6 Great Ideas for Organising Your Craft Space

It's the start of a fantastic new year and I've decided to expand my horizons...from the comfort of my favourite (only?) couch. For those that haven't had the pleasure of e-meeting me, I'm Rachael from Sew Today, Clean Tomorrow and I've been invited over here to do a spot of blogging for The Oz Material Girls.
If you're anything like me then you always start the new year with a bright, shiny list of goals. Some are a little fanciful: "Play guitar with Dave Grohl", others are more realistic: "Learn to play guitar", but there is one that finds its way onto my list every year..."Organise my craft space".
I love the idea of the gorgeous craft spaces I've seen during my late night, wine-fuelled stalkings of Pinterest, but find many to be a little beyond the limits of my talent/time/bank account. Here is a list of my more practical and mostly budget-friendly solutions for organising my knick-knacks, gadgets and sewing doohickeys.
Tip 1 - Use a rubber band to store your bobbin and thread. Not only does it keep the threads in place, it's also a great way of making sure bobbin and spool remain together, forever, happily every after.

Use a rubber band to keep bobbin and spool together

Tip 2 - Store sewing machine accessories in compartment boxes (e.g. beading boxes). This is a great way to neatly store your sewing machine feet, machine needles and other accessories.  Label the box lid to make it even easier to find what you're looking for.

Use a compartment box to store sewing machine feet

Label the lid

It's a great way to store needles too

Tip 3 - Organise patterns in plastic pockets or large envelopes. This is a great way to keep all the bits and pieces of your project in one place. E.g. pattern pieces, instructions, zips, buttons, fabric, elastic etc.

Use envelopes or plastic pockets for patterns and projects

Tip 4 - Keep often used gadgets within easy reach with these practical, eye-catching embroidery hoops. This great project is quick, easy and affordable to make. You can find a tutorial here: Sew Today, Clean Tomorrow Embroidery Hoop Organiser Tutorial.

Tip 5 - Small knick-knacks can live in fabric bowls made from your favourite scraps. My hexie bowls are a lovely addition to the craft room and do a great job of housing my Clover Wonderclips, pattern weights, rubber bands and many more bits and pieces. The Hexie Bowl pattern is available through Patterns Only here: Hexie Bowl PDF Pattern.

Small knick-knacks love to call a fabric bowl home

Tip 6 - Nails/Hooks/Pegs can keep scissors and cutters within your easy reach (and out of reach of others). It's not the most beautiful solution out there but this shelf, with it's scissor storage underneath, was a breath of fresh air for my craft room. It frees up bench space, keeps everything close by and stops my all-too-regular "where did I just put those dang scissors?" dance.

Hooks/nails/pegs keep scissors within reach.

It may be small, but this shelf is a mighty addition to my craft room.

There you have it. A small peek into my craft room and a few of my more nifty storage solutions. What handy little hints and tips do you have for organising your craft space?

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Pattern Review - Criss Cross Avery Dress

Hello hello!  Melissa here from Ms Midge, I'm back with another great pattern to review!  This time round it is the CRISS CROSS AVERY DRESS by Pink Poodle Bows.   I have a few of their patterns, so was keen to give this one a go, for a nice fresh Summer look!   If you pop over to Patterns Only, they have 15% off at present! First things first - this is a PDF pattern, and can be made in sizes 12months - 5.  After making a size 5 today, I'm pretty sure it would be quite easy to upsize it a few sizes - which is great, because I would love to make one for my nine year old daughter.  If you've never upsized before, I did a tutorial HERE. Ok, as per my usual routine, I printed the pattern out and got stuck in to sticking it all together.  Nothing confusing about that.  You will end up with FOUR pattern pieces.

From those four pattern pieces, you will end up with NINE pieces of fabric cut out.  I'm making a point of telling you this, because I confused myself!  There's a front and back, a front and back bottom (border), a back casing, and four bodice pieces - two in each co-ordinating fabric.  So yes, it is a lined bodice!

The instructions are really quite easy to follow, and there aren't any steps that I didn't have trouble with.  I got my handy chopstick out to help with turning the bodice pieces (i.e. straps) out the right way, and I chose to top stitch everything.  I just think it gives it a better and neater finish.

