Ravina the Seamstress

Hi guys, I recently acquired a SINGER 195K1 industrial sewing machine from my aunty, which was in much need of restoration! I thought I would share some photos of the restoration which will hopefully give inspiration to others. Unfortunately the machine had been left outside for a few weeks so the machine rusted up quick badly as shown. Luckily the motor was working but it was quite noisy from all the debris in the motor from the rust. To be honest, we was considering whether it was restorable! The table especially, since made of wood, had been really damaged from the rain. Nevertheless, my dad went ahead with the restoration. From what I recall, he first sanded down the metal to get rid of the rust, cleaned out the inside of the motor, cut a chunk of the table off since it had been ruined too much from the rain and was damp, then used paint striper to remove the old paint and then spray painted it with Hammerite metal paint: SINGER 195K1 in all ...

So I've got a really quick and easy DIY tutorial for you today and it is a sewing machine cover. I made a patchwork style cover for my beloved SINGER sewing machine and decided to make another cover for a future machine or to give as a gift. The great thing about this is you can use scrap pieces of fabrics from old projects and would be a brillant gift for someone. What you will need: Scrap fabrics or fat quarters Scissors Thread Lining fabric Stuffing (could use an old pillow; that's what I did) Iron Pins Tutorial and pattern: 1. Cut 40 6" x 6" squares of fabric. You will also need to cut a lining fabric which should measure 30" x 48". 2. To start the pattern, will be sew a row of squares first and then attach each row to each other. First, place two squares right sides together and sew a straight stitch.  3. Repeat this to make a row of 5 squares. 4. Repeat this to make 8 rows in total of 5 squares sewn together (i...

Hi guys, So in my last post (my Autumn sewing plans) I had mentioned that I am obsessed with wrap skirts. They suit my body shape and comfortable to wear. The pattern and sewing construction is really easy! There are only a total of 5 pattern pieces needed! Before we start making the pattern, there are two measurements needed; Full hip/ butt measurement* and desired length of wrap skirt measurement.  * measure around the fullest part of your hip i.e. around your butt! The reason for this is so that once darts are added to the top of the skirt, the skirt will nicely contour around your hips and will be a fitted skirt.  Below are my measurements, which I will use to show how to calculate the lengths and widths of the pattern pieces. Fullest hip/ butt measurement: 40" Length of wrap skirt: 32" Pattern Piece A and C:  To simplify pattern piece A and C have the same measurements. To calculate the width of piece A and C, divide your fullest...

Hi guys, Today I am back after a very long break with my autumn 2018 sewing plans. My absence from the blog is a combination of finishing my final year of uni (eeekkkk!), troubles with uploading images efficiently and my dog passing away. Hopefully now that I have finished uni, I will be able to upload more often. During the summer, I have been gathering inspiration of items I want to sew this autumn, so I thought I would share these ideas with you! 1. Black midi or 3/4 length dress: My mum will probably complain at me for making a black dress but oh well. My mood lately has been wanting me to wear a black dress so I thought this would be the perfect season. I've already made a similar dress with buttons down the middle and it was also form fitting, so the pattern is sorted out.... just need black fabric. 2. Leopard print wrap skirt: For some reason, I've been craving a leopard print wrap skirt. Yep Leopard print..... when was the last time I wore leopard ...

Hi guys! Once again, I am sorry for not blogging recently; it has been over a month. It's not that I don't want to blog, but more so that I don't have any photos taken of anything I've made or any DIY tutorials, since I don't have my sewing machine here with me at uni. I want this blog to have more tutorials, rather than posts about things I've made since I don't use commercially bought patterns, therefore I can't review any companies or patterns like most bloggers do. I do have an extensive list of blog posts that I want to upload when I go back home for Christmas, which include a variety of DIY tutorials and Christmas decorations. But I though even though I don't have any projects to show off, what better time to give some gift ideas for someone who sews! So lets begin! 1. Machine Sewing Needles  Especially for those that are new to sewing or are on a tight budget, one of the items that we sometimes don't invest much attention to are ...

Hi guys! Its been a while since I last did a blog post unfortunately. I went to university at the beginning of the month (final year.....eeek!), so it's been a hectic few months settling in. But nevertheless I haven't forgotten about the blog! I wanted to talk about how I get my sewing inspiration as sometimes it can be hard to think of what to make and whether you want something fashionable or comfortable etc. So lets begin! 1) Comfort over fashion! I'm all about having comfortable clothing. Nearly all my dresses in my wardrobe have an elastic waist because they allow me to not only get it on and off relatively easily but as I've mentioned in the previous blog post, you've got room to maneuver. This doesn't mean all clothing needs an elastic; this is just one of the many examples. But the same principles apply. It's better to be comfortable in the clothing rather than have something which you'll never want to wear again. 2) Assess your life st...

Hi guys, Sorry or hoorah for all the DIY tutorials so far! I thought I would upload the tutorials before I go back to University just in case I have less time on my hands for the blog. But anyway over the years I have been adjusting jeans myself due to my height (I'm really short), and more recently I've been adjusting the waist of the jeans using elastic since jeans don't seem to fit around the waist for me (I'm a size 14 on the thighs but have a smaller hip especially high waisted jeans). I came up with the elastic method after realising my love of elastic with dresses: So easy to use Gives you an hourglass figure when you take in the waist of a dress Comfortable/ stretches when you want to eat for your hearts desires! The jeans I'm using are the high waisted Primark jeans, but the same method can be applied for other jeans with a separate waist band. Take into account the amount needed to be taken in. For example if you have bought a size 16 jean...