My Sewing Space

A few years ago I made these little wallets for the gift cards that I used regularly. The new school my kids attend participates in the same program, but it is much bigger here. That little wallet I had wasn't cutting it anymore. Some searching on Pinterest (it'll cure what ails you every time) led me to this tutorial for a pretty large gift card wallet. Mega even! I thought this might be more than I really needed, but I liked the concept of it. I had been playing around with this braided-look patchwork and decided to incorporate it in this project. I backed the exterior wallet piece with upholstery fabric to give it some extra heft. You can see some smudges on the back part. I've been using this for a couple of weeks already and can say that I'm really pleased with it. It is indeed more than I need, but I like having the space to keep everything sorted and also keep the loyalty/coupon cards with the gift cards. And the last page with room for gro...

Shortly after Christmas, I got into a bit of a pajama-sewing blitz. The pajama options for all three of my kids were pretty bad - way too small, woefully mismatched, etc. Pajamas aren't ever my first choice of things to sew (which is why the situation had gotten so bad) but I found there was a lot that I liked about this round of pajama sewing: The kids were really appreciate of new pajamas and that always makes the time and effort worth it. I find it really easy to leave the perfectionist tendencies behind with pajamas. "Good enough" is the name of the game for details, finishing and fit. Because they're pajamas! Sometimes I feel conflicted when I need to choose between being resourceful and frugal or getting it exactly how I want. Use the serviceable buttons already in the stash or go buy the ideal ones? Does this ready-made piping "go" or should I make my own out of newly-purchased and perfectly coordinating fabric? When it comes to pajamas, the reso...

I had to interrupt a nice stretch of selfish sewing I had going on to make swimwear for two of my three kids. They had swimming lessons starting up and their suits were so shot after the summer that wearing them even just once more was not a good option. Shopping for new suits this time of year sounded painful. Thankfully, I could make them and I even had everything I needed on hand: fabrics, patterns, notions. Stashing for the win! My daughter's suit is made from a fabric that someone passed on to me. I don't really care for it, but my daughter does like it quite a bit. I used Kwik Sew 2605 (now out of print) - a basic one-piece racer back suit. Sadly I did not add enough length to the size I made. This will get her through the next few weeks and probably not much longer. I didn't pay any attention to print placement when cutting out (I was in a hurry!) but I find the three flowers diagonally across the body rather pleasing. But, then there's the back: Oi...

For the top, I used Kwik Sew 2918 (heavily modified). I was inspired by this top . Or was it this one ? Hard to remember... The jersey fabric was dirt cheap when I picked it up a couple of years ago. I intended to use it for muslins because I wasn't so sure I liked the color. It did serve the muslin purpose well a couple of times, but I recently noticed that it matched this quilting cotton that I had in my stash and an outfit possibility was born. The shorts are New Look 6884 , again lengthened to meet school dress code approval. Next Up:  Simple Summer Stuff, Part 3 (of 3. For now...)

I'm going to resist the urge to use my sewing blog to whine about not sewing. Let's just say that I'd have more to say on a yard work blog than a sewing blog these days. Driven out of necessity, I have made a few very simple things for my daughter. She needed tops and shorts and even though I tried to get it taken care of quickly by buying things, RTW (ready-to-wear) clothes just doesn't fit her well. Shorts that fit in the waist are way too short to wear to school. Stash fabrics and TNT (tried-and-true) patterns to the rescue! I used Burda 9549 for the top and New Look 6884 (with added length to meet school dress code) for the shorts. I do love seersucker in the summer! The ice cream cone applique came from a clip art search. Pretty easy to do, but adds some interest. Next up:  Part 2 of Simple Summer Stuff

because yesterday I plowed through this pile of mending/altering rather than sewing something new and fun. All of it was kids' clothing. I wasn't exactly looking forward to this, but it didn't turn out to be so bad. The most time-consuming part was changing the thread on the machines. I'm so often tempted to toss something that rips or gets a hole, but I'm usually thankful that I don't. A woman at church asked if I would make some things for her to sell in her downtown framing shop. She likes to have some locally handmade things for sale, especially during the summer when tourist traffic is high. So, I'm going to be working on some bags and small things for her this week.

My most recent work has been a long way from exciting. I really don’t like home decorating sewing very much. I find it is usually a lot of long, straight and really boring seams put in a lot of fabric with a lot of pressing. Handling all that fabric gets cumbersome. This type of sewing feels like a chore to me. The fact that I don’t think I have much of a gift for decorating probably adds to my lack of enthusiasm. However, sometimes it is necessary. And now is one of those times. I made a valence for the girls’ bedroom out of this fabric: And a curtain for a bathroom out of this (cream-y colored cotton gause): Pictures of them up and in place would probably be more exciting, but they won’t go up until we move back in. So, it wasn’t so bad once I did it, but I’ve had this fabric since November and have just been putting it off since then. I do have a couple more curtains to do, but I don’t have that fabric with me. I also did some sewing for the girls’ group at our church. They need th...