More Fabric Baskets

I made these smaller ones this afternoon, finished them off by blanket stitching the lining and outside together around the top edge as I thought I would have trouble sewing them together on the machine.  I will definitely be making up some more of these.

Sewing Baskets

I made these fabric baskets over the last few days, I made 5 altogether.  I have bought some bits and pieces to go in them, just need some better scissors and they will be ready to sell.

The first photos are the empty baskets and the next two are them with the bits in.

Felt Key Rings

The other things I have been making are felt key rings.  I had a lot of felt laying about and lots of ribbon and beads and someone suggested I have a go at making some as they might draw the kids to the stall.  They have been a new challenge as they are quite small to work with and have all been made by hand.

Kiddies Bags

The next things I made for the stall were some little girls bags.  I think I should have made them a bit shorter as they have come out very tall and skinny, probably because I forgot about the bits that would fold back for the gusset down the sides.  They look better when they are opened up as if to use them to carry something but I needed to fold them up to store them.

Dolls Quilt and Pillow Sets

I am keeping my fingers crossed that I might have the chance to have a stall at a craft fair this year.  Just in case it pulls off I have been making up some smaller bits and pieces that might sell.  The first things I made were some doll's quilt and pillow sets.

Coats From My £2 Stash

I have now made 4 coats/jackets from the fabric in my £2 stash.  The first one was just a simple two fronts, back and sleeves with a couple of pockets on the front and a band around the neck/fronts.  I used a cardigan as a pattern for it.  I think I should have made the  band a bit wider at the top for the collar but it looks ok on so will leave it as it is for this one.

The next two were from a frock coat pattern that I bought.  I am quite pleased with them but not sure whether the stretchy fabric suits the jackets as much as a non stretchy one would.  The fabric also makes them a bit heavy but my other half said they look alright.

For this one I used some of the lovely Chinese brocade my other half brought me back from China for the collar and lapels.

The line in the back of this one is the back seam as I haven't lined it.

This is by far my favourite one.  I had an old leather jacket that had scratches on it that I was going to throw out but it fitted ok so I decided to cut it up and use the pieces as a pattern for this coat.   I only cut up half the coat, I made the first cut straight up the centre back and then left one half as it was so I could check how it went back together again.  Then the other pieces I cut as close to the seams as I could and then added a seam allowance to the new pieces.  The coat is lined using some thin, stretchy, shiny fabric I had left over from doing the sofa.

I have also made three pairs of trousers.  One pair is plain black and just straight trousers.  For the other two pairs I used an old pair of jeans as the pattern.  Again I only cut up half the jeans, so cut down the back seam and up to the zip and cut so I had half the zip on each side when finished.  That way I could tell how they went back together again.  For the front I didn't cut the pockets off separate, they were quite easy to cut out from the new fabric as the.y were.  On assembling the new jeans I made the back's up first (there was a sort of yoke at the top of the back) and then added the patch pockets then sewed the back seam.  For the fronts I made the pockets first so they looked the same as the original jean pockets then put the zip in again following how it looked on the original ones, then finished the front seam.  Then I just had to sew the side seams and inner leg seams, put the waistband on and do the hems.

New Fabric Stash

I bought some fabric off a seller on Ebay the other week  My brother-in-law picked them up from the seller for me and we went up to pick them up from my sister's house on Friday.  I was expecting there to be 4 black rubbish sized bags full but found that the bags were more like people sized and there was an extra bag they had given him for free.  We had to jiggle it all about to fit it in the car to get home and I couldn't wait to have a look and see what was in there.


The fabric is all knitted jersey and mainly dark colours.  The pieces are all quite large in size.  I am hoping to make myself some clothes out of it like jackets and trousers.


Here is a photo of some of it piled up on my table.  There is another big pile on the bed which I couldn't fit in the photo as I thought the table legs might give way with the weight of it all, plus there is another bag full under the table which is small cut off pieces.

I have already cut out a long frock coat and a pair of trousers out of one of the pieces and another jacket out of another.  I will publish a photo when I have finished it.  Seeing as I got all this for the princely sum of £2 I am well pleased.