Week two: curtain's (not quite) up!

I admit it; I'm obsessed with curtains. Perhaps it is a natural extension of my fabric obsession or perhaps the conditioning of repeatedly living in draughty houses but one way or the other, curtains are high on my list of 'useful things'. If I'm honest, curtain fabric (either in curtain form or off cuts of) makes up a reasonably significant part of the fabric stash. When I've paid £25+ a metre for fabric, I'm loathe to bin it. When we moved here a year ago I brought all of the curtains from our last house with me. In fact one blind actually belonged to my neighbour, I intercepted it before it went in the bin.  The collection also includes the very first pair I made myself and had originally been floor to ceiling in my son's room. Then I cut them short at the last house. When we came here I discovered I'd left sufficient hem to be able to make them long enough for their latest incarnation. 

This house has an 'interesting' layout. Between what was the back of the house (though in fact it's the bit near the road so I suppose you'd call it the front) and the old outside loo and wash house is a passage. The previous owners had used corrugated plastic to form a roof but it was absolutely freezing in winter. We've put a proper, insulated (!) roof on but the doors at either end of the passage are still pretty rickety. Not least because they are essentially gates

You can see the centimetre gap at the bottom! The other end is similar. 

The answer - a curtain and a draught excluder!

As it goes, I actually already had the curtain fabric - originally purchased a couple of years ago because it was on sale as the end of the roll and it matched the blinds in the kitchen. So the first part of this week's make was to make the curtain. I went for tab top, partly because I couldn't be bothered with the hooks and tape and partly because I've not actually made one before. The end result is pretty pleasing and will be even more so when I've got the curtain rail up! It currently looks like this 

An action shot will follow shortly.

The draught excluder is something of a work in progress at the moment - but a necessary one. I save all my scraps to stuff things like this and the basket is currently overflowing!

First make!

I can see the difficulties of this challenge are going to be twofold; the first will be actually making something each week, the second remembering to write a post about it. Despite looking like I've snuck in by the skin of my teeth I did manage to accomplish my first make this week - a pair of trousers for my youngest. As the youngest of four, and last of three boys his wardrobe is mostly hand me downs, from the boutique known as 'The Loft', so it was nice to have the opportunity to make him something new. 

I chose this fabric 

for the outer; there is a point where novelty of novelty clothing wears thin but thankfully my three year old is still very much of the mind that trousers with brightly coloured birds on are pretty cool. We'd been to our local craft shop on a rainy half term day earlier in the year and seen this fabric - we couldn't believe our eyes, a pukeko parade on fabric in sleepy Somerset! My eldest boys were born in New Zealand, where pukekos live and for a few years they were a common sight in our day to day lives. For the lining I used the remains of some blue stripey fabric I had leftover from a babygro I'd made seven years ago. It ended up being a bit of a patchwork inside as it was a struggle to find bits big enough for the pattern pieces but seeing as no one sees the inside I didn't think it mattered.

The end result... Ta daaa (finished late so the lighting was a bit rubbish)

I took another photo the next day, this time of them in action 

They do actually reach his ankles, but he is very attached to his wellies. There's a bit of extra length if you take the turn up down and it's got an adjustable waist so he should be able to wear them for a good while yet. They've also been through the wash twice already since I finished them five days ago so I can confirm they wash at 40 degrees!

Next week... Something to keep draughts out now the weather is getting chilly. 

New term, new beginnings

I've always loved September.  I love the slightly faded, washed out blue of the sky first thing in the morning. I love the crispness of the grass and the beauty of spider's webs illuminated with dew.  I love the growing richness of the colours of nature as the burnt, frazzled look of summer gives way to golds, oranges, reds and deep browns.  I love the warmth of the sun in September but knowing that it is perfectly acceptable to have soup for lunch as it's actually Autumn.  I got married in September.  When I lived on the other side of the world, the shifting of the seasons was one of the hardest things to acclimatise to.

To me, September means a new school year - a new pencil case, with sharp pencils and shoes that took a few weeks to feel comfortable.  I loved school but what I particularly loved was the possibilities of the start of a new school year.  New exercise books with no scribbles, no mistakes, no slighly dog eared corners, just endless possibilities of learning and creating new things.  Now I'm a parent, I still get the same feelings of excitement and anticipation in September and now I'm back in the northern hemisphere I am no longer confused by the lack of autumn and I'm able to delight in brand new parent teacher communication notebooks.

