Author: Lissy Cat

Luna’s story

Lissy CatJanuary 17, 2020Leave a Comment

This will be the story of my cat, Luna.

She was apparently found the side of a backroad. A man pulled over to answer the call of nature and she came wandering out from under the shell of a old burnt out car. That particular gentleman didn’t really like cats, but instead of leaving the little adventurer behind, he took her to the local animal shelter, the Mareeba Animal Refuge.

This is where I first saw her. I would visit the shelter from time to time to play with the cats. I saw her, in a cage, with what looked like nasty eye infections. She looked so small, like she couldn’t be more than 6 weeks old at that stage. The shelter has to make really tough calls when it comes to expensive/arduous treatments for animals that are really unwell. But she was too adorable, so they committed to her treatment.

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It wasn’t long after that, that I returned for more kitty time. Luna (called Layla by the shelter), was doing well. Her infections had cleared up, though she still seemed a little sniffly. She climbed up onto my shoulder and snuggled in, and I was hooked. I adopted her.

I noticed that she continued to sneeze a lot. Especially when eating and drinking. I took her to a vet in town and he was initially a little stumped. That was until he opened her mouth and spotted a small hole in her hard palate. My baby had a cleft palate and this was the issue.

Luna Penfold 2 — Photo taken while Luna was under anaesthetic for her de-sexing.

Since then, it has been trial and error in regards to her food and drink. If she drinks from a fountain, or slowly running tap, she seems to be able to get some hydration without it pouring out her nose. Drinking out of a bowl is a total waste of time. Small-sized cat kibble goes down okay, but large kibble requires too much chewing and the small fragments go into her nose. Small pieces of diced meat or fish are good as well. She chews a little, then swallows them whole. Minced meat is a no-go though. “Temptations” cat treats seem to be okay as well (she loves them!).

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I’ve looked into surgical correction of the cleft. It is expensive, and there are no guarantees that it will work. While she is healthy, not losing weight, and not having infections, we will wait and see. If her health becomes compromised, then I will not hesitate to consult the specialist vet surgeon again.

She remains a small cat, with a big personality. She loves cuddles, treats, and leaving white fur on everything.

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Large grocery tote bag tutorial

Lissy CatFebruary 12, 2018Leave a Comment

Large Grocery Bag Tutorial

Reusable bags are great for grocery shopping. Apart from generating less plastic waste, they also tend to be stronger. They are also very easy to make. The one I make is generous in size, and fully lined. It is also easily customised by changing the length of the strap, added patch or zipped pockets, closing snaps, etc.

The pattern I use was made by measuring out a large rectangle on my cutting board:

I cut it 20″ by 16″. Then at two of the corners I cut out 2.5×2.5″ squares in order to created the boxed corners during constructing. For the handles, I either use webbing, or make the straps myself. I have a few bag patterns requiring straps and I have a few “patterns” made up in different lengths. The one I normally use for this bag is 20″ (and 2.5″ wide) long, but in all honesty, 22″ is a much better length for this size bag.

To make the bag, you need to cut two outside pieces, and two lining pieces. I prefer to use heavier fabrics, including drill, duck, canvas, furnishing fabric. This usually means the bag holds a little shape, without the need for interfacing or wadding. However, if you want something that is going to fold down much smaller, then quilting cotton or poplin would be fine. I usually use calico for the lining.

If making straps, rather than using webbing, then cut 2 pieces of each fabric (4 in total). If you want to add a pocket, then it is best done first, adding outside pockets to the right side of the outside fabric, and inside pockets to the right side of the lining fabric. I usually add a single inside patch pocket, great for car keys.

Once you have added any pockets, sew the lining pieces, right sides together, along the side and bottom (see picture below). Then do the same to the outside fabric pieces. Use a 1cm seam. Don’t sew along the corners in this step.

Sides and bottom sewn

The next step is to complete the corners. For each corner, you need to bring the bottom seam you have just sewn, to meet the corresponding side seam. It is difficult to describe in words, so take a look at the pictures below. Once you have these edges lined up, sew across with a 1cm seam. I reinforce each end.

Once you have one this to both the outside and lining pieces, then it is time to add the straps. For this bag I have used webbing, so there is no assembly requires for the straps. However, if you are making the straps, then you would sew two strap pieces together, along both of the long sides, with right sides facing. Then turn the strap right side out and press. The ends remain open. Top stitch if desired.

Place the lining, inside out, on a surface. I measure four inches from the side seam, and this is where I secure the strap. Make sure the strap isn’t twisted! When I use webbing I finger press the strap into an appropriate, untwisted configuration, prior to setting it into the bag.

Pin the straps in place. You need to have both straps set into the lining of the bag. You can baste these if you want. Next up, you place the outside of the bag (right side out) into the lining. To make sure you have done it right, check that the right sides of the bag pieces are facing each other. Pin around the top of the bag.

