New iron for the sewing room

Hi everyone

I have never done a review on my blog before but when I purchased my new iron and put a photo on instagram someone asked me to do a review so here it is.

This is only a brief review on what I think of my new iron as I have only had it for about a month and it doesn't get used everyday so I do not feel I can do a thorough review until I have used it a bit more. This iron is for my sewing room only.

When my last iron broke ( or more to the point my mum overfilled it when I lent it to her) I was unsure on what type to get. I would love to own a gravity feed iron system but don't have the room of the money.

I made a list of all the things I require from my iron, steam, dry iron, variable temperatures, water spray, the weight of the iron, auto shut off and a solid base for standing.
I then spent some time researching irons online, both through blogs and shopping sites. I looked at my list and the reviews of various makes.
I felt I needed to test feel the irons for the weight so went to my local supermarket electrical department and spent some time just lifting and holding the irons (I did get some funny looks from other shoppers but hey I needed to hold them all)

I eventually went for the Tefal 4488. It is an ultraglide steam iron. 

It has a variable steam slide control on the top of the handle. A simple turn button to adjust for the type of fabric you are ironing. There are 2 buttons on the top, one for steam and one for water spray.

The pros for this iron are:
anti drip,
auto shut off,
vertical steam,
large easy to fill water tank,
solid base for standing (that you can fill straight from the tap)
Plus it was a reasonable price - I got it on sale for £25.
So far I have used it to iron some linen and some calico and it seems to have handled both easily and with no fuss. It cuts off after about 10 mins of no use which is fine for me.
I haven't had the iron long enough yet to test all its features or to list any pro's and con's apart from my thoughts above. In a few months once I have tested it a bit further I will do an updated review.

Below are some photos of fabric before and after using this iron on it just to show how well it irons

Crease down centre of fabric

centre of fabric after ironing

creases

after ironing

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Repair not replace

I am really bad at buying new clothes for myself, I prefer to either make new items or if I already own something then to repair or refashion it.
I have this cardigan that I managed to somehow rip a right-angle shape into.

Right angle rip in back

I was trying to work out what to do as I knew just sewing the rip up would be ugly, then I found some nice wide satin ribbon and thought I would give it a try to cover the hole.

I first stitched the hole up, then attached the ribbon around the waist covering where I had stitched.

I used straight stitch around the top and bottom of the ribbon. I then decided it looked a bit plain so added some decorative stitching to the centre of the ribbon, this also helped to anchor the ribbon to the cardigan. 

View of the decorative stitching

I used a walking foot when attaching the ribbon to the cardigan due to the nature of 2 different types of fabric working against each other. With the walking foot attached the ribbon went on smoothly.

Using a walking foot to attach the ribbon.

Once the ribbon was attached the rip is hardly visible from the outside of the cardigan.

Repaired cardigan 

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Thread Storage

When I started to sew more regularly and do more embroidery I purchased a bulk set of threads. The set consisted of around 70 colours plus 5 black and 5 white spools of thread. To begin with I left them in their original boxes. This was fine to start but eventually  I got fed up of trying to find the correct box for the colour I wanted so I came up with my own storage solution for them.
I needed the storage to be solid enough to hold the threads but also be portable in case I needed to move it.
Below is the instructions on how to make your own storage.

First step is to find an old cardboard box that is suitable for you storage needs ( I required 2 boxes and they are both now full)

I then covered the boxes with sticky backed vinyl. I'm lucky that I got both the boxes and the vinyl from where I work.

Measure your threads to see how wide they are. You also need to know the height of your threads and length of your box. Example my thread is 5.5cms high and 4cms wide. Box is 26cms long.
Double the width measurement so that you will have cardboard under the threads, add these measurements together by the length of the box.
I also added an extra 2cms to join to the adjacent divider and made the height just under the thread height. So my final measurement was 4cms x 3 + 2cms = 14cm's x 26cms long.
Mark this out onto a piece of thin card, marking all the sections.

Cut out the amount of dividers you can get across the box width (mine holds 6 cardboard dividers giving 7 sections)
Fold the cardboard on each of your marked line
Attach double sided tape to one of the middle sections, stick the 2 middle sections together (sections B and C)

Attach the cardboard dividers to the cardboard box using double sided tape, ensuring that the 2cms section is attached to the adjoining divider (section A of one divider will be stuck to section D of the neighbouring divider)
Arrange your threads. I arranged mine by colour.

On the second box I changed the dividers slightly.
I  added more cardboard to attach to the adjacent divider  the final measurement was 16cms x 26cms. I put double sided tape to one of the end sections, attached this to the side of the previous divider. Add more double sided tape to the middle section, stuck this to the section I had just taped.

