A birthday present for Grandad

I always struggle to find presents for my Dad, but this year I did have an idea. My sister and I had bought him an ipad for Christmas, so I decided to make him a bag to carry it around in when he went on holiday or to the cafe.

To make the bag more personal I got my boys to draw a picture each and I transferred the pictures to the bag using free-motion sewing. Unfortunately the boys are going through a Bart Simpson phase so the pictures were not quite what I had envisaged, but that's what they wanted to draw for Grandad, so that's what I used. It's funny how children don't quite see things the same way as we do!

I made the bag from an old diving wetsuit made from very thick neoprene. It is nicely padded, but was a nightmare to sew. I am not happy with the seam finishes but they were the best I could do after several attempts. I decided to put together a tutorial for this as I did work out some tips for sewing with neoprene. So here goes.

I folded the top of the wetsuit with side seams together so I could avoid the zips and joins as much as possible. I then drew around the ipad to get the right size and shape for the bag.

This is what it looked like opened out with holdes cut for the handles.

I used this striped fabric to cover up the wetsuit logo.

I traced the main lines of each drawing on to baking paper (or use tissue paper) placed the paper on to the neoprene fabric and stitched along the lines using appropriately coloured thread.

Needle and thread: I found the best needle to use was a very thin (70-75) ball point needle for knit fabric. All the other needles I tried caused skipped stitches. Poor quality thread also resulted in some skipped stitches, but sometimes you just have to use what you have in the right colour.

Once I had the basic outline (above), I set the machine up for free motion sewing (lowered feed dogs, darning foot) and 'drew' and 'coloured in' the rest of the picture. I love the freedom of this type of sewing. It's really fun to see what appears as your hands move the fabric.

Once the pictures were done on both sides, I used a strip of lycra, 2.5cm wide. to bind the inside of the handles. After several attempts, I found the best result was obtained by stretching the lycra quite taut as it was stitched in place. I also sewed a strip of velcro below each handle to hold the ipad inside.

Next it was time to sew up the sides. I used lycra strips again. This time, I sewed one edge of the lycra approximately 1cm from the edge of the neoprene (on the right side) for the full length of each side from a point level with each handle.

The bag was then folded right sides together and the lycra strip was sewn together close to the neoprene. I used the zipper foot to get as close to the edge as possible.

The sides were sewn this way because the neoprene was too thick to fit two layers under the presser foot. This method avoids sewing the neoprene, only the lycra is sewn. Below, each vertical side seam is lycra sewn to neoprene and the centre seam is lycra to lycra.

Lastly, the top edge of the bag was bound all around with lycra, stretching as it was sewn in place.

It's not perfect, but it has character and Dad loved it (once I'd told him what it was)!

I have done two other projects involving free motion sewing, a cushion cover and some boys pyjamas.

Hair bun using a DIY hair doughnut/donut...and a hip hop concert

I am going to show you how to do this super-easy hair bun. I am the world's worst at doing my own hair, but I did this style in a couple of minutes. I can still hardly believe it! It is all thanks to a 'hair doughnut'.  Now I know I'm not the first to make or use one of these but I couldn't find another tutorial like mine so I thought I'd post it here.

Now, before we go any further, I must apologise for the poor quality of these pictures. That is because they weren't taken for the hair at all, they were just snapped during...wait for it...my first ever hop hip dance performance!!!!!

Yes people, you are never too old to get your funk on in a pair of high top sneakers and I am living proof. I danced with a group of teenagers and I haven't had so much fun for ages. Here we are doing our thang (me at centre front pulling a silly face).

My two gorgeous boys were also performing in the same concert. They were both brilliant. Here we are ready to go:

My only chance to get make-up and hair gel on my children, since I have no daughters!

Speaking of hair, let's get back to the doughnut.

Here is how I made it:

I started with a rectangle of old t-shirt fabric. Use a colour as close as possible to your hair. I have long hair so I made a larger doughnut. My starting rectangle measured 26x12cm.

Fold in half lengthwise and stitch, leaving a couple of centimetres unstitched at each end.

 Turn right side out. Open out the edges, fold rectangle in half left to right (i.e. the two visible unstitched ends together) and pin right sides together. Sew along the whole unfinished edge. Sew slowly, opening out as you go (apologies again for the blurry photo below).

Turn that seam inside and stuff the doughnut. Finish the hole with some handstitching.

That's it.

To wear it, put your hair in a ponytail and secure quite tightly. Put the whole ponytail through the middle of the doughnut. With the doughnut next to your head, lean forwards and arrange your hair all around the doughnut to cover it. Place a hair elastic over the doughnut and next to your head to secure. You will now have some loose ends. Leave sticking out, tuck in, or wrap them around the bun and secure with clips or pins as I have done.

With JJ on stage after the show

This was my hair after a rehearsal and two shows. It stayed perfectly in place! 

Get down in da house!

PS. I am still not using shampoo. It's been over 2 months now. I'll post an update soon.

Knitted summer top to circular scarf refashion tutorial

This is a super-quick little project that creates a cute and cosy little circular or infinity scarf.

Start with a knitted top or cardi. Mine was very loosely knitted, which worked well because it stretched out nicely once it was made.

This top was double-layered, so I opened it out to get one layer.

Then cut just below the arm holes so I got a nice chunk of knit.

Then I used my serger to sew a rolled, lettuce hem to the cut edge (stretch slightly as you sew). I found it worked best if I folded the edge over first (about 1cm) and sewed through both layers, otherwise the sewn edge tended to pull away from the fabric. You could also do this with a close zig-zag if you like.

And that's it. Stretch it out and put it on. Fab!

Wear it double...

...or single.

Love a quick project ♥

You can find this project on the following Link Parties:

 

Shirring problem...and a solution! Shirred, ruffled scarf tutorial

Tomorrow is the birthday of a good friend and I had planned to make her a shirred, ruffled scarf as a present as seen on MADE. I have tried shirring once before with limited success, but I thought it would be OK this time. It wasn't.

With my beloved Bernina 1130 in for repair, I am using my 'emergency Bernina', which is an old 801 Sport. Both these machines have a bobbin case which looks like this:

When I put the shirring elastic inside the bobbin case, it is held tightly by a clip on the outer case and is pulled so tightly that the elastic just breaks when I try to sew with it. I have fiddled and fiddled with this method but can't seem to fix it. I don't know if it just the old machine, but I suspect it is the design of the bobbin case.

So, I came up with another method (and apologies if this is already posted somewhere else, but I haven't seen it anywhere). I used my sewing machine foot with a small hole for a thin cord to pass through. Here it is - you can see the hole right at the bottom in the middle:

CHEAT'S SHIRRING METHOD

1.  Thread the machine as normal with thread to match your fabric
2.  Set the machine to a narrow zig-zag stitch (I used 1.5, with a stitch length of 2)
3.  Thread the shirring elastic through the cord hole (leave 1-2cm elastic hanging out the back to tie off later).
4.  Sew a few stitches close together until the elastic feels secure.
5.  Stretch out the elastic and sew!
6.  At the end of the fabric, leave 1-2cm of elastic to tie off later.

I sewed two lines of elastic close together down the middle of the scarf (see below). At the top and bottom ends of the scarf, I tied the loose ends of elastic together and trimmed them close to the knot.

When it was finished, it looked like this from the front and back (I finished the raw edges of the scarf with a serged rolled hem):

I decided to make a matching card. For this I cut out heart shapes from scraps of fabric, arranged them on a blank card and sewed them on with one line of stitching - how simple is that!?