Merry Christmas Every One

May all your christmas dreams come true.

The Great British Sewing Bee Christmas Special and Kath Kidson "Sew"

I am looking forward to watching the Great
British Sewing Bee Christmas special tonight
on BBC 2 at 7.40pm
Lets hope it's a good one !

Using the Cath Kidson "Sew" book I have made
these Christmas present. All of the items shown
in the book  "Sew"are made in using Kath
Kidson fabric.

But it shows how versatile the patterns
can be when you use different fabric.
The Kath Kidson pattern's are great
shapes, you have to trace them off !
This was easy to do. The instructions
are (I think ) quite hard to follow, but
each project is marked, easy not much experience,
more experience, etc. Pop this on your christmas
list if you like making gifts and lovely items
for the house.

Brighton Open Houses

Looking for some unusual gifts ? I would recommend
Brighton and Hove Open Houses.

Weekends from the 30th November to 15th December.

Visiting the Christmas Artists Open Houses is a great way

to discover the creative talent that exists in the Brighton and Hove.

You’ll find homewares,  photography, jewellery, ceramics,

crafts, toys and textiles as well as handcrafted Christmas cards, 

wreaths, tree decorations and foodie gifts.

I have found lots of fab Christmas gifts 

around the £15 to £20 price mark. There is also an added bonus

you get to view the interiors of some amazing houses in the city.

You can download the brochure from the link ! Happy

snooping  shopping.

Need a little Christmas inspiration ?

This cutie, is from the fab book Meet Me at Mikes.
You can make him ? her ? using all your scraps
of fabric, you only need tiny amounts and you
can get creative, with all those "leftovers"
from other sewing projects, fill him /her with
lavender for a good nights sleep,
or, so its machine washable, polyester stuffing.
I use the filling from old cushions and pillows.
After giving them a hot wash in the washing machine,
I slit open the fabric, and re fluff the filling by pulling it
apart, then squash it into the new object that needs
filling.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Now the winters truly set in
its time to enjoy a few craft and diy projects,
I love this websites for inspiration.
Mollie Makes, website has a daily feed of
tempting, fun crafty,  ideas. Perfect
now that christmas is just around the
corner, and time AGAIN to make a
few pressies. And I  definitely want to try
making these. I hate the rain B U T
it's a good excuse to stay in a get
creative.

Home made Christmas

My thoughts are turning to Christmas -
Christmas gifts to be more precise. Last year
I bought Mollie Makes christmas, I loved and
made the vintage stocking and the I pad cosy.

Both as gifts that were well received
(i think !) and I used the finger puppets
templates to make some hanging Christmas
tree decorations. There are lots
of craft ideas and inspiration in the book.
Also some knitting and crochet projects.

 The book would make a good
gift for someone that likes several
crafts as it has a couple of christmas
projects, for knitting, crochet, embroidery,
paper craft, rather than just sewing
projects, however if you do not knit
or crochet, they would not be enough
in the book the justify the 7.99 price
tag.

 If you are looking for a few Christmas
projects for your home or, to give as
gifts, I would recommend Prima
makes Christmas, which you can pick
up in the supermarket or  at a newsagents.

Priced at 3.99 its got an easy project for everyone,
Christmas stockings, christmas baubles, lots of
wrapping ideas! a guide to making your own
Christmas cards, the lovely crochet bunting
shown above, pop poms, christmas crackers
the list could go on and on. On the plus side
too you get to flick through the magazine
before you buy ! I am going to try the
vintage fairy lights made with transparent
plastic cups.............. I will report back !

Girls Style Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori

After being very impressed with the Japanese sewing books
"Stylist Dress Book" and "Sweet Dress Book", for women
both by the designer Yoshiko Tsukiori,
I eagerley awaited the arrival of"Girls Style book".
I was delighted with the book, page after page
of "treats" to make for girls aged 2 to 10 years.

 Gorgeous simple patterns, with the same clear, easy to follow instructions.

 You trace off your full size pattern from the patterns included with the book.
It is a little fiddly finding your pattern and size (age of child), but very "do-able"

 The graphics used through out the book have a lovely simple vintage feel.
Another bonus with this book is that as you have to trace off the size you need
you are left with all the bigger sizes for years to come, a good buy, and a good
price as all the patterns and sizes are included. I got my copy from amazon

Love Sewing ? Got a baby ?

