and sew it begins...

Halloween 2009

2009-11-21T02:03:00.004-05:00

These are the costumes I made for my nieces this year.

No pattern. Just some felt, fusible interfacing, a hula hoop and an M.

What I've been doing instead of sewing

2009-05-13T20:49:00.000-04:00

Raising kittens....

almost 1 week old

almost 4 weeks old

almost 6 weeks old

almost 1 week old

almost 4 weeks old

almost 6 weeks old

almost 1 week old

almost 4 weeks old

almost 6 weeks old

Necktie madness

2009-01-24T23:01:00.010-05:00

"If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?" ~Linda Ellerbee

I've been working on my mom's outfit a little and have come to a standstill on it. I deconstructed the muslin and cut the pieces out of the fashion fabric, but I didn't label them in any way, the front of the fabric or the back, or which pieces are front panels or side panels. I thought I could just figure it out, but it's turning out to be quite a chore and is making me angry.

I'll get back to it but I definitely needed a break from it. In the meantime I worked on the next project I have in my queue...my dad's tie. If you recall, I bought two tie silks in the New York fashion district. I decided to use this one

to make a tie for my Dad's Christmas present this past Christmas. Well now that it's almost February, it's about time I started working on it, eh? :)

I used Kwik Sew 3183 for the pattern.

First I made a muslin to practice. It turned out so-so.

As you can see, the point wasn't exactly straight, and while you can't see it in this picture, the interfacing showed on the back, and there's a crease down the center of the tie that I couldn't get to iron out. The cool thing was that I figured out how to change the directions a little bit to fix these problems.

For the first time in my sewing experiences, I am *extremely* pleased with how it turned out! Don't get me wrong, I've liked other things I've made, but this is the first time I've felt very excited and happy about how the item looks in comparison to a store-bought item.

This tie was such a fun, quick, and relatively easy project! I do believe my Dad will be quite surprised and happy when he sees his (belated) Christmas present. :)

Kitty cat bed

2009-01-12T19:19:00.007-05:00

"...one of the ways in which cats show happiness is by sleeping."
~Cleveland Amory

One of my cats' favorite places to sleep is here, in this corner on this 3 yards of fleece fabric I bought for B because The University of Louisville is his favorite team:
One of my cats' least favorite places to sleep is here, on this pillow I made especially for them out of the SAME fabric:
Though when I put the pillow up on the sewing table to take a picture of it, Grace decided it was, in fact, the only place for her to sleep at that moment:
It must be the location. Or the fact that they're *supposed* to sleep on it. Not sure which.

Back to the Future Wednesday

2009-01-07T07:02:00.002-05:00

"Children will not remember you for the material things that you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them."
~Richard L. Evans

This year for Christmas, based on a tradition Gwen has for her nieces and nephews, I decided to take my niece who's 9 and my nephew who's 11 fabric shopping as part of their Christmas present. I told them that I wanted to make them pjs and they could pick out whatever fabric and basic design that they liked. My niece desperately wanted footie pajamas, but I was unsuccessful at finding a footie pj pattern during our shopping trip, so she settled for a nightgown and we chose this pattern:

As you may or may not remember, this is the pattern from which I made my twin nieces pjs, so I already have some familiarity with the pattern! Score! But this time I get to make the gown instead of the two pieces. For her fabric, she fell in love with this very fun, very fishy seersucker fabric.
My nephew wanted a short sleeve t-shirt pj, so we picked this pattern for him:

and he was instantly drawn to these two simpsons cotton prints. He wants the bottoms made out of the blue "I didn't do it" fabric. For the top he chose the fabric on the right called "Where's Bart" and much like "Where's Waldo" you search for Bart amongst all of the other Simpsons characters. My nephew just thought that was so totally awesome and was very excited about his pjs!

I have a few other things to finish before I get to these pjs, like my mom's outfit, and my Dad's and B's ties, but since the present was the afternoon out with me and the purchase of the fabric there's no real hurry to get them done. Though they are definitely marked high on the priority list.

Return to sewing

2009-01-02T23:38:00.010-05:00

"A hobby is only fun if you don't have time to do it."
~Leo Beenhakker

Well I had a very nice holiday season and I hope all of you did too! Now that all the Christmas-crafting is over, it's time to resume sewing. Boy do I have a bunch to do. Right before the holiday season hit I felt no motivation to sew. Luckily for my birthday, in December, I received several gifts that will help me sew- tools and inspiration:

My mom gave me a nice cutting table and a craft lamp. Now I don't have kneel on the floor to cut and I'll be able to see much better to sew after dark.

and I got a great Japanese sewing book from my friend Gwen.

There are so many cute clothes in this! Sadly I don't think I'm actually small enough to fit into their largest size, since Japanese women tend to be on the petite side, but some of the items would make great gifts, and perhaps the patterns can be modified to fit me. All of the pictures feature polka dots, which I adore!!! So thanks Gwen, I can definitely see lots of inspiration coming from this book.

Now, after my hiatus from sewing and my new tools in hand I'm feeling the motivation. Sewing machine here I come!

Year in review

2009-01-02T13:30:00.003-05:00

"Another fresh new year is here...
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest...
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!"
~William Arthur Ward

I've seen a few people post their sewing accomplishments for the year, so I thought I would do the same. Here are my sewing highlights for 2008:

August

began my sewing adventure and started a sewing blog
made butterick 3772 for my nieces
finished the Christmas stocking that I started years and years and years ago

September

made Simplicity pj pattern 9292 for my nieces that sadly didn't fit

made a tiger bag for my mom's birthday
went to the New York garment district for the first time

October

made penguin costumes for the twins

November

finished the muslin of simplicity 4193 skirt and jacket for my mom
made fabric bird Christmas ornaments for a blogger's ornament exchange

December

no sewing to report. Spent the month taking part in other Christmas crafts.

Hopfully the new year will bring more sewing. Goodness knows I have several projects I need to get to / finish.

Cookie exchange loot

2008-12-24T00:01:00.001-05:00

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap."
~ Barbara Jordan

Now I thought I'd share with you the yummy cookies I got to take away from the cookie exchange! Prepare to feast your eyes.

Starting with the upper right corner in my tin with the brown dollop - peanut butter tarts with chocolate filling, moving clockwise, chocolate cake bites, oatmeal raisin (the big cookie), cranberry white chocolate chip (the small cookie), cherry cookies, chocolate chip cookies (in the top left corner), magic cookie bars, and cranberry, chocolate chip, macadamia nut cookies.

It was so much fun, and all of the cookies were very very tasty!

I hope you all have a festive and safe holiday!

Give-away week 4 winner!

2008-12-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

The winner of the salt scrub from give-away week 4 is Sarah! Congrats!!!

Thank you everyone for leaving your comments I loved reading all about your favorite holiday treats! So much so that I was inspired to spend the weekend baking! Yum! (holiday goodies post tomorrow!)

I also want to say thanks so much to everyone who commented on my give-away series! I love reading your comments, and I hope you'll all continue to read and comment copiously! It's so fun to hear what you have to say and it's nice to know that people are reading!

