February 2011 – THORNBERRY

bags, sewing

city bag

My children are finally at an age where I can have a smaller bag – I no longer need to carry around loads of nappies, changes of clothes, toys/books, etc with me. However, I still need a bag that will fit my filofax, purse, sunglasses, phone, keys, and emergency kit (and I quite like it if it will fit in a small crochet project). My latest bag fits the bill perfectly – not small, but not huge either.

The pattern is the City Bag from Nicole Mallalieu Design. I added a few details to customise it – Nikki’s patterns are highly adaptable – such as adding a hard structured base with feet (the instructions for doing this are included in some of her other patterns such as the Laptop Bag).

I really enjoyed adding the hardware to this one – there are rectangular “O” rings on the straps, a slide adjuster to vary the strap length, the bag feet, a zipper pull and a swivel hook in this bag, all in antique brass. Nice!

The outer fabric is one of Amy Butler’s home decorating lines from a couple of season’s ago – I think it’s the Nigella range. The interior fabrics are quilting fabrics but they’ve been in the stash for a little while so I no longer remember which range they’re from.

There’s a compartment pocket on one side of the bag and a zippered pocket on the other. I interfaced the exterior fabric and added a layour of thin fusible wadding, and did the same with the strap. All the interfacings and hardware were purchased from Nicole Mallalieu Design. Like all of Nikki’s designs, this bag came together beautifully. I like everything about this bag, and wouldn’t change a thing!

Sunday, 27 February, 2011 by thornberry

crochet, my creative space

my creative space…

Like Kirsty, there is yarn in my creative space this week.

But who am I kidding – isn’t there always? Go and see who else has yarn in their space this week.

Thursday, 24 February, 2011 by thornberry

adult's clothing, sewing

the Dayo shirt

Some of you know that I’ve been participating in the Men’s Shirt Sew-A-Long over at Male Pattern Boldness. I was a little slow off the mark making the muslin/toile, but after a solid chunk of sewing on the weekend, I have completed what will be known in our family as “the Dayo shirt”.

Why the Dayo shirt, you ask? The fabric was a gift to mr thornberry some years ago from a work colleague, Dayo. Dayo’s wife and family live in Nigeria, and she hand-dyed the batik herself. When we first received it I thought “oh my, what will I make out of this?” – but I reckon that this shirt is the perfect match for the fabric, as does my husband!

The pattern is the Negroni shirt, by Collette patterns. I made the size medium, and overall I think it’s a pretty good fit. Because this is the muslin, I made it straight from the pattern, without any alterations. Next time I make it I will:

shorten the sleeves about half an inch
narrow the back yoke so it’s not so wide across the shoulders (and adjust the sleeve cap accordingly)
make the first button lower down (and adjust the rest accordingly)
narrow the facings – I think they’re much wider than necessary.

One of my husband’s shoulders is lower than the other, which we weren’t really aware of until I took all these photos to see what needed to be adjusted! I don’t think I’m going to make any alterations to take that into account. It does make the pockets look as though they are on slightly different levels – which they aren’t – but I figure that no-one is likely to notice that on a shirt that is in motion.

The instructions for the sleeve plackets and cuffs were great and they came together beautifully. I’d still like to draft a collar and stand for this shirt too, so that I have that option. There are plenty of instructions around on how to do that, including on the Male Pattern Boldness blog.

So there you have it – the Dayo shirt, aka the Negroni muslin. Definitely wearable as is – and you’ll all find him in a crowd. He’s definitely lost all anonymity with this one – especially because you can see him wearing it over here as well!

Tuesday, 22 February, 2011 by thornberry

vintage crochet

vintage crochet Friday #83

It’s vintage crochet Friday again, and it’s my fourth bloggiversary. This is post number 974 – I’d hate to add up how much time I’ve spent blogging over the past four years! I’ll plan a little giveaway for post number 1000, I think. But back to the vintage crochet! Since I’ve been blogging for four years, I thought that today I’d share four photos.

First, from a Golden Hands special, early 1970s:

There’s so much that could be said about that photo! Maybe it needs some captions – any creative minds out there? Next, a mother/daughter number, also early 70s.

A beach cover up, early 70s once again:

and since we’ve had a mother/daughter outfit, here’s a father/son one to finish off.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Friday, 18 February, 2011 by thornberry

crochet, my creative space

my creative space… (or a bevy of berets)

You’ve worked out what was in my creative space last week by now, haven’t you? A bevy of berets (and a beanie or two)!

