What arts and craft things have you been making lately?

Sorry, the picture has gone on sideways - it wasn't when I started

Oooh Ploshkin, that's nice. My favourite colours. Got any spare fabric? And spare time........

Wow I rather like that. The colour scheme matches your clematis flower !

I've found that before - that people often work in a certain colour palette, that runs through many of their choices. Many years ago we went to an open day at an agricultural college (my kids loved the maggot racing!). There was a table of pottery and ceramics by several different people. A lovely blue and white bowl caught my eye, and I asked one of the women at the stall if it was her work. She said it was and seemed surprised - well, I said, you're wearing the same colours.

Heh heh - I'm guilty of that FB. When I shop for clothes (believe me, it is not often !) I usually wander round feeling uninspired, then my eyes light on something (usually not the thing I'm looking for) and I think "oh, that's rather nice", then after a moment's thought realise that it is almost the same as the one I have in my wardrobe already. Which does then mean I don't need to buy another after all

It's finished. I was still hemming at 5pm and hoping to wear it tonight. This is the whole outfit, with the skirt, all made from the man's old work shirts.

The front....


and the back.

It's lovely to see what you've been making, Ploshkin and Freebird. The last thing I sewed for myself was a skirt I made about eight years ago. The pattern wasn't really suitable for the checked Indian cotton I used, and when I had finished the whole thing looked a bit of a mess. But I feel inspired by your pictures, and when life settles down a bit I must get the machine out.

I love that 50s style FB. Fortunate to have a XXL man with shirts to spare. I would only end up with oil stained ones with welding splat holes.

Not very creative, but yesterday I set about making a cover for the pizza oven out of a waterproof fabric bought off eBay. A roll of tracing paper, a pencil and tape measure soon had the oven measured up for its new winter jacket, but then it came to the bit I fear - doing battle with the sewing machine

This bit of '84 vintage Riccar kit belongs to DW, though she never uses it. I can sympathise ! Digging it out, I first found the soft cover had allowed the needle to get snapped, so spent a while finding some new ones. Seemed to go in easily enough - but unfortunately it goes in easy enough at 90 degrees to the direction that is needed for it to work Cue much cursing until I realised.

Finally going. But after a couple of metres of sewing, things seemed to be going ever more slowly. Then the smoking started. It sounded like a belt slipping, and turning the thing manually it seemed to have got rather stiff. At this point a vague memory came to mind of my mother using her machine, and in particular the little cleaning brush and oil can she had for it ... Quick look in the manual, oil every month or after long storage, and a picture with a sea of arrows to things - dozens of them - that need oiling. That would probably be it ...

Lots of oil later and a good bit of running in, and I'm back in business. Cover completed and fitted.

Do all sewing machines need this much love ? Are modern ones any lower maintenance ?

Welt itell done for persevering CH.  A lot of modern machines dont need oiling (but are less robust than older mechanicals) but it is important to clean out the fluff regularly.  I do mine under the needle plate every time I finish making something.
I borrowed a 40 year old machine when mine was out of action and the first thing I did was to de fluff it or more like de felt it as I had to dig out 40 years of compacted accumulation.
I was going to ask how much use the pizza oven got this summer.

Good job, CH. Well done for sorting out the sewing machine.
Hope the pizza oven enjoys its cosy winter coat.

I though Chilli Head had posted on a thread about making crafty things for Christmas but I can't find it.

I don't normally do much in the way of crafty things for Christmas but this year I have made 2 bags - for my 13 year old niece and a friend's daughter who is 12.  It was fabric that I had in stock.  The outer is double sided denim.  The lighter side is quite a shiny thread so the black side of the denim has a nice, deep purple sheen.

Wow, I like those, they should go down well. Love the colourful inside. Presumably there is a craft supplier for the buckles and other fittings?

Good job. You can obviously drive a sewing machine a lot better than I ever will

There are whole websites devoted to bag making stuff.  I've never made a bag so it was a bit of a voyage of discovery, I just made it up as I went along because it was a simple shape.  The important bit is interfacing and stabilizers to get things nice and stiff but that makes the sewing quite challenging - I was impressed with how my machine coped with it.

Wow, they are terrific, Ploshkin. I'm sure the recipients will be thrilled.

