More Rag Rugs.

Barney testing out the Crochet Rug

 Well I have managed to finish not one but two rag rugs in recent weeks which must be a good scrap stash busting event in itself.

Damson testing out the rug pile while work still in progress.

 One was the fabric crochet rug I started the other week which was quite fun to make.Admittedly my increasings were a bit freestyle and off  the cuff resulting in a bit of an odd shaped rug but it is usable and that's the main thing.I finished it off when I did because the fabrics I started to crochet with were quite fine viscose jerseys and the t-shirt fabric I cut up later was just a little bit on the thicker side and I thought it spoiled the look of it so I finished it when I ran out of the thin stuff. The colours could have been spaced better but there you go.

Damson testing out her own rug -to-be 

 All in all I think it makes a useful rug,was quick to do and uses up lots of stuff just sitting there so I shall definitely have another go.

the jersey fabric crocheted up quite neatly

Finished rug with slightly wibbly-wobbly edges.Hopefully they will flatten out with wear!

 My other finished rug was of the shaggy variety like the one I made sometime ago for my son but this one was not so large ( here)Even so it was a bit of a brute to manhandle.I must admit that this has been sitting around longer than envisaged but I wasn't in the mood for making it for a while and then my bad shoulder put paid to anything as it does get quite heavy to lug about.Plus as Damson likes sitting on it,even in its unfinished state her comfort and amusement took precedence.

Frayed edges waiting to be neatened

 Then one afternoon ,in my laptop-less state (although looking back I seem to have started this one last year in my previous laptop-less sate which is SPOOKY) I just plunged in and finished it off...apart from finishing the edges underneath to stop them from completely fraying.

Manna from heaven...or Michigan in this case.

 This second rug was an improvement on the first in that I did leave more hessian as a border with which to work with but what I really should have done was finished the edges BEFORE adding the fabric.

turn your back for two minutes and someone always has to sit on what you want to do...

 The first rugs edges were eventually bound with some iron on stuff that I found in a local shop...to which I eagerly ran off to brandishing my coin of the realm all hopeful of a successful purchase...only to be disappointed  Nobody it seems sells anything like that around here anymore.Several trawls on the internet resulted in further disappointment and a batch of stuff that I now have 10 metres of but is just about useful for packing parcels up and nothing more.Trying to sew the edges neatly by hand with a turned under hem just did not work and I do not wish to dwell on that short frustrating period of my life.

Finished shaggy rug.It is about 2' wide by 4' long so will make a nice bedside rug.

 Anyway,in the end after several weeks had passed I had to send for some from America.It came all the way from Michigan, at great speed I might add, and did the job wonderfully.
Meanwhile I found after having another rummage a shortish length of twill tape which seemed suitable rug binding....

Edges neatened with twill tape before adding fabric.These get covered over with the shaggy fabric strips anyway.

 ..... divided it into four equal lengths and whacked it on with several layers of zig-zag along each side of some hessian.

 This seems to have made a square that will be just about the right size to accommodate Damson perfectly so my next rug will be a small one just for her own personal use.

Damson waiting for her rug to be finished.

A Quick Make and MMM'13 Day 15....

Simplicity 2896

 I have been really good these past few months and have been diligently working my way through my fabric hoard and I have used up a good few metres with the result that I now have at least six more dresses and several tops not to mention two completed rag rugs and all the rump padding for the garden chairs.Now and again though I cruise the internet stalking fabric web sites looking for interesting possibilities.The other afternoon I "cruised" the lovely Ditto Fabrics website and in a weak moment bought a whole load of stuff....but it's GORGEOUS so who cares?!

pre-pressing

 Anyway to cut a tedious story down to the basics one of the fabrics was a stretch cotton Jacquard with a bold floral design in very bright summery colours on a pale blue background.Not usually my type of thing but I just had to have it and I am so glad I did.During my rummage the other day in the piles of bags from under the bed I pulled out another dress that my daughter didn't take with her to Spain and it is again one that I have always liked.A simple shift type of dress,A-line with a yoke and a few gathers just under the yoke.Very simple but quite nice.

post-pressing but in the creative slum.The rain stopped and the sun came out but too windy outside for photos.

