ScrapHappy January 2021

I was determined to join in with Scraphappy this month, having missed some due to the move.

Even though we’ve downsized massively and I affectionately refer to our new home as ‘the dolls’ house’ I’ve always found dolls creepy – I’m more of a teddy bear girl myself.  However, a request for dolls’ clothes was made and scraps were dug out.

A scrappy bit of fleecy stuff found lurking amongst Mr. Tialys’s rolls of leather got turned into mini Ugg style boots.

Some thin, stretchy fabric left over from a dress and a bit of French terry from who knows where got made into a t-shirt and trousers.  This fiddliness prompted a successful search for my rotary cutter and unpicker in the depths of my still disorganised sewing room so that was good at least.

*shudder*

Be grateful I forgot to take a photo of the heart patterned boxer shorts.

With that I shall remark only on how I marvel at people who can make detailed teeny, tiny things for all sorts of dollies and softies without harbouring any wish to join them.  If I’m going to make a pair of jeans with a fly front, belt loops, contrast top stitching and decorated back pockets I want to be able to wear them myself.

oOo

Scraphappy Day is organised by Kate & Gun for anybody who wants to make new things from scraps of any kind – doesn’t have to be fabric or yarn.  Here’s a list of participants – both regular and occasional – if you want to have a look at the sort of things you can do with scraps.

Contact Kate (first name on the list) if you want to join in.

Kate (me!), Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire,
Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Nanette and Ann

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ScrapHappy May

Scraphappy Day has come around very fast this month.  I’m amazed how the time has flown considering the restrictions on our movements which I thought would make it drag.

As a result, I was a little unprepared so I’m showing a new version of a project I’ve made several times before, some of which I showed on a previous Scraphappy day.  Sorry about that but the timing was good for me as my youngest daughter has expressed an interest in sewing and, although I’m not holding out much hope, I want to encourage it as it’s more useful than some of her other interests.

So, I made her one of my needle books.

I had some of this fabric left from a project I can’t remember making but there were large pieces cut out of it so I know it exists somewhere.  The fabric is significant as one of my daughter’s nicknames is ‘Bea’ and the logo for my handmade shop on Etsy is a dragonfly.

The inside lining and pocket are made from a bit of patchwork I had left over from a quilt I made for a baby .

I used some scrap felt for the ‘book’ and thought I’d include these cat themed scissors and heart pin in the package.

Together with a selection of odd buttons, it might give her a bit of a kick start to a sewing future and, if not, well she can pass it all on to her sister who does sew.

While I was in the needle book groove I made another one which isn’t from scrap but I’ve been dying to use this fun Japanese linen blend fabric for ages.

To be honest, this fabric would also be fairly relevant to Mlle Tialys the Younger – but don’t tell her I said so.

 

EDIT: just showed the second needle case to Mr. T. and he pointed out that’s not how sloths hang 🙃 .  Doh!  This will have to be a spare needle case for me now. 🙄

 

Scraphappy Day is organised by Kate & Gun for anybody who wants to make new things from scraps of any kind – doesn’t have to be fabric or yarn.  Here’s a list of participants – both regular and occasional – if you want to have a look at the sort of things you can do with scraps.

Contact Kate (first name on the list) if you want to join in.

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn (me), Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny and Kjerstin

First Scraphappy Day Of 2020

A new year, a new scrap friendly project – and a very simple one it is too.

If you’ve been reading my recent posts you’ll know I’m trying out needle felting again.

Before the French postal service did away with their economy international tariff, I used to sell French linen of the sort that is used to make tea towels.  I still have lots of scraps and offcuts and sometimes use them for various crafting purposes.

Most people seem to use a foam pad underneath their work or even a sort of brush thingy – these protect your work surfaces, support your work in progress and, usually, stop you stabbing yourself with the stiletto like barbed needle that is used for needle felting.

When I was doing my research into needle felting and deciding whether to to take the plunge again after my not too successful efforts a few years ago, I spotted several people using hessian bags filled with rice and, as that seems more eco friendly than foam or a plastic brush, I thought I’d put those pieces of linen into use.

The linen is quite a coarse weave so I think it will work well.

I just cut two squares, approx. 12 x 8 inches, overlocked the edges, leaving a gap to fill with about 1.5kg of the cheapest rice I could find, and sewed up the gap.