Next, sew around the top of the bag, but be sure to leave a gap for turning. If you don’t leave a large enough gap, the bag will rip when you try to turn it. In this step, if I am using webbing, I tend to backstitch over the straps for extra strength.

Turn the bag out. You will not just be turning out the outer bag fabric, but also the lining. And you will end up with something that looks like this:

Push the lining to the inside of the bag. Along the top of the bag, press, and topstitch. And you are done! Here is another one I have made (my sister claimed this one the moment she saw it):

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Drawstring Backpack Tutorial

Lissy CatNovember 07, 2017Leave a Comment

There are many drawstring backpack tutorials on the internet already. But when I wanted to make one, I decided it just HAD to have a boxed bottom, and I could not find a pattern that accommodated my little whim. So I made up my own!

The best thing about these backpacks is how quick and easy they are. They only require two pattern pieces, or you could cut the whole lot out with a roller cutter. Creating the boxed bottom adds just a few extra minutes of work.

The drawstring setup makes the straps adjustable, and so this pattern will be appropriate for many ages. It goes around my shoulders just fine and I am a small to average sized woman. For small children, it might be necessary to adjust the pattern, making the main piece shorter.

I took a lot of pictures for this tutorial, so it will hopefully be super easy to follow.

Materials:

Fabric for the outside- I have mostly used quilting cotton and cotton drill, but I have also used PUL!. You need a piece 13 inches by the width of fabric. This should give you enough for the main bag pieces and the drawstring casings.
Fabric for the inside- Most cottons or poly-cottons should be fine. You will need a piece 13 inches by 32 inches.
Grommet or eyelets x 2
Rope for the drawstring- whatever you choose, it must be the right size that you can fit 2 strands through one of your eyelets- at least 3m. A larger person may need extra length, so if in doubt, buy a longer length, you can always shorten the straps if they turn out too long.
Short length of rope, ribbon or twill tape, 10-12cm long
Scrap of iron on interfacing
Double sided quilting or sewing tape is highly recommended. Wonder tape is particularly good, but I have used other brands with good results. If you don’t have any, pins will do the job.

Seam allowance can anywhere from 6mm-10mm, depending on your preference. As long as you are consistent throughout the project than it doesn’t matter what you choose. There are a couple of instances where the seam allowance is specified, and these should be adhered to.

Firstly, the pattern:

I don’t use my roller cutter to cut out patterns because I always make a mess. Instead I draw the rectangles on interfacing (bought especially for pattern tracing), using my roller cutter mat to make sure it is square. The piece on the left of the picture is the main piece- it is 13 inches x 16 inches. The piece on the right is the drawstring casing. It is 13 inches x 5 inches. Cut two of each pattern piece.

Next you need to cut the lining fabric. Cut two of the main pattern piece only- no drawstring casings needed for the lining.

It you want to add pockets or embellishments, now is the time to do them. I have sometimes added patch pockets, or zipped pocket. This tutorial by Radiant Home Studio makes putting in a great looking zipped pocket pretty easy.

With this bag, I added some jumbo rick rack to the front piece of the fabric. Since the back of the bag isn’t seen when the backpack is worn, I left it plain.

The next step is to add some interfacing to the inside of the bottom corners of the back of the bag. This is to stabilize your grommets/eyelets. I used pieces approx 1 inch square. Place them just inside of the seam allowance. Place them on the WRONG side of the fabric.

Next we are going to sew the outside pieces together, wrong sides facing. You will leave the top of the bag (one of the short sides) open. Then we will do the same to the lining pieces. The next step is to create the boxed bottoms. The lining will have a conventional boxed bottom, while the outside will be done a bit differently.

Firstly the lining:

It took me a while to get my head around boxing corners like this. There are some good tutorials out there and this tutorial by Craft Apple is straightforward (and minus the pages and pages of ads and unrelated crap). You fold one bottom corner of the lining as demonstrated above. You want to centralise the seam, and make sure that BOTH the seam facing you and the one on the other side of the fabric are in line- otherwise the corner will be wonky. Measure 2 inches from the corner, do not include the small bit of excess fabric, only the seam. Next, draw a line at the 2 inch mark that is perpendicular to your seam. You then sew this line and trim the excess fabric.

The lining is complete for the moment, and if your boxed corners are a little wonky it doesn’t matter as they will not will very visible. In fact, the lining makes a good practice step for the outside of the bag. However, the boxing step for the outside of the bag is different. Instead of boxing the fabric while the pieces are right side together, this time out turn the bag pieces after sewing them together, so that the right side of the fabric is facing out. Then you go through the steps of boxing the corners almost exactly the same way.

Be fastidious amount lining up the seams as any inaccuracy will be more obvious on the outside. Once you sew the box corner DO NOT trim the excess fabric. The corner that sticks out will be where we insert our grommets and anchor the drawstring. Once you have done both corners, this is a good time to add thost grommets. I add them to the portion of that corner tab that is closest to the back surface of the bag.

