Getting back into sewing

Hello!

I graduated and started a full time job in July, yay! However it definitely keeps me busy and I've started having the urge to make something again. I ended up signing up for a beginners sewing class as I'm self-taught and had been struggling with threads getting all knotted up, knowing how to adjust the tension etc.

I went along to a brilliant 3 hour class in October at The Stitching Boutique in Cardiff, using a voucher I'd bought through LivingSocial. Tamsin, the lady who owns and runs the shop, is such a nice lady! She purposely keeps the classes small, I think there were 6 of us, which was brilliant as we were all able to have 1-2-1 time with her if we got stuck on anything.

The class was £30 (down from £55) was for a 3 hour class which taught us to make a cushion, and included the fabric and pillow insert. I opted to upgrade for £10 to some fantastic Roald Dahl polka dot Matilda fabric, which was £10 rather than the usual price of £13.50 per metre by virtue of being in a class, and picked a gorgeous teal blue thread. I didn't even know Roald Dahl fabric existed! It feels beautifully soft and I keep hugging my cushion :D

As we all had a go at cutting out a simple pattern for a 17inch cushion, Tamsin made sure we were all able to thread the machines, pointing out the differences between vertical and top loading bobbin machines (the class machines are shiny, new and top loading, mine loads vertical and is slightly older).

The 3 hours flew by, we had some gorgeous coffee which we all drunk fairly quickly as we were eager to return to sewing. It was really nice chatting to other ladies who were interested in sewing, some also knit so I found out about a new knitting group which meets just down the road that I'd like to try out.

The cushion itself was really easy to sew, so we were encouraged to use decorative stitching however we liked, just to help us keep practising our stitching. We also covered all the different basic stitches on sewing machines, and how to use different feet for different things. One thing I noticed that was quite different on my machine was the sewing seam allowance guidelines on the foot plate - mine is completely blank which is unhelpful! I've bought a magnetic guide online to help me out in future.

Some of the new things I learnt:
- How to cut out fabric using a rotary cutter and cutting mat - genius!!
- How to adjust the tension on a vertical loading bobbin case - something that was worth the £30 for the class alone!
- How to sew buttonholes - will need to practice that one several times again though.
- How to use a buttonhole foot!
- How to spend ages pressing buttons to discover how many different decorative stitches modern sewing machines can do!
- How to finish raw edges using zigzag stitching.

All in all, I had a brilliant time and definitely learnt quite a few new things. It was also really nice to be one of the more confident beginners in the room - and reassuring to know that I haven't been screwing things up too badly!!

I have great news!

Morning!

It's Wednesday today and the last two days have been pretty nice to me.

On Monday it was the return of my knitting course, week 7. It's been going really well and I like everyone there. Although my partner Betty hasn't been for the last 3-4 classes so I'm hoping she's okay. We covered lace this week, and it's given me a bit more confidence to have a go at some lush shawls and scarves I've seen on Ravelry. I suspect that I wasn't doing yarn overs correctly before, which would explain why the scarf I tried for Angharad back in October which needed lots of them every 3 stitches didn't look right! I haven't tried doing them since then so I can't really remember how I was trying to do them.

Good news!! Gabrielle (the class leader) announced that (it looks like) the course will be continuing for an extra 6 weeks, yay! There'll be a 3 week break after we get to week 10, and then the 'new' course will start for 6 weeks and finish just before Easter. This means there'll be even more things to learn :)

Bad news! My jumper is too small. I've always known I'm a tight knitter (something I desperately need to rectify) but so far it hasn't been too big a problem because I haven't done anything apart from socks that need shaping. Well this time it is. My front panel with the diagonal rib pattern is too small by 3 cms, which is a fair amount! And that's with using an already bigger size of needles than the yarn ball band recommends! So I'm going to frog it (unravel the whole thing) and start again casting on 68 stitches instead of 64. It's not too bad, I'm not really attached to the whole thing as yet, thankfully!!

