Child's 1950s vintage pleated skirt from IKEA remnant in ONE HOUR

I bought only 30cm of this fabric in IKEA for £1.80 because I wasn't sure what I would make out of it. I also bought black and white striped material, more later.

It is quicker to make this skirt than to go round IKEA's maze.

I started box pleating randomly to make a child's skirt as I had decided I was not going to make any home furnishings with it. It is too small. I cut the striped fabric such that the black was the outside of the waistband and the white was the inside. I also cut interfacing of the correct width to a stripe.

Pleating from one end first.

Pleating the other end

the black and white striped fabric I also got in IKEA

Sewing the pleats once pinned, plus interfacing

Ironing the waistband inside and out.

Now sewing the staystitch on the outside to press down the white side of the waistband.

Draw on the button hole

Stitch rectangle around the buttonhole and cut it

I don't have a fabric pen. They cost a ridiculous £7.80, so I used a colour pencil instead.

Hand finish the buttonhole

I have used pink thread and a red velvet button, no reason, just for a bit of contrast and for fun. I didn't want it to match the skirt.

Wa-lah!

Hem the skirt

Vintage style Daisy Dress for wedding event FREE PATTERN

I purchased this magazine called Simple Sewing with a pattern included without any idea of when I would be making the dress. However, an opportunity came up and I not only made one but two dresses (one for me and one for my 6 year old girl. The reason being I am quite frugal at cutting and can always something else out of the fabric allowance. Firstly I bought quite a lot of it in my opinion - it was 3m. Secondly, it is vintage light blue Italian silk and I was very lucky to have seen it in Oxfam years ago for only 1.99. Unbelievable I know. This is a great pattern to use again. It has a flattering full skirt which is vintage style. The dress can be formal or informal. It is very versatile. 

#thankyou heavy #rain #today, I got so much (cleaning, fixing, washing, dealing with own children, playing with a dog etc etc) done that I had time left for #sewing #tonight. #Pinning and #cutting. It's actually #vintage #Italian #silk #fabric (if I had to say, I would say late #1970s) but i found it in #oxfam #charityshop for £1.99! For 3m! I need an #outfit to wear to a #wedding so would need to bang this out pretty damned #quick. #rainyday #diy

A post shared by Satsuma World (@ivyngeow) on Jul 22, 2017 at 2:50pm PDT

Great! Another wet, grey #sunday ! Now I'm cracking on with #patterndrafting for the #ladyboss. Working in #imperial units. I love #inches. But no idea how it will turn out as I don't have a #paperpattern and I'm doing this from scratch, #byeye. #abitworried #whatthehell she's only six! #dressmaking #sewing #diy #frugality #sundayfun #sundayvibes. Next? #cocktails!

A post shared by Satsuma World (@ivyngeow) on Jul 30, 2017 at 6:25am PDT

Day 16. #armholes and #neckline and #interfacing done. A few #Doh! Moments. Quite a #technicalchallenge but naturally one must accept. Onto the #hemline next, hand hemming. And then we're done with #project #wedding outfit!!! #vintage #fabric #dress #dressmaking #sewing #diy #frugality oh and also incidentally on the side have been making identical #dress in Child's size for the #ladyboss.

A post shared by Satsuma World (@ivyngeow) on Aug 7, 2017 at 9:04am PDT

For the hairstyle I chose to do a Brigitte Bardot kind of French twist or French pleat. (We're in France, right?)

This is a selfie on the SNCF.

This is the back view which I am not very pleased about because I look like a bodybuilder.

The front view I am fine with, but I should have made the belt tighter. It is just a Topshop belt but it is real leather.

Here are the patterns. Feel free to enlarge as there is a measuring tape included for scale.

Here are the instructions.

Joining the bodice to the skirt.

Darts

Back bodice joined to back skirt.

Ironing the waist seam.

Front joined to back. Bottom joined to top. Structure is technically complete.

Probably most irritating task in the world. The concealed zip. Pinning.

Finished pining.

The interfacing cut out.

Pinned and ironed to the neckline and arm holes,

Trimming excess seam allowance and snipping the notches.

Turning around and ironing the pleats

Snipping again armhole seam allowance excess.

How to replace broken zip on Converse All Star backpack

 

This Converse all star leopard print backpack is a treasure. It has been to a few countries with me and it is the perfect size. I actually had to fix the zip because I cannot find another backpack which is so perfect for me. If it is too big for a daypack, things will just get lost in it. It is just nice for an umbrella, a book, a cardigan, a small makeup kit, and the usual, wallet, keys etc. It is ideal for night or day. I use it for ballet. I use it for trips with the children or to the city or to the park. Needless to say, the leopard print makes it hard to lose or to steal. You will always notice it. No stealer will want to walk around with it unless they want to look like a cartoon character saying "look at me! I stole this!". Wherever it is in the house, you will find it. Sadly, the zip went and it was through frequent use, i.e. wear and tear.

Photo of the broken original zip and me taking a seam ripper to it.

TIP#1: Never take apart something unless you have examined it closely and taken photos to show how it was put together. No one can help you put together something in reverse order, you have to know this yourself as everything could possibly be put together differently even though it is a standard item like a zip. TIP#2: So for this task I measured the original zip required BEFORE taking it apart. Do not waste time unless you are sure you can get one. I had to buy it on Ebay. It was a 22" or 55 cm zip and because the old zip is a fashion lightweight kind I was not happy that it was not longlasting. I bought an industrial heavyweight big teeth red zip this time so that it can withstand wear and tear. It was very cheap, I think only £2.15 on Ebay.

Slice away one stitch at a time without touching original fabric or bias binding.

View of the defunct zip and original zip pull. See how small the teeth are? This is a lightweight zip.

Using a seam ripper, rip out a few seams at a point near the start. Once opened up, use the razor to slice away more of the stitching as shown. This is quite an agonizing task because you will have to grip with left hand if you are right handed, and with the right hand cut away the stitching very carefully (i.e. one stitch at a time) without cutting the original fabric or anything else - just the stitching. You cannot do this quickly - believe me I tried and I am real fast at ripping. You just can't because the fabric is waterproof and tough. This stage took 45 minutes.

Once you have done one side of the zip, do the other. A zip has two sides after all! Obvs.

Now using your record photos as a guide, remember how to sandwich the zip in place within the fabric and the seam bias binding. Hand pin the entire length of the new zip followed by hand tacking it in place.

Once you have done one side, unzip the zip and do the other side.

Once tacked by hand, zip up the whole zip and shut the backpack. You can see the black hand tacking in this pic.

Check balance. Lay flat. Make sure there is no pulling, wrinkling or puckering of the fabric, it should be totally smooth and like the original!

Now use the machine to stitch over the hand tacking. Use the record photos again to check - and it so happens I have yellow ochre thread to overstitch the outer or the right side of the fabric, with the under bobbin thread in black.

On the other side of the zip, it is black on the bottom and top side of the fabric. Use the machine to stitch this.

Finished!

No original pull but I will get a small piece of red or black webbing to sew a generic pull.

Checking to ensure that is it all neat, no gaps, puckering or pinching of the fabric. Fabric against zip must be perfectly smooth as the original.

Whole job took 2 hours and 45 minutes including the seamripping and broken zip removal. So proud of the Converse leopard print backpack. Now it will and should last another ten years.

Frugality is so tedious. It takes time because all things take time which are worth the time. Why not take a look at the book I wrote? It is a literary thriller and features themes of excess in the 1980s.

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!