Jane and a ***sewing machine*** (is this a dream?..no it's fairy magic)

Years ago, in the days when it really could be cheaper to make your own I actually did make my own clothes.( I also knitted, but that's a story for another day!) I made skirts, dresses, tops and I even made my own bridesmaids' dresses.

My parents bought me a sewing machine to use when I started needlework lessons at school. In those days machines were so heavy I used to have to work out just to lift the machine onto the table. I made clothes right up until my early 20s and then the machine started gathering dust and was put into the loft at my parents' home.  That was until I had a new mission....

In 1986, when I was pregnant with my daughter I decided I would make the covers, bumpers, bedding etc for her moses basket. So out came the machine, I waved my magic wand (aka sat and stitched at the table) and made a whole set of items with frills etc.  For the first 3 months of her life my sweet girl slumbered away amongst the covers I had lovingly made for her.

The machine then again gathered dust for 3 years until I was pregnant with my son. My daughter had a very special dolly at the time called "Katie". To help introduce the new baby idea to my daughter and ease my son's arrival I decided that I would make a doll's size replica of all the covers I had on the moses basket so that my daughter would be able to have her own matching set of covers for Katie. I was even able to match the fabric. The stitching fairy (or rather me) would stitch away at night so as to keep everything a surprise.

  On the day M was born I presented my daughter with a replica moses basket with all the accessories for her dolly Katie. It went down a treat as she thought she also had her own baby to care for and their bedding even matched. I think we told her that everything came from the same Cabbage patch her baby brother had appeared from ! All was well and she did everything with Katie her dolly that I did with M. It really was so sweet to see. When M was put into his Moses basket to sleep she would copy me and put Katie to bed too. She would even tell us to be quiet as Katie was trying to sleep. Sweet, sweet memories :0)

Over the years the machine again got moth balled and I think eventually ended up being given away.

So what you may ask is this...............................?

Well as you know I do love making cards and recently I had noticed a lot of card makers had taken to stitching the borders of their backing paper with real machine stitching.

I no longer had a machine and could not justify buying a machine just for that so I simply admired the technique from afar.

However my dear Mum recently bought a "mini" sewing machine just to do some tiny bits of sewing to save her hand stitching. It occurred to me that I could "borrow" her machine to stitch some cards with. I recently did so and ***joy*** what fun I had. I had forgotten the noise of a machine whirring along. Such fun!

You can see some of my stitching in a close up below.

 It's been 22 years since I stitched anything so I confess the lines are not perfect but I actually think this adds to the handmade appeal of the card. 

I had such fun stitching background papers, I even did some in preparation (Vivienne look away now) for my Christmas cards.

I thought I would show you  a couple of cards I made which also used my new skill of colouring stamped images..and now my new machine stitched borders.

Remember this...

With a touch of pixie dust she turned into 

and this cutie

became...

and with one last abracadabra

I waved my magic wand and whirred the machine and out came.....

So do you now believe in sewing magic?

And if you would like a fairy of your own there is even one for sale here in my Etsy Shop ( you don't even need to go looking for one at the bottom of your garden ;0) ******EDIT 4.10.11 I have sold this card, if you are  interested in something similar just convo via Esty. Thanks Jx***********

We have had the most incredible record breaking  weather for the first weekend in October, nearly 30oc each day and the sun shone from dawn to dusk. My daughter and I had a brilliant time at the Bridal Fair in London and got lots of great ideas including an "alternative" wedding cake. I will fill you in soon. My Dad and my husband also sweltered in the heat and put the power and lighting in my studio. It still needs some more work but I now have lighting and 3 power points......it is such such a great work space. 

Thank you all for your lovely kind comments on my last post about my new bag charms. They seem to be going down very well and as promised I have made a knitting themed one called  "Knitting Queen". Here is a photo shown below and I have put it in my little Etsy shop here

Also as I have sold my first Sewing Queen, Knitting Queen and Tea for Two bags charms (thank you so much peeps!) I have made new versions of these

New blue Sewing Queen for sale here

and finally my New Tea for Two for sale in my Etsy shop here

Have a great week everyone. Here in the UK I  really think that we really have had our bonus Indian Summer and our friend Autumn is finally on it's way.

Bye for now,

Jane x