Denim skirt

I've been eyeing up many denim skirts around at the moment, and 

decided to make one myself. A great way to wear a denim skirt can also be with a jumper tucked in to keep you toasty in winter.

This fabric was leftover from the bean bag I made a few posts back. Its quite a heavy black denim.

This pattern is one I took off a skirt I love... I used this skirt pattern for the bottom of my dungaree dress as well. When you know something works....why do anything different.

As well as the skirt the only other pieces I created were a strip for the waistband..which was strong enough not to be backed on anything. Then a strip for the button stand. Super easy.

I began by over locking all the edges around the skirt.

I then stitched the side seams together. 

I then stitched the first strip onto the front on the skirt, I made this quite wide, but that is something that can be altered. 

I then just turned up the hem the width of the over locking.

I then stitched the waistband on.

I top-stitched around the waistband and button stand to give it a more jean effect.

This is how I mark out button holes. I tend to put sewing machine needle in the top left hand corner and pull out the pins and slide them along so I know where the button hole starts and stops but I don't stitch over the pins. This is a good way of doing it without chalking the lines (which I tend to find I can't see very well)

Finished button holes.

I Found these lovely silver buttons which I think work great with this skirt.

All finished. I Absolutely love how this skirt works in winter too. I'm sure I will be able to wear it in summer too.

Top altering

This was just a quick little alteration for my sister before she went on her holidays.

This was quite a baggy top, As it has no fastening or opening anywhere I couldn't just take it in as then she wouldn't be able to pull it on over her head.

So I came up with the idea of creating some little bias ties that she could then tie to pull it in.

 I wanted it to blend in with the fabric of the top so I used some fabric I already had. 

I ironed it in half the turned each edges into the middle so I could run up a top stitch and keep it all inside.

I then unpicked the sides of the top and put the binding inside.

 I then stitched it in & stitched over it to keep it secure.

The finished result.. so simple and easy.

Cushion making

I'm not going to go into too much details about how I made this cushion 

as I'm sure most people have their own patterns and ways of doing things. This is just a little blog post so show you what I created and hopefully inspire you to make something yourself.

This was a very simple idea for a cushion for my granny. She loves lavender so using 

the free machine foot to create the simple picture seemed like a great personal idea. 

I hadn't used the free machine foot in a while .. I forget how much fun it can be.

Just a simple toggle fastening on the back is all I do. I sometimes I think zips can look a bit boring and this makes a statement of the fastening.

All ready to post... A great and easy present for someone you love... and you can make it as personalized as you want.