Be sure that the grommet goes through the interfacing that you placed earlier.

The next step is to sew the lining and the outer bag together at the opening. To do this, place the outside of the bag (right side facing out), into the lining (right side facing in). This way the bag pieces are laying with right sides together. Stitch around the top, leaving 10cm or so open for turning. Because the drawstring casing will cover most of this seam, feeling free to give yourself a generous opening through which to turn the bag.

Once this is done, turn the bag right side out.

Next you will be doing some work with the iron. Pressing the seam you just made makes adding the drawstring casing easier and neater. In the picture below, a portion of the seam has been pressed and sits nice and flat.

At this time I like to take the opportunity to prepare the drawstring casing, though you could do it at any stage. The first step is to fold and press about 12mm in from each short end. This is done to both pieces. The exact measurement is based on the seam allowance to used to stitch the other bag pieces. This fold needs to be 2-5mm larger than those allowances. I then stitch this in place so that they stay put. See the picture below!

Once the short sides are done, fold the casings lengthwise and press. Then, on one of the long edges, turn up a small hem (about 6mm) and press. The other long edge remains as is.

Next we add the small piece of rope or ribbon to the back of the bag. I use double-sided tape to secure it, but you could pin and baste.

Now we start to place the drawstring casing. Firstly, we secure it to the lining of the bag. I use wonder clips to do this. The right side of the long raw edge of the casing sits alongside the top seam. The short ends should be a small distance away from the side seams (see below).

Once you have pinned it in place, stitch with a 6mm seam, as above. Trim any excess rope or ribbon that hang over the seam. Fold the casing up, away from the inside of the bag. Use an iron, or finger press this fold. Fold the casing along the center line that you previously pressed. The folded long end of the casing should just cover the the last row of stitches you made.

I use double sided tape to secure the folded edge just over the previous stitch line. You just need to cover the stitches, so don’t pull it down too much. Once well secured, topstitch 2mm from the casing’s edge. Sometimes I use a zigzag stitch for decorative purposes, but a straight stitch works well too.

Repeat the last few steps with the second casing piece. The backpack is almost complete! The final step is to add the drawstring. I cut my 3m piece in half, giving my two 1.5m pieces. Take one piece and feed it though the casings. I do this by using a large bobby pin on one end. You need to go in one side of the casing, out the other side, then through the other casing. This way, both drawstring ends are on the same side.

Squeeze both rope ends through the grommet on that side. Once they are through, either tie a small knot in each individual rope end, or tie a knot with them together… either is fine. Repeat with the other length of rope, but have the ends come out on the opposite side. These go through the grommet and are secured the same way.

Then the bag is complete! To add a little fabric ‘frill’ to the top of the bag, sew across the length of the casing, either before add the rope, or afterwards. Straight stitch about 20-25mm from the top of each casing, down the entire length.

Here are some other examples:

If you have any problems or comments, I would be happy to hear from you. Just fill out the contact form below:

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How to sew with trims: Episode 3

Lissy CatOctober 27, 2017Leave a Comment

In this post, I will have a look at how you sew trims into seams. This is how you would sew piping around the edge of a cushion, for instance. But I am not going to do that.

First I will add some cute fringe to the bottom of a pencil case. I am not going into detail about how the pencil case is made. At least, not yet. The most important consideration here is that even though the fringe is being sewn to the bottom seam, what do I want to happen at the side seams?

In the picture above, you can see that I have basted the fringe onto the edge of the pencil case that will form the bottom seam. Remember to baste close to the edge so that your basting will not stick out of the seam in the end. If it does show, you will have to unpick it. Sounds like effort.

Also in the above photo, see that at the edges which form the side seam, I have trimmed some little fringe bit away. I don’t want them to get caught up when I sew the sides.

Next, pin the right sides of your fabric together. The fringe will be sandwiched between them. Then stitch your fabric together. I used a 1cm seam, and my basting stitches were about 3-4mm- so it ended up well hidden. As you sew the side seams, you can peek between your fabric layers to make sure that nothing gets sewn in.

Here is my pencil case with the seams sewn, and corners cut, ready to be turned out the right way. This is the moment of truth. I had never done this before, so I wasn’t sure that I hadn’t stuffed it up.

Looks alright, eh? I make sure the corners of the outside of the case are well turned out before I close the gap in the stitches that I used to turn it. And after a little adjusting and a little more poking, it is finished.

The little fringes at the sides are sticking out because the corners didn’t turn out very sharply. I could cut them off if it bothered me, but it doesn’t. In the photo I have including some very useful tools. One is Wonder tape. And the other is a european brand of something that is similar, but different. Essentially they are both double sided tapes. They happen to be the only reason I can sew zips at all. The Wonder tape washes away, so no evidence. The other stuff doesn’t, so I have to make sure that I don’t use it anywhere where it might show.