Good news!! I can put my socks in as my project for the class instead! Yay! And *phew* because I suspect I won't get the jumper finished in time otherwise.

Good news!! Knitting trip to Winchester on Saturday to visit a museum which is free and part of the course.

Bad news! Tom isn't impressed that I won't be visiting him instead.

Good news!! Last night we got out of work at 8.40pm. We normally leave about an hour later on Tuesdays as it's one of our busiest nights. We still had shit loads of samples, we just got through them really quickly somehow! Plus we had luck with 2 of the last 3 couriers not having anything for us :)

My second pair of socks is now about 3 inches long. I'm knitting the stocking stitch rounds until I get to the heel. I hate this part :( It's never ending.

xx

xx

Merry Christmas!!

And a happy new year! I hope you all have time to do something you like over Christmas :)

Yesterday was lovely. I had a sewing machine!! Well excited about that, does anyone know of any blogs with sewing tutorials on? I've not used one before so I'm looking forward to doing new projects and learning as I go. There is a dressmaking for beginners course run by the centre where I attend my knitting course, but it's 15 weeks long and it's going to be too difficult for me to rearrange all my shifts in work so that I can attend them all.

I also had a brilliant knitting solutions book (I'll get the proper name soon) which is written by an experienced knitter and is basically full of answers and solutions to problems knitters may come across. I've only had a quick flick through but it does look great - a brilliant Ravelry alternative if I can't get online as well!

I made a chocolate log yesterday, I'll post a picture soon. It looked pretty good (even if I say so myself!).

Unfortunately 3 out of the 4 of us are ill with something, but it's still nice to be home even if I am ill!

Merry Christmas xx

Have a look at these beauties!

Evening :)

How cool are these?!

I randomly found this link and saved it so that I could post it on here, they are fab!

Last night's knitting class was fun. Three people couldn't make it so we pulled the tables together and sat ourselves around one giant one, instead of around 4 separate ones. It made a big difference, and it was much nicer and easier to talk to everyone.

I showed Fabba my trick of picking up dropped stitches, or whenever I need a helping hand by using a knitting marker pin that one of the class leaders hadn't seen before. In turn, they checked my pattern and made sure it was okay, helped me work out my right and wrong sides for my knitting and I got stuck in with my sleeve!

Tonight was Photography night (PhotoSoc). It's the first one I've been to this academic year, as I've just been busy in work, ill or just didn't feel up to it! Bad habits :( Tonight was a practical studio session which was unlike the one last year in that last years was specifically so that the DramaSoc could get shots done for an upcoming play programme. Tonight's was more on different types of lighting, different ways of setting the shoot up to achieve different effects etc. And I got to have a go! Last year I only had my digital compact, which while fully manual is not ideal! I couldn't attach the flash sync, so had to try and time my shots to catch the flash set off by those doing the photography with SLRs using the flash sync. Kinda difficult! Plus at the end of it all, even thought I got some good shots, the ISO noise rendered them useless.

Tonight I had my (borrowed) SLR and now I just need to have a look and maybe do some tweaks before I can put them on Flickr :)

Happy Sara :)

xx

Got my wool, I'm good to go!

Evening,

Life is pretty good (hopefully). Dat's currently in the middle of his triple bypass operation. It was scheduled for Wednesday but an earlier slot came up, they asked if he wanted it and Dat said yes. 

I've just bought my yarn for my jumper pattern! I started a vintage knitting course last week. Last week was about meeting everyone, talking about the course and picking some patterns that we each liked. I found three I wanted to do, and after having some trouble with my favourite (second most difficult of the three) I'm now making the easiest pattern. I've not made a jumper before so it'll be challenging. It's a 36 line repeating pattern so I'd best not mess it up!

I've got a green/turquoise chunky acrylic yarn. It probably won't me amazing but I'm learning :) At £1.79 a ball it was most definitely a shit load cheaper than the other yarns I saw on the weekend!! Huge difference between £180 and £15!

