My Sewing Space

Every year at about this time I get invited to donate something handmade for a silent auction fundraiser for the private school my children attend. I'm always happy to do so, but sometimes the decision about what to give stumps me for awhile. This year I decided to go with baby bibs. Donations of previous years: pillows , pillows , placemats , apron . Three girl bibs, sold as a set: Three boy bibs, sold as a set: I like the monster bib and wish that I had thought to make a girly monster. It didn't occur to me until they were all done. The daisy bib is nice, but doesn't feel quite as inspired as the others. I'm happy to say that these were a hit at the auction!

In the last two months, I have spent a lot of my sewing time making things for other people. Some of the items were for the two stores in town that I supply and others were just for individuals that wanted something specific. My natural tendency is to be selfish with my sewing time, but it's good to have a bit of money coming in to keep the sewing room stocked. Not much to say about all the things, but I did want to record them here... Bibs: Pillows: Angels: Pillows for charity auction: Vogue 8828 for a client (Really? Can I have a "client?" It sounds a bit more pretentious than I'm comfortable with, but I should probably own it and add a bit of professionalism to my work. And it's much more succinct than "a nice woman I know that wants me to sew things for her." I like succinct. But you'd never guess that from this long, rambling parenthetical comment). It's a very poor fit on my dress form, but was...

It's hard for me to believe, but it looks like I still have followers! Thanks for hanging with me through my very sporadic posting. It's been mostly "work" sewing happening around here lately. Some alteration items and then a few pillows and angels for the shops: Whoops.  Try to look past the camera lens smudge that shows up on every picture.  Prior to these things, I made a dress for one daughter and a jumper for the other, but haven't been able to get pictures yet. Now I'm really looking forward to some sewing for ME! My want-to-sew list is much too long, but plotting and planning is part of the fun, right? Right.

The beginning of August saw me doing lots of sewing at the request of others. Some of it was alteration work. Most of it was for S's shop here in town. Have a peek at the goods... One pillow with cat appliques requested by a customer: (The cat on the right is supposed to be sitting with his back toward us. Not sure if I made that obvious or not, but those were the instructions). Two fall-ish novelty baby bibs: Three tote bags: Four Christmas baby bibs: It's always a good exercise to stretch some of my creative muscles with these projects, but I'm also always happy to spend my sewing time on "me" projects when they're finished.

S asked me to make four unique baby bibs for her shop. She sent me in a certain direction with some ideas and here are the results: I roughly copied a bib I had on hand, modifying the corners/curves a bit. S initially asked for a bib that said "They put my cape on backwards" but text is difficult for me to do since I don't have an embroidery machine. The superhero-ish one is my attempt at a similar sentiment. Fruity bibs heavily inspired by these . If I make the strawberry one again, I think I'll make the leaves a little bigger.

More pillows  for S's shop... Cupcakes: Flowers: Ruched rose pattern here . The velveteen one is basically two yo-yo's. The larger one has some gathering stitches sewn in the center. (prestuffed) Instructions for this type of flower are all over the internet, so it's hard to know who to credit. This one is the most thorough. I didn't use any glue on mine and the backing is entirely different. And more owls (the first order sold out very quickly): If you are interested, more pictures can be found here .

The annual silent auction fundraiser for the school my children attend is coming up. This year my contribution is a couple of pillows. The first one has patchwork on one side and a floral pattern on the other: The other has roses and background stitching on one side and plaid on the other: I prepped these fronts and backs and then decided that I really wanted them to have invisible zipper closures, but I had not done that for a pillow before. To practice the technique, I made these pillows for our living room couch. Putting in the invisible zip is pretty simple, especially if you've done it in a garment. Since I was in pillow-making mode, I also made three pillows for my bedroom to coordinate with this quilt . The first - tucks sewn down in alternating directions: The second - textural interest created by partially sewing tucks in a grid (seen in a Threads article): The kids like to poke fingers in the grid intersections and manipulate th...

S asked me to make some pillows with owls on them. I also did these owl pillows for her (and they all sold), but she was looking for something different this time. She gave me some sketches with her ideas and asked me specifically to use materials with texture. I was inspired by the pillows in this shop which were remarkably similar to S's sketches. The pillows are 11" x 18" finished. There are a few more photos here .

Three more angels for M's shop... I've been pretty honest about these angels in the past , I think. They aren't my favorite things to make. But they sell and do a little bit to support my addiction hobby. And it is pretty interesting to watch them morph from something like bowling pins.... ...into something more like rubber chickens..... ...and finally into something human-like. This bag is also for M's shop, to replace this one that sold very quickly. Yay! It is made from wool very similar to the first one, but it started as a neutral beige color that didn't seem very exciting for a handbag. I chose to dye it purple. The wool felted a bit during the dying process, so it was a little harder to sew (more bulk). My Pfaff still muscled through and I'm happy with the result. This one closes with a snap rather than a zipper. I thought these instructions for applying magnetic snaps were quite good. The application feels very secure. I'm not d...