{ SEWING IN 2016 } Plans…

Ive been out of sewing action for a few months but here is me telling you that my will to sew is back!

Baby has been all-consuming, therefore its been tough to find the time to sew…or do anything really but bubs is getting bigger. He doesnt need my 100% attention any longer & finally he’s linking those sleep cycles in the day better so he’s sleeping longer which gives me more time to do me stuff. Some people asked me why I dont sew in the evenings & here’s the thing : I dont like sewing in the evenings very much. I prefer natural daylight as opposed to artificial light. Also, the room I used to hang my laundry & do my ironing is now the baby room so all that laundry ended up in my sewing room! We finally decided our bathroom was big enough to take the laundry, it just needed planning so we’ve installed the wardrobes we always wanted, installed the hanging rail for laundry & all that laundry crap has moved out.

In the months that I haven’t been sewing Ive been taking advantage of fabric & pattern sales so I have a lot of good materials stocked up just waiting for some action. Cant wait.

One of the first things I need to do is re-measure myself because our bodies change shape after having a kid. I somehow managed to lose all my pregnancy weight gain 6 weeks post birth & went on to lose a further 12kgs. Im not sure how, it just melted off to be honest. I dont say that braggingly either. I guess Ive just been lucky or the combination of high summer, nursing, sweating & walking just really paid off. While it may be good for my self esteem, it has presented problems with my wardrobe in the sense that a lot of my me-mades from pre-baby no longer fit… so I need to assess these & figure out which ones I love enough to alter & which to donate.

The next thing I need to do is decide on what I want to make. I know Im not even bothering with winter garb (not that I do much winter sewing anyway) so summer sewing it is. Ive had a piece of fabric earmarked for another Rachel Comey Vogue 1247 (see the first one I made). I also purchased the Papercut Flutter pattern last year so I’ll be making one of those as well as the Named Patterns Delphi Dress which I adore. Perfect for summer.

Apart from those new projects, Ive got a never-ending list of alterations I need to do to my denim shorts, some new jeans to hem (coz dammit they always too long) as well as some sewing for my sweet little boy.

Writing all this seems like Ive already bitten off more than I can chew..{ YIKES } but I guess if I dont start I’ll never know.

OHHHHHH & while I was taking that sewing pause, I purchased a new overlocker. I’ll have to tell you all about that soon. { WINK WINK }.

Ok lovelies. Till soon xx

 

{ DECOR } Sunshine roman blinds…

One would think being in the interior industry, self-made decor would come naturally to me.

Yip, ONE. WOULD. THINK!

The opposite is true for me in fact. I previously loathed doing my own home decor sewing. Curtains, blinds, cushions, the lot…. { LOATHE IT }. It most probably has much to do with the fact that Ive always had professional curtain workshops make my clients curtains, bedspreads, blinds etc & it may have become a luxury to have the same workshops whip up things for me in the past too. Decor sewing always reminded me too much of work & I prefer sewing garments anyway.

Since moving to Austria, I have found it incredibly difficult to find such workshops in & ’round my ‘hood. They probably exist in the big cities but since I live in the sticks, it really has forced me to make things myself.

I really needed to get some window dressings for the baby room so I decided to do simple roman blinds complicated with the need to line these with a good block out lining because the morning sun streams in through the one window & the other window is flooded with an annoying 10,000,000 watt halogen flood light from a neighbour that Im pretty convinced is signaling aliens “Land Here”! Cant have either!!

As you know, we are not aware of whether we’re expecting a boy or girl so we needed to go with something kinda neutral. Yellow is neutral. Non?

I had purchased this happy Ikea fabric a year or two ago just coz I loved it & had cushions planned in but never got to it. Unfortunately 2m was only sufficient for one window so off I darted to Ikea to pick up a further 2m. Thank goodness Ikea still had & might I add, still at the same price! I love the ‘watercolour-type’ effect of the yellow especially. 

Since I had never made roman blinds before, I went into this project…well…blind. I hit YouTube for a tut & came across this Debbie Shore video. She explains things so well, I actually felt like I had the confidence to give it a go.  Here are the results : 

We have aluminium venetian blinds integrated to the windows already which when closed give good results but the blinds just add something extra to the room & the blockout does its job extremely well. No more halogen flood lights, thanks neighbours! Instead of installing cleats to the wall to wind the cords, I use the integrated venetian blind fixings because I hardly ever lift the venetians so there was no point in adding extra cleats for the romans. By the way, WTF is up with blinds being named after the Italians???

My experience with decor in general is vast even though I haven’t actually made things myself. Working with professionals in the industry though, I have learned a thing or 10 about the do’s and don’ts so I’ll share some essential tips.

– Always use the best quality supplies you can afford. Don’t be tempted to use cheap alternatives because especially with blinds & curtains, the sun does damage & cheap supplies will just fall apart in no time.  Good quality lining is paramount.

– Check your measurements again…..& again before cutting anything!!

– Work systematically – it really does help to keep things clear especially when you’re dealing with various sized windows. Lengths & widths can vary ever so slightly so deal with one window before moving onto another.

– Make worksheets. Simple diagrams with measurements will help. { PROMISE }.

– Take your time.

Ive also included a list with links to the various places I purchased my supplies if your’e interested. Im supplying these links because Im thoughtful, not because Im affiliated in any way. Clear!

Supplies :

{ Fabric } : Ikea Stockholm

{ Lining } : Black out “Natur”

{ Blind fittings } : Toggles, tapes, cords etc

{ Batons } : Husband supplied

{ Rods } : Bauhaus

We’re almost finished with setting up the baby room so I’ll be sure to update pics as soon as its all done.

Hope you’re all well

x Ange

{ DO IT DAY } Naughty curtains…

Folks,

This is where naughty curtains end up in my house – time out in a corner until they learn to behave. 

Karen’s recent blogpost reminded me of something on my to-do list!!!

I hung some lovely curtains in my bedroom a year ago. Out the box they were about 50cm too long so I artfully faux hemmed them using pins. A year on – Im running low on pins, I thought why not tackle the elephant in the room. To-do list will be happy & I’ll score a bounty of pins too. { BONUS }.

Ive just spent 5 hours today trying to get 4 drops of curtaining to not only be the same length, but just behave in general. They have been exceptionally naughty Folks. Im reminded of why I pinned them in the first place – { I HATE SEWING CURTAINS }.

So as I tossed them with force into the corner to think seriously about what they’ve done, while the hubster scuttled from the room in fear of his life, Im asking myself this : Do I really need bedroom curtains??

How do you feel about Home Decor sewing, curtains especially? & how oh how do you get them to be the same length? Dont say measure because that doesnt work. Ive been measuring for 5 hours…one side is shorter, longer, skewer….{ FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK } should about sum it up!