The Present Moment

I like making fabric gift bags. Here is one that I letterpress printed ages ago. I couldn't find enough wood type to print almost anything that I wanted to say, but eventually I settled on this. Tonight I sewed up a bag to gift some knitted socks to my coworker. I hope that she likes her present!

Mark Those Books

I didn't plan any Christmas crafting this year. I feel a bit overwhelmed and I did not want to add any stress. Even though I have tons of ideas for projects. And even though I know just the thing for my husband and for both of my girls.

But...I find myself four days before the big day wanting to make something. So here's the little something I made with supplies that I had around the house. A plan would have saved some time, and yes, there are wonky spots. But I do like these new bookmarks. And both of my girls are avid readers and they are always in need of a bookmark to save the page in their latest chapter book or six hundred page Little Lulu comic books.

These are about 2 x 10 inches, and do have a layer in the middle to make them stiff, I forget what that material is called, but I have used it to add stiffness to a purse.

Obsessive Thrift Shopper

I go to the thrift store a lot. Like nearly every day. I don't stay more than a few minutes, and I look for specific things. Sometimes I find something good. Many times I leave with nothing. Yesterday was the finding something good kind of day. A skein of yarn that retails for $26 and a bunch of vintage patterns, and really good vintage at that!

Thrift Score, Hankie Edition

It's snowing outside (really!) and so naturally my mind turns to lightweight flowery Spring skirts! I have an idea in my head for a skirt made from some lightweight cotton voile fabric in chartreuse, with a bunch of vintage handkerchiefs sewn along the bottom. So naturally I was excited when I found these 12 little cuties at the thrift store! I love the lightweight fabrics, the lovely prints, and the scalloped edges, plus two map prints! Now, shall I make a wrap skirt or A-line? And will I embroider between the hankies? hmmm..




Love the simple flower!


Oregon diagonally!


I adore flower prints!

Sometimes I Hear Voices. In My Pants.

I have been trying to do the whole carry on thing, but I'm finding it hard to function in life. Some moments are fine and sometimes I am such a train wreck. I am trusting that this will get easier with time, and yet I am not ready for things to be fine, because it sucks to lose someone special.

Anyway, here's some stuff I made a while back. Late at night, because there's not a lot of free time otherwise.

A deer stuffed animal from a Japanese crafting book.



It's a little splay-legged, but I'm not sure how I would fix this and not sure if I really mind it.

And a pair of Portabellopixie Ruffle Pants (with single ruffle.) The pattern was pretty straightforward with attractive instructions. I found the pattern pretty detailed and sometimes not detailed enough for my liking, but not at all complicated.





Both of these were made as presents for my seven-year-old on her birthday.

And my five-year-old always comes up with the best lines for co-opting as blog post titles.

Crafty Woodland

My eldest daughter had her seventh birthday party today. Seven. It doesn't stop being amazing to me each year as she continues to get older.

She wanted a Woodland-themed party. With all 34 kids from school, their siblings, and a few cousins thrown in for good measure. And I said..."Sure, sounds great!"

Hahaha!

Actually, it was a crafty fun time. (She, much like her mother, does love a good crafty project. In fact, most of the ideas were hers, with a little tweaking on my part.) I was a bit stressed last night as I put the finishing touches on some mushroom huts and tried not to hyperventilate. Anyway, by today I was mostly relaxed and had a great time.



We had the mushroom huts (cardboard + duct tape + hot glue + newspaper + felt + 2 girls let loose with paint and glitter)...



Fake Christmas trees with birds and nests (thank you Freecycle!)...

Woodland crown decorating (42 crowns made with Joel Dewberry Aviary wood grained fabric + rayon/wool felt + grommets + glue your own embellishments + add ribbon ties)...



I made some felt flowers for decorating crowns but burned out after the first dozen.



I forgot to get any good crown pictures. Here's mine before it dried.





This project mixed together with another involving pompoms + glue + googly eyes...

And finally a dose of sugar. Chocolate butterfly cupcakes (chocolate + 2 kids with copious sprinkles + colored sugar)...



My daughter said they weren't like butterflies because they had no bodies, I told her they were butterfly-ish. I did a lot of Ish-ly crafts rather than getting too hung up on making everything just so. It was still a big project, but I am glad we did it this once. And next year we'll just go to a theme park or something.

I have more birthday related crafts to post soon...Stuffed Animal! Girly Clothes!

