A Lot of Sewing Going On

I decided to clean my sewing room. I know, I know. And as I was going through some stuff I found a pair of wooden handles. I figured it was about time to use them and I had that Miranda Day bag pattern I talked about in the last post. And so, using only items and fabric from the stash, I made this bag. It's the prototype for...

this bag! I use this bag every day and I love it. You know what? That crosshatch quilting on the first bag took twice as long as the pebbling on this black bag.

Then I found this little dab of a Jackie Robinson print in the stash. Since I've always wanted to try shirring, I used the technique on this little top for my grand-daughter. This is so cute with a pair of shorts.

This is the same technique as the top. The difference is the top is 100% quilting cotton and this little dress is 100% cotton lawn. Cotton lawn is lighter weight and really shirrs better.

I was on a roll and made this adorable pillowcase dress too.

Have you been sewing lately? I find after making a large quilt I want to finish something fast and this type of sewing is the best thing for me to do.

Upcycled Sweatshirt in six easy steps.

I had this pale green sweatshirt that fit nicely; it wasn't one of those with raglan sleeves. It suffered a fate that involved bleach. Boo hoo. But I still wore it until about 3 weeks ago when I decided to make a jacket out of it.

Unfortunately I didn't take photos of the process, but you can search online for the technique to turn a sweatshirt into a cardigan or jacket.

1. Take the sweatshirt apart
2. Use the sweatshirt pieces to rough cut fabric to cover the outside of the shirt
3. Quilt the pieces. I lucked out, because the batik I used had a nice vine on it that I followed as my quilting
4. Trim the fabric to match the sweatshirt fleece
5. Reassemble the sweatshirt and add binding around the cuff and neck/front/hemline
6. Add the zipper

You're done!

This was some cheap batik that I didn't want to use in a quilt and decided that it would be better as a garment. It almost has a camouflage look to it, doesn't it?

Christmas sewing and knitting reveal

Do you remember this post? I teased you with just a glimpse of the fabric because I couldn't show a photo of the complete gift. Well, here are the pajamas I made for a wonderful girl. I made the pants like yoga pants but with cargo pockets so there is a place for her cell phone.

And the top is a hoodie made from coordinating Cuddle fabric.

I could NOT find a pattern for the hoodie so I made some mods to a pattern I had. Creativity to the rescue!

And then there is the sweater. You caught a glimpse of it on the needles shortly after I cast on. It is a lovely swing sweater that drapes beautifully especially after I 'killed' the acrylic. It is warm and soft but not fitted.

I think the pajamas were better received than the sweater.

Design Wall Monday, January 6, 2014

It has been a while since I have had anything to share on my design wall. No mojo, I guess.

Do you remember this post back in November? I decided that I wasn't that interested in doing the 6-hour quilt so removed it from the wall. By doing that one little thing, it seems my 'block' has been lifted because I got moving on the jacket. Wanna see?

I used a sweatshirt for the base and just covered it. It is sewn and quilted and awaiting binding. I am going to use more of the sleeve fabric for the binding. That fabric is not only on the sleeves but the whole front is made with it.

Sometime this week, I hope to have this finished.

For more design walls, please visit Judy at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday - December 9, 2013

Want to see what I am working on at the moment? Here is a shot of it! Tee Hee! Can't show more because it is secret sewing. Shhh.

What are you working on?

Visit JudyL at PatchworkTimes.com for more (and interesting) design walls.

And More Sewing

I HAVE been busy. Honest. But because of the season, I can't show what I've been constructing, after all, how exciting is a photo of a heap of cuddle fabric? So you will have to wait. I'll show you the wreath on my front door. Isn't it pretty?

Electric

Carrying a lot of static electricity within your body is not fun. Domestic animals hate you, you kill electronics and you give shocking kisses. Now that fall has necessitated turning on the forced air furnace, the condition worsens. I no longer wear watches with batteries, or any wrist watch for that matter. My cell phone stays in a pocket because if I leave it on a table and then walk to pick it up ZAP! You should see what I do to programmable thermostats: it can't be good on them. I am constantly looking for something metal to touch to discharge the static so I don't inadvertently zap the computer or other electronics.

