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Showing posts from 2010

Reversible Apron

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We did at our house. Christmas tends to be a busy time for preachers due to extra services, but there are some other areas of responsibility that lighten up at the same time, so both  Christmas Eve and Christmas Day actually felt pretty relaxing here. Later today we are leaving to visit family for a week and we're really looking forward to that. I'm rather behind with blogging. Things have been busy and while I've still managed to squeeze in the sewing time that I need, the blogging time didn't make the cut. I do find writing about my projects helpful for myself, so I'm going to try to get caught up relatively soon. I've been thinking about aprons lately. I really like aprons. It's not unusual for me to wear one most of the day if I'm home. It seemed like it was time for me to have another one. I looked at a lot of patterns, but didn't find one that I really liked. My personal apron preferences: a ful

Mini Mittens

Several months ago I made a mini sweater . Now that sweater is on our Christmas tree and I really like it there. I decided to look for some other miniature knitted things to put on the tree as well. My search led me to these Mini Mittens . The grey pair were the first ones I made. I like how they turned out, but grey isn't a great color for a Christmas ornament - not very festive and hard to see on the tree. I also wanted them to be even smaller, so I made another pair from multi-colored sock yarn on size 1 needles. These were just what I was hoping for (they're about an inch long). But, they aren't on our tree because I tied them to a Christmas card envelope and gave them away. Now I have to make another set. But, this is fun, fast knitting. I might make a couple more sets.

The Can-Can Skirt

When I first saw this skirt about a year ago, I thought that my daughter would loooove it if it was pink. I was right. The “pattern” is really just a set of instructions, but they are pretty good. The size of the different tiers is determined using a set of ratios, so there are an infinite number of sizes that can be made, including for women. Attaching the ruffles is done with a lack of precision. The instructions say, “Don’t pin; just sew.” I’m a little embarrassed to say how nervous that made me. I like precision. One side seam is sewn before the ruffles go on and the second is done after. The ruffles don’t match up all that well on the second side seam, which I thought “ruined” the skirt, but when this skirt is on my daughter I can hardly find the side seam, much less notice unmatched ruffles. So, I think the instructions are good and maybe I should be a little less hung up on precision. Non-fraying chiffon is the fabric recommended for the ruffles, but I used polyester org

The Stars Have Aligned...

...on my couch! These were all requested by S and most of the fabric is from her stash. Two of the dark grey ones are for her to give as a gift and the others are for her shop. Individual pics: This is a decorator fabric. Half of the points are cut from the "right" side and half from the "wrong" side: Also a decorator fabric, the points are cut from two different sections of the same fabric: The purple fabric is from S. I combined it with this strange greenish-gold dupioni silk that I had. It looks much more gold in the pictures than it does in real life. This is kind of a strange combination, but it's good to try something different once in awhile. The textured fabric was my compliment to S's crimson fabric. The raised rows are strands of recycled silk spun together. The colors are fascinating to look at, but it isn't an easy fabric to work with.  I'll drop these off tomorrow and that will make her shop very well stocked with s

Ottobre 01-2010-14 - Denim Coat

I'm so pleased with how this little coat turned out, I hardly know what to say about it. It is a gift for my newest niece and I had so much fun making it!  The pattern is in the Spring 2010 issue of Ottobre magazine. This is the third Ottobre pattern for me - the other two ( here and here ) were much simpler than this one. I was so impressed with this coat pattern that I cancelled my subscription to Threads and started subscribing to Ottobre. I've been subscribing to Threads continuously for 10 years now and haven't been impressed with the last couple of years at all. There are a couple of reasons for that. I'm not completely dissatisfied with Threads, but it seems like a good time for a change. Threads and Ottobre are entirely different sorts of magazines, but the funding for them comes from the same place so I had to choose one or the other. Okay, back to the coat... It is fully lined with a printed plaid (aka difficult-to-match plaid). The buttons came home w

Special Order Crayon Rolls

An art sale patron specially ordered two crayon rolls from me. She wanted them in time for Christmas to give to her grandchildren. Her only specification: one for a boy and one for a girl. It was a pretty simple order to complete.