In the next example, I add a little crochet lace to a flap closure on a little backpack. I was super tired when I did this and felt very much like I was just making it all up. The flap has an outside fabric and a lining fabric, and it order to add the trim, I essentially sandwich it between the two, into the curved edge.

First step was to place the trim over the curve I planned to decorate in order to measure how much I would need. Then I trimmed off the excess. Next was to baste it in place. Given that the trim is so small and narrow, I had to be careful how I basted it. I didn’t baste it right up against the edge, but offset 1-2mm from it. If I had set it right up against the edge, very little would have stuck out from the seam.

Next step is to make the sandwich. I lay the lining fabric face down (right sides facing), and secured it for stitching.

When stitching, it is important to keep you seam allowance consistent, in order to leave a consistent amount of trim. The allowance for this pattern is a quarter inch, which I tend to struggle with. Without pulling out specialised presser feet, I find it hard to achieve.

Once you are done stitching, clip the curve. Making these little cuts into the seam allowance allows the seam to lay flat after turning. Generally, the tighter the curve, the more frequently you place a cut. Also, be sure not to snip the seam!

Lastly, turn and press. If you look carefully, you can see that the trim does not have a consistent, even length. The trim to the right protrudes further than the rest. However, I was too tired to care. Close enough is good enough, most of the time.

Here is another trim that I have added to the seam. The dress I made is New Look pattern 6443. It is easy (with a just little experience under your belt), reasonably quick, and so lovely on completion. I think I have made about 6 of these. But this is about the trim, not the dress! The instructions for adding the trim are included in the pattern and are pretty straight forward. However, it is almost exactly the same as the techniques used above.

Things to remember:

when you line up the trim with the edge of the fabric, keep the seam allowance in mind- how much is going to stick out of the seam?
Baste it in place. Don’t pin it, don’t wing it. Baste it. I hate basting, and yet I baste it. Baste. it.

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How to sew trims: Episode 2

Lissy CatSeptember 11, 2017Leave a Comment

First of all, I feel that a little shout out is necessary. The largest sewing store in my town closed down recently, and a new place has opened up. Dave bought out another sewing business, and has moved the stock to Mareeba to set up shop here. The reason this is relevant to this post is that he has SO. MANY. TRIMS. It is actually ridiculous how much he has. However, seeing all the possibilities has really inspired me, so here’s a big thanks to Dave at Cairns Haberdashery, Fabric and Trims.

This post is going to look at adding trims to the hems of things. I am going to demonstrate on skirts because it is easy.

Up first, are pom pom trims. Like rick rack, these used to confuse me. But after taking the plunge and using them, I think they are actually quite fun. There are two ways you can apply pom poms. You can sew them to the outside of the hem, or sew them to the inside.

When I sew the pom poms to the outside of the hem, I finish sewing the hem completely before adding the trim. The technique is fairly straight-forward, so I am going to show the steps involved with the inside technique only. Unlike the trims in the previous tutorial, I add the pom poms after sewing the back seam. Then I press up a small hem, and make sure it is ironed really well.

Next I lay the pom poms over the inside of the hem. Make sure that it lays low enough that the pom poms will jiggle freely from the bottom of the skirt. Now, as the hem is not yet sewn down, I pin the pom poms in place. I haven’t shown the point at which the ends overlap, but I just lay about 0.5-1.0cm of one end over the top of the other and just cut off the excess.

When you sew the pom poms to the skirt, you will be sewing on the outside of the fabric. I use either a straight stitch or a zigzag here. Remember that you are finishing off the hem at the same time.

When I reach the overlap of the two ends, I backstitch a little to make sure that it is really secure.

And this is literally all there is to it. Below is the finished skirt. Below that, is a little pair of shorts that I added pom pom trim to. It is really difficult to see, but the trim was sewn to the outside of the shorts. If you match your colours well, then sewing the pom poms to the outside is a fast and easy way to go.

Black pom poms on black fabric with black thread.

My next demonstration uses lace to edge some skirts. You can achieve a variety of effects doing this. There are also different ways to do it. Sometimes lace trim comes with a finished edge. That is, the lace is on one edge, and the other edge is finished in such a way that it won’t fray. If the edge of your lace isn’t finished, you may have to finish it yourself. I use my overlocker. On the skirt below, I have placed the lace and the fabric hem right sides together, matching the edges. It is quite a wide lace, and happens to be slightly gathered.

Next I used my overlocker to sew them together. You could easily just use your sewing machine, but you need to remember that the edges will need finishing. Next I open the lace out and press the seam. To make it sit flat and look tidy, I then topstitch the lace to the seam allowance behind it.

Next is to finish the skirt. The edges of the lace will be finished in the back seam of the skirt. You obviously won’t need to hem it. Here below are two more skirts that I have added lace to. One skirt had the lace sewn to the wrong side of the hem, much like the pom poms on the skirt above. As for the other skirt, I added the lace to the hem of the lining.

