Additions and acquisitions to my craft room this September

It seems that crafting is now part of my everyday life in a way that I couldn’t have imagined when we moved here - and I’m not sad about it. I don’t always get to do some craft every day, but if I don’t I’m pretty sure I’m thinking about new projects or possibly even shopping online, or in real life.

I’m beginning to think it’s true that buying, or acquiring, new supplies is a separate hobby to actually using them, and it’s one I’ve been working on over a number of years. Now though I have the time to start using it all, or some of it at least.

With more crafting time in my days my productivity has definitely increased - you’ll have seen earlier posts on my newly put into practice skills proclaiming my pouch love, and the updates to my quilty plans. I’ve realised though that the accountability these posts give me is good, and so I’m planning to share more about what I add to my craft room every month in this new series of posts.

Some of these I will most likely already shared, like the vintage table runner and £1 fabric sample from our weekend in Malton - not forgetting the cute hand painted little cards.

My plan for the vintage table runner is to have it on standby to use in my hand sewing EPP (English Paper Piecing) blue diamonds project, that’s if I can bear to cut this one up as it is so pretty. For the green chevron fabric sample, that’s looking at a new life as a project bag, though I need to find the perfect fabric to pair with it, but one that doesn’t detract from the striking design.

I’m a convert to Aurifil thread for quilting and generally most of the other projects I’ve been sewing recently, but I’m also a lazy colour changer! This is something I want to be better at, and braver too and as I’m nearly through my ‘go to’ white thread I added some pretty variegated threads to my basket at the Morris Works Quilt Shop to encourage more thread changes!

AURIFIL THREADS: NATURAL WHITE (2021), DESERT DAWN (4648), LIBERTY (3852) & MARRAKESH (3817)

Planning to make more clothes

I also want to make more wearables, and at a recent Sewing Group meeting I saw someone wearing some great 3/4 length culottes strangely not that dissimilar to those in the image below. After thinking I like those, somehow my next thought was I could make some - who even am I?

As fate would have it this pattern dropped into my inbox soon after, and so a plan formulated. I bought the pattern, opting for the A0 printed version (rather than just the PDF self print and stick option) and I’m planning to use the bargain material I picked up from the fabric stall in Newark Market which was closing down. It’s a bold print and so I’m hoping that will disguise any blips I have…

When the pattern arrived I realised I’d also need an invisible zip, and then I remembered that zips are a whole other world - especially when you don’t really know what colour you need to match to your fabric, which isn’t helped when shopping online. So I turned to eBay and picked up more invisible zips than I will probably ever need for £15, reasoning that one of these colours must work. And if I make more of these culottes then I’m a step ahead with the zip already…

It’s true I have made myself a dress, and I have worn it a few times over the summer - and it does bring compliments, more importantly it hasn’t fallen apart. And sewing is just sewing (sort of!), so it should be within my grasp, especially now that I’ve had plenty of zip practice following all those pouches!

Watch this space (but remember to blink).

Still adding to my stash

At the charity sew day for Project Linus UK I picked up these two bundles of fabric from the sale table for less than a fiver. The lighter colours have a touch of Cath Kidston about them, and I liked how they looked alongside the dark fabrics - I’ve a feeling that these may appear in another charity quilt at some point.

Repurposing too

I have finally ‘retired’ my favourite Joules t-shirt, which is well past wearing in public stage - even for gardening, sadly. But I can’t quite bring myself to throw it away completely, or turn it into rags as MOH suggested. Instead I’ve added this to my ‘potential pouch’ pile, and I’ve sorted out some lining and a zip too so there’s some chance this will happen in the not too distant future.

On the wall

Well, it isn’t quite - but that’s the plan. This month I want to get my newly-picked up, carefully unwrapped, admired and then laid on the spare bed for safekeeping Vogue pattern page picture up on my craft room wall. I’m so pleased with how they turned out, that it’ll be good to see them every day. And it’s just as well the pictures were cheap - unbelievably just a pound each, as the framing was a bit more than that - I have expensive tastes clearly!

