Roses United - Best Kit challenge

Each year the Towersey Tournoi takes place in an Oxfordshire field. My brother and his mates are always involved. As far as I can tell, the whole thing is one massive in joke, with a LOT of Strongbow thrown in.  This year, Paul was determined to win 'Best Kit' for his team Roses United (formed from northern Leeds and Manchester uni friends). For this, he enlisted my sewing machine - and my help. Apparently last years winners had one shirt with the number on the front and the logo on the back - a last minute hungover ironing mishap. Stiff competition then. 

He bought a bunch of cheap shirts online. I told him to go for blue for the goalie, but he decided salmon would clash 'better' with the red stripe. We went down Brick Lane for 3 metres of slightly silky red fabric.



To fit the stripe into the seams, we had to cut open the shirts on one side, and cut into the seam on the other sleeve.

Paul made cardboard templates for the numbers while I was adding the stripes. He then cut them out of cloth and I appliqued them on to the backs.

Al got sent out for more red thread from SewAmazing on Roman Road  - sewing shops are almost worse than chippies for badly punned names.

While I was going through the final massive sewing slog (six shirts!), Paul and Al updated the logo on Photoshop and printed it onto transfer paper which Paul ironed on.

Roses United logo

Almost finished fronts

Numbered backs (looks better at this distance than close up!)

Paul bought some fake roses to pin on the front. And here's the team, ready for action;

Paul's haircut is also a tournament special..

Dream team

In action... shirts holding up...

No victory on the pitch, but the (much more coveted I'm sure) Best Kit award!

Accepting his dues..

Who needs ball skills when you can win this beauty with a sewing machine, some photoshop and an ironing board...

Towersey Best Kit trophy

Personalised bags for Ivy and Poppy

I decided to use some left over corduroy to make little handbags for Alex's neices Ivy, aged 5 and Poppy aged 3. They were simple little things, with pink binding and a wooden button. I appliquéd the letters I and P onto the flap and added some butterfly, ladybird and flower buttons. 

Photographed under the Christmas tree at home.

The flower bag was a prototype

 I wanted to get pictures of the girls wearing them, but in the chaos of Christmas with small people, it wasn't easy and all the ones I took were blurred.

A farewell octopus - a felt applique card

Yesterday, my manager of four years left the charity where I work. He's looked after a team of seven for a long time now, and I wanted to make him a card to recognise that.

The octopus probably needs some explanation. He's our mascot, much appreciated by the young people in our community, given out as prizes (until recently when we sent out the last one!) and photographed all over the world.  It's Octi who I hope to dress up as when running the London Marathon next year. On his legs are all the members of our team.

Team Engagement and Support

I did realise that actually it has turned out looking like a felt version of those cards (or teatowels) we all make in primary school where everyone draws a very simple face on a circle! And in addition, I got my own parting the wrong way round. But at least Octi is recognisable.

And it was fun to make.

A cut out Octi ready to be appliqued. 

Appliqued felt, with the faces glued on and then stitched through the eyes to hold them in place.

A new outfit for Flower the meercat

This is Flower the meercat. As you can see she is dressed and ready for any social occasion, accessories included.

But she wasn't always so delightfully encased in flowery material. In fact only days ago when she arrived at our house in the company of 4 year old Ivy, Flower was naked and furry.

At Ivy's request, we decided to make her a dress. Instead of choosing one type of material as instructed, Ivy chose five and wanted to use them all. We cut heart shapes from all of them and I sewed them on to a simple dress shape.

Ivy enjoyed laying out the hearts and choosing buttons.

Next morning, you could tell by Flower's expression that she was excited to have a new dress to put on. Ivy seemed pleased too.

And we finished the outfit with ladybird shoes and a belt.

Ivy's mum and dad laughed when they saw Flower's outfit. Can't think why :)

A cushion for the 12th Mechanized Brigade

My sewing machine is back from the expert ministrations of Tony from Lewisham and Deptford Sewing Machines (recommended by Barley from Fabrications), smelling of oil and running beautifully. It was time to get on with making this cushion I had been promising one of our volunteers on TheSite.org for so long. And here it is.

I took the logo from the Brigade's Facebook page and printed out a template.

I initially wanted to do the logo from felt and the backing from red material, thus enabling me to make a bigger cushion - but I found that the heirloom stitch I was using to make a thick line was rucking up the material making it look crumpled. I decided to use felt for the background too. This made for a smaller cushion, but I thought this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if it was going on tour! Here is is in progress, with the template.

And here it is with Alonso, the rather stern gentleman found in a charity shop by a university friend many years ago, and given to us three or four years past. He looks rather army like and official so I thought he might enjoy being photographed with the army cushion;

And finally, here's the man himself, in TheSite.org towers with his cushion. Hopefully he likes it - it's hard to tell from that smile....

And, in the background you can see a pinky purple Octopus, our YouthNet mascot Octi. At some point, I have to make an Octi costume as I plan to run the London Marathon 2013 dressed as him. I'm not entirely sure how to go about this eight legged sewing project - but I'll keep you posted...

Wedding date cushion - with applique and embroidered letters

Tom and Jess only wanted handmade presents or donations. So, of course, it was an excellent opportunity for me to make a huge cushion! I used lots of the left over bunting scraps to create the letters, which I appliquéd on using what my machine calles 'patchwork stitch'. It turns out some of the bunting material, and the yellow backing was perhaps a bit thin, so I had to do some hand touching up afterwards.

I printed out letter templates, cut them out and pinned them to material, ready to cut round. A fiddly job with some of the smaller letters, but here they are ready for sewing.

I should have realised at this point that the base material was perhaps a bit thin - you can see how easily it's creasing.

Sewing the letters - you can just see our adopted black cat Blur, who likes to help. For this cushion, I wanted to have a go using the fancier of the letter stitching options on my machine. Here's the practice run.

And here's the real thing - only a wee bit wonky!

Almost done- adding the zip using the zip foot on my machine.  Most places suggest you tack round zips to hold them in place as you sew, but I usually find that as long as the hems are well ironed, you can just hold it in place as you sew it in.

And finally, a couple of green heart shaped buttons I couldn't resist - these are from Our Patterned Hand on Broadway Market.

Threaded letters - a peekaboo card

For the first time, I had a go using the embroidery settings on my machine to write these birthday messages for little Leo - on a simple felt card.  Lots of his favourite animals including owls and 'lilydirbs'.

And if you look under the flaps... you can tell Leo is Alex's nephew - silly faces and fluffy blonde hair all round!

And, while Leo was 2, Rich was 21, and I made him some felt numbers, with wooden buttons and secret dinosaurs peeking out too - you're never too old for hiding dinosaurs...

Cloth & stitch beaches and tents

I've started using my sewing machine to make my cards as well. Poor pastels and paints not getting a look in any more. It's a great opportunity to experiment with the different stitches my sewing machine does.

This one was for Olly, requested by Alison

A tent in a wood for Nat on her birthday.

Football cushion

My brother wanted his own cushion to go alongside all his girlfriend's home decor. I printed out a number of copies of the logo and cut out all the separate pieces in paper, and then into felt. I used patchwork stitch on my machine to applique the logo together.

A robot and an accidental blackbird

This was my first attempt at something almost resembling applique (although I still used the straight stitch a few millimetres in from the edge rather than applique stitch). Alex told me he wanted a robot with a crow on his head.  I was pleased with this effort until he told me that the yellow beak meant he was a blackbird. I'm still pleased with it though. Material, buttons, zip and felt came from Our Patterned Hand on Broadway Market.