Points to remember:

Think about whether the trim is sewn separate to the hem, or whether it will form a part of the hem.
Think about whether the trim needs one of its edges finished prior to sewing it on.
See this Oliver + S tutorial for a method to add ribbon to the bottom of your skirts!

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How to sew with trims: Episode 1

Lissy CatAugust 26, 2017Leave a Comment

So many times I have bought lengths of beautiful trims, with the intention of adding them to something. Eventually. However, what has really slowed me down is not knowing how to add them. If I google ‘how to add trim to a whatever’, the resulting tutorials tend to assume you already have some secret-squirrel trim-attaching knowledge. Which I don’t.

So I thought that on my journey to learn this sewing technique, I would take some pictures and maybe help out some other trim-attachment hopefuls.

There are different ways of trimming a garment and this post is going to concentrate on trims that you sew directly to the outside of your project. This includes rick rack and pom poms, as well as laces, ribbons, and all sorts. There will be future tutorials to cover over way of using trims.

First off, I am going to add a ruffle trim to the bottom of a skirt. This is the same skirt pattern that I sew in my Making a skirt tutorial. Basically, we sew a length of ruffle about 2 inches above the hemline. The ends of the trim will be finished in the back seam. So it is ideal if we can sew the trim in a straight line. To do this, I draw a line across the fabric the same distance from the hem, for the entire length of skirt fabric. A good ruler and tailor’s chalk make this super easy. The hem has been pressed into place, but not yet stitched.

Next I sew the trim to the fabric. I chose not to pin it, as I was happy to manually guide the fabric along my marked line. However, you could certainly pin it if you wanted to. I chose to use a narrow zig zag to secure the trim. The sort of trim you use will dictate the stitch you you use.

Once you have finished stitching the trim, you then fold the fabric right sides together and sew the back seam, sewing also through the ends of the trim. If you were inaccurate in you line making or sewing, then you may well see a noticeable mismatch in the trim ends at the back seam. As you can see from my attempt, the ends of the trim are sitting pretty close, but not perfect. Once the skirt is gathered, this is barely noticeable.

My motto: close enough is good enough!

Next I am going to talk about sewing rick rick onto projects. It took a look time for me to ‘get’ rick rack. It was this weird looking stuff that I couldn’t figure out how to use. Now, I understand it a little better.

Again, we are going to add the trim to my simple skirt pattern. You can see that I have already sewn the hem for this skirt. Again, mark a line at the level you want to sew your rick rack. I love using Clover markers for my projects. I struggled for ages with the crappy pencils that would barely mark the fabric. The clover chalk markers are really easy to use and create a mark you can actually see. And given that you are going to sew trim over the line anyways, you don’t have to worry about any lingering chalk marks.

The pink chalked line above the hem, marks the rick rack placement

For this tutorial I decided to use large rick rack. I haven’t used it before, and so it will be a learning opportunity for all! With small rack rack, there is enough room to sew down the centre of the trim. It can be a little fiddly at first go, but it shouldn’t take too long to get the hang of it. To see what would happen, I used this technique on the jumbo rick rack. As you can see, the ‘waves’ of the rick rack are sitting up off the fabric, and this is not the look I was going for. If you were to sew regular rick rack like this, it would sit flat without a problem.

No need to panic! We can fix the rick rack down more effectively.

So in order to fix the rick rack to the fabric so it lays flat, I decided to zigzag along the trim. Now, I didn’t sew with a zig zag stitch, but rather, used a straight stitch and sewed in a zigzag pattern. This means sewing a little, raising the presser foot and pivoting while the needle is in the fabric, and then sewing some more. Do this along the whole length of the rick rack.

The zigzagging stitches take a bit more time, but it is worth it.

It might be difficult to see because the thread matches so well, but in the above picture, you can see both the original straight stitch and the zigzagging stitch as well. It now sits much flatter and I am happier with this result. I have chosen not to unpick the straight stitching as; 1. too much effort, and 2. it is not overly noticeable.

What is noticeable, however is the join in the back seam. It is difficult to get rick rack to line up perfectly, and this one is close, but no cigar. Oh well.

Here is another example with rick rack. I added two rows of the stuff to this skirt. All I did was draw two placements lines instead of just one. And even though the rick rack is smaller, it was fairly straightforward to sew down the middle of each piece.

I have that this guide to trims has been helpful so far. The next trim tutorial will cover trims that you add to the bottom of a garment. Some of these are easier than others and I will be covering pompoms and lace.

Things to remember:

Matching thread is pretty important for trims sewn onto the project (as opposed in placed in a seam).
Think about how you will deal with the ends of the trim- burying them in a seam is a great way to do it, but think about how that join will look.
Some trims will need something more than a single straight stitch to sew them on. Think of the zigzag used for the giant rick rack. Also, ribbons need two rows of stitching to secure.

