Crafty As L

  Later today, I’m heading up to Oswestry to do a 3-day freehand machine embroidery course run by Alison Holt.   I saw her work in a book and was captivated by it!   After searching for any YouTube videos featuring her work, I happened across her website and discovered that she does in-person courses.   There were spaces on one in a few weeks, themed Spring Woodlands, and I was free so I booked it.   Whilst going through the requirements list for the course, it transpired that I needed an extension table for my 30-year-old Brother sewing machine.   I have one for my computerised machine but it didn’t fit the Brother and a computerised machine isn’t suitable for the course – a machine with dials is needed.   It is possible to have a table made but the lead time was 2-4 weeks, which I didn’t have.   They were also priced at over £90!   I started to wonder if I could make my own and saw this blog post which spurred me on.   First of ...

A few years ago, my Mother-in-law mentioned that she’d really like a soft case for her glasses that also had a pocket for a pen, as invariably she was putting on her glasses to write something.   I made her a couple for Christmas that year but now they are a bit grubby.   It was her birthday a couple of weeks ago so I thought I’d make her some new ones. To start, I cut out all of the pieces.   This comprised: Outer fabric:     two pieces 18cm x 9cm and one 13cm x 9cm Lining fabric:    two pieces 18cm x 9 cm and one 15cm x 9cm Stabiliser:          two pieces 16cm x 7cm (I used Bosal single sided fusible) Using a 1cm seam allowance, I sewed the larger outer and lining fabrics together along one narrow end and then pressed open the seams.   The pocket was also sewn together but this time with the lining fabric upside down.   This seam was pressed towards the lining fabric then the lining...