Marimekko River Quilt Update and Me-Mending

Since making a more conscious effort to create a hand-made wardrobe over five years ago I have taken part in an annual event called Me Made May set up by Zoe from So Zo blog. For MMM you pledge a personal challenge for May relating to your own me-made wardrobe and things you want to achieve or address over the course of a month. My pledge this year is:

I will write a separate post about my first week of MMM tomorrow so I can focus on my me-mending today. It was like I had jinxed myself by specifically mentioning me-mended items because this week two items I have made ended up needing mending!

The first item is a beloved Camber Set Top which I made in May 2016 from a lovely soft, drapey viscose. Both the shoulder French seams have burst open and started fraying as you can see in the photos below. A similar thing happened to the neckline which I mended with black bias tape.

To fix the fraying shoulders I used a zig-zag stitch a few times over the area to strengthen and pull together the seams. Next, I pinned a length of black bias tape I luckily had in my stash and used a straight stitch to secure it over the shoulder seam hiding the mending and continued down the sleeve to create a 'design-feature'!

I was really happy how this turned out!
The second fix I did was a very straight forward mend. I caught my Christine Haynes Emery dress (made in September 2017) on a door at work and it ripped the side-seam near the pocket. It was a simple seam fix and I reinforced it with some zig-zag stitching too. I didn't take a photo of the finished fix because you couldn't really see it (I guess that was the idea!).

I also wanted to update you on my Marimekko River quilt. I attended another 'finish the quilt' session with Jenny Haynes at Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead where Jenny taught me how to bind my quilt. I finished hand-stitching the binding this afternoon and I am very happy how it looks. I will still hand-quilt and embroider sections of the 'river' whenever I feel an urge to do some stitching during the remainder of the year. I started the quilt-top in a class with Jenny in April 2017, so it has taken some time to come together. What I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the process. Be warned, there are lots of photos!

Quick River Quilt Update

Hello readers and happy Monday!
I am especially chirpy this evening as I survived a very intense time at work last week with a two-day Ofsted inspection. Needless to say, I had a lot of late nights and early mornings and I am just about beginning to feel OK after also doing a Saturday session with my GSCE art class to get ready for their exam this Thursday and Friday! Phew..... onto some sewing news.

On the 8th March, the lovely Jenny Haynes ran her 'Finish that Quilt' workshop at the Village Haberdashery and I took along my River Quilt in Marimekko fabric to continue the quilting. I spent the first hour of the session drawing out the lines I wanted to quilt on the grey Essex linen. I tested the washable pen on a scrap piece of fabric and it luckily disappeared very quickly with a damp cloth.

You can see a before and after washing shot below. I have also included some examples of my hand-stitching and how the quilting lines look on the improvisation quilt at the back.

I aim to bind the quilt at the next 'Finish that Quilt' session in April and then take it slowly with the remainder of the hand-stitching and embroidery dispersed through the 'river' of the patchworked design.

How has your Monday been? I hope it was a good one!

Marimekko River Quilt Update

I started the Jenny Haynes River quilt at a workshop at Village Haberdashery in April 2017. Over a year and a half later I am still enjoying the patient process of quiltmaking.

I joined Jenny Haynes again for a Finish that Quilt workshop at VH last Friday and had a lovely evening of chatter and some good progress on my quilt. To make things more interesting I decided to create an improvised quilt backing using all the left-over sections of fabric to save having to buy more new fabric. I think it has made a really interesting quilt backing and I am looking forward to seeing how it is going to look when I eventually get around to quilting the whole thing.

My finished improvisation 'scrappy' quilt back using leftover fabrics from the river quilt making

Jenny gave us some tips about how to sandwich the wadding (batting for USA readers) between the quilt top and backing. We laid the quilt back face down on the floor and masking taped it down carefully smoothing out any wrinkles working from the centre of each side outwards.

Jenny explaining how to sandwich the wadding with the backing fabric and quilt-top to the rest of the Finish that Quilt class. This is the first stage where you lay out the backing fabric face down and tape in place

Next, lay down the wadding. Smooth any bumps or wrinkles but take care not to stretch the wadding by being too aggressive with the smoothing out stage.

Lastly, lay the quilt top over the whole thing making sure it is lined up with the quilt backing. Ideally, the quilt backing should be an inch larger all the way around the quilt as well as the quilting wadding. You can see the white wadding sticking out all around my quilt-top.

Keep on pinning!

I purchased some quilting safety pins which are bent at a 45-degree angle to make it easier to pin together. Jenny advised me to apply the safety pins in the direction I am going to do the quilting stitching. I have chosen to machine stitch length-ways on the black sections and machine stitch width-ways on the grey. On the multi-patterned 'river' part will be a smorgasbord of hand-quilting techniques which I will explore as I go!

