Sew much fun!

I have been busy sewing as well as knitting and crocheting this holiday; I am not an experienced sewer (why does that word look sooooooo wrong?!) so I was delighted to discover that there is somewhere right on my doorstep that runs a wide variety of sewing classes. The Makeplace in Norwich is terrific - a wonderful, light and airy space in which to learn, with a 'bulging at the seams' fabric shop a couple of doors down the road. I've taken classes there before to learn needle felting and free motion machine stitching, and decided to take a couple of different classes over the summer holidays.

The first class was making a zipped bag. You all know just how much I like bags for keeping my projects in! Now a chance to make my own!! The first bag I made was the little one with the fun bird print fabric. I decided to use some ric-rac on one side (if I'd put it on the back as well, I'd have had to be super-careful about matching seams and patterns!) I actually made this bag when I took the class last year, but I left it so long before trying to make another bag, that I couldn't remember what to do!! So when I spotted that the class was running again, I jumped at the chance to book a place! This time I made the pink and green bird bag - I love this bold print, don't you? When I got home, I thought that it would be a good idea to make another bag straight away so that I'd remember what to do for future bags. After a few technical hitches, such as discovering that my sewing machine didn't have a zipper foot, and then not being able to fix it on without Mr JK's assistance, I sailed through the third bag, using a batik fabric. I've made this bag for my friend Diane to keep her crochet projects in.

Here's a closer look at each of the bags .......

My head is already buzzing with possible fabric combinations for future bags after rummaging around in my small (but growing) stash of fabrics! Which of these do you like the best?!

The other class that I took was a crazy patchwork class, designed to use up all kinds of oddments of fabric. After selecting a variety of fabric scraps, we set about fixing them to a backing panel, one piece at a time. It's a very clever way of doing patchwork, using a sewing machine. I used an overlocker to neaten the edges and will eventually turn my panel into the front of a cushion cover (I'll probably need to do another class for that!!)

I love how some of the different prints look together.......

There just aren't enough hours in the day to do all the crafty things I'd like. Roll on retirement!!! xxx