Edit! (11th September 2017)

I just wanted to add some photos of me sewing with some sequined ribbon. It requires 2 rows of stitches to hold it in place.

First I marked a line across the bottom of the skirt. This line can represent any part of the ribbon you like, however, I used the line to mark the bottom edge of the trim.

Each edge of the trim has an area free of sequins which is where the stitches go. I stitched pretty slowly to try and get it looking as nice as possible. Getting it accurate on this first side means that it should be easier when you stitch the other side.

When I reached the end of the first row of stitches, I turned the fabric around and stitched back the other way, on the top side of the trim. Once it is done, finish sewing up the skirt. I added a decorative hem stitch just to try something different!

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Sewing for charity

Lissy CatAugust 18, 2017Leave a Comment

If you have ever wanted use your gift of sewing to help others, know that there are heaps of organisations out there that would appreciate your help. These range from large national/international organisations, to smaller, local groups in your town.

Sometimes, it can be hard to know where to start. So I want to list some of the options available to guide you on your way.

If you are part of a sewing group, then a charity like Days for Girls, could be just for you. This organisation works with sewists around the world, to create menstruation packs for girls. Lack of menstrual hygiene products is a large reason that girls in some countries stop going to school. There are quite strict guidelines for making the kits, and it is a hard ask for a lone sewist to make kits by themselves- but not impossible.

Another place to look is your nearest neonatal intensive care unit. Some units accept donations of sewn and knitted garments. Tiny Sparks WA accepts knitted hats and little boys and girls outfits- they even supply the patterns. They do have specific requirements, but these are all to facilitate the care of the wee bubbies in the unit. A lot of other NICUs also take donations of sewn clothes, but it is best to contact them before you start, as they may have their own patterns and requirements.

If you don’t have any NICUs in your area then consider the local birthing unit. Some mums and dads can’t afford sweet new things for their little bub. Most units will have a little stash of baby goodies for those less fortunate. Give them a call if you want to find out what you can do for them. These tend to have a more relaxed approach to donations, as babies born in these units don’t have high care needs.

Now, if you aren’t a fan of sewing baby clothes, then homeless and women’s shelters are also looking for help. New clothes, blankets, toiletry and self care items are among items on the wanted list. In winter, especially in the southern regions, knitted items are very welcome! If you don’t knit, then you can head to Fleece Fun, and find plenty of snuggly sewing patterns for fleece!

Lastly, there’s a good chance your local animal shelter will gladly accept donations of blankets, especially in the cooler months. Wildlife centres may also have need for sewn goods- give them a call to find out what they need!

Currently, I donate to local womens shelters. I mostly make childrens clothes, but also blankets and carry bags. My favourite patterns to use are:

My simple skirt pattern: Quick to make, but easily embellished.
Tumble Bums by Pattern Emporium: A staple pattern for boys and girls shorts
Halloween Hat pack from Fleece is fun: Super easy and super cute fleece hats with lots of character. I have made these with cat and the bear ears- too adorable.
Raleigh Romper and Dress: This Blank Slate pattern is really easy. I use snaps instead of buttons to close, and I can whip these up quickly. The lined bodice is perfect to add embroidery to.
Hoodie vest by Tie dyed Diva: Easy and cute reversible hoodie. Great for children’s winter projects.
Reversible bag pattern: The pattern by very purple pattern comes with a printable pdf, which I love. The bag becomes very quick to make when you get the hang of it.
My Large Grocery Tote Bag
My Drawstring Backpack pattern
Blankets: These make warm and comforting gifts. The quality of donated quilts can vary from patchwork wonders, to cheap store bought fleece throws. I like to do something that is a little bit more special than a cheap throw, but is definitely not as time consuming as a quilt. I get some flannel, and some matching fleece and sew them together to make a quick and cuddly throw. See below for a quick demo…

Start with pretty flannel (this is some Riley Blake I got on special). Grab some matching fleece. Any fleece will do, but in this case, I have some minky. Polar, husky, cuddle and micro fleece are all suitable. Even faux fur, if you find it at a good price, can be used. I usually buy a metre of both the fleece and the flannel for each blanket.

Next, decide which side of the fleece you want to be on the outside of the blanket.

With my minky, it only has fleece on one side, so this is a no-brainer. Place it right side up on a large surface. I use my floor! Place the flannel right side down on top of the fleece, lining up the edges as appropriate. Pin the fabrics together. If you used thick fleece, quilting pins would be better to use than normal ones. My fabrics are quite thin, but I have demonstrated using quilting pins.

If you do it like I have, then you will find that often the width of the fleece is greater than the width of your flannel. I trim of this excess, and use it to make the Halloween Fleece Hats.

Once it is pinned, stitch around the blanket, leaving a 5 inch gap for turning. Clip corners. Turn the quilt to the right way out. Finally, top stitch the blanket all the way round, closing the gap that you left earlier. And it is done!

