Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Please Sir, I want some more....
Monday, March 29, 2010
Mother's Day Special
We're offering a FREE FRAME with every one of the following kits - that means you get TWO frames with every kit and that means savings of up to $12.40.
The Barrel Purse is a cute little purse that you can hold in the palm of your hand.... but is surprisingly roomy. You will receive a FREE 90mm frame with every Barrel Purse Kit purchase.
The simple square purse frame kits are a great place to start if you've never made a framed purse before.... and with two frames to play with, you've nothing to lose if one of them is a "learning" experience.
The 75mm, 90mm, 150mm and 200mm purses are all included in this offer - an extra frame thrown in for nix.
A handmade case for glasses or sunglasses is a great gift.... and each Spec Case Kit will include a free 75mm frame. You can make one for yourself as well!
The 200mm Chunky purse makes a great clutch purse or a roomy make-up purse. With your spare 200mm Chunky frame you can make one for each purpose!!
The Poppet is a very cute little wristlet or make-up purse, and is the perfect "next step" for anyone who has already tried the basic square framed purse styles. It fits the 150mm frame and you'll get an extra one free with every kit.
And the Puff purse is super-sweet. You'll receive a free 100mm curved antique brass frame with every kit.
If you were thinking of trying something new, making a gift or sharing the sewing love with your mother....or WHATEVER the reason.... you have just over a week to take us up on the offer.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
How to spot a 40-something blogger
Friday, March 26, 2010
A welcome surprise!
We now have 38mm square edged rings in antique brass, and they're in the shop. (The light was terribly for photos today so we have to make do with this pic til the sun shines again).
Thursday, March 25, 2010
My Creative Space
Or.... all about straddling a tripod while trying to sew delicate things and photograph them in super-macro. (Luckily I'm used to sewing around a wriggling child, so the tripod was more managable than it looks).
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Collaborative Works
Above left - The man of the house's portrait of the wee artist as a 2-year-old (with handprints by the 2-year-old artist).
Above right - an Ikea lamp and a string balloon (that the wee one made last November) hastily put together yesterday in a collaborative mother-daughter (ahem) interior design exercise.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Another new toy
Lots of testing of settings. Quite a lot of seeing just how close I can go with SUPER-MACRO.......
The man of the house seems to think I've gone a bit silly with buying gadgetry lately, but there's actually method in my rampant consumerism. It's all about the big worst-kept-secret-in-blogland sewing project, and the new camera is making things SOOOOO much better.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Flickr Friday
I love this version of the Chunky purse frame purse.
Really, truly love it.
Really truly wish I'd thought of the bow detail myself.
You can read about this one on the Ruby-Jo blog.
I'm so inspired by the wonderful things people do with my simple patterns, and really appreciate you sharing your photos on my Flickr group. Check out the other folks in the pool here.
...and have a lovely weekend.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Awl... or nothing at awl...
Anyone who's been to a class with me in the last year or so would know what a HUGE fan I am of this little tool. It really is the BEST thing for holding down tricky bits of fabric (strap ends, binding etc) while you're working close to the sewing machine needle.
You may have seen it in various tutorials I've posted on this blog.... here, here and here. It's great for poking holes in things, too.
My Creative Space
I'm in a bit of a cutting frenzy... which is my version of "think music". As I plan and cut each design, I'm mapping out the weeks ahead, processing thoughts and feelings and generally letting my brain freewheel for a while.
I'm looking forward to having a good look through these beautiful books that arrived today.... and then having a bit of a sewing frenzy.
Kirsty's hosting My Creative Space over at her blog. Pop over and see who else is sharing a slice of their world.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
You were warned...
The truth is, this is the first EVER brand-new machine I've owned, and my first electronic sewing machine. I'm a bit gadget-struck and excited.
But mostly, I'm glad I went the extra expense to get the Aurora 440 for a number of reasons, and mostly it's not for the 180-odd pre-programmed stitches.
#1 reason was the motor.... Ah, the motor. Of course, there's a fancy name for the type of motor (that I've forgotten) but I just listened to it and felt it pull any thickness of fabric through with ease. Anyone could tell you that I'm not usually a huge fan of domestic machines, but this one handles like an industrial (if slower, as domestic machines are by nature). It has serious oomph - and the difference between the Aurora 440 and smaller machines means a lot when you're sewing lots of bulky, awkward shapes.#2 The machine bed has LOTS more room. Managing bulky bags around a smaller machine can be difficult but this one is nice and roomy.
