What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #308

In the blink of an eye, it’s Wednesday again. Yesterday afternoon saw me assembling fabrics and choosing zips to match (ish) from my stash.

Two pencil cases cut and interfaced ready to sew. Still deciding on pattern placement for the other two. I need to get over my fear of zips and this seems like a good way to do it. I’ve replaced my old zipper foot and the new one is definitely better. Any poor quality sewing can only be put down to user error now!

For those readers not interested in my sewing adventures, here’s a recent make of the paper crafting variety. It’s that Sheltering Tree set again. This time I used the blossom/leaf stamp and created a background for the message. Very quick to do.

Are you sharing your work space today? I’ll be round to see you soon.

Me on Monday ~ The Ginger Edition Part 2

If you’d been here earlier you would have laughed at me, for sure. Although, if you really had been here this morning, I could have just handed you the camera and saved myself the contortions, but were would the fun be in that?

All I succeeded in doing was proving I cannot take a decent selfie, to show you my new skirt. I need longer arms or a tripod. These are the best of a bad bunch.

A close up of my favourite part. The polka dot waistband facing. Love that.

That’s Me on Monday. How about you?

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #307

The mechanic has gone to work, the lunches are packed and breakfast cleared away. The children are ready and my boy is having his 15 minute chill out before he walks to school. That gives me enough time to pin on my waistband and write this.

All thanks to my new sewing machine cabinet/table. Whenever I have a few minutes to spare I can get the next bit ready to sew. It’s working well for me. I started this skirt on Friday (if you’re an Instagram friend, you’re no doubt sick of the sight of it by now!) and I’m on the home stretch. Hoping to have it finished tomorrow.

At the back you can see the next skirt, in my six pattern plan, cut out ready to go.

I probably would have been done by now, if I hadn’t procrastinated so long over that pesky zip. Managed it on the second attempt, although I ended up turning it inside out and sewing from the zip side rather than the top. Never mind, it’s in.

That’s me for today. Time to wave off my boy and chivvy my girl. Want to see what the other deskers have been up to? You can find them all at Julia’s place.

PS. If you visited last week and were interested in what that stamped panel turned into, you can find the gift box here, along with a quick tutorial.

Me on Monday ~ The Ginger Edition

Today you’ll find me a little distracted. My girl has her Art exam. The first half of it anyway. She was a bit anxious when she left, although excited to be spending an uninterrupted five hours drawing. The best thing of all? She’s missing PE!

For her, it was a rough sketching, preliminary drawing sort of weekend.

For me, it was all about the Ginger skirt. A denim ironing, grain line measuring (why didn’t I think of using my quilting ruler before?), pattern tracing, fabric cutting…..

…..waistband assembling (loving those polka dots for the inside), seam finishing (in my favourite old school style), edge folding (the Ezy-Hem makes it so easy), zip avoiding kind of weekend.

Me on Monday? I can’t put it off any longer. Wish me luck.

Waving back to Sian on this beautiful sunny afternoon. Coffee in the garden to look forward to, once I’ve conquered that pesky zip.

Stampin’ on Saturday ~ Gift Box Tutorial

I’m back to show you my stamped panel, turned into….

…..a very simple gift box.

If you’d like to make one then you’ll need:

a piece of decorated cardstock, or patterned paper* cut to 8 1/4” x 5 1/2”

a scoring tool, scissors, glue, hole punch and a length of ribbon.

Starting with the long edge at the top score your card at 2, 4, 6 and 8”. Turn it clockwise so that the short edge is at the top and score at 2”. I’ve left my card plain and drawn the scoring lines on so that you can see them more clearly. Your card will already be decorated with stamps or you can use patterned paper instead.

Here’s the decorated version, scored and cut, ready to fold. The panels above the horizontal score line remain intact. I’ve cut along the vertical score lines below it, to make the flaps that form the base of the box and removed the 1/4” strip, leaving a tab above to join the main part of the box. Punch a small hole in the far right panel about 1/2” from the top and another to match in the second panel from the left.

Turn the piece of card over so that the blank side is facing up. Fold in the left hand panel along the first vertical score line. Put some glue on the tab and fold the right hand panel in to adhere.

Once it is firmly stuck, open out into a box shape, fold the flaps under and glue to form the base. I like to keep the tab at the back left and fold in the back flap first, followed by the two sides and lastly the front flap to give a neat finish.

Gently push the sides in with your fingers and squeeze the top of the front and back panels together. Thread a piece of ribbon or twine through the holes. Tie to hold the box closed and you’re done.

Let me know, if you have a go. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

*If you are cutting from a 12” x 12” sheet of patterned paper you could make your width 8 1/2” to give you a bigger tab for gluing. I’ve made mine 8 1/4” purely because that is the width of an A4 sheet of cardstock.

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #306

Another week, another Wednesday, another work space. Yes, that’s right, I’ve decamped from the kitchen and have a desk, of sorts, in the lounge again. Yay!

It’s actually a clever cupboard to house my sewing machine, so that can live in the lounge too. It has a handy fold out work space at the back, which means it can double up for paper crafting (or any other kind) as well. I love it already.

This was me yesterday, making an extra piece of patterned card stock, ready to demonstrate a simple gift box this morning. I’m sure my class don’t need (or want!) to see me stamp a whole sheet. I’ll share the finished article on Saturday, along with a tutorial. It’s very easy to make, especially if you use ready patterned paper!

Here’s another quick make. Our “20 minute” card from the last session. It was nice to stamp something simple and pretty, after our male themed morning with the feathers and a couple of messier and fussier techniques. Those cards are in this post if you’d like to see them.

I’m off to load my car, once I’ve linked up with Julia. It’s looking like a beautiful day.

Me on Monday ~ The Easter Holiday Edition

It’s the last day of the Easter holidays here. I find that the week days and weekends tend to merge into one, during that time off from school.

It was a class prepping and teaching, haddock and chips eating (well, we had to try the new chippy, didn’t we?), prom dress fabric choosing, dress form arriving (amid squeals of delight), 21st Birthday celebrating (with a family tea party), Easter gift handing out (only a week late), Poldark catching up, grass cutting, garden tidying, pork roasting, ice cream scooping (while the sun shone), decluttering and organising (I will conquer that spare room) kind of week.

And the rest of the time? Revision, revision, revision. They’ll be glad to get back to school tomorrow, for a rest! Waving back to Sian, and the other Monday-ers, today.