And, I’m ready to go!

Scraphappy Day is organised by Kate & Gun for anybody who wants to make new things from scraps of any kind – doesn’t have to be fabric or yarn.  Here’s a list of participants – both regular and occasional – if you want to have a look at the sort of things you can do with scraps.

Contact Kate (first name on the list) if you want to join in.

Kate (me!), Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline, Sue L
and Sunny

ScrapHappy Christmas 2019

After last month’s rather cheeky (and violently coloured) scraphappy day entry –  the yarn I used for my anti-hunter, bright orange beanie could only very tenuously be called scrap – this time I’m back on good behaviour for this, the last scraphappy day of the year.

A selection of scraps were unearthed and I display the proof below (although some of these didn’t make the final cut.)

You might remember that, last year, I paper pieced a reindeer and made it into a Christmas table runner.

I bought another pattern from the same designer.

Now, I’ve made a scrappy gnome and don’t really know what to do with him.

Because a gnome isn’t just for Christmas is it?

Any ideas?  He’s 12 inches square.

 

 

Scraphappy Day is organised by Kate & Gun for anybody who wants to make new things from scraps of any kind – doesn’t have to be fabric or yarn.  Here’s a list of participants – both regular and occasional – if you want to have a look at the sort of things you can do with scraps.

Contact Kate (first name on the list) if you want to join in.

Kate , Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn(me), Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline and Sue L.

 

Scraphappy Day October – A Close Run Thing

Can the 15th of the month really have come round again?  What with striving to get all my crochet squares done to keep up with the crochet along, and trying to get Mr. Tialys’s shirt finished so that I can start on making stuff for Christmas, it took me a bit bit by surprise.

It’s not as if I’m short of scraps as you can see below.

But I had not transformed anything from either the cotton fabric  or jersey scrap bins nor even the selvedge bin this month.

I hate to disappoint however.

Remember the shirt I’m making for Mr. Tialys out of Liberty of London tana lawn?

Well it has nifty little pockets in the collar for stiffeners – you know those little plastic doodahs that slide in and keep the collar of a more formal shirt  looking neat.

Like so

I was chuffed to bits with those little bits of tailoring – the thread is such a good match you can’t even tell those little diagonal slots are there at the end of the collar but I’m going to show you anyway.

So, instead of using ordinary plastic I wanted to make these collar stiffeners a bit different so that they would be instantly recognisable by Mr. T. as belonging to this particular shirt.

I searched the house hoping to find an old plastic folder the girls might have used for school as I often used to buy them ones with patterns on – spoilt rotten they were  – but I had no luck.  Then I caught sight of a store fidelity card in my daughter’s room which was made of nice thick plastic as used in credit cards and the like.  So, I had a lightbulb moment.

I had a look in my purse and, yes, I still had it.

I don’t have much occasion to shop in the actual Liberty store in London at the moment and I have Liberty fabrics galore in my stash so can’t think I’ll be using it any time soon even if it’s still valid.

So, the answer was obvious

I managed to cut them around the Liberty name and the crest for this shirt and still have some of the card left to use for future shirts – and there will be some because, strangely, I really love making them.

So, no fabric scraps used this month and the jury is probably still out as to whether an unused store card counts as scrap but you can’t say I didn’t try.

Scraphappy Day is organised by Kate & Gun for anybody who wants to make new things from scraps of any kind – doesn’t have to be fabric or yarn.  Here’s a list of participants – both regular and occasional – if you want to have a look at the sort of things you can do with scraps.

Contact Kate (first name on the list) if you want to join in.

Kate , Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn(me), Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline and Sue L.

Scraphappy September

Still lots of cotton yarn left over from various blankets so I decided to make something useful for my friend’s birthday recently.

These ‘scrubbies’ are to use instead of cotton pads to take off make-up with your usual products or use to apply foaming cleanser and wipe off with the pad soaked in warm water.

You can just throw them in the washing machine and re-use.

I experimented with a few ‘styles’ first.

This doubled up heavily textured one is my personal favourite

You can find the free pattern on Ravelry here

However, the ones most like a cotton wool pad in size are probably these so I decided to whip up five for a gift, using leftover cotton yarn.

