The Sewcial Media: 2017 My Year of Sewing not Fixing

The Sewcial Media: 2017 My Year of Sewing not Fixing: This year I will be doing more sewing.  When Ivy decides something, Ivy does something. I regretted hardly sewing in the last few years. ...

2017 My Year of Sewing not Fixing

This year I will be doing more sewing. 

When Ivy decides something, Ivy does something.
I regretted hardly sewing in the last few years. I actually am an expert sewer (sewist? Better?). I even made my own wedding dress! I have been sewing for forty years, ever since my grandmother taught me. She taught me everything I know. I have never been to a single evening class to learn sewing.

However in recent years 

I have always only done the necessary. I did not bother making things which were merely decorative. Hence, I only made curtains, sofa covers, mended jeans, hemmed skirts, children's clothes, costumes, patched children's jeans, alter things - shirts, sleeves, hems and so on. The fixer. There was always a deadline. There was a reason. A practical, down to earth reason. It is needed, and it is needed now.
But this year I want to make something beautiful, stop being a fixer and become a creator. That is the first aim.

Now my first project

really, really should be a vintage dress. I bought the pattern already from Tesco Extra from the magazine stand (one of those magazines which caught my eye). It was an impulse buy, agreed. I will go for the one on the right (the third one, long sleeved). I like the the first one too but at my age it will look very auntie-ish. It would suit a young girl. You have been warned.

Second reason I need to sew: I am having anxiety attacks. This is due to doing crowdfunding my book. It is not for the faint-hearted. I'm finding it very tough. Although I am around 5 weeks in, and 41% funded, I do not know if and when my book is fully funded. I am human, after all, and people who buy books are human. No robot or machine can predict the outcome. Sewing is very calming, did anybody ever mention that? True.

Third reason:  After I had focussed at losing weight and sobering up, I am back to square one. Over the Christmas and New Year break, I put back on the 2 kg I fought hard to lose since September. It's alcohol and chocolates, I know it is. Three months' work down the drain. Sewing will not exactly help me lose weight but it will keep me from gaining weight, let's put it that way.

How to Make a Shark Pencil Case FREE PATTERN template

"Oh the shark has... pearly teeth, dear... and he shows them... pearly white!" so goes Bobby Darin. This song is from an opening scene from my novel Heart of Glass. It is the inspiration behind this cute shark pencil case.

 Level of competence - Intermediate and up. But don't be put off. The whole thing is really good for your brain as you have to think from inside out all the time before you actually invert the damned thing.

Holy schmoke! He's got cigars!

I made this for my 9 year old son during the '16 going on '17 Christmas New Year school holiday break. But equally this case could be a makeup bag or washbag for yourself or a friend. It is surprisingly roomy. I love stationery and all things to do with organising, being a writer myself. It is the key to a calm and composed state of mind. Stationery is everything to me before I write and after as I am a vintage person with a strong sense of doing things the old way, rather than typing everything up. In fact I do write my blogs by hand but realise that no one in the world can see it. Therefore the typing is the unromantic but necessary part of my process. It annoys me when people spell stationery as stationary (as in, not moving) because it is the exact opposite. Stationery is not stationary, it is the arm of the creative process, and will always be moving.

You will need:
2 fat quarters
a 6 inch industrial zip (pearly teeth, dear)
2 buttons around 1" diameter
Sewing machine, thread, scissors, pins, you know, basically the works.

NOTE: the pattern here is to scale already. Make sure you print each at A4 size. Allow for 1 cm seam allowance, not included in the pattern.

My son likes Escher, so I used an Escher cube geometric design fat quarter which he chose, and a Japanese net design that he also chose. It was a nice thing to do with him. He is very good at cutting and pinning. I did the machining but everything else, like inverting and joining up, he could do well.

1. Cut out all the templates and pin them to the fabric right sides together, and cut allowing 1 cm allowance in addition to the paper templates.

2. Make the tail and fins first. Right side (RS) to right side, sew. Snip the notches and invert the shapes. Stay stitch.

3. Fitting the zip. I hate doing this by machine, so I handsewed it. Pin two of the body RS together, sandwich the top fin between them. Places the bottom of the curved edge of the in 1 and 5/8 inch down from the longer straight edge of the body. Stitch the pinned seam.

4. Join the remaining body today, but leave out the fin.

5. Place top edge of one joined body RS together with the zip, positing it centrally along the zip. Stitch into place. Snip notches and turn RS out. Iron at this point if you wish and if you are a perfectionist (like me). Otherwise you can just carry on but it won't be neat and flat.

6. Repeat and pin the other joined body to other side of the zip. Stitch. Zips are tricky. Just make sure they are lined up and perfectly level. Otherwise you will have a headache later on and you have to unpick. We don't like unpicking, right?

7. Place one lining piece RS together with one joined body piece. Sew to the zip along the same seam. Create a sandwich of body, zip, lining. Repeat with the other lining piece and the other joined outer body. 

8. Pin RS side fins together with one joined body piece. At the bottom of the curved edge put each side fin 1 and 1/4 inches down from the zip.

9. Place the two joined body section RS together. Now the fins are sandwiched. Sew and close the tail end. 

10. Stitch the lining pieces RS together leaving a 2 inch gap on one seam.

11. Using this gap, invert the pencil case, pushing the lining to the inside. 

12. Sew the buttons on. In my case, I sprayed them antique gold (they are fabric covered buttons but they were white and I don't have black spray or black buttons). Anyway the boss said it looks fine.

13. Now fill it with goodies and admire your work of teeth-gnashing art. Impress fellow users at the British library or a cafe of your choice where you are working!