Am I a fabric magnet???

Really, I am supposed to be de-stashing my fabric mountain

but over the last 3 days I have acquired about another box and a half of fabric, oops!

First my Dad came back from his travels in the far east with some silk I had asked him to get for me. 1 piece of Shantung and 2 Charmeuse for those who are silk aficionado's!

We have been invited to 4 weddings this year and I bought this pattern

Vogue 1296

 to make an outfit to wear to at least one of them. It will be my first time boning a bodice so I will have to make a muslin before I cut the precious silk!

Then we visited the in laws yesterday and I came away with a huge bag

of off cuts of Mother In Law's. She has fabric hoarding 'issues' as well but is dealing with them and this lot was going out! There are a few fab bits including some genuine Levi's chunky cord from the 1980's when they had a factory in Falkirk!

Before I can do anything with any of this fabric though I have to decorate Big E's room! He is sick of sharing little e's pink palace :)

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DIY: old jeans to new skirt

In my rather large suitcase of clothes to refashion I had the top of a pair of jeans I had cut the legs off to make other things. I knew you could make skirts from jeans so after a quick google to check how I thought I should do it would work I got unpicking.

There is no point in me writing out a full how to, no point reinventing the wheel, so here is the best one I could find on the web.

This is what I came up with, a little short but perfect with leggings!

Couldn't get this blasted photo to turn, even though it is the correct way round on my conputer...

Please excuse the terrible last photo, dusty mirror, chaos in the background and if you are really observant you will see the bright pink patchwork carpet in the hall along with some bare floor, oh how much we have to do in this house !

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A hoodie and a very silly mistake...!

Earlier in the week I decided it was time to do some stash busting... My mountain of fabric is screaming to be used so, to use up some of the more bulky fabric (bamboo sweatshirt style material), I thought a hoodie was the way to go. I used the pattern from this fab book.

image from amazon

All was going brilliantly, overlocker was behaving, sewing machine was behaving, fabric was behaving, unfortunately my brain was not functioning 100% (I blame the wee girl who visits our bed at least twice a night to snuggle in, then after 10 mins decides she wants to be taken back to her bed where I then have to sit and rub her legs till she is almost asleep, and of course all this has to be done by me because if daddy goes near her she just screams and wakes her brother......can you tell this annoys me, I hope so!!!).

I was at the zip stage and I had a feeling, you know the one, where you know something is  not right but you can't quite put your finger on what's wrong so you carry on regardless.....

It was only when I came to unzip the top to try it on I realised my mistake......yes I had sewn a dress zip that obviously didn't open on to my hoodie, not clever! But...I loved it so wore it anyway until the proper zip arrived! New zip is now sewn on but the fabric has stretched and the zip is a bit wavy but I can't face unpicking it again so it will have to do for now!

You can sometimes find me linking to these fab linky parties!

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What a week!

Busy busy busy here, what with Grandparent in hospital, school event, and 2 birthday parties, I have hardly had a moment to breathe never mind blog! So, here is a wee peek at what I have been making over the last few weeks...

It was Big E's friends 6th birthday on Friday and I made her an art satchel, the same as the one I made here, from the book Sew Liberated.

She was supposed to get it for her Christmas but the house move meant that that didn't happen! I embellished the front with flowers to break up the orange (which was a table cloth from the Ikea fabric bin in the reject section!) a bit.

I have also made another wooden necklace, this time in red and white with black ribbon. It will be winging it's way to a special friend!

Last but not least, I finished crocheting my small granny square cushion cover.

My hook was too big and the wool kept splitting (it was Debbie Bliss 100% merino as well....) but I like it. I have a real desire to buy some gorgeous coloured cotton and make more but that would not help the de-cluttering exercise going on at the moment!!

Hopefully more to come next week, made myself a hoodie today but put a dress zip in it so it has to come off like a jumper.....will take a picture once I have rectified my rather silly mistake :)

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Love is in the air!

I have been busy making an art satchel for a friends 6 year old's birthday on Friday so, until I get organised and get some photos of that, I thought I would do a wee round up of all the Valentine's inspired crafting I have done, some old some new...!

Last year I made a rose heart wreath (heart shaped cardboard wrapped in muslin with roses made of muslin and red tartan glued on, simple!)

 which might go on the front door this year if the weather improves a bit!

My bell heart I made before Christmas would also make a sweet little Valentine's decoration:

And the latest love heart addition to this house is a teeny tiny glitter heart canvas:

I made this a few days ago as I found a single, lonely, tiny little canvas when sorting my craft room!

Off to take some photos as it is actually sunny!!

Linking to these fab linky parties!

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Pretty Crafty Home

I am taking part in

Basically if you are trying to pretty your home by doing crafty things this is the project for you to be involved in! Since my house is very much a work in progress I am tackling the rooms that are 'done', my craft room being first on the list!

If mess and clutter stresses you look away now.....

Book case stuffed with craft stuff, you should be able to see the floor in front of it....

My desk, not that you can see it...

The first time I have ever had a sewing desk and the room is too messy to use it..

Yes, I have 7 crates of fabric to be used...

Oh the shame, all that stuff, everywhere!!

After a week of part time sorting and a trip to Ikea later I think I am almost there. I still need some thin shelves to store my glitter collection (!) on and I really need to make things to get rid of at least one of  my tower of fabric boxes but it is so much better than it was, ahhhh!

Ikea kitchen storage is perfect for crafty things!

 I made the bunting above the desk with some scrapbook  paper, I am having a bit of an issue getting it to lie flat though!

Not very pretty but totally organised shelving!

What shall I sew first! (maybe something from the to be mended pile that you can see in the right of the photo!)

Must get rid of some boxes....

It has been 2 years since I had my very own craft room so it was nice to be able to put my wee door hanger up again!

Now to beautify it using some of the fabric, my computer chair is going to be the first thing to get a makeover!

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