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 !

Vintage Patterns

A flying visit to Emmaus produced these
fab retro patterns I especially like the long
halter neck dress - roll on summer !

How to Applique - a simple guide

Equipment list.
Fabric/ pins/ sewing thread to match or contrast.
Sewing machine
Bond-a-web ( available from most fabric shop and haberdashers)
Images to cut around

 Choose the images you want to applique onto your fabric,
 these can be hand drawn or down loaded from the internet,
 cut them out to use as a template.
 Pin them onto the fabric and cut out.

Pin the cut out pieces of fabric onto the glue side of the bond-a-web.
If you run your fingers over it will feel "gritty".Cut out.

Move your work to the ironing board and with the shiny side of the
bond-a-web facing you, iron. The bond-a-web will stick to the fabric.
Peel the bond-a-web backing off the fabric, and place your motif
onto your fabric right side up. Iron over the motifs and they will be
glued into place.

 Move to the sewing machine and change the setting for applique.
On my machine a Singer I need to be in the middle of a button hole stitch
and the middle of zig zag. You will need to have a practice to check the stitch
is correct. Your machine may have an applique button or setting, your sewing
machine manual will guide you.

Now you are ready to start sewing. A little practice will help you see the best
position for stitching. I have the middle of the foot on the edge of the fabric so
the raw edge of the fabric is covered with the applique stitch.

If you want to appliqué  layers, (as shown below ) position all the layers first,
Applique around the under layer (s) first, leaving the main image until last,
insuring that your main shape has a unbroken line of applique.

Mollie Makes - HOME magazine review

Picked up this Magazine Mollie Makes
HOME from the publishers of Mollies Makes the
monthly craft magazine. It was quite expensive
at around £7. But as a one off its as great buy
packed with retro and vintage ideas for
decorating your home.

  

There are plenty of projects, including

how to make a patch work full size quilt, 

and a delightful baby quilt, a retro inspired

headboard, potato pint placemats !  blankets and

cushion to crochet and much more ...

Plus some great book reviews and

loads of ideas to inspire you.
Loving all the seventies wallpaper !

Pillow Case Tutorial

I found this retro sheet at Emmaus and
as part of my very slow bedroom "make over"
I have made these pillow cases, heres how,

You will need:
Fabric = two rectangles one that measures
30 x 20 inches or ( 76cm x51cm)
and the second piece 36 x 20 or (91 cm x51cm)
Sewing Machine

Pins, scissors, and sewing thread

1 cm seam allowance

 Start with you two pieces of fabric each measuring
30 x 20 inches or 76 cm x51cm and 36 x 20 or 91 cm x51cm

with the wrong side of the fabric facing you

 and using the end that measure 20 inches (51 cm)

machine a line 1 cm from the edge of the fabric.

Repeat on the remaining piece of fabric.

 using this line as a guide fold over on the stitch line and press, fold again and
press, repeat on the  remaining piece of fabric.

 machine along the fold line on both pieces of fabric, the fold should be on
the wrong side of the fabric, repeat on the remaining piece of fabric.

 Place right sides of the fabric together, the unsewn ends must match, leaving
the turned hems not matching (my top hem is not sewn into place in the photo)

 Machine the pillow cases together using 1 cm seam allowance and zig zag the edges.

 fold the flap over the pillow and pin together, this bit feels wrong !
 And machine down using a 1 cm seam allowance,

 to match the seam you have already sewn.

 fold the flap back, give it an iron, you pillow case is finished.

Sew La Tea Do and SEW Cath Kidson

 I just wanted to share with you these projects made

at Sew Retro's sewing classes

from the book SEW - by Cath Kidson

Poppy made this bean bag, Fabric from

Fabric Land

Hannah made the hot water bottle

 and Georgia, made the wash bag using fabric from C and H Fabrics

and the waterproof lining was a shower curtain.

Cath Kidson's  book show's examples of these items using her

signature floral vintage inspired fabric, but I think

 they look great using different fabric, 

and if your not a flowery fabric fan, these examples

show how well they work using an alternative. 

 The large bean bag was made by Helen using fabric from fabric land

and a pattern found in the book Sew La Tea Do from Pip Lincolne

Bean bag from the book Sew La Tea do