#3 Automatic needle-up and needle-down... but wait... with a foot-controlled option to change its position when you need to. If it's set for needle-up and you need to pivot on a seam, you just kick back on the foot pedal and the needle goes down. Or vise-versa. LOVING that one. Combined with the knee-lift on the presser-foot, it means you don't have to take your hands off your work.
#4 The knee lift, the walking foot, the BSR (stitch regulator) unit and lots of dinky gadgets in a cute little wardrobe box came standard with the machine (they're extra with other models).
#5 Automatic buttonhole, automatic buttonhole, automatic buttonhole..... I'm in love.
#6 Three types of automatic back-tack or lockstitch. Again - loving that I don't have to take my hands off my work and I can vary the backtack according to the work I'm doing.
#7 Automatic blind hemming with a special blind-hemming foot. With all my other mechanical machines, I've never been able to do the perfect blind hem. This one takes all the guesswork out of it. No more hand-sewn hems for me. (I can spend telly-evenings making more hair ties).
#8 A sliding seam guide that travels the width of the machine bed. Topstitching heaven, and not a Post-it note in sight.#9 Ok - I admit it - I love pressing those buttons.
#10 Loving that the wee girl is loving it, too. I spent most of the Saturday before last with her on my lap at the machine. She had the style-card with all the stitches, chose the design she wanted to see and then pressed the appropriate buttons (it's educational too!). After several hours of calico embellishment, she brought out every t-shirt she owned and we embellished the hems. It's another step in the right direction for my plans to completely indoctrinate the poor unsuspecting child....
Edited to add:
#11 ELEVEN needle positions at the touch of a button. Being able to shift the needle position is one of my favourite features on my old Berninas, and here it is with more positions and a whizzy button control. It means you can use the presser foot as a seam, edgestitch or topstitching guide and sew exactly where you want to - adjusting by degrees if necessary.
The wee girl proudly took her calico to Show & Tell at kinder and told the class that she "sewed it on Mummy's fancy-schmantzy sewing machine". Amused the teachers no end.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Nothing to be afraid of, folks...
...doing cute details on twirly skirts for small girls.... or big girls, for that matter. (My usual model had better things to do today. This one is equally headless but a little more compliant).
Bias binding is excellent for binding seams on tricky shaped bags and purses (which means that you can fully line the tricky shaped bag or purse). It's a design feature, to boot.
And you can make quick bibs, pot holders and even mini-oven mitts in no time at all.
This one was a request from the smallest cook in the house. (I'm a bit nervous that it might actually be used to carry something hot, so it comes with a list of rules.... luckily, our cook follows rules... mostly).
So anyway..... I tend to be a bit evangelical about bias tape makers. I was surprised to read that some people buy them and don't try them out. Or some people don't know how to get the most out of them. I've shown this before, but I'll add a bit more detail this time. Complete demystification.
How to use your bias tape maker...
2. If you need to join two pieces, align them so that they are right sides up and the pointed ends lock in to one another, as shown below.
(It's also a good idea to press your fabric before you start..... I seem to have skipped that step here).
6. Cut the end of the tape to a point and thread it through the bias tape maker (cutting it to a point makes it thread more easily).
8. Trim the seam allowances so the bias binding will be able to fold easily over the edge and sit on top of the stitches (seen in red, below) on the other side.
9. Press the bias tape into place over the stitch line, and then topstitch it about 1mm from the edge.
I hope that takes a bit of the mystery out of it and encourages you to go forth and bind everything you can. Like I do. Honestly, I really do.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Question time
Question mark made of puzzle pieces
Originally uploaded by Horia Varlan
We've finally organised an FAQ page for the website. It answers (strangely enough) all the questions we find ourselves answering a lot.
So we now have...
- an ordering information page (updated tonight)
- an about the patterns page
- a tips and tutorials page (to answer your sewing questions) and
- a Frequently Asked Questions page.
If you can think of anything I need to add to any of these, please let me know!
SERIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT -
We're having a bit of an issue with our emails being rejected by some servers. Apparently we look a bit like spam (especially to COMCAST and HOTMAIL addresses).
If you ever email us and never hear back, please check your junk mail filter, add us to your "allowed" list and email us again. If you have an alternative email address, perhaps you could send us an email from that. You can read more about it on the FAQ page...
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Spreading the joy.... sharing the love...
They help you to make super-cute hats with coordinating binding and ribbon.
I also think the Tulip Dress looks super-cute with a Kids Hat.
And self-cover buttons look adorable on the Tulip Dress too.