Holly cookie recipe and tutorial

2008-12-22T00:01:00.004-05:00

"Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon."
~Dalai Lama

This weekend I went to a cookie exchange party. Everyone brought 3 dozen cookies, and we each got to take some of each cookie home! It's a great way to exchange recipes and try new delicious cookies! I decided to make my absolute favorite holiday cookie that's extremely easy, quite beautiful, and very tasty - holly cookies.

This is all you need to make them!
30-40 big marshmallows (it's basically 1 bag of marshmallows, so you could get small ones if you wanted)
1/2 c of butter or margarine
vanilla extract
green food coloring
5 cups of cornflakes
red hots

All you do is blend the butter and marshmallows together over low heat.

After all the marshmallows have melted add in 1/2 tsp of vanilla.
I love using my pure vanilla extract from Tijuana, Mexico, but because it's unlikely that I'll be back there anytime soon to replenish my supply I use it in only the most special of recipes, like this one!

Then add in your food coloring. I start with a few drops and then stir it, adding more until you like the color.

Don't add too much though, it WILL turn your tongue green! :)

Next fold in the cornflakes until each one is coated with the marshmallow mixture.

Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.

For some reason, red hots are always the most difficult ingredient for me to find. I always forget this and every year it amazes me just how tricky they are to find. This time I had to check Target and Walmart before I finally found them at Winn Dixie.

Anyways, you place 3 red hots on top of each cookie,

and there you have it, beautiful holly cookies topped with berries!

I will mention that I always pick the red hots off and eat them separately from the cookie. The cinnamon flavor and sugary marshmallow mixture are not particularly complementary in my opinion, but the red and green sure are beautiful together!

Tomorrow I will share with you the yummy cookies I got to take away from the exchange!

Give-away: Week 4.

2008-12-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

"Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone."
~Dorothy Parker

Sorry this took so long but I finally got the 4th and final giveaway prepared. Things have been crazy hectic with Christmas coming so I was a bit slow. But I made it just before the week ended, barely.

So what is this week's giveaway? You ask? A beautiful jar of hand-made scented salt scrub made with epsom salts, olive oil, and a blend of essential oils called escape. It's all natural and feels and smells great!

One lucky reader who comments on this post telling me about their favorite holiday cookie/sweet (yes I know it doesn't really go with the prize, but I want to know about yummy things!) will win the jar of salt scrub. Sadly it won't make it by Christmas but I purposefully made it non-Christmas-y to enjoy all year round! Leave your comment by noon on Sunday Dec 21 to be entered in the random drawing. As always, make sure you leave some way for me to contact you in case you're the winner!

I really can't wait to read about your holiday cookies! This weekend is a baking weekend for me, so I'll tell you all about my holiday goodies next week!

Christmas Alphabet Soup meme

2008-12-17T16:32:00.036-05:00

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything."
~Aaron Siskind

Kristen at Something about nothin has introduced me to and included me in a fun game:

You get a letter and list 10 things that start with that letter. She had to do Z, eep! She, however, gave me S. What a great letter! Thanks Kristen!

So since it's Christmastime she's changed the game into a Christmas game. That means I have to list 10 Christmasy things that start with the letter S. No problem! I can think of 10+ right off the top of my head. So to make it a little more challenging I'm going to use 10 pictures from my own photo album that I haven't used on here already.

Now in a game of Scattergories some of these would probably be contested, and I wouldn't win, but considering I wanted to use all photos that I've taken and not take any from the internet I took a little creative license. (sadly I'm fresh out of photos of sleighs, and I already used my stocking picture in a previous post.) So here goes:

Santa

Snow

Shopping

Storytime

Stacks of presents

Skiing

Sweets

Sugar cookies

Snowman

Seven-swans-a-swimming

ok fine, you can only see three in this picture, and they're actually more like pink flamingos, but paddle boats are USUALLY swans, so I say it counts. :)

No? Fine...one more then...

Shipping

That was really fun! Thanks again Kristen!

If you'd like to play, just ask me for a letter. You can adapt the game however you wish, and since Christmas is almost here you don't even have to do the Christmas part if you don't want. :D

Give-away: Week 3 Winner!

2008-12-12T10:46:00.003-05:00

Thanks again to everyone who entered the santa n' friends ornament give-away for this week! Only one could win, though, and that person is Holly! Congrats Holly! I need you address so I can send out your ornaments!

Don't forget to check back Monday for week #4's fabulous give-away! Less that 2 weeks left til Christmas!! :o

Advent Calendar

2008-12-11T00:06:00.002-05:00

"During this Advent season as we celebrate the new relationship between God and his people, may that be mirrored in our renewed relationships with spouses, children, family and those near and dear to us. May we speak tenderly to each other amidst all the rush of the season and transform the shopping days till Christmas into the true Advent of Christ. "
~Casely Essamuah

When I was growing up one of my favorite holiday decorations was a felted applique advent calendar that my mom had made. It was a felt Christmas tree, with 24 pockets below it, and in each pocket was a felt ornament. Each day of December before Christmas we took out an ornament and pinned it onto that felt tree. We always fought over who got which days (since there were 4 of us), but I always got Dec 16 - my birthday. I don't know what happened to that advent calendar. Eventually my mom quit putting it up. I couldn't believe it when I found this one, and so I'm making it:

Sorry the picture is so small. This advent calendar is SOO close to what I remember having growing up. Mainly the ornaments. The star on the top, the candle, the angel, the soldier boy, the bear, the stocking, the drum and the ball ornament (both still in their pockets), are exactly the same, at least to the best of my memory. Some of the others look vaguely familiar too. I've seen other felted advent calendars that are very cute, but this one reminds me of not just Christmas but a family Christmas tradition from my childhood. I can't wait to finish it and hang it up (though I'm sure I won't finish it in time for this year.).

snowflake tutorial

2008-12-10T00:06:00.006-05:00

"Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man."
~Orison Swett Marden

Reminder: Don't forget you can enter giveaway week 3 through midnight EST Thursday night. Click here for the link.

Today my friend, Natalie, showed me how to make the coolest 3-D snowflake out of paper!

It looks incredibly complex and intricate, but it's SOOO simple to make, so I just had to share with you!

First gather your equipment
a pair of scissors, 6 pieces of paper, tape and/or a stapler.

Start with a square piece of paper.
Since I used regular copy paper, I had to turn it into a square.
Fold the square in half diagonally to form a triangle.

Then fold the triangle in half to form a smaller triangle.

Cut 4 diagonal slits along the bottom folded edge almost to the side folded edge (I stopped about a quarter of an inch away). They should be fairly evenly spaced. I just eyeballed mine but I've drawn lines here to illustrate where you should cut. Then it occurred to me if you were doing this with kids you could draw the lines on with pencil for them so that they could cut them themselves (with safety scissors and adult supervision of course!) Make sure you don't cut the slits all the way through, stop short of the other side.

After you've cut the slits, carefully open your square up. You should see a pattern of nested diamonds like this:

Next, you're going to connect the points of the diamonds starting with the inner most and working your way out, alternating sides. Here I've labeled the points to illustrate.

Fold points A together and tape or staple them, like so:

Then flip your square over and fold points B together and connect.