Plus they fit most nicely into the printable packaging labels I found on line.  I was going to give you the link but it says ‘not secure’ in the URL so didn’t want anybody loading any problems on to their devices. (Link to YouTube tute here though)

I think I’ll need to have quite a few in reserve before I can give up the disposable cotton pads completely but I’m working on it.

Of course I still have lots of scrap cotton yarn to use up.

 

Scraphappy Day is organised by Kate & Gun for anybody who wants to make new things from scraps of any kind – doesn’t have to be fabric or yarn.  Here’s a list of participants – both regular and occasional – if you want to have a look at the sort of things you can do with scraps.

Contact Kate (first name on the list) if you want to join in.

Kate , Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn(me), Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline and Sue L.

Another ScrappyDoo Scraphappy Day for March

Using scraps to make something new was all about the dogs again this month.

Well, apart from these cotton dishcloths I have been making as a ‘must do something useful while I’m binge watching a Netflix box set’  in the evening (which is ‘Dirty John’ at the moment by the way).  Recognise the colours? It’s the leftover cotton yarn from the niece’s baby blanket.  I’m actually going to start a new Eastern Jewels blanket – and keep it myself this time – because I had almost enough yarn left over from the first one to make another.  I just needed another four 100g balls and am waiting for those to arrive.  The cable cardigan I’ve started is far too complex to do without staring at it fixedly so these fit the bill.

But, I digress – back to the dogs.

Remember those fabric samples for car seats I showed you before ?  I made a dog collar for Stan with some of it on Scraphappy day in January.

I decided to have another look at the samples for March’s Scraphappy day and, bearing in mind the state of Flo’s blanket which she regularly pulls out of her bed and then uses it to tempt Stan into a game of tug of war, I thought it might be time for something new.

I feel quite guilty about that blanket as somebody had put a lot of work into making it but, if I tell you I rescued it from a charity shop initially, then used it as a throw over the back of a chair before demoting it to dog bed status, I hope you’ll forgive me.  It has certainly had a life.

Anyway, with ScrapHappy day approaching,  I got a few of the samples out again and took them off their hanging cards.

I decided to use an orthopedic pillow for the insert as I bought it for when I had a neck ache and it made it worse.

I joined a couple of pieces together for both back and front and closed one end – a bit haphazardly – with a snap closure.  I might as well have sewed it right up I suppose as the fabric pieces claim not to be washable but we’ll see about that.

Here’s the side with the ‘depression’ in the middle in case Flo wants to avail herself of its orthopedic qualities

and here’s the other side which is smarter in my opinion so will be placed facing up in the bed.

Like so

At first Flo studiously ignored it.  I expect she was upset that her old blankie had gone and was busy thinking of ways to destroy the new one.

Then she came round to the idea.

I must say, this monthly ScrapHappy challenge is good for me because, in an effort to join in, I usually come up with something useful that I probably wouldn’t have  bothered with in the normal course of events. Plus, my scrap bin gets smaller.

Joining in again this month with Kate & Gun’s monthly Scraphappy Day where you too can use your scraps of fabric, yarn, paper, wood, anything to make something useful or lovely or both and show it off to the world.  You don’t have to join in every month, only when you have something to show.  Details and a list of other participants’ scrappy endeavours over on Kate’s blog.

 

 

 

ScrapHappy Zeppelins in October

When the new session of the F2F block swap started (details here), I decided to make a scrappy block every month in the colours each participant had chosen – partly so I’d have something to show on Scraphappy day if I’m honest – which I always try to be with you dear readers.    I made a couple of blocks with random scraps then changed my mind and decided to make the same paper pieced block for each person plus one for myself using the remains of the fabric used for them or similar colours from my scrap bin.   I confess the scraps are quite big scraps (more like small remnants ) as anything too small wouldn’t work for the design I’m using.   I’m still putting it forward for ScrapHappy day this month though because the fabric was all leftovers and because I haven’t had time to make anything with smaller scraps as I’ve been in a bit of a dressmaking frenzy which will be the subject of a future post.  I hope Kate and Gun will forgive me for using biggish scraps instead of littleish scraps.  (‘Littleish’ – now there’s a word you can really get your tongue around.  Is it even a word? If not, it should be.)

On a side note, if you think paper piecing is wasteful of fabric – what about dressmaking?  I can’t believe how much goes in the bin and most of it’s no good for scrappy stuff being too thick or thin or whatever.

