Making time for some sewing

It has been a busy few Months for me. Staystitching is only 4 months old and expanding rapidly and I have also now set up Hewett Heating, my very own Plumbing and Heating company. I have a van and been busy filling it with all the tools I need to service and repair heating systems. I can't wait until Tuesday when my sign writing will be added to my van, with a smiley flame logo of course.

Asside from the Busyness I managed to make a bit of time for sewing. I am being taught to Quilt by my friend and accomplished quilter Manderley Primrose, who is such a great teacher, very patient with perfect attention to detail. Thankfully we are starting simple, I have hand sewn these pieces into pairs now and just about to start joining the pairs to look like the one on the left! Apparently I am hand sewing due to already knowing how to use a machine, I am actually really enjoying it, which I never thought possible as I previously did everything with my machine.




Whilst patiently waiting for my next quilting lesson, I made some mini scallop bunting, using left overs from cutting out my quilt pieces. It is 2 metres long and so simple to make, a small tin of paint was my template to get the shape right, they are now hanging happily in the shop. 



There was a fairly big piece left over of this Tula Pink Neptune fabric, so I made a simple wrist bag pattern and turned it into a roomy little bag.



Desperate for somewhere to store my cutting tools and tape measure I made myself a craft apron, using cotton/linen blend Echino Bond and a few metres of bias binding. The pocket spans the apron and has divided up sections so everything has its place.


I am loving Iron on Vinyl, it comes in 2 yard packs, so you can just cut a bit off and iron it onto any smooth fabric to create a laminated cotton, the results are a useful wipe clean fabric, which is really easy to sew with and incredibly practical. I can finally turn any fabric into a laminate, which is amazing to me as there are so many fabrics which I previously wished were made as laminates.

JBM My Amazing Mum

My Mum aka JBM never fails to amaze me with her ability to do everything. I have always been hugely inspired by my mum and get so much support and love for everything I do. Working full time in London JBM also loves to quilt, applique and has recently re-discovered a love of dressmaking. I am unsure which one of us is more pleased about the creation of Staystitching, we finally have access to great fabrics and we are not afraid to use them. 

Beautiful blouse made using Amy Butler Voile 

Parrot Perch fabric and the A+ Skirt pattern

Echino A+ skirt, photo taken in a lift it canary wharf, JBM is a very busy lady!

I know my mum loves to sew and she has a sewing room and fabric shed to contain her huge stash but having moved out of my Mum’s home over 10 years ago had not realised quite how special the stash was. I am fast realising where my obsession with fine fabrics comes from. Since I showed her the Tula Pink Hushabye and Plume fabrics from Devon I have been getting daily updates as she finds more and more FQ's of Tula Pink fabrics in the stash.

JBM came into the shop to see me at the weekend and was carrying a big bag containing some quilt tops she is working on, one of them was a lap quilt made using tiny pieces of Tula Pink Plume fabric, soo special. You can read more about what JBM is sewing over at her blog -  Quilt therapy

Tula Pink Squirrel Sunset and Simplicity 6022

I made myself a new top for the Staystitching opening party using Tula Pink Squirrel print from the birds and the bees collection in Sunset from and simplicity pattern 6022. I am soo pleased with it, perfect fit and I managed to get the pattern lined up just right, so the Squirrels face each other in the centre of the front and have their backs to each other on the centre of the back, also a squirrel on each sleeve. I cut the back as one piece to make the most of the print so it was very each to sew taking about 3 hours in total and used just1 metre of fabric.

The fabric moved to its new home in one of the other rooms in Pride & Joy's old bakery today, making room to have an even bigger range of fabrics in the shop.

I didn't do to well with getting a picture of the back of my top, I had a busy day organising fabrics into their respective designers, Tula Pink fabrics rightfully take up two full shelves.

Staystitching Grand Opening

Our home sewn flag, took its place proudly next to the Pride & Joy sign yesterday for the first time. We had a brilliant opening celebration with so much support from local quilters, friends and family. It was great to meet so many new like minded fabric fans and get more ideas on what we should source to join our shelves.