 So I made one for myself in this stretchy stuff.To my irritation when I found the pattern envelope the instructions were not there....but I had a quick look at the original to make sure I cut out all of the right pieces and I whizzed it up in no time.Needless to say once completed I found the instructions.So, being quite pleased with the result,as I seem to have got everything in the right place, I thought I might as well put it on and include it as today's Me Made May selection.

my other lovely fabrics and samples.

My other gorgeous fabrics are mostly linens....I have ideas of using the red and leaf green as high waist summery trousers while the soft white and vivid leaf pattern linens as some sort of tops.Plus the bird design sample is a gorgeous ( I think that is the third time I have used that word now...sorry) soft viscose which has got to be ordered next....might just be the ideal thing for another outing with the balloon sleeve pattern.

Me Made May '13 Round Up Days 8-14

Day 8.
My "best" crochet slipper sock things to keep me cosy when I got up.

                           
Well the weather has put the mockers on wearing anything remotely summery so it is back basically to winter woollies and all the drab stuff I was hoping to put away for at least a short while.I don't know what it is with this neck of the woods but as soon as the nights start to get light again the weather turns all miserable and it is too cold and wet to go out  and enjoy them.Definitely a case of "five months of winter,seven months of bad weather."
Anyway,for those of you not trawling through the Flickr group here is what I donned this week...more a case of a need for warmth rather than showcasing wonderful,original outfits.

Day 9.
My favourite linen dress from the Japanese book "Feminine Wardrobe"
and one of my crochet shawls.

Day 10.
High waist trews again and my Vogue Adjusted blouse from previous post.
Friday Theme Day and the theme was "My Creative Space"...this must win the prize for the least perfect.

There was a bit of interest as to what the view was like and this is it in a dead straight line from my sewing machine.Captured on one of those rare moments when the sun was shining.

Day 11.
brown crepe high waist trousers with new vogue adjusted top from previous post.I also put on my Useful Chunky Cardi but that didn't make the picture.

Day 12.
Cleaning day.
One of my remnant winter skirts with my Gibbon sleeved knitting disaster.It does keep me warm though and as I have just chucked it into the washing machine it does seem to have kept its shape fairly well.Not overly worn in public though.

Day 13.
more knitted socks from vintage 1950's pattern

Day 14.
Warmth required again so high waist trousers with my Ursula jumper.

Not a wow selection but it is me made and it is what I wore and would have worn anyway even if it wasn't Me Made May. I know lots of people have wonderful gorgeous outfits but mine are definitely just everyday stuff.Along with all of these there has been me made knickers,my swimsuit,bags,petticoats,socks, nightwear,aprons and an assortment of rejected stuff only worn for jobs like mowing grass and putting the rubbish out.
I realised today however that for the first time at half way point in a Me Made month I have more clothes than days left so in theory I should be spoiled for choice.I just hope the weather warms up a bit and I can get some dresses out again.                              

Vogue 8392...adjustments and making.

             

Another awful pattern illustration by Vogue.They must have some of the worst examples.

Last weeks Me Made May selections coincided with an early taste of summer weather so I just used some of the dresses that I had recently made.This week however summer seems to be a distant memory once more with a return to cooler,damper and altogether more unreliable weather.Looking for cosier things to wear and remembering that a lot of,what I term,my Non-Arctic Conditions clothing was still packed away anyway I pulled a few bags out from under the bed and had a good rummage.

My weird balloon sleeve top had an outing Day 20 of Me Made June '11.

                              

I came across two blouses that I had made from Vogue 8392 and have not worn very often due to neck opening issues.One was my weird balloon sleeve blouse I wore for Me Made June '11 and that I really love although the balloon sleeves in the fairly crisp cotton I used are a pig to iron neatly and you can't wear anything over the top of it because they just get crushed.Still love it though.Another was a short sleeve version with a collar that has likewise remained largely unworn.

how it looked originally

The big problem with both was the neckline closure....hooks and eyes.....these are my bete noire. However I try to sew them neatly they NEVER look neat and however much time I spend trying to position these little beasts they never seem to end up where you had hoped that they would end up.And then of course they  NEVER stay done up.No matter what garment it is ....skirt,dress,blouse....or wherever they are placed come to that. After what seems likes  hours of constant fiddling within seconds they burst apart.I think a male member of the species must have invented these things because they are SO STUPID.

