Author: toryawintersdesigns

Designer, maker, lover of colourful sparkly things.
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Car boot sale booty

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Today I took a trip through to the Kinross car boot sale, with the aim of finding some brown and cream fabric that I could make into a sofa throw. As always though, I got a bit sidetracked when I was going round the stalls, and ended up with a few extra things.

For example, there was all this Wendy Pure at 50p a ball – usually £2.50 in the shops. I thought the little pattern would be lovely to knit up for the new arrival, so I snapped this up straight away.

Then I saw some more wool – lovely baby 4ply and some soft aran. I couldn’t leave the bag of buttons and the cute little wooden ladybirds, so I had to have them as well.

After that, I found a little box filled with reels of cotton, needles and sewing bits and pieces, so I had to have that as well.

On the way home, my husband told me that I’d got a message from someone on Freecycle, offering me a whole load of fabric oddments that I’d requested. We decided to call in at their house and pick up the stuff, and I discovered that it wasn’t just fabric oddments, there were zips and binding as well.

Just look at this cool cow-themed stuff!

I went to my mum’s house to show her all the things I’d got, and she handed me a book on cushion making and a silk scarf painting kit that she’d found in her wardrobe! All in all, a very good day.

Oh yes, the sofa throw. Well I picked up a brown pillowcase that I might be able to use… 😀

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My first sewn cushions!

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I’m ridiculously proud of these cushions I made today, even though they are the simplest things in the world to sew. It’s the first time I’ve used my sewing machine to put in a zip, and I’m very pleased with the finished effect. Here they are, all piled on my sofa.

The fabric came from a charity shop, and started life as a pair of curtains, also originally handmade I think. They only cost £2.99, and were very faded and sun damaged in places. Luckily, the fabric was relatively undamaged on the right side, so I was able to cut out my pattern pieces without too much trouble. I bought some cheap cushions out of Primark to use the pads, so I took the covers off and used them as a template for cutting the pattern. I sewed in the zips and did all the seaming on my sewing machine, and then hand stitched the cord edging on. I had been looking for piping cord that I could stitch into the seams, but Remnant Kings in Glasgow only had the stuff that you have to cover yourself – a bit too advanced for me just yet!

The four cushions took about 6 hours to make today, so it was lucky that my son was with his granny for the day and I could just sew until the job was done. Now I have red and brown cushions, and I feel like it needs just a bit of cream in there as well to tie the colour scheme together. The trouble is, I’m rubbish at combining colours, so I’m not sure how best to incorporate the cream. I was thinking of getting some brown and cream patterned fabric and making two more cushions with this, using up the rest of the brown piping I have.

Then I thought I could make a throw for the sofa, using the rest of the red, brown and cream fabrics, and binding it round the edges. Perhaps something patchwork in squares, but I don’t know how best to put the colours together. I’ll have to dig through my fabric stash and go charity shopping again, and see what I can do. Tomorrow I’m off to visit the Kinross Saturday car boot sale, so I might just find something I can use.

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Cosy cushions

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I finished my knitted cushions for the living room this evening, and they are so cosy! I used Sirdar Supersoft Toddler Aran, as my husband and son both have eczema and would be irritated by wool. Acrylic will be hard wearing as well, which is an extra bonus. The patterns came from Simply Knitting magazine, and were designed by Sophie Britten. The cushions only took one and half balls of yarn each, so they were cheap as well as quick and easy to make.

Here they are sitting on my sofa – I’ve changed the picture to one in daylight. The colours are pretty much true to life, with one chocolate brown and one sort of mocha coloured.

Now I can start work on the sewn cushions, which will be a much bigger challenge for me. I’ll dig out the sewing machine tomorrow, and have a read through tutorials of how to sew in zips. They’re going to be terracotta red with chocolate brown piping, so the colours should tie in nicely.

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Nursery Knits and cushion making

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I went to Dunfermline today, and had a wee look around the clearance book store in the shopping centre. This book just jumped off the shelves at me – at £2.99 instead of £14.99, it was a bargain!

There are some lovely patterns inside, so I’m hoping to knit up a couple of things for the baby, and probably a little teddy bear for F.

Tomorrow, I’m going to take a trip into Glasgow to get supplies for the cushions I’m making. The knitting is going well, I just need cushion pads to go inside the covers. I’ll also need zips and trimmings for the sewn cushions I’m making, which are going to be stitched out of an old pair of curtains I got in a charity shop. As a very inexperienced user of a sewing machine, I’m a bit nervous about the whole putting-in-zips thing. I found this tutorial on another blog, which looks really useful. However, I could avoid the whole zip issue altogether – this tutorial explains how to do an envelope cushion with piping instead.

I think cushions with piping look really finished and neat, so I might go for this option and see if I can put in a zip as well.

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More Felt Applique

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I’ve finally finished my secret test knitting! Just have to get it all made up and sent away, then I can start on more projects in my extensive queue. Meanwhile, I’ve been working on the felt applique book that I started ages ago. Here are some pictures of the latest pages.

E is for Eggs. These little eggs have cheeky smiling faces, and slot into the egg boxes.

F is for Fish. The scales are going to be numbered with 3D fabric paint at some point.

G is for Grass. There’s a little worm hiding behind the tall grass, for children to find.

H is for Helicopter. The rotor blades are hinged with a button, and can be spun round and round.

I is for Ice Cream. The scoops of ice cream are all velcroed so different combinations can be made.

I haven’t had any inspiration for J yet, although I think it will be Jelly Beans.
K is for Kangaroo. The baby fits into its mother’s pouch.

Finally, L is for Lollipop. The lollipop heads are all velcroed so they can be put on different sticks.

The way things are going, I might just get this finished before baby number two makes an appearance!