When it came to the gathering part for the front skirt piece, the pattern gives you instructions to use a basting stitch, which of course if you're used to you'll be ok with doing.  I have mentioned in other tutorials my love for a gathering short cut.  So I'll give it out again!  If you set your sewing machine to the tightest tension, i.e. highest number, and your stitch length to the longest setting you will be able to pop your fabric in and as you sew, it automatically gathers for you.  Life-saver in my books!

There really isn't many tips or tricks I can give you for this pattern - it's straight forward and rather quick and easy to whip up.  I made the size 5, and my little model is a size 4, so it was a tad big.  BUT I do think the elastic lengths they provide to be put in the back casing, could be shortened to suit a tinier frame.  I have it pinned at the back for photography purposes!  Alternatively, you could also widen the bodice pieces at the front for a bit of a bigger frame.

All in all - a super pattern that I would recommend to basically anyone who would like to make a great Spring/Summer dress!

I used some of my personal fabric stash for this review, but rest assured - the girls have plenty of beautiful bright prints for such a pretty dress!  Go CHECK THEM OUT! Thanks for reading, I hope you find this helpful and will see you again soon! Melissa x

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Pattern Review - Ava Pleated Skirt by Hadley Grace Designs

The Ava Pleated Skirt!

Melissa here again, from Ms Midge!  I have another new pattern in my hands to review for you!  I've set myself a bit of a challenge this year.  I would really like to make all of my girl's skirts and dresses!  I have lots of dress patterns, but only a few skirts, so went searching through the PDF's and found this beauty!  It's the Ava Pleated Skirt, by Hadley Grace Designs.  You can find it HERE at Patterns Only.

I bought some gorgeous bright light drill fabric on sale last week, so pulled it out for this project.  If you pop over to The Oz Material Girls you will surely find something that will jump out and grab you.  The beauty of this pattern is that you could use ANY weight fabric, so the options are endless.  It also means you can make skirts for all seasons.
I don't usually print out my PDF instructions, but given this pattern doesn't actually come with pattern pieces as such, I've printed it out so I have all of the measurements in black and white.   There are a couple of tables which have the measurements in inches for the size, waist, Measurements for the fabric in width & length, amount of fabric to purchase and the finished skirt length.  This I find REALLY handy.  Once I realised there were no pattern pieces, I was excited.  This meant all I have to work with is one or two lengths of fabric.

The other AMAZING thing about this pattern is that it gives you all of the measurements for sizes NEWBORN through to size 14!!  Fabulous!  So the next thing I had to do was work out what size I was going to be guided by.  I measured my eldest daughter's waist and decided to go by a size 9.
The next part of the instructions is "Elastic for the Waist".  I must say, it took me a couple of reads to understand them!  It's a little confusing, and would be much more effective for the measurements to actually be added to the tables I described above.  I did figure it out though!
The directions go on to instruct you how to start putting the skirt together.  Sizes 6 and under are made using one continuous length of fabric, giving it only one seam at the back.  Sizes 7 and up need a front and a back length, giving it two side seams.  There is no SEAM ALLOWANCE mentioned in the instructions.  I flicked through the rest of the instructions and found a half inch seam allowance mentioned near the end, so went with that!
Instructions then begin for how to assemble the pleats in the skirt.  I am feeling a little silly by this stage, because I am having to read this a few times again!  Eventually it clicks - The instructions really are aimed at making up to a size 6.  Because when you start making them 7+, it differs due to having two lengths of fabric instead of the one.  Again, I figure it out!
Here's a tip that I found out the "hard way".  Measure the half way mark on the front piece of your skirt and mark it BEFORE you sew the side seam together.  I did it the other way around and when I went to sew the other side seam up after adding the pleats, I realised it was not even, so ended up taking it in a bit to even it up.

How to assemble the pleats was really quite easy to follow (phew) and I had them all pinned beautifully.  The instructions suggest that the pleats should be 4" apart, and "for sizes 2 up to about a size 6, 5 pleats are probably perfect.  For the bigger sized skirts you will probably need to add 7 or 9 pleats."  This simply does not work.  I made a size 9 skirt.  And there was only enough room to fit 5 pleats!  So it does beg the question on how you would fit 5 pleats on a teeny size?  I'm guessing you would have to make the size of the pleats smaller as well as the spacing between them?

Not much room left for any more than 5 pleats.

Something new I learnt, and loved from this pattern was the double seam at the hem.  It looks fabulous!

