My first sewing machine

Since I'm pretty much snowed under with work, I thought I'd share some other sewing related things instead of what I've been making recently. I was lucky enough to find my first sewing machine at a car boot sale in Cornwall 2 summers ago, it was £8 and obviously I couldn't leave it! I was on holiday there with my parents, my sister, her friend Kim, and our dog. So the car was pretty full. My parents almost flipped their lids when they saw me struggling over to the car with it.

The above is the only picture I have of it, as I have since given it to one of my friends who used to hand stitch all of her garments! Below is a picture from the internet so you can see it better.

It was heavy, I mean really heavy, as if it was made entirely of cast iron. It only did a straight stitch, and the tension was NEVER right. There was no light, and mine had a cotton bud wedged into the top to hold the reel of cotton in place, but I thought it was the best! I made presents, costumes and even some simple clothing using it. I think it was a combination of getting the machine for £8, and realising that fabric was so cheap that gave me the sewing bug, I felt as if I could create anything I wanted!

My dissertation is taking over my life at the moment, and probably will continue to until May when I graduate, so please excuse my absence! I do have a few things to share, firstly I won a giveaway at 'So, Zo...What do you know?' It was the first ever one I entered, and I was chuffed that I won!! The prize was some beautiful vintage buttons (shown below) from The Polished Button, which by the way, has a fantastic button selection, and I'll definitely be popping over when I'm in need of buttons!

And in other news, Kramer the cat is no longer a ghost cat who hides all day! He is very quickly becoming the king of the castle, chasing anything and everything, and settling on anything warm (usually my lap). I've never met such a friendly cat, we have been really lucky!

Sewing is still slow lately, I planned on making my outfit for Christmas this year, but just haven't got the time! I managed to squeeze in making Christmas stockings, one of which you will find on my Etsy shop in the next few days, but big projects are just going to have to wait until the summer now!

The cats out of the bag

I haven't had all that much sewing related to write about recently, mainly because I haven't had time for any sewing. There's uni work that needs doing (I'm studying for my masters in Physics, and have just been given my dissertation...), but the main reason is that we have a new addition to the household:

Please meet Mr. Cosmo Kramer! We rescued him from Boote home for cats 8 days ago, and he has been in hiding ever since. If you didn't know any better, you may be inclined to think we've gone a bit mad as there are cat food bowls out, a litter tray and a cat bed, but there is definitely no cat in sight! He has never been in a house before, and hiding is supposedly normal behaviour to start with, but its taking all of my self control not to grab him from where he is hiding and cuddle him until he loves me!

Yesterday though, I had a couple of hours spare, so made some Christmas decorations. They are all made from scraps of material I have salvaged over time, and decorated with bits and bobs I have accumulated through being a massive hoarder!

The stuffing is made from some tights I had laddered, but couldn't throw away as I knew they would come in handy for something! I washed them, then ripped them to shreds, one pair of tights was enough to make four stockings. I'll be putting them on my Etsy shop later tonight, but for now its back to revision...

Becoming a mogul...

I sold my first item on Etsy!!! On Thursday night, I got that wonderful e-mail and squealed!! I sold my red velvet Kindle case, which I will hopefully be making more of as of Monday!

Scuppered

I have spent the evening making this little pencil case/make-up bag from some really nice Laura Ashley fabric I got a while back:

It's a really simple thing to make, but I was happy with how it turned out, and was going to photograph it tomorrow to put on my Etsy page, when I saw...

The feed dog on my sewing machine scuffed the fabric. Balls. I suppose I'll just have to keep it myself!

Hello

I'm Faye, and this is my blog to document my sewing addiction!

I started sewing mainly due to a lack of money, so I made presents for people and clothes, and recently I have opened an Etsy shop selling Kindle cases, although I hope to expand to other accessories, and maybe even a small line of clothing.

I've always liked to document things (I've kept a diary since I was 5!), so it seemed like a natural progression to start some sort of blog!