How to Make Bunting February 2, 2011

Here is a step by step guide to how I made The Bothered Owl’s bunting.

We have a lot of fabric scraps, so I thought this was a great way of using them up. And of course, we get to show people all (well, some) of the amazing fabrics we have used over the last year and a half. I chose brightly coloured, fun fabrics.

You will need:

Pencil

Ruler

Rotary cutter and mat

Paper or cardboard for template

Bias binding for the entire length of the bunting

Fabric (ours was already interfaced, but that’s a personal choice)

I made a template for the flags with a piece of paper. Then using our fabulous rotary cutter and self-healing board, I laid out several piece of fabric on top of each other, placed the ruler over the top, and sliced! Having the rotary cutter made the job so much easier.

Next step is to iron a seam into them. I used the bias binding as a guide for folding the top seam. I then ironed this top seam so it was nice and crisp.

Fold the top seam to be the same width as the bias binding

Iron the seam

Time to get out the pinking shears! Now that your seam is done, you’ll notice that there’s overlap. Trimming the edges with pinking shears stops the edges from fraying.

Overlap is trimmed by the pinking shears

Rinse and repeat. You’ll now have a stack of flags.

Almost there!

Now comes the pinning. Get your bias binding tape, leave about 30 cm at one end, and pin on your first flag.

Decide on how you'll order your flags

When pinning the flags on, be conscious of which direction they will be going through the sewing machine. I pinned all of my flags on so they were pointing to the left, and the pin heads facing towards me (points away). This ensured that I could remove the pins as I sewed each flag.

Note the direction of the pins

Now to the sewing! Set your machine to a zig zag stitch. I set the width about 4 (out of 5).

Sew Sew Sew!

Coincidentally the zigzag stitch almost matches the pinking shears

Remember to remove the pins as you sew, as they are in line with the foot, and may get tangled/broken.

And there you have it. Keep zigzagging all the way along until you reach the end of your flags.

Bunting! There you have it.

We’ll be using ours on our stall at Unravel at the end of February. Check back in at the end of the month to see photos of the bunting in place. But for now, here is the bunting draped elegantly on my sewing machine…

Fluttering in the breeze

Happy sewing!

Alex 🙂

How to knit a new heel on a hand-knitted sock August 30, 2010

I love knitting, particularly socks but I freely admit that I am not exactly an expert. I think, so far, I’ve probably knitted more socks than anything else – maybe a dozen pairs over the last few years.

I love the way they feel on your feet. They take a little getting used to if you normally wear shop bought cotton socks. They’re thicker and because of the way they’re constructed (ie knitted tubes) they can feel a little bumpy under your feet at first. But I find that after a few days of wear, they begin to smooth out and you get used to having that little bit of extra padding. And nothing is better in Winter then a pair of snuggly socks on your feet. I’ve not gotten a single blister from wearing my Winter boots and shoes since I started wearing handknitted socks.

The only problem is that they do wear out, especially if like me you wear them All. The. Time. I am also a complete heathen and tend to wear them on their own without shoes or slippers around the house which causes them to wear out even faster.

The first place most socks tend to wear out is the toe, just under your toes, the padded bit. It hits the ground constantly, causing friction and thus the wool/whatever wears faster than the rest of the sock. But toes are relatively easy to replace. You can darn them fairly easily. Or if you’re feeling particularly cunning, knit a new toe! Unpick the cast off end of the toe, unravel past the worn out place, put the live stitches back on the needles, knit a new toe. Ta-dah.

(No, I don’t have photos. Sorry. But trust me, it’s easy.)

The other place that ALL my socks wear out is the heel. Just underneath my heel to be precise.  Always the left sock first, always in the same place.

Is there any sadder sight for the sock knitter?

Knitting your own socks is an interesting exercise in learning about how you tend to walk. I obviously put most of my weight on my heels and walk with an emphasis on my left foot.

But, I digress.

If you are smarter than me, you’ve probably long since figured out what I’m going to show you, or given up doing heel flap socks in favour of something fancy like an afterthought heel. But for us poor schmoes still beavering away on heel flaps and gussets, here is how I managed to knit a new heel on my very favourite pair of socks, thus saving them from the bin and preserving them to warm my toes for another winter, at least.