Flip the square back over to the front and fold points C together and continue connecting the points alternating sides

until you have a figure that looks like this:

Repeat these steps with the other 5 pieces of paper so that ultimately you have 6 sections.

Attach the 6 sections together at the sides to form a chain. Again you could staple, tape, or even glue them, but I found stapling to be easiest.

You *could* stop here and you'd have a really cool garland, especially if you used some colored paper,but for a snowflake you have to keep going!

Wrap your chain around to form a circle and attach the 1st and 6th sections together at the sides.

Finally, connect the points in the center

and you have your snowflake! Punch a hole in one of the points, tie on some ribbon, and hang it up for all to enjoy!

How cool would it be to make all different sizes, hang them from the ceiling and have your very own snowstorm! I'm telling you, the picture doesn't do it justice. You HAVE to make one and see for yourself how amazing these are!

Serious lack of sewing

2008-12-09T00:06:00.004-05:00

"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall."
~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

Don't forget to check out the crafty give-away for week 3 here.

So sorry for not having much sewing content in my posts lately. I've just been so busy crafting Christmas presents and getting ready for Christmas, my sewing has suffered a bit. I hope to make some progress on my mom's outfit and the guys' ties soon, though so there should be a sewing post or two soon.

In the meantime, though, I thought I'd post about my Christmas tree since that's what this past weekend was largely about.

The tree started on the porch while we made room for it in the house. The palm trees behind the Christmas tree just look SOOO weird to me.

But, anyways, the kittens adore the tree.

Hugh

Grace

and even Figaro came out to see what the fuss was about!

When we decorated it, we had a plan. We KNEW the kittens were going to attack the ornaments. It was just inevitable. Fig pretty much leaves everything alone, but the kittens just can't help themselves. "Should we decorate the whole tree?" we thought. YES! We'll decorate the whole tree and let the kittens determine the line for which we should not hang ornaments below. Sure enough a line emerged:

As you can see, there's a clear demarcation of where the kittens can reach. We just rehung the fallen above this line. This technique actually works quite well, just as long as you're sure to hang non-breakable ornaments near the bottom. Though today when I got home the line was much higher than before. :D

Give-away: Week 3

2008-12-08T07:20:00.008-05:00

Riddle: What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? (answer below)

With Christmas getting closer and closer I thought I'd do another ornament give-away - Santa and friends.

This week one lucky person who comments on this post will win all three ornaments:

Santa (upside down because he's going down the chimney)

Rudolph

and Happy the Christmas Elf!

Leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite Christmas tradition by midnight Thursday, Dec 11 EST to be entered to win all 3 ornaments! As always, I'll be happy to ship them anywhere in the world so all entries are welcome. Be sure to leave me some way of getting in contact with you (a link to your blog or email address) in case you're the lucky randomly chosen entrant! I'll announce the winner in a post Friday, Dec 12.

Answer: Claustrophobic

Woohoo!

2008-12-07T07:00:00.003-05:00

"Just tell yourself, Duckie, you're really quite lucky!"
~Dr. Seuss

I won something from one of the giveaways I entered from the sew mama sew give-away day! Check out this nifty prize!

It's from Melissa over at Remember to Live, Laugh, Love. I can't wait to get it!!! She says it will look a bit different (different color scheme) but I'll be sure to post pictures once it arrives.

Give-away: Week 2 Winner!

2008-12-06T16:54:00.008-05:00

Thanks to everyone who entered! I couldn't believe I had so many people comment. It was great thank you so much! Unfortunately I could only choose one winner.

The randomly chosen winner is: affectioknit!! Congratulations!

Thanks again to everyone who entered! I'm sorry you all couldn't win... but that would have been a freakin lot of birds I'd have had to make. :D

Be sure to check back next week for Giveaway week #3 in my Christmas give-away series!

Give-away: Week 2

2008-12-03T00:01:00.006-05:00

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

~Maya Angelou

For this week's Christmas give-away (don't forget I'm hosting a give-away every weekfrom now until Christmas), I'll be offering one of my favorite handmade bird ornaments from my previous post. This little guy to be exact:

I think the little tuft of black on his head gives him so much personality!

If you'd like to add him to your ornament collection, then just leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite holiday decorations. It can be something that you hang yourself, something that you drive-by on your way to work or school that as soon as it goes up marks the start of the holiday season for you, or perhaps something that you traditionally drive out to see every year.

Tell me about your favorite decorations and you'll be entered to win the little birdie ornament. I'll gladly ship anywhere in the world if you're the randomly chosen entrant. Just post by midnight EST Friday Dec 5, for your chance to win. Be sure to include your email address or a link back to your own blog so that I can contact you if you win! The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and announced Saturday Dec 6 .

I look forward to reading all about your favorite holiday decorations!

Participant in Sew Mama Sew Give-away Day. Hop on over to sew mama sew for a list of all the participants.

edit: I've extended the dates of this giveaway to Dec 5th because of the huge list of participants! Thanks so much to everyone who's visited and entered!

Cinnamon bird ornaments

2008-12-01T21:03:00.008-05:00

As I've mentioned before, the theme of this Christmas, for me, seems to be birds. Don't ask me why - I have no idea! I saw these super cute cinnamon bird ornaments in a Martha Stewart magazine, though, and I just had to make them. They are really easy to make and turn out very nicely with very minimal effort.

This is all you need to make the dough:
Cinnamon, apple sauce and craft glue.

You mix it all together,

and roll it out.

Then you cut out the templates (you can download the templates at the link I provided above)

trace around the template onto the dough and let dry for 24 hours. They mention in the article that you can bake them for 2 hours at 200 degrees in the oven. I did this for some of them and the ones I baked turned out much darker than the ones I air-dried. This affects the way the glitter and beads look, and I liked the look of the lighter dough better.

Anyways, after they're dry you use various colors and sizes of glitter and beads to decorate and voila you have some beautiful bird ornaments.

Stop by Wednesday Dec 3 to enter to win one of my favorite of these guys in my Christmas give-away #2!

Giveaway: Week 1 - Winner!

2008-11-29T16:05:00.006-05:00

The winner of the scarf from giveaway #1 is... quitecontrary1977. Congratulations!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered this week. Don't forget to check back Wednesday for giveaway #2!

Give-away: Week 1

2008-11-24T01:00:00.001-05:00

"I think winter wear is communal. You get some gloves and a scarf from a lost-and-found box, wash them, wear them for a while until you lose them. Then somebody else does the same thing."
~Adrian Grenier

But just in case you don't like that idea, then here's a brand new hand-knotted scarf for you to enter to win!

Made of super soft wool blend yarn, this scarf makes a great accessory for an outfit or to keep you warm on those fall or spring days when you just need a little extra warmth.

Just leave a comment describing your FAVORITE accessory and you'll be entered! Everyone is welcome! I'll gladly ship anywhere in the world if you're the lucky randomly chosen entrant. Just post by midnight CST Friday 11/28 for your chance to win. Be sure to include your email address or a link back to your own blog so that I can contact you if you win! The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and announced Saturday 11/29.

