Back in business

You'll be pleased to know the Marmadaisy shop is back online!

Hurrah!

The sewing machine ... A girl's best friend

Take a look at this, which has really made me giggle today.

Woven basket tutorial

(or, "The reason we didn't eat lunch until half past two this afternoon")

I'll just caveat this by saying that I have made a couple of mistakes, but you can learn from them so my pictures might not match what I'm saying. That's because I'm human, not a machine and sometimes I get it wrong (and then I swear a lot).
I've labelled this as a fat quarter tutorial even though, strictly speaking, it takes 3/4 yard of fabric to make. But you can make it with two nice FQs - or even some scraps.

You will need:
Fabric 1- 2 pieces of 10"x16"
Fabric 2- as above
Lining - 2 pieces of 10.5"x16"
Iron on interfacing (light to medium) - 4 pieces of 10"x16"
Very heavy iron on interfacing - 2 pieces, but do not cut until the weaving is done.
Fabric 1,2 or lining fabric (your preference) - 1 piece 7"x15"
Very heavy iron on interfacing - 1 piece 3.5"x12.5"
A piece of bag bottom or card (I forgot to put mine in, durrr!)


Prepare fabric:

You can make this with strips if you have them (eg a jelly roll) or even ribbon strips. These instructions assume you are using yardage.
Iron on the medium interfacing to the wrong sides of all fabric 1 and 2 pieces. This keeps the fabric straight for the next steps.

Cut fabric 1 horizontally, into 2" strips (you'll have 5 strips for each piece)
Cut fabric 2 vertically, into 2" strips (you'll have 8 strips for each piece)

Either zig zag stitch the long edges using a very small stitch, or run a single line of stitching 5mm from the edges and then fray. I used the small rolled hem function on my overlocker.

For 4 pieces of each fabric you will only need to do one side. If your fabric has a right/left top/bottom make sure you do two of each.

To weave:

Lay your horizontal strips on a desk, with the unfinished edges top and bottom.

Lay your vertical pieces on top, with unfinished edges left and right.
Starting at the bottom, pin strips together, alternating between the fabrics.
* What I should have done on mine, was make sure that the edges were different so that when stitched together they would still alternate. So, your left bottom of piece one should be the opposite to right bottom of piece 2)
Continue on the next row, alternating each row. Use a pin at each end, until you get to the top. Pin along the top. (I did take a picture, but it didn't come out for some reason) You will end up with a checkerboard effect.

Make sure that you butt each piece close to its neighbour, otherwise your interfacing will show and it will look rubbish. You can see here how my ironing board was showing through a crack. Fiddle with the pieces until they all match up.

PRESS with a hot iron. Don't "smooth" the iron across, just press down firmly for a couple of seconds, lift the iron and repeat on the next section.

Carefully sew around the edges using a basting stitch (I also used my walking foot to minimise movement)

When your pieces are basted, trim the excess (depending on how you finished your edges, your pieces will be slightly smaller than 2" and so there will be some overhang). Cut out the very heavy interfacing to fit.

To make it up:

Iron the interfacing to the fabric pieces. Take your time and use a pressing motion. Make sure it is all stuck down well.

Put the pieces right sides together and make sure they fit together, trim if necessary.

Sew the two fabric/interfaced pieces together along the sides and bottom.

This is a winged needle. I used this to get through all the layers (because that interfacing is thick). You will need to use a needle for heavy duty sewing. I noticed my machine was missing stitches and the thread kept snapping. I changed to some better quality Gutterman thread for the top stitching and I had no more problems - so try to use the best quality thread you have.

Cut a 3.5" square from the bottom 2 corners. Open up the trimmed corners and squash down so that the side seams match up.

Carefully sew along the corner seams. I did two lots of stitching for a good seam.

Turn the basket the right side out, and press well to get a firm and square shape.

Make the handle:

Fold the fabric in half, press, then each half into the middle crease and press again. Iron the heavy interfacing into the middle between the creases.

Fold the 2 edges back over, fold in half, press with the iron and stitch both edges.

