The surprises kept on coming

It’s been one remarkable weekend.  One to treasure for all kinds of reasons.

The most wonderful bunch of people began to appear on Sunday afternoon and as I looked down into the atrium I was thrilled to see all the plans coming together.  So many secrets were being revealed as one by one, dear friends arrive from here, there and everywhere.

I could see the look on my Hero’s face as the room filled and the small gasps when yet another surprise was revealed.  It was lovely to observe our small and cherished network of friends get together in such happy circumstances as the various circles blended. 

Edward’s voice held out – he’d sung at a wedding the previous afternoon and was feeling a bit croaky.  His singing took everyone’s breath away however, and his performance was yet another memorable moment in the series of events, but particularly so for his very proud father.

Tra’s beautiful playing followed and watching the rapt attention on the faces around the room was terrific.  Wonderful music played with such skill in beautiful surroundings, in the company of our dearest friends and family – how could it not stir every emotion? 

Time for afternoon tea, then, and elegant cake stands laden with sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam and the most deliciously tiny cakes and pastries.  Our small friends’ eyes lit up at the sight of pink, sparkly macaroons and older, wiser guests set down their glasses in favour of cups and saucers. Birthday cake celebrations followed and after some persuasion, the candle brought from Portland performed – the lotus flower opened with a candle on each petal, a flame shot from the centre as it began to spin and play “Happy Birthday”.  Fortunately, we had rather more talented piano accompaniment!

By now, everyone had settled into easy conversation and the atmosphere was warm and relaxed.  The mezzanine lounge area filled and it was great to see connections made as each got to know another.  I sat back with one of our oldest friends and observed the conversation taking place around us.  Four young people with incredible talent and ability; one a high level IT professional who sings with an internationally-renowned orchestra chorus; another a Cambridge graduate working on graphical user interfaces, also a singer; the charming partner of our Godson, with a doctorate in neuroscience and our own sweet Cambridge graduate, political communicator, singer and apple of his mother’s eye.  A quiet moment to feel thankful and truly blessed.

Earlier in the afternoon, someone had mentioned the Temple.  A room built for a Masonic chapter in the early 1900s, it had been concealed but rediscovered when the hotel had undergone renovation and was now a hidden gem.  The delightfully accommodating staff took us on a tour and one by one we oooohed, aaaaahed, danced barefoot on the cool, £2m floor, had photographs taken (a la here) or simply marvelled at this stunning (or spooky, depending on the point of view) space.

Going back up into the light was a reminder that all good things come to an end.  As people drifted off to make their way back home, the balloons were gathered up and the room became quiet again.  After a quick freshen up, we signed off the day with dinner in a favourite restaurant.

What a day.

Useful bags to put things in

I don’t think that title is original and suspect its origin to be Winnie The Pooh related, but I think it describes this year’s Christmas project well.

Several of my friends found themselves on the receiving end of one or more of these bags this year and as much so I can remember how I made them as for any other reason, I’ll share the process here.

I began with two pieces of Japanese linen/cotton fabric in this case, though many of the Christmas present bags were made from Clarke and Clarke cotton found at Just Fabrics.  For each of these medium sized bags, I cut two pieces of coordinating fabric, each measuring 21 x 14 inches.

I folded each in half, right sides together matching the two short sides and joined side and bottom together to make two  bags taking about a half inch seam allowance.  I then took them to the ironing board and pressed the bags flat.

With me so far?

I opened each bag up and turned it round so that the seam aligned with the fold as shown in the photo, to do a bit of origami.

A square is formed for the base of the bag and with a bit of careful easing, I opened up the seams and pressed gently into shape.

It’s a good time to check that things really do line up straight and even and do a bit of maths.  If I started with a piece of fabric 21 inches and folded in half with a half inch seam allowance, then the bag will be ten inches wide.  If there are four sides to that square base, then each side will be 5 inches.  Correct?

So, using a ruler to keep things straight and accurate as possible, I drew a line at right angles to the seam at the point where it measured 5 inches wide.  Yes, I needed a couple of goes to get it correct but drew it in tailors chalk so I could erase any mistakes!  A quilters rule was useful here because it had useful markings at 45 degrees which made getting these lines in the right place much easier.

I did this at each side of the square for both bags and

took it back to my sewing machine to stitch along the lines I’d drawn.

Now I was able to turn one of the bags right way out and push out the corners.  This cotton fabric is lovely to sew and creates good, crisp seams.

I put the patterned bag inside the plain bag, right sides together and lining the seam of one match the fold of the other (easier to do than explain).  This means that the seams on the base are at right angles to one another rather than one on top of the other – making a neater and more sturdy finish.

I stitched around the top edge, taking a scant half inch seam allowance and leaving a 3 inch gap to turn the bag through.

The two bags fit together so well that this is really easy and quick to do.

Turning them right way out is fairly straightforward too and the whole thing can be given a bit of a shake and teased into shape.  These fabrics are great to work with.

The small opening through which the bag was turned was easy to neaten and I didn’t other pinning or anything but simply topstitched the edge in one go.

I made sure the folds in the base were all folded downwards and, because I’d sewn the two layers together with the seams forming a cross, the four triangular flaps all meet in the middle, forming a relatively firm base.

Does that make sense?

I gave the bag a press and trimmed off loose ends before opening up and turning over the top edge a couple of times, which makes it stand up nicely.  Best of all, these are great to make in series – cut several pieces of fabric out, get the production line going and in no time at all, you’ve got a nice lot of bags ready for little girls to put things in.

 

What do little girls put into these bags?  Teddies, glitter and felt pens, it seems!

 

Though bigger girls might use them for knitting bits and pieces, for chargers and wires and bits of makeup, perhaps.  Large bags can be used for home baked bread loaves – our favourite use of all.

I’ve made these bags in four sizes:

Extra Small (with perfume and handcream in above): cut fabric 16” (+ 1” seam allowance) x 10”, base measures 4” square.

Small (with felt pens in above): cut fabric 18”(+ 1” seam allowance) x 12”, base measures 4.5” square

Medium (Teddy and glitter size above) 20”(+ 1” seam allowance) x 14”, base 5” square

Large (shown holding wires above, but could be used for bread) 24”(+ 1” seam allowance) x 16”, base 6” square.  I find this is about as large as I like to go without interfacing.

Of course, fabric can be any size, but I like to make the maths of working out the base easy. 

Have fun!!

Update on Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 11:01PM by Gill Thomas

See another bag in use at Jordi's blog today...glad she's finding it useful!  (Thanks for the link, Jordi)