Sewing in the Thirties

A very kind fellow blogger has sent me this old sewing book from 1938:

Used at the 'State Industrial School for Women'..

Thorough explanations:

"Is there anything more annoying than a sewing machine that doesn't function properly?" No, indeed there isn't.

Thanks again, Thora, I'm having a feast with this one!

Another Bunny

This poor bunny has been stowed away half finished for about a year, but now he's finally finished and ready to come out and play!

The tutorial was found at the RevoluzZza Blog, go check it out! It's really easy, but can take a bit of time if you (like me) hand sew most of it.

Gimme a hug!

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

With three kids in the house, there's always some clothes in need of fixing. Perhaps a sock mending mushroom will make it more fun?

The mushroom was bought here, and a tutorial (in Norwegian) on how to use it can be found here. Nøstebarn also has a cheaper mushroom for sale, but at the time I bought mine they didn't.
If you liked the proverb in the title, there's plenty more of them here.

Redesign

The Norwegian company Nøstebarn had a competition going in February, encouraging their customers to mend and fix worn-out wool clothes. Some of the results are presented at their blog, and here are my humble efforts:

A baby jacket in wool fleece was transformed to a soaker/diaper cover longie and a hat for Junior (AKA Little Red Riding Hood).
For the longie, I used the arms of the jacket for legs, and the gusset and waist were made from the remaining fabric plus a small piece from a striped sweater. The hat/hoodie was made from the jacket's hood with a sewn-on knitted neck warmer, made of one skein Misti alpaca yarn.
This was fun and inspiring, and it definitely won't be the last time I redesign the kids' clothes!

Labor of Love

The little man needed a warm pair of overalls for crawling on our cold floors. As much as I love knitting, there's nothing like the sewing machine when you need something to be finished quickly (although sewing isn't always as quick as you'd think, hence the title of this post. Oh well, no need to elaborate..):

Pattern from 'Børnetøj du selv kan sy', fabric (boiled wool) from Stoff & Stil. I made the one-year size with long ribbing around the feet, so I think this will fit him for a while.

Keep It Inside

Having cats and kids, I cannot leave my knitting out in the open. I'm getting fed up with all the plastic bags piling up around the house, filled with yarn and projects, so I think I need to sew another of these:

The bag is reversible, easy to sew and great for all your crafty projects! A free tutorial for the Two-Kates Project Bag can be found here. 

Work in Progress Not anymore!

I started on this pillowcase yesterday, a very quick knit on thick needles:

I used the bulky organic cotton from Pickles in the Vanilla and Pale Sky colorways - but I only had 1 skein of each. After using them both, I still only have half a pillowcase. What to do? I'm considering making the back of fabric instead of knitting it, but we'll see!

Update: I sewed on an Echino fabric for the back. Note to self: Remember to use a stretchy fabric when sewing something together with knit.. Oh well, it turned out OK nevertheless: