A little tribute to Pearl - part 5

The 30th November was my nan Pearl's Birthday so today I'm remembering her by sharing some thing she made that I still have. My nan Pearl was my mum's mum and was a proper maker. She made everything she could and buying from the shops was a last resort for her. I've shared photos of something she made ever year on her birthday since Sum of their Stories began.  This year it's a crochet baby blanket she made before I was born. 

It's a classic design which people now call the "Call the Midwife" pattern. Call the Midwife is a UK TV show set in the 1950's/60's and the super talented Rebecca from Little Monkeys Crochet saw a baby blanket on the show and couldn't find the pattern so recreated one. You can find her pattern here.  The modern versions of the pattern tend to have bigger holes making the flower pattern than mine, I don't know if that's a pattern difference or just the way my nan crocheted. 

The blanket my nan made is quite large, it measures 50" x 60" and is finished with a pretty shell border. 

It's been used and therefore washed A LOT so it's a little bit matted and bobbly now but a bit of an heirloom. 

And just as a final treat for you, here is a photo of me lying on my blanket in 1970! 

So today I'm remembering Pearl, my nan who loved to make things and taught me so much. But not how to crochet sadly. She did try but for some reason I was resistant. It wasn't until years later when I learnt from a book that I realised what she was on to. I should have listened to her....she was a wise woman!  You can find more photos and stories of the creative woman in my life who inspired Sum of their Stories here.

A little tribute to Ellen - Part 3

28th March was my Nan's birthday, so today I'm sharing another thing she made as a little tribute to her.

As I was growing up I knew my nan dabbled in oil and acrylic painting, but it was either when she retired or when my grandad passed away (I can't remember which) she went to classes and tried out lots of new techniques.
These pretty painting were some she did for us when she was experimenting with watercolours.
As far as I know she always painted from her imagination so sadly this little cottage and garden probably doesn't really exist!

I remember that we had them framed and on the wall in our bedroom in our first house but at the moment the are in a box along with a load of photos and other family memorabilia. 

Interesting that she signed her name in different ways on each picture.
I think I said it last year, but if my paternal grandma Ellen were still alive today I'm an absolutely sure she would have a blog. She would have loved the idea of sharing her ideas and makes with people all over the world, connecting with like minded people, being inspired by what they've been creating. 

The stories I've sharing in previous years showing items made by Ellen, my mum and my other nan can be found here.

A little Tribute to Jenny - part 4

My Mum's birthday was 7th February so today I'm remembering her and sharing something she made.

This embroidered picture is one my mum stitched at some point in the 90's. It is a kit from Rowandean Embroidery and they still sell it today. In fact I saw it on a stall at a craft fair last year. 
I remember when mum bought the kit. About a year before, she had started a very large cat cross stitch picture and I'd ended up having to finish it for her because it was just too fine and detailed. When she chose this one she was determined she was going to finish and frame it and not let it be a 'forever' work in progress. The slightly more freestyle embroidery technique suited her much better. 

It is framed without glass as some of the embroidery is quite fluffy and textured.

To keep it clean I gently vacuum it now and again but I guess another option would have been a box frame. 
We've got it hanging on the wall on the landing in our house. 

There is a lot of stitches here - a lot of hours spent. 

So today I'm remembering my mum, someone who made lovely things and encouraged me to do the same, someone for whom this blog is named.

You can read more of the tributes to the women who encouraged all my crafty antics as I grew up here

Retro Patchwork Bedspread made into a Snuggly Throw and Bag

I finally turned the old patchwork bedspread my Nan made for me in the 1970's into a cosy new throw and a fun tote bag.

Back in November, as part of my Sum of their Stories features, I shared a brighter than bright patchwork bedspread that my nan made for me way back when I was little. You can see my original post here.

Lots of you were kind enough to offer ideas of how I could turn this bedspread into something we could actually use and enjoy, instead of it just sitting in a bag at the bottom of the wardrobe. In the Christmas holidays I finally found the time to make a start and take the bedspread, with it's expansive valance frill, apart.

Wowza, my nan did not skimp on sewing thread, she put this thing together to last. It took a whole afternoon to get the valance off and the backing off the patchwork. My seam ripper has never worked so hard!

It turned out that my nan had finished of the edges of the patchwork like this.

No worries about any of those hand stitches coming undone any time soon!