Sally Go Round the Sun

When you live in Seattle you have a strong reaction to the arrival of the sunny season. Residents don sunglasses (Seattle reportedly sells more sunglasses per capita than any other city in the US!), put on short sleeves, and if you are my kids, you start complaining about that bright ball of light in the sky and start requesting a new sunhat.

Any excuse to give the new Necchi a whirl. I oiled it up good (I read somewhere that Necchis are so well built with such tight tolerances that they really need frequent oiling) and tightened the belt. And then I broke a bunch of thread. Oh yeah, I forgot a new needle, that makes all the difference. Then I was ready for action.

My thoughts on the Necchi? It's not quiet, but it's definitely not clackety, and it feels really solid and powerful. The Low speed setting helps you maintain control by keeping things moving along at a consistent pace no matter how hard you stomp the foot controller. It wanted a little nudge on the flywheel to get started, but that might be because the belt still seems like it could be a bit tighter, though it's not noticeably slipping. I really like having a dedicated sewing table that's easy to set up, I think it might motivate me to do more sewing. So far I'm really happy with my new machine. (FYI, I'm also thrilled with the Featherweight. I'll have to give an update on it soon.)

I used a hat pattern that I have made before and some IKEA fabric I had laying around. This time I did 1/4" seam allowances to make the hats a little bigger. Two hours later we have new sunhats! I didn't have interfacing so I skipped it, besides the fabrics are heavy enough to hold the shape. The girls didn't actually want to stand still for a picture, but these shots give you the idea.







Butterick pattern 4531, view F, in size XL

Necchi!

And so the obsession begins...

I went to the thrift store yesterday and ended up with this:





It's a Necchi BU Mira "with Wonderwheel for automatic sewing” and a bunch of feet. With this machine I can sew with double needles and do all kinds of embroidery stitching like swirl stitching and more. It has a Hi/Low speed switch for sewing at a consistent slow speed. The manual is dated 1954, and it comes in a cabinet that extends into more than 5 feet of tabletop. Sorta crazy for my little house, but I didn't want to pass it up. It appears that everything works well, except the belt is loose and needs adjusted or replaced, so once I figure that out I can do a proper review of it.

I also picked up this:



I love that someone felt the need to write their review on lower left hand corner of the cover!

And in other knitting news, I noticed the other night that I was botching the decreases on my Brunswick sweater. I misread the instructions and am off on three decrease rows totaling 12 stitches, so I'll just rip back a ways. A minor setback.

Eleven Pounds of Fun

I bought a sewing machine this week. It all started because of frustration with my sewing, some of which is a lack of confidence and ability, some of which is just sheer irritation with fighting my machine. It skips stitches, jams up easily with wads of thread barf, and rocks back and forth as I sew. I do appreciate all of the many projects I have wrestled with over my little blue plastic hobby machine, but the relationship has grown stale.

I had pondered going the modern route and getting a fancy new Bernina, but that's not really my style (or within my budget) so a while back I started thinking about old machines and read most of the Zigzaggers reviews, among others. I wanted something simple and reliable and built to last with metal parts, not plastic like my current (cute but cheap) machine. I knocked around a few potential brands including Elna, Singer, and Husqvarna Viking but didn't come to a decision.

Cathy of Calfornia's recent blog post interview with Heather Ross renewed my interest in getting a vintage machine, and I started shopping around online and pretty soon I was the winning bidder on a rather vague auction for this cutie, a circa 1940 Singer Featherweight.



I picked it up on Wednesday and got to work fiddling around with it and polishing it up. Heck, I even shined the carrying case. It has some worn decals and minor paint loss, but overall it's in really decent shape for the modest price that I paid.

Some geekery about my model that wasn't apparent in the auction listing (but doesn't affect my enjoyment of the machine): I can't find a thread cutter, though later models do have this feature. It has a numbered tension dial and even earlier models have no numbers. It has the early style scroll face plate.



Because it is an earlier model it doesn't have the graduated throat plate marking for measuring your seam allowance. The manual is copyrighted about 12 years after my machine was produced, so that isn't original. It is an earlier style case with the top tray for accessories, and it came with plenty of bobbins and a number of feet, including the ruffler, which I am intrigued to try but frankly a little intimidated.

