patty young dandelion up close

This is a close up of the wonderful Patty Young fabric I won! Can't wait to use it...

And the winner is...

me! I won the January True Up (www.trueup.net) fabric giveaway and received five beautiful half-yard cuts of Patty Young's new Flora and Fauna line. Check out these lovely dandelion beauties. I really love Patty Young's designs, especially Mezzanine (my favorite), which I used for one of the first quilts I made (well, I made two simultaneously for my daughters and they are still just quilt tops...) So happy and grateful! I don't know what I'll use this fabric for. Maybe more wristlets? Any suggestions?

hiatus

Things have been so busy at work, so I haven't been as active here as I would have liked. I've also been away from my lovely sewing desk, alas! I did manage in the last month to make a puffy skirt from Joanna Grimalva's Edith Twirl Skirt pattern (http://www.fabritopia.com/edith-twirl-skirt-pdf-sewing-pattern-instructions.html). This one looks so cute in the photo, but I've been disappointed both times I've made it. It's a bit too puffy. But I do love the fabric my daughter chose! She has very hip tastes and loves to dress like a rocker. Go girl!

dreaming of summer

This lavender sachet reminds me of summer since I picked the buds from a friend's garden. I found the wonderful tutorial here: http://checkoutgirlcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/08/ready-to-sachet-tutorial.html. I hadn't learned yet how to close a seam, so the left side looks a bit sketchy.

envelope-style pillow cover

This is one of my favorite IKEA fabrics. It's not cheap ($8/yard), but it's just fabulous. The covers on these pillows were looking really old and worn out and now they look fresh and new.

silent auction items

For my daughter's school fundraiser, I donated these items to their annual silent auction (and family dance!) The skirt pattern is fabulous and great for beginners. You can purchase and download it from Fabritopia (http://www.fabritopia.com/evelyn-apron-skirt-pdf-sewing-pattern-instructions.html). It's called the "Evelyn Apron Skirt" and my kids get compliments every time they wear theirs.

first projects

These are two of the first sewing projects I tried, back in September 2009. The skirt is the "twirly skirt" pattern from House on Hill Road (http://houseonhillroad.typepad.com/photos/twirly_skirt/). It's a free tutorial that I highly recommend, especially for beginners. I can't remember which book I got the reversible bag pattern from, but the fabric was clearance IKEA home dec.

earth friendly sewing

Another gem from Lexie Barnes' Sew What! Bags. A great way to stylishly store all those plastic grocery store bags I seem to accumulate even though I try to store reusable totes in my car.

cute little deer

Close up of some fabric from JoAnn's. It was from their Christmas collection and 60% off, so was $2 a yard. Not bad, especially since I can use it all year round.

wristlet obsession

I can't seem to be able to stop making these wristlets! Here are four more I made tonight. The Dia de los muertos bag is from a cute messenger bag I made for my daughter a few months ago with fabrics she chose. Work is about to get very hectic, so I think I'm sewing fast and furious since getting in an hour or two in the near future will be nearly impossible.

prairie gothic

I just love Jane Sassaman's Prairie Gothic line. Check out this close up of a little bee in the pattern.

zipper mania

Still perfecting zipper installation on these great wristlets from Lexie Barne's Sew What! Bags book. The pink patchwork bag is from a leftover quilt square from a quilt top I made for one of my daughters. All are lined with linen. There are still gaps at the top where the zipper isn't quite sewn in perfectly, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Drifting into Skirt Territory

Slowly I am gathering up the nerve to make myself a skirt. I've made oodles of kids skirts from online tutorials, but have been a bit too intimidated to make something as ambitious as an adult skirt (probably because of the amount of material required). I'm not a huge fan of paper patterns, but am wondering if Amy Butler's Barcelona Skirt Pattern or Francesca DenHertog's Sew What! Skirts might be better for me. I've flipped through the book and love the patterns, although I'd probably only make three or four of them. The Barcelona Skirt comes with three patterns (paper, alas!), all of which I'm likely to use. Decisions, decisions.

Fear of a Zippered Planet

So... this is my first zippered project! It's the "wristlet" from Lexie Barne's Sew What! Bags (http://www.sewwhatbags.com/about.htm), my favorite sewing book at the moment. I've made almost all of the projects and find them really well explained and not too difficult. The "wristlet" is a lined bag (I lined mine with ivory linen) with a cute little strap. The zipper looks ok, but it's not perfect (I didn't photograph the wonky parts on either side of the zipper). But I'm pretty happy with this first try. I had been studiously avoiding making anything with zippers. The only adjustment I made was to iron on some very heavy craft interfacing to make the bag stiff. I plan to chuck all of my cosmetics into this bag and then into my handbag.

carryall bag

Made this large carryall bag last night. The pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing (http://jansdotter.com/shop/item.php?serial=501), my first sewing book and one of my favorites. I love the yoga bag pattern from her book especially, but was not crazy about this bag (I think she calls it the "all-day bag"). The idea is great--side pocket for a drink, interesting vertical pocket in the front, large enough for a day's worth of stuff. But it was really too floppy for my tastes, even with a home dec interior ( Denyse Schmidt's lovely "Dottie") and a denim exterior. It really should have some fairly heavy interfacing. Also, the handles were too short, so I made mine a bit longer, long enough to go over my shoulders instead of just being a handbag, and it needs some kind of closure (maybe velcro?) It would make a great beach bag, but I'm not sure about using it for much else.

machine goes stealth

Last week I made a sewing machine cover to replace the uninspiring plastic one that came with the machine. Craft Blog has a fabulous and easy cover tutorial at http://craftblog.com.au/2008/07/05/sewing-machine-cover-tutorial/. I had about three yards of this fabric I had been hoarding (a cheap retro-looking find from the garment district), so finally set scissors to it. Generally, I like the way it turned out and love the box corners, but should have cut them both the same size. Better luck next time...

home sweet home

Just set up a sewing corner in the guest room. Exhausted, but looking forward to starting a new project. I definitely think a sewing machine cover is in order. Will keep tweaking the setup, but am glad to not have to drag everything out to the kitchen table and then put it away again!

After much deliberation and heartache, I sold a beautiful Art Deco bedroom suite that I had had for years and dragged across the country to make way for a sewing station in the guest bedroom. That's just how obsessed I am with this new pursuit! Hopefully will post some photos of this very much in transition room tomorrow.

behold the humble personal tissue cover

You know how useful those little personal tissue packs are? Then you also know how gross they get at the bottom of your purse. I found this ingenious solution in Lexie Barnes's fabulous Sew What! Bags book (http://www.sewwhatbags.com/). In it she offers 18 paper-pattern free bag projects from the humble personal tissue cover to the mega-awesome tool belt (see my previous tool belt post--I drew inspiration from Barnes's book for that one).

I've made dozens of these covers and they're perfect scrap busters. My daughter likes Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos), hence the skull fabric.

cha cha cha

One of my favorite online fabric stores, Fabritopia (www.fabritopia.com), had this Nie Nie by Pink Fig skirt pattern on sale. Since it's not a paper pattern (just can't get into them), I thought I'd try it. It has six (6!) ruffles and was very time-consuming, probably because I don't own a serger (...yet...), but I really like it. Of course, my daughter won't even try it on (although she chose the fabric). She likes the skirt in theory and won't part with it (I tried to gift it to another girl for her birthday), so it bides its time in her dresser. I'm wondering what to do with it. Mardi Gras sleeve? Lamp shade?