Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Happy Bank Holiday weekend to my fellow Brits. It only feels like five minutes since the long Easter weekend - not that I’m complaining!
Last weekend, after Neil and I got back from our adventure in Northumberland, I got cracking on my Swing Bag:
I don’t know about anyone else, but I find the cutting out the hardest part of sewing. The Swing Bag is reversible, meaning you need to cut out six of everything (apart from the bow/scarf). That means a lot of snip snip snipping - and, when all the pieces are meant to be the same, it’s easy to see quite how inaccurate your snipping skills are!
Still, it all came together pretty well in the end. I chose 3 fabrics from Amy Butler’s ‘Daisy Chain’ collection for Rowan. I used the print ‘Sweet Jasmine’ in the ‘Blush’ colourway for the exterior, the same print in the ‘Aquatic’ colourway for the interior, and the print ‘Dandelion field’ for the scarf/bow, also in the ‘Blush’ colourway. You can see the two main fabrics - exterior and reverse sides - together in the next photo, which is of a half-finished strap:
Though I’m sure more experienced stitchers would have done things a little differently (and probably more swiftly!) I’m quite proud of how the bag has turned out. And I think it’s been good for me to finish something for a change, instead of adding to the various unfinished projects I have languishing in numerous locations around the house.
I hope you’re having a good weekend, wherever you are. Neil has been working some really rubbish hours lately, so I’m home alone. I’m thinking of having a lazy night, possibly browsing future sewing projects… ahem! Well, I did say that if I managed to complete the Swing Bag without throwing the sewing machine out of the window, I’d consider moving on to a skirt. I might do a few more straightforward things first - perhaps a Heather Bailey Hooray for Headbands hairband.
Anyway, calm, calm. Other things to do include bike riding and running (boo!), and popping to see Jill ride in a hunter trial tomorrow. Here’s hoping the weather picks up a little bit. For me, nothing says summer quite like getting to a sunny horse show and locating the ice-cream van as soon as possible! And pitching in with the horses if required, of course…
Wishing you a relaxed Sunday evening. Toodle pip!
