London Mummy

Chris Gibbs - One of a kind

Spoke to my lovely brother in Toronto today and he has uploaded a couple of his comedy clips on You Tube, this is one of my favourites filmed at the Laugh Resort in Toronto:

We love you and miss the three of you lots Chris, really hope Livvy and I get to come out to Canada this Summer and watch you at some of the Fringe Festivals you're taking part in.

Apparently Chris has also been in an American/Canadian collaboration called Howie Do It with Howie Mandel so off to see if I can track down some clips of that for Livvy :)

Happy New Year with a peek at some of my Christmas sewing and fab tutorial compilation.

Well so much for my resolution of keeping on top of blogging and emails, failed already :)  Thanks to all who emailed me wishing me a Happy Xmas and New Year, I will respond soon I promise. 

Anyway just wanted to pop in and say Happy New Year and hello to everyone visiting from The Long Thread.  Ellen has compiled an absolutely amazing list of Tutorials and kindly included my Handmade Skittles and Ball Tutorial.  For those of you suffering from post Christmas crafting withdrawal go and check out the raft of wonderful tutorials she has featured, many of which I hadn't come across before.  She also has a really cute Reversable Skirt Pattern available in her Etsy Shop along with some cute machine embroidery designs for applique - go take a look!

As for me, I've been busy continuing with my DIY, more progress reports on that next week hopefully and trying to upload and edit some of my Christmas gift crafting photos:

Love this Robert Kaufman "Hot Couturier" print and thought the small scale would be perfect for a little doll's bed quilt set for a very special little girl who turned two on Christmas Day and has also just become a big sister to a new baby brother.

I teamed it with some very soft, fine red and white striped cotton/linen blend which was actually a real pain to work with but loved the combination of the fabrics.  The binding is the Michael Miller Garden Pindot - I cheated and just stitched both sides on in one go.  The quilt itself measures approx 21 inches by 18 inches and I simply quilted 3 inch squares - I like to keep things simple round here :)  For the pillow I made a simple calico stuffed one and then made the little patchwork cover using the fabrics I had used for the quilt - have to say I love this little set and will be making more for London Mummy soon.

I also made her this little scarf:

Really simple to make, a rectangle of the pretty blue floral fabric which is a lovely soft brushed cotton, a layer of "Warm and Natural" batting and some dark midnight blue soft corduroy for the reverse.  Plan to add a button and button hole but need to double check her neck size first - I have a habit of underestimating sizing :)

A few people asked me for a tutorial on the pyramid fabric shapes, both in the kids play size and door stop size and I will try and post that later on this week, provided I finish Livvy's floor first! 

Phew! Time to take stop and take a breath ....

Not had much opportunity to take many photos of what I have been busy making lately for London Mummy but as the sun is shining this morning and Livvy is away with her dad visiting her grandparents thought  I would grab a few whilst I can!

I absolutely love the Alexander Henry Petting Zoo print, particularly this blue colourway - why oh why did they have to discontinue this one too!!  It has a really 50's feel to it, actually I believe the design was an original 50's one, I remember a woman I met via ebay telling me that she had a very similar wallpaper in her bedroom as a child.  She sent me a photo but sadly I think it may well have been deleted when I last spring cleaned my Mac.

The quilt is approximately 30 inches by 30 inches square, ideal for a toddlers lap quilt or as a play mat for a baby - plenty of visual interest and great fun to pick out all the different animals at the zoo.  The binding is a plain red cotton, why does hand sewing the binding take so long - or is it just me? 

Livvy had a demonstration at Stagecoach on Friday night but I was so keen to finish this and some other items for yesterday's Christmas Fair that I missed it.  Typically the one and only time I have missed any of her activities since birth, she was presented with her 3 year bronze medal!  Oh dear, well at least her dad was there to see it!

I used Warm and Natural for the wadding/batting and machine stitched squares at 5 inch intervals and am really pleased how it turned out.  Sounds daft but it folds up nice and neatly which I like :)

In keeping with the vintage style, I backed the little bib and burp cloth set with some chenille and used a decorative top stitch around the edges - I like the fact that over time these edges will fray a little, adding to the charm and the chenille just gets softer and softer each time it is washed.