Jenny and I co-ordinating our socks with my quilt!

I am looking forward to seeing how it develops as I stitch each section.

April Work in Progress

I haven't got anything finished to share with you this week, but I have got two works in progress.

The first project is my Jenny Haynes river quilt in Marimekko fabric which I started in April 2017 (I can't believe I started it a year ago!).

I attended a class at the Village Haberdashery on Friday called 'Finish that quilt' with Jenny and a lovely bunch of ladies. We all had quilts at various stages of completion (mine was the least finished!) and Jenny skillfully helped us all with what we needed to do for the next stage be it sandwiching the wadding, binding or hand-quilting. 

Here is where I got to on the quilt top on Friday (only the top four rows are sewn together).

I spent a few hours on the quilt this morning and got to this stage by lunchtime. I have changed the layout of the 'river' to a more asymmetrical set of curves compared to the original design which meant a little more thinking time to work out which seams to sew first.

The only section I need to sew now is the grey Essex linen on the left-hand side of the quilt top. I will then have to figure out how I would like to quilt the whole thing. There a few options; hand-quilting, machine quilting or pay to have it quilted for me.

I haven't decided yet. Have you any suggestions?

The second item I'm working on is the New Look 6446 jumpsuit and dress. I saw this via the Foldline's new patterns feature and it so happened to be on 50% sale at WeaverDee.com  so for £3.00 I thought I would try it out as I'm not even sure if this will suit me. I am half-way through a (hopefully) wearable toile in one of my remaining tropical H&M tablecloths to check the fit.

 I fear that by the time I finish the jumpsuit the gorgeous weather in the UK will have passed!

I did some internet searching and found some lovely versions of the New Look 6446 by other sewing bloggers so you can get an idea of what it will look like when I eventually finish it.

I love the feature piping on this version by Evolution of a Sewing Goddess

Erica has made this gorgeous striped version with a lightweight cotton lawn

Jane has sewn a summery dress version of the 6446

Abi from a Crafty Pin-up has made a striking black floral version

Have you got any unfinished projects you are working on at the moment?

Monroe Turtleneck & Marimekko magic!

The free PDF Tessuti Fabrics Monroe Turtleneck is a quick make. I used a piece of £3 knit fabric that has been in my stash since October 2017 which I bought from a little fabric store in Fitzrovia. Norman Lyons & Co are a wholesale fabric company who also sell to the public on Cleveland Street. It is a quirky place full of polyester prints, wild dress fabrics and lots of other vintage treasures and bargains. The black cotton knit fabric I bought is a lovely quality and is a good weight too. When I spotted the free PDF Monroe Turtleneck pattern I knew it would make a perfect partnership!

The treasure trove of Norman Lyons & Co fabric shop on Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia

Below are photos of the Monroe turtleneck in progress (I will get some photos of me wearing it on Tuesday). I cut out the size One based on my bust size but overall is is a VERY generous and loose fit. I normally have to lengthen any sleeve but this pattern was the perfect length, although I ended up creating a simple cuff for the sleeve by folding over a length of the fabric and re-attaching.

I also modified the hem by adding two bands of folded fabric to create a split high-low hem. I used my regular machine to sew it up using a 2.5 wide zig-zag with a 2.5 stitch length. The turtle neck on my version sits quite high because the fabric has quite a bit of body, I suspect I will wear it folded over. Something to consider if you have a short neck (and I would say I have a longer than average neck). Overall, the fabric behaved beautifully and it was genuinely fun to sew a whole garment in an afternoon and for only £3.00. I am also linking this to the #makeyourstash hashtag too!

How much do you love this free Monroe Turtleneck? Thiiiiiis muuuucccchh.....

Onto the second part of my post. For any long-time followers of my blog you will know I have BIG LOVE for the Finnish design company Marimekko.  I have made MANY, MANY cushions for my house with their iconic prints (examples here and here). Earlier in the year I attended my first Craft Swish and scored this small piece of black and white Unikko print for free! It would have been rude not to sew another cushion!

And here it is in all it's cushion-ary glory snuggling alongside previously me-made Marimekko cushions.

The Marimekko story does not end there. Fabulous Finnish fortune came my way again on Friday when I dropped off a few items of clothing to Oxfam in Fitzrovia and just as I was leaving I spotted a pretty black and white scarf. The print Gods were looking down on me when I discovered it was a Marimekko scarf for only £5 (usual retail price is between £80 - £120). Yes! I snapped it up and I am looking forward to wearing it this Spring.

Have you had any good sewing / fashion fortune come your way recently?

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