The Lace Skirt: 30 Minute Skirt Pattern

Oh what a tangled mess I made today. I should have known better before starting to sew a lace seam using No. 9 Stretch Stitch Juki F600. All the stitches, plus the lace fabric got caught underneath the sewing machine plate. To make matters worse I had paper in the mix too (thought it might sew better with paper underneath the lace). Perhaps I should have started off using a straight stitch, then changed to No.9 stitch! That's a bit of wisdom I need to remember....

I didn't remember my wise words for long because I started sewing again using stitch No.9. This time going much slower and hoping all would go well...Lucky for me it did. Because I was sewing French Seams it made it much easier for me to fix the other seam after it was free from the plate.
                                                           

What a mess....

This skirt pattern I am using can be found over at make it perfect, it's called 'The 30 minute skirt', size S-XL, and it's a Free download. Thank you to the wonderful person who made this pattern...

The fabric I've used for the lining is a pink stretch knit, it's a medium weight knit. The top layer is a fine, very light weight, stretchy, puckered Paris pink lace fabric. It has been in my stash for ages, I was actually going to sew it for myself but never did...The sewing pattern is just two pieces so it's very easy to make. I'd like to make more, perhaps using a winter weight knit.

I manged to get a quick fitting and photo of the skirt. As you can see it's still not finished, it has no elastic band fitted...But I made the most of my opportunity to get a photo.

Bottom left pic: I have covered the elastic band and made
the band the same fabric as the skirt....

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Remembering Three Years on....

It's three years tomorrow that were hit by the Earthquake that destroyed most of the city....I can still see the young Chinese girl waving to me from the upstairs flat where my son lived. She sticks in my mind..

Long before the earthquake I'd gone to check on my son's flat while he was away in Japan, and it was semi-dark and there was this face upstairs at the window watching me, she just kept staring at me. So I waved, and we waved, and waved at each other and then I left to go home...Later on I heard that she lost her life in the CTV building. She had come to Christchurch to study English...so sad. Even though there were others in the building that I knew of who lost their lives, it is her face that I remember the most...

My brother was working in the city this week so I've put some pics up of the Christchurch City three years on....

Hereford-High-Colombo St car park...

Lots of cranes about...

Left over very heavy iron work that held 91 Hereford Street up..

Looks a bit like  the 911 monument near the Fire Station

The Christchurch Cathedral still in ruins...

Telecom House – old 91 Hereford St building is gone and

 they are building the new engine alternator room on the side

No stairs.....

A pretty spot amongst chaos...

Sewing a Sleepover Pillow

Well I didn't re-invent the wheel on this sleep over pillow case....I found a perfectly wonderful and fantastic tutorial over here.  I followed the tutorial, but guessed most of my measurements and ended up making the pillow case a bit big for my pillow....Who would know New Zealand pillows are smaller? I've never measured them...

This pillow case was a total hit, it had barley been ironed and pressed when it was taken into the bedroom and put on the bed...It's been there ever since, hence it looks a bit crumpled in the pics.

My fabric choice is cotton. I would have liked to have used a more interesting fabric rather than the spotty fabric for the contrast.  But it's all I had in my stash,  and I wanted to finish it straight away so  spots it was...

It's been well slept on...Have a look at the
excellent tutorial at a A Lemon Squeezy Home

Making a Pillow Bed

I've always wanted to make one, a pillow bed....There was some $1.00 fabric in my stash that I had bought from Spotlight's curtain department years ago. I actually was saving it for aprons but in the end thought it would be okay for this project...

I would have loved to have gone out and got some lovely bright fabric for the pillow mattress....But this was going to have to do so it is rather bland...I use it on top of the stretcher sometimes...

Dog Cushion for the Crate

I've been into my stash and this waterproof fabric was for an apron, an art apron to be exact. But I never got round to sewing this one, so the dog is benefiting from a new cushion. I'm making a big envelope style cushion, stuffed with old Dacron that I have saved for 'a rainy day'.

It was a shame I didn't have enough fabric for the cushion to actually fit the crate. Never mind, the dog is coping with an overstuffed cushion.... I don't know how many times I have sewn a comfortable cushion, or a polar fleece blanket. I even made a waterproof cover for a thick foam mattress I had cut to size for the dog crate...

The covered mattress was a perfect fit and you could even take the waterproof cover off to wash it. Except the dog worked out it was done up with Velcro and started to pull the Velcro and then bit all the foam.....Totally destroyed!

Next I made polar fleece blankets,  but they got chewed at too. These were cheap to replace but then the dog kept getting big spots on her chin (she looked like a witch). I read somewhere that plastic causes this, so polar fleece was out.

Feeling very sorry for the dog lying on hard plastic I went out and bought her a Dacron duvet inner and I covered this with an old duvet cover. All was well until her rear end decided to poop all over her crate with one sock amongst the mix...You can guess I threw it all out!

You may think she is doing all this out of boredom, she is not...They say it takes three years for these dogs to grow-up. I agree she is still a pup in a big body who loves to chew! Now I am feeling very pleased with myself I've made a very waterproof envelope style cushion. The dog knows nothing about zips, so she hasn't worked out how to get at the Dacron inside.

Do you crate your dog? It's this dogs den, she is very happy in it (wished I'd known about dogs and their dens years ago). Sometimes you can't find her and she's wandered off to her crate and is sitting inside with the door open.... It's her time away from the pesky cats. They are also trying to claim the crate for themselves. Must be my cushion!

I pinned the fabric in the end, tape just kept moving
 and unsticking. It was rather a hard job!

Shame it didn't fit, but I'll make more I'm
sure!

Dolls House Update

Ive just finished the curtains, though the yellow ones are rather stiff looking...I'm still getting bits of furniture for it I need a kitchen, skirting boards but that can wait for awhile. The dolls house has been put on wheels, so much easier to move and put away.

Skirt in Linen

This is a pattern from the 80's well used and well worn.....Butterick 3457, style D, size 14-16-18. Linen always is a pleasure to sew even though it hangs all crinkly. I couldn't find a belt to thread through the loops so settled for a red sash for the pic. Otherwise the skirt would have just looked plain boring hanging there.

I lined the skirt too with a cotton type lining, usually I make it without lining...

The lens on my camera must be dirty I can see splotches...
Dah! it's my computer screen it's dirty....Better clean it!