Will post a pic of the colour when I manage to take some in natural light :)

xx

Postponement :(

Afternoon,

Just got off the phone with a lady from New Directions. My knitting course is being postponed for a week while they wait for a few more people to enrol :(

It now starts on the 8th instead of the 1st, which wouldn't be a big deal except that now I have to get people to swap shifts with me again, and it will involve two people instead of one straight swap.

Little bit irritating but can't be helped.

xx

The Scarf is Doing Nicely!

Afternoon!

I've got a cheeky half day off this afternoon after completing everything in work super early. So I thought I'd come home and get some jobs done. I'm backing up to my external hard drive and burning to DVD all of my photo files. It's needed doing for a while, and seeing as it's only got 3.5GB free of 160GB there's no wonder my laptop has been struggling lately!

My scarf is coming along nicely :) Very happy, there are some rough looking bits where I've introduced the new ball of wool (there are 4 in there now) but to be honest I'm not sure how to avoid that without spit splicing - and that isn't possible with a 51% wool, 49% acrylic mix! I believe it only works for 100% wool or similarly high percentages of wool.

It's now as tall/long as me! I read on Ravelry after I'd reached this that is the ideal length for scarves. It's all based on personal preference though, and I've decided it's a little short for doubling so I've added the last of the 4 balls in, but I haven't decided whether to use all of it yet. At the moment I'm thinking of adding a fringe or something on the end (not pom poms! Knitting websites that sell knitting utensils seem to be obsessed with pom poms, yeuch!).

I'm also thinking of doing some hand knitting, which would give me a good excuse to go back and buy the Sirdar Big Softie wool I made my scarf from in all the other colours I love!

My 'Beginners Knitting' workshop is on Friday and I'm looking forward to it. At the moment I'm focusing (read: worrying) more on how to get there, as I hate travelling somewhere new on my own. Thankfully the tube strike is on the weekend, and not the Friday so I can follow the easier set of travel instructions on the Twisted Thread website!

Hope you all have a lovely Monday afternoon!

Taking The Plunge!

Evening,

This morning I took the plunge and booked myself on a 'Beginners Knitting' workshop at the Knitting and Stitching Show taking place at Alexandra Palace on Oct 7th-10th this year. There were only 5 places left this morning, so be quick if you fancy it too! The tickets for entry are £11 (in advance) and I paid £15 for the 2 hour workshop. I'm not convinced I'm casting on correctly, and while I now know how to cast off, I don't know what to do with the ends of yarn, how to stop my edges curling and how to avoid tension problems creating large loops on the sides of rows. Fingers crossed the workshop (which covers learning to cast on, knit, purl and cast off) will show me the correct way, and I'll be able to ask questions and get shown the solution if I come across any problems. Googling for video's is all well and good, but you can't get them to talk and interact back with you!

Kinda nervous already though!

xx

Sewing Cafes!

Morning,

Just a quickie today as I should be packing right now. I'm heading home to help my Mam around the house today as her MS has relapsed and she's struggling right now, and then all of Sunday at my grandparents' house where we're clearing out my grandmothers craft room :( so that we can turn it into a downstairs bedroom for her.

When I was in work yesterday my friend pointed out an article in her magazine. I'm not 100% sure which one it was (she gets quite a few, especially now she's moving home and is looking for home decor inspiration). In it [paraphrasing here a little], it said this:

That sewing cafe's are gaining popularity, especially in America, where you can go and rent a sewing machine by the hour (like Internet cafe's but cooler) so that people without sewing machines etc can still craft!

That's an awesome idea and I'm half annoyed I didn't think of it first! The article went on to mention that it hasn't happened over here in the UK yet (there's my chance!!) but that it seems likely to, due to the popularity of craft workshops and groups such as:

The Make Lounge
The London Sewing and Craft Group
I knit.

Apart from The Make Lounge which I mentioned in a previous post, I never knew these places existed and I'm thankful that my friend showed me the article! She's seen me appear with different card magazines etc over the last year and a half I've been working there so she knows my interest in crafting!

I wanna go!!

xx