Everything got washed and ironed just to freshen it all up then I was ready to begin a makeover.

At this point I will apologise for the lack of "as I went along" photos. I was in the zone...just experimenting and trying to make this work and so I completely forgot to take photos of the steps - sorry.

Following all the super helpful advice I'd been given, thank you all, I'd decided to give the patchwork a soft fleecy or fluffy backing to make it more snuggly.

In our local fabric shop they had a lovely sherpa style fleece but it was £12 per metre and not very wide, so I took a trip to Tesco and bought a soft throw for a fiver. 

Once taken apart the patchwork piece was long and narrow, measuring 94cm/37" by 190cm/75" and the soft throw was 150cm/59' by 120cm/47" .

I had originally wanted to avoid chopping into the patchwork but in the end I just went for it. I cut the extra length off the patchwork and the extra width off the throw. Both bits ended up being 94cm/37" by 150cm/59" - a perfect size for a throw or snuggly quilt type thing.

To try to ensure the cut edge doesn't start to unravel, I folded it over with a small hem and stitched.

I laid the fluffy throw over the patchwork, wrong sides together then stitched round the edge. Then I cut a long length of fabric from the valance of the original bedspread to bind the edges.

If you look closely this is where my inexperience shows. I think I used the "hot mess" method for my binding and the "dog's dinner" technique for the corners. The whole thing was so thick and bulky under my sewing machine foot that when I lifted the foot to turn the corner I kept forgetting to put it back down - rookie mistake!

However all is not lost. The whole thing is secure and enclosed, no raw edges or risk of anything coming undone so I'm calling it a win. Just don't look too closely and it's fine. Actually I think the patchwork is so vibrant it is hard to take your eyes off it, no one is going to be looking at the wonky binding with all that amazing colour, pattern and texture!

See how I've tucked the corners in for this photo so you can't see just how awful they are! 

To finish the throw I used this tutorial from Chrissie D to hand tie the layers together. It was easy and it works. Yay!

I'm so happy with the finished throw. It's soft, warm, pretty, practical and full of memories.

As I had chopped a piece off the top of the quilt I decided to use that bit and make it into a bag.

The piece was 94cm/37" by 40cm/16" so I secured the raw cut edge with a narrow hem as I had on the throw and then cut a piece of the old blue valance to the same size for the lining.

Basically I made the tote bag using pretty much the same method as I used for my Tetris tote bag here.

The main difference was that I folded the pieces, the patchwork and the lining, in half and just stitched the bottom and side of each rather than all 3 sides. I didn't want to be cutting the patchwork any more than necessary.

I made handles from the same blue fabric as the lining and just squared off the corners to make the bag more boxy.

I shared how to do this in more detail in my T Towel Tote Bag Tutorial if you don't know how (it's REALLY easy) 

That was it - Ta da! I was much more confident making the bag than the throw, bag making is much more my comfort zone!

I'm going to use this as a shopping bag. I realise I risk it getting damaged if it's a high use item like that but my heart will be happy every time I use it. This patchwork has spent the best part of 40 years in a cupboard, I think it will enjoy the fresh air and exercise! 

So there you have it, an old and unused bedspread turned into 2 useful things. My nan was a really practical woman and waste upset her so I think she would have been really pleased.

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A little tribute to Pearl part 4

30th November was my Nan Pearl's birthday so today I am remembering her by sharing another lovely thing she made, that I am lucky enough to still have.

This patchwork bedspread was made using the English paper piecing method and was hand stitched by my Nan for me back in the 70's. I have no idea how long it took her, must have been months and months.

I have mixed feeling about this, I wasn't allowed to put it on my bed when I was first given it. I was about 7 or 8 and my mum was worried I would damage it somehow. She was probably right, I often ended up with felt tip pens or crayon on my bedlinen and I even cut a hole in something once (by mistake of course) By the time I was old enough to be trusted not to wreck it I only used it for a short time before fashion changed and we all started to have duvets or quilts instead of sheets and blankets. You must remember at this point I am a UK child of the 1970's!

The good news is it is not wrecked, the bad news is it has not been used and therefore enjoyed much.

The patchwork is a walk down memory lane for me, so many bits of fabric that are from clothes I remember. I can see lots of bits from clothes I had, a few of my grandad's shirts, fabric that my dolls had dresses made from etc.