What does this have to do with sewing/quilting?

Well, I try to wear natural fibers like cotton, hemp, wool or alpaca to help mitigate the static buildup that man-made fibers generate. Since my closet is predominately t-shirts, I started many years ago to make my own shirts. Lately, I haven't been able to find 100% cotton interlock locally, so I have been buying 2X and 3X 100% cotton men's t-shirts on clearance. They have been stacking up and now there are about 12 that need restyling.

I love this pattern from Pamela's Patterns.  I have used it over and over because it is just so flattering. When I use a 2X shirt, the shirt needs to be evaluated to see if the cuffs can be used or not. Sometimes the sleeves are so long, I cut off the cuff and just hem the sleeve. I do, however, carefully unsew the neck ribbing from any of the shirts because the ribbing will be reused on the new shirt, but for the most part, I can just cut the shirts apart.

Because a man's shirt is usually in neutral colors, I have started using brighter colors in a top layer. And you wondered why I knit so much. Sweaters are great for a top layer.

Not an empty design wall

Not much is happening in the way of quilting. Still.

I am currently on a garment sewing jag and as I sew my mind wanders to other projects. I pulled the Laurel Burch panel from stash and added several other coordinating fabrics from stash. What you see here is the start of a jacket.

The fabrics above the Laurel Burch jacket fabrics are the leftovers from this quilt. I have always wanted to try "The 6 Hour Quilt" from Kaye Wood. Note: this link is to the pdf and will automatically download.

If you want to see other design walls you can visit Patchwork Times.

A Birthday Gift

A young man needed a last minute birthday gift. Since the great fashion fabric organization unearthed some stashed fleece and the serger, it was a no-brainer on what to make.

There. That red will work for a 1 year old.

It took longer to thread the serger than it did to sew the item.

Do you do this? Keep a notebook? For different types of fabric, I will make note of the serger settings and then staple a sample to the page. I have done this for rolled hems, narrow hems, chiffon, rayon, fleece, and flannel, one layer or two layers. All the different methods have their own page. It sure does save time and lots and lots of fiddling.

 

And voila! The finished project; completed in under an hour. This should keep that wee head warm this winter.

Pre-sewing Organization

I need new clothes. Badly. The ones in the closet are bagging, sagging and shabby. I know there is some 'fashion' fabric in the sewing room but I wasn't sure what and how much. So a cabinet organization happened.

These are the two cabinets under the cutting counter. Every time I wanted something from here, everything was pulled out because, invariably it was in the back. The one cabinet is the garage for the serger.

This stuff is all from the serger garage. It includes the four button tins and a large stack of brand new, uncut vintage damask napkins and tablecloth.

The fashion fabric has a lot of blues. Can you tell my fav color? LOL. The fabric runs from dupioni silk to wool to tshirt fabric. There is even a fat quarter bundle of Anna Maria Horner lawn fabric.

A trip to the dollar store with measurements in hand netted these containers.

And here is the finished product. All the thinner fabrics and remnants were rolled and tied with saved selvages and put in containers on the top shelf. A third basket is behind the left front one and all the pinwale corduroy is behind the basket with the tshirt material there on the right. The other cabinet has 2 of the square baskets and one of the round ones so that the button tins and serger would fit into the cabinet.

I had to leave out the two largest pieces so I reckon they will get used first. I see a bathrobe and a sweatshirt-type top coming up.

Dance Dress

She brought this dress to me. "Can you make the top bigger?"

It's a cute dress and so very retro. There is a side zip and it's lined. Bigger, huh? Let's study this now. There is no extra fabric to work with. What to do?

Voila! I drew a line up the center back and then machine basted on each side and the bottom, then I cut up the center back. I can't believe that I had some narrow orange bias binding in the stash that matched. Exactly. I bound the edge of the cut covering the basting at the same time. Two eyelets were added at the top and then rat-tail cord was threaded through.