Making the little tags is fun and a good way to use up little scraps of fabric.  Just make them in pretty much the same way as you would applique the onesie but use pinking shears instead of zig zagging around the edges and then lightly iron them onto your tag.

Couldn't resist adding an Anne Claire Petit crochet monkey to the set together with her adorable baby booties:

For the cushion or pillow, as those of you in the US would call it, I use a simple envelope opening and continue the fabric all the way round to the back.  Inside the cover is fully lined to add a bit of extra weight and I like to french seam so that there are no raw edges.

 

As my stash of this print is rapidly decreasing I may well change the back in future in order to save on fabric.

Yesterday's Fair was fun, although I did spend four hours standing in a marquee with my coat on the whole time as I was so cold, despite the fact there were heaters.  My stall was right in front of the entrance so a great spot but it did mean a constant flow of cold air.  I was next to the mulled wine and had a hard time resisting temptation!  As I was on my own I didn't get a chance to take a look around but did get to meet some of the other lovely stallholders as they had a wander themselves.  Thanks again to the lovely lady who gave me the handwarmer and to my equally lovely neighbour who covered for me so that I could at least go to the loo!!

Missed out on a party last night, but by the time I got home, lugged all my stock upstairs, tried to put my flat back into something vaguely resembling home and then falling, fortunately not too far, from the ladder as I was putting some stock away up in the attic and wrenching my shoulder in the process it was 8.45 pm and I just couldn't face anything other than a glass of wine and an early night.  Hopefully my friends will forgive me but I'm afraid I do rather have a reputation of missing things - one of the downsides of being a somewhat shy singleton in a sea of couples :)

Head down, just keep going ...........

Another long break in between posts as I have been busy with Christmas Fairs etc; cutting, sewing, packing, lugging, unpacking, displaying, re-packing, lugging, posting etc etc all great fun but tiring and no time for much else it seems, well apart from the usual DIY, cooking, cleaning and helping with homework :)

Thanks to Tipnut for including my central zipper pouch tutorial on their site and hello to everyone who is visiting as a result :)

On Saturday I took part in an NCT (National Childbirth Trust) Christmas fair here in Chiswick.  Met lots of lovely people, particularly the lady who said I didn't look old enough to have an 11 year old daughter, hmm maybe the lighting needed to be a little brighter or perhaps she could see how tired I was!! 

Livvy came too and was a great help, a mini entrepreneur in the making me thinks - unless of course she gets snapped up after her forthcoming appearance on TV!!  More on that later.

On a whim I had decided to rustle up some more pencil cases using some of  the fabulous Alexander Henry 2D Zoo:

 

Lined with the dotty linen fabric from Sandberg.

To match the cushions:

I know, I know :)

The vintage style bib and burp cloth sets I made with some of my diminishing stash of Alexander Henry Petting Zoo went down well so I'll be making another batch of these this week and hopefully will get some decent light to take some photos of these and a whole heap of other stuff I made.

Also been making some baby/toddler quilts but only managed a photo of this one.  Love this Joel Dewberry Sparrows print which I teamed up with some of the Amy Butler Midwest Modern for the binding.  Kept it really simple and just quilted 8 inch squares.  Rather than hand sew the binding to the front I used a decorative stitch on my Elna machine, a little wonky but I like the decorative stitch and it is so much faster to do. 

Right short and sweet I know, but I had best be off to help finish that Maths homework.  I'll post again in the next couple of days as I really want to introduce you to a couple of great people I met at the Fair.

 

Free Sewing tutorial - Lined pencil case or pouch with central zipper

 
A few people have asked me for a tutorial for this pouch or pencil case with a central zipper and lining so I'm happy to oblige :)  These are great for using up small fabric scraps.  If you alter the sizing to suit your needs, these are so useful for all sorts of different things, make up brushes, storing your undies etc when travelling - Livvy wants me to make her a larger one to put her loose papers etc in for school rather than using an ugly plastic wallet.

Apologies for the poor lighting, it is such a dull grey day here today.

