Vintage couture sewing techniques- day 3, 4 and 5

Hi,

 

Today I bring you some pictures of what I learnt on the rest of my Vintage couture sewing techniques course :) I can't believe that today was the last day, it went so quickly, probably because I was having so much fun!

 

On day 3 (Wednesday) we spent the whole day- over 4 hours (!!!!!) just making this special curved seam pocket. There were so many stages involving different types of hand sewing due to it being couture. The outcome was worth it though, it is the most lovely pocket I have yet seen :P

 

Here is a work in progress picture:

 

And here is the finished project- the pattern lines up all over once constructed, that is another reason it takes so much care and time:

 

 

Day 4 we did this decorative technique sampler including trapunto quilting (the very padded one- padding is inserted after sewing), normal quilting, roleau, different types of applique, openwork and encrusting (the dark blue one- inserting and patch/shape of fabric into the background fabric):

 

And today- the last day, we did some scalloping:

You can use it around hems or cuffs or down the front of fancy garment :)

 

 

And we did some lace applique, hand tucks, machine tucks, a French seam and hand rolled and pin tuck hems:

 

Hehee, yes all of those things are on the piece of fabric above. It is surprising how many techniques you can try on one piece of fabric :0)

 

And finally we tried some different couture finishings/fastenings:

 

It will be so weird not getting up and going to learn more tomorrow, though I only have to wait a couple of weeks and then I am going on my millinery course :D And next week I am going to practice some more techniques at home.

 

I made this pincushion for the course tutor as he was really nice to us all :)

 

I put a T on it for his name, he really liked it so I was pleased, he even started using it today! :o)

 

Just in case any one is interested he runs quite a few courses in different places here is his website- http://www.vonnordheim.co.uk/

 

I hope you all had a good week too,

 

See you soon,

 

Byeeee XXX

Halloween giveaway!

Hello everyone,

 

Sorry for the slightly longer period between posts, I have been very busy as my sewing course started this week (yay!) and yesterday I did another day at the tailors which was super fun too (I learnt a lot about altering jackets :).......

 

But...... today I bring you something special........ the in it to knit it Halloween giveaway!!! :0D

 

Here are the (spoooookkkkyyy :P) prizes:

 

 

A handmade (with newt skin, dragon feet and cobwebs, lol! :-) by me, Halloween themed pin cushion and creepy chocolate spider!

 

All you have to do to enter is:

 

1. Be/become a follower :)

2. Leave a comment at the bottom of this post, including some way for me to contact you in case you win! (e.g blog address, email, ravelry name etc...)

 

The giveaway is open to anyone, any age, anywhere!

 

Entries close on the 19th of October and the winner will be announced on the same day :-)

 

Don't miss out!

 

I hope you all like the prize,

 

See you soon,

 

Byeeeee xxxx

 

 

Recycled jar lid pincushion - Tutorial

Hello everyone!

I haven't put up a tutorial or pattern in a while so I thought it was about time I did! The recycled jar lid pincushion is an idea I came up with a while ago but hadn't got round to getting a tutorial together until now :)

They are super easy and quick to make and you can try them in loads of different styles depending on what fabric you have and what you decorate them with/embroider onto them :D

Here are some samples I made:

And here is how to make your own!:

You will need:

• Any old jar lid
• A piece of scrap fabric (a few times larger than your jar lid)
• A couple of handfuls of stuffing
• Some scissors
• A ruler
• A pen
• A needle
• Some thread
• A piece of felt (optional)
• Whatever decorations you wish!

How to:

1. Take your jar and remove the lid, any type of lid will do :-)

 

2. Clean your lid thoroughly!!! You don't want your finished pincushion to smell like pasta sauce or pickled onions!

3. Measure the radius of your lid- the distance from the centre to the outer edge (mine is about 3.5cm).

 

4. Then take your piece of fabric and measure and draw out a circle of radius 2 and a 1/2 times bigger than that of your lid onto it. Add about 1/2 a cm to the radius of your jar lid before you calculate the radius needed of your fabric circle (Add about 1cm instead if your lid is quite thick, like the lid of the chocolate spread jar in the photo).

(e.g the radius of my fabric circle was 10cm as my lid had a radius of  about 3.5cm > so > 4cm once add 1/2 cm and 2.5 x this is 10cm)

You don't have to be super accurate here, if your lid has a radius 3.1cm just round it 3.5cm and then do the calculations above. Make it easy for yourself :0)

 

5. Cut out the circle

6. Next thread your needle doubled up style (cut a long length of thread then pull it through your needle so the middle lies in the eye of the needle, like you are sewing with two strands of thread). I do it this way so that it is stronger for when you pull on it to gather up the material later, so it doesn't break.

 7. Sew running stitch all the way around your fabric circle about 1/2 a cm in from the edge. Once you have done this pull on the thread slightly to gather the material loosely like so:

 

8. Stuff quite a bit of stuffing inside your gathered pocket.

 

9. Then slide your lid under the gathered edge and above the stuffing (with flat side facing down, like in the picture). This will form the base of your pincushion and stop the pins sliding through and jabbing you, like they often do to me when I pick up my pincushions!

You can add more stuffing under the edges of the lid if you think your pincushion will not be puffy enough.

 

10. When you have reached a suitable level of stuffedness/puffyness :) gather up the bottom of your pincushion tightly and secure. You can stick a circle of felt on the bottom if you want to make the base look neat.

It should now look something like this:

11. Finally decorate however you wish and your pincushion is finished! Viola!:

:)

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I hope you all liked the tutorial!

Make lots of them and give them as gifts to your fave crafty friends! :D

Hehehe, See you all soon <3

Bye XxXxX

(P.S. Please do not sell items made from this tutorial without asking permission first, thanks xxx :)