Anyway, I have adopted a paper piecing pattern called Zeppelin which you can find on Craftsy here as a free downloadable PDF.  It doesn’t have too many pieces which is good when you have to make quite a few of them and I like the clean lines and contemporary look of it.

I started in July with Claire’s colours of turquoise, grey, black and white.

Then, in September, Nanette’s colour choices were blue and blush pink.

I parted with some of my precious ombre fabric for this one.

Moira chose browns and creams with duck egg blue as a highlight in October.

Earlier on in the swap, I was ‘Miss June’ and later made one in my own neutral(ish) palette of greys, creams, and vintage pink.

I still need to make one in Sue’s colours  – I missed making a ‘Sue Zeppelin’ in July.  Her choices were similar to Nanette’s but with white instead of blush pink to go with the blues but, eventually, once I have a Zeppelin in all nine participants’ colours, they will make a small quilt or throw which will be quite a nice souvenir of the 2018/2019 block swap.

The four scrappyish Zeppelin blocks so far flung against my  design wall.  I say, ‘design wall’ though it is just a flannelette sheet held in place by books on my bookshelf – but you get my drift.

Wondering what ScrapHappy is?  Have a look on Kate’s blog here and join us once a month – or less if you can’t come up with a duplicitous way round it like me – well, let’s call it a ‘compromise’.

Scraphappy Rabbit Basket

I used to make little rabbit bento bags from a Japanese pattern which I made in linen and lined them with Liberty of London fabric.  I got the pattern from a Japanese book which was mad to work out and they were fiddly and expensive to make.  That post (and the one it links to)  however, are still probably the most commonly read ones I’ve ever written.

So, when my Wednesday sewing buddy, Sandra, showed me a much simpler one in one of her (French) magazines, we made it a project for our sewing sessions for two or three weeks – well, we chat for most of the time otherwise it would have probably only taken one session.

These are far less fiddly, larger and quicker to make all round.

They make good small project baskets.

I’m not sure they’re quite as cute though.

Even though they are much more practical.

I’m joining in Kate and Gun’s ScrapHappy day because, although they are fairly large scraps, the linen and lining are left over from other projects and not new.

(I mean the fabrics are fairly large scraps, not Kate and Gun 😉 )

Have a look at Kate’s post for a list of all the participants and, if you like making things from scraps (doesn’t have to be fabric) we’d love for you to join us.

 

 

Could This Be The Start Of Something Big?

Here are some of my cotton scraps.    I say ‘some’ because there are quite a few more.  I was industrious at some stage – can’t remember when – and cut some scraps into squares and strips so there’s a box of those somewhere and also a box totally dedicated to scraps of Liberty of London tana lawn which I get out and stroke now and again.

Anyway, I think it’s time something was done with all these bits of pretty floating around and, inspired by the beautiful quilt Kate has made entirely from scraps,  which is so lovely she’s entering it into her local Quilt Show, and by the fact Kate and Gun host a Scraphappy Day once a month, I thought I’d throw design and colour coordination to the wind and make a scrappy quilt myself.

I’ll be making them all with a 12 inch finished size and using the QAYG (quilt as you go) method to join them all up.

I know I’m already starting on the F2F Block Swap that Kate organises but those blocks will be more complex and I’ll be strictly sticking to the chosen colours of the other participants whereas these ones will be put together in a vaguely random fashion – let’s call it ‘organic’.

My first block was put together on a whim and, if I’d had my head on, I would perhaps have chopped those large pieces up a bit more but, hey, it’s an organic process, remember.

The next one’s better and even has some yellow in it which I don’t usually countenance but I must have used it in something in order to have the scraps.

They probably won’t end up next to each other but, as I only have two at the moment, there is no option.  I’ll think about sashing etc. further down the road.

If you want to see what can become of joining scraps together, you can see Kate’s beauty here – but don’t expect mine to be ‘show worthy’ necessarily.  Although I might be able to show you a much emptier scrap box by the end of it.

Here are the others who take part in ScrapHappy Day every month or every now and again.  If you fancy joining in – you can use any scraps you want to – fabric, yarn, paper, etc. – just contact Kate or Gun.

 

Kate , Gun,Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn(me),  Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon
and Hayley