Yay for Miss Jean !

Well, what an amazing machine! As I mentioned in my last musings, I took delivery of a vintage 411g singer sewing machine, she is a doozy! delivered by the seller as it turned out she did not live too far away , Miss Jean turned out to be her Aunts machine , and she had had her for 22 years, since her Aunt had passed away. Miss Jean came with the record card of the lessons the Aunt had taken to learn how to use the machine, and lots of other bits and bobs, and it was so nice to hear how the Aunt who was a seamstress made clothes for the lady and her children and lots of other things too , it gave a real sense of history, I like the thought of all the things Miss Jean has made before, hopefully I will be able to do her justice, although from what the lady said my offerings won't be anywhere near as professional! I love her, all newly serviced she is a dream....off now, Miss Jean and I have things to do,

speak soon.

'sew' it begins !

I have started! Said I would didn't I ! Just a quick peek of my new makes, still in planning stages, I won't trust myself to use my scrummy vintage fabric finds until I'm happy with the designs, size etc. I have been thinking about making Rag dolls (there, now you all know!) for a while, I've been looking around gathering inspiration...and cool fabrics for the outfits, and thinking more and more of a primary school teacher who would bring her collection of fairytale rag dolls to school to use at story time, it was magical !....I'm going to have a lot of fun creating the outfits, I'm thinking Red Riding Hood meets steam punk ! Wish me luck, speak soon.

The best laid plans of Mim and ........

This morning I planned to get on with my soon to be announced new makes, they are still very much in the planning stage, but armed with sketch book, pencil and heaps of enthusiasm I settled down to business,a stack of vintage fabric positioned nearby for inspiration,


But within the first five minutes 'ding dong' the doorbell rings ! Suffice to say almost 4 hours and some very pleasant chit chat later I have nothing on paper and a head that is bursting with ideas to the point that I think I'll overload if I don't do something with it all soon!
Still very excited ! No more clues.... Oh alright..... Once upon a time....! Speak soon.

Oops I did it again - again!

Hello, sorry it's been a few days,we have had some sad news at the long thin house. My mother- in-law passed away on Friday after a long illness, things here will be a little strange for a while, but I will try to write when I can. On a more cheery note I know I said I had done with getting more toy sewing machines and when I said it I really did mean it! Only I saw this ...


... And just couldn't resist!! In my defence it is rather spiffy,it looks as though it has hardly been used, it has the original cotton reel, it still sews and who wouldn't fall for the cutesy picture on the box, Little Betty Blue, I was smitten! I was so giddy with her that I was almost out of giddiness for the other package Mr postman had left, but as soon as I opened it it came flooding back, giddiness with a Capitol G!


I don't know if any of you read the Dottie Angel blog or visited her Etsy shop,but it is beautiful, full of 'peachy goodness' to coin a phrase, and her book isn't a let down either, I had to order it from America and now it's here and I have only allowed myself a very small peak, as I want to savour it! She just makes me want to crochet and sew all day long and it seems from her photos in the book that we have more than one pair of shoes / clogs/boots in common, very strange! While I have been quiet in the past few days I have not been idle. Folksy goodies are on hold at the mo, I can't seem to get back in the swing what with everything that's going on, but I'm sure I'll start again soon. But I have still been sprucing up our sitting room, all brown furniture has now been painted French grey, cushions have been covered,knickknacks have been re arranged, pictures have been replaced with ones more in keeping with the new shabby - navian ( shabby chic / scandinavian cross! )theme, and the rather hard rush mat we had on the floor has been replaced with this...


So pleased with it as it really warms the room up.Cosy is good right now!
Hopefully it won't be too long until I get back to you.

Material world!

Well, it seems so long since we caught up! I have been out and about trying to add to my fabric stash,when we last spoke I was off to buy some fabric to make the vintage style aprons I had just designed. No luck, I don't know about you but local area is thin on interesting fabric shops, we have a huge warehouse place full of quite nice but uninteresting curtain / upholstery fabric and a hobby craft, which is on the expensive side and again very limited in it's choice. So I have resorted to the Internet so things have slowed a little until my goodies arrive,I have all sorts of vintage, off cuts, and bits and pieces, but you know what it is like when you have something specific in mind,so I just had to add to the stash. I have also added iPhone cosies to 'made' list, but have yet to start on the iPhone 4 covers, and have decided to use mainly red, white and blue fabrics- well it is Jubilee year!
I'm also planning some headscarfs, very 50's retro, to add to the 'Blighty' collection, so I do apologise for lack of apron photos but hopefully they will appear soon. Off to the dentist now, passing hobby craft on the way, I might just have to call in to see if they have anything new, or something I missed last time I was there, or just to soak up a bit of 'crafty' atmosphere.


There isn't enough room to swing a cat in my sewing room...so Teddy thought he'd have a lay down instead!

