My Summer Challenge

It's no secret that I am addicted to fabric. I can't actually walk out of a fabric shop without a bag in hand with at least a couple of half metres of patterned fabric inside it. I have been trying to wean myself off fabric by not visiting too many fabric shops and avoiding looking online for the past couple of months.

Now that the Summer Holidays are here and I have a little more free time I have had to stare my addiction in the face by tidying my workroom. The result being that I have discovered so much spare fabric that I am really not sure what to do with it. Cottons, polycottons, and curtain fabric in a whole fabulous spectrum of colour and pattern have been sitting in plastic storage boxes large and small in my workroom - some of them for up to two years or more.

As a parent I am often setting my children challenges - these range from academic (finish a book or progress a level in maths), to keeping your room tidy for more than one day(!) So this summer I have set myself a personal challenge. I am sure you can hazard a guess at what it is - yes, to use up some (not all as I couldn't possibly empty those boxes within four weeks), and put that fabric to good use.

There are also many patterns I have wanted to try and ideas for projects that I have wanted to make that my Summer resolution is to complete as many as possible before I have to return to full time work at the end of August.

So here is my first Summer project - This Years Beach Bag. This beach hut fabric is adorable and I love seaside themed home decor, however, I always feel that it when it comes to interiors coastal themed fabric works better if you live near the coast. It's just a personal preference and I wouldn't necessarily choose to have seaside themed accessories or fabric around the home. That doesn't stop me loving it and the fabric works perfectly for this bag with the deck chair stripe cotton lining. I can't wait to use it for bathing costumes and beach towels when we hit the beach this year!

Now, to plan the next project....

Hope & Gloria Sewing Clubs - Our Wonderful Year!

So the summer hols have arrived at last. It has been a long half term and anyone with school age children knows just how frantic it can be towards the end of the school year. Along with sports days, swimming galas and parent assemblies there are also numerous parties to attend and teachers' gifts to make/buy.

At Hope & Gloria it is also time for us to reflect on the past twelve months and all of the brilliant things that the children have achieved in our sewing clubs.

A couple of weeks ago I did an assembly for children at a school where we are launching a new after school club in September. I wanted to illustrate what a school year looks like in our clubs. Children were invited to stand at the front and hold up our projects from September through to the end of the school year in July. The idea was to show them the variety of projects they can make and the skills they will learn throughout the course of the year. For me it was a bit of a trip down memory lane as it is so easy to be caught in the here and now and forget all that our fabulous sewing enthusiasts have achieved over the past 12 months.

So here is our review of the year. All of the Hope & Gloria Team have had a truly wonderful year and thoroughly enjoyed working with the lovely children in our school clubs and workshops. We can't show all of the projects that have been made but here is a selection. All of our club members should be very proud of everything they have done - you are brilliant and we look forward to seeing you in September. Until then, "Happy Summer!"

Marvellous Moustaches

Whilst we may not have been ahead of the design curve with moustaches as they have been around as a design motif for quite a while now, last half term in our school sewing clubs we discovered just how much children love them.

They were easily the most popular motifs to be used on key rings, phone cases, wallets and purses in amongst other choices and I have to say they were huge fun and were loved by both boys and girls.

There have been numerous famous moustache wearers - Salvador Dali, Groucho Marx, and Tom Selleck...., to name but a few, but ours was of the terribly British handlebar ilk.

Inspired by the moustache motif I came up with a fun idea for our make and take sessions at Englefest next Saturday in Surrey - these cute little moustaches modelled above by the gorgeous men in my life. We had a lot of fun with them yesterday as you can guess by the pics. Thank you boys, you make perfect models.xx

Super-Girlie Tutu

In a house full of boys (even the pet guinea pigs are male), sometimes you just want to get girlie.

That's exactly what I did this weekend when I embarked on a totally new kind of project of me - tutu making. This project was uber girlie - pink and cream tulle and satin ribbon were the order of the day (or afternoon), and the result is perfect for any young princess.

I am sorry to say that I have never had the pleasure of wearing one of these fun skirts as I was never a ballerina as a child and I am now far too old to wear one as a fashion statement(!)

I have been toying with the idea of making a tutu for a while and having a couple of spare hours on Sunday afternoon I decided to give it a go. It was a departure to not have a needle and thread in my hand as I worked with fabric and the tulle that I used is not a material that I have worked with before, but I have to say I thought it was a fun and fabulous thing to make.

New colours are already on order - I think these girlie weekend projects may be addictive!