Blogging catch up time & Half of Number 32… finally!

So on my ‘To do’ list is a number of things that I have actually been working on but never seem to get round to writing the blog for… So today is all about blogging… or at least drafting them out on Word first 🙂

I love sewing. Pretty much all sewing… except patchwork and quilting! I make no secret of it. Some people are brilliant at it and will spend years working on amazing pieces. I have all the patience in the world but I just get so bored doing patchwork. So quite what possessed me to do this is beyond even me! It took me nearly a week to drag myself to complete it but I’m quite glad I did get there in the end.

In amongst my post on five dresses from one pattern (coming soon) there is my ‘Sewing Dress’ made form a range called ‘And sew on’ by Henry Glass. I, like all sewers, love fabric and can’t bear to throw any away so underneath my sewing worktop I have a huge black bag full of off cuts. Now it’s only fitting that a sewing machine cover should be made from sewing themed fabric right?

I gathered all the scraps together and ironed them. The only way I was going to make this work was the dreaded patchwork :O I figured a series of squares and rectangles would mean I could sew together strips and then the strips into panels that would then make up cover.

I don’t have, at present, one of those fancy self-healing cutting mats so I measured and drew out a grid on the piece of board that I do use for cutting out on. I used this to cut out as many pieces as I could of the three designs. I did have a rather large chunk of the ‘Cotton Reels’ so to save me tearing my hair out I decided to use this as the top and two end panels of the finished  cover.  Sadly I’m a tad OCD and had to try and make the pattern ‘work’ – I really can’t do ‘random’ like a lot of people can. I had to work it so that the patches never connected with a patch of the same design.. I’m a nightmare! And matching it all together was a nightmare too! I did it eventually however I did cut the shapes to the same grid which was a bit silly as what I thought would be 3 squares long actually turned out much longer than a 3 squares sewn together as I forgot to take into account the extra/reduced seam allowances involved! DOH! There are good reasons I hate patchwork 😦

I pinned and stitched each strip, ironed the seams open and then pinned all the strips in order at one end before sewing in place. I had to make sure everything stayed in the correct order ;?  I kept the seams nice and narrow by lining up the edge of the foot with the edge of the fabric and moving the needle over to the right of center. Eventually I manage to put together two panels large enough for the front and back of my cover. I did spend a few hours trying to use my remaining panels to join the two pieces over the top but couldn’t do it without same patterned pieces touching so gave up and went to bed!

Two days later I had to drag myself back to the task determined to finish it. I used an old curtain given to me by one of my oldies. In actual fact it was the leftover curtain she had used to make a cover for her machine so I thought it fitting to use if for the backing for my cover. I went to the local Dunlem Mill shop and purchased some 70g batting to place between the layers. I joined the front, top and back into one big panel and did the same for the lining. I joined them at either end, turned in the right way out and placed the batting in between, pinning it in place. I decided to only stitch along the horizontal lines which is exactly what I did all the way up the patchwork sections.  I do have a ‘stitch in the ditch’ foot but for some reason I prefer to do it buy eye with the normal sewing foot. That done I stitched the side panels together and made one central stitching line to secure the batting in place. My original intention was to us a bright red binding to join the end panels to the top/sides however I was so pleased I’d almost finished I forgot about that bit and stitched them together normally. Oh well! I should still bind the seams on the inside for neatness and durability but for now I’ve trimmed them with pinking shears…

 And voila … doesn’t look too bad considering I hate patchwork and quilting does it lol

The last unused pieces I cut into just squares and made the beginnings of a little mat that I can put on top of my vintage Singer treadle machine when it finally gets moved to the living room as I intend to display it there eventually.

Next I have to do a cover for my overlocker… which I can assure you be made a lot quicker and definitely NOT from patchwork!

Happy sewing every one

 Lainey x