Assemble your kit

First thing you need to do is grab yourself a copy of Mary Thomas’s Knitting Book. My copy says first published in 1938, so you have to make allowances for style and some of the little cartoons in it are definitely.. of their time, shall we say? But the text is invaluable for its history of knitting, particularly with reference to the British Isles. Plus she has a wealth of technical information to impart. Including how to knit a wide variety of sock heels, and how to re-heel a worn out flap and gusset heel.

Slightly frightening diagram

Second thing you will need is a small ball of wool, if possible leftovers from making your sock, if not, get something that will make a nice contrast. Remember, you are knitting a whole new heel, so you need enough to do about 40 – 50  rows of knitting, depending on the size of your heel flap.  My heel flap worked out at about 36 rows, before I turned the heel.

You will also need a crochet hook and a set of 4 double pointed needles. And a blunt tapestry needle for grafting and darning in the ends of your wool. I used a set of 2.5 mm needles because that’s what I used when I knit the sock in the first place. (If you want your sock heel to last longer, using a smaller set of needles is a good idea as it makes for a tighter fabric, apparently.)

Step One

In the book she talks about cutting away the heel stitches completely, but I was too cowardly to do that. So instead, I grabbed a crochet hook and my ball of mending yarn and began picking up stitches at the place where the sock leg ends and the heel flap begins.

I made a long tail of yarn, which I threaded through to the inside of my sock, leaving the main ball on the outside.

This is REALLY important because otherwise when you finish picking up your stitches, your ball of working yarn will be trapped inside your sock, rendering it totally useless.

Take your crochet hook and insert it into the first stitch in your heel flap.

Right side

Wrong side

Wrap the tail of yarn around to make a stich and pull the stitch back through, making a loop on the crochet hook.

Looping the wool round the hook

Nice neat loop, ready to become a stitch

Leave the loop on there, and move onto the next stitch in the heel flap. Repeat until you have a nice neat row of loops on your crochet hook.

These will become the stitches for your new heel flap. You want to try to match the number of stitches in your original heel flap, if possible. I ended up with 38 stitches which seemed to match up with the measurements of my original heel flap.

Now, transfer the stitches from your crochet hook to a DPN:

You now have live stitches but we’re not quite ready to get started. You could start knitting now but you’d end up with a flap that was only attached to your sock at one end, and you then have to stitch/graft it toyour sock on 3 sides.

Boring! Especially when there’s a sneaky and fairly easy way to knit so that your heel flap is joined to your sock at the sides.

If you look back at the diagram from MT’s book, you’ll notice that she has 3 needles in play, 2 holding gusset stitches.  Basically, you need to pick up stitches for the gussets. You can use the same method I used above with a long tail of yarn and a crochet hook. Or you can do as I did and find the existing gusset stitches and just slide your needle through them.

It’s not as pretty but it’s quick and gets the job done. When I was finished I had: 38 stitches on the first needle (the heel flap stitches) and 16 stitches on EACH of the gusset needles. Remember you have TWO gussets, one on each side of the heel flap.

You now should have all the stitches you need to start knitting.

Step Two

Now comes the easy bit. You’re going to re-knit the heel flap – the bit that comes down over your Achilles tendon – joining it to the sock at the sides as you go.

Look back at the pattern you used to knit your sock in the first place. In my case Froot Loops from Knitty. If it uses a fancy stitch for the heel, double check your numbers to make sure they fit any special requirements for that stitch.  E.g. my pattern calls for a repeat of 7 stitchs repeated 4 times (28 stitches) plus 1 slipped stitch at the start (29 stitches) plus 2 extra stitches on the end (31). I had 38 stitches on my needle, which works out beautifully, just adding in an extra repeat of the main pattern. Does that make sense?

Once you’re happy with your numbers, just start knitting the heel flap as per your pattern instructions, up until the last stitch.

When you get to the last stitch on your main needle, you’re going to knit (or purl) it together with the next gusset stitch.

I was purling through the back of the loop in this shot. I am SMRT.

You are basically going to be working back and forth across your main needle, combining in one stitch from the gusset at the end, each time.

This is about 6 rows in. See the way it joins at the side?

This has the effect of keeping the numbers of stitches on your main needle the same, while binding your heel flap to the sock.

See the nice new row of gusset stitches forming at the side?

Keep working back and forth like this until you have integrated ALL your gusset stitches on both sides. What you end up with at this point should look like this:

And the side stitches again

Step Three

Now, you’re going to turn the heel. Use the instructions from your pattern. That’s all you have to do, you have no gusset stitches left to combine, you just need to make the little roundy pocket for your heel. Do whatever it says in your pattern.

