The Vintage Specs Case Saga

Well the vintage specs case turned into a saga - I was too tired last night to write about it!   Not being the most experienced person on a sewing maching (understatement - mine is hidden in a cupboard and only comes out when I need to get something else out) - I should have thought seriously before I put my name down for the swap!

The  case my swap partner chose, was in fact my fifth attempt.  I thought you might like to see my other attempt - well the only other one that got finished.

It started off O.K. - I used the colours preferred - brown and gold.  Two layers of material thick cream inside and silkie thick material outside.  I dyed the lace, used vintage gold silk to attached the lady to, and was hand sewing on the gold bead trim at this stage - it looked much better in real life the gold beads really were lovely gold.

 This was Mk 1 finished and with a pair of specs in it - so it looks a bit lopside.

This is the back which is wonky - I just couldn't get it to go straight - I think the material I used was far too thick.

I took it apart and tried again .

 I did manage to get the back seam a bit straighter - but not central as it should be!  I sorted out the chunky bottom hem, dyed and added silk ribbon around the top to hide the seam.

 

The top is a bit wonky now - but the silk ribbon and bow is a bit of a distraction.

The bottom is nice and flat now and no longer chunky as I unpicked that and then once ironed, I sewed it flat adding more dyed lace and ribbon to disguise the seam.

It's far from perfect but OK for  me to put my reading glasses in.

The other (aborted) attempts I tried......

An envelope style one, where you just fold up a third to create the pocket, and the remaining is the flap.  But - why does there always have to be a big BUT!   If you sew the seams of the pocket, the flap is too wide, so you need an overlocker machine so that you can sew it all flat in one go - the stitches like blanket stitch or similar - guess who's machine is basic!   The other attempt was still using the two flat oblong pieces of material, cut a corner off - then do a curved stitch all the way around as a pattern and the cut around the curved bits to create a fancy border.  Not as easy as it sounds with a basic machine and at that point, if I were strong enough, the machine would have gone through the window!

My final attempt was the one in the previous post.

These do actually look a lot nicer in real life!

Think I'll skip the sewing swaps in future!

Heavens to Murgatroyd - I have managed to make something.

 

Well it's been a long time coming hasn't it!

I finally joined in a couple of swaps on a forum I belong to.

One of which was to make a specs or phone case, whichever your partner preferred.

My partner Pattie wanted a specs case - and so did I so that was good.

You can't see it well in the photos, but this material has a lovely printed pattern of gold overlaying, and highlighting the coloured pattern.  It is a reproduction of an Elizabethan/Tudor pattern.

 

The front  has a panel made from a vintage French sample which is lovely and shiny like silk with an woven pattern of flowers.

I made a number of attempts at different specs patterns - and failed miserably at them all.  But this was my second attempt at this one - my own 'pattern'.  It is lined with thick cream material with an embossed cream pattern on it - another sample piece of  upholstery material so it's nice and soft for the specs.

This case has taken me a large amount of hours to make (I am too embarrassed to own up to how many) and at the moment it's the best I can come up with.   

I'll have to start 'playing' with my sewing machine so that it's not alien to me!

Yours Artfully Pastel Giveaway

You just have to visit here  to see the new Pan's Pastels that Lin has in stock - and the amazing things that she has made with them.  You can also be in with a chance of winning some!

Awesome