Just one more, and then I'll stop. Promise.

I am a bit addicted to this pattern. After the last lot of shenanigans with the seams and turning through, this one sewed up like a dream. But I'm still not going to make them to sell, i value my sanity :) If anyone else is though, use recycled jeans, they work really well!

This one was made on a rainy Lancashire day, but it's being shipped off to sunny Australia, so I thought the tropical blue flowers were quite appropriate. It's going to a very lovely friend who emigrated there about 5 years ago, and who is sorely missed. She has two beautiful boys who I last saw 6 months ago - the octopus messenger bag was made for Ben, her eldest.

I would dearly love to make the trip out to see her one day. Maybe after the neverending loft fund has been repaid. My only worry would be that we wouldn't want to come back...

Show me the money.

This year is turning out to be pretty expensive. Along with the twenty squillion pounds we paid for the neverending loft conversion, we have had to repair the washing machine, then replace the washing machine, replace the hoover, replace the iron, and now the central heating is broken. Not broken in a major way, but it'll still cost about £150 to fix it.


Add to that the extra bill we have from our builder for changing the stair spindles in the loft (they were twirly, and they just weren't right. Now they're straight and they're lovely. Yes it was important and worth the money. Now be quiet) and using better quality wood on the cupboard doors (we're staining it rather than painting), and we're a bit strapped for cash.


I'm still finding things to put on eBay, and we're selling nearly all of our dvds on Music Magpie, but we need more moolah. So one of the obvious solutions is for me to try and sew up a bit of cash. My mum, the lovely grandma pickledweasel, has a little business making and selling glass jewellery and art. She does lots of farmer's markets, and always takes along a little selection of wooden brooches on my behalf. When I started making bags we talked about selling some on her stall, so I thought I'd finally crack on and make up some stock for her. I've been buying bits and bobs of fabric in preparation, and have quite a few patterns that can be used to make items to sell. My aim was 10 bags using this pattern in 7 days. If they sold, I would try a few more different styles out. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.


Er, no. Despite this being the fourth time I've used this pattern, the bag pictured took me around 4 hours to make and is unsellable unsaleable unsellible no-one would buy it. The outer is faux suede and the lining is a bit of vintage soft cotton I found in a charity shop. Both fabrics are quite lightweight so I thought I would use fusible interfacing on the floral cotton to give the bag a bit more structure. Only when I came to turn it through it had obviously added a bit too much structure, because it was like bloody childbirth. The stitches on the strap split, and tore the lovely old cotton. I had to unpick and re-sew the join at the tops of the straps so many times to get the two sides the right length so they would sandwich together properly that there is a whole new pattern of little holes in the faux suede. It just doesn't cut the mustard.

I have to accept that I don't have the speed or the skill to make it worthwile financially. In fact, I'd probably make more money if I stopped buying fabric and bag patterns :) I would love love love to make money out of sewing, but I just don't think it's feasible for someone who works part time and has a two and a half year old the rest of the time. Selling online is slightly easier, as you can make things as they're ordered, but you still need time to promote your business and find patterns that work for you and that you can use to make things comercially (or design your own). I've got rid of my little Coriandr shop, which was rapidly going nowhere due to a lack of promotion on my part. No matter how badly I want it, or believe it's my destiny (in an X-Factor styley), making money from stitching stuff isn't going to happen right now.

So it's back to eBaying the contents of my wardrobe and shopping in bulk at Approved Food in an effort to save money. If anyone has any 100% proven get rich quick schemes, or interesting recipes for tortillas or cous cous please comment below :)

Yeah, whatever.

I am in a foul mood today, so this post will not be genial, or courteous, or even polite. I really can't be arsed with small talk, so you'll get what you're given.

Here's a bag I made.

It's made of my favourite jeans, which I had to sacrifice because they had a big hole in the knee. The lining is made from some other fabric. I can't be bothered to tell you where it was from.

It holds things, and it was easy to make. I made another one before, but this one is better, because.... well, just because.

If you want me, I'll be on the sofa with my bottom lip stuck out and my arms folded. Now go away! >:-p

Mmmmm, stitches....*drool*

I did some sewing :) I managed to make Very Purple Person's reversible tote, which is a blinding simple and nifty pattern that everyone should download immediately if they haven't already done so. Mine isn't strictly reversible. Well, it is, but I used the same fabric inside and out :) I haven't got anything that goes with this slightly bizarre aqua monkey head fabric,* so I thought I'd better use it for outer and lining rather than trying to carry off some kind of 'it clashes so crazily it matches!!1!' combo. I love the shape of the bag and the size. Munchkin and I test drove it today, and it comfortably carried baby wipes, 4 nappies, my stupidly huge purse, my mobile, a snack bar and a beaker of water. I'm planning to make it again using denim from an old pair of jeans and lining it with something bright and flowery.

I am still planning to draft my own bag pattern, and you'll be relieved to know I've found my set square and my french curve. Now I just have to find the time to sketch it all out and go through the millions of revisions needed before I throw it in the bin and cry create the perfect bag. I'll keep you posted :)

In never-ending loft fund news, we have windows! Four of them, letting lots of lovely light in. And one of them has a very nice view, if you stick your head out far enough.

I found some non-gender specific wallpaper for Munchkin's old room. At least, I think it's non-gender specific, everyone else who's passed comment on it says it's for boys, but what do they know. It was beautifully hung by grandma pickledweasel, and I did the painting. It's not finished yet - the walls need another coat and the woodwork needs doing, but we've bought carpet, and it should be habitable in a couple of weeks. The plan is to move Munchkin back in there (she's curently sleeping in our room), and then start decorating the hall stairs and landing. And then our current bedroom. And then our new bedroom. By which time we will have no money left for food, but we will be so high on paint fumes and turps we won't care :)

* The selvedge says the design is called 'candy' so I'm guessing they were going for boiled sweets rather than monkey heads, but I prefer to see them as monkey heads.