Wet Washing

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Posted on June 27, 2013

Although I have a tumble drier, I try to minimise the use of it. My reasons are twofold – the electricity it consumes and also the wear and tear caused to our clothes.

We have a rotary clothesline in the backyard, however, that entails carrying a basket of wet washing down a flight of steps and around to the opposite side of the house from the laundry. This is not terribly practical and for that reason I mostly use the clothesline which is under the verandah. I can walk out of the laundry and wheel the basket of washing in the trolley to directly next to the line.

This was mounted and in place when we moved here. It is an Extendaline and potentially could be longer but it is in the available space between the wall and the edge of the verandah (about 2 metres). This means that I have 10 metres of line space and I can generally fit 1 – 1.5 loads of washing one here. Each line is long enough to hold 3 business shirts.

I have a variety of other options for hanging and drying clothes. Here you can see my other rotary clothesline. It is designed for camping and we bought it from Kathmandu. It folds up completely, comes with its own carry bag and is very lightweight. In the background you can see the mobile hanging rack which I use for ironed clothes but is also handy for finishing drying clothes in front of the fire.

This is much better than regular clothes airers as the lines are high enough to allow you to hang towels, jeans and even single bed sheets.

These hangers are perfect for drying sweaters and cardigans as there are no peg marks.

Here is a small clothes hanger with pegs attached. I bought it in Japan several years ago but I believe you can buy them here in Australia now. Apart from hanging rewashed plastic bags to dry, I use this for socks, handkerchiefs and underwear.

Finally, I have a clothes airer on castors which lives on the verandah and I often wheel it inside to dry things in front of the fire.

This post is for Kim who asked about my washing line under the verandah. It is quite timely as the forecast here is for showers and rain for most of the next week.

What strategies do you have for getting washing dry in cold and/or rainy weather?

Project 333 – Caring For Clothes

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Posted on June 24, 2013

Regardless of how many clothes you have, it makes good sense to take care of them. This includes washing them appropriately as well as taking care to hang them correctly on the line and ironing when necessary. Don’t forget to repair if needed. The old adage of ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ really does ring true.

Finally, storage is also important. By having less clothes they will be able to easily fit in the available space without being crowded in the hanging space or jammed into already over-stuffed drawers. Ironed clothes will stay looking fresh and crisp for when you are ready to wear them.

Items that are not hung will benefit by being neatly folded. I prefer to fold sweaters and cardigans rather than hanging them as the coathangers tend to leave marks in the shoulders. I chose a cardigan that is quite easy to fold for the purpose of the demonstration, however, this method works well with any cardigan.

I find that folding cardigans can be a challenge, especially when the shoulder seam does not seem to meet the armhole at the natural point of the shoulder. Most of my cardigans contain a degree of cotton so I tend to press them lightly with a warm iron. once they are pressed, this is how I fold them.

This shows the shoulder seam after the cardigan has been pressed. There is no use trying to work from the shoulder seams when folding.

Locate and in your right hand grasp the side seams at the lower edge of the cardigan.

Locate and in your left hand grasp the side seams at the underarm seam. Line up the two side seams

Lay the cardigan flat while maintaining the matching of side seams and sleeves.

Fold the sleeve down the length of the body of the cardigan.

Fold the cardigan in half with the sleeves enclosed in the fold.

This will ensure that when you next wear your cardigan it does not look as though you slept in it nor will it have marks from a coathanger.

Tidy Up

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Posted on June 22, 2013

Just a short post tonight to let you know that I have had a bit of a tidy up on the blog.

Cookbook : Recipe book

One of the tabs at the top of the blog is labelled ‘Recipes’. This is supposed to contain links to all of the various recipes that I have posted in the blog so that they do not get lost in the mists of time. I have been somewhat slack in keeping this up to date but now they should all be there.

The list is divided into categories to make your search as simple as possible.