So that’s a wander through the new things in my craft room, let me know if you enjoyed reading this post - and what you’ve added to your craft supplies this month.

Dismantling a fabric sample book

Before we moved I stumbled across a bargain selection of fabric sample books, which I tried to ignore. But the fabric patterns and designs kept calling my name and so I became the proud owner of three fabric sample books, or as they became known - another b****y thing to move!

Well recently the time came when they called my name again, but obviously in the book they weren’t a whole lot of use to me - and so I decided to dismantle one, thinking how hard can it be?

The short answer is - quite hard.

In the end I needed some of MOH’s tools, some of his strength and also the encouragement to keep going.

There was a lot of strong glue, and multiple layers of staples. The middle ones were easier to remove than the end ones - and so they stayed and I cut the material around them.

But I got there, and it was worth it - just look at the material I freed!

And that’s from just one of the sample books, though I think I’ll leave the other two for another time!

There was still more to do though as even though I’d got the fabric out of the books I still needed to remove the paper border on the reverse of each piece. I was less successful here though as the paper I did get off didn’t come away cleanly. I tried soaking, and peeling carefully - but it was a lot of work, so in the end I settled for trimming the edges, which was a shame. Frustratingly one of the other books I tried the paper backing came off much more easily!

But I now have another pile of fabrics to refresh my stash, and right now which I don’t have any firm plans for - though the mustard ones are calling out to be a pouch, but I’ve not found the right question yet! The greys and neutrals may make their way into my ‘grey collection’ for my floral fancy extension, but I think I want to use some of the other pieces first before I commit.

But as ever, the possibilities are endless - and promise to be pretty creative too.

Inside the fabric and haberdashery departments at Liberty

Having filled my cup as it were with the homewares in Liberty I headed further upstairs to the fabric and haberdashery departments, which for me could be a much more dangerous place for my purse! Initially I headed past the world famous prints and into the haberdashery - perhaps attracted by all the shiny things, who knew?

I couldn’t think of any good reason to buy any of the buttons or ribbons, but was totally in awe at the choice of buttons and almost instantly transported back to ‘The Button Shop’ in South Norwood High Street in the seventies, though to be clear I don’t think it could ever claim to be on a par with Liberty, but I do remember endless displays of all colours, sizes and shapes of button nonetheless.

I was intrigued by the artwork on the walls too - though again it’s not for the fainthearted at a mere £2,495 - my usual don’t look at the price routine scuppered by the label below. But it was very nice, though part of me wonders if this was the wrong department to hang this, as surely crafters are more likely to think to themselves ‘I could do that’ though admittedly it would also probably go onto a long list, and they’d probably never quite get around to it!

The haberdashery was laden with baskets of tempting Liberty fabric - some already made into pincushions, and others into equally pretty rolls and bundles. I was tempted, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the wall of quilting fabric and I had a new destination in mind.

Yes a wall of shelving of Liberty Quilting fabric, which was actually less densely populated with customers than most of the rest of the departments put together. And for Liberty the majority of this range wasn’t extortionate. Clearly I was tempted by the bright and pretty colours, but also I remembered that I was on a ‘grey fabric shopping’ general mission, and so I hunted out the greys, of which there were at least five different shades to choose from! I left with half a metre of a dark and a light grey to add to the stash for my extended Floral Fancy.

Having paid I left the haberdashery before any more damage could be done, and headed into the almost equally dangerous fabric department. Actually it’s probably less dangerous as I think if you’re spending this much on fabric you really need to have a plan. The Tana Lawn fabrics were easily ten pounds more than the quilting fabric I’d just purchased.

But they are ever so nice. And iconic. But also which one to choose?

For me I think I’m destined to have do something with the Ianthe range (pictured above) as every time I visit, or even look online I always find myself drawn to this design - but as yet, I’ve not bought any. I love the design and how elegant it is, but I’m still holding out until I have a plan as otherwise I don’t think I’d ever cut into it. Ever. Though actually that’s not such a bad plan either now is it?