The surprising thing (to me) in talking about Featherweights is how common they were. Several people had a mom or grandma or aunt that owned one. Since my mom's family emigrated to the US in the 60's we don't many old possessions laying around, so there wasn't much chance I'd find one in a family attic. I had never even seen one in person, but I knew I'd like it. It purrs along with sweet little clicks and takes curves with such ease and makes really tidy even stitches. And keep in mind that's all a Featherweight does, straight stitches, but that's fine with me. I can still bust out old blue for zigzagging.

The really funny thing is that on Thursday, exactly one day after I brought home the Featherweight, my Mother-In-Law comes over to take care of the kids--bearing in mind I've known her for 20 years-- she picks that day to show up with her Featherweight machine in tow, to do a little sewing with the girls. And not only does she have a Featherweight that I didn't know she owned (circa 1951, with the Centennial medallion) that belonged to her Aunt Lillian, but she apparently owns an elusive Featherweight sewing table no less!


double your pleasure--double your fun!

If the Bowl Had Been Stronger My Song Would Be Longer

You know those cute coiled fabric bowls that people make? I've always wondered how they are constructed, and then along came this handy tutorial.



I had a hard time finding affordable clothesline, and I ended up buying some 3/8 inch twisted cord at JoAnn's for more than I wanted to spend, even at 50% off. When I was first getting started, I had my doubts that the cord would fit under the foot on my machine, and then I had tension issues. But once I got a good start it was really pretty easy. I love these, even with the wonky spots. The third bowl is by far the best. I want to make more, but I blew through almost 14 yards of the cord and I will look for something cheaper to use next time.



I have a need for some quick handmade items (school auction season is upon us and I must turn in seven items!), and two bowls fit the bill. I figure I get to keep one of them, I'm sure I can think of something to put in it...



Only another five auction items to make...

Milk Fresh Words

...And I'm back! Let's jump right to it, shall we?

So here are few things I made about 2 weeks back at a Sewing Bee. Oh how I love five hours of dedicated sewing time!

I made three lunchbags, based loosely on patterns from this book. The elephant bag is for my four year old daughter and the mermaids is for my six year old daughter. They both seem really pleased with the fabric I chose for them. I made the wood-grained bag for my husband. Not sure if he'll carry it, but I like it.



And how much do I love my new present from Jessica? Do you know what this is? It's not just any measuring tool, that there's metric. It makes all the difference when you're working from patterns that measure in centimeters. I don't know how I ever crafted from a Japanese pattern without it.



I used up the last little scraps of fabric to make these snack bags to segregate part of the lunch for the afterschool program.



In other sewing news, I started cutting out some IKEA fabric for a messenger bag. They have some really interesting heavyweight fabric at affordable prices. Unfortunately I got confused about the pattern pieces (there are several that you fold to cut out a totally different piece, and honestly, it's a lot to keep track of.) In the end I need to go back to IKEA for more fabric. I love this, it has kind of a Pucci-esque vibe that I really dig.



And the title is what my four year old asked me to write on her belly with face paint.

I'll be back, I have lots more news!

The Rare Sewing Post

Does it seem like I quit sewing? As far as the blog is concerned it certainly looks that way. But wait, I sewed something!

I started cutting out fabric for an upcoming Sewing Bee, and then I just had to start on this little project, never mind that it was already 10 at night. This bag is named the "1 Hour Bag" but it my hands it was a little over two hours.

I used supplies I conveniently had at home, including using a magnetic snap for the first time. It was super easy, though it could be a lined up a touch better. Since I was using what I had, I ran out of thread and had to change colors twice, luckily the thread I had were pretty close colorwise.

This purse was a gift and I wasn't sure if the birthday girl would like it, but thankfully she liked it! I will admit I was tempted to keep it! But I am planning to make a top from this print, and I could just see forgetting and walking around with a top and purse of the very same fabric and I don't really want to be that matchy.

Here is the birthday girl modeling her new bag. Are you saying, "Wait, the print is upside down?" That's the print, it alternates with upside down and right-side up trees. (Is there a technical name for that kind of print?) The other side of the bag has a really pretty pink spotted tree that is upright.



Another crappy picture just because I love this bag:



I *heart* vintage buttons and Japanese fabric!



1 Hour Bag pattern by Ric-Rac
Japanese cotton fabric
Kona Cotton lining
Cotton Batting
Clover Magnetic Snap
Muslin for added stability

Pear Tote, Not For Toting Pears

I have until Friday to finish the quilt that I am working on for my daughter's school. So that means I need to a) pin the quilt sandwich together b)learn how to quilt c)do some quilting d)learn how to do mitered corners d)bind the quilt f)f'ed is what I am if I don't do this in 2 days.

