I've been meaning to post some pictures of recent sewing exploits but as soon as I get my camera out to take pictures the sun disappears!
The walking foot for my Elna has been sitting in one of my sewing drawers for absolutely ages and I thought it was high time I faced the fear and actually used it :) We've had a couple of colder nights so the trusty hot water bottle has made an appearance and so I decided to make a new cover and tackle the walking foot avoidance issue.
Well I have to say, I really don't know what I was so afraid of, it really was actually very easy and made such a difference, no bunching of the fabrics or getting snagged in the machine - fabulous! I used some Amy Butler flannel, some lightweight wadding and some plain cream cotton for the inside lining. The binding I made using some of the olive green Amy Butler quilting solid - now the binding I did find tricky - one side looks ok but when I pulled it over towards the other side and hand stitched it things started to go a little awry. Oh well, practice makes perfect I guess :)
Yuk, very washed out photo but it's the best of a bad lot so it will have to suffice I suppose. Despite having several already, I decided to make Livvy a new pencil case. All the others she has don't really allow for a good rummage without spilling the contents all over her desk. Cue a pencil case with a central zipper instead:
I used more Amy Butler fabric for the outer case which is far lovelier in the flesh than this photo shows, a gorgeous slate grey with fresh blue dots, one of my favourite colour combinations, plus some grey linen from Designers Guild for the lining as I wanted to give the case some extra weight as it will soon be bulging at the seams I'm sure.
These are pretty straightforward to make, a little fiddly if you want to line them but definitely worth the extra effort. To be honest I probably spent longer fiddling around trying to attach some ribbon and the bead to the zipper pull than I did making the actual pouch!!
I'm planning on doing some more tutorials for Christmas this year so let me know if there is anything in particular you would be interested in.