Sewing and craft projects !

I usually make a new skirt or dress for Xmas. I turned a sarong (never wear) into a casual summer skirt WITH a pocket - I'm obsessive about pockets! The leftover fabric formed a tasselled scarf - not to wear together, of course.

I've been debating for some time whether to go back to using hankies. I'm always trying to reduce, reuse & recycle. I use reusable makeup pads & green bags. I take my own produce bags for fruit & veg, too. I figured I should stop using tissues, so I whipped up a batch of hankies - 32 of them! I reckon I could soak them in Dettol or bleach, then wash in a towel load - as long as there are no makeup pads in that load.

Tip for Sewing Tight Corners, or Corners on Light Fabrics, like Lingerie:
I had to do really tiny seams on the hankies, so I used one of my sewing tricks. I thought other sewers might find this helpful.

As you sew around a corner, sometimes the needle goes up & down in the same spot, because the fabric doesn't feed through the feed dogs. (Feed dogs are the teeth that feed the fabric through as you sew.) This never happens at the beginning of a seam, because you gently pull the starting threads until the fabric feeds through. That doesn't work when you sew around a corner.

My corner tip:
• I use a needle with 10-15cm of sturdy, loose thread. Don't tie a knot at the end!
• A few cm before the corner, insert the needle, close to the edge.
• Hold the needle & loose thread out of the way as you sew up to the corner.
• Turn the fabric at the corner, without letting go of the loose thread.
• As you start to sew, tug both ends of the thread until the fabric feeds through.
• Pul out the thread (that's why you don't knot it!)

It doesn't matter if you sew over your loose thread, it'll still pull out when you're past the corner. I use a bright colour that I seldom sew with, so I can see it clearly. I keep it in my pincushion because I use it so often.