To attach, fold the ends of the handle (without interfacing) over the top of the basket, and then back onto the front of the basket, then stitch. (The handle will be stitched front and back of the basket)

Fold the handle UNDER the basket, and repeat on the other side.

The bit I forgot:

Measure your bottom piece and cut a bag bottom to size. Cut this in half legthways and glue each piece in the bottom, either side of the centre seam.

Sew the lining:

As for the outer shell, but only sew a few inches on the bottom edge. Leave a big gape in the middle (most of the length of the bottom, because you need a lot of room to push the basket through).

Put the basket into the lining, right sides together.

It will be very fiddly - sew the top edges together. Because the handle is tight, do one side at a time. Put your hand through the lining gap to move the handle to the opposite side to the one you are stitching, so that any distortion is on that side, and your stitching side is smooth.

Pull the bag through the hole and stitch the bottom closed.

Because your lining is slightly bigger than your basket, it will show proud over the top. This is on purpose, so you don't have to deal with trying to press the blazes out of that heavily lined top seam.

Press all the sides and corners to get a neat finish.

And here is your basket!

*(see what I mean about those side pieces? Yours will be better because you'll have made sure that your edges alternated the right way)

I'm certainly going to make some of these in Christmas fabrics to fill with pine cones. I would also love to have a go at a ribbon version.

Let's get organasised!

Yesterday I had a little clear up in the sewing room. It actually wasn't too bad, except for one corner which holds all my odd bits that don't belong anywhere else.
The worst mess was my two baskets of "odds" - these are hampers that contain small scraps of fabric, bits of interfacing that might be useful and bits of leftover patchwork.
I wish I had taken a "before" picture, but I didn't think.

Anyway, I folded my interfacing neatly, threw away all the tiny scraps (how many teeny bits am I going to need, anyway?). I wanted to work out a way of storing the scrap fabrics neatly. Now, I'm not the best folder so I came up with this:

I figured that the fat quarter sized bits (on the right) could be folded and stacked. I can see what I have and get to it easily without rummaging. I also know that these are big enough bits to be of use.

The best bit though, is the small scrap arrangement. I usually keep these odds that are too small to be useful because it's always handy for checking tension, practising a stitch or seeing how a technique will work before messing up your "real" and expensive fabric. So I thought it doesn't really matter what colour these bits are - it's important to sort them by type. So, I now have rolls of t-shirt fabric, fleece, light cotton, muslin, heavy cotton etc. Now, when I want to check my tension, I just need to select the appropriate roll and take what I need, rather than rummaging in a massive box of bits. Good, eh?

Overlocked quilt

Cor, there's more to this overlocking business than just finishing seams!
OK, so it won't win any prizes, but at less than 2 days (including time taken to make dinners, do laundry, walk dogs, blah-di-blah) it's by far the quickest cover I've ever made.

It was a very simple design. I just flatlocked 3 strips together, cut them into lengths equal to their width (17cms)*, then blocked them together.

I then used a 10cm border in matching fabric. I backed it with an old duvet cover, attaching between border and patchwork. I roll hemmed the border, and underneath (on the backing piece) overlocked longer strips of co-ordinating fabric. Easy peasy.
The fabric is Folklore by Moda (2 jelly rolls made enough patches for a King size throw).

Unfortunately, the colours aren't exactly right for this time of year (because I've been putting this off for ages) so I'll have to make another for Autumn.

* My rotary cutter and I have been eyeing each other nervously for about 18 months. I used it once and decided I didn't like it. I have now made friends with it after realising that, as with most things, it's all down to having the right equipment to use with it and getting the right technique. It would have taken me forever to do this quilt without it.

Wasting time

Oh there's so much to do. Mr Marmadaisy and I are away for the weekend, going to the wedding that never was (don't ask!) and I still haven't written my final assignment for university, or even started revising.

The only thing to do was follow this tutorial and make a bag to put toiletries in when we go away.

The lining is waterproof, so it's ideal for wet shower stuff. I made these piped handles and am really pleased with it.

I did make a slight alteration as I used one of those "cut to size" zippers and attached my inserts first, then sewed the zip in place.

