Tools of the trade

A wise man once told me that a workman is only as good as his tools , so I thought I'd let you have a little look at the items which "live" on my sewing table! 

Starting from the top we have:

My tape measure - my grandmothers, one side has inches and cms the other has the calorie content of most foods, I'm assuming that she liked to sew and diet at the same time. I on the other hand like to have a plate of biscuits close by! 

A bobbin and spool of white thread - thread wise I'm fairly boring to be honest I usually use white or black so have two separate bobbins, I only used matching thread if the project really calls for it! 

Metal rular - mr Knitwit picked this little beauty up for me , it's lovely and heavy so it doesn't shift about! 

Rotary cutter - genuinely don't how how I've survived for this long without one! It makes cutting so much quicker! 

Automatic button hole foot - when it not on my sewing table it lives with my buttons! Another item I'm not sure I could live without! 

My whiskey bin! - what can I say I'm a classy bird! Most of my stray thread end up in here , the others transport their way round the house via people's socks. 

My needle tin - also my grandmothers, all my needles live in here machine, darning and handwork varieties as well as a half penny to stop me hurting my fingers! 

Hand seeing thread - I stupidly brought some very cheap thread, it doesn't go through my machine but it works very nicely for handwork! 

My little tub of tailors chalk - I hate the stuff, generally I don't use chalk but every now and again I find that I have to. 

Floral scissors - brought for me by an old friend, scissors are a sewers best friend and I love these bad boys! 

Plastic ruler - for quick bits and pieces

Voodoo pin cushion - for the days when it's either torture an inanimate object or throw my machine out of the window.

Mini sketch book - for those beautiful moments when inspiration strikes, I also keep all my measurements in here! 

And underneath everything is my lovely cutting matt! I love how tidy everything looks on this! 

In other news my kimono got to have an outing with my best friend! 

I had a great night of letting my hair down and putting the world to rights! And I felt surprisingly dressy to say I was wearing an old sarong! 

Much love

Frankie 

Xxx

Want not waste not

I don't like throwing things away, in fact if I didn't live with mr Knitwit I'm fairly sure I'd be one of those people who see on obsessive compulsive cleaners (not the one with the Hoover, the one with 7 cats and a million books and a broken teapot) 

Mr Knitwit is forever telling me to throw things away, however when he gave me this empty whiskey tin I couldn't throw it away! Not when it's perfect sewing bin size! 

I've been needing a little bin for ages so I'm dead chuffed that I can repurpose this! 

Also pictured are my sylko pin cushion , I think these must have been part of a giveaway at some point , my mum, nan, grandma and neighbour all had one ! Does anyone know where they came from? Either way it's a cracking pin cushion! 

And then there's my foral scissors , an old friend brought these for me when I was making costumes for a school production. I was forever loosing scissors and she thought having a brightly coloured pair might help! Sadly we've lost touch but I've still got my scissors so her theory must have been right! 

Other than this repurposing triumph the rest if the day hasn't been successful sewing wise, I'm having some trouble with my margot pj bottoms , specifically the channel thingy! I'm not sure if I've screwed the pattern of if the patterns screwed me but either way something's gone bum up! (Probably me )

I'm going to try and tackle it tommorrow and them SUPER careful with my next pair!

Much love 

Frankie

Xxx