I'm looking forward to reading all about your favorite accessories!

Christmas giveaways

2008-11-22T01:00:00.001-05:00

"For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home."
~W.J. Ronald Tucker

In the spirit of Christmas, I've decided to take on a Christmas challenge. That challenge is:

...drumroll....

to have a giveaway every week between Christmas and Thanksgiving!

Every week, starting the week of Thanksiving (next week!) I will feature an item that you readers can enter to win. I'm going to try to make them christmas-y in some capacity - either a decoration, or something that would make a nice gift, or something that's decorated in christmas insignia, etc.

If the item is something you'd like to have or would like to give as a gift to someone else, then just leave a comment on that week's giveaway post to be entered to win!

Stay tuned, the first giveaway will be posted Monday!

Bookworm award

2008-11-21T01:00:00.006-05:00

My friend Miss Linda of Threads of Loveliness nominated me for a bookworm award.

The rules of this award are:
-pass this on to 5 friends

-Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56.
Write out the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that...

The book that is closest to me is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and the 5th sentence on pg 56 is:

"'You knew, you knew that was going to happen and you didn't say a word. Where is your sense of self preservation? What the hell is wrong with you? What use is it knowing the future if you can't at least protect us from humiliating little scenes-'"

And my 5 blog friends that I would like to pass this on to are:
1. (the new) Dr. K at Perpetual Entropy

2. Sue from Quilt, Sew, Sew Sue

3. Becky from Sew and So

4. Regina from The Queen Bee's Buzz

5.Caity from Caityquilter

Thanks Miss Linda!

Bloggers ornament exchange

2008-11-20T01:00:00.002-05:00

"The love of ornament creeps slowly but surely into the female heart."
~Anna Maria Hall

I received my ornament from the blogger's ornament exchange today. Check it out!

I love it! I do hope she likes what I sent her too...
**actually feeling a bit nervous about it**

Back to the Future Wednesday

2008-11-19T01:08:00.001-05:00

"Once again, we come to the holiday season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice."
~Dave Barry

While I too will be going to the malls this holiday season (heaven help me) to buy presents this year, I'm also making some presents as well. I don't have all the details worked out just yet, but I have a few ideas in mind. Alas, I cannot post them here at this time because the people I will be making them for may read this. But I can show you the supplies I have bought so far.

These came in the mail yesterday:

an assortment of glitter and beads from the Glass Glitter and Beads Store. They are having a fabulous 15% off sale right now with the coupon code HOLIDAZE3! Looking at that picture makes me realize I didn't really buy a very colorful assortment, but they are they colors I need (I hope) for my crafting.

Next I bought these supplies from JoAnn's and Winn Dixie tonight.

2 skeins of yarn, multi-purpose craft glue, pearly blue beads and parchment paper.

Now all of these supplies will not necessarily be used together (I bet you're thinking "thank goodness for that!") But they will all be used in some craft or another this holiday season.

*note - during the Christmas holidays this sewing blog will also feature non-sewing crafts*

Christmas ornament exchange

2008-11-18T18:54:00.001-05:00

"It is the beautiful bird which gets caged."
~Chinese proverb

I finished the ornaments for my bloggers ornament exchange. I used a bird pattern from spool sewing and tweaked it a bit to make three fun fabric bird ornaments.

Here's how I did it:

First I downloaded the bird pattern as mentioned from spool sewing. I knew I wanted three ornament so I chose 4 fabrics, the crazy striped one to be the belly on all of them and then one for each of the 3 bird bodies.

I cut out the two pieces from the contrasting fabrics - one bird body, on the fold, and one bird belly.

Next as per the directions on spool sewing (just want to be sure I give them their due credit), I pinned and sewed the belly, first to one side of the bird body, right sides together, then to the other. Spool sewing touts this as a good simple hand sewing project, but I went ahead and carefully and slowly used my machine and I think it turned out ok.

I will mention that always starting from the tip of the belly no matter which seam I was sewing made the intersections come out quite nicely.

Next, I inserted a piece of looped gold cord so that the loop was on the current inside of the bird (which flipped to be the outside).

I found it easier to sew if the two ends of the cord were side by side rather than on top of each other.

Then I carefully stitched the bird's head closed stitching the cord into the very back edge of the seam.

You might notice that the thread I used in this demonstration picture is red, but I found it very important to use matching thread for the real deal because I liked to stuff my birds pretty tightly which caused the stitches to show a bit.

Next, I clipped the corner of the beak and turned it right side out. With the cord on the right side it made it much easier to flip the bird right side out. I found the tip of my closed scissors worked nicely for popping the beak right side out.

I then stuffed the bird and hand stitched his tail closed. I repeated these steps three more times with the other fabrics and my fabric bird Christmas ornaments were born!

But did I stop there? Oh no! I thought they needed a bit of je ne sais quoi, so I sewed on a few beads with gold metallic thread to give them a bit of shininess and flash. They sparkle nicely in the glow of the Christmas tree now. Though, I think the simple fabric birds would be quite lovely hanging on a tree as well!

Christmas theme

2008-11-17T07:00:00.003-05:00

"A turkey never voted for an early Christmas."
~Irish proverb

Every year, it seems, I sort of unintentionally pick a theme for Christmas. It's not really that I pick it, it just sort becomes the focus of what I like in terms of decorations, handmade gifts, etc. Last year it was snowflakes. This year it's birds. It seems that something just sort of catches my eye early on, gets associated with Christmas, and then becomes the theme. So don't be surprised if you see alot about birds on here during this holiday season. :)

Fabric Scraps

2008-11-13T10:00:00.001-05:00

"People always say congratulations. When you’re a successful bidder it means you’re willing to spend more money than anyone else. I’m not sure if that’s congratulations or condolences."
~Eli Broad

For the ornament I think I've settled on for my blogger's ornament exchange I need fabric scraps (as the deadline for this project is quickly approaching). So I decided to take a chance on a fabric scrap auction on ebay. For $5, with free shipping, I'm supposed to be getting "alot of fabric" in my scrap pack. I don't really buy much from ebay and I've certainly never bought anything without seeing it. But I did look at her other auctions which included fabric and fabric crafts and it looked like pretty nice stuff, so we'll just have to wait and see how it goes. I figured for $5 it could be an interesting gamble at the very least...

Back to the Future Wednesday

2008-11-12T18:00:00.002-05:00

"America is an enormous frosted cupcake in the middle of millions of starving people."
~Gloria Steinem

I really really really LOVE these pincushions:

by Betz White. I need to buy her book, Warm Fuzzies and make them. They're made from old sweaters which is what gives them that neat texture. The only problem is that when I moved to Florida from Reno, I decided I didn't really have any need for sweaters anymore so I gave all mine away. Sigh... That's ok though, I'm still keeping them in the back of my mind as a future project. They're just so cute and sweet!

Life moves pretty fast...

2008-11-11T17:21:00.008-05:00

"Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly."
~Ambrose Bierce

My parents came to visit this weekend. As mentioned in an earlier post, I am making Simplicity 4193 (the skirt and jacket) for my mother as a Christmas present.