The keyhole opening allows for more room and the zip is still in for ease of dressing. I am so clever!

Here Comes The Sun

Once the sun came out from behind the clouds the waiting feeling was gone and I have been out in the yarden putzing around recharging my internal batteries.

The block is of one quadrant of a paper pieced sunflower.  These four blocks are orphan blocks because I forgot to mirror image parts of it and they are all exactly alike. The paper is still in them.

Throughout the waiting, creative endeavors have been happening. One and a half pairs of socks have been knitted and two Quilts of Valor quilts have been quilted, bound and labeled. The third will be done this week end. Then three presentations cases will be made and they will await a meet up with Alycia to hand them over.

Clothing needs to be made. Part of my plan has been implemented. All the fashion fabric has been measured and a tag pinned to the fabric with the yardage and width. All the fronts and backs of the garment patterns have been copied and put into a binder. Now to make a spread sheet with photos of the fabric and the yardage and then match it up to a pattern. Some of this fabric will have to be donated because it was purchased when I worked in the corporate world and will not be appropriate where I work now. What is my work garb now? Mainly tees and jeans because the environment is fairly dirty with bronze dust, liquid latex and molding plaster and I just don't want to ruin good clothes. I can see a lot of shirts and blouses in the sewing future, tho.

How Very Odd

Recently, I found myself in-between projects. This doesn't happen very often to me.

The basket of leftover sock yarn was empty after knitting up 38 barn-raising squares. Of those 38 squares, one square used two different yarns and another used three different yarns. If you are keeping track, that is 41 different pairs of socks Wowza!

The kit for Quilt Retreat has been cut and packaged in the container just waiting to be sewn.

Yes, there are quilt tops to be sandwiched and then quilted, but not right now. What to do? I felt no obligation or rush to do anything fiber related. I did not feel at loose ends, though, just relaxed. How very odd.

As another load of laundry went into the wash, I realized that there was mending to do. Mending is not my favorite things, but frankly, I was tired of wearing ill-fitting clothes. I had a mission! A pair of sweat pants ended up with a new waistband and was shortened from waist to crotch, two pairs of corduroy pants were taken in at the waist, a bathrobe zip was mended and seams deepened, another bathrobe had crocheted belt loops added, a fleece jacket's collar was restitched onto the jacket body, and a flannel sheet made to fit a 14" pillow top mattress was remade to fit a 9" mattress.

But wait, that's not all! Blocks were prepped for two different block of the month quilts: Noah's Ark by Lynette Anderson and A Christmas Wish by Gail Pan. All the blocks for Noah's Ark have been offered and three of nine blocks on A Christmas Wish are available.

Homemaker stuff was completed. You know, things like laundry, dusting and vacuuming. Croutons and bread crumbs were made from one of those loaves of sourdough party bread. And a peach cobbler was baked and partially consumed.

The in-between projects did not last very long but a lot of other things were accomplished.

Asking a quilter to mend, is like asking
Picasso to paint your garage.

And I cast on for another pair of socks.

What's In Your Closet?

The clothes situation is woeful around La Casa del Quilter. You might even say dire. I have a closet full of blue jeans and tee shirts. Okay, but not appropriate business attire.

Off I went to the Big Box Fabric Store to look at patterns. What happened to the basic patterns? There was not a one that I liked enough to purchase at $16.95 (gulp) a pattern. Thank goodness I kept my favorites when purging the garment patterns during the sewing room cleanup, even though they no longer fit; grand delusions of being that size again, maybe?

Two of my favorite patterns came out of the drawer: one a simple pullover top with dropped shoulders and jewel neckline and the other a collarless cardigan jacket. The jacket looks very professional even though it is not tailored. And then the pattern paper that I somehow?? own was unearthed and both patterns were redrafted to a larger size. Enough fashion fabric was washed to make 2 lined jackets (one long, one short) and 2 tops. It took me all weekend. Next weekend is the actual sewing of said garments.

Combined with a pair of black slacks, a mix and match wardrobe will result by concentrating on one color theme: black/white/red.