Shwe shwe cushion covers

Making cushions is an quick and easy way to give your room a fresh look; have a few to switch around. When making cushion covers, don't bother with zips or fasteners - use a pillowcase design.

Don't these shwe-shwe pool lounges look great? I spied them at a friend's house.

I love the intricate design - always a feature of shweshwe...


Here are some free patterns so you can make your own. If you need fabric, check out my Etsy store to see what shwe shwe I have in stock.

Blogger sucks!

It seems like forever that I haven't had my Edit Posts dialog working properly. And I only just started this blog - what a shame. I have been googling to see if anyone can help, but none of the fixes (clean cache, cookies, change settings) are working. I've even tried 3 browsers and 2 different computers. How can the blogger interface be so crap it breaks like this and everyone thinks it is their fault?
I will try again later....
Let's hold thumbs because I really have some exciting things to share with you.

Sigh

So I am feeling a little depressed. Blogger is still not working 100% so I can't add any images to posts and yesterday my nappies fell apart in a wash. It was the second time they were washed, but in a different machine, so I am not sure if it was the machine or something wrong. If it was something with the nappies, I can only think either, my usual story of using sub-standard fabric (1 euro special for the cute penguin flannel) or because I didn't follow the pattern which suggested sewing around the pad once you have attached the waterproof/outside layer. So, hopefully the next post will be more cheerful. We are off the Cape Town for a little jaunt so I'm sure it will be.

I like this Etsy shop

Another photo-less blog post - there seems to be something wrong with Blogger cos everyday there is something new broken. Today and yesterday, the image loading buttons have gone missing :( So instead of showing you some shwe-shwe cushion covers, I'll tell you about an Etsy shop I like.

MonkeyThreads it is called, and they make vinyl wall stickers. I'm definitely going to get some for my new house. I love the paper airplane but I am also a sucker for the birds.

And if you don't like some from that shop, there are plenty more to choose from!

Cut out and Keep

I love this site Cut out and Keep
There are always great ideas, like these ...
a chair transformation and reconstructing second hand sweaters...

Enjoy :)

Melville Quilt

I saw a women in Melville selling these quilts and felt compelled to buy one. The only hitch is that I won't be able to convince my husband that we should hang it. I might not even be able to convince myself. So the question is, what to do with it? I am taking suggestions...

The story is as follows (as explained to me). The lady and her husband do their washing. Then they are making peanuts and caring for the babies while the women down below are carrying water back home. The grandmother sweeps and cleans up while the washing dries.

Spot some of the fabric from my store, it is just a different colour.

strapless shwe shwe dress

This pattern is a winner - it's a dress and high waisted skirt combo, and is real easy to make. Best of all no bra is necessary because the elastic in the smocking keep you snug.

As I overheard 'panels are dressmaking made simple'. Very true - if you use at the standard length, there is no need for finishing hemline seams.

All you do is take some panels, in my case I used eight panels in three different patterns. If they are still connected together, cut out panels.


Pin the panels right sides together so narrow edges are together at the top and wide edges at the bottom. Do not sew together in a circle - leave it flat as shown in the picture. Finish the raw edges using a serge stitch.


Then thread some elastic thread (used for smocking) onto the sewing machine bobbin.
Sew in straight lines starting from the top of the garment. Sew on the right side. The first three should be close together (say 1cm) then the next three at 2cm and the rest at 5cm until you have 15cm (at least enough to cover your breasts). In order to keep the elastic lines straight, I suggest marking the fabric with a removable marker (e.g. chalk). Finally sew up the two edges so you have a finished dress.


If you want to make this pattern without the standard skirt panels, use this guide to make your own: each skirt panel measures (without seam allowance)
91cm long (0.99 yards),
13cm wide (0.14 yards) at the top
25.5cm (0.28 yards) at the bottom.

For my dress I used 8 panels and I am a size 78cm (32 inches) under the bust and 91cm (36 inches) over the bust.

I have some panels available in my etsy shop:
brown spidersweb
baobab tree