I used Sock Innovation to calculate my numbers for my short rows – Cookie A. includes a very handy chart in the introductory chapters which gives you the magic numbers you need.

I love this bit, it's one of my favourite parts of sock knitting!

Step Four

You’re now ready to bind your new heel to the sole of your sock. There are a number of methods you COULD use to do this. Kitchener’s stitch would work well, you could pick up stitches across the sole of the foot and do a three needle bind off.

Or you could do what I did and cast off your stitches and just sew the flap down.

Just weave back and forth to join them together.

Bish, bosh, done.

Weave in any loose ends and check the rest of your sock for holes or weak places. I’ve learned the hard way that once the wool starts to thin it won’t be long before it will just dissolve, leaving you sad and holey.

Once all your mending is done, put on your new old socks and dance around, feeling smug and thrifty! With your slippers on, obviously.

Note to self: must buy slippers

And there you have it.

I hope that was reasonably clear and at least a little bit useful. MT’s condenses all this into about two sentences and it took me ages to figure out the hows and wherefores of it all and I thought there may well be someone else out there facing the heart break of trying to figure out how to salvage the wreckage of a pair of beloved socks.

Do please let me know if it’s useful or not, or if there’s anything that is completely bamboozling. I’ve never written a knitting tutorial before and have found it a lot more difficult than the sewing ones.

Sarah

How to make a super quick drawstring bag July 11, 2010

Today we’re off to Orlaith’s friend George’s 4th birthday party. I asked his Mum what he would like for his birthday. He has told his Mum and Dad that he likes “bangles, headbands, necklaces and anything pink.” She suggested some art supplies perhaps, with some fabric pieces thrown in so they can do some artwork together over the holidays.

Inspired by my recent purchases for Orlaith, I’ve snagged him a bunch of generic art supplies, but what to put them in?

What better than a lovely pink patchwork drawstring bag?

To make this bag you will need:

A pile of fabric scraps. (You can make it from whole cloth if you like. I went with patchwork to get extra pink for my pound!)

Scissors, thread, pins, interfacing etc

Ribbon, bungee cord, string etc for your drawstring

Step One: Choices, choices

My bag had to be pink. I wanted to choose pink fabrics that would not be all butterflies and flowers, although George likes both those things as well.

For some one who doesn't really 'do' pink, I have an awful lot of pink fabrics

It took me a while to find the right bits but eventually I settled on some lovely icecream sundae fabric with a pale pink background, and some gorgeous summery stripes.

Step Two

Choose how you will put your fabric together.  I chose to go with three long panels of slightly differing widths. I sewed them together lengthwise using a straight stitch.

This is what I ended up with:

Like summer personified

You need to make two of these, one for the front, one for the back.

One extra point here, regarding interfacing. Those of you who are observant may note that my fabric pieces have interfacing on them – that gauzy looking white stuff all over the back of the fabric.  But I haven’t mentioned interfacing as a step. This is becaue I’m working with leftover fabric from other projects and it has all been pre-interfaced by Alex, my handy dandy interfacing slave helper monkey partner.

Interfacing is good stuff, if you haven’t used it before. It will give your bag extra strength and durability and make it able to withstand bullets and leap tall buildings in a single bound. If your fabric scraps are not already covered in interfacing, sew your patchwork  pieces together first, then apply the interfacing afterwards, as this will strengthen your patchwork seams.

Step 3

Choose your lining fabric.  Since you’re making a patchwork bag, it’s best to wait until you’ve made up the patchwork bits before cutting your lining. That way, you can use them as a template for sizing your lining.

I chose a deep rich blue that would contrast really strongly with the icecream-y pink of the outer fabric.

Cut two lining pieces:

I like the richness of this blue

Step 4

You’re now going to sew the side and bottom seams of your bag. You’re going to need to leave a small gap at the top of one of your seams to allow for your drawstring to be threaded through when you’re finished, like so:

Lay your front and back out pieces together, wrong sides (i.e. the sides with all the stitching and interfacing)  facing out.

To make the gap for your drawstring, place a pin at least one inch below the top of the fabric. I usually go with an inch and a half to two inches because you want plenty of room for your drawstring and it also gives you plenty of room for a nice seam allowance.

