In the Navy - new look 6106

I have settled on the project to get my sew-jo back, nothing earth shattering or too wild just a nice simple navy skirt New look 6106 view B but knee length.  I brought a vast quantity of this navy cotton fabric for very cheap from My Fabric Place a couple of years ago and this is the last of it.  It is a little bit heavier than a standard dress cotton so I think it will be fine for a summer skirt. I used some of it to make the dress that was the project for the sewing classes I attended last year, I haven't worn this a great deal as the pattern is not one that I would have chosen, however in the interests of making do and mend I will endeavor to wear it during Me Made May 16

New look 6106

I have a lot of navy and white striped tops that I wear with jeans or the light weight navy trousers that I picked up from Next last year so it should slip into my current wardrobe really well.  If I was a more confident sewer I would love to do this with a contrasting mustard, red or even orange thread, but I am aware of my limitations and will be happy to have a wearable skirt at the end of things!

Contrasting threads

I will need to tweak the fit on the pattern as my waistline is hiding under a comfort blanket made up of Christmas and Easter chocolate! so I will need to pick up a larger waist size than hip size and taper down, also I don't want such a pronounced "A" shape so I will need to do some more tapering to achieve this.  Tears, tantrums and triumphs will no doubt follow I will share all of course!


There is a half price sale in the UK on all Simplicity patterns at the moment if you are looking for a bit of inspiration why not have a little poke around.  I love this vintage wrap around dress but after my disastrous encounter with the walk away dress last year I think I will just stick to admiring from afar!

Simplicity 8085

Anyone else got any sewing plans or is your sew-jo still missing?

Me Made May 2016 #MMMAY16

Last year when I was just taking baby steps in my sewing life I was fascinated by the Me Made May campaign that is run buy Zoe, the premise is to wear something that you have made yourself everyday during the month of May.  It is an opportunity for the sewing, knitting, crocheting and crafting family to be proud of our achievements and to go out in the big wide world and proudly show off our talents. Many participants post photos on their blogs and through the usual social media outlets, just search for Me Made May 15 to get an idea of what was happening last year


You make your own pledge that fits with what is achievable for you and post it  in the comments on Zoe's blog, here is mine

 sandra gilbert said...

'I, Sandra from snadralovesblogging.blogspot.co.uk, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '16. I endeavour to wear at least one homemade garment each week for the duration of May 2016'



I don't have a huge amount of homemade clothes so I wanted to aim for something that I knew I could easily accommodate as I felt this was very much about participating. If the weather is good I will wear more as most of my homemades are summer clothes.


Looking back to my blog last year here I was full of enthusiasm for Me Made May and made some very committed sewing plans to go the whole nine yards and have outfits for the full 31 days, how times have changed, I haven't sewn anything this year at all!  There are sparks of life in my sew-jo and this is helping fan the flames a little more, I am planning a new skirt, I just need to narrow down my choice of pattern and pick the fabric.


So is anyone else making a pledge for #MMMAY16 ?

Sew-jo inspiration

My sewing mo-jo has taken a vacation and it feels like it is time to get it back to work so I have dressed my newly painted  mantle piece with a spot of vintage sewing haberdashery to fire up my Sew-jo

Vintage Sylko boxes

Vintage sewing pattern

The Vulcan children's sewing machine

Ladybird book of sewing

Vintage haberdashery

Sew-jo inspiration

 The framed vintage sewing patterns were from this January post Free make 2 I don't know if my sew-jo has returned but I certainly need to organise my vintage haberdashery collection and share a few more pis and pieces on here.

How is your sew-jo? have you got any projects on the go or do you need a bit of sewing inspiration?

Getting the paint brushes out

The paintbrushes have been out and so I can cross a couple more projects off my to do list.

I brought this chalk paint based on the many successful projects I had seen completed on Pinterest, pity I didn't take some time out to read more because I would have realised this was not the best paint for my project!

Hubby picked up this old stereo cabinet from a local charity shop a couple of years ago, It was just the right size to sit by the front door so that we can drop things on that are on the way out the door. It had a glass fronted door which I have removed.

The tin of chalk paint provided just one thin coat and a second coat would have been needed to get it looking anything like, at a cost of almost five pounds I was reluctant to purchase another one.  I had a poke round in the garden shed and found an almost empty tin of chalky white eggshell, perfect for this job, I don't know why I didn't look in there in the first place!