If you love sewing, and have a baby or you are expecting one,
or your  friend is, or you are a auntie or a granny, this book is great.
Simple Sewing for Baby by Lotta Jansdotter, I got my
copy from Amazon.

The book includes full size patterns for each project,
none of that confusing scaling it up by 200%, which I
Personally hate ! Sorry.

Each project comes with clear instructions
and some include illustrations, to explain any instructions
that maybe confusing ! (or new to you)

Most of the projects would be great for a beginner,
little hats, bibs, pants, elastic waist trousers, dribble bid,
girls head scarf, etc, and the book moves on to include simple
dresses and the snuggler, which would be great project
to try as you gain confidence.
Plenty of the  smaller projects only take small amounts of
fabric, fab for using up "leftover" bits of fabric from
previous sewing projects.

 My personal favourite these book ends.

Without exception all the items in the book
would make a thoughtful and creative present for a baby
or toddler.

The Stylish Dress Book - Yoshiko Tsukiori

I bought this book from amazon WOW, it does not disappoint !
26 Patterns for £11.09 p, if you like the look of White Stuff/Fat face
I think you would like this great book of relaxed contemporary dresses

and tops.You have to trace off the pattern from a large sheet with
all the patterns and sizes on, but once you have navigated this, its

straightforward sewing for the dressmaker with some previous
experience. There is no tricky sewing ie zips or buttonholes
mainly easy shapes, that fit together without to much "bother".

The instructions are clear and straightforward. You may what to double
check the sizing as the patterns have been created in Japan, I just when up
one size i.e. small to medium and that was perfect.

Now I am going to try the same style book for girls, I will let you know how I get on.

Ardingly Antique Fair

An amazing hot day at Ardingly Antique Fair,
 Hundreds of stalls selling everything under the sun !
Well all most!
Tucked under a table I found this suitcase of
retro patterns, and bagged 14 for 10.00 big smiley face.

 Lots of sixties and seventies chairs, desks and lamps !

 A while back I was after one of these retro metal desks, however I gave up
my search and got a great retro wooden one, but I had a little pang when I
saw these beauties !

 Thirties vintage fabric only enough to make a cushion, approx. 20 inches
square and the stall holder want 10.00 ! My very terrible haggling got it
knocked down to 8.00. All in all a great day.

Yes ! Peas ! Bibs

I made these Yes ! Peas ! bibs from Pip Lincolne Book
Sew La Tea Do. This book follows Pip's hugely popular
first book Meet Me At Mikes. The bibs would have looked
much better if I had some fab retro fabric, however
I was able to use some "leftover" bit of fabric, and in
no time at all I had these little gifts made.

Perfect gift for a baby shower !

Bargin Buttons

On a recent Decoupage buying trip
I found these bargain buttons at
Hobby Craft, great value at £3.00
per pack.

Out and about in Hove

 Popped into Treacle and Co,and enjoyed an amazing slice
of treacle tart with cream and berries.

 Libby enjoyed the
chocolate cake with home made ice cream.
The fab vintage interior always puts a smile
on my face or is it the awesome cakes ?

 If I had not done enough overing
indulging, later in the week we
shared this home made Oreo at the
equaling amazing Flourtown, bakery.

  

Amberley Museum and Heritage centre.

 Enjoyed a fantastic day out at Amberley Museum on bank holiday monday.

 If you love retro and vintage this is great museum, housed in an old
quarry. A vintage bus with a conductor and retro tickets drops you

 off at the many different "sites" housing, the varied and interesting
collections, there is one site for the telephone - where you can see
"operators" putting through the calls, retro phone boxes, the whole history
of the phone from the first phone to today, the same with television, electricty,

trains, buses, the list goes on and on. we stent the day there but did not
have time to visit all of the exhibitions. We used the vintage bus and
the steam train to get around the quarry. The steam train stops at two
real vintage stations, complete with a station master !

 Retro electric fire.

 Retro phone box.

 love this fridge !