Busy busy busy !

First day back at school after the Easter holiday, and Pumpkin chose 6.45 this morning to mention that she need a piece of material to make a cushion cover with for her textiles class, oh and also some trimmings and small pieces of fabric to make a design with! Having thought we were fully prepared for this morning - I had already sewn all her name tapes into her new school uniform, sorted out the next payment for her German trip and packed her school books last night ! I was a bit miffed to say the least. Lucky for her I have a sewing room full of the very things she needed , and so instead of a leisurely cup of coffee and a croissant, this morning found me ferreting around piles of fabric to find something suitable for a cushion! But as I was already busy I thought I might as well just keep going. So by 8.30 this morning I had prepared two brioche bread and butter puddings, with chocolate chips, and left them soaking up the milky vanilla - ery goodness, a firm favourite , then it was back to the sewing room where I have made four glasses cases for my madebymim folksy shop,



And designed a pattern for a vintage style half apron, with a heart pocket, and frilly edging, which I am now off to the shops to buy fabric for, I would love to stay and chat for longer but I am keeping up the momentum, so hopefully photos of the aprons will follow shortly !... Who needs tea !

Work in progress

So today was going to be the day I finished my jubilee rabbit ... Wrong ! Today is the day I wake up full of ideas and determined to get stuck into my sewing room to make way for a sewing bonanza , I have a huge want to make list, stacks of fabric,plenty of patterns and lots of enthusiasm . So you might well be asking yourself what is the problem ! Me, that's the long and short of it! Enthusiasm has to be fuelled - in my case a nice cup of tea usually does the trick,so I sit and have tea whilst browsing the Internet and catching up on all your lovely interesting blogs,big mistake! Two cups of tea later I decide to have a look at the crochet yarn I bought yesterday while Husband went to the bank,just meaning to get the feel of it,to see if it will suit making a throw for our sitting room....four granny squares later I decide I really must start rabbits' clothes,perhaps after i have just a small cup of tea! Then Mr Postman brings goodies ,vintage pinking shears, two metres of the most beautiful royal blue needle cord ,to line my madebymim glasses cases,tea cosies etc for my folksy shop (part of the sewing bonanza) and some vintage wooden cotton reels too much of a bargain to resist ! Another distraction. Right this was it. This was the time to start sewing... Kettle on ! Now I really did mean to start,and meaning business I went to get my shoes from the wardrobe, I seem to sew better when wearing footwear ( is it just me ? or do you have to wear shoes to use a sewing machine!)....you guessed it,big mistake, I could only find one of the pair I wanted, so pulling most of the others out to find the missing one it then seemed silly to put them all back ,especially when I had been planning to get rid of at least six pairs ( I have a collection of Birkenstocks that I can't wear anymore ) but I couldn't bring myself to just get rid, some are still quite new, I know thinks I, I will eBay them ....three cups of tea and six descriptions / listings later and noticing it was well past lunchtime ( coffee this time, and a sandwich ) I finally started to sew ! And now it's dinner time and this is as far as I have got ,


Oh well, tomorrow is another day,time for a quick cup of tea before dinner !

Huff and puff !

Still busily sewing away to build up stock for my Folksy shop, my Royal Bunny Rabbit is looking a bit forlorn without her party outfit !


Patterns are made and fabric chosen for her outfit but that's as far as I have got ! While searching through my fabric stash to see what would be suitable for a Royal Bunny I came across the last few circles of fabric I had cut out to make a Suffolk puff cushion for my bed. So any excuse to deviate from what I should be doing I thought I' d share it with you all.


Suffolk puffs are a traditional patchwork technique, and are very simple to make, here I have used them to cover a cushion , but they could also be used to make a brooch or to decorate hats, scarves, lampshades, blankets,etc, I have made this one into a brooch, but it could be pinned to lots of things,they can also be sewn together to make necklaces.



Using different weights of fabric they can be used for lots of different occasions, Chiffony types of material make very romantic looking puffs, while using vintage fabric and buttons would give a funkier feel, the best way is just to experiment,why not use leftover fabrics from your sewing projects to make matching brooches or headbands!




Draw a circle onto some card slightly larger than you want the puff to be , it can be any size you want, use this template to draw around onto your chosen fabric, I use 3 graduating circles, to give 3 layers of fabric , but you can use more or less, one little puff and a button centre is cute !




Sew a row of running stitches slightly in from the edge all the way round.






Pull both ends of the thread until the circle is completely gathered, like a little shower cap ! Then secure the thread with a double knot or a little stitch to keep it from ungathering. Et voila ! A Suffolk puff , make 2 smaller puffs and sew together using a vintage button, you don' t have to use a button you can just leave it gathered. So hope you have fun making puffs , they really don't need a lot of huff !