One of my next projects will be to make a similar index for all of the non-food recipes such as furniture polish, cream cleanser, chest rub etc.

Creating Space

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Posted on June 20, 2013

We hosted our first Air BnB guest last weekend and we are also expecting a couple of lots of house guests over the next few months.

The guest room is always neat with the bed freshly made but what about storage space?

There is a full-sized wardrobe in this room and I knew that the space was not used as effectively as it could be. So I set about re-arranging it to create a permanently vacant space for guests to use. I only moved one thing – a spare pillow. There are no ‘before’ photos but the photo below shows some of the things I have stored. This was after I had re-arranged it and there is still some excess space if I needed it.

Now we have a clear space to offer to guests without a mad panic to move things.

Project 333 – What Was I Thinking?

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Posted on June 17, 2013

It is now about 18 months since I first read about Project 333 and a little over 14 months since I first dipped my toes in the water and participated in the April/May/June challenge in 2012.

After constantly and critically reviewing the contents of my wardrobe and having experienced the full seasonal cycle, I thought that there really was nothing extraneous in my closet.

How wrong I was!

I wore this top to work last week. It was teamed with black trousers and I wore my dusty pink suede jacket when I was outdoors on my way to and from work. I felt unsure about it when I left home but it was what I had planned the night before and there was no time for mucking around and trying on other combinations. As the day wore on I was more and more convinced that this was not right and by the time I got home I knew it had to go.

The top has a ‘grandpa collar’, is loose-fitting and is black and cream. I know I look better in white than cream. Fitted shirts with a collar and v-neck suit me best so I am not even sure why I bought this but now I am sure it is going to a new home.

Quilt Update

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Posted on June 13, 2013

I have done some more work on the quilt today. The blocks are all sewn together, the batting and backing are attached and I have machine quilted between the blocks.

Here is a view of the backing with the stitching.

This is the fabric I will use to make the binding.

I was undecided about the binding until I had the quilt assembled. This was a piece which I had planned to use when making reuseable Christmas gift bags. I will buy more if I actually need it for that purpose.

No more craft posts until I show you the finished product. However, I am pleased to have set myself this challenge otherwise this would still be a pile of fabric on the sewing table.

A Bit Less Fabric

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Posted on June 12, 2013

Last night I made a start on the teddy bear quilt. I have cut out 24 blocks of fabric.

It is all spread out on the kitchen bench as I had to work out the combination of colours. Although there are 24 blocks, it is not 8 of each. I actually have 9 patterned, 8 navy and 7 calico. This evolved because of the amount of each fabric that I had. It really is a matter of making do with what you have.

I chose to make it very simply from large blocks of fabric because otherwise the look of the teddy bears would be lost if each piece just had a bit of a leg or an ear.

The first 8 blocks are sewn together.

I plan to have the remaining blocks sewn together tonight.

Fabric Update: This project has completely used the navy and teddy bear fabric so they are now gone from the stash. I still have some pieces of calico left but it is actually a slightly different weight and colour to the piece that I used for the quilt.

Craft Challenge

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Posted on June 11, 2013

It is Tuesday morning here and we have had a long weekend. My mother came to visit and I have been spending time doing things other than blogging. On Saturday we visited 6 open gardens as part of the local Garden Club’s weekend titled, “Gardening on the Edge” which is a specific reference to the escarpment location where we live. These were large, mostly ornamental gardens with stunning displays of camellias which are in full flower at the moment. One garden had a large, productive vegetable patch so that was of particular interest to me.

We arrived home at about 3pm just as it began to drizzle with rain. We have had consistent rain since then with it barely stopping, day or night for 64 hours. The rain is not heavy – just gentle, soaking rain which is predicted to continue for another 3 days. I hope my new vegetable seedlings don’t get waterlogged.

A 3 day weekend meant that I achieved most of the essential housework so I had time for some other activities. Since it was raining I turned to my sewing room. As always, there are some projects underway and many others planned and waiting to start, so my goal this week is to make some real progress and I will share it with you here.

