Curtains

Its not curtains for make do and mend!

Sorry about the pun...  What I mean is, my mum has embraced the DIY vibe and has made a pair of curtains for a daughter of a friend.

 She took a plain, dust sheet like backing and covered it in a pale green shimmering fabric.

Unfortunately it does not show up too clearly in this picture, but the colour is really lovely, especially when it catches the light.

She firstly measured the and cut the fabric to the right size, and pinned it to the backing. This was more difficult than it sounds, and where I came in to help! To ensure the fabric did not balloon when the curtains were hung, the top fabric had to be held taught when pinning. Then stitch.

Really you should use a sewing machine, but ours is not currently working so mum did it by hand.

Look at how neat her hand stitching is!! I bow down to her amazing invisible stitching.



Although some times she forgets to take out the pins! (She made me a rabbit costume for Halloween once but forgot to take the pins out of the tail...ouch!)

And the off cuts can be used to make attractive hair bows! As modeled by mum and I.

Buttons

Attaching a Button

So the first tutorial post, exciting. I thought I should start with simple and useful. How many times have you found yourself searching around the floor for a missing button? Well I cant help you find it! But I can help you reattach it.





 Firstly thread the needle. I am using a bright coloured cotton so it can be seen clearly but obviously you needs to try and match your cotton as close to the colour of the garment as possible.









Now starting at the back of the garment, in this case a blouse, pull the needle and cotton through to the front. Thread on the button

Then bring the needle down into the hole next to the one the need was brought through. Repeat this two more times to make sure it is secure.

Repeat the aforementioned process  on the second set of holes. End with the needle at the back side of the blouse.











To ensure the button stays in place, put the needle into a stitch on the back side.

 Pull it through but stop before the stitch tightens, so it appears as a loop

Then pull the needle through the loop and pull to tighten. You can cut the thread there but I tend to repeat the process another time, just to make sure.







                                                                                   And there you have it! easy peasy, lemon squeezy.