For this tutorial I'm going to make a pencil case size so you will need the following:

OUTER FABRIC - cut one piece measuring 21cm by 21cm - I used some of Anna Maria Horner's Bohemian fabric in a lovely aubergine colour, although the washed out photos don't do it justice at all.

LINING FABRIC - cut one piece measuring 21cm by a width of 20cm - the width of the lining is slightly less as you will be fitting this inside the finished outer case.  I like to use linen as it adds a bit of weight to the finished case - I also used some black iron on interfacing to stiffen this pretty purple linen. 

ZIPPER

TO MAKE THE OUTER CASE

Turn under (wrong sides facing) half a cm on two opposite ends of your outer fabric and press:

Tack/baste one of your turned under ends to the zipper - I used basting tape to save a bit of time.

If you are not familiar with basting tape, it is basically just a self adhesive tape, cut a strip to the required length, press to the edge of the zip (the good side) and peel away the backing paper.  This leaves you with a self adhesive strip you can press your folded under edge of fabric to as below:

Now machine stitch in place using a zipper foot:

Again using the basting tape, I attached the other end of the outer fabric to the zipper - this will automatically form a tube shape and you will need to open the zipper to enable you to machine stitch it in place - a little bit fiddly when you get to the end but not too bad:

 

Now we are going to sew up the side seams.  Pull the zipper about halfway and turn your tube inside out - DO NOT FORGET TO HAVE THE ZIP PARTIALLY OPEN - otherwise you won't be able to turn your outer case right side out after you have sewn the side seams - I hate having to unpick when I forget to do this - it is so easily done if you get distracted :)

I use a safety pin to help hold the ends of the zipper close together and a measuring gauge to centre my zip - press lightly and then you don't really need to pin before sewing the side seams.

 

Use a 0.5cm seam allowance and backstitch at your starting, stopping points and over the zip.

 

Put the outer case to one side whilst we make the lining.

TO MAKE THE LINING CASE

On the two sides which measure 21cm , turn under and press 0.5 cm (wrong sides together - you can see the black interfacing I used):

Turn over so that the wrong side of the fabric is face down (not shown) and using the measuring gauge again fold the two turned edges towards the middle as shown - if you were to peek inside you should see the right/good side of your fabric.

 

Press the folded edges and sew the side seams - 0.5 cm.

 

Trim the seamed sides of both the outer and lining cases with pinking shears, this is when you cut off the excess zipper too..

Remove the safety pin and turn the outer case right side out - gently push out the corners with a point turner, chopstick or your fingers if you have nothing else to hand :)   I like to gently press the outside case at this point too.

Now insert the lining case inside the outer case as shown below - the wrong side of your inside case will face the wrong side of your outer case and enclose the raw edges of the seams:

 

I use my point turner to gently ease the lining case right into the corners  don't worry if you find the lining case is a little too bulky to fit the width nicely,  just stitch another seam line slightly further in from the previous line of stitching and trim again - not too much though otherwise you could end up making the lining too small to fit well!

 

Added another photo as light is better today and want to show just how lovely the fabrics are really :)

Now hand stitch the lining to the underside edge of the zipper - I don't turn it inside out to do this I just kind of roll it over so that I can access it easily - I hope that makes sense!  I like to use invisible thread so that my stitches don't show even if I accidentally let the needle go all the way through to the outside of the outer case but it's entirely up to you :)

That's it, you're done, do let me know if something doesn't make sense but hopefully the photo overload should do the trick.  I hope people aren't offended that I tend to go into such detail on my tutorials, it's just that if you are an absolute novice then more info is definitely better.

I usually like to add some beads and ribbon to the zipper pull but this particular zipper didn't have a hole in the pull so I couldn't but it was such a great colour match I wanted to use it.

A note on buying zippers, I bought a huge job lot on ebay ages ago, a complete mixed bag of colours which means I usually have a suitable colour zipper on hand plus it worked out a lot cheaper that way.  The company is Zipperstop and they are based in New York.  Here is a link to their ebay auctions for bulk buy zippers.  They ship worldwide and now also seem to stock all sorts of other bits and pieces too.