When I was at school, if ever anyone did or said anything stupid, they'd be met with a response of "DOI!" in the strangest accent you've ever heard. I'm not quite sure how this came about but I suppose it's a bit like Homer Simpson's "D'OH!", and it's probably 90% of the reason why I most liked to keep my mouth shut around my peers.
Anyway, last night I had my very own "DOI!" moment concerning sewing terms. I'm from Australia, was taught to sew by my Australian mum and have never really spoken to an American about sewing before, so you can imagine my confusion when reading American sewing tutorials on the internet - all those measurements in inches and feet, not to mention the sewing terms, and this is where my "DOI!" moment originated from.
After weeks and weeks of reading these foreign tutorials, you can imagine the amount of times I have stumbled across the word "serger", never knowing what one is or whether I even owned one. At first I thought it must be some kind of high-tech sewing machine I'd never heard of before (I'm only a beginner), and then it clicked - it's an overlocker, duh! (or "DOI!" as my comtemporaries would say).
I've been skipping over tutes which had "serger" written in them for nothing - I've had one all along, I just didn't know it! Haha.
P.S. I have no idea why my first post is now above my other two posts? If anyone knows how I mysteriously managed this, please let me know. As a perfectionist/sufferer of OCD, it's driving me bonkers! :)
Monday, 27 August 2012
First post!!!!
Hi guys, if you're reading this I'm eternally grateful because I have this weird feeling that blogging without readers is akin to talking to oneself - something which I am starting to think I do a little too much of already, lately!
My name is Sunae, and I'm a crafty 18 year old from a small town called Woodburn, not far from Byron Bay in Australia. I guess I'm starting this blog as a sort of time-filler because I am on a gap year and don't have much use of my brain without anything to study, but I am also starting this because I have recently taken up sewing, and would like to (eventually) start selling what I sew on Etsy, which is absolutely the best website EVER, and at a few of the local markets where I live.
At this stage, I don't think this blog will completely be about sewing, as I also do a bit of other craft and cooking, a lot of op-shopping which I get super excited about, and I love to read so i'm guessing you'll hear a bit about books too! In a way, I guess you'll hear a far bit about different aspects of my life. I hope you enjoy what I write about if you read it, and I hope you'll comment on my posts because I'm quite a friendly person who loves to chat and connect with other like-minded people!
I think this shall do for an introductory post, and I'll try to post something exciting later!
My name is Sunae, and I'm a crafty 18 year old from a small town called Woodburn, not far from Byron Bay in Australia. I guess I'm starting this blog as a sort of time-filler because I am on a gap year and don't have much use of my brain without anything to study, but I am also starting this because I have recently taken up sewing, and would like to (eventually) start selling what I sew on Etsy, which is absolutely the best website EVER, and at a few of the local markets where I live.
At this stage, I don't think this blog will completely be about sewing, as I also do a bit of other craft and cooking, a lot of op-shopping which I get super excited about, and I love to read so i'm guessing you'll hear a bit about books too! In a way, I guess you'll hear a far bit about different aspects of my life. I hope you enjoy what I write about if you read it, and I hope you'll comment on my posts because I'm quite a friendly person who loves to chat and connect with other like-minded people!
I think this shall do for an introductory post, and I'll try to post something exciting later!
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Problems, Problems, Problems!
Oh, dear! What a weekend it has been! Busy and dramatic with lots going on in the family and among friends, it's a wonder I even found time to start the dress I promised you, but somehow I did, and the rush I was in to get it done before visitors came over probably has more to do with the disaster I ran into than I'd care to admit!
First off, all was going swell. I knew what I was doing (or so I thought!), had cut my fabric to the size and pinned it together quickly to see whether it looked right, and was happy with the result. I sat down at my overlocker and began running up the seams. All was good and I got the sleeves attached quickly and with ease. I overlocked the bottom of the dress and was about to run around the neck when the first problem arised - I had attached the sleeves right to the edge of the material and there was no room for the casing for the elasticised neck! Ever tried to unpick overlapping overlocking before? What a mess! It took ages and put a bit of a hole near the edge of the neck due to the cotton getting all clumped up and me impatiently pulling at threads, but eventually it came undone and I was able to continue. I quickly reattached the sleeves, leaving a gap at the top for the elastic, and moved on to the next step - overlocking around the neck. This really should have been simple, and it would have been, had I not ran out of cotton on one spool without realising, trimming the edge of my material without actual stitching for the entire way around the neck! At this point, I was ready to call it quits, toss the fabric aside and never sew again (I was having quite an emotional day and sewing was suppose to offer respite, not further complicate my life!), but I didn't - I took another look at the dress and tried to figure out what's next. This is about the time where I realised I had failed to leave the sleeves long enough to hem, and had, after all that trouble, still not left enough gap between sleeve and neck of dress for the casing for the elastic! After all the unpicking, trimming and re-sewing I had already done, I was not in the mood for any more and rather than unpick and reattach the sleeves, I chopped them off and made new ones! Now my only problem is that I have realised the way I was going to attach the sleeves - a cheater's way, of course - is not going to work and I'm going to have to either google a way to do it, or exasperate myself trying to figure out my own way. Not bad for a "quick and easy" dress, huh?
Anyway, I hope you all had a better weekend than I did, even if just slightly, and here are some pictures of a pillow I ran up last week to test out the new overlocker and give myself something to hug while I read sad books:
It looks quite good in the old, broken down wheelbarrow, doesn't it?
The crocheted detail on the pillow is an old doily I found in an op-shop which I cut up for various craft projects. Amazingly, this squarish piece of it was all I had left, and fit the pillow perfectly! I hand stitched it on around the edges, leaving the middle a little loose so that when I stuffed the pillow, the stitching wouldn't pucker or pop and the stuffing wouldn't bulge.
