Some sewing at last

We are horribly disorganised sometimes. We received an invitation to a 1st birthday party a few weeks ago and because it seemed ages away we just called to accept the invitation and put it to one side. You will see that I didn’t mention anything about writing it on the calendar or sticking the invite to the fridge….

Anyhoo, at about 11.15pm last night Mr G had an uneasy feeling that maybe the party is today which would be tricky as he had already booked some business things. A cheeky text at 11.30 to the mummy of said 1 year old confirmed that it is indeed on Saturday 3rd which sends me in a blind sewing panic and him into working out how fast he might have to drive back from Didcot in order to get back here to pick us up then get to Little Milton by 3pm.

By about midnight plus thirty I had decided on a kind of fabric bucket that I had seen a tute for ages ago and I dragged out some fabric I had been holding off cutting into for fear of making something silly with it and then regretting it. I cut the pieces and left them out overnight hoping some elves would come along and sew them up for me….

Morning came and no such luck. They lay where I had left them with their edges all straight and raw. The tute recommended using two layers of interfacing (in case you aren’t a sewist, that is a kind of lining that stiffens or gives fabric some ‘body’) I have one kind here in the cupboard but the other one called fusible fleece was something I have never seen, so off we went to town to visit Masons to see if they had it and to stop in at The Bookstore to get a book to put in the bag.

It turned out that they did have this mystical iron on fleece hidden at the bottom of a big box full of other things so home we went to pick up where the elves had failed sew the thing.

So after not too much swearing and frustration here it is!

Naturally these are not brand new fabrics: the countryside one is a curtain I found at the Baldon Feast two years ago and the cloud one was a pillowcase that came in a bag of fabric from a friend. It was well received by the mummy which was a great relief.

Hopefully as the little chap grows bigger he will find it useful for carrying things about the house or just putting things in and taking them out and putting them back in and taking them out, over and over again. Hopefully too he will enjoy the story of The Very Busy Spider.

ETA Would you believe that when I googled this book I got a load of lesson plans using this as a teaching tool to explore work, task completion and spiders as well as some very controlled creative activities? Is nothing sacred? Let kids read books for FUN for goodness sake.

The easiest bag gusset ever

If you need a bag and you need one quickly and the gift you need the bag for is a bit bulky – have no fear, the easiest bag gusset is here.

First take your fabric-  ideally one long piece which is double the height of your finished bag, a bit wider and a good bit longer to allow for the gusset and finishing the top of the bag. That is a bit vague, I know, but this is a quick gusset job 5 minutes before the party and not a precise pattern. Fold some fabric around your gift and make a guesstimate.

I have just ripped this from a cotton table cloth I bought at a jumble sale a while ago and as you can see I haven’t ironed it. You should iron your fabric because it will make your gift bag look better.

Next match your sides and tops and fold up the bottom fold. In this picture I have folded up 7-ish cm and this will make a gusset of 14-ish cm

Pin the fabric you have folded and go to your sewing machine. I hope you like your machine and aren’t afraid of it!

Mine is a Singer 319K which is a beautiful old thing in a cabinet which is out in our living room all the time. She sews beautifully but someone does keep twiddling the tension dial as you will see in a minute…

Choose your usual seam allowance and start sewing from the top edge down towards your fold.  Stitch just over the fold

then reverse stitch a bit then go forward again to the end of the fold. You need to reinforce this join because this is where the weight of whatever you put in the bag will hang from.  You see the needle thread tension? Pesky kids.

Now turn your fabric and sew from the bottom of the other side back up to the top – reinforcing the join as you did before.  No picture for this because I am sure you know what I mean.

You should now have something that looks like this

Turn it inside out and you will see that you have created a gusset

which is twice as deep as the fold you made.

In the bag is  my very well thumbed and well loved copy of Delia Smiths Complete Cookery Course and it holds it easily.

Now finish the top  with a tie or a drawstring or however you like and fill the bag with the gift.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. A very easy bag gusset.

 

This way of making a gusset was used on this project too How to Make an Upcycled Trouser Leg Bag