I was able to get the "muslin" skirt basted together before she arrived and we fitted it to her. She's a short lady, so I had to cut off something like 3" from the bottom to get the right length. It seems to fit pretty good now, and it's ready to be deconstructed and cut out of the fashion fabric. She actually really liked the pink butterfly fabric on the skirt, so once I cut the new pieces out of the fashion fabric I'm also going to reconstruct the "muslin" so she'll have 2 skirts!

I wasn't able to get the jacket put together before she left but I worked on it today. Here's the "finished" skirt (still the muslin) and as far as I've gotten on the jacket.

The jacket is HUGE! There's no way it's going to fit her. I think I'm going to have to make it a few sizes smaller. They're coming back for a very brief visit on Friday because my dad has gotten us great seats to see the shuttle launch. I had intended to have the "muslin" jacket done by then, but now since I have to basically redo the whole thing, I'm not so sure that's going to happen. Now I'm torn between starting to redo it and just leaving it as is so that she can at least get an idea of what it'll be like to make sure she's happy with her choice.

We did have time this weekend, though, to make a trip to Joann's and she picked out the fashion fabric for the skirt and the jacket. Here's what she chose:

a pink silk for the skirt and a gorgeous brown silk brocade with a turquoise, pink, and white paisley/flower pattern for the jacket. There's more turquoise than pink on the brocade, so the skirt will highlight the pink in the jacket quite nicely, I think.

It's interesting, when I was working on the muslin, I had almost no motivation to work on it. It was a chore and I just couldn't get excited about it. Now that we have the fashion fabric, though, I'm really excited about working on it, even the muslin! I'm quite amazed at how just having fun fabric for a project makes such a huge difference in my excitement and motivation for that project.

Back to the Future Wednesday

2008-11-05T13:04:00.004-05:00

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
~John Lennon

Ok so I'm starting to run out of future project plans. :) I'm not completing them fast enough to get more added on.

Though I guess the project that is most looming that I haven't talked about yet is an ornament for the bloggers ornament exchange that I'm taking part in. I'm still in the design stage and haven't really settled on anything yet, but I have a few ideas, and have made a few prototypes.

I implore you, though, if you know of any cute handmade Christmas ornament tutorials, I'd be interested in seeing them. :)

Penguin Progress Finale (lots of pics)!

2008-11-03T13:31:00.003-05:00

Riddle: Who's the penguins' favorite aunt?

Trick-or-treat!

And the winner of Floyd the Florida penguin is Wendi! Congratulations Wendi!

Answer: Aunt~~-arctica~~ Christine! :D

Penguin progress Part 9 and penguin giveaway!

2008-10-30T00:01:00.003-04:00

Riddle: What do you get when you cross a penguin with an alligator?

They're done! 2 Penguin costumes are in the mail on their way to Alabama to two twin two-year olds for halloween. I sure hope they, and their parents like them, and that they fit. I think they're cute. Here's a picture of one finished. I should have pictures of the girls in them this weekend.

(and I know I've already posted these pictures of the hood but I wanted to post the whole costume together.)

Since I had a bit more penguin scrap leftover I decided to make a postcard as a giveaway! This is Floyd the Florida penguin. He's come out to play because it's been in the 40s this week at night... in Florida...in October...

...but it won't stay that way for long so Floyd is looking for a new home, maybe yours! Leave a comment to this post and on Monday I will randomly pick a new home for Floyd from those who entered. Make sure to leave an email or link so that I can contact you in case you're the winner! Good luck!

Answer: I don't know, but don't try to fix its bowtie!

Back to the Future Wednesday

2008-10-29T15:00:00.001-04:00

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
~Albert Schweitzer

This week's featured future project is Simplicity 9004

I want to try my hand at a non-garment sewing project, so this looks like lots of fun, for me to make and for my kitties to enjoy. I can't decide which one to make. I'm torn between the fish because, well, it's just super adorable, and the tent because then I could use a kitty print fabric.

I want to mention that these projects that I'm featuring on Back to the Future Wednsesdays are projects that I actually plan on getting to relatively soon, and pretty much in the order I'm presenting them. This may be one though, that I'll work on a little throughout to help alleviate the frustration I can only imagine will come with this project. :) I'll keep you updated once I choose which to make and once I have the fabric for it!

Penguin Progress hinderence

2008-10-28T15:00:00.004-04:00

Riddle: What do you sing to a penguin on its birthday?

When I needed a break from working on the penguin costumes the last few weeks I worked on another project inspired by the costumes, and a birthday present for my friend and co-worker, Natalie since she loves penguins

I had to wait to post this until after her birthday so I wouldn't ruin the surprise, but without further ado here it is:

It's a wall hanging of a penguin with little interchangeable accessories, and friends, that are held on with velcro. A great majority of this was made with scraps from the penguin costumes, and other scraps from my bin. I'm quite happy with how it turned out! :)

Aside:
One of my kittens, Grace, LOVED the little heart. No matter where I put it she found a way to get to it and then carried it around the house. Finally I broke down and made her one. Here she is enjoying it.

Answer: Freeze a jolly good fellow.

Penguin progress Part 8

2008-10-27T17:16:00.010-04:00

Riddle: Where do penguins go to dance?

You may recall that I drafted the pattern pieces for the penguin costumes 1 size smaller than the smallest size the pattern allowed. However, because this was a child's size costume and not a toddler's size costume, it was still too tall. So I had to cut off some from the bottom - 5 inches. Sadly I didn't realize this until after I'd gotten the front and back pieced together. Since the tail was in the center back seam and 5" from the bottom, I also had to figure out what to do with it. My original plan was to open the side seam up 5" past the tail so that I could move it up 5" before cutting off the bottom. After some inspection, though, I decided that in fact I could open the seam up a couple of inches past the tail and cut a bit off the bottom.

(this picture may be a little difficult to see, but it's the open back seam with the tail piece in the middle ready to be cut)

After cutting the costume smaller I decided that the tail was too big anyways, and if I'd tried to move it up then the tail would have started way up high on their backs. So cutting off part of the tail it was. Then I folded over the bottom of the tail stitched it closed (leaving an opening for stuffing), and then closed the back center seam.

Then I marked my new cutting line 5" from the old cutting line.

I cut off the extra piece and then continued on as normal. Happily, my alteration made them almost exactly the right height!

Get ready: my next penguin progress post will be the finished penguin suit!

Answer: At the snow ball.

Penguin Progress Part 7b

2008-10-26T19:30:00.004-04:00

Riddle: Why do penguins carry fish in their beaks?

So you may have been wondering what all the source of my frustration was from post 7a, and the answer is..... bias tape.

Sewing the bias tape to the neckline was a giant pain in the a**. I broke something like 5 needles during my attempts (I lost count). The difficult part was getting past the seams which were thick and doubled over in some places because of the construction, and the extra thickness the padding in the wings added made it difficult to turn the costume very smoothly. I really was ready to throw in the towel. I didn't, though. I managed to fight my way through and get it sewn on to both of them. It doesn't look incredibly pretty, but it's on there, and I guess it's not TOOO bad for a costume - at least that's what I'm telling myself.

The horribly wavy stitching, the knots in some places - sigh. You may have even noticed the two lines on the back part - that's because the directions said to baste it on the inside and then stitch it on the outside, but back there where there's two lines is where I was unable to get out the stitches because they were too small from my machine getting snagged on the seams. Anyways, on the second costume I just did the stitching once to save myself some aggravation. It was a good choice.

Answer: Because they haven't got any pockets.

Penguin Progress Part 7a

2008-10-25T16:48:00.003-04:00

Anyone know where I can buy two penguin costumes that look somewhat like a beginner sewed them?

=F+R+U+S+T+R+A+T+E+D

Penguin progress Part 6

2008-10-25T11:25:00.004-04:00

Riddle: Why are penguins so popular on the internet?

I've now finished one hood. It took me all Friday night to put it together, but it looks like it's going to fit. I tried to take a measurement but so far I've been unsuccessful at getting a very good idea of it's fit. It's supposed to have elastic in the back to help hold it tight against the child's head, but I think it'll be fine without it so I've omitted it. Here's a pic as modeled by my trusty vacuum cleaner (since my head is too big). :)

Cute picture add on: Best pals

Answer: Because they have Web feet.

Penguin Progress Part 5

2008-10-23T19:00:00.000-04:00

Ridde: How does a penguin build its house?

Well, I've decided that I need to do a few ~~minor~~ major alterations to give the costumes a fighting chance of fitting the girls. Right now, without the neck line finished, or the legs finished, the costumes are 34½" tall. The taller of the two girls is 26½" from the base of her neck to her ankle, and the other is 2" shorter. That makes the costume MUCH too tall, and since we know that the #1 cause of accidental injuries on halloween is tripping, that just will not do. (or maybe you didn't know that, but now you do :D).

I think I can cut a bit off the bottom of the costume, but I need to decide how much, but I'm pretty sure it needs to be more than 5". 5" is a relevant number because that is how far up the tail is (already) attached from the bottom of the costume. This means that in order to cut enough off of the bottom I'm going to have to open up the back seam, move the tail up, and then close the back seam again. GAH!

I only have 1 week from tomorrow till halloween, and I HAVE to get the penguins in the mail by Monday in order to ensure that they're there by Friday!

How do I always manage to do this to myself? I've been thinking about these since the first of September, "Two months is PLENTY of time" I said, and yet somehow I'm not done 1 week before. In college it was the same way, I'd start on a project WAY early, but somehow by the time it was due I was always scrambling at the last minute to finish it. I thought I'd outgrown that in grad school since I didn't really do that there, but I'm beginning to think that instead it's more that I just didn't really have any deadlines, so there was no place for last minute scrambling to occur. Sigh. Guess I better quit complaining and get to work! :)

Answer: Igloos it together

Back to the Future Wednesday

2008-10-22T10:05:00.007-04:00

"I've found that you don't need to wear a necktie if you can hit."
~Ted Williams, American baseball player

This week's featured future projects are the ties for B and my Dad (since neither one of them can hit). If you recall I'll be using this fabric for my Dad and making it as a Christmas present

and this fabric for B as his souvenir from NYC, albeit a few months after I actually returned.

I bought this pattern to use.

The tie seems fairly simple and straightforward, and it seems like they'll be really fun to make. Though this is my first time working with fairly expensive fabric, so I'm a little nervous about cutting into it.

Go Rays!

Giveaway link

2008-10-20T20:54:00.002-04:00

This is quite possibly the most amazing giveaway I've seen yet.
A child's 18th century french gown a la Marie Antoinette.
It's quite gorgeous! You should check it out.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Penguin progress Part 4

2008-10-19T18:30:00.001-04:00

Riddle: How do a group of penguins make a decision?

Ah ha! Thanks to Gwen of After the Dress I have put the wings together - they just needed to be forced to be pinned together. Rather than lying flat against each other, they are pinned together such that it buckles out. It all makes sense now, I mean there has to be a place to put an arm, but it just didn't occur to me until she showed me what to do. So thanks Gwen! Here's the wings made to fit and pinned together.

Then I attached them to the body and viola! They're starting to look like actual penguin costumes now!

Then I just had to share this next picture.

Here's my kitty, Hugh, licking his chops as if to say "I almost ate it all, but I saved a wing just for you!"

Answer: Flipper coin

Past project Wednesday becomes Back to the Future Wednesday

2008-10-15T18:00:00.003-04:00

Well I've now gotten my blog up to date on all my past projects, so past project Wednesday is now converted to Back to the Future Wednesday where I will report on the projects I have lined up and/or need to get to.

Next on my list is an outfit I'm making for my mother, she picked out Simplicity 4193 for me to make her the skirt and the jacket as a Christmas present.

She's coming to visit the second week of November, so while she's here we will go shopping for the fashion fabric and hopefully I will have a muslin version ready for a fitting. I think she's a brave woman agreeing to this considering these will be my first adult pieces of clothing to sew. :-O

Though she may not have actually realized this yet.

Penguin progress Part 3

2008-10-12T21:16:00.007-04:00

Riddle: What do you call a penguin in the desert?

I'm a bit stuck on the penguins right now. The next step was to sew the wing back and the wing back lining together with the padding in the middle and I've done that. But then I'm supposed to sew the wing back and the wing front together, but they don't match up. AND the directions aren't being very helpful since the picture doesn't seem to match the directions.

The directions say

"10. With RIGHT sides together, pin wing front to wing back. Stitch shoulder and underarm edges together."

This is illustrated by the accompanying picture (10):

My wing front and wing back put together right sides together (which doesn't match the picture).

I know I'm supposed to stitch some of the edges together, but I can't figure out which ones, and if I stitch along the white then I end up cutting off all that black at the top and that doesn't seem right...

If anyone can provide me any insight into what I'm supposed to do next, I'd really appreciate it.

Answer: Lost.

Penguin Progress Part 2

2008-10-11T15:00:00.005-04:00

Riddle: Why don't penguins like rock music?

The next step, was to construct the wings. Each wing has a front and a back, and a layer of padding in between. Each front has a hole for their little hands to poke through. I don't have a water soluble pen, so I had to put the pattern piece on each front and cut out the hole using the marking on the tissue paper.

Then around each hole goes a knit cuff. Being new to sewing, this is my first experience working with knit fabric. I knew that you're supposed to use a stretch stitch, so I figured out how to do that on my machine. But this kept happening:

I finally got fed up and just used a regular straight stitch. I'm not exactly sure what it will mean ultimately, but the seam is so little, hopefully it won't matter.

To attach the two cuffs,

I pinned each one to the wing holes with the raw edges matching.

The directions said to stretch the knit fabric to fit the hole and pin it before sewing, but I found my sewing was actually much cleaner if I put in those key center pins, and just stretched the fabric as I needed around the curved edges.

Otherwise the fleece tended to bunch under the knit and I got bubbles like this one.

I found this out with trial and error on each subsequent wing since I was unable to remove the tiny white stitches from the fleece to correct my mistake(perhaps I should have basted the cuffs on initially).

