Building up the stash

A few months ago I told myself there was no point buying more fabric, since the workshop is full of it and I have very little to make anything. But I just couldn't help...

Some vintage fabric found on Trademe.

And some african wax fabric a friend got sent over.

Tahi and I have also been collecting more flowers.

Rawiri st 2

Crawford rd

Autumn goodness

The next best fruit after feijoas: persimmons. We have an organic grower here who has the best persimmons ever, and Im not ashamed to say that I bought two big bags off him last week and there are none left. I pigged out.

Our mandarins are ripening quick too. The first little bunch didn't last more than half an hour!

Too sexy for my bedsocks

I can sleep pretty much anywhere: plane, train, boat, in a bright sunny room and with a traffic jam outside my window. I've slept in a house that was near an airport with planes taking off early in the morning til late at night. Heck, we live on a street that sees logging trucks go past from 3 or 4am in the morning. I'm a deep sleeper. But I can't sleep if I've got cold feet. Impossible. And in winter my feet are cold pretty much all the time, especially when I hop into bed.
So I made bed socks. I did. And I found out that no matter how hard I try, they never look sexy. But hey, at least I can sleep!

Keeping with the warm and practical for winter theme, I also made a tube scarf. Because I can never wear a normal scarf without it falling over one shoulder or another or getting entangled.

This one is made using a strip off an upcycled wooly top, and lined with some beautiful african wax fabric I bought off a friend.

The bonus with this style is that I can also wear it as a hood. Nice.

Oh, and I've been experimenting with hand sewn thread, I like it.

Head over to Kootoyoo for more creative spaces.

Stop buying Tuna

I vowed a few years back to stop buying tuna as long as there is no way to find out how it was caught. Here's why:

Make your own: Bird softie

I've always loved the idea of making cute softies but somehow never get round to actually making any.

The little bird I made for my wire coat hanger was my first try at making one from scratch (if you exclude the "voodoo doll" I made for the mini art journal challenge).

I got a bit carried away and made quite a few more, I just couldn't decide which fabrics I liked best and also wanted to make some with some beautiful african wax fabric I bought off a friend of mine. Now I'm still trying to figure out what to do with them all, I've got a few ideas...

Here's the tutorial for anyone who would like to make one at home. (excuse the terrible photos, I only sew at night at the moment!).

You will need:
- two pieces of contrasting medium weight material
- two buttons
- a piece of felted wool
- something to stuff them with (I used fabric scraps from my overlocker!)

1- Print out the pattern. Make sure it is to scale or whatever size you want it. Seam allowance is 1/4".

Click on this picture and print out.

2- Cut out fabric. Use the felted wool to cut out the wings.

3- Place the wings on the sides where you want them, them place the buttons where you want them to hold the wings. Sew using the button setting on your sewing machine.

4-Sew the top part to one of the sides, starting from the beak, wrong sides together. Repeat with other side.

5- Sew the bottom part to one of the sides, starting from the tail this time, wrong sides together. Repeat with the other side, leaving a 2-3" gap in the middle so you can turn the bird inside out when you're done.

The bottom should be sewn up to where the beak starts.

6- Sew the two sides together at the beak.

7- Turn the bird inside out. Stuff it well, so it keeps its shape. Sing a song, you're done!

Snail mail

Look what I got in the post (a few weeks ago already, but didn't have a camera!)! I won a giveaway held by Emily at Millicent Crow and was stoked when it turned up. I love it, especially the Huia, being a bird lover. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet so I've carefully stored them away for now.
Thanks Emily!

I'm having a break from sewing tonight and watching a movie a friend lent me. Both machine could do with some maintenance too. I haven't had a technician check them since I got them over a year (or two?) ago, I think's it's about time.

A seamstress's nightmare

This is what I found the other day on some bit of clothing... Eeeeek! a clothes moth! (that's what their eggs look like)

And I also found a few too many holes in one of my favourite merino cardis... which is now waiting on the pile of clothes to be upcycled.
So I rushed to the sewing room (where I've had some lavender hanging for ages) and set to make some little lavender sachets. I had meant to make some ages ago but it just kept slipping down in my list of "to do" projects. Until a few days ago.

I grabbed a vintage linen tea towel lying around waiting to be used, chopped it into little rectangles (I folded it in half and kept cutting through the folds until I got a good sachet size, no waste!). I found plenty of tutorials on the net, including an assembly line type one here, a cute one with an applique here and a very neat one with painted sachets here. If you google it, you'll be spoilt for choice.

Because I was in a hurry, as I often am these days, I just had a quick look at the photos and started gorilla sewing (sewing without planning, very bad). They actually turned out great, I love the look of them. I ended up with quite a few, hopefully I won't need them all so a few of them will end up in my stash of last minute presents bag. if anything, next time I might take the time to include a little loop so I can hang them if need be...

Most of them actually ended up filled with dried mint, just because I have more of it available in the garden, and which apparently is a good moth repellent too.