Found it at the library – Practical Sewing Techniques

 

As you know I love taking out any of the sewing books that are available at the library especially ones about techniques.

Being self taught I love to see if there is something that I can do better or easier.  This sewing book by Ruth Sleight-Johnson is a great book with a look at the basics of sewing along with a few projects to sew at the end.

Great book for beginners!

Ruth lives in Essex and has worked as a freelance stylist and fashion editor for magazines, catalogues along with TV and Radio.  Other books are Practical Textiles Techniques.

Jennifer xx

 

Blogger Tags: sewing, techniques, tutorials, diagrams, ruth sleight-johnson, library, book

Weekly Picks for handmade

 

Head on over to my sister blog Bits & Bobs 4 Bubs and checkout my picks for handmade pet items.

Jennifer xx

 

Blogger Tags: dogs, cats, rabbits, pets, handmade, made it, harness, jacket, coat, cupcakes, tag, mice, bandana, pouch, collar

Bias Binding Foot

 

Around 2 years ago my wonderful hubby bought me a rotary foot with attachments for my Janome and it has taken me a while to use each of them, especially the bias binding foot.

I have used it on straight edges which for me it was trial and error but in the end I managed to get the needle to line up properly and the fabric to feed through correctly as well.

But what I couldn’t do was bias on the curve.  I actually tried and failed miserably.  I Googled for tutorials but could never find anything on sewing on a curve.

But today I read a feed in a sewing group that I am a member of on Facebook and one of the members inquired as to whether the foot was a good investment.

After reading everyone's comments and watching a video of a lady using one to put bias binding on a circular skirt, I thought I would give it ago again.

I’m so excited that I did as it worked and first go too.  You just have to go very slowly and stop to adjust the position by putting your needle down and presser foot up to make sure the fabric is feeding into the binding properly.

Now I can go back to a few projects I put on the back burner as I always dreaded using bias tape.

Have you had anything that you have put off for a long time then suddenly decided to give it ago and worked?

Jennifer xx

 

Blogger Tags: bias, binding, rotary, foot, sewing, fabric, Google, tutorials

Cupcake/Muffin Wrapper

 

If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen the yummy mini quiches I made for the kids yesterday for lunch.

What you didn’t see was the disaster that happened trying to remove them from the muffin tin. 

I greased them before I put the mixture in but the still stuck to the bottom of the muffin tray.  Not Happy Jan!!!  They were still very yummy though.

So what to do next time to stop this from happening again.  I have always wondered how you make your own wrappers out of baking paper and so off to the computer to Google “how to make wrappers with baking paper” and I found a great tutorial from Cut Out and Keep and after reading it I had a slap my forehead with the palm of my hand moment, now why didn’t I think of that so easy!

I found a glass that's bottom fit perfectly in the muffin tray.  Then with a piece of baking paper cut to measure 6” by 6” and placed it over the top of the glass.

Now to just fold the baking paper into shape and there you have it.

So doing this next time!

Jennifer xx

 

Blogger Tags: cupcakes, baking, wax paper, wrappers, quiche, tutorial

New Toy

I'm just having a play with my new wireless keyboard for our acer tablet.  We had a compact keyboard that was smaller then the tablet which was great for carrying but we found that the battery ran out very quickly and it was very hard to type with as the keys were so small and cramped.

The new keyboard is a Logitech with is longer then the old keyboard and is very lovely to type with.  I have often wanted to type a blog post while out and about but found it difficult to write long posts on the tablet screen keyboard. I normally use Micrsoft Live Writer which is a great program.

So sorry for the short and boring post but it has been so lovely typing this.  Hopefully I can now post alot more regularly.

Jennifer xx

Turning 2

 

Yep can’t believe it either, my little man is turning two tomorrow.  We have become quite the 2 peas in a pod with both the girls at school.

     

Such a hard job looking after this little guy, not! Playing, running around, endless cuddles while watching tv oh and my little shopping and lunch buddy while we are out and about.

 

Making the most of my time with this little guy before he starts school.  No more for us. 

Our 3 munchkins make our family whole.  Love these little guys xxxx

Jennifer xx

 

Blogger Tags: family, growing up, kids, playtime

Busy, Busy, Busy

 

Wow has it been busy at our place of late.  If you have been following me on Instagram would already have seen the pictures of the wonderful job my hubby and his brother have done on our garage to room renovations.

We have never really used the house garage to store the cars since building our home 10 years ago but used it as storage, bar area, then toy room then my sewing room/toy room. 

When Miss G started prep this year we decided that the girls should have their own room and we changed the study into Ethan’s room thus putting the study and sewing area together in the garage.

But with the big metal door it was, as you may have already guessed always dark with not much lighting and really cold in winter and really hot in summer. I would have to raise the door just a little bit during the day to let the light in.

Now I have a lovely 2.4 metre sliding door that lets loads of light in and it’s a pleasure to come in and sew.

It no longer feels like a garage and after hubby finally removed the motor and railings for the electric garage door and today we had a security door installed, it is now a big room.

We also celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary last weekend and my wonderful Mum looked after the kids so that hubby and I could have a night away.

 

On arrival at Royal Woods Resort we were excited to find that our room had been upgraded to the honeymoon suite.  For dinner we went to our favourite restaurant down the Gold Coast, Ashmore steak and seafood which my family discovered back in 1999 and to this day I have never had a bad meal and highly recommend the place.

Bits & Bobs 4 Bubs has been very busy too with custom orders for my new Compact Strider pram liner sets and my clutch style nappy wallets.

So sorry for being a bit absent again on the blog and I hope to be back to regular posting next week.

Hope you are all well, what’s new with you?

Jennifer xx

 

Blogger Tags: anniversary, wedding, renovations, ashmore steak and seafood, bits & bobs 4 bubs, pram liners, nappy wallets

My new sewing area

 

Just thought I would share a couple of pics of my new sewing room.  I just love it and I have nearly finished organising it.

Hubby put a new shelf up for me on Sunday so that I could get everything out of the cupboard.

Also picked up a hanging pole with great little cups to put all my scissors, rulers, pens, markers etc in.

I still have a few pieces of furniture that we have listed on Gumtree that I need to get out of the room but otherwise I just need sort out all my fabric and I’m done!

Jennifer xx

 

Blogger Tags: sewing room, organised, new area, shelving, storage