Hi guys
You may or may not know this but I own a restaurant in Porthcawl South Wales and in Wales we are pretty much still on full lockdown (even though England is now out of Lockdown) so its been nearly 4 months without any work, money or customers.
So as you can imagine Ive been sewing up a storm just to keep my mental health healthy. When the crisis first hit, it was obvious that PPE was needed, not just the throw away kind, but more scrubs, masks for the public, scrub bags so that the scrubs can be brought home and washed safely and mask bands to prevent pain to the back of the ears. So I joined a local group and out of sewers and we used old bedding to create whatever the NHS was short of. My sister is a community nurse and that side of nursing wasn’t getting as much help as the workers in big hospitals so I made it my mission to provide for that side of the medical staff.
I mainly made scrub bags because each member of staff in the NHS and care homes needed 3 each (one clean, one being washed, one drying) so it was important that these bags were supplied and that they could be safely closed with a draw string so that the scrubs and shoes could be placed inside before leaving work then put straight into the washing machine so as to prevent any cross contamination. I lost count after the first 100, but I estimate I made about 600 in total.
After that I decided to take a break from sewing, if anything to give my poor machines a bit of a breather. I then did a few other crafty type things:
Then agreed to test for Stitch upon Time patterns and their new meadow dress/top. I was an absolute pleasure to test for my friend Kelly and her designs I always love, we have the same style aesthetic.
You can get it here : https://stitchuponatime.com/?affiliate=163
The meadow is a lovely off the shoulder, flowy dress with lots of options to mix things up, so if you just wanted the top you could create a great summer off the shoulder top you could, or a maxi skirt version like mine or a shorter version, pockets or no pockets (always pockets is the right answers), ruffle at the bottom or no ruffle, its up to you.
I also tested for Ellie and mac the Invincible Skort, which os a great pair of shorts with a built in over skirt, so you get the great look of wearing a skirt without the worry of it blowing up in the wind and showing off your knickers! Trust me I live in probably the windiest street in the windiest place in the UK and I need that reassurance.
So my final test was for Eureka Designs a new designer from Greece, her clothes are supper stylish and the Dress was a lovely pattern to work on. The fabric I used was a cotton lawn and very summery, although I thought didn’t quite do the pattern justice so next time I’m going to make it out of cotton lawn with a very plain pattern and maybe a lovely white as I can just see myself walking alone the beach in Ibiza in this dress.
I also made some bunting for VE Day which was supposed to be a massive party in the town and restaurant, but we ended up having a party for two in the lounge area, but I did decorate the front of the restaurant with my bunting, it looked lovely. So I’m making more for the inside to celebrate opening again and coming out of lockdown. I have also decided to do some crazy patchwork cushion covers for the Ikea cushions I have in the restaurant, a work in progress.
I also made a load of little flowers for the restaurant because real flowers never last long in here and when on holiday we were in a pub and saw these fantastic knitted flowers on the table and I thought I could make fabric flowers for the tables, so I did and I made so many I had enough to fill a whole wooden box, now I’m starting to think maybe I should sell them in the restaurant because they are so cute.
And I even started to make children’s clothes, for my Nieces little girl, she’s 2 years old and I couldn’t resist.
And a few other things I have made during lockdownI hope you all are keeping safe.
Happy scatty crafting everyone
Love
Julia