I would love to hear any other sewing for charity suggestions. <3

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Oh sew stretchy- the exposed elastic waistband

Lissy CatAugust 14, 2017Leave a Comment

Exposed elastic waists are easy according to all the tutorials I read. But I don’t find them easy. I am getting better at them but we still share a love/hate relationship.

This tutorial is not really any different from the others out there. Just google ” how to sew an exposed elastic waist” and you can find them. And they will probably be better written than this one. Though, hardly any of them say what a right royal pain in the backside these this can be. Also, I reveal my cheat’s method of making this easier, after the first example. So let us start!

Stitched right sides together, nice and strong.

First step is to cut your elastic to size. Then fold it on itself, right sides together, and stitch at the cut ends so you now have a loop. I usually use two rows of straight stitch right next to each other, stitching up, then reverse each time, for extra strength.

In the above pictures, notice I place a pin in the fold opposite the join in the elastic (top picture). Then I fold the elastic so the pin I have place and the elastic join now sit together. Then I placed pins in each of the two side folds. By doing this, you are marking 4 even quarters. By then doing the same to the fabric you at sewing to, you are virtually guaranteeing an even gather.

Here is the top portion of my extraordinarily cute shorts. I ran out of fabric and didn’t have enough to do the waistband, so we are getting exposed elastic instead! Similarly to the elastic, I have used pins to designate four quarters. I actually only needed two pins as the front and back seams are also markers. Next we pin the elastic to the fabric, lining up the quarter markings.

All pinned. To now it’s been easy. At this point the other tutorials say, “and just stitch together”. But for me it is not like that. It is a battle between the elastic, me and the sewing machine. I don’t know what magical techniques people are using for this, but I will post pictures of how I do it below.

My left hand holds the fabric and elastic behind the presser foot. This is to provide counter-traction for my right hand, which is pulling the elastic straight. The thing that has made this whole process easier for me is my new sewing machine. It is a Husqvarna Viking, and you can lower the presser foot with the foot pedal.

Then you sew each quarter at a time, checking that you are sewing through the fabric laying beneath your elastic, and keeping the elastic stretched. If I stop paying attention I tend to lose the fabric, and I have to stop and unpick. I have an example of what I mean later. Finally I overlock over what I have just stitched. Some people can do the entire process on their overlocker. I am not one of them. Here is the finished object.

Now, things get harder as the piece of fabric grows in length, compared to the elastic. And when this happens, I have a little cheat I use to help me get it done. Sometimes the elastic won’t have enough stretch. In which case, you need to make a change to the fabric. You start as before.

My cut elastic, and the skirt, seamed sewed and ready to go.

You will mark quarters as you did last time. The pins are there, in the above picture. Next, in the middle of each quarter of the fabric, make a little pleat or gather. You usually just need little ones, as they add up to take a reasonable length off. In my case, probably a total of 12cm.

I just pin my pleats, but you can baste them if you feel like it, or aren’t happy sewing over pins. Then you play the stretchy-stretchy game again and sew the elastic to the fabric. It will be easier with the pleats than without. And while you may be able to notice them afterwards, they are usually camouflaged in the gathers.

Now earlier I mentioned how I miss the fabric while stitching the elastic on. Here is what I mean.

This pisses me off no end. Fortunately I tend to notice right away. So I stop sewing and unpick the stitches, before resuming. This happens because it is difficult to control the feed of the fabric while both hands are trying to stretch out the elastic.

So there’s the end result! I know you are checking out that jumbo rick rack. Well, it is going to appear in a post on trims. Eventually.

Other things to note:

If you know a better method, please share. I might be getting better at this but I still hate it.
Reminder, for those who are nifty with their overlocker/serger, you can use that instead of sewing.
It gets better with practise, it really does. And if it seems impossible to stretch the elastic far enough, make little pleats, and save yourself tears.

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Make a skirt- the only tutorial you’ll never need.

Lissy CatAugust 13, 20172 Comments on Make a skirt- the only tutorial you’ll never need.

I sew things. And I particularly love to sew quick and easy things. My google searches for new patterns are usually along the lines of ,” easy girls skirt pattern”, or similar.

My go to pattern for girls (age 3-6), is essentially one large rectangle. It was adapted after trying the Oliver + S Lazy Days pattern, but you can find similar skirts and tutorials by the bucket load.

Which begs the question…. why am I also making a tutorial? The answer is fairly simple. If I am going to have a blog, I have to make posts, right? And right now I can’t think of another topic.

I started by cutting a pattern out of some interfacing. For some unexplained reason, I can’t just cut square corners with a rotary cutter, and so I find it easier to use a pattern. Note that on the above pattern, there are lines at the bottom. These are guidelines for cutting the appropriate length depending on the size. The fabric above is folded, with the fold on the left and the selvage on the right. Therefore, with any 44 inch fabric, you can see that the width of the rectangle was designed to be cut on the fold, and remove the selvage. This width is the same for all sizes. This means that the smaller sizes will be more gathered than the larger sizes.

