Two Pretty Tops

I bought these fabrics a few weeks ago but hadn't got round to using it yet, so yesterday, as I was between projects, I thought I would have another look at them and see what I could come up with.

I had a look through my wardrobe and found an M&S top that fits me nicely and decided I would use this to get a pattern for my new tops.

I struggled a bit with the fabric as it was very slippery, it is quite fine, I am not sure what it is called but think it might be some kind of georgette or crepe.  It is see through so I would have to wear a camisole or something underneath.  I managed to get it folded over in the end so that I could place my top onto it.  The top was folded in half and I was going to cut the back first.  I cut around the outside leaving plenty of room for seams and a little bit extra as the top I was using is a t-shirt material and the fabric I was using was not as stretchy.  I made the length a little bit longer than the original top.  The top has capped sleeves so I bent these back so I could see where to cut for the armholes.

The front of the top has pleats around the front neck line but I was just going to do gathers instead.  When I folded the top in half the other way round so I could see where to cut the front I had to place it so that the fold was matching the fold of the fabric at the bottom but then as it went upwards the fold moved away from the fold of the fabric.  This is so that the neck would be cut bigger so that I could gather it up.

Next I cut a facing for the front neck, it was just the shape of the front neck hole and about 1 inch wide.  The last thing to cut was the capped sleeves.  I decided to make a pattern on some paper first for these as it would be easier to cut around.   I had the sleeve folded in half and then drew a line around he edge making sure it had a seam allowance.  Then I put the pattern on my folded fabric and cut two out.

The first bit of making up the top was to gather the front neck.  I just run a hand sewn thread across the lower neck bit making sure it was centred.  Then I pinned the facing to the front piece right sides together starting from the shoulders and making my way down to where the gathering was, then I just had to pull the thread so that the front neck fitted the facing.  Then I had to sew around the edge, trim and turn it over.  I pressed it although the fabric I was using was not very good at pressing, and then I sewed a top stitch line all around.  Next I turned over the bottom of the facing all the way round so that it gave me an even width and sewed another line around it to hold it down.

The next thing to do was to sew a small hem around the back neck.  I only double turned the fabric over a tiny bit and sewed it down.  I did the same for the bottoms of the two sleeves as well so they were ready to go.  Next I sewed the two shoulder seams together and zigzagged over the edges.  then I opened out the armhole and pinned the sleeve across.  I found the centre of the sleeve first and pinned this to the seam then I started each end and pinned along both sides.  There was a little bit of fabric left over at the middle so I just gathered this up.  Then I sewed in the sleeves and made good the edges.

Next thing to do was to sew the side seams together.  This was quite straightforward and I zigzagged these too.  Then I just had to check the bottom was even and sew a small hem around the bottom and the tops were made.

I decided to decorate the necks with some beading, nothing elaborate, just a nice finishing touch.

Here are some photos of my finished tops.  The fabric was £2 a metre at the market and I bought 2 metres of each so £4 a top.

The beads I used around this neck are some small plastic flower beads in a blue that matched the fabric.

On this top I sewed some small pearl beads.

Giveaway On Pootle's Blog

Have a look at Pootle's page ( link on the right), she is having a great give away.

Table Runner in Autumn Colours

I made this table runner today for my shop.  I used up some more of the small scraps I had left over.  This time I found some in pretty autumn shades.  I made up some strips using the smaller pieces so they were as wide as I wanted the finished runner to be.  Then I had a look through my box of fabrics and found I had some pretty curtain fabric in a beige that had some embroidery on it in brown and cream.  I cut some of this into the same size strips as the patchwork and sewed them together into pairs.  I also cut out a larger piece to use as a centrepiece.  The runner still would not have been long enough when made up so I looked for some more fabric to use with it.  I found another piece of the cream fabric I used on the last table runner.  It is plain coloured but it has a self stripe to it.  I cut this fabric into a bit wider stripes and then joined the whole thing together and gave it a good press.

I backed the whole thing with some cream coloured poly-cotton then I sewed some pretty beads to the two ends to give them some weight so they hung nicely.

Rebecca's Painting

My youngest daughter Rebecca has done a painting of her and her boyfriend as a present for him.  I think its lovely.

Two Crazy Patchwork Cushions with Buttons and Beads added to shop

I have finished making two of the crazy patchwork style cushions.  They were fun to make and I loved decorating them with some buttons, beads, lace etc and then I added some hand embroidery as well.  The backs of the cushions are just plain fabric.

This is the first one.

And this is the second one.

Baby Boy Play Mat Added To Shop

I made a play mat out of some blue patterned fabrics, using a plain blue in between to make a chequer board effect.  I machine quilted it although I am still not that keen on doing it on the machine.  I much prefer the hand quilting still.

Red Quilt

I have finished making another quilt for my shop.  This one is made from red, black and white patterned fabrics which were all left over from other projects.  I made the quilt up in rectangular blocks, the middle is triangles and squares, then I made some long blocks of squares put on the diagonal and sewed them around the outside of the centre piece.  Then I lengthened the two ends using some more squares but these were placed as squares not diamonds.   The finally to make it a bit wider I added  long wide strip to each side using some Tilda fabric my son gave me.

I used a polyester lightweight wadding and backed it with some poly cotton in a cream colour with a brown and pink pattern.  The binding is just scraps leftover from making the quilt.

I have hand quilted this quilt again as I prefer doing it this way although I might have a go at the machine quilting again on my next project.

Table Runner and Placemats added to my shop

I was with my sister the other day and I asked her if she could think of anything I could make that would be quite quick to make up that I could make using up some of my small scraps of fabric I have left in my scrap basket.  She suggested making table runners or placemats.  I had a sort out and put all the scraps in heaps matching the colours and found I had enough red bits and pieces to make up a table runner and a set of 6 place mats.


For the runner I started by finding some strips that were about the same length and sewing them together to make a new piece of fabric, then added a larger piece to it and some more strips until I had a piece as wide as the runner was going to be.  I had enough to make 6 of these strips up.  Then I found some cream fabric that has a self stripe to it and added that inbetween the strips to give the the thing a bit of length and then I added a larger piece to the centre.  I wasn't happy with the plain cream in the centre so I added a large rectangle of Amy Butler fabric I had left over and it made a nice centre piece.  I backed the whole thing with some cream poly cotton and then added some beads to the ends.

For the placemats I started by cutting up what was left of the Amy Butler fabric into 6 rectangles, then added a border of the cream fabric around the outside and then I got all the rest of the small scraps and sewed them into a long strip and then attached this around the outside of each mat to make another red border.  I finished them off by addding a plain cream backing.

I decided to add the placemats and runner separately to my shop although they do match.

More Saddle Bags Added To My Shop

I have finished the saddle bags for my shop, four altogether.  I am pleased with them, the black ones are a bit more firm in shape than the purple ones.  They are much floppier even though they have the same wadding in the middle.  The velvet feels lovely and soft, you just want to keep stroking it lol.

Shopping Bags Are Finished And Added To My Shop

I finished off making the three shopping bags last night.  I made two of the chequered ones.  I put a zippered pocket in the linings which is quite roomy inside.  With hindsight I should have sewn on the handles as I added the trim as when I stitched them on after you could see the stitching on the outside and I wasn't that happy with it.  I decided to make some fabric yo-yos to cover it up and added some buttons for extra detail.  I couldn't find where I had put the rest of the chequered fabric (still can't find it lol and I had just used it as well to make the handles) so I used some scraps of a cream fabric that has a gold sparkley fleck in it.  The flowery bag has the same fabric for the yo-yos.