Happiness = The Smell of Wet Sheep

When I was at the market last tuesday, I found an amazing bargain: 7,5 meters (8 yards) of 100% wool for only 1 euro! I was looking for some muslin fabric when I noticed the smell of wet sheep coming off this fabric. The seller had had heavy rains the day before, and he had no time to dry it. The woman next to me was green with envy she didn't spot it first. I won't use this for muslins obviously, so now all I need is some ideas what to do with it. It's a bit roughly woven, and it has broad stripes woven into it. Do you have any suggestions?

Basic Floral Shirt

I had big plans for an intricate jacket, but decided otherwise. Usually it just works best to go with whatever I'm in the mood for. In this case, I was in the mood for what I call afternoon projects: simple stuff that can be finished in just a few hours. This floral shirt is one of those projects.



I made the pattern myself, with an existing shirt as example. The best part about not having patterns, is figuring out how it works. This time the question was: what happens to the sides if you ruffle the fabric in the middle, and how do I incorporate this in my pattern? It's also the first time I managed to make a neat neckline, using a bias binding method (tutorial by Tasia from Sewaholic) And I also made this grey belt myself, with the same faux leather as my purse-wallet. I snatched the buckle from the boots I tore apart.

Haute Couture Tab Sleeve

I got an early birthday present from Stef last week: Claire Schaeffers' Couture Sewing Techniques! I've come across it on several other blogs, and it seems a must have for professional sewing.

I immediately put it to use. I had sewn a Galaxy Tab sleeve for a friend, but I wasn't too happy with the hem finishing. I was fascinated by Nette's hand-rolled hem, and now I could try it myself! Check out the before and after pics below.



Not too shabby for my first blind stitched hand rolled hem, don't you think? It's got nothing to do with haute couture ofcourse, but these kind of techniques do make me feel more like a professional!

P.S. The fabric is designed by my friend, check out his work here: Zeptonn

Wallet in glue and pain

Lots of sewing going on these past days! Not everything is blog-worthy (e.g. a blanket for our dog) but my new wallet certainly is!

I've been wanting to make a frame purse for ages, and I also knew I wanted to combine these fabrics. It still took me a few weeks of thinking to finally decide on this design. I wanted to use both fabrics on the outside, but just could not come up with a nice design. In the end I embellished the grey faux leather with seams in light blue, and used the blue flowers as lining.

I used a tutorial by Lisa Lam from U-handbag for instructions on how to make a frame purse. Let me tell you this: it's not as easy as it seems! She is not to blame though, I just went about it to quickly. She writes to be generous with the glue, and so I was. Within a few minutes there was glue all over my fingers, the fabric, the table... Made me feel like being in kindergarten again. I also glued the frame on before checking how it looked. I had to pull quite some stunts to get the lining right after that. Especially with this little coin pocket in the middle, which wasn't in the tutorial. I can't even begin to explain how it worked out, but luckily it did in the end!

Shoe-making, part 2

In case you were wondering after this post: I am still figuring out how to make my own boots. I thought I'd start by finding out what they're composed of. I bought some boots at the thrift shop, took out my stitch ripper and ripped one of them apart.


Well I was surprised at the amount of parts they're made of! All these little pieces and layers, and even a strip of metal. Next step would be to find out what it's all for, but after some research I decided I should start small. Boots are just a bit too complicated to start with, and if I would want to do it right I'd have to take an expensive course.

I still needed boots, so I set out to find some second hand ones. I found a great pair of vintage 80's boots on the internet. I added a small self-made part: new insoles. These boots are just a tiny bit too small, so I took out the insoles and replaced them with some thinner ones. When it comes to shoes, I find that even a few millimeters extra room can make the difference between sore toes and... well a little less sore toes. My quest for shoe-making is not over yet. I'm still going to make shoes, I promise! To be continued...