Fiona's Needle Book

Introducing: the very first gift that I made with my sewing machine!

My friend Fiona lent me her sewing kit ages ago so I could use her embroidery threads for some cross stitching. As a thank you I made her this needle book, as she didn't have anything to organise hers.

Fixing Ripped Jeans

How old is your oldest pair of jeans? 

One of the very few advantages of being absolutely teeny tiny is that you don't grow out of clothes from your teens. I've had this pair of blue jeans since age 14 and they're turning white now. As a sort of project for myself I refuse to throw them away, and will instead keep fixing them. Eventually there will be more patches than original material.

So here we have the casualty of me running up the stairs too vigorously: a big old hole in the bum.

You can see the faint outline of an older repair to the left. I REFUSE TO GIVE UP ON THE JEANS.

My New Sewing Machine

For Christmas, I got my very own sewing machine. I feel like this is another little step in my quest to become a self-sufficient adult. When I asked for one I was expecting a little cheap portable thing, but instead I got this, 'The Beast'. I don't know much about sewing machines but I know that Singer is a good brand and it was probably embarrassingly expensive.

I intend to make very good use of it and am quite excited to start, although I have no table to use it on. I shall hunch over it on the floor and probably operate the foot pedal using one knee. Ah, the joys of student housing.

'The Beast.' I should think of a more friendly name for her. Any ideas?