Pencil Full of Lead

Today is my day off. I have at least a million other things I should be doing (writing about Disney and job hunting spring to mind) but it’s been so long since I did some good and proper sewing… I decided I’d begin a new project. And here it is: an applique pencil case. At first glance it’s possibly one of the most professional looking things I’ve ever made (except perhaps my Union Jack cushion or even the oven gloves I whipped up for my sister).

The pattern I used came from Sew Hip! magazine (Nov 2010, issue 22) and was super easy to follow – 2 rectangular lining pieces, 2 linen pieces, 1 zip and 3 applique pencils. I used bondaweb (for the first time) to do the applique and was surprised by how easy it was! It saves a lot of time being able to literally glue the pieces of fabric together. Saying that, I then went over each picture with several rows of straight stitch to give the pencils that ‘drawn myself’ look.

I used a mixture of pink and floral material for both the lining and the applique to give it that country-cottage feel. The overall result is quite impressive, even if I do say so myself. Oh and if your birthday’s coming up soon then consider yourself very lucky…

Check out my other applique attempts – including birds and flowers – here!

Photoshop Hands-ome

My grandad heard on the grapevine that I had made my sister some oven gloves for university, and so put in an order for a pair right away!

I used the same pattern out of Cath Kidston’s Sew! book (where else?) and found them a lot easier to make second time round. I used a vintage blue floral cotton for the main glove, with batting in between to absorb the heat from the oven. The binding around the edge is cream cotton that I meticulously pressed into long straight pieces and then stitched all the way around on both sides. It took forever, I really should buy some more bias binding at some point. I also put a little hook at the mid-point so he can hang them up when not in use.

On a seperate note – I bought the latest issue of Cross Stitcher magazine (April 2011) this week and can’t wait to make some little monster emblems I spotted. Watch this space!

All You Need Is…Glove?

My little baby sister is starting University at the weekend, so I decided to make something to send her off with. Oven gloves were obviously the first thing that sprung to mind, so that’s what I went with.

The pattern came out of the Cath Kidston Sew! book, and was very simple to follow. The gloves are made up of 2 long pieces of fabric, 2 short pieces for the mitts, and then corresponding pieces in wadding. It’s made up a bit like a fabric sandwich – a layer of floral, a layer of wadding, another layer of floral. I used blue bias binding around the edges (kindly donated by my grandma, and thank goodness for it because I didn’t actual know what bias binding was before now!).

The sewing was simple and just required a long straight line all the way around the edge on both sides. As can be seen by the photo, I had a few issues with catching material in around the curved corners, but it’s not too noticeable. Plus when was the last time you bought anything from a shop that was perfectly made?

The oven gloves are yet to be tested out, but my sister seems very pleased with them. Fab.