Then sew your side seam, starting from just below the pin, all the way around the bottom of the bag and up the other side.  I didn’t get any photos of this step, but if you check out my other bag making tutorial, there should be some pics in there, if you get stuck.

Step 5

We’re going to finish off the edges of the little gap you’ve left for your drawstring.

Using your fingers, tuck the raw edges of the left side othe fabric under slightly and finger press them in place. You can use pins but I find them awkward.

Place the top left edge of the fabric under the foot of the machine and lower the foot, then sew down to where your seam starts. You’ll need to hold the tuck in place with your fingers as you sew.

You can just see the top of the seam, right at the bottom of the photo.

Leaving the needle in the fabric, lift the foot. You will need to roll the right side of the seam under before you continue sewing. Pivot the fabric, lower the foot and continue sewing across the base of your drawstring gap.

Then turn again and sew up the right side, holding the tucked under edge in place with your fingers as you go.

Remember, don't sew your fingers!

Now do the same for your lining fabric. If you want to make your bag fully reversible, repeat the instructions for making the drawstring hole, otherwise just sew the seams right to the top.  You’ve effectively made two bags. Now you just need to join them together. Not as hard as it sounds.

Step 6

You now have two bags, ready to be joined together. I didn’t get any photos of this step when I was making George’s bag, because I am a dimwit. So instead, you will have to make do with the photos from my Christmas pouch tutorial. The technique is identical.

The two bags

Turn one of them right sides out:

Place the right sides out bag inside the other one like this:

Tuck the right sides out pouch inside the other one. Now when you sew it, the stitches will actually be one the wrong (invisible) side of the pouch. Amazing!

See how the bags are now effectively right sides together? Now when you sew the bags together the seams will all be hidden away neatly.

Sew all the way around the top. You don’t need to leave a gap for turning the bag the right side out because of the hole for the drawstring. Use this little hole to turn the bag the right side out:

See how you draw the inside bits out through the hole?

Like some kind of weird double pillow case

Tuck the lining inside the outer shell and push the corners out. Smooth everything down and make sure the top of the bag sits neatly.

Step 7

The final step is to make the casing and insert  your drawstring.

Find the bottom of the gap you left for your drawstring. Following a line all the way around the bag from the base of that hole, place a row of pins to mark where you need to sew. (After you’ve done a few of these you can actually do this by eyeballing it, particularly if you’ve used a geometric print. ) Then following that line, sew all the way around the bag in a neat straight line.

This line of stitches will stop your drawstring from just dropping down inside the lining of the bag.

Now, you will need a darning needle or a nappy pin. Take your drawstring and loop it through the eye of your darning needle or through the nappy pin. Then insert the pin into the casing through the drawstring hole.  You’re gong to push and pull the needle (and thus the drawstring) all the way through the casing, bringin it back out through the drawstring hole. Secure the two ends of the drawstring together in a knot.

And here’s a picture of the finished bag for George

I chose a pink and silver glittery ribbon for the drawstring and I stuffed the bag to the gunnels with plasticine, glitter and lots of fabric off cuts. I hope he will like it!

Now, we’re off to the party.

Sarah

EDITED TO ADD: The party was fab and by all acounts George really, really, REALLLY liked his present. So much so, that at the end of the party he disappeared back into his house with his Mum, feeling overwhelmed. She came back later on and said he was sitting onthe floor upstairs, clutching his bag, surrounded by all the things that were inside, just looking at them. I am so chuffed he liked it :->

How to Make a Pair of Pirate Pants April 14, 2010

Both my girls love dressing up. Unfortunately for Esme, 99% of the dress up box is made up of stuff that is Orlaith-sized. Normally, not a problem, but this morning Orlaith was putting on her pirate costume and it was just too much for poor old Esme. She snapped and managed to steal Orlaith’s pirate top and ran off with it.

Orlaith was quite gracious about it, she kept the trousers and eventually bribed Esme with something else that she wanted and reclaimed her property.

But poor Esme was left, despondent and trouserless, wandering the lounge room wailing “Esme’s TROW-TROWS!” in truly harrowing fashion. I asked her if she wanted me to make her some trousers of her own and she responded in delighted fashion, so I did.

Here’s how I did it, if you would like to play along.

You will need:

A pair of elastic waisted trousers that fit your child well

Paper, pen/pencil, pins

Scrap fabric. Jersey works well for this but you could use non-stretch fabric too.

A piece of waistband elastic, measured to fit loosely around your child’s tummy.

