When garmet sewing ironing is a must!

We have an old family quilt. My MILove made this for my husband when he was a kid. 

It is a good thing to save treasures like this. Try mending it. All you need is a little know how and a good iron.

 Moisten the fabric making sure NEVER to use new fabric on ole restoration items. The new fabric will shrink if the item gets washed and will tear apart the connecting fabric. These restoration blocks are made from used hand me down little boys shirts. My sons shirts. The original quilt is made up of scraps from all the shirts that his mother had made for him over the years, so I thought it fitting.

 This is an extensive project an act of love. There are many fusible fabric notions now that will help in these types of efforts. There again you need a good Steam iron. Starch also helps.

 Once pieced and fitted the hand sewing will begin. Mercy this is a lot of hand sewing. The ironing prior however will make nice work of it. Moisten even before the steam. It the fabric has a propensity to shrink it will show up before sewn on. Sometimes even older fabrics can do this.

 As an experienced seamstress my tools are high end. Yours do not have to be however. There are many quality projects out there.

 One down only 27 more to do. Why do I not just begin again and toss this out. History is a gift not forgotten. Once gone it is hard to return to the treasure that is called legacy. Without legacy what do we offer our prodigy?

Perhaps an iron like this one on Amazon might serve you well. Like I said you need not pay a fortune for one.

Re-string for my SILove

In the middle of life here with all things a bit slowed due to oral surgery on Tuesday last.There is a job requested of me to do. This is a very old strand that was in very bad condition. 

It is the MIL of my SIL once married to an elder brother.

She sent along a very nice cookie sheet and lid in exchange.

The metal is all corroded but this piece was loved by her.

The silver plastic spacers were all shot and looked bad.

The layout modified the only finding I will reuse are the two hole connectors holding the stands together. Removed was all the pins on the choker chain and the hook as well was corroded.

This is a keep sake necklace to her. Not a very valuable piece, with exception that the crystals are magnificent. I will restring and add sterling crimps and crimp cover, new spacers will give this a more modern length. The beaded rosary work chain will give a way to alter length as worn. The new 's' hook will add a more modern look.

Re stringing and updating broken pieces is something I am often asked to do. 

I often will bard-or services in exchange rather than cash.

Mending an old beloved family quilt

Hello

Do you have some family treasures that need repair.

This old family quilt that was made for my husband by his mother was such a keepsake.

This quilt is the favorite of every member in the family.

Some of the original blocks had worn to threads.

I believe that this quilt was created out of the scraps of shirt fabrics that his mom had made for him as a boy.

To fix old things old must meet old.

Never add  new fabric to an old item.

New fabric will shrink tearing the old even farther.

 After locating an old little boys shirt from those things our son has out grown I cut off all the seams,

sleeves and such. Save the buttons .

Waste nothing.

Place the fabric face down and press the block to size then flip it over and it will fit perfectly.

 

 Yes I did adjust that upper left corner.

:)

By pressing it on the spot the fit is fast and accurate.

Press one edge at a time and alter until it is just so.

While pressing use steam.

 

 One childs shirt did about 10 blocks so I had to go out to the give away and find another suitable shirt to cut up to finish it.

 

Mending your items extends the life.

This a simple thing that is so often in this age ignored to be tossed aside and more oney spent to replace things.

This day I sewed a button on a pair of cordroy pants for me.

A zipper replaced in a pair of skorts , jeans pocket mended, thermals hemmed after I cut off the knit ankle band, two pair of panties mended where the band came off. It was so relaxing.

By sewing two of the wonderful dish clothes my MILove makes me i now have another hot pad.

There was a beautiful pair of plum cords that had lost the zipper pull so I made a new zipper pull instead of replacing the zipper. All in all a large plastic storage box was emptied of the fix it jobs I had not gotten done before now.

I watched Hulu (check it out free tv on line).

All in all a very wonderfully relaxing meditative day.

Handie work, hand stitching and mending

Hello, Starting off at a corner do a bit of hand knotting to make a loop.
You can use a hook or your fingers to do so.
I almost always just use my fingers.
My step dad was a merchant marine.
I would watch that man tie knots that were just so fascinating to me.

under --pull up through but not all the way through, stop before it so

Then repeat over and over until your desired length is achieved
Then at the last pull it all they way through leaving a bit of a tail to tie off another length to stitch around

Thread your needle with that tail and stitch in the ditch so to speak...
Tie a new to it.

Now just do a whip stitch all round

Remember when you tie off.
A square knot...is over pull wrap again under pull. The tails are then threaded and pulled into the mass before clipping off

My sweet MOLove makes these for me with a real tight stitch, they are great pot holders.

I just love that color for the sunflower kitchen.

These are two of my grand children...
Dash said they felt much better now that I fixed the wholes they had.

Handi work is great for those moments when down loading pictures leaves you idle.
Busy hands, make light work.

Welcome to my Studio

Summer here in the desert has begun...
In honor of this new season of creation this blog begins.