It's bright, there is no getting away from that, it was the 70's after all!
I also love how my nan didn't worry about having 2 hexagons of the same fabric next to each other, she was not one to spend lots of time on fancy things like design and colour balance.
It is backed with a big piece of seriously retro print, and has a ruffled valance to hide all the stuff that was under my bed at the time.

I am wondering if I should do something with this bedspread. We don't have any single beds in our house now, hence the photos of it draped on the sofa and laid out on the floor!
At the moment it is in a bag in the wardrobe. That seems a waste, but I'm not sure if I could bring myself to chop into it to make it into something we can actually use today. That said, I can almost hear my nan telling me not to be so silly. She never had any problem refashioning and recycling pretty much anything.

Any brilliant ideas would be welcome.

For now I am happy it has had a airing, is being shared here today and helping me to remember my nan, Pearl.

You can read the other stories I've shared about things made by the women who inspired Sum of their Stories here.
update:
I've actually gone and done it! A massive thank you to everyone who left suggestions, tips and ideas. You can see what I ended up doing here.

Clutch bag recycled from an old knit

Saving an old piece of knitting and turning it into a little clutch was a bit of a fiddle but I think, well worth it.

Photo Credit Carla Nyanyo
Today is a tutorial of sorts with a bit of a personal story attached. It's not a tutorial you could follow exactly as you are very unlikely to have exactly the same sort of knit that you want to recycle but hopefully you might be able to follow the steps and improvise to suit what you have.
I'd had this beautiful piece of hand knit for ages.

It was one of the things I had kept from my Mum's house when we cleared her house after she passed away.

I remember this project well, the pattern is from a book of mine that mum had borrowed, Great Knits for Kids by Debbie Bliss. It was going to be a cardigan for one of her granddaughters, my niece and it's a toddler size. Said niece is now 18 so this was made a LONG time ago. The yarn is a beautiful soft cotton, but no ball bands remain so I've no idea exactly what it is. I think it just got too difficult for mum to keep the Fair Isle pattern and do the decreases so it just got buried at the bottom of her knitting bag as an embarrassment/annoyance. When I found it I just couldn't throw it away but it took a while to decide what I could do with it. Not enough yarn remained to try to finish it and I knit to a different tension than my mum had anyway.

The piece measured approx 70cm (27") by 18cm (7") with just a little extra bit which I think would be one front. The cardigan pattern is one where the main bit is worked all in one and then it splits at the arm holes, that's why it's such a long thin piece.

To form it into a rectangle I undid the little extra bit and a couple more rows so I had a nice even row of loops.

Then chopped the moss stitch border from the bottom...

...and unpicked all the bitty bits to end up with another nice row of loops on the other long side.

So at this point I have a long thin piece of knitting that's all loops along both long edges.
I folded it in half, wrong sides together, so the long sides were basically doubled up. Then, starting from the unfolded edge, I crocheted the loops together using UK double crochet, that's single crochet in US terms. Hopefully the photos show it better than I can explain.

I had to be really careful not to pull the knit or it would unravel but other than that this was really simple. I then repeated along the other long side forming a long thin 'bag'.

Next I joined the open short sides together, closing the 'bag" using a simple slip stitch.

At this point I had a piece of knit, double sided, joined all the way round that was approx 35cm (14") x 20cm (8') and it seems I stopped taking photos at this point. I think you can work out from the finished photos how this bit went.

I folded one short edge up by just over 1/3 and then stitched up both side seams. 

Photo Credit Carla Nyanyo

I added a button and a loop closure and that was it. The piece of precious knit was saved. Phew! I now confess as I chopped into the knitting with my scissors early on I did hope I was doing the right thing!

Photo Credit Carla Nyanyo

I'm calling it a clutch, it is pretty small, so maybe more of a pouch. Anyway whatever it is I am happy that this little bit of knitting is no longer sitting in a paper bag. I'm sure mum would have been pleased all the hard work she did wasn't wasted either, I know the fact she gave up on it had frustrated her.

Just to finish the story, I gave this clutch/pouch to my niece, the same person the toddler cardigan had been intended for in the beginning. I think mum would have been really pleased about that.

As I said at the beginning this is a very specific tale of saving a specific piece of knitting but I think the idea of fashioning a bit of lovely knitting into something else is probably transferrable. Do you have any old knits that you could imagine saving in a similar way?

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