Thread, sewing machine etc etc

Step One: Make your template

Grab pen, paper, pins and the trousers you’re going to use as your template.

Stretch out the waistband and pin to the paper. Then trace around the outside of one side of the trousers. The finished template will look like this:

See that curvy notched bit? That's the crotch seam.

Make sure you add room around the edges for a seam allowance. And add at least an inch to the top for your waistband casing. Cut it out.

Step Two: Choose your Fabric

I went with leftover cotton jersey for these, after going through my entire scrap stash. I went with this because it was there, unloved and unused for anything else. Because these were intended to be dress-up pants it really didn’t matter one iota what they were made of. You can substitute whatever fabric you like. Go crazy with leopard print and gold lame if you want.

Step Three: Pin and Cut

Fold the fabric in half and pin the pattern to it. Cut through both layers of fabric all the way around the template. You will have two pieces that mirror each other.

Repeat so you have four pattern pieces, two pairs.

Step Four: Sew the Crotch

You’re ready to sew the crotch seam.

Take one pair of pieces and pin them together securely, right sides together, along the crotch seam.

Sew, following the curve of the fabric.

Repeat for the second pair of pieces.

Step Five: Sew the inside leg

Lay out one piece, right side facing up. Lay the other on top, wrong side up. Match the crotch seams together and pin the two pieces together all the way around the inside leg. It will look a little like a Y shape.

Then sew the two pieces together all the way around the inside leg.

Step Six: Sew the outside of both legs

Pin up the outside of each leg and sew.

Step Seven: Make the waistband casing

Fold down the top inch and a half of the waist of the trousers and pin in place.

(If you want to have a nice professional look, you can turn the raw edge under. If, like me, you’re making something you know is going to get worn with wellies and a plastic cutlass, you probably don’t need to worry about a professional finish!)

Sew in place, leaving a gap big enough to insert your elastic drawstring.

Step Eight: Insert drawstring

Grab a safety pin or nappy pin and attach it to one end of your elastic. Then insert the pin through the gap you let in your waistband. Push the pin through all the way around the inside the casing and back out through the gap, pulling the elastic behind it. Tie the two ends of the elastic together to make a loop, push the knot inside the casing and sew the gap shut.

Step Nine:

Put trousers on smallest pirate in the house and bask in their utter delight.

If you want to make these more piratey (or just general dress up-y) you could add some embellishments, like a skull and cross bones patch or something. You could even hem the bottoms of the trouser cuffs if you were feeling really flash and add some ric-rac or lace for a very fancy pirate.

And of course, if you want to make these up as just ordinary every day trousers then this method should work for that too. Just make sure you use coordinating thread and actually iron your seams!

Sarah

How To Make a teeny button pouch January 6, 2010

This was the tutorial we put in for the UK Handmade Advent Calendar. Alex suggested we should stick it up here for safe keeping and to make it easy to find.  You can eiether make one your self or maybe buy one of the ones we have up for sale in the shop!

So here goes:

How to Make a Teeny Weeny Buttony Pouch.

These little pouches are fabulous for stocking fillers, or add a ribbon and hang them from your Christmas tree, stuffed with tiny gifts, chocolates or satsumas. You could even make 24 of them and turn them into a reuseable Advent calendar (like the one Gina was talking about in this post.)

Best of all, these are perfect for using up those annoying tiny scraps of fabric leftover from all your other sewing projects.

Step One: Choose your fabrics

Have a good rifle through your stash and your scrap bag and choose up to four fabrics that go well together, you can use scraps, chop up some old worn out jeans, whatever you please.

Step Two: Chop, chop

This is my stash

The colours I chose

Once you’ve picked your fabrics, it’s time to cut them up. We’re essentially making two bags, one inside the other, so we need four pieces exactly the same, two for the interior and two for the exterior. I chose to use four different colours in this pouch to make it extra colourful. But you could line yours with a plain white cotton or calico. Whatever you think looks best.

If you want, you could make yourself a template out of cardboard or tracing paper, or use a ruler and some tailor’s chalk to draw directly onto your fabric to ensure all four pieces are identical. I confess I freehanded the pieces for this tutorial, which was rather naughty of me!

Before you start sewing together, give your fabric a good press to remove creases. It will give a nicer finish.

Step 3: Some Assembly Required

Take two of your fabric pieces and pin them together with right sides facing inwards.

