Monthly Archives: May 2014

Making a garment: My Miette

Ok, Kindle cover happily completed, it is time to venture into the exciting world of garment making…

Before I was able to buy my sewing machine, I spent a lot of time on the internet getting inspired thinking about all the beautiful clothes I wanted to make and learning the theory of how to sew.  Without doubt, the best resource I came across was Tilly and the Buttons, in particular her learn to sew series.  So Tilly’s Miette skirt (specifically designed to be beginner friendly) became the clear choice for my first garment make.

Navy blue Miette front

I would absolutely recommend this pattern, especially to beginners.  Tilly has provided very clear step by step instructions with pictures to guide you along and what’s great is you can review these before buying the pattern so that you are confident you’ll have everything you need to put it together.

Navy blue Miette side

The fabric is a lovely soft navy blue cotton twill from Goldhawk Road.  Very happy with the fabric, but it took two trips to buy it – on my first trip I was so overwhelmed by all the different fabrics and lack of labels that I came away empty handed! I top stitched the pocket openings with a short and narrow zig zag stitch in white for a bit of contrast detail.

Miette pocket detail

While the waist ties mean this is not my usual style of skirt (since they force you to tuck tops in), I love the shape of this skirt and will definitely get good wear out of it.  I’m keen to make another version converting the waist ties into button tabs so that it is more versatile in my wardrobe (but need a bit more practice of the basics first!).

First make with sewing machine – Kindle cover

After lots of dreaming about all the things I could make if I had a sewing machine, I’m pleased to share my first make with you.

Kindle cover

I recently received a Kindle and since one of the main attractions is its portability I wanted a cover to protect it in my bag.  Pretty much all the covers I could find for sale included leather of some sort (meaning I wouldn’t buy them as I’m vegetarian), so I decided to try designing and making my own.

Kindle cover

The fabric is a really cheap poly cotton from Goldhawk Road, with interfacing applied to give it a bit more structure and then wadding used to help protect the Kindle.  Elastic helps to keep the Kindle in place (but also easy to remove) and the cover closed.

Closed Kindle cover

Added bonus is that the Kindle is more comfortable to hold while in the cover. This was a great first project for me as it is quite simple sewing (lots of straight line practice!), a very manageable size and instantly useful.

Amigurumi monsters

I’ve made knitted toys before, but after seeing some crochet amigurumi online I wanted to give that a try – I love the texture that using crochet gives.  So after only a little bit of previous dabbling in crochet years ago, I picked up a hook again.

crochet monster

After a fair bit of time browsing the many delightful patterns on Etsy, I settled on these bug eyed monsters by Moji-Moji Design as I thought my young cousins would like them.

Crochet monster

I would absolutely recommend Moji-Moji’s patterns as I found the instructions very clear.  In fact, now that I’ve also used and read some other amigurumi patterns, I’d definitely say this is the most accessible one I’ve come across so far.

Crochet monster

The monsters are pretty simple to make as they only use one basic stitch and you work in a spiral, so you don’t have a seam to sew up at the end.  The eyes and tops of arms could be a little fiddly because the spirals were narrow, but just a tad more concentration and they weren’t a problem.

crochet monster

These don’t need much yarn, hence a great way to use up oddments and there are so many possibilities for different colour combinations.  You could add various embellishments if you fancy, but I liked these just as they are with the bright colours.  Instead of safety eyes for the pupils I made french knots out of black yarn (tied securely inside to make them child safe).

Amigurumi monsters

I really enjoyed making these little monsters but had to stop myself after four as I didn’t think the boys’ parents would appreciate a whole army of monsters!