This is a pair of pyjamas I have made for Izz. I had finished the bottoms except for the waist casing and elastic so that was the first thing on my list. This fabric was given to me and I had already made pyjama bottoms for myself and another pair for Izz. This pair used the very last of the fabric and necessitated having an extra join in the back but it is not visible due to the casing. I then found the tshirt fabric in my stash to make the top. I was left over from when I was making school polo shirts for Belle (over 20 years ago).

The next project was another top made from scraps. It can be a pyjama top or would be equally suitably to wear to daycare with her jeans. The white ribbing for the neckband and cuffs is cut out and ready to sew.

This is some material that I cut out and prepared to make a sundress. It will fit a little girl from about 12 – 18 months. The style means that it is very flexible and can usually be worn for at least 2 years. I am not making it for anyone in particular but may sell it or give as a gift.

Here is a piece of plain calico and a smaller piece with teddy bears. I plan to make a patchwork cot quilt – once again, not for anyone special.

You may wonder at me making random items for which I have no specific purpose. Although I do not have a room full of fabric stashed to the ceiling, I do have a reasonable quantity of good quality fabric and smaller offcuts. I love designing and creating garments and useful things that use what I already have so my goal is to gradually work through the pile.

This week I hope to complete several projects and I will share more photos as the week goes on.

Please let me know what you are doing in the craft room, too.

Project 333 – Winter Wardrobe & Wishlist

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Posted on May 28, 2013

Since it will officially be winter in 3 days I thought a post about my winter wardrobe was in order. We live in a relatively mild climate but it still gets cool enough to need more than summer-weight skirts and t-shirts.

Over the last 10 months I have lost 8kg so that has necessitated moving a number of items along as they were simply too big. This has pared down my wardrobe even more. However, a bonus is that I can now wear these 2 jackets.

They were a neat fit when I bought them a couple of years ago and a little over a year ago they were destined to be given away.

I also have a black cord jacket and a pink suede one.

One of the few things I have bought for this winter is a new pair a tailored black trousers as I did not have any trousers suitable for wearing to work in winter. I gave my only pair away at the end of last winter as they were too big. Last week I had to buy a belt because even my new trousers are a bit on the loose side. I did try the next size down but they were a bit too tight.

I generally wear a collared shirt (3/4 sleeve) under the jacket to work as I don’t want to be rugged up because I work in an air-conditioned office. I have 5 striped shirts. There are also these 2 lightweight knits.

A couple of sleeveless vests, 2 pairs of jeans, 3/4 sleeve tees and a couple of rugby tops pretty well round out my work and casual winter wardrobe.

My shoes are 2 pairs of flats – red and pewter, red lace-up casuals and RM Williams boots.

Now for the wishlist:

Black skirt – purchased and waiting for me to shorten the length
Grey patterned cord skirt – waiting for me to refashion it from a skirt that is too big
Plain black lightweight knit – in the cupboard but need grey skirt to wear it with
Grey/charcoal trousers – need to buy
Black flat/low heel court shoes – need to buy
Black low heel boots (knee-high) – need to buy to replace the high heeled ones I have given away as they were too high and I did not feel confident walking in them
Black stockings – need to buy
Scarves – I would like some lightweight plain coloured scraves – probably black, fuschia and red with possibly mint green or purple as well. Just need to go looking.

I need to try on some boots to see whether they will suit me as I am not overly tall.

I have 6 pairs of grey stockings (most unworn) that I bought last year in the USA and after wearing them a couple of times I have decided that I do not really like the colour, hence I need to buy some black ones.

Recently, I bought 2 pieces of cotton lycra fabric which I hope to be able to make some 3/4 sleeve tees. One is black and cream striped (narrow stripes) and the other is plain in a raspberry colour.

Now that I have written it all down, my plan seems quite realistic and doable. What do you think?