Collar version worn for MMM'13  post adjustment.

Both of these necklines are quite roomy and being a bit like a Dinosaur in that my head is relatively small in relation to the rest of my overstuffed body I thought I would unpick both,re-sew and get rid of them completely and turn both into a pull-on pull-off top...much easier for my dicky shoulder too.

this is how the opening looked on the collar version before adjustment.

This I did without too much trouble either.I completely sewed up the back opening on the check version...

pre-pressing finished  and adjusted neckline number 1 wrong side.

but the white one due to serious fabric fraying issues ( not quite sure what this fabric is supposed to be a cross somewhere between net curtain and bandage) I left as it was which makes a sort of key-hole effect which I quite like.

post pressing finished and adjusted neckline number 2 right side

My head fits with ease now into both blouses and I got so carried away that I pulled out a fabric remnant that I bought ages ago for £3 in a nice slightly diaphanous viscous type of stuff with a big flower print by John Kaldor. There was just enough to make another version....which I did and wore for MMM'13.

version number 3....this one never went near any hooks and eyes.

I am quite pleased in that not only have I revived and restored to full working order two items that had nearly made it on to the infamous Pile of Shame but that I used up more stuff on a completely new version.I am also thinking of making the balloon sleeve version into some sort of tunic dress...possibly in a floppier viscose fabric as I have several bits of that...might just work.

Me Made May Days 4-7 and a Wasted Week End.

Day 4.
McCalls 5800.This is the first one I made for my daughter  but I always liked it.
As she didn't take it to Spain with her I have snaffled it.

Well the weather might have held out and we had a sunny,if somewhat breezy at times,May Bank Holiday weekend but it was on the whole a fairly frustrating one for me as regards making things.It was one of those week ends when you have in your mind all of the things you want to do yet seem to fail to achieve anything worthwhile.

Day 5.
My favourite high waist trousers from Vogue 1062 and seen many times before.
Knitted jumper based on 40's pattern.

I dug out patterns out in the hopes of being inspired....but just looked at them.I got fabric out....and put it away again.I started to crochet a cardigan and decided it was going to turn out the size of a zeppelin and I didn't like the colour anyway so that got the elbow too.....and just don't mention my 1940's Du Barry dress.

Day 6.
McCalls M6503.
This is one of several versions I made.
I like the bright spotty dotty fabric and the collar but it does make me feel  rather dumpy

                                   
Then I had the marvelous idea of trying to coax my overlocker into working again.It seems to think that it is above such simple tasks as making a chain or sewing the seam.It chops and neatens edges still which is fine but rather limiting when all said and done.I dusted and brushed it and I oiled its parts and inner workings lovingly.I re-threaded it with top notch proper overlocker thread,I cooed loving words of reassurance to it to increase its sense of well being and worth....all to no avail.In the end it took super human strength to not do some fine tuning and adjustment to its knobs and dials with my upholstery hammer which happened to be near to hand at the time.So that was a waste of another hour of my life and the offending machine has been,needless to say, put away AGAIN...no doubt smirking because it has gained the upper hand...AGAIN.

Day 7.
My Vibrantly Jazzy Summer Dress aka as Vogue V8469.
I love this dress...so comfy.
Also wore my swimsuit to my aquafit class.

                               
               Anyway,I joined in with  Me Made May and enjoyed the sunshine which was something.

Me Made May '13 Days 1-3.

It's that time of year again for another Me Made jamboree.I didn't know whether or not to join in as,apart from a few recent additions,I have nothing much to see that hasn't already been seen in all of the other previous Me Mades. However as I wear at least one thing every day,and have done for the past two years,I thought I might as well join in and  participate with all the others doing likewise...and it is record numbers this year folks apparently.

