My Sewing Space

S asked me to make more little girl purses to sell in her shop.  The first three I made took awhile to sell, so I thought I'd add a little more to them to make them more interesting.  So, each bag has a zippered coin purse and crayon roll to go with it. I used the crayon roll tutorial found here , but substituted an elastic loop and button for the closure rather than a ribbon tie.  It seemed to me that most little girls wouldn't be able to tie that ribbon and I'm all for kids doing things independently.  The elastic loop on the purple crayon roll is 1/8" elastic.  For the other two, I used a pony tail elastic (a tip I think I read in Threads ). This fabric was given to me by S when she was clearing out her stash.  She was happy to see it used well.  :)  The lining is a coordinating print. The green is brighter in real life than it shows up here.  It's lining leftovers from this jacket . I finished these last w...

We now interrupt the streak of selfish sewing I had going to bring you this T-shirt for my younger daughter. I used Kwik Sew 2918 , size T2 with added length in the sleeves.  The butterfly is an iron-on applique that I purchased.  I haven't used one of those recently, so I'm curious to see how it looks after cycling through the laundry. The hems are finished with the ruffling technique I described here .  I picked up her pants at Old Navy for less than $2.00 on clearance and they have a pink zipper!  I thought it was just me that did that when I didn't want to go get the "right" color! 

I did get the jacket cut out the other night and started sewing it today.  It's going to be a jean-style corduroy jacket.  The fabric is a stretch corduroy that I bought last year for very little money at the end of winter. The pattern I'm using is Vogue 2793, an out-of-print Oscar de la Renta.  It's a great pattern.  This is the third time I'm making it.  (To be honest, I don't really wear the other two that I've made because I don't have anything to wear with them, but I'm optimistic this one will work out well in my closet).  The sleeve is particularly fantastic - I substituted this sleeve when making this jacket.  I'll try to take more pictures of the sleeve later. Including the fashion fabric, the lining and the interfacing, there are 31 pieces to cut out.  Thirty one!  So far I've only done the corduroy.  All of the details on the jacket are great, but my goodness, this might take awhile. The corduroy is really messy....

I said that I would be working on a jacket next (the top is already done).  I got out the pattern and fabric and noticed that the pattern has a ridiculous number of pattern pieces.  I wasn't feeling very inspired to start that and wanted to do something quick and small.  These coasters are the result. This sort of thing is a possibility for the craft sale projects that I need to get started working on .  I'm really liking this particular combination of colors. My son has two infected ears so we didn't really sleep at all last night and now today I have three extra kids here (and a bottle of Mt Dew).  I shouldn't expect to get any sewing time in tonight, but I might still try.  At least getting the jacket cut out would be nice.

My favorite felted slippers have been in dire need of replacement for some time now.  I finally got around to it. This is the second time I've used this pattern.  I wish I could give proper credit for the pattern, but it is from a book I checked out of the library more than two years ago.  I copied the pattern so I could mark it up and then kept it after I was finished.  The copy doesn't have any book info on it. Here they are pre-felted: The green yarn is Paton's Classic Wool and the blue is Lamb's Pride Worsted. I made a women's size large, which is probably bigger than I needed, but I like them to be felted as much as possible so they are nice and thick. After two cycles in the washer, they turned out pretty good.  I think one is slightly bigger than the other.  The soles are still damp, so I haven't really tried them on.  They may need another cycle (or partial cycle). My feet are looking forward to wearing them!

I'm realizing that I need to wear more layers.  I'm often cold and end up putting on a hoodie or fleece jacket over my other clothes.  This isn't so bad except that the end result doesn't always look that great.  So, instead, I should plan for layers and start out the day dressing that way.  Here's my first attempt at this plan. I picked up this brown sweater knit recently at Fabricland.  It was very inexpensive and the label said it was a wool/poly blend.  The stretch is pretty minimal and it has a soft hand, but is a little irritating next to my skin. Time for a haircut!  It's looking very...uh...asymmetrical here. I've used Jalie 2449 before both for me and my daughter, but never in a sweater knit.  I used a size bigger than I needed according to the measurment chart and cut 1/2" seam allowances.  I think I should have gone up an additional size because of the minimal stretch.  The neckband in the pattern d...

They're finished.  I just looked back to see when I started these.  November 17 .  That's a long time ago (in sewing time).  I knew it would be a longer term project, but it felt a little to close to a epic project.  Not that the sewing took so long, but because they were just sitting on my sewing desk all through the other projects and Christmas sewing.  I'd see them and think about them, but not get to work on them.  Now they're done and I wish I could say that I love them, but I don't. Let's start with the things I do like... The Pattern This is the J Stern Designs Misses' Jeans pattern.  It is intended to be used with regular (non-stretch) denim.  The jeans are fitted with a low rise and a boot-cut leg.  Optional back flap pockets are included.  Overall, I thought the fit was pretty good.  Of course, I did have to make some adjustments, but they weren't drastic changes.  I think this is a great draft for j...

I don't really make New Year's Resolutions, but I do like to set some goals.  I find it pretty easy to set sewing goals.  There are still so many things I would like to make, techniques I would like to learn, patterns to try, etc.  In an attempt to be reasonable, but also give myself some direction, here are my goals for 2010: 1.  Go fabric shopping in Toronto. I live about 90 minutes from Toronto, but I have no idea what sort of fabric stores are there.  I'm sure there are some and I'd like to check them out. 2.  Knit the owl sweater . I have never knit myself a sweater.  Vests, socks, slippers, scarfs, mittens, etc for myself and several sweaters for my kids, but none for me.  It has always seemed a little daunting to me.  But, I thought this was a great pattern and in a chunky-weight yarn, so I think I can do it. 3.  Make a modern quilt for our living room wall. I love all the modern quilts people are making...

More gifts! These are just like the still-all-too-ubiquitous plastic grocery bags, but they're fabric.  I followed this tutorial and you actually use a plastic bag as a pattern.  The instructions are very good and include a pocket so that the bag can be folded up and is easy to keep in a purse or a car's glove box. Mostly for the sake of the gift recipients, here's how to fold up the bag.... 1.  Lay the bag pocket side down and fold it length-wise using the edges of the pocket as a guide. 2.  Fold it in half, aligning the top of the handles with the bottom of the bag. 3.  Fold in half again and then reach into pocket with your hand and turn the whole thing (pocket included) inside out. Happy shopping!