It was great to see my new friend Rachel too, Rachel makes the most fantastic quilts and has very similar taste in fabrics to me. We made a list of future fabrics to order and I got some amazing tips too. Rachel was lucky enough to attend a master class with Tula Pink a few weeks ago, I was a little jealous but also very lucky to have someone to pass on gems of knowledge from one of my design idols.

I will be adding some more patterns,  pom pom trim, lace & ribbons to www.staystitching.com later too.

Staystitching featured in the Guardian on Saturday

It was a busy weekend at Staystitching, we were featured in the guardian magazine 'things I like' column. This resulted in a massive boost in website visitors over the weekend and lots of orders too. I spent most of the weekend cutting and packing and have just posted a huge stack of blue parcels.

I also attended a workshop on machine Applique at Pride & Joy, run by Daisy Cook. A talented young quilter and designer. I love freehand machine applique and can't wait to do more, the results look stunning, I used small scraps of Tula Pink for the letters and a little piece of Kokka - Echino in the wind for my Squirrel. I love the way it uses up the smallest scraps, I hate wasting any bits of fabric.. so I will now be appliqueing everywhere :)

Tula Pink is in the UK!!

Tula Pink is visiting the UK, attending the festival of quilts 2012 in Birmingham, the largest Quilt show in Europe. Welcome Tula we hope you have a lovely time and enjoy all the brilliant quilts the UK has on offer. To celebrate this I have picked some of the best makes I could find using Tula's Prince charming collection.  

The owner of a quilt shop in America made this amazing apron top.

Amber made this gorgeous tote bag using frog prince Indigo, I love it.

This quilt, by Angela, I can't imagine how many hours work went into this, incredible quilting.

See more in this gallery.

A couple made by me too

Reversible Japanese knot bag

Laminated cotton compact camera bag.

Tula Pink - the birds & the bees - now in the UK

 Look what arrived yesterday, Tula Pink has another incredible new collection and it is uutterly irresistible. The birds & the bees, is equally as clever and mesmerising as the prince charming collection. With geometric bees hidden in flowers and trees surrounded by birds & bees, not to forgot the cutest squirrels. Here they are... and available to buy online at www.staystitching.com 

 

The Fabric Counter

Fabrics from www.staystitching.com are now available for the lucky people of North Hampshire to come and browse at Pride&Joy in Sherborne St John. Situated in a gorgeous old bakery, filled with character and surrounded by vintage furniture and amazing local art works. Such a perfect setting for our happy little fabrics.

 

The Staystitching fabric counter at Pride&Joy

 Pride&Joy - The Old Bakery, Aldermaston Road, Sherborne St John, Basingstoke, Hants RG249LA

Tula Pink - the birds and bees collection just arrived too.. far too much excitement! x

Reversible bag take 2 - Tula Pink - Frog prince / Dew drop

I made the long strap longer so it is easier to use as a shoulder bag, while still being perfect as a hand bag. I redesigned the shape so that it is slightly wider on the bottom, and makes the most of a fat Quarter using the whole width and height of the fabric. It used two fat Quarter to make this bag and I have already taken it on its first outing. Fabric available at www.staystitching.com

Cute little bag - Tula Pink Storm Clouds Nightshade

Last Saturday I was getting ready to go out for Thai food with friends to celebrate Rachel's Birthday and realised I needed a little bag to take with me. It just felt wrong to take a bought one when I was wearing a home sewn top. I had been playing with this idea for a reversible bag during the previous week and decided to quickly make one up, I used two fat quarters of Tula Pink - Storm Clouds, and whipped one up in no time.

It is a perfect little bag and has come everywhere with me since, I think I will make the long handle a little longer next time.. when I say next time I mean now, I am just about to set to work making one from Tula Pink, Frog prince & Dew drop fabric.

Pride & Joy

Having heard whispers of excitement from friends and neighbours about a new local business I finally made time to pay it a visit yesterday. Located in the Old Bakery in nearby village, Sherbourne St. John. Pride & Joy is a wonderful collection of locally produced art, restored furniture, gifts and every other beautiful thing you could possibly want to adorn your home with. 

