My Sewing Space

When I think about what 2013 might involve as it relates to my sewing room, I'm trying to think in terms of dreams or hopes rather than goals. What I'd like to be sewing is jackets. For me! BurdaStyle Larissa Moto Jacket I would like to have more jackets in my wardrobe. I have a number of cardigans, but I'm finding that I prefer the structured look of jackets more. The traditional suit jacket doesn't appeal to me, but I'd love to make each and every one pictured here (plus some others!). Sewaholic Patterns Cordova Jacket The problem is that jackets tend to be substantial projects and I suspect 2013 is going to be a busy year (if it continues on as 2012 has ended). Part of me rails against setting unrealistic goals and I really hate setting a goal and not accomplishing it. Also, I have a hard time maintaining motivation when a project drags on and I want to enjoy my sewing time, not feel burdened by it. BurdaStyle Cropped Denim Jacket Also, ...

It feels like I'm getting to this pretty late. How can it feel like the new year is well underway only three days into it? I considered just getting on with other bloggy things and forgetting about revisiting the goals I set for 2010, but that didn't seem right. So, here we go... Sewing Goals for 2010 1.  Go fabric shopping in Toronto. INCOMPLETE I could have made this happen, but honestly didn't feel the need to. I have lots of fabric that I would really like to sew. I need more time, not more fabric. I certainly still would like to go sometime for the experience, but I don't feel badly for not going in 2010. 2.  Knit  the owl sweater . COMPLETE Absolutely my proudest knitting accomplishment so far. 3.  Make a modern quilt for our living room wall. COMPLETE The quilt that I chose to make isn't exactly what I was thinking when I said "modern quilt," but I think it is a good fit and works with the rest of the room (which isn't modern at a...

One of my goals for 2010 was to work on projects for an art sale that I'm participating in continually throughout the year.  The sale is scheduled for the beginning of November.  I've done a terrible job with this goal.  There's always been something else that seems more urgent. Anyway, I completed six lad bags for the sale earlier this week. Since I had problems with the pencils falling out of the last version, I added a flap to keep the pencils in.

When I made this quilt , I made it a little different than the pattern suggests.  Mine was four feet square and the pattern includes directions for one that is four feet by five feet. That was bigger than I wanted on the wall, but I still made the number of squares as directed in the pattern. That meant I had four leftover from where the bottom row would be, but there were four more also - just extras, I guess.  I took those eight leftover squares and made two small wall-hangings with them. Pardon the shadows in the picture, but I thought the blue sky in the background was too lovely not to capture. I'm not entirely sure that I like them on their own or if I just see them as a smaller variety of the larger one and like them because of that.  They'll go in the box of things for the art sale , I'll forget about them and then re-evaluate at a later date.  Maybe I'll try to sell them, maybe not but I knew for sure that if I didn't finish them now, I never would. ...

Today was the first day this week that we didn't have rain or snow, so I headed outside to photograph the quilt . I'm quite happy with how it came out.  I hope I like it on the wall in our living room.  From a little more distance, you can see the different patterns in the squares/diamonds.  Almost like one of those Magic Eye things (that I have to admit I have never, ever  gotten to work for me.  Not even once). The part of quilting that I like best is the precise piecework.  I just love all those neatly matched seams. I quilted the entire thing with a random meandering/stippling pattern in a medium gray thread.  For this quilt, I like the contrast of the curvy lines with all the straight seams.  It also gives the quilt a cool overall texture.  The stitching is most easily seen from the back of the quilt. When it came time to finish the binding, I was torn about whether or not to do it by hand.  I think that doing it by han...

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!).

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...

I'm having a great time knitting the owls sweater .  I'm not a fast knitter, but this is coming together quickly and it's encouraging to see progress each time I work on it. It's a lot of stockinette stitch, which many find boring, but I don't.  And most of the sweaters that I really like are mostly stockinette stitch, so that's what I'm doing. The shaping is all at the back, rather than along the sides. The yarn is Cascade Ecological Wool and I love it.  I needed to double the strand to get the right gauge (I'm a tight knitter, I guess). I just have to finish the second sleeve, the join the sleeves to the body and then come the owls.  Hoot!

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...

I wrote down these sewing goals for myself at the beginning of 2009, but never published them as I started this blog later in January.  Here they are... 1.  Less yardage in than yardage out. Ideally, sew two pieces from stash for every one purchased. Well, I wrote that before I knew I was going to NYC.  Purchasing nearly 50 yards of fabric there made it pretty hard to accomplish this goal!  But, after checking my totals, I was surprised that the in/out numbers weren't farther from each other.  I should note that I do a lot of rounding with my tracking, so these can't be considered much more than estimates.  For 2009 - Fabric In:  90 yards; Fabric out:  84 yards. 2.  Make a great white shirt. I didn't do this.  I bought fabric in NYC and used a pattern candidate for a different shirt, but never got around to actually making the white one.  I do have a white button-down shirt in my closet, but it isn't a great fit.  I'm...