First the shopping:
A nice pair of linen trousers from a stall in Deptford market for £7 - only problem? The colour! White is not a good look on me, but luckily I knew what to do. The high street is also home to Peter & Joan's, my first stop for haberdashery and hardware. I bought a Dylon washing machine dye, in olive green, and hey presto! This is a very poor picture of them as in reality they are a much darker colour.
What did I learn? Cotton thread does not take dye. If you are going to take up your new trousers, best to stitch them in a colour matching the dye, not white!
These items came from one of the charity shops near by - some lovely coloured needles to add to my burgeoning collection (you can never have too many, especially when they look this good, is my opinion).
This nifty little gadget is something new to me - never seen one before but it's quite cute, even though I will probably never use it, I'll stick to my tried and trusted method of scrawling on the pattern or counting back afterwards. You can use it mark how many rows you've done, how many increases or decreases, and I do like the fact that it has got a 4" scale on one side, to remind you of the importance of gauge no doubt, and a needle gauge on the other!
The next thing I did was make a cosy for my Sunflower Swift, something I've been meaning to do for about a year!
This is where it has lived up until now:
This is where it will live from now on:
I have to admit to being rather proud of this creation - I knew from the start what I wanted to make, and the finished object is really pretty close to my original idea! It's also quite neat and well-finished, which pleases me too!
The outside is some rather nice Alexander Henry tattoo print fabric, and it's lined with some of the offcuts of our Ikea curtains. I also bought some padding which I stitched to the lining to form some padding for protection of the swift - quilted in a kind of lopsided, impatient way. I wanted to use the leftovers of the fleece I've been spinning, but most of it is dark brown and I didn't think it would look good under the lining, which is see-through in parts.
The pegs have their own little bag which I saved from a gift someone gave me, it's a lovely dark maroon chiffony fabric which goes very well with the ensemble.
What did I learn? I found out a lot more about my sewing machine including what some of the knobs are for, and I realised that I need to have more patience and do better preparation for my sewing projects. It DOES make sense to make a pattern, even if you are itching to get on with the sewing!
Finally cooking. With the help of a book, I learned how to dress a crab (or should that be 'undress'? I've always found the phrase very confusing!). And I decided that I would probably never bother again - it's far too time consuming!