I got a bit excited and pretty much churned out one a day over the course of a week. Five of these are for Sew It Together; the other four are possibly for the coworkers who really, really wanted one after watching me hooking away during my breaks. I might even keep one for me.

The slouch berets are all Raspberry Berets (Ravelry link), crocheted with a 6.5mm hook and a variety of partial balls of yarn that were languishing in my stash. Now they’re all gone! They are all 10 or 12 ply yarns, and include Patons Jet, Lincraft Prism, Bendigo Woollen Mills 12 ply Rustic and Debbie Stoller’s Bamboo Ewe. The beanies were crocheted in Panda Rhumba and Moda Vera Manor, which were not at all enjoyable to use. Thank goodness they’re all used up and I’ll never have to crochet with them again. But I loved making the berets!

Now my commuting project is washcloths. I wonder what all the serious business types on the train and tram think about my crochet projects? What’s going on in your creative space?

Thursday, 17 February, 2011 by thornberry

adult's clothing

Simplicity 2892, view D

I finished sewing up Simplicity 2892 at the end of January, but it’s taken me until now to organise myself to photograph it and blog it. That’s fairly reflective of life at the moment! I’m trying to take things a little more slowly this year and not rush all the time. Some things can wait.

This is view D – I also have view A cut out (waiting). The fabric is beautiful to sew with and to wear; it’s voile from Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks range. I thoroughly recommend this fabric for garments; it’s soft and silky and the prints are lovely – I call it “poor woman’s Liberty” (at A$33 per metre/US$12.50 per yard versus A$50 per metre for Liberty – and yes, I do buy the voilie from the US). I’ve bought two dress lengths of the Innocent Crush range of voile as well (one cut out, waiting).

The gathered yoke is a lovely feature of this top, although it is time consuming and fiddly. There is too much bra strap exposure for my liking, but that can be remedied with one of those bra-strap-holder-thingies.

Melbourne decided to be hot again today, so this top was perfect. I’ve written a more comprehensive review of the pattern here.

And WOW, how sweet you all are – we were so touched by all your good wishes on my last blog post! Thank you so much – mr thornberry was particularly chuffed.

Tuesday, 15 February, 2011 by thornberry

miscellaneous, musings

twelve years

We met in late 1996 – almost fifteen years ago. I was 28; he was 32. And we both just “knew” that we’d met the person we’d marry. We bought and moved into our first home together about a year after we first met, and that’s the house we’re living in today with our two beautiful daughters. Our wedding day was twelve years ago today.

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband! I love you very much.

Sunday, 13 February, 2011 by thornberry

vintage crochet

vintage crochet Friday #82

I think that this is so sweet!

Friday, 11 February, 2011 by thornberry

my creative space

my creative space…

In just over six weeks time I’ll be flying up to Sydney for the weekend to attend Sew It Together (basically a convention for bloggers who like to cut up fabric and sew it back together). Among other wonderful activites, while I am there I am taking part in a Sample Swap. We make five of the same item, get into groups of six, and give away each of the five items to the other people in the group. We each receive five different handmade items! Lovely!

Um yes, there are more than five in that stack…the girls at work saw me crocheting them and have asked for some too. Still more to go! I’ve worked extra days at my paid job in the last couple of weeks which has fortunately allowed for more commuting/crocheting time. Pop over here to find some more creative spaces!

And for Clare’s latest news – tooth #6 came out yesterday, so you can see what she now wants for Christmas…

And most importantly today – Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mum.

Thursday, 10 February, 2011 by thornberry

other people's craft

small sips of summer

A little while ago I crocheted some apple cosies for Rachel, who doesn’t crochet. Just look at what she sent me in return!

A gorgeous mini-quilt in all the bright colours that I love, beautifully pebble quilted in the sashing in a way that makes the rectangles of print fabrics stand out in relief.

And divine dahlia hair clips for my girls! These are so pretty – Rachel has linked to a tutorial if you’d like to give them a try. The girls pounced on them the moment I opened my parcel – they were very impressed and quickly claimed one each.

Thank you so much Rachel – I know how much work goes into crafting things like these! What generous crafters there are in the blogosphere. I get a kick out of Rachel crafting “small sips of summer” while in the middle of an American snowy winter – then sending it to the middle of summer in Australia!

Monday, 7 February, 2011 by thornberry

Month: February 2011