The building itself is filled with period features & old bakery equipments which have been lovingly uncovered by Sharron & her team. Features that had previously been hidden beneath layers of unsympathetic modernisation.

I spent about 2 hours looking at their amazing local wares, chatting with Sharron and finding out about the exciting workshops they hold.

If you live in the area you must visit, it is a lovely, friendly, welcoming place with lots of character. I will go and take some pictures of the building soon to show you just how special it is.

Exciting times...

Yesterday was a great day indeed, not only was it my mummy's birthday, meaning getting to spend some time with her, Nick and my Grandma, I visited an inspirational new local business (more of that later) and also arrived home from work to find a box of fabric, three more bolts to add to my Staystitching shop.

Posie from the flea market fancy collection by Denyse Schmidt, David walkers wonderful flock of birds from his get together collection and the fabric of my dreams, Tula Pink's incredible Frog prince from her prince charming collection. All these fabrics are now available to buy in my shop :) and there's lots more Tula to come.

Follow staystitching on facebook for updates on fabric arrivals.

Nani Iro & Simplicity 6022

Whilst visiting my mum on Friday I got a preview of a dress she is making, Simplicity 6022. I love the simple Japanese feel of the pattern so rushed out to buy one for myself. I decided to use my Nani Iro peaceful cooing in grey and set to work making this tunic. It was really quick and simple to sew (4 hours in total) and the double gauze was very easy to work with.

I would thoroughly recommend this pattern, the shoulder pleats are a great feature and the fit is perfect. I made some alterations, leaving out the elastic on the back and sleeves and shortening the length, but I think it would look great with the elastic too.

You can currently find Nani Iro peaceful cooing in blue at Staystitching.com

Staystitching.com

I have been a bit absent from blogging recently due to an exciting new venture.. Staystitching 

Having found it really difficult to find cute designer fabrics in the UK, which are good for dress making as well as quilting. I thought, why not start my own webshop and import some, so that's just what I did. I managed to find suppliers of Japanese fabric and fabric from America and have purchased 40 bolts to see how it goes. Obviously my blog followers get discounts so please ask if you want any of my fabrics and I can set you up a discount code.

I currently stock different weights of cotton & cotton/linen blend fabric as well as Amy Butler Voile and Sateen.

I really hope to be able to stock some designer oilcloth and corduroy soon as it is so hard to find these in the UK. Please feel free to link to my shop on your site, I would love it and any comments will be gladly received, it is an ongoing project of development which I hope will improve with time.
 
I have still found time for a bit of sewing for myself, here is what I made.

Heather Ross - Owl & Pussycat purse

Tula Pink - Prince charming oilcloth

Don't forget to visit my shop www.staystitching.com

Vintage Pattern Hoard

Saturday evening my mum phoned to say she had a present for me. Having been to visit Nicks mum, Grandma Sheila for for 86th Birthday, they were returning home with a big box of vintage patterns for me. Sheila kindly let me have the fantastic collection of patterns, she has amounted over the years.

Thank you Sheila, I have been hoping that someone would have some tucked away and realise I will put them to good use. About half of the patterns are pre 1971, the price is printed on them and in 1971 our money switched to the decimal system. I am very excited to give some a try. There was also a tracing wheel and paper in the stash, lucky me.

 The one on the right below says Young Designer Mary Quant : )

 

 

 

Summer Sewing Space

The past few days we have had glorious sunshine, which is a wonderful thing, when I am not working. I woke up this morning, determined to get some sewing done but wasn't prepared to miss out on enjoying the weather. So I moved my dining room contents into the garden, put on some music and began work. It was a bit breezy, so the perfect environment for being outside. I had to weigh everything down to prevent it blowing off the table, as I was pinning the front pieces together one bit got blown straight off the table and into the pond! Thankfully I keep the pond clear so it wasn't dirty just very soggy, I gave it a rinse and it dried pretty quickly in the sun. I am making a portfolio dress for my Mum at the moment.

 

 Tiger enjoying some shade bathing.