April Projects

This month I plan to make the pattern for a hoodie and make a hoodie from the purple jersey fabric I got in a charity shop last month.

I am also going to be designing a bag for a competition. I wanted to enter the competition but as there isn't a theme I was struggling to come up with a design. I asked my friends on facebook for some ideas, I got 4 responses and was most inspired by 'Circus', I have a soft spot for circus and fairground posters and artwork so I think I can make something really eye-catching. My style of applique will work well with the primary colours and blocky shapes.

I ordered a zip for my hoodie off ebay for £2.65, not many shops seem to stock chunky zips, I spotted some rainbow fittings for the bag too, they totally fit with my plan perfectly.

I got a little basket for the fabric weights that I thought would be good to keep and carry them in or just handy for putting a few bits in for a project to do in front of the TV. I made a quilted lining for it with pale denim, flowered fabric, some pieces of blanket and some printed bias binding. I did the quilting on my sewing machine, but I did all the bias sewing by hand, I knew it would be neater than on the machine.

I made the pattern for the hoodie from a travel brochure it's not looking like it will fit together at the moment, but I shall make a toile and see if I can correct the problems.

April is a month or birthdays, so I have been out and about shopping for gifts and spending time with family and friends. I have also had a rush of job interviews, over the phone and at the companies concerned so I have been preparing for those and travelling. I have not done as much to my projects as I would have done, but getting a job is my priority and projects have to take a back seat. We have also been doing some tidying up in the garden and I've been spending time with one of our hens who's not been well.

I have managed to get the design for the bag sorted and plotted out, I have been trying to decide on a colour scheme for the character. I prefer one colourway and everyone else prefers the other, I might use one for the front and one for the back. I know what the background will be, very graphic, red, yellow and blue. I have been in every charity shop in the area to try and find some cheap red leather, I ended up getting a jacket off ebay, it was better value than any of the hides on offer, and luckily no one else bid on it. The only thing I'm having real trouble with is finding some webbing for the strap, I wanted something more unusual but the ones I like are too wide, the ones the right width are too plain. I could get plain webbing and embellish it with stitching and applique or make a leather strap from scratch. There are also a lot of fancy dog leads on the market, with reflective patterns and bright colours so that's a possibility.

I made the toile for the hoodie, it fit together better than I thought it would, it needs a little extra on the side seams but other than that i think it's fine. I have never sewn with jersey before so I shall have to cut out then do some practice runs with the spare fabric.

I spent so long looking for webbing for my bag strap I finally gave up and looked for trim that I could use to embellish a plain strap. I got turquoise webbing and some rainbow ric rac, they look really good together and great with the metal fittings. I have sewn the front and back panels of the bag together without any issues, I have cut out the applique characters one in each colourway, I still prefer my choice so I laid them out for everyone to look at and they agreed with me. I will do the same colour on each side.

I was looking for some fabric for the lining of the bag, I knew I had some that would do but I really wanted something that would fit the theme better. I googled and ebayed and found some lovely acrobat fabric that was out of stock, a hand printed tea towel with circus scenes in black but it was far too expensive, I looked in charity shops and on sale racks. Then one night a fabric shop I follow on facebook posted a pic of a stripey multi coloured spotted fabric that was perfect and I ordered 1/2 a meter.

I finally got round to cutting out the hoodie, I got the fabric in a charity shop for £2 rather than having a bit cut the size that I needed, there was enough but it took some creativity to get all my pieces. I cut the back, both front panels and 1 sleeve. For the other sleeve, I cut half of it, the other half was in 2 pieces, I stitched all those together to form the sleeve piece. I took the largest of the scraps that were left and stitched them together before I was able to cut the pockets out. I stitched the main body together then added the pockets. I tacked the zip in place before stitching it on the machine, then added the hood. Once everything was together I noticed that the pockets don't line up, mum asked if I would unpick and do it again, for all the work that would entail I didn't see the point, I don't mind the lopsided look. I hemmed around the hood cuffs and hem. I have already bound some of the seams with stitching to prevent too much fraying, I will continue with that and maybe in the future do it with some jersey bias if I find some I like. This is the first time I have used jersey fabric and the first time I have used the stretch stitch on my machine. The result isn't perfect but considering I was fully expecting to have to bin it because of stretched out seams, I think I did pretty well, and it cost less than £5.

The bag project will continue next month,

Purple Hoodie front April 2018

Purple Hoodie back April 2018

Circus Bag supplies April 2018