First step after cutting the rectangle is to sew the back seam. Bring the short sides together, with right sides of the fabric facing, and stitch it up. I use a 1cm seam because I like it. Though sometimes I just use my overlocker- this way I sew and finish the seam all at once. I love saving time. The next part involves the iron.

You will use the iron to form the hem at the bottom of the skirt, and the elastic casing at the top of the skirt. I generally don’t use irons unless it is for sewing. It is the only reason they exist as far as I am concerned.

Fold up a small hem, iron, then fold it over again, and iron. Easy.

I usually do the bottom hem first. I turn up about 5mm (or a quarter inch) towards the wrong side of the fabric. Press well. Then turn up again, and this will hide the raw edge of the fabric. I usually aim for about 1-1.5cm this time. Whatever I choose, I try to make it even around the whole skirt. I don’t measure it though (this is probably naughty). It is easiest to stitch the hem before putting the elastic in. In the above picture you may have noticed a row of stitches in the fabric- this is because I added some trim- which will be the topic of a future blog. Yay!

20mm non-roll elastic, it just can’t wait to be encased.

Next is the elastic casing. I press over 5mm. The next step requires a little, itty bitty bit of brain power. When you turn over and press this time, you need to make sure that you turn over enough to accommodate the elastic (whatever width you have chosen) and also be able to have room to sew down the casing. If you making the casing too narrow, you can’t thread the elastic and you either have to unpick the casing, or do what I would do… find narrower elastic, because I just hate unpicking.

If you want it exact, measure it as you turn and press. Again, I don’t strictly measure, but in the case of the casing (chuckles), I will check with the ruler a couple of times to may sure I am not stuffing it up. Once it is all pressed, straight stitch at whatever allowance you have chosen. For me, I had 25mm folded over, so I stitched at about 22mm. This didn’t leave much slack for the elastic and I probably should have turned over a little more. Live and learn. When stitching you need to leave a gap through which to insert the elastic.

I choose to leave the opening at the back seam. That way, if you make it ugly when you close the casing, it is at the back anyways, so who is going to see it?

It is a little hard to see in the picture, but I left about a 3cm gap in the casing. It is at this point that I pull out my very expensive elastic threading tool. I attach a nappy pin to each end of the elastic. This way you can’t lose either end in the casing, no matter how bad your day is going. The elastic length you use will depend on the size you are making, or the size of your child. I use lengths based on a shorts pattern I bought. The elastic will need to be shorter than the length of the casing in order to gather the skirt. This is why I stop at about a size 6… once the elastic gets too long, the pattern just doesn’t provide enough gather to make a skirt that looks good.

Some people do barn doors. I just zigzag.

You need to end up with both ends of the elastic sticking out. You then need to join them. Please check that the elastic has not twisted. Then, check again that the elastic is not twisted. It can be a bit of a pain in the backside to stitich (especially the smaller sizes), and to stitch/unpick/stitch the elastic is just brutal. Of course, I don’t unpick when I stuff up the elastic. I just cut off the stitched bit and re-stitch.

Once the elastic it stitched, poke it back inside the casing. Next, close the casing by pulling the open portion straight (it might be gathered from the elastic), and stitch it closed, along the same stitch line you made the casing with. Then the absolute last step it to stitch the hem closed at the bottom if you haven’t already. I like to use a zigzag for this, as I find that if you don’t have a perfect thread match, it looks ornamental. However, there is a downside to the zigzag.

The stitches created a raised area, or a ‘tunnel’.

As you can see from the above picture, I ended up with tunneling from using my zigzag stitch. This happens with twin needles as well. It is considered a bad thing, as the fabric doesn’t lay flat. I forgot to reduce my thread tension, which normally stops it from happening. So you could unpick it and try again with the zigzag, or use a straight stitch. Instead, if anyone points it out, I will insist it was deliberate, and is a design feature- problem solved, no unpicking. And the finished object…

The light just doesn’t do the rainbow metallic rick rack justice.

Other points:

Ironing of the fabric should happen prior to any sewing. I don’t do it, but I should. The seams should also be ironed flat.
The rectangle ‘pattern’ I use is 21 inches x 15.5 inches for a 6 year old, and I just deduct length for smaller sizes.
For a much better tutorial, you should visit Oliver and S (see below)

summer sewing: lazy days skirts

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Lissy Cat Creative

Making things

Author: Lissy Cat

Luna’s story

Large grocery tote bag tutorial

Large Grocery Bag Tutorial

Drawstring Backpack Tutorial

How to sew with trims: Episode 3

How to sew trims: Episode 2

How to sew with trims: Episode 1

Sewing for charity

Oh sew stretchy- the exposed elastic waistband

Make a skirt- the only tutorial you’ll never need.