My Sewing Space

It's time to start thinking about spring clothes for the kiddos.  I started with this no-brainer for my son: a new shirt to wear to church. I've used this pattern many times before (see here and here ).  But, it looks like I need to look for the next size grouping because I used the T4 and had to make it bigger to fit.  I added 1" in width to the yoke, 1/2" on each side of the neck and also 1" to the front and back (added 1/2" to each pattern piece).  I added the extra in the middle of the shoulder seam so as not to mess up the neck or armhole.  I didn't want to have to change all  the pattern pieces.  I also added 1.5" in length , but trimmed off 5/8" before hemming. I bought the fabric at Fabricland during the closing sale, so it was a pretty good deal.  It's pretty lightweight, but I liked the yellow puckery plaid for spring and summer. Next up:  Spring dresses for the girls.

A huge thank you to the very lovely, encouraging, and generous Ann of Ann's Fashion Studio ! After seeing my post about my jacket that was lacking sleeve placket buttons, she sent me a package of matching ones!  I'm so grateful!  This makes the jacket much nicer to wear - no gaping sleeve plackets, and it looks much nicer, too.

One yard of wild paisley print fabric:  $4.00 One yard of pink pom-pom trim: $2.00 One Kwik Sew pattern: $8.00 (but already used once before, so that should at least be halved) Three-quarters of a yard of elastic: $0.50 One very happy girl that thinks her mom is the best  sew-er in the whole  world (emphasis hers):  priceless My daughter fell hard for the pom-pom trim that I used on these bags .  She really loved to touch it and dreamed of all sorts of ways it could be used.  I told her I would make her a shirt and include the pom-poms somehow and she picked out this fabric to use. I sewed the pom-poms to the right side of the shirt and then added a faced hem, so that when it was turned, the pom-poms were sandwiched between the shirt and the facing. I used this pattern ( Kwik Sew 3169 ) before and liked how it turned out, but I decided to put the elastic in the long sleeves at the wrists instead of around the upper arm this time.  Since the...

I've started on a quilt to hang on the wall.  I do have some quilting experience, but haven't done much at all recently.  That previous experience told me that a kit was probably the best way for me to go.  I chose this one. When the kit arrived, I was disappointed with the colors of the batiks, but now that I've been using them I really like them.  Half of the triangles are predominantly darker and half are lighter.  One of each gets sewn together to make 12" squares. This week I got all of the triangles pieced.  The bisecting seam still needs to be sewn on all the blocks.  And that's how it's going to stay for awhile since I'm leaving tomorrow and will be out of town for a few days (spring break!).

Thanks for your suggestions about what to call these things I'm making.  I'm going with Mary Nanna's suggestion of "Lad Bags."  Thank you!  I finished three more yesterday and dropped them off at S's shop. Next up:  I think I'm going to start on a wall quilt.  Either that or a new shirt for my son.  It might depend on this week's weather...

I mentioned that the little girl purses I made were well received.  Compliments that came in person were usually followed up with, "I need something like that for my little boy" and S promptly requested "something for boys" for her shop.  I wasn't really coming up with any good ideas, but then I remembered a little notebook thing* that my daughter received for Christmas.  Made in the right fabrics it could work really well for boys.  On the same Sunday I was going to explain my idea to S, she gave me a diagram with the same sort of idea sketched out.  Off to the drawing board, and here's what I came up with: First draft: I added a zippered pocket to the back since nothing other than the pencils and pad can be carried on the inside.  The pocket is small and I'm not sure what could really fit in it (a matchbox car?) but I think it adds some visual interest also. I decided to do six slots for pencils, each 7/8" wide.  It is easy to get the pe...

My five-year-old daughter really liked all of the purses that I just made .  When each was finished she would ask, "Can I have that one or is that one to sell, too?"  I kept saying that they were to sell and finally she asked if I thought she could buy one when they were all done.  Of course, I felt terrible and told her I would make one just for her.  It turns out that the crayon rolls were her favorite part, and she already has more than one purse and a coin purse, so I just made a crayon roll for her.  Now she's happy and I feel less guilty. The crayon roll tutorial that I used for these is here .  Details about minor changes I made are here .

The last batch of little girl bags that I made a few weeks ago were really well received.  In keeping with my goals for 2010 , I decided to make six more for the art sale.  I cut these all out in January and then assembled little "kits" with everything I needed for each bag.  And then they just sat on my sewing desk while I worked on other projects.  My goal for last week was to get them all done and I did.  Woohoo! Fabric flower tutorial here . Perhaps this one should go to Minnie Mouse? Fabric flower tutorial here .  I used a vegetable can instead of a tea cup for the circle template. I find this rose print fabric to be a little like the widow's flour and oil in I Kings 17.  No matter how much I use up, there is always more.  I used it here and here .  I also made a huge "gift bag" for a garbage can out of it a few months back.  And there's still more... This is the same combination of colors I used here .  I'm not sur...