Hello folks,

hope you have all had a good week. I am still waiting on news
on the job front, but have become very keen on the thought of trying my hand at
making a business out of millinery and associated things, so I really am hoping now that I get the VR. I should know by the end of the week so fingers crossed.

But on to the real question of the day, have I got round to
those curtains yet?…..

Well the answer is yes, I have and they already up in
position as later photos will testify. I am very pleased with the way they have
come out. 

We needed curtains on this particular cupboard because it is
too close to the cooker to open a door, you could have argued that we could
have bought a smaller cooker, or rearranged the kitchen a bit, but to be honest
there are 3 of us in the house who love to cook; and my daughter’s cup cakes are
to die for, so a smaller cooker was never really an option.  I do have to thank my wonderful other half
for pandering to us in cookers and fridges and the entire kitchen really.  We managed most of the house on a tight
budget and I am fairly adept at getting a bargain, eBay is a firm friend, but
the range cooker was a must.  While I am
on about the kitchen, we have a pink Smeg fridge, how wonderful is that, and
the other half did choose the colour, we didn’t force him.  The plumbing behind the curtain needs to be
seen too really, I am really rather proud of the other half for this, all his
own work, and although it can’t quite be seen on the photo, it does have a real
feel of Wallace and Grommet to it that I love and fits the house perfectly.

Any way the curtains got sewn up in record time, once I got
going on them and discouraged the dog from helping too much.

so helpful x

Being gingham they were a breeze to cut, just
following the lines of the check, 4 simple edge seams, 2 bottom hems and at the
top I did a slightly larger top and added a second row of stitching to make a
channel for the wire to thread through for hanging, then a once over with the
iron and up they went. I really don’t know why it took so long to get round to
it.

Don’t cut the thread when you finish one bit,

In this photo you can see how I start the next bit of sewing
without cutting the last off the thread yet. 
This is a marvellous tip, I can’t remember were I picked it up, but I
have been doing it for years now.  It
saves time and a lot of cotton too.  I
have a really annoying habit if I haven’t done this of loosing the thread back
though the needle when I first start sewing, so I’m not sewing and I have to
stop and rethread the machine, probably cause I forget to ensure there enough
thread or hold on to it, the other problem this method alleviates is the bunching
of thread under the material ie:

What you do is leave the last item attached to the machine,
just do a couple of back stitches to fastening the stitching and then sew to
the edge of the material, next get your next bit of sewing and line it up and
start sewing as normal.  The thread will
just carry on and your two bits of sewing will be joined together, you can do
this for awhile and I often leave them all joined up till I need to use them
again.  Then simply snip the thread
between the pieces and you’re done, no waste thread and in my case no wasting
time re threading the machine again and again. 
Sometimes I try and see if I can sew a whole garment without cutting the
thread between pieces, it does get tricky towards the end when most of the
pieces are already joined together though.

the finished curtains, and just look at my bread x

I hope that made sense, please let me know if not and I’ll
put up more photos to explain what I mean.

My daughter and more about her cupcakes can be found on http://theprettyeyes.blogspot.co.uk/. Anyone who knows us personally and has tried her caramel and salted cupcake,
or lemon drizzle one, will know they are a real treat.

Next week will see me making a brown felt hat for an
afternoon tea dance. I’m looking forward to that.

More soon

Ally x x