I had a vague plan at the back end of last year to make jumpers and cardigans to go with garments I already had to make more complete outfits but as with all of the best laid plans this particular plan fell at the wayside before it even had a chance to get going.So don't expect anything startlingly wonderful from this contributor.

Anyway....Day 1....

 Jersey wrap dress that gapes too much and needs further adjustment from Simplicity K2369.Best thing about this dress it's comfy and you can slob about in it and I felt in a slobby mood that day.
Also I went to my Aquafit class and wore my swimsuit  Kwik Sew 2690 which I am pleased to say that despite making me look like a radioactive kelp bed is holding out extremely well...here I am only holding the offending article and there will be no modelling.

Day 2....

LOOK! SUNSHINE...BLUE SKY.....YAY!!!!!!

 My Fabric Leftovers dress,McCalls 5800, I made a week or two back in an effort to get rid of "stuff". I took it in at the sides but now it rubs a bit under the arms...typical.Other than that a nice Doris Day effect on the whole and the underskirt makes it stick out nicely.
Also my swimsuit again for a swim lesson this time.

Day 3

 This is another vibrantly jazzy dress from the Vogue V8469 pattern I used for my other TWO vibrantly jazzy dresses and again the main purpose was to use stuff up.This one is sleeveless the other two have cap sleeves.The fabric was a remnant for about a fiver and I might have enough leftover for a very small skirt.

This dress is AMAZINGLY PINK and ,as with the other two,I just LOVE the bow.
 No swimsuit today though as I went and picked my son up for the Bank Holiday week end.

Despite it being a Bank Holiday weekend the weather forecast looks good so I'm going to wear as many of my summer dresses as I can before the weather changes which it undoubtedly will do at some point soon....and with my son home I have three days of being able to wear a dress with the zip done up completely for a change...happy days!!

Fabric Crochet

The lurid piece of jersey...those flowers were like dinner plates.

 I had every intention yesterday to start to cut out my Du Barry dress but while I was having a cup of tea and mulling things over my thoughts turned to using up more of my scrap fabrics.
I have just finished another rag rug ( pictures to follow soon once edges neatened) and still have so much scrap fabric left of many different types.One huge mountain of scrap stuff seems to consist purely of jersey off cuts and old t-shirts that are just too good to throw away yet are not large enough to do anything with.I have used jersey in my other rag rugs but thought it might be nice to do something a little bit different with it.

 There are out there in blog land lots of examples of people knitting and crochet with fabric so I thought I would have a go.Might be different just for a change.I had one huge piece of jersey type fabric with a very vivid Carmen Miranda type of design that I knew I would never wear....some of the flowers were as big as my hand....but it was a tempting bargain at over two metres in length and only about £2 from a charity shop so I had to buy it on the premise that it might come in useful.Needless to say it has just been sat there for about eighteen months.
So I had a look at what was needed ( yes...my laptop and I are now reunited) and spent an enjoyable hour or two...or three...slicing and cutting my jersey fabric up into widths about 3/4" wide along the length of the grain so that it didn't curl too much.If you want it to curl up more like a chunky yarn then cut across the grain.Cutting down the length of the fabric meant that I had longer strips too.

Once I cut it all up I had some nice big heaps like this....

 It looked like a huge mountain of rather colourful tagliatelle.The next thing is to join all of your strips together to make one long usable strip without making a knot.I won't describe how to do this as the best description is here on craftstylish but it is very easy and absolutely addictive as it works almost like magic.

 In an ideal world I now realise that really you want to make one big ball to work from so that you don't get any knots but I made initially three balls the size of your average cannon ball I reckon and of course have had to knot balls together....but it is not the end of the world.

 It was quite fun working with the fabric and I must say that my lurid jersey stuff looks really quite nice when crocheted up.It is a shame I have not got a bit more of it really.

The stitches come out nice and even ( I used a 5mm hook by the way which seemed about the right size) and even the odd flap of fabric at the "magic" joins or the knots themselves add to it I think.I have lots more jersey to chop and join and shall continue to do so at odd times when I feel like it.I have started off a sort of oval shaped thing that if I get bored quickly might be more garden furniture rump padding but if I stick at it might be another rug.Who knows.