Pin cushion Caddie - or tidying up my stuff!!

While I was playing about on Instagram I found a lovely picture of a Pin cushion Caddie made by the lovely Vividfelicity you can find a few beautifully made ones on her stream. 

The pattern comes from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me but I needed to make one then and without leaving the house, it was raining and I needed a make to cheer me up. After much searching I found a different but downloadable pattern and fab tutorial from Sewing by Moonlight  and set to work. 

Half made and being a bit of a fiddle. 

The tutorial was great and straightforward to follow however I would make a few changes on my next one, and there will be a few I think. Firstly I decided to fill mine with toy stuffing and would do a bit as I go along as trying to get it all round though one hole was a heck of a struggle. 

Also I found trying to sew the base on while making sure I caught the other pieces of material to stop the stuffing escaping I challenge too so I did it in two parts. I'm really pleased with the results a great way of showing off your favourite scraps of fabric and a useful place to keep your bits while on a project. 

Thanks to sewing by moonlight for the tutorial. 

Happy making 

Claire xx

First dress of 2014- A Colette Peony

Well sewing for myself this year is going well I've managed a couple of makes which I've finished this week including my first Colette Peony dress. 

I've had both the pattern, bought from Backstitch and the fabric from Exeter stitch sew and hobbycraft show at westpoint for an age. 

So a couple of weeks ago I preped my fabric measured myself-properly and off I went. I'm a pretty impatient sewer which I suppose comes from grabbing sewing time. My sewing space has to be in the middle of the house or I would never see it. Anyway I did make a muslin of the bodice and I'm glad I did as I could make all my mistakes on it. 

It was rough and ready but did help me speed up on the real dress. 

So a couple of week later it was ready for a date night with my husband. 

I do love the fit and am surprised that everything is in the right places. I did find the sleeves a bit tricky and just had to go with it. I found the pattern really easy to follow and along with a few videos from the Colette blog and website I was able to complete it with minimal problems. 

It was my first consealed zip that I fitted. I did buy a consealed zip foot for my janome which made it so much easier (picked up on amazon for about £5- great service from seller) I did follow the Colette video tutorial which was straightforward. 

Loving my new dress and I'm really pleased with the results I can see a few more over the next year. Just a couple more shots. 

And finally on what was the sunniest day so far 

Back to looking after poorly boy currently sat on my knee half asleep poor sweetie. 

Claire xx

Fresh sewing day and small blog meet

Wow it's been a whole month of my new blog. So how am I doing? A round up of this months projects. Well I have started a few and even finished some too.

Boxy Pouch, Baby Quilt, Pouch, Polar bear, Hexie travel case.

Well I have seemed to do a lot of finishing off projects. Mr Polar bear is nearly finished. It's a funky friends factory pattern Preston Polar bear for my eldest. He was so close to being finished but we ran out of stuffing I picked up some today but will be in big trouble if I stuff him without his new owner. This is my second soft toy that I've made with Pauline's gorgeous patterns 

This is Charlie dog a doorstop I made for Charlie's owner last year, he was great fun to make. 

One of my other makes this month was a Hexie travel kit from The Zen of Making  Haley has a fab series of Tutorials on English Paper Piecing, my next make from her site has to be a mini hexie necklace (going on my long list!) 

I love the little sewing kit again from Haley's blog. 

I've also been adding to my Economy Block Quilt blocks 

My collection so far also photo bombed with my new boots!!

Happy Making to all

Claire x