Just a short post today

I haven't got any sewing to share this week as due to a bad start to the year I've not been in the sewing room as much as I would like.
My nan passed on the Sunday before Christmas. On the 10th January we had her funeral plus sorting out all of her items, her flat, etc.
After that one of our dogs got sick and wouldn't eat. She is a Labrador and as most people know they will eat anything and everything. We took her to the vets a few times but they couldn't find anything wrong. We took her again on 15th Jan and told them we wanted her problem investigated. The vets arranged for an ultra sound and said they thought it was a tumour and would need to operate. Whilst doing the op the couldn't find anything but since then during further surgery a tumour was found. As one point we were told she may have to be put to sleep but luckily the type she has is now being treated with chemo. She is doing a bit better but it will be a long road, we have to try to make her eat, give her pain killer tablets.
I have ventured back to the sewing room today for some alterations, hopefully normal service will be resumed soon.

I was going to add a photo of the dog but blogger won't upload it, I will come back and add it tomorrow.

New year, New goals

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and hoping you have a wonderful new year.

A new year for most people is time to think about and make resolutions for the coming year. I don't think this is the right way to approach things you want to do as most resolutions get broken or forgotten about by the end of January. Instead I take the time to think about where and how I want my year to go, from this I then set myself some goals. Some maybe short term goals whilst others are longer term and may even take a few years.
Once I have set my goals I then break them down into manageable targets.

One of my main goals this year is to lose the weight I put on about 2 years ago. I had a hernia which required surgery so wasn't able to exercise. I put on about 2 - 2..5 stone over 3-4 months. Going by the guides for my height I should be around 9-9.5 stone but I will be happy to get back to my previous weight of 10 stone. At the moment I weigh 12 stone 7lbs.
My goal is to be back at this weight by July 2014. To break this into manageable targets I am aiming to lose 4-5lbs per month which works out to 1lb a week. I think this is very do-able. To help me I have used this site to give me pictures of before and after.

I do have other goals, some to do with business, some personal. One is to blog at least once a month in 2014 so here is my 1st post.

Do you make resolutions or goals. What are yours for 2014?

Hemming web

Normally I make sure that I have plenty of time to do any alterations but sometimes things pop up at the last minute. My Grandad had a function to attend last Friday night but left it to the last minute to get himself some trousers (last minute as in Thursday night). He could only get a 32inch leg which meant he then needed to have them taken up. I got home from my day job at about 7pm on Thursday night and my granddad had just got home from buying the trousers. As it was late and I was hungry I decided to use some hemming web as a quick fix just to get him through Friday night, then take them up when I had a bit more time and wouldn't be so rushed.
I will never use hemming web again if I have any choice. I couldn't get the stuff to stick properly in most places round the hem and burnt my hand with the steam.
The good news is that the trouser hems held up for my granddad to wear for the night.

Has anyone else ever used hemming web?
What did you think?
Would you use it again?

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Elastic buttonholes

I was asked to add some elastic to the waist of a pair of exercise trousers. I have never met the person who the trousers belong to (I was asked through a work colleague) so was unsure as to how small the waist needed to go.
The solution I used was to add buttonholes to the elastic. I made sure the elastic was slightly smaller than the original waist for the 1st buttonhole, then spaced the rest of the buttonholes out by about 1/2 inch gaps. Due to the type of elastic I was using I was able to just make slits in the elastic to create the buttonholes. I then added a button to the opposite side of the trousers. The owner of the trousers can now adjust the trousers to how small they need them and then just need to spread out the gathers around the waist.

Trousers pulled tight

Trousers on 1st buttonhole

Button on opposite side

Buttonholes in elastic

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Sewing room re-organizing Machine cabinet

I managed to buy this handmade sewing machine cabinet on EBay. It had been donated and was being sold by someone for charity. It has a removable solid top that reveals a air lift. Sadly my machines do not fit this so I leave the solid top on all the time.

Sewing machine cabinet.

The top is big enough for me to fit both my machines on except when I'm embroidering then one has to be moved. Behind the machines sits my daylight lamp, a mini dummy pin cushion and my sewing box for when I'm sewing on the go.

Sewing box

Daylight lamp and pin cushion

The pincushion was made using this tutorial from Debbie Shore.

As I don't use the air lift the inside cupboard space was being wasted. There was already a piece of wood across the back so I just added two more pieces across the sides (level with the back piece) and then added a shelf. This now holds my embroidery unit and my bobbins box (used Ferrero rocher box). I will also be adding another shelf just below this to hold my thread boxes. The ruler will end up being hung in the side of my bookcase (just need some hooks)

The table also has four drawers down the left. The top one holds my scissors plus machine items (tweezers, tape measures, etc ) the second drawer holds my machine booklets, etc. The third one has some storage boxes made using empty cereal boxes, these hold embroidery stabiliser, etc.

The fourth drawer is currently being used by my dad for his packing materials (he sells his old football programmes on eBay)

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Sewing room re-organizing - After

So it has taken the best part of 2 weeks to sort out my sewing room but finally it is finished and I can get back to actually doing some sewing.
Here it is

View from the doorway

View from just inside the doorway

The cot under the table will be staying. Once the other corner (not shown) is sorted the cot and cutting table will be going there with another junior bed going where the cot is at the moment (these are for when my nieces and nephews stay)

I have made myself a cutting table ( details of which will be in the next blog post)

Cutting Table

Cutting Table in use

As you can see the table is already getting good use. The mannequin at the back is a small one I made myself for quickly trying out ideas with draping. The silver box is for keeping the items I am working on in one place, the laptop is my old one that I have to empty and dispose of. The cardboard will be swapped for fabric once the wadding arrives. I am going to use these instructions here (from bee in my bonnet) to do my board.

I will just post quick pics of the rest with more details to follow


Designing table closed

Designing table open

Bookcase

 I will post further details of each section of my sewing room in future posts so that this one isn't pages long and boring.

Wardrobe storage

So as a little aside to sorting out my sewing room, I have been re-organizing some parts of my bedroom, just to give me a bit more storage. One of the things I wanted to sort was the bottom of my wardrobe, where I store all my shoes, which looked like this;

Bottom of wardrobe shoe storage.

After cutting the top for my cutting table I had some wood left so decided to make myself a shelf for my shoes. It basically consisted of a piece of MDF with four 2x3 legs.
This is what my wardrobe looks like now;

Wardrobe with shelf added.

 It's still not completely perfect but is an improvement on what it was.

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