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...

Hey, thanks for the lovely comments about my coat. I was down and out with a stomach bug for three days this week and your kind thoughts were a very welcome bright spot! Three years ago I made a shirt for The Preacher . At the time I wasn't sure that it was a success, but he really liked it and continues to wear it often and really appreciate it. Decent quality shirting fabrics are really hard to come by locally so I don't do a lot of sewing for him. Okay, that's just an excuse. I bought a nice piece of shirting cotton in NY with him in mind more than 18 months ago and didn't do anything with it until now. It was The Preacher's birthday at the beginning of November, so I did some stealthy sewing and worked on this without him knowing. The sewing was stealthy, I guess, but the idea of this shirt wasn't really. He knew about the fabric when I bought it and had talked about making it a couple of times. I had tried to talk him into a trimmer fit and I thought...

At the end of the summer I shortened a dress for a friend. It was a dress she had worn as a bridesmaid in a wedding. Shortening it meant that she could wear it again and she did - as a wedding attendee. I was left with a pretty good size swath of fabric that was cut off the bottom of the dress. I didn't really have a plan for it, but thought it would be best to hang on to it. Fast forward a few months....and I turned some of the fabric into a matching clutch: I drew up the pattern, but copied the shape of the bottom from one of my daughter's purses. The bag is underlined with a pretty heavyweight upholstery fabric. It gives it some heft and stability. The fashion fabric actually has a lot of stretch. The flap is finished with a bias binding and the bag closes with a magnetic snap. The inside is lined. I actually made this gift using her sewing machine! She loaned it to me when mine needed some attention in the shop. She's a good friend!

An art sale patron specially ordered two crayon rolls from me. She wanted them in time for Christmas to give to her grandchildren. Her only specification: one for a boy and one for a girl. It was a pretty simple order to complete.

Early in the summer, a woman from church gave me a bag of fabric that she wasn't going to use. It was primarily quilting cotton in farm and boyish prints. This was a great addition to my stash and I've used a few of the pieces. She also included an apron that she had picked up at a farmer's market in Alberta when she was on vacation. The apron was made from an old pair of jeans. She thought it was pretty neat and wanted me to see it as maybe I would be interested in making them, also. The apron was an interesting thing to see, but it wasn't something that was going to be high on my list of things to make. Fast forward a bit to August when I was on an uncluttering rampage. I got rid of heaps of things that were not enhancing my (or my family's) life in any way, shape or form. (Side note: I find the Unclutterer blog very inspiring. So many good ideas and insights there). Fast forward again to a few weeks ago when this woman asked for the apron back. I looked everyw...

My daughter's school is having a fashion show and silent auction fundraiser later this month.  I was asked to make "something" for the auction.  This is what I came up with... ...an apron/potholder/tea towel/dish cloth set. For the apron, I used Butterick 4945 .  Usually, aprons are good beginner projects and I think they are pretty simple.  Not so with this apron.  I was looking forward to just cutting out a pattern with no alterations and then just sewing it up following the directions without too much thinking. For the most part, the no alterations thing worked.  The only thing I changed was the waist ties.  The ties in the pattern were a single layer and rather wide.  It seemed to me that they would be hard to get to look good when tied on a person.  So, I made them double layer and narrower. I should have thought through the directions instead of blindly following them.  The apron turned out okay, but it could have been sim...

This specially requested basket for a friend. I really love the lining print.  I think you'll be seeing a lot more of that one.

Thanks for the compliments on the make-up bag.  I did draft the pattern myself, just using the measurements from the original bag and adjusting them for the requested change.  I find that I really kind of like the process of trying to copy something as closely as possible. Awhile ago I saw someone (on a blog) wrap a tea towel and dish cloth around a wooden spoon and tie it up with a ribbon.  Viola!  A great gift.  I liked this idea and decided to use it this Christmas.  Unfortunately, I can't find the blog where I saw it.  And I've really searched because I can't get mine to look very good tied around the spoon. Anyway, these will be gifts for school and Sunday school teachers, babysitters, etc. Dish cloth pattern: Garter Stitch Lace Facecloth Dish cloth pattern: Lacy Picot Swirl Cloth Dish cloth pattern: Lion Brand Lion Cotton Dish Cloth Dish cloth pattern: Diagonal Knit Dish Cloth Dish cloth pattern: Lace Zig Zag Dishcloth Pat...

Even though this project wasn't for me, I still enjoyed it.  :)  A woman from church brought me a store-bought make-up bag and asked me to make one like it, but deeper.  She also wanted a flat, pencil case-type bag in the same fabric. The bodies of both bags are interfaced and there is layer of batting in the boxy one.  I used a thicker cord than I usually do for the piping.  I think this helps the bag keep it's shape but the combination of the batting and heavier cord made it hard to get the piping to look good.  I had to stitch around the bag more than a couple times before I was satisfied.  The bag on the left is the one I was copying.  I put the zipper in the center along the top rather than on the edge.  The pieces bordering the zipper do not have a layer of batting.  The zipper color isn't a great match for the bags.  I probably should have gone with pink, yellow, or off-white to compliment the dots in the fabric. ...

Since it's been awhile since I've posted anything, I would love to be able to say I have lots to show you, but I don't.  Really all I've been working on are these: They're someone else's drapes that needed hemming along the sides and bottom of the drapes and the lining.  There were five big, heavy panels and it was a rather long and tedious job.  However, it gives me great pleasure to say that I am now finished with them and right after I post this I'm going to call for them to be picked up and I will be happy to have that corner of my sewing space back. Since that project is finished, it would be nice if I could get back to my jeans , but there is actually more sewing for other people that has jumped in line.  It's good to make some money from sewing, but wasn't I just saying that I wanted to make something for ME?!  I'm a selfish sewist.  I won't deny it.

This past Sunday was the start of a new sermon series at church.  It will run until Christmas, covering different aspects of prayer with the theme of "Come, Lord Jesus."  The Preacher asked me to make a small banner to hang on the front of the pulpit to go along with the theme. This sort of sewing makes me nervous.  I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I'm not an artist.  I don't have great ideas for interpreting themes or symbols or combining them and I feel pretty inexperienced and uncreative in what media and skills I am able to use.  Church banners are a little like theatrical makeup - it has to be a bit over-the-top up close so that it looks okay from a distance.  Anything too subtle just gets lost.  Size and scale are much different, too.  I don't have much confidence in my ability to judge these things in the design/construction phase.  And then knowing that the thing is just going to hang there week after week for a coup...

A woman I know asked me to make these for her son who lives alone in a large, old, drafty farmhouse.  It sounds like the heating bills can be a little tough to swallow.  These will sit on the floor in front of the closed door to block any drafts that normally would come under the door. They're just a tube of fabric, sewn closed at both ends.  I wouldn't have picked this fabric, but that's what she gave me.  It is some sort of knit fleece, with a fair bit of stretch.  It was smooth on one side, but very fuzzy on the other.  I wouldn't have picked white for something that sits on the floor, either, but it wasn't my call.  I wanted to get rid of the stretch, so I underlined (that seems like a much too sophisticated word for this application, but I guess that is what I did) it with bleached muslin. I haven't made this sort of thing before, so I did a little online research about them.  My biggest question was what to fill it wit...