The finish is far from perfect but I am happy with the make over, the baskets were a great find from TKMaxx and are the perfect size for the cabinet, not to mention a handy place to stash my growing pile of scarves.

While poking around the shed I also found a pot of grey whisper gloss paint that I thought would be ideal for the fire surround in the front room, it was always my intention to paint this but I just hadn't taken any action.  You can see from the rust on the top of the tin it had been lurking in there for quite a while.

BEFORE

AFTER

The orange pine has gone and a contemporary cool grey has taken it's place.

Note to self always check what is in the garden shed before dashing off to B&Q!

The eagle eyed amongst you may have already spotted the new finish on my Easter post

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter break, did you get anything crossed off your to do list?

Easter is on the way

While I plan for Christmas all year round Easter is one of those holidays that always seems to creep up on me and catch me unawares.  I have been percolating a few ideas but not all of them came to fruition as my time seems to be just evaporating at the moment.

 You might recognise the tea cup from this winter whites post, I taped a couple of pipe cleaners on the back for ears, the eyes are  two 0's and the nose is two no1's from some glass tape I brought from Cox and Cox a few years ago.

A repurposed jam jar decorated with washi tape filled with daffs, I will be sorry when the season is over, they are one of my favorite flowers.

I put together a few bits and bobs to create a kind of Easter mood board, I will twiddle with this a bit more as I am not completely satisfied yet.

The crocus bulbs are just hanging in there for a final splash of colour and I swear the daffodils were open in front of the camera as I was taking the pictures.

I used a flyer from Lidl as well as cards, napkins and buttons in spring shades all held down with industrial quantities of washi tape,

I hope you enjoy your Easter break and remember that Easter Egg chocolate has no calories :)

What plans do you have for Easter? will you be making anything?

Spring Spring Spring

There was are was a hint of sunshine over the past couple of days and it really felt like Spring was beginning to put in an appearance, this song came to mind. In September I planted up a few pots with flowering bulbs and we have been reward with a lovely show of flowers

I really packed in the bulbs when I was planting up the pots and topped them off with some winter flowering pansies which have survived quite well in the mild winter.  A few bits of ivy from the bottom of the garden has provided a bit foliage interest and I will use them again when the pots get replanted with summer bedding plants.

I picked up this lidless sugar bowl in the charity shop a couple of weeks ago with a plan to put in crocus bulbs next year but on a trip to Morrisons I found a little pot full on the verge of flowering and they are bursting out after just a couple of days.

The nights are still very chilly and the sun was notably absent today when I had pencilled in a couple of outdoor jobs to do, they are now pencilled in for tomorrow!

How is your garden looking?  have you seen any sunshine or are you still in your thermals waiting for spring to put in an appearance?

Friday crafternoon

After my lovely relaxing weekend in Norfolk I seem to have lost my mojo a bit and have been feeling a little bit blergh, disinterested, not with it.. So I thought I would treat myself a little Friday crafternoon and came up with another jam jar tealight holder design that used up a couple more pages from "the book"

recycled jam jars and old book pages

I didn't have a clear idea in my head of what I wanted to do so I just grabbed a couple of jars from my hoard and pulled out the washi tapes and my big tin of stamps, punches etc and started playing around with the stamps on the book pages.

Crafternoon supplies

The tapes never made it out of the storage jars, I was quite happy to convert the stampings into mini bunting

mini bunting

I played around with over printing, using bigger stamps but tearing the design into smaller flags and with the depth of print.

mini bunting T light holders

I had a few issues tying off the string tight enough and had resorted to a dab of sticky tape to hold a couple of the flags in place but this now gives the undulating line making it look more like bunting when it is hung out.

twinkle lights in jam jars

They ended up filled with the twinkle lights from Christmas rather than T lights as they reflect more light back into the room when stood in front of the mirror,


Another no spend make and my mojo is a little less faded.


What are everyone's weekend plans? It is Mothers day on Sunday here in the UK so I expect there will be plenty of pampering and treats around.  My daughter is away this weekend so I have already been treated to a lovely bunch of bright pink Lillies and and some delicious Green and Blacks chocolate.