Christmas Table Runner

S asked me to make a Christmas table runner for her shop. Her only suggestions about what it should look like were "not too fussy or busy." I decided on a simple applique of three trees on a linen background. The runner is 60" long and 13" wide. For the trees, I used a lightweight fusible product and then straight-stitched around the edges. I like the raw-edge applique look, but don't use it very often. The border and backing is an apple green color that didn't photograph well. I was happy with the mitered corners, but they don't look so good (a little lumpy) in the pictures. I do really like the narrow folded border inside the green one. I only had a small amount of the striped fabric, but think this was a good way to use it. I was so happy with this when I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but now that I'm looking at the pictures, I'm less than thrilled. I'm really hoping that it is just the pictures, but it looks wrinkly and r

Jeans Re-purposed As An Apron

Early in the summer, a woman from church gave me a bag of fabric that she wasn't going to use. It was primarily quilting cotton in farm and boyish prints. This was a great addition to my stash and I've used a few of the pieces. She also included an apron that she had picked up at a farmer's market in Alberta when she was on vacation. The apron was made from an old pair of jeans. She thought it was pretty neat and wanted me to see it as maybe I would be interested in making them, also. The apron was an interesting thing to see, but it wasn't something that was going to be high on my list of things to make. Fast forward a bit to August when I was on an uncluttering rampage. I got rid of heaps of things that were not enhancing my (or my family's) life in any way, shape or form. (Side note: I find the Unclutterer blog very inspiring. So many good ideas and insights there). Fast forward again to a few weeks ago when this woman asked for the apron back. I looked everyw

After the Sale

It's been over and done with for more than a week now, but I had a good experience with the art sale that I was participating in. While I didn't take an actual count, I think I sold about half of the items I brought. The other artists were fun to chat and visit with and it was neat to meet the customers and talk about some of the things I'd made. I really have no desire to join the craft show circuit and do a sale every weekend, but this was a good opportunity to try it out. I'll likely do the same one next year. In the last week, I've been working on all of the things that I'd postponed until the sale was over - sewing and otherwise. Most of the sewing is for other people. I've decided that once I finish the things I've currently agreed to do, I'm not taking anything else until January. S liked the idea of the bigger star pillow when I dropped off the other pillows , so I made one that is 50% bigger than the hanging ones. To give you an idea of

The Final Pieces

These zippered pouches are the last things I sewed for the art sale. I made three others awhile ago that I'm going to include also. Not terribly exciting, but I thought it would be good to have some simple things at a lower price point. The sale starts tomorrow (and ends on Sunday) and other than setting up my table, I'm ready to go. So excited!

More Gathered Clutches

Many of you had positive things to say about the gathered clutches I made a few weeks ago (thank you!), and I was quite enamored with them myself so I made five more to sell this weekend. My favorite of this bunch: Sometimes sewing multiples can get tedious, but using different fun fabrics for each helps each one feel new.

Shopping Bags

Most stores in our town charge you a nickel for a plastic bag when you check out. I love this practice and the way that it encourages people to bring their own cloth bags or reuse their plastic ones. My habit of bringing along bags to the grocery store is well established, but I used to find myself stuck at places like the drug store or farmer's market or other impromptu stops. Then I picked up a bag at an upscale kitchen goods store that rolls up quite compactly. Now I keep that in my purse, so I always have a bag with me. I like my bag so much that I wanted to replicate it for the art sale. The final result is a hybrid of the bag I purchased and these that I made last year. The bag is a little bigger than the average plastic grocery bag. The velcro tab is used to keep the bag rolled up, but also can close the top of the bag when it is full. Most of the bag is a single layer of cotton, but the handles are faced. There is a double row of top-stitching around both edges of