Finally the directions said to stitch near the cuff seam to hold the seam back against the inside of the wing, but I could not for the life of me figure out how to do this on my machine, so I hand stitched them. Here's the finished wing front with cuff.

It's not perfect, but I'm pretty ok with how it looks, and considering the whole thing is probably going to be a little baggy on them I don't think the wrinkles and bulges that are there will be very noticeable anyways. Besides no one will be looking that close. I have to keep reminding myself of this. :)

To be continued...

Answer: They only like sole.

Penguin progress Part 1

2008-10-10T23:40:00.006-04:00

**each post in this series will begin with a riddle and end with it's answer. Just to keep it fun. :)**

Riddle: Why don´t you see Penguins in Britain?

It's time for my penguin costume series to begin. As a reminder, I'm making penguin costumes for my twin 2 year old nieces for halloween.

The smallest size of the pattern was still too big for them , so I redrafted it one more size smaller in an attempt to make it the right size. Then, of course, I cut out the pieces. I was going to just do one costume at a time but I hate cutting so much I cut out all the pieces at once just to get it over with. I was then going to put the costumes together one at a time, but once I realized I was going to need to change the thread color multiple times (white and black) I decided to do them in parallel. It's working out quite nicely.

I put the front and the back of the costumes together and attached the tail. Each tail has a hole left in it so that it can be stuffed later. This'll make the tail stand out and wag when they walk, making it extra cute!

I fear, despite my efforts to make the pattern a size smaller, that they are still going to be too big for the girls - even if they wear clothes underneath them. I've contemplated taking in more at the seam but I'm more afraid of making it too small than I am of leaving it too big. At least if it's too big then they could potentially wear it next year, or my sister could do a little pinning and they could still wear them this year. I wish they lived closer so that we could have a "fitting". :)

Answer: Because they're afraid of Wales.

Past Project Wednesday

2008-10-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

"Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied."
~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

I needed a gift for a friend who sews - actually my friend from after the dress who started *me* sewing. So, I felt like it had to be a good sewing kind of gift, and since I really enjoy making gifts, I made this pincushion

side 1

side 2

following this tutorial . It was actually pretty easy. I made a couple of them, and lo and behold decided I liked this first one I made. Why did I make a couple you might ask? Well first of all after I finished the first I learned how to do invisible stitches. Since the first one had my own version of a closing stitch and I wasn't real happy with it, I felt I needed to make another. Also, the first version was pink (her favorite color) and white on one side and green and white on the other
so I thought I'd try to make an all pink and white one. Ultimately though, I liked the contrast of the pink and green, so I decided to fix the closing stitch, and give the first one.

Finally, I made shrinky dink pins from this tutorial using the graphic of Gwen's designer label to put in the pin cushion. For the pins I used inkjet shrinky dink plastic.

This is the final product.

Fabric Stash

2008-10-03T22:49:00.015-04:00

Some people weave burlap into the fabric of our lives, and some weave gold thread. Both contribute to make the whole picture beautiful and unique.
~anonymous

Whilst in New York I did a bit of fabric shopping. Here are my finds:

2 tie silks.

1 for B as his souvenir from NYC and the other for my dad. I let B pick the one he liked. So he'll get a tie out of this

and my Dad will get a tie out of this for Christmas.

2 silks

along with this pattern for...drumroll....me!

This will be my first sewing project for myself. My friend Natalie assisted in the selection of the material, and I have to say she did quite a fabulous job. The pink silk matches the flowers in the print perfectly. So eventually I will have a nice print skirt and solid top for myself. I'm rather excited about this prospect.

a fun polka dot print (not sure what the material is, perhaps rayon?)

I don't know what I'm going to do with it just yet, but I'm sure I'll figure out something.

and finally this cotton print for my nieces.

I really debated on this one. I fell in love with it in the store, but it's so summery and with winter coming I knew I'd need to wait to make anything out of it until at least next spring to be sure that it will fit them (since they're growing like weeds). But I went ahead and bought it and I have to say I'm quite satisfied that I did. It's probably my favorite of all my purchases from New York. Now I have quite a queue built up. I guess I better get busy! :)

Past project Wednesday (one day late)

2008-10-02T13:29:00.000-04:00

"Christmas, in its final essence, is for grown people who have forgotten what children know. Christmas is for whoever is old enough to have denied the unquenchable spirit of man."
~ Margaret Cousins

One of my other hobbies (besides sewing) is counted cross-stitching. I've been cross stitching since I was a teen. I typically take on huge intricate projects and since my time and motivation for it comes in spurts, it usually takes years and years for a project to finally be finished.

I started a Christmas stocking for myself around 8 years ago. I finally finished the cross-stitching on it this past spring and I got around to sewing it all together tonight. Here's the finished product.

By the way, I don't usually like making things for myself. It gives me more joy to make things for others, and this is one of the only things I've ever made for myself.

New York, New York

2008-09-29T13:11:00.008-04:00

"The city's got the right name - New York. Nothing ever gets old around here."

~Ralph Stephenson

Last week I went to New York. While the purpose of the trip was professional, I did get to do a little sight-seeing, and one of the sights I was sure to see was the garment district. It was quite amazing.The fabric stores are so unbelieveable! Rows and rows of fabric. It was quite overwhelming at first, but I once I got used to it I was in sewing heaven. Here are a few pics.

Me in Mood fabrics. If you've seen project runway you know what I'm talking about, if you haven't then you should check it out.

My friend Natalie in Mood.

My friend Gwen of after the dress in Rosen & Chadick Fabrics. This was the BEST store I went into for cotton prints. They had such an amazing selection I could've spent a small fortune in there and not gotten everything I wanted.

The other stores I visited were B&J fabrics, which was much too pricey for me, but very fun to browse, and Metro Textiles- a small store with a fun little owner guy who really layed the sales tactics on thick.

My next post will feature my purchases in NYC.

Project picture post

2008-09-27T23:05:00.005-04:00

My sister decided to put the girls in the pjs and take a picture even though they're, as she put it, a TAD too big.

They'll have to wait till next year to wear them I think. :)

Past project Wednesday

2008-09-24T20:00:00.005-04:00

My most recently finished project was two cute pajama sets for my twin nieces. Again I was able to find fabric that was similar (giraffes and elephants) but different colors. I'm afraid they're actually going to be too big on them right now, so it may be a while before I can post a picture of them wearing it, but I promise (assuming my sister sends me one) to do so when I can. In the meantime here's the finished sets.

You can read more about it here

My labels

2008-09-22T19:00:00.003-04:00

Recently I was given the wonderful gift of some sewing labels. I add them to pretty much everything that I sew now. I like the special touch they give a gift. I just added one to the bag and remembered I hadn't posted about it yet. Here's what they look like (sorry the picture is a tad fuzzy.)

Tiger bag complete

2008-09-21T19:00:00.003-04:00

"Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in." ~Will Rogers

I finished the bag I was making for my mom for her birthday.

My mom teaches at a high school where the mascot is the tiger and their colors are orange and brown. I think it will make a cute school bag for her.

The inside has a big pocket and a divided pocket.

The details:
This bag was quite a project and I only got it done in a weekend because I pretty much did nothing else the entire weekend. Next time I think I'll give myself a little more time for gift making.

