Whilst I’ve been glamping I haven’t been idle, and I thought I would share my sewing environment and some of my activities.
I have been sewing in a flyproof dome tent. This has the advantage of being shady, allows the breeze to waft through and it keeps the insects away.
The towel on the floor was for Heidi to sleep on – I don’t run to mats when I’m camping!
For anyone interested I am using an Elna Lotus SP which was made in 1967 and which is my designated camping sewing machine.
I also have a teeny tiny steam iron which packs a real punch, and the table top ironing board was given to me by my Mother-in-law. The two bags gracing said ironing board are gifts which I’ve made since arriving here.
My set up isn’t very ergonomic. I am sitting on a pillow and the foot pedal is off to the side, so I don’t do long stints in the tent.
The tent has proven very useful – Bridgette and I undertook a prodded rag Christmas tree for her similar to the one I made, using fabric left over from Christmas stockings made by Bridgette for Tom and the pets. Heidi managed to photobomb every single photo!
She also managed to put all the photos out of focus because the camera focused on her
The tree didn’t get finished in time for me to blog it.
Other things that I made on this trip:
- A hat made from denim left over from the Christmas jeans I made for Mark and Archie using the Amy Butler pattern I used previously.
- A couple of totes from scrap fabric, playing with the design of the zip closure. The first bag was made from a pair of old jeans. I put a pocket either side and a red separating zip in the top. I added a magnet to keep the pockets together, but in retrospect wondered if this was a good idea as it might wipe any magnetic strips I have in my wallet – ergo, my credit card!
I then decided to do an inset zip, and vaguely followed this excellent tutorial, making adjustments to suit my bags and the fabric I was using.I used recycled zips from my mother’s stash – she had a waste not, want not mentality, and cut zips out of every discarded garment. Here is the small selection I chose from for the bags, some of which still have fabric attached!
So, with zip in hand, I made the casing
I then made the tabs as per the tutorial. I felt that they were too bulky and cut them down, but was still unhappy with them.
The provenance of this fabric is unknown. It was donated to my stash either by my sister or my friend, Thelma. It is heavy upholstery fabric and the lining is a lighter home decorating fabric from Spotlight.
a pic of the external pocket with a press stud closure just showing, I couldn’t get a photo of the internal pocket
My next bag was made from some fabric Mark brought back from Sri Lanka and from which I made him some trousers.
Once again I made it with a recessed zip, using a recycled zip from Mum’s stash. This time I abandoned the fabric tabs and used a tiny bit of leather to fashion more interesting tabs.
The lining is made from a piece of fabric I bought at the local church fete.
Here is a close up picture of the two aforementioned Japanese bags.
and a final photo of all the bags together.
One of these bags is destined for my niece who is about to undergo chemotherapy. I also made her a beanie for the winter (she lives in the UK) and she gave me permission to show it here. I used the same pattern as my grey beanie and knitted it on a plane. I was able to stashbust some pink and blue wool, to match her new wig, which is also pink and blue!
