Technology Fail

So... I'm making this cute little skirt apron for my friend's birthday. It's bright scarlet cotton, lovely and crisp, all gathered with a deep waistband - very '50s. It should have taken me just a couple of hours to knock up, but unbeknownst to me, my sewing machine (which I have been waiting so eagerly to use) is dead and lifeless.

I was so excited about having my own sewing machine and, after the teeniness of our little flat, the space to use it, but it was not to be. My darling husband performed resusitative surgery on it, but it was not to be. A new fuse would not fix it. It may be the motor. Boo :-(

So I've been hand stitching the whole thing - good job I'm a neat and speedy sewer. It's nearly all finished now - thank God, but I may have to scale back my plans for decoration, unfortunately. I was going to applique beautiful flowers and letters on the front saying 'Domestic Goddess'... Not sure what to do now, but I'll think of something - I'm gonna have to make myself one too in white or pale yellow - it's so cute! I'm also going to use the stiff red cotton to make myself one of those lovely '50s dresses - stunning or what?

Photos to follow!

Patchwork Dilemma

I was rootling through a basket my mum dug out for me of fabric scraps, sewing equipment and suchlike and in it was a project I started in about October 2003, I guess this is the time of year when my mind turns to patchwork...

Anyway, this project consists of 20 large patches made from 6 hexagons of a flowery fabric with a centre hexagon of yellow cotton - each one resembling a large flower. Some of these 'flowers' have white hexagon patches surrounding them, indicating how I was intending to join the 20 into a whole. Anyway, I laid them out on the floor in front of me and had a good look.


Firstly, I don't think I have enough patches for the pattern to look balanced. At the moment it runs 2 patches, 3 patches, 2 patches, 3 patches (going from right to left in the piccie above), so I'm either going to need another 2 or another 3 'flowers' depending whether I add them to the 'top' or the 'bottom'. Secondly I'm not sure if the length and width are large enough for this to work on a double bed, which is what I had originally intended it for I believe. Finally, and most damning of all, sweet and cottagey as the delicate floral prints are, they don't really tone in with the way I've decorated the house, which is plain, minimal, with blocks of solid colour... more trendy, basically, than this sweet, old-fashioned design of mine from 6 years ago. So here's the question - what do I do with it now?

- Finish it as a double and be damned, perhaps my tastes will change, or we'll move house and it'll fit in better
- Finish it as a single and keep it for if I have a little girl in the future
- Turn it into a number of cushions, aprons, whatevers and gift them to people, hoping I can find people with similar tastes. If I do this I'll need more suggestions for the 'whatevers'.
- Finish it and gift it to someone as a wedding present... I've actually just thought of a friend who might like it... although I'm not certain whether they would and they're not actually engaged, so...

Answers on a postcard please...