Whip out your needle and thread and get stitching.

Make sure you use a nice strong stitch, like backstitch, which you can see demonstrated in the photograph above. Alternatively, you could use just use your sewing machine.

Backstitch like crazy.. . Or just use your sewing machine.

Sew up three sides of the pouch, leaving one side open. Don’t worry about the raw edges on the open side, we’ll be taking care of those shortly.

Now repeat for the second pair of pieces.

Step 4: Making a Connection

You now have two pouches, ready to be joined together.

The two pouches

Turn one of them right sides out:

Place the right sides out bag inside the other one like this:

See how the cord is sandwiched in place between the two pouches. The raw ends will be tidily tucked away.

Tuck the right sides out pouch inside the other one. Now when you sew it, the stitches will actually be one the wrong (invisible) side of the pouch. Amazing!

See how the bags are now effectively right sides together? Now when you sew the bags

together the seams will all be hidden away neatly.

Before we pin everything in place and sew it together, we can add some embellishments. I wanted to add a loop of ribbon to my pouch so it could be hung up. I also wanted a button and rather than do a button hole, I added a loop of black cord that could slip over a button and secure the pouch shut.

First cut a length of ribbon and fold it in half to make it into a loop. Then sandwich it between the two pouches and pin it in place. You want the tail ends to be on the wrong side – the side you’re sewing.

This way, when you sew your seam you will catch the ribbon tails with your stitches and secure them in place without any of the stitches showing on the good side.

Do the same thing with your cord.  Cut a length and then pinch the ends together to make a loop. Then secure it between the layers of fabric, just as you did with the ribbon. I suggest placing it on the same side as the ribbon, perhaps in between the tail ends of the ribbon.

The pins mark out the gap you will leave for turning your pouch the right way out.

Oh look, it's a length of cord.

Now, it’s a loop. Versatile and useful stuff, that cord.

The final step before we start sewing the two bags together is to place two pins to mark a space in the stitching.

You need to leave yourself enough room to be able to turn the bag right sides out. If you actually want to be able to use your pouch, that is. Leave a gap of at least 3 – 5 centimetres.

You’re now ready to stitch the pouch together. Starting at one of your marker pins and using back stitch again, sew all the way round the top of your pouch from one marker to the other, leaving that all-important gap. Make sure that you stitch back andforth over your ribbon and cord loops to make them extra secure.  Remove any remaining pins and turn it right side out.

Right sides out.

All sewn up except for that crucial gap.

Step 5: Finishing Off

All that’s left to do is to sew on a button and close off the little gap.

First work out where to place your button – find the point opposite your cord loop and mark it with some chalk or a pin. Then choose a button of appropriate size. Remember it has to be able to fit through the little loop of cord snugly. Once you pick your button, stitch it on securely.

If you want to be tricky, you can insert your needle into the little gap you left (notice how we hadn’t closed it off yet?) and sew the button on , leaving your thread ends and stitches on the inside of the bag where they’ll be completely invisible.

You can hide your button stitching by sewing from inside the gap.

Neat!

Finally you have to deal with that teeny weeny useful gap that’s left. I like to use blind stitch for this because it makes a largely invisible seam, but you can use whatever stitch you like.

Find a really pretty button to finish it off. I get mine from Textile Garden.

To blind stitch the gap closed, you need to insert your needle into the gap. Then push the needle through the fabric from the inside of the pouch. You’re going to thread your needle in and out, from one side of the gap to the other. This makes stitches inside the seam. Your needle should look like this as you stitch:

See how the needle is threaded from one side of the gap to the other?

Now all that’s left to do is to tuck the inside of the bag neatly inside the outside, and find someone to give it to. Or hang it somewhere to display in an appropriately festive manner.

Blind stitching the gap closed.

My little niece, Eliza, with her brand new pouch. She spent ages stuffing it with a reel of cotton. Who knows why? Does she need a reason?

Flailing with excitement October 5, 2009

is what I am currently doing because we’re today’s Scrap Buster Month competition entry on Sew, Mama, Sew!!!

Even the littl’uns have caught some of my fever of excitement. Orlaith’s wandering round chanting “We’re in a competition!” and Esme’s squealing. She’s always squealing but I am sure this is special squealing. She’s also throwing all my satin ribbons in the air with abundant glee, but we won’t go into that…

Couple that with having sold a couple of pairs of our button earrings over the weekend and I am fairly happy today.