How to repurpose an old towel

Another one that's not too exciting ... but a useful thing anyway! As someone with long hair I can confirm that it's mightily annoying to have your towel spontaneously unwrap and drop dripping hair everywhere.
We all have those towels that have seen better days, lost their "fluffiness" and are, frankly, only good for wiping dogs' feet.

This is quite a good way to use an old towel. Or you could use a nice new one, if you wanted to give it as a gift.

Start by marking out the towel. Fold in half, and for ease we are going to use the existing finished edge (of course, you could use some bias binding if you wanted).

Measure - on the folded side - 23cm up and mark with chalk. Then measure 8cm in from that mark. Then measure 8cm down from the same mark (ie 15cm up from edge).

These marks mean that we can make a curved mark on the folded side. I hope that makes sense.

Then free-hand draw a curve from your inner mark to the outer edge of your towel (it should be about 60cms long).

You can see on the left-hand side of this picture that I have made marks at 23cms from the finished edge, then 8cms down from that and 8cms in, and connected them in a curve.

Cut out the shape, and in the corner pin about 10cms of folded elastic .

Use your new overlocker *smile* or a zig-zag stitch around the curved edge.

Stitch over the elastic bit a few times and trim into a neat edge.

Turn the right side out, and sew a button in the middle at the front.

To wear, simply put the turban over your head, twist hair in the long side, pull up over the top of your head and fasten the elastic over the button.

Fat Quarter Friday Tutorial - Obi belt

Here is another Fat Quarter Friday (ignore the fact that it's Monday) tutorial.
I was inspired by some japanesey fabric I had to make this thick belt. It's great for covering a multitude of sins, can be made in no time at all and makes you look like you have an hourglass figure, even if you don't.

Make the pattern by measuring out as follows. Measure 17cm by 15cm rectangle. Mark out the mid-point on one edge and 4cm in from that edge on the top and bottom. Then draw a curved shape. Fold in half to make sure your curves match.

This pattern piece goes on the fold (on the side edge). Cut one in your fabric, and one of contrasting fabric.

For the straps, cut two strips 50cm by 15 cm. Fold over one end 1cm and press. Fold in half lengthwise, press. Unfold, then fold the two sides in to meet in the middle. Press. Now fold over the original crease and press hard.

Do the same for the other side. REMEMBER that if your fabric has a "top" like mine, you'll need to make a left and a right. You can see here what I mean - one strap is folded on the left, one on the right. This is important for when you attach them later. Stitch the three sides, you don't need to stitch the raw edge.

Make a sandwich with your two front panels - right sides together- then two pieces of sew in interfacing on the outside. Lay the straps with the raw edge even with the raw edge of the front panel (making sure that you get your left and right the right way around).

Pin in place around three sides, and poke the straps throught the bottom. This will keep them out of the way of the stitching and remind you not to stitch all the way around. TIP: Before stitching, hold the belt up with your pattern the right way around and facing out (as you would wear it) and double check the straps are in the right place.

Slowly stitch all three sides, backstitching at the ends and over the straps.

Trim the seams and clip into the corners. If you clip a V out of the seam allowance where you stopped stitching, it will make the next bit easier.

Then fold over the fourth edge, pin, press.

Top stitch all around the front panel.

(ew, I think my machine is due a clean!)

Back view.

Modelling the Anna Tunic

Another Anna Tunic

I think overlocking is addictive. Or it could be this Anna Tunic from Amy Butler.

I made this one almost entirely on the overlocker and I'll say it again: it's quick!!
I changed the belt a bit. I was inspired by the fabric to create a thicker belt which is much more flattering for my shape. It is designed to sit under the best and cinch in the waist and I love how it alters the shape of the top. I'll model this properly later.

Sorry about the blurry pictures, I was in a hurry to get this blogged. I'm going to model it properly for the U-handblog comp (when I've brushed my hair!)

I overlocked around the neck-line and on the sleeves.

This belt was so easy to make and would look great with a plain shirt (FQF tute on its way).

Close up of the fabric-covered buttons.

I used overlock stitches on the lining and the hem.

Guess how much housework is NOT getting done in our house this week?