I'm not very good at closing things that I've stuffed - anyone got any tips or a good stitch to use?
First off, all was going swell. I knew what I was doing (or so I thought!), had cut my fabric to the size and pinned it together quickly to see whether it looked right, and was happy with the result. I sat down at my overlocker and began running up the seams. All was good and I got the sleeves attached quickly and with ease. I overlocked the bottom of the dress and was about to run around the neck when the first problem arised - I had attached the sleeves right to the edge of the material and there was no room for the casing for the elasticised neck! Ever tried to unpick overlapping overlocking before? What a mess! It took ages and put a bit of a hole near the edge of the neck due to the cotton getting all clumped up and me impatiently pulling at threads, but eventually it came undone and I was able to continue. I quickly reattached the sleeves, leaving a gap at the top for the elastic, and moved on to the next step - overlocking around the neck. This really should have been simple, and it would have been, had I not ran out of cotton on one spool without realising, trimming the edge of my material without actual stitching for the entire way around the neck! At this point, I was ready to call it quits, toss the fabric aside and never sew again (I was having quite an emotional day and sewing was suppose to offer respite, not further complicate my life!), but I didn't - I took another look at the dress and tried to figure out what's next. This is about the time where I realised I had failed to leave the sleeves long enough to hem, and had, after all that trouble, still not left enough gap between sleeve and neck of dress for the casing for the elastic! After all the unpicking, trimming and re-sewing I had already done, I was not in the mood for any more and rather than unpick and reattach the sleeves, I chopped them off and made new ones! Now my only problem is that I have realised the way I was going to attach the sleeves - a cheater's way, of course - is not going to work and I'm going to have to either google a way to do it, or exasperate myself trying to figure out my own way. Not bad for a "quick and easy" dress, huh?
Anyway, I hope you all had a better weekend than I did, even if just slightly, and here are some pictures of a pillow I ran up last week to test out the new overlocker and give myself something to hug while I read sad books:
It looks quite good in the old, broken down wheelbarrow, doesn't it?
The crocheted detail on the pillow is an old doily I found in an op-shop which I cut up for various craft projects. Amazingly, this squarish piece of it was all I had left, and fit the pillow perfectly! I hand stitched it on around the edges, leaving the middle a little loose so that when I stuffed the pillow, the stitching wouldn't pucker or pop and the stuffing wouldn't bulge.
I'm not very good at closing things that I've stuffed - anyone got any tips or a good stitch to use?
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Inspiration!!!
So, I have decided that starting a blog is excellent motivation for actually making things to put on the blog (also makes me want to buy an amazing, expensive camera - but that will have to wait) so tonight I made a bit of a springboard of crafts/sewing projects I want to make.
Here it is!
I'm posting it so that I will have to follow through and actually make these things! As you can probably tell, I'm absolutely loving sewing things for kids at the moment and am actually hoping to start up my own little business soon selling things on Etsy and at the local markets. So far I only have a lot of hair clips and brooches, but I did do a variation of the pillowcase dress for my neice the other day, and am in the process of doing another for my stockpile. Also have ordered a fat quarter bundle off Ebay cos I couldn't find one cheap enough that I liked from my local Spotlight or Lincraft to try a variation of the fat quarter pillowcase dress pictured, of which there is a great tutorial on The Mother Huddle. I think I'll be making a few of those, with different variations are they are super quick, a great thing to make to get used to my new overlocker, and extremely cute and sellable! Also excited to try the super easy lace crowns which you can find on the website given in the picture, the doily bottomed curtains, and the lace skirt which is courtesy of girl. Inspired., although she doesn't offer a tutorial or pattern, so I'm going to have to make that one up as I go. Definitely making myself one of those, as well as a few mini ones to sell, and possibly larger ones to sell too? Still not quite sure whether to limit what I sell and focus on a target audience, or just go for broke and make whatever the heck I feel like! (I'm guessing I'll probably do the latter).
Anyway, after all this ranting, I still dont feel like'I've done a "real" post yet, so I better get cracking on a project tomorrow after work!
NOTE: edited on 9/9/12 due to picture not being visible. Originally posted on August when I started this blog.
Here it is!
I'm posting it so that I will have to follow through and actually make these things! As you can probably tell, I'm absolutely loving sewing things for kids at the moment and am actually hoping to start up my own little business soon selling things on Etsy and at the local markets. So far I only have a lot of hair clips and brooches, but I did do a variation of the pillowcase dress for my neice the other day, and am in the process of doing another for my stockpile. Also have ordered a fat quarter bundle off Ebay cos I couldn't find one cheap enough that I liked from my local Spotlight or Lincraft to try a variation of the fat quarter pillowcase dress pictured, of which there is a great tutorial on The Mother Huddle. I think I'll be making a few of those, with different variations are they are super quick, a great thing to make to get used to my new overlocker, and extremely cute and sellable! Also excited to try the super easy lace crowns which you can find on the website given in the picture, the doily bottomed curtains, and the lace skirt which is courtesy of girl. Inspired., although she doesn't offer a tutorial or pattern, so I'm going to have to make that one up as I go. Definitely making myself one of those, as well as a few mini ones to sell, and possibly larger ones to sell too? Still not quite sure whether to limit what I sell and focus on a target audience, or just go for broke and make whatever the heck I feel like! (I'm guessing I'll probably do the latter).
Anyway, after all this ranting, I still dont feel like'I've done a "real" post yet, so I better get cracking on a project tomorrow after work!
NOTE: edited on 9/9/12 due to picture not being visible. Originally posted on August when I started this blog.
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