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

Bless em, they're not as dim as they look

As promised I thought I'd share my sewing related birthday presents! 

First and foremost! I got a rotary cutter and mat! 

I already love it, and have no idea how I survived without out it! Even if mr Knitwit does refer to it as the fabric pizza cutter! This present is all thanks the mummy and daddy, and it came with a bundle of Christmas fat quarters aswell!

I also got this lil book on styling vintage! (Big sister always finds the best books!) and I've already read it cover to cover! I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes playing around with vintage looks! 

Momma and daddy Knitwit also added to my book collection with this beauty about vintage fashion! I'm a firm believer that you can never have too many books about clothes, or well books for that matter! I think this is what's called a coffee table book? But I tend to refer to them as mummy time books! 

And it has beautiful full colour images! 

And mr Knitwit really outdid himself book wise! 

I'm a massive marvel nerd so this book pushes my buttons in all the right ways ( anyone who thinks superheroes pushing your buttons is wierd obviously hasn't seen Hugh jackman as wolverine) and due to the HUGE amount if illustrations I think I'm going to be seeing some marvel based embroideries in my future! 

And my last sewing related gift (I got a lot of none sewing related gifts as well including the pikichu onsie I shared yesterday) this is the one I hinted for, it's basically the one I demanded. And it's the one that lovely big sister and brother in law got me! 

Tada! I got it! Yay! Love at first stitch now resides at my house! YAY! 

Now so I don't get over excited and storm in all guns blazing here's what I plan to do! The projects are set out in order of difficulty, perfect for beginners like me who are just learning to make clothes "properly". So I'm going to start at the beginning and work my way through! And the plan is to do one version as the book states, and one variation, so by the end I should have two versions of each piece ! (And after I've finished , which I'm determined I will ! I'm going to treat myself to the coco pattern! But only after I'm finished! ) 

I'm really hoping this book will give me a better knowledge if dress making! 

Now the first project is the Bridgette scarf, so keep your eyes peeled for the original version in all it's glory and my altered style! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx