My Crafty Week: 10th-16th May

I've decided to try a new thing on the blog! I'm finding that I'm not posting much as I feel like I need to do a summary post when I finish something - and that can take a while! So these will be little diaries showing what I have got up to and discussing any thoughts I've had along the way, without anything needing to be finished!

Embroidery

The week started with a bit of disappointment as I failed to meet one of my New Year's Resolutions (as made in this post). As you can see from the image above, I've not managed to finish the birth sampler for my friend's son in time for his birthday. But it's much closer than it was and I might be able to get it done by the end of May! New deadline!

Also in embroidery, I made one of my Jacobin Day Quilt Blocks as an applique. I really enjoyed this method, which is completely new to me. The way I did it was like making a little collage of scraps of fabric and felt with embroidery highlights. Though I did cheat a little and use glue for some of the fiddly elements! We're keeping our quilt blocks as a surprise, so here's a tiny peek...

A close-up of an applique scene, showing a pair of red spotted wellingtons and a plant pot with three large blooms

Dress-making

I had the urge to make myself something quick and relatively easy, which wouldn't require complex stages and a toile and so on. I've wanted to make a circle skirt for ages and decided to go for it with a large curtain panel for fabric. The result is very summery and swishy and makes me feel very happy!

Katharine, a fat white woman with long brown hair, stands in front of a mirror holding up her phone to take a picture. Her other hand holds out the side of her skirt. The skirt is ankle length, white with large pink and purple flowers

I also spent several **hours** tidying my sewing corner, putting all my notions and trimmings and fabrics into labelled boxes, and storing patterns and instructions in folders. Remind me to keep it nice and tidy! This process led to me finding my buttonhole foot, which I thought was missing, so I had a little practice at using that - not entirely successfully, so I am going to give it some more attempts before letting loose on the dress I am making that needs buttonholes!

Mending

Another thing I did this week was mop up a few quick mending tasks that had been annoying me, including sewing up the loose seam on a teddy bear, fixing holes in jeans and t-shirts, and making these cute peekaboo patches for my daughter's leggings!

Flat lay of a pair of black leggings. Two large holes at the knees have been patched with dinosaur fabric in such a way that the dinosaurs look like they're peeking through the rip in the leggings

Bonus cat pictures!

A black and white cat sitting on a pinned piece of white fabric patterned with purple and pink flowers

A black and white cat sitting on a large piece of white fabric, paw raised to bat at some threads

Cleocatra was fascinated by my circle skirt fabric and kept trying to pounce on it or me through it!

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Eco-friendly Upcycled Face Wipes

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Sewing the Tessuti Apron

I've wanted to sew an apron for a while and came across the free Tessuti Apron pattern here . It was exactly what I was looking for, a cross-back apron with a square neckline. I decided to make it using this gorgeous pear print cotton twill fabric that I found at my favourite online fabric shop, DIY or Dye . I did look up whether the Tessuti Apron pattern would be suitable for a larger body like mine - it comes in a 'one-size-fits-all' pattern which is never really true. I did find fatter sewists saying they needed to adjust the pattern to lengthen the straps and widen the skirt section. I decided to make it as it came as I had a friend in mind who I could gift it to if it didn't fit me well. Above: Attaching the pocket Above: needle break! The folded layers of pocket in the heavy fabric were too much for a normal needle. I switched to a denim needle for the rest of the project. Above: halfway point. I still had the neckline to face and hem, and the straps to hem. Below...

#30DaysWild - crafting with nature

It's 30 Days Wild , the month of nature activities and wildlife activism organised by The Wildlife Trusts. During June, we are encouraged to do one 'random act of wildness' each day, whether that's something as complex as building hedgehog houses or digging ponds, to something as simple and peaceful as having breakfast outside or watching a wild webcam. The event gives us lots of opportunities for some wild crafting! Here's a rundown of wild crafty activities to do with kids - but there's many more on my 30 Days Wild Pinterest board - have a look! Leaf painting/rubbing Leaves can be used in so many different ways to create artworks - place them under paper and rub with crayons for an imprint, cover them in paint or felt-tips and press onto paper, arrange them in a collage, use them as the skirts for a woodland fairy, or imprint them into clay or salt dough! Sticks Sticks have so many potential uses! They can become paintbrushes, magic wands, picture frames, we...

Confined Crafting

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