This year feels especially exciting as I'm embarking on a challenge of my own - to make something every week for the next year using only the fabric I have hoarded in my work room.
It seemed like a good idea to start with a photo - if nothing else it means I can assess exactly *how much* fabric we're talking about here...

This is what my corner of the attic normally looks like.  A bit messy, and with some toy related detritus adding to the chaos (my attic space doubles up as the playroom - it varies from the odd jigsaw piece to full scale scalextric with integral marble run and enclosed Sylvanian family village)

You can see the two full laundry bins, and the two big IKEA storage bags under the table?  There's another two of those on the other side... behind the carrier bag of scraps... the drawers are also full... and there's a rucksack in there which is full to busting of rugby shirts that my husband has accumulated over the last 20 years, which we have transported around the world and he refuses to throw out.  So I got it all out...

And this was it... about two foot deep and four foot square.  I reckon that should keep me busy for a bit.

MadeforMiri's craft fair debut!

Gosh, even longer again!  But as an early / late New Year's Resolution I will endeavour to be more of a dedicated blogger.

MadeforMiri had its first official outing today - to a stall at the Windmill Hill Craft Market in Bristol.  It was a great craft fair, it was really friendly, with a steady stream of buyers and lots of beautiful handmade crafts to lust over. 

I had my Santa Sacks, hot water bottle covers, sunglassses / camera cases, animal costumes and tea cosies for sale and it was great opportunity to get a good feel for what sells well at events like this.  Photos of current stock to follow, along with a link to my Folksy shop when I've loaded everything up.

We went to the animal fair...

Well, goodness, that turned out to be a longer break than I had intended.  It never ceases to amaze me how much time small people take up.  Anyway, I've got a bit more time again, so I'm getting back on the fabric wagon so to speak.
One of the first things I designed myself and made was a Dorothy the Dinosaur costume for my then 2 year old. We were going to see Dorothy the Dinosaur (from The Wiggles) at the theatre and my son wanted to dress up.  I wanted to make sure that whatever I made was going to last (and it has, that was almost 5 years ago), was comfy, and was easy to get on and off (and, actually, not needed to get off in order to go the toilet!).  The result was a green furry tabard and hood, with yellow spots, yellow spines and a big squishy tail.  A year later I made a knight costume for the same son and his friend, with blue and red quarters, a shield and a visor on the hood.  It's also still going strong... and in fact, he wore it only a few months ago for a party.  Since then, I've made tigers, penguins, rabbits, lambs, cheetahs, dogs, cats and an adult sized pigeon. 

 The kids have so much fun playing in these - loads of scope for unrestricted, imaginative play. Let's face it, who doesn't want to dress up as a tiger from time to time?

One handed crafting...

I can't believe it is the middle of June already... I also can't believe I thought I would be back on top of things and sewing properly again.  However, in spite of the heightened level of chaos a new baby has brought, the enforced quiet (! - still might be more appropriate) feeding time has had an unexpected effect.  Not only have I managed to read a dozen books since he was born, but I have also discovered I can crochet and nurse at the same time. 

I was inspired by a new craft magazine I found by chance - MollieMakes... www.molliemakes.com ... proper craftyporn for those of us who just like lots of pretty pictures to look at.  Learning to crochet was on my 'things to do in 2011' list, and when I saw the sunflower blanket I knew I had to work out how to do it - sharpish.  This is my first attempt... we'll see how it grows...

Inspiring on every level

I am currently feeling very inspired by an American designer, Anna Maria Horner (http://www.annamariahorner.com/).  I've always been really taken with her fabric design but I recently picked up a copy of her latest book 'Handmade Beginnings'.  The book contains 24 projects for welcoming a new baby into the family (she has 6 children, another reason why I am feeling very inspired by her and her drive) and is an absolute joy just to flick through, let alone actually study in any detail.  I was especially pleased to see a couple of patterns for breastfeeding dresses and tops and am definitely going to make a couple of these for the summer.   I also have serious studio envy having just had a look on her website; I love our new loft bedroom, but it is so flooded with light, I can't help but think it is also rather wasted as a bedroom, it would make a perfect studio for me!

As for me, I am very much on the go slow as the next three and a bit weeks tick away.  I am (trying) to complete a couple of blankets similar to these ones...

before the baby arrives.   Frankly, I think I'll be lucky if the children in question get them before their first birthdays at this rate!  I am particularly excited about the Petite Village fabric I have for the binding though...

it's available from http://www.fabricrehab.co.uk/, who along with http://www.seamstar.co.uk/ and http://www.raystitch.co.uk/ are my favourite online fabric people.