Let summer begin

 Let's talk cars, or rather car air fresheners. Many moons ago when I first bought my heat press and sublimation printer I bought a few of these air freshener blanks to make my own. Of course me being me I think I made one and lined it up wrong and didn't bother using the blanks again.  With summer on the way I decided it was time to brighten up the car and change the scent too. 

I grabbed what was needed, downloaded and printed out with sublimation ink and grabbed my blanks. Errands had to be run and grandchildren picked up from school so it was later in the evening before the project got finished.

It made things so much easier to just have it all prepared and ready to go. Maybe that's the key for me, being prepared and not feeling to overwhelmed. 

All that was left to do was line up the images either side of the blanks and attach them with heat tape.  This was a little fiddly and took a little while but well worth the couple of minutes playing to get them lined up.

Into the heatpress for 50 seconds a side and they came out beautifully, I grabbed the palm tree one and infused it with parma violet oil and it smells devine.  And really did the job of brightening up the car.  So come on summer we are ready for you!

The print files were from Design bundles here and here and the air freshener blanks were from Amazon.

They are great for rooms and wardrobes not just cars.  I have had a wonderful branded one in my downstairs bathroom for a while now and will replace it soon with one I make up. Fragrance oils, perfumes and essential oils are all useable.  Of course be careful to not get them on your skin and keep away from children etc.  Fun fairly quick project.

Day 1 of crafting not endlessly surfing complete.

Summer is here!

I lost so much weight last year and sewed so many lovely clothes then put most of the weight back on. So, as a result when the heat started again I had no summer clothes that fitted. Which meant shock and horror I had to start sewing again! I know, such a hard life right? 

I came across this cotton fabric in a small fabric in Felixstowe in May. It's not my usual style but something about it called out to me and I came home with 2 meters of it and memories of a lovely weekend. As I was pondering on summer wear I thought back to the Gretta top on https://www.seamwork.com/catalog/gretta and decided this would be perfect. These are PDF patterns so I sat down with a pair of scissors and sticky tape and had 80's tunes playing as I put it together one day.  The next I got on with cutting fabric and the actual sewing. This is a sideways picture, don't you love those summer colours?

Another view. I use wonderclips to hold my fabric in half straight when I am lining up my fabric on a cutting surface. 

When I sew I tend to listen to audio books. I am currently listening to the new book in the St Marys Chronicles so I know exactly how long it took to sew up.  This pattern is really easy.  It has facings, but no fastenings apart from the tie up strap details.  Making this a quick sew at 2 hours and 29 minutes according to how long I listened to the audio book app. I didn't rush as the weather made everything to hot. I look so bleached out and tired in this picture but I was a lot happier than I look honest.

Here is a closer view of the tied shoulders. They do as promised tie up and untie to your preference. The length comes down at bottom of the hip at the side with a curved hem at front and back which covers all the bulky areas.  Easy to shorten or lengthen though. 

This fabric has really changed my view o me wearing brighter colours and prints. So has opened my view on what fabric is suitable for me.

If you haven't heard of Seamwork before it is well worth a look into if you like PDF patterns. Seamwork patterns are through the pattern company Colette and costs $6 ( American) for 2 credits once a month.  You can use one credit for any one pattern on the seamwork site or 3 credits for a Colette pattern I think it is. If you do decide to subscribe I have a referral link just below if you would be so kind.  

https://www.seamwork.com/membership?ref=julie11295

But for now I am going to try and cool down a little and plain an alien dance costume for my granddaughter that she wants to feature a sparkly purple tutu. Nice fun project to dive into.

Take care

Jules