The bag is formed by the patchwork layer (cotton fabric), a layer of buckram, 2 layers of fusible fleece, and another cotton fabric for the lining. Sewing all of that together was a bit difficult for my machine. I broke the needle 3 times. One time because the lining had bunched up so it was extra thick. Once I realized what had happened I had to take the stitches out and redo it which was a HUGE pain considering I was using a small stitch length. Also, getting all of those layers under the foot was a feat in itself. I think my machine is a bit grumpy after all that.

I hand stitched the binding on the top, and that was quite a chore, though I eventually got the hang of making the slip stitch and it got much easier. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with it despite the fact that more swear words were used in the making of this project than all of the others combined. :) I don't think I'd make it again necessarily, but I'm glad I tried it once.

Well my quote works two-fold. There's a slight chance (very slight) that my mom might read this and the cat will be out of the bag, and also one of the kittens decided to take a nap in it and I managed to snap a picture before she hopped out.

If you change your mind

2008-09-19T19:00:00.001-04:00

"In order to learn one must change one's mind."
~George Byron

After buying the fabric for my mom's bag, I decided I really didn't like one of them. Of course I decided this AFTER I cut out the pieces. So I think I'm going to go buy some more fabric that I like a little better. I hope this doesn't happen often, it could end up being quite expensive.

Patience young grasshopper

2008-09-18T19:00:00.000-04:00

“All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope.”
~Alexandre Dumas Pere

The smallest size of the penguin costume, xs, is too big for my nieces. The xs fits a 23-24" waist, and they have a 20" waist. So I had to decide - make the extra small and hope for the best, re-draw the pattern a size smaller, or make a bigger size that they can wear next year.

I chose option b - redraw the pattern pieces a size smaller.

After working for 2 hours on one piece, and not making much progress, I started to doubt my choice. I was very close to just making the extra small and hoping for the best. I took a break for a few hours and decided that I would be terribly disappointed if they didn't fit, and it may not even fit them next year, so I would just suck it up and finish redrawing the pieces. It took me almost one entire day, probably around 6 or 7 hours to redraw the 8 pieces that I needed, but it went much faster once I got the hang of how and where to make the measurements from the xs lines to make my xxs lines.

It took a lot of patience but I was pretty happy with how it turned out. To me it looked pretty close to the original lines and sizes, as if it were almost a real size included on the pattern. I mean it's not perfect or anything, but I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. I wish I'd taken a picture but I didn't think about it until after I'd cut them out. :(

Now we just hope that the new size fits them!

Past project Wednesday

2008-09-17T19:00:00.005-04:00

So I was going to transfer all of my posts from my old blog website http://andsewitbegins.livejournal.com/ to here, but I finally decided it just wasn't worth it, and that instead I would just post my finished projects and add a link to the post from the old website. So here's the first.

My very first solo project:

Butterick 3772.

For and as modeled by my twin nieces.

As you can see, I made 2 using a denim fabric for one and a corduroy fabric for the other that both had the same embroidery on it. I really loved this because it allows them to be dressed similarly but not exactly the same seeing as they are, a bit obviously, not identical twins.

I have to say, this was a very good first project. It was fairly simple, but had some elements that were a bit challenging for a first-timer.

It really allowed me to practice basic techniques like adding buttons with my machine, using my one-step button hole function, adding bias tape and interfacing, and practicing rounded stitching. I would definitely recommend this pattern for a first-timer.

You can read more about it here

Birthday present project

2008-09-16T23:00:00.002-04:00

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."
~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

My mother's birthday is coming this Friday. Eep! I had no idea what to give her. So I decided to make her this bag

McCall's 5598

Finding a bag pattern I liked was easy. Choosing 4+ fabrics is turning out to be not so easy. I spent over an hour last night dragging poor B around making him help me make decisions only to say to him "well I dunno that I really like that, actually." :) He was quite a trooper though.

My first thought, since my mom is a French teacher, was to find some cute fabric with scenes of Paris or the Eiffel tower on it like these Michael Miller fabrics

But they didn't have anything even close at my local Joann's. We scoured the shelves and came up empty handed. As an after thought we checked the red tag clearance and found a nice cotton fabric with tiger heads on it. The reason for the tiger print is that the high school where she teaches' mascot is the tiger, and their colors are brown and orange. She has a lot of school spirit - she wears orange and brown clothes, she has tiger stickers that she puts on the students papers sometimes and she has various other tiger school supplies - so I think she might really like it if the patchwork was some combination of tigers and brown and orange fabrics. Though I only found 3 fabrics that I liked for the patchwork so I was thinking of repeating the tiger fabric for one of the 4 squares.

The cool thing is that my mom used to sew. She still does a little, but I think mostly to mend. She never got a chance to teach me, but now when I have questions I can call her up and ask her and she does the best she can over the phone. So I think she'll really appreciate the handmade bag.

We're gonna need a cart...

2008-09-15T10:53:00.000-04:00

“The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain -- he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem -- he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills.”
~William Arthur Ward

...and boy do I have a mountain of fabric for my next project! Being rather inexperienced at sewing, I am quite amazed that all of this

will eventually become 2 penguin costumes for two 2 year olds.

List of Materials
lots of black fleece, lots of white fleece, some black flannel, some white flannel, a bit of white ribbed knit, some stiff interfacing, lots of stiffer interfacing, 2 packages velcro, black and white thread, 2 pkgs 1/4" elastic, 2 pkgs 1/2" elastic, 2 pkgs single fold bias tape, and fiber-fill (I was kindly given 5 lbs of this!)

In the beginning...

2008-09-12T13:24:00.000-04:00

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
-Lucius Annaeus Seneca (also lyrics from the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic)

This is a journal of my, a beginner seamstress', sewing endeavors. (I use the term seamstress very loosely) :)

It all started two summers ago when I interned in Florida, and my friend, Gwen, helped me to sew these cute babie's buntings for my nieces.

At that point I was hooked.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a sewing machine of my own, and having to return to graduate school in Reno, NV, I didn't have much time for pursuing the craft. So my interest had to be put on hold.

Then, last summer, I was fortunate enough to be handed down a nice sewing machine by my mother.

Alas, I was still in graduate school and had no time for embarking on a new hobby.

Now, however, two years after my first experience with sewing, a new chapter of my life is beginning: I've finally finished school, I've moved to Florida to begin a new job, and now I'm able to really dive in and start sewing. Hopefully still under Gwen's tutelage. :)

First, I figured I needed a place to sew, so I bought this sewing table at a used furniture store

and I already have my iron and ironing board set up in what will become (after some more unpacking and straightening up as you can see), my sewing room.

My cat, Figaro, has even taken up residence in my sewing room, which I understand is quite common in households with both cats and sewing rooms.

I have everything I need to begin sewing now, including a pattern and material for my first project...and sew it begins....

Coming Soon!

2008-09-12T09:21:00.001-04:00

I've officially moved my blog to this blogspot site.

You can check out the old location of and sew it begins if you sew desire... at http://andsewitbegins.livejournal.com/ .

Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoy, and please come back again soon!