Amazing shirts!



Hello all you lovelies.  I hope that you are all enjoying your Easter festivities.  My wonderful husband and I were due to go out but he is under the weather today so  I have had to amuse myself.  I promise that I have only resorted to one piece of chocolate - what about you?  I am a real chocoholic so could devour an Easter egg in a matter of minutes.  What about you?  It is really cold and grey here today so a big change from yesterday unfortunately.  I hope you are all enjoying sunnier and warmer weather than we are. 

I hate wasting a day particularly when I was expecting to go out so I set to on the shirts I bought yesterday.  I am in the middle of making the apron as we speak but the thing that really struck me was how much fabric goes into a shirt - admittedly it is a very large shirt!  This is the blue one cut into pieces - I am going to see what I can make from all of it.  Have you any ideas folks?

 

 

I have cut out the bib and am going to make the skirt of the apron out of the pink striped shirt which I love.  More on the apron in another post.

 

 

I am really trying to crack zips Folks and I find that some of mine are ok, others not which means that I never feel that my bags can be given as gifts as I can see the flaws.  I know that many people would not even notice but I do and it is really getting to me that I still haven't gotten to grips with them yet.  I have found another tutorial on Youtube which I am going to have another look at and see if that system would be better for me because the one I am using is not.  Anyway, I had started a new bag which was going to be part of a birthday gift and was looking to line it with some fabric.  Seeing all the lovely blue fabric from the shirt made me think about using it to line this bag. 

 

 

I am using up the CK tea towel which I used last week.  The Lovely Jo suggested another tea cosy and I was really considering her idea but didn't have anyone to make one for so changed me mind, but thank you Jo for a fab idea.  I am also using a lovely applique pattern from Bustle and Sew which I love - hope you like it.  The calico is the lining from an old shopping bag my Mum gave me.  The outer part had fallen to bits to I managed to salvage part of the inner bag.  Also the applique is made up from all the scraps I am collecting in my box.  Because of my love of some uniformity I used up the scraps from the CK teatowel to make up a flower and some hearts to go inside the lining.  I hope you like it.  The shirt lining was a dream to work with.

 

 

If you have not seen any of Bustle and Sew's patterns please have a look, I love them.

 

 

 

I was able to use practically every scrap of the tea towel so felt very pleased with myself.  Rachel, my lovely sewing teacher is the master (or should I say mistress) of sewing economy and her excellent practices are rubbing off on me too, hopefully.

 

 

And here is the finished product, although I am not happy with the zip.  I was thinking about how many of these bags I have sewn and I must get those I still have together and take a photograph.  Heavens above you would think that putting in a zip would have clicked by now - not me though, everything seems to take an age to sink in.  I am ok with the long straight pieces but it is the ends where I become stuck - I think I have too much fabric bunching up a the ends so need to find a solution soon Folks or the world is going to be taken over by my bags..........not a pretty sight.

 

 

I did love the feel of the shirt fabric - maybe they are going to overtake my tea towel obsession :-) 

 

 

I did try to cut out a few little flowers from the lining and stitch them onto the front of the bag - I wasn't as happy about these but they are on now.  If you look at the sides of the zip top you can see that they do not lie as flat as they should.

 

I did enjoy doing the applique though - I am so fond of doing this but have to watch that I do not go OTT with it.

 

Well Lovely Friends that is it for now.  I am going to try and crack on with the apron.  My hubby is fast asleep bless him and I am hoping that he is feeling better tomorrow and we can go out.  Enjoy your evening/day depending on where you all are.  I hope that you are safe and happy.  Big hugs and loves as always from me and thank you for stopping by.  Please don't forget to leave a comment if you have time as I love to hear from all of you.  You make my day.  Dorothy:-)xxxxxxxxxxx