My ideal home

A big thank you to Ellie Tennant, Deputy Ed Shopping Ed and Home Shopping Spy at Ideal Home for picking my handmade Liberty print cushion covers for Ideal Home magazine's Christmas Gift Guide. 

There's a certain irony in my being featured as I'm terribly organised when it comes to designing and making gifts for other people to give to each other but I never get round to making clothes, curtains or cushions for myself.

My ideal home would be full of hand-made cushions, upholstered seats and patchwork quilts.  Yet the cushions on our beaten up but beloved Chesterfield are shedding feathers and a desperate for new covers and I haven't had time to buy a single Christmas present - not even the smallest stocking filler. 

And my god-son and god-daughter have only just got their birthday presents (from June and October respectively!). 

Perhaps making more for myself should be my New Year's Resolution!

I promise I will do my best...

...to make a dozen scrunchies simultaneously for a dozen girl guides.

I was a little apprehensive to say the least when Sarah asked if I'd teach 1st Chinley Guides how to sew for their Craft Badge.

So last week I piled lots of my Peak Princess dresses into a suitcase along with the wedding dress my Mum made me, along with pins, needles & thread.  Sarah brought lots of pretty fabrics, elastic and ribbons.  We had two very old sewing machines that had seen better days.

I think my teaching methods are best described as organised chaos but the girls took to sewing like ducks to water.  A few were even enquiring about the price of sewing machines.  (Personally, I love the fuchsia pink John Lewis mini-machines for just £50).

This evening was part 2 with the second group.  Some of the more adventurous went straight on to hair bands and hanging hearts.  And Caitlin had even made herself a floral mini-tote bag over the weekend.

We started making newspaper patterns - wide and short for fatter, less gathered scrunchies and long and narrow for bunched up, thin ones.  I suspect the scouts might find a few pins on the floor when they are next in.  Next was pinning right-side to right-side (perpendicular to the machine needle); then seaming (a cm from the edge); pulling inside out with a safety pin; sewing ends rs to rs to form a tube; threading elastic and Bob's almost your uncle.  Just a little outside seam and voila!

Thank you girls!