New projects

You might think I've been pretty lazy, but I really haven't. It's bit a little bit longer than two weeks from my last post and I've managed to finished three projects. Might not seem like a lot for some of you, but it's pretty good for me. One project equals one week, that's how it usually is. I wish I had more time for sewing. Don't you?

About my three projects, I made a ladies dress from two men's shirts, ladies tunic from one men's shirt, and a patchwork handbag.

I didn't really like the dress at first, but must say that the final result is really nice. Wish I was a bit smaller and could wear it myself. But it's going to my Etsy shop. Just couple of pictures taken by my phone, better ones coming soon. What do you think, do you like it?

 

The tunic I've made is very similar to this one, just smaller and with different details.



I've decided to be a bit mean and let you wait for pictures.

 

Here's how I started, men's shirt after I cut collar, sleeves and cuffs off. 

My last project is a patchwork bag, I've never done patchwork before and I must say, that I absolutely loved it, once I started I couldn't put it down. I have drawn the pattern and cut individual pieces from card. As I do not have a rotary cutter, I had to cut all the pieces by scissors, there is 18 patchwork pieces on the bag, each made from 8 pieces, plus extra pieces in between each square, all together 164 pieces.

 

This is my pattern and pattern pieces with 1cm seam allowance.

 I have sewn the pieces in number order and iron seams after sewing each piece, so I sewn pieces number one and two together, pressed the seam, sewn piece number three, pressed seams again, etc. Long process, but worth doing.

  

This is what my living room/sewing room looked like, very messy.

 

And here is half of my squares. There are same squares on the front and back of the bag.







 



And a finished bag. It's got wooden handles, that are from a bag I found in a charity shop, only cost me 50p, and the bag is lined with two pockets, one of them with zip.

Vintage inspired skirt finished and new look for my Etsy shop

My new creation, vintage inspired skirt in 1950s style is finished now and listed in my Etsy shop.

The pictures have been taken by my friend Andrea, who does it professionally, I am really happy with them. She was so nice and re-took pictures of all item in my Etsy shop last weekend, just downloaded them all, here's just few of my favourite ones. Feel free to check my shop for more https://www.etsy.com/shop/PetraFedor?ref=si_shop.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to bore you, couldn't pick less, as they're all great. But what do you think about them?

 

 

And here is a link to Andrea's website, if you're local and would like to have pictures taken http://www.andreadeansphotography.co.uk/Home.aspx.



Just few Easter pictures and my new projects

I've been pretty busy last month, mainly working, doing few repair jobs on different garments for people. I haven't had much time to do real sewing. Finished grey dress made from men's shirt and trousers. I will post pictures soon. The friend of mine re-took pictures of all my items in Etsy shop last weekend, so I'll be changing all the pictures soon. Can't wait to give my shop new look. I hope they will attract new customers. I'm not very keen on having pictures taken, but it was great fun.

I've been also working on new skirt, which is made.... you won't believe it from old curtains. They replaced old curtains at work after 20 years, so employees were allowed to take the old ones, otherwise they would have gone to charity shop. It's really great quality fabric, you would never believe it's 20 years old, it's got retro flowery design, which is really in right now. I've decided to make 1950's gathered skirt with pockets. Here's couple of pictures before it was finished. It worked out exactly as I hoped. The skirt has a nice body, as the fabric is thicker, but not too thick.

 

 

And here is few pictures from Easter....

 

 

Leg of lamb ready to be roasted with garlic and rosemary

 

Yummy roasted leg of lamb

Few Easter eggs me and Oscar decorated with acrylic paint with a layer of nail varnish on the top. A bit tricky but real fun to do.

 



 

My second attempt to make a loaf of bread from scratch.

 

 

And my latest project is knitted denim doormat, which I started last night. I cut old jeans into 1 inch thick strips, but it was too thick to knit with, so decided to cut each strip in half, which made knitting possible. Unfortunately it's been such a messy job, that I put it away, deciding to do it in the summer, when I can do it in a garden. This is how much I managed to do in couple of hours last night.

 

 





Just a little something to make you smile!

Every Tuesday I clean for an old lady and these two tiles she's got hanging in her bathroom always make me smile. So I thought I'll bring a smile to your face as well....

New top finished and what's on my sewing table

My new top is finished now, I already wore it and I do really like it. It's perfect paired with jeans, I'm sure it's going to be one of my favourites. And blue is definitely my favourite colour at the moment. It's very simple, with the buttons on the back, for which I used the front of the shirt. To add a little bit of 'personality' I created lace asymmetric detail on the front.  The pictures and not really that great, I took them myself and there hasn't been much sun for a very looong time. Can't wait for spring to arrive....

 

 

My new project is a dress made from recycled men's shirt and men's trousers. I have been carrying this idea in my head for ages. When I was sorting my fabric stash few month ago, I thought these two fabric would be really good together. After looking for a perfect pattern to use, I've decided to use Burdastyle dress pattern from March 2011 for the bodice, just added elbow length sleeves and will work on the skirt along the way. Would like to keep the pockets from the trousers. Will keep you posted. And here is few pictures: