Alteration Challenge

I loved watching the latest series of The Great British Sewing Bee (and the first series for that matter), and enjoyed the alteration challenges where the contestants were asked to make something new out of an item or items that the judges provided. Now I've had several pairs of old jeans languishing in my stash for a while (they are now too big - hoorah!), and have been dithering for ages about getting round to doing something with them. So this week I finally got my act together, and fueled by anger after a frustrating phone call, I hacked them to pieces! Very therapeutic actually, and at least I managed to control myself enough to hack them sensibly, taking off all the thick seams and giving myself largish pieces of fabric to work with.

Seeing as I had different coloured denims I decided to have a go at a bit of patchwork, and then work it into a big tote bag. So the legs of the jeans got cut into squares, and then I laid out a design of 3 x3 squares for the front and back of the bag, and another square's width for the sides. Now, I'm sure you already know, but cut denim frays aaaaaalllll over the place - I've spent days covered in little blue flecks. So the bag was definitely going to need a lining - enter old cotton pillow case.

Pieces cut and layout decided, out came the sewing machine. I use my Mum's late-1960's Singer which unfortunately is getting a bit temperamental in its old age and it took me a while and several scraps to get the thread tension right, and then when I'd sewed all the denim squares together and went to sew the lining, I had to change the needle and re-jig the tension all over again. Oh well, a bit of a pain, but I'd rather not kill the machine just yet!

I was really happy with how well (if I do say so myself) I managed to get the corners matched up for the patchwork, but it looked a bit plain, so I added some contrast topstitching in bright orange (my favourite colour) to liven it up a bit. Lining and outer ready to go, I whipped up a pair of handles from more of the denim - with more topstitching - and then I was ready for final construction.

I got in a bit of a muddle here trying to remember which order and which way round the pieces needed to go to make sure it was right when I turned it all through, but luckily I remembered there is a similar bag project in the first Sewing Bee book so I was able to check - don't want to end up with an inside-out bag after all that work!

The other thing I decided to add was a cardboard panel to go in the base of the bag to stiffen it, so I slipped that in before sewing up the gap in the lining.

A final flourish of more orange topstitching (are you sensing a theme here...) around the top of the bag and it's done! What do you think? I'm really pleased as it's the first thing I've sewed in absolutely ages, and it's a great size for fitting all my stuff in when I go to my local knitting group, I can't wait to show them that I can do other things than just knitting!

 

Obviously now I'm thinking about things I could have done better, but then I suppose that's part of the process of learning. If I make another similar bag at some point I'd like to try putting in a zipped internal pocket, so I must keep an eye out for patterns with the instructions for doing this - anybody know of any good ones?

Well the sewing machine survived the ordeal, so I'm raring to go with making more things now, keep an eye out for my version of Tilly's Brigitte scarf to join in the #LoveAtFirstStitch book launch party next week!

Introducing...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by, it's great to meet you.

I'm Jennifer, and the idea behind this blog is to share some of the things I make and do, where I get my inspiration from, and to connect with other people with similar interests. I chose Knit-Sew-Grow as the name for my blog for a few reasons. Knitting is my main craft if you like, I've been knitting regularly for a couple of years and am enjoying learning new techniques and making things that I can wear myself as well as the odd gift for other people. Sewing is something I've dabbled in on-and-off before, but with so much inspiration around at the moment I'm definitely keen to get in more practice and be able to make things that I'm proud to wear. The Grow part is a little more all-encompassing. Firstly there's the literal sense that I love gardening, have a vegetable patch that I share with my Mum, as well as growing flowers, mainly because they're pretty. Then, in the bigger sense, Grow is about my wider philosophy of learning, wellbeing and self-improvement. I could have included loads more things in the title - baking, cooking, reading, exercising, singing, exploring... - but I don't think that would have been terribly useful! So, the Grow part will hopefully include bits about all sort of other things that I get up to, and a bit of an explanation of why I enjoy them and what they bring to my life.

As I already said, I've been knitting for a couple of years, but did try to learn when I was younger, just never got the hang of it! My Mum and Nan both tried to teach me, but being left-handed, they got frustrated with trying to show me things 'the wrong way round', so I never got much further than garter stitch scarves for my teddy bears. Then, as I was getting back into various types of crafting, I started reading a few magazines, and found a pattern in one for a little knitted owl motif. Now this involved cable knitting, something my Mum had always professed was really difficult, but as it was only a few rows of pattern I wanted to give it a go. And it worked!

Well that was it, I started reading up on everything I could find in Mum's pattern bag, and headed happily off to Hobbycraft to stock up on new needles, yarns and patterns. I now knit nearly every day and am really proud of the things I've made, getting to grips with not only cables, but also lace patterns, knitting in the round, fairisle and intarsia, and all sorts of shapes.

Sewing finds me at a slightly more 'beginner' level I think. I'm of the generation that only got to do one term of 'Textiles' at secondary school and I think I have a fairly odd looking appliqued cushion cover hidden away somewhere to show for it. I've dabbled in different kinds of sewing including cross stitch, patchwork and dressmaking and I'm keen to keep on trying lots of different things. I've really enjoyed watching The Great British Sewing Bee on TV, and own both accompanying books. I even managed to make a simple cotton tunic top from the first book last year.

This year got me even more inspired and I'm doing more research into different techniques, reading other blogs (Tilly is such an inspiring lady), and trying not to be too scared of just giving something a go. I currently use my Mum's sewing machine, which is a late-1960's Singer and pretty basic - straight and zigzag stitch, and that's your lot. But it still works fine for everything I've wanted to do so far, and as I can get different feet to attach (like an invisible zip foot) it will keep me going for a while yet I hope. Getting the thread tension right is a bit of a pain, but that's another story...

Writing this at the end of April, the garden and veg patch are happily springing into life and I'm sure I'll keep you updated of progress over the summer. It shouldn't be long before the first early potatoes are ready, my favourite sweetcorn seedlings are doing well in the greenhouse, and my little patch of bluebells are in full flower this week.

This is some of last year's haul...(a bit out of focus, sorry, must upgrade my camera)

I won't spoil you with too much else straight away, after all I'd love it if you came back to read what I get up to next, I've got ideas to write about all sorts of current projects over the next few weeks and I can't wait to share them with you.