As a final finishing touch I added a colour chart to the inside lid of the box so I know where each colour sits in the box, this helps when replacing colours but also to find the colour you require.

Decorate the outside of the box if you wish.

I have also started to do the same thing with my bobbins using an old ferrero rocher plastic box. I just need to purchase some more empty bobbins to finish.

Hope these instructions are clear, if you have any questions or suggestions please leave a comment below.

Girls denim dress

As part of my sewing I have always enjoyed upcycling garments to create something completely new. All my friends and relatives now ask if I would like their old items before they discard them, most of the time I just take off any fastenings (zips, buttons, etc) but other times I keep the whole garment, the only problem is that I now have a stash of old garments - especially jeans.

I have decided to start using them up or getting rid of them and started with this little girls dress.

To start I took a top that fit my niece to make a pattern.
I folded the top in half. Note - I didn't fold it on the side seams but at the centre. I then traced round the edges to create the pattern - don't forget to add seam allowance to your pattern.
I then led the jeans out flat. I left all the seams intact as I wanted to use the side seams as centre front and back decorative seams on the dress.
I pinned the pattern onto the legs of the jeans so the side seams became the fold, then cut around the other edges of the pattern. I then repeated this for the back piece.
Once I had cut the pieces out I stitched them together at the side seams. I bound the seams so that they wouldn't rub.
At this stage I done a quick fit check on my niece.
To finish the dress I used some pink & white polka dot bias binding. I applied this in one continuous strip by starting at one underarm and ending back where I had begun.
Buttonholes and large pink floral buttons finished the top opening to make for easy dressing.

This was a fairly quick and easy dress to make - the longest part was applying the bias binding.

Lace and trim storage

As well as fabric I am also starting to get quite a stash of various laces and trims. As the stash has been growing so has my struggle to store it all.
Then I had a light bulb moment whilst shopping for yet more trim. Pulling out various trims on the plastic storage from the shelves I had a picture of how I would be storing all my lace and trim from now on.
 First I measured the shelf it would sit on - both the height and width of the shelf. I then cut a piece of plastic to the size of my shelf, (you can also use cardboard but it would need to be fairly thick to hold the weight and be stable)
 The 2nd step was to cut a 'u' shape out of both sides to create an indent to wrap the lace/trim around.

Mark a 'U' shape in each end

Cut the 'U' shape out

 I use 3m magic tape to stick one end of the lace/trim to the plastic. The length of lace/trim then gets wrapped around on itself until you get to the other end. This is then secured using a 2nd piece of magic tape.

Attach lace to plastic using magic tape

Wrap the length around the plastic

I use the magic tape as it is sticky enough to hold the lace/trim in place but also peels off easily plus you can write on it.

Magic tape to secure.

 I then write a number or letter on the 2nd piece of tape. This corresponds to my fabric log book with the amount I have, the cost and where I purchased it from. I sometime also add when I purchased it so I know how old it is (especially the lace)

My fabric log sheet.

More lace storage.

The last picture is of the first lace storage I made.

How do you store your laces and trims?
     
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Simplicity 7363

I had been searching high street shops for some new summer shorts but had been unable to find anything I liked or that fit ( I am an awkward shape waist to hip ratio)
As summer was upon us earlier than expected I decided to have a look through my pattern stash to see if I had anything I could make myself and came up with one that looked promising.

Pattern used: I used Simplicity 7363 (which includes trouser, shorts, skirt, top and shirt options)

Simplicity 7363

Fabric used: stash busting using some black poly cotton fabric that I have had for about a year.

Size cut: I  cut a size 14 and then altered the pattern to fit.

Pattern Changes I made: Front reduced the crutch seam by 1cm and added
                                      1cm to the side seam.
                                      Back reduced the crutch seam by 1cm and added
                                      1.5cms to the side seam.
                                      Waistband added 5cms to the overall length, done in
                                      the same amounts as above for the front and
                                      back.
The length of the shorts was increased by 4cms as I like to cover my thighs.

I did omit the button holes as I didn't add the drawstring just elastic all the way around the waist. I left a gap in the waistband which I hand stitched once the elastic was in place.

Time taken: I made a toile (mock up) of the shorts first to get the fit correct. I then made a new pattern from the toile before cutting into my main fabric. The toile took a few days to complete as it isn't easy to fit on yourself.
Once the changes had been transferred to a new pattern I made the shorts in about 6 hours from start to finish.

I like the outcome of this pattern and the instructions were easy to follow. The fit of the shorts is still not perfect but it is ok enough for me to wear them. I like that they have deep pockets so you don't have to constantly worry about losing items from them.

Sorry forgot to add the finished picture

The finished shorts

Me trying to pose

I apologise for the multi coloured legs, my work shorts are longer and caught the sun wearing them. At least they match the colour on the back of my legs :)

Back view

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