I made myself a new school bag many moons ago when the one I had gave up the ghost after lugging piles of exercise books back and forth on the bus. I used the original as the basic pattern and added a few tweaks of my own. The outside fabric was deckchair canvas and the bag lasted more years than I care to count.

CH - I doubt if Ploshkin, or any of us here, will ever be a dab hand at wood turning and associated 'stuff'!

Wonderful bags, Ploshkin. The nearest I've ever got to making a bag was buying a book about bag making. The story of my life unfortunately!!

It's taken two years to make, but I've finally finished the throw for the sofa (and luckily the sofa is still going strong - I was worried, having chosen colours which would fit in with it, that the sofa might have needed replacing by the time I finished it!) I would be a bit embarrassed if, having had six weeks' convalescence, I hadn't got round to finishing it!

Ooh, that's fab Dandelion. I love the colour combination. I couldn't imagine doing all that crochet, it makes my hand ache just doing a bit of edging on something. I don't think my technique can be right.

Lovely Dandelion. I haven't done any crochet for ages.

Ploshkin wrote:Ooh, that's fab Dandelion.  I love the colour  combination.  I couldn't imagine doing all that crochet, it makes my hand ache just doing a bit of edging on something.  I don't think my technique can be right.

I find it more comfortable than knitting to be honest - I invested in one of those padded crochet hooks which has memory foam around the end, and don't have the same aching joints I get with knitting. I can manage granny squares with no problem, but I'm not sure I'd be up to a pattern with any shaping. (But as we have our first grandchild on the way maybe I should try!)
My grandmother (who was born in 1895) did some amazing crochet. She told me once that she could remember sitting on a three legged stool by the fire at the age of seven, crying because she was trying to learn to crochet but couldn't do it. She then told me that her mother was teaching her using mercerised cotton and a very fine hook. No chunky wool and brightly coloured children's craft sets in those days!! She obviously mastered it though, because she could crochet the finest lace

I do all my knitting now with interchangeable needles joined by a long cable. That way the weight of the knitting sits in my lap. The needles are only about 6" long and I hold them with my hands on top so they don't make my hands hurt

Lovely colours, Dandelion. I'm trying to finish, or even start, a couple of things that have been hanging around for a very long time.

I bought some microfibre pretend silk for a dress aeons ago and only rediscoverd it recently. Decided to make trousers as it's plain and I almost never wear a dress now.

Adapted an old Simplicity pattern from my youth, when I was somewhat slimmer, but thought I should make up an experimental pair to check the fit. Cobbled together some fabric left over from something else, not enough for full length but the leg part is not the crucial bit. Cut out and assembled the item with no intention of ever wearing it but, in the heatwave, decided it would make a useful pair of shorts for house and garden! Added a waist facing, recycled zip and a couple of patch pockets and there you have it! The pattern is so 'in your face' that it's very difficult to detect the joins. Not bad for no money and a modicum of effort!
The tissues show where the pockets are.

Lovely!! It's good when something you make as an experiment has a use. I've been putting off making up a skirt from a dress pattern using a duvet cover to check the fitting - it has seemed a waste of time to make something up knowing you won't wear it, but perhaps I should follow your example and make something functional. (It's quite a nice duvet cover...!)

Always worth checking the fitting Dandelion, and if something useful turns up, so much the better!

I spent most of Saturday repairing a laundry basket.  Why ? Good question. It fits perfectly in C-H Jnr's wardrobe - which is not coincidental as it was part of the design of the wardrobe shelving. Can we find a new one of a similar size ? No chance.

So, repaired the broken framework of the lid, rewove the basketry where it had all come unravelled because of the broken frame.  That was the easy bit.  Then to replace the cloth liner.  I found an old cotton sheet with enough good fabric to do the job, then hauled out my old adversary - the Riccar sewing machine - preparing myself for the inevitable battle But this time, I'm afraid I lost.  Sewing completed by hand, and Riccar machine thrown in the tip pile.  Can't make it go.  The belt is slipping, which I could fix, but the dratted thing won't sew whatever I do. All lubricated and moving freely, but it keeps breaking the thread where it goes through the needle, and no stitches are being made - seems like it is not catching the top thread with the shuttle. I tried all sorts of four letter words, none of them helped.  Enough ! time for a new one.