Last, but not least, were the instructions on how to finish the waist.  This pattern has a flat front, which is gorgeous, and an elasticised back.  I altered the way I did this.  The instructions direct you to sew all around the waist, leaving only a 3" opening for the elastic.  This is how I did it:

I sewed all around the front half of the skirt first.  I then started sewing the back of the skirt, leaving about an inch open at each end of the casing.

Start threading the elastic through one end.

When you have almost pulled it through....

Slide the end of the elastic up against the side seam.

And pin in place.

Then sew down over the elastic and back again to ensure it is strong.

Sew up the open part of the casing. Then thread the rest of the elastic through to the other end.

If you have the child on hand, try the skirt on!  I used the elastic measurements in the pattern for the size 9, and it turns out I had quite a bit of elastic spare!  So I pinned it to where it fitted my daughter, then trimmed off the excess elastic.

Slide the elastic up against the side seam again, making sure it's pinned in place so it doesn't slip out!

And this is what it looks like all closed up!

All in all - a really great and EASY skirt to make!  And once again, I have done something new - PLEATS!  This is a really fabulous little pattern, once you wrap your head around a few of the instructions.  As with most patterns, it's always going to be better if you have your model nearby to check the finished size.  As I discovered earlier.  The finished product looks gorgeous on, and I will definitely be making lots more!

Close up of the pleats.

The Ava Pleated Skirt!

*** I'm editing this a few days after writing it!  I have now made a size one in the pattern and got a little muddled by the sizing chart.  In the end I just took a bit of a punt of the measurements for the fabric, and made the pleats closer together (2 inches) and it worked beautifully.  

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Facing the fear of Facing!

Hi!  I'm Melissa, and I'm beyond thrilled to be here today, as a Guest Blogger for The Oz Material Girls!  I've been sewing since I can remember.  I am lucky to have a Mum who always had a sewing room and plenty of sewing machines for me to experiment on.  Only in the last couple of years have I jumped back into sewing, and I have my own blog here as well as my own little "hobby business" called Ms Midge!  It's lots of fun, and I'm surprising myself daily with how much I am learning.  So I'm very happy to be able to share some of those learning curves with you.

Today I bought the "Scientific Seamstress Aline Dress" pattern.  I was after a basic pinafore pattern to get started on some Winter garments and this was perfect!  I received the pattern straight away and began reading the instructions to plan my attack.  I then realised that the reversible version of the pattern required quite a bit of hand sewing, something I steer clear of due to my lack of ability.  So I thought "No worries, I'll just make it one sided".   The e-book did have some instructions on doing so, however, it did not have instructions how to assemble a facing and sew it in.  Right then and there, I gave myself the challenge of working it out.....  And to my excitement - I did!  So here is how I did it....

I started out by following the directions and drawing out my pattern as per instructions.

Then using the template for the bodice of the dress, I cut out another pattern piece, but only a few inches long in the body part.  As indicated on this line on the pattern.

Once all cut out, you should have four pieces.

Next, put your front bodice and facing piece right sides together, then your back bodice and facing piece right sides together, and pin from the armholes around.

Now it's time to start sewing.  Using the seam allowance as recommended in the pattern, start sewing from one armhole, all the way around to the other one, remembering to backstitch 

at each end.

Bodices and facings sewn together.

At this point, you can either overlock the edge of the facing, or if you prefer do a regular

 small seam to neaten.

Clip the seam allowances around the curved parts of the garment, being sure not to cut the stitching.  This will help when turning the pieces right side out.

Then turn both your front and back pieces right side out.  You can use any blunt instrument to help get the corners out beautifully.  Chopsticks work wonders! 

You can also add size and/or care labels if you choose.

Once you have it right side out, lay your front and back together, right sides facing each other.  You will pull the facing pieces upwards, opening them up and pinning together also.  

Make sure your seams match up at the armholes.

Sew your front and back together using recommended seam allowance.  You will start at the edge of the facing and follow all the way down to the hem of the dress.  

If you have an overlocker/serger, go over the same seams to neaten or use a zigzag stitch

Pull the facing back down so it covers the stitching.  

It looks nice and neat on both the inside and outside!

Topstitch around the entire top half of the dress, starting just behind one of the armholes and following all the way until the stitches meet again.

You have now successfully sewn a facing into the dress!  

Follow the remaining instructions on the pattern to complete the garment.  

These instructions could be used for most dresses and tops that require a facing.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful - I certainly had a "lightbulb moment" when I realised it had worked!  You can purchase this pattern from Patterns Only, as well as hundreds of other great patterns!

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