking!

I then had the fun and games of sewing the pencil case together with the zip. I really should do zip stuff more often, as it really irritates me that I seem to have to start from afresh every time I do one. 

I used some Stampin' Up fabric for the lining. The red fabric was just part of my stash, which I had made a pyjama top for Maggie some years ago. I had bought some zips from a sale in a local craft shop about a month ago, which were the perfect size for pencil cases.

It's not perfect but it'll fit her proposed new Sharpie pens, which are all the rage apparently. Back to school in a week, so stationary and school bags are hot topics of conversation. We've had a lovely summer, with lots of days out mixed with relaxing days at home. Let's see what this last week brings us, other than haircuts and piano lesson.

Take care out there

Pencil case

Hello there

This is the pencil case I made for my daughter recently. She picked the materials, which I wasn't certain would be a good mix but they turned out brilliantly.


I'm getting to use the spotty material from my Stampin' Up-
Candy cane Christmas pack. I can't remember which
company made the loveheart material

I got the instructions from issue 13 of Craftseller magazine. Rebecca Tufnell's instructions aren't great, so I asked some further questions about it but I haven't had a reply, so I just carried on making it in my own little way. Once you start thinking for yourself with alot of instructions, it does all come together, as you use your sewing knowledge or basic common sense to make it all work ok.

Cut four pieces of fabric 13 x 22cm. Those are the measurements in the magazine. My zip was slightly bigger, so I adjusted the width.Two are for the outside and two are for the lining.
Along one long edge of each piece, fold over 1cm to the reverse side of fabric.

Along those folds, pin a lining piece and an outer piece of fabric to each side of the zip. The photo shows the right hand section with inner and outer pieces attached to the zip and only the inside piece attached on the left. Make sure that your outer pieces are attached to the correct side of the zip; the side with the zip handle uppermost. Wrong sides of the outer and the inner pieces will be facing.

ready to sew

Sewing

With right sides facing, sew a 1cm seam around the outer pieces around the three open edges. Do the same with the inner pieces, making sure that you leave a wide enough gap in it, to enable you to turn it round the right way. You sew that seam by hand with slip stitch, once it turned the right way.

Finished! I wasn't very happy with the finish, where the zip ends met the edge of the case, as I'm rubbish with zips but it closes ok; I'm just being fussy.
Go on try it; it's fun!

Take care out there