Tag Archives: sewing

Little Shoes for Little People

purlbee.com

There’s something about little shoes isn’t there? I seem to have gathered a whole collection of patterns for teeny tiny shoes, and actually shoes are the last thing a small baby needs!

My own babies were born, like I was, with huge feet and were already too big for the infant sizes by the time they decided to get round to walking. The tiny shoes I had been given when they were born ended up as ornaments!

So it’s probably a triumph of hope over experience that having found this delightful (and very simple) pattern I decided to make my imminently arriving grandson some little shoes that might not fit. (There’s always the possibility that he will inherit my daughter-in-law’s dainty feet, after all!)

I bought the felt from the Blooming Felt stand at last year’s Knitting and Stitching Show, Sarah has an amazing range of colours but I went for subtle shades of grey.

This is a lovely project, very easy to sew, and the felt would lend itself to being embroidered. I can just imagine little cream or white shoes embellished with stitched flowers for a special occasion.

I found the pictures describing the method on Pinterest…

But the pattern and detailed instructions can be found on the Purl Bee website. I know there are lots of prospective new mums and grannies out there, I’d love to know if you make teeny tiny shoes too!

The Hand-Stitched Home – Book Review

I promised you a lovely book to coo over and The Hand-Stitched Home by Caroline Zoob ticks all the boxes.

I’ve had very little time to exercise my sewing muscles lately and had rather forgotten how much I enjoy it so leafing through Caroline Arber’s beautiful photographs discovering the projects within was a real pleasure.

Do you hand sew? Is it something you love or do out of necessity? Sometimes it’s so easy just to get the sewing machine out and wizz around a few seams, or as I did over half term to piece together a spectacular tear on some nearly new tracksuit bottoms which had come off worse in a tree climbing related incident!

I had a very mixed introduction to the craft of stitching. Being left handed my school experience was almost entirely negative. Whole lessons miserably stitching a ‘blind’ hem with a length of thread grubby and grey from countless pulling out. And, being made to wear a thimble on my right hand because that was where they were worn! (I was nearly an adult before I found out what they were actually for!) However, during the school holidays I stayed with my left-handed grandmother, Bam-mum (who never used a thimble) and she introduced me to a love of stitching which has never gone away despite school’s best efforts.

Caroline Zoob’s book is all for pleasure, little hand-stitched treasures giving a new lease of life to vintage fabrics which then become part of the fabric of the home. From tiny projects such as this Heart Key Fob…

…delicately stitched shelf edging…

..and pretty egg-cosy made from felted wool blanket fabric…

..to larger pieces such as cushions, curtains and table runners there are plenty of ideas which you can use to inspire you to use and recycle pretty fabrics, trimmings, buttons and precious scraps of fabric.

Be aware that the instructions for some of the more complicated pieces do presume a fairly sound knowledge of basic sewing skills. However, this is book about hand stitching and embroidery and there is a lot of help and inspiration for even a novice at decorative stitching. And of course the joy of a book like this is that it is positive encouragement to go off and brush up on or learn new skills!

And what was my inspiration? Well, it was daisies. I’m planning to feature daisies in the next blog post for reasons which will be explained, but this was the image in the book which inspired me…

It’s so pretty and simple. I had a frame which I bought months ago in a closing down sale, and a remnant of linen so I spent a happy evening with my box of embroidery threads and this was the result…

So, I’m sure you would love to get your hands on a copy of this book. And you can because the lovely people at the Aurum Publishing Group have a copy to send to one lucky person. It could be you! I’d love to hear your sewing story, what got you stitching? Was it love at first stitch, or a gradual blossoming? Simply share your story in the comments, and next weekend you could be the winner!

This week I’m linking up again with Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour so follow the links there to discover lots more creative people and ideas.

I’m off to the studio now to get ready for the last day of Open Studios. If you are in the area we’d love to see you, but if not I’ll be back here soon…x

Sew Over It – Book Review

This is the second of the books I was sent to review a few weeks ago, and it’s timely to do so now as Lisa Comfort has recently appeared in Kirstie Allsop’s new Channel 4 Show, Kirstie’s Vintage Home. I grew up in the era when home skills were taught in school, Domestic Science, we learnt to sew, dress-make and cook. I do have to admit to being hopeless whilst at school, but as a young married mum without a lot of cash it soon made sense to have the skills to repair and alter clothes, recycle dresses into baby clothes and run up a pair of curtains. Most women’s magazines had knitting patterns, some gave away paper patterns for dress making and amazing part work series were published teaching all sorts of skills from embroidery to macrame! (Such a useful skill – macrame plant pot holder anyone?)

All that seemed to get swept away in a great feminist rage against being hemmed in by domesticity to the point where you had to hide any desire to occupy yourself with a little light embroidery, and ‘homemade’ was considered an insult. Schools did away with cookery classes and sewing lessons and a whole generation were left without useful life skills such as sewing on a button or cooking.

That’s why I’m loving this whole re-emergence of making and upcycling, creating and recycling which is movement of the moment and Lisa Comfort’s book fits right in as an ideal starting point for anyone wanting to dip their toe in the creativity pool. Lisa charts her beginnings from stitching with her child-minder through the London College of Fashion to her sewing café and shop in Clapham, South London where she teaches the skills to be found in this book. If you’ve never threaded a needle let alone sewn on a button, never fear. Lisa starts you off at the very beginning introducing you to the needle and thread, the mysteries of the sewing machine, customising and altering your clothes, making accessories and finally measuring yourself and making a skirt from scratch.

This is not a book for a seasoned dressmaker but I would definitely recommend this to a complete sewing novice needing a virtual hand to hold and guidance starting out on their sewing journey. Probably it would be helpful to have a hands on lesson if you’ve never used a sewing machine but I believe shops like John Lewis offer this when you buy a machine from them. Apart from that, all that is needed is a little imagination and Lisa’s know how and tips. The projects are clearly illustrated and explained, and the book as a whole is colourful and appealing, the photography is inspiring, a great Christmas present idea for a aspiring stitcher !

The ‘Sew Over It’ book is published by Ebury Press and available to buy from Lisa’s on-line shop of the same name, (which is a rather dangerous place to visit if you happen to like fabrics, and buttons, and haberdashery….)

Planet Penny

Crafts, Needle Felting, Crochet, Patterns & Tutorials

Tag Archives: sewing

Little Shoes for Little People

The Hand-Stitched Home – Book Review

Sew Over It – Book Review