So keeping these goals in mind, today I finished knitting a pair of socks, sewed triangles for a fabric banner, and made a tote bag. Because what better way to finish a quilt than do nothing on it?!?

Oh, and I took a trip to the Bernina store (while trying not to fall under the lure of the pretty machines!), where I replaced a damaged cord for the machine I borrowed for the quilting. Because today I managed to take two sewing machines out of commission in less than two hours. All in a day's work!

Patternless tote with French seams (no lining), front pocket for recipe cards, Japanese linen fabric, tote sized to hold cooking magazines for a school auction

Color Riot

I am working on a quilt with 34 K-2nd Graders. They did the drawings, made prints with the Print Gocco, made color and fabric selections, and machine sewed the squares together. It's really bright, but I will temper it with some white-ish fabric. I love the drawings, from the decapitated heads to the princesses, it's all very cute.

I have just over a week to pull it all together into a finished quilt. Keeping in mind that I've never actually made a quilt, I predict some late-night crying over my sewing machine before it's all over.

Post-Halloween Wrap Up

When my 3 year old decided to be a witch for Halloween I made quick work of getting my 5 year old on board and did a two-fer, because assembly line was the only way handmade costumes were coming together this year.

The hats and capelets are gold and black silk (mostly because if I had to stare at miles of black cotton I have doubts that I would have followed through), but it was only two yards so not too extravagant. The hats have black interfacing to add a little stiffness, and the brims are a perfect circle which gives them a slightly floppy and ruffly look. The capelets have a pleat in the back and at both shoulders that help hold them in place. They tie with a vintage blue rayon ribbon that I had in the stash.

The skirts are gathered cotton organza, also two yards, and wrap around with two sewn-on snaps. The hems are edged in a dotted ribbon, not shown in the picture, but I have a reputation for using polka dots, so that bears mentioning. I made the skirts big enough that I can move the snaps later and they can be worn for many years. (This might sound intentional from my description, but it was really a function of guessing their size and adding a little extra which was really a lot extra!) I had originally planned a pinafore design rather than skirts, but time was short and halfway through I had to let myself call this good enough.

The whole shebang was patternless and came together in two long evenings. My 5 year old made sure everyone knew that I didn't make their entire costume (true, I didn't make the shoes, tights, or shirt!) and they scored far too much candy.

Here's where I want to bitch about my crazy life, but I fully recognize that there are some choices in there somewhere, and I am sure I had a hand in my choices, but man do I suffer through them now! Most of my spare moments come when I wake up in the middle of the night to do laundry or pay bills. I am struggling hence the spotty blogging but I hope to find my way eventually.

Sewing Without Coordination

I am one of two people that holds the title of Sewing Coordinator at my daughter's school and I had to sew six muslin curtains for school by today. I just got the final details yesterday so this made for a long night of sewing. No pictures because muslin curtains are too uninteresting to look at.

Work was super-psychedelic this afternoon, whee! And I refused to open my desk drawer to get a form for my boss because it would have taken too much effort.

My night went like this:

7pm: I smash my thumb unfolding the ironing board. The nail turns purple. Crap, that's not going to help.

9pm: Now that I'm cutting out the 5th curtain I've almost got the hang of measuring 7 foot lengths. (How do you all cut large pieces to a specific length?)

11pm: My rotary cutter becomes as useful as a butter knife, reducing one curtain hem to shreds. Oh, and I cut the hem too short so now there's less than 1/8" to turn under.

11:45pm: I hit the wall and I'm ready to call it. I'm begging my husband for help (yeah, like that's going to work out well.)

midnight: I power through the pain and I'm back in action. I may not be able to stand up tomorrow.

2am: Asleep but not complete.

6:45am: Advil for breakfast and back to work.

8am: Good enough, 6 curtains done with a few wavy edges, now hurry to school.

OK, I want to hear your tales. Share your most painful all-night crafting/volunteer/homework stories. If I get a good one I just might send you a prize.

What's That You Say? More Lunchbags?

Today was another Sewing Bee hosted by Jessica (thanks so much Jessica, I love the sewing bee!) I swear if I keep hanging around her and Amanda I am going to be cranking out a quilt one of these days, those girls do make some awesome quilts!



I put together two more lunchbags knowing that one would go to my 10 year old niece. When given the choice she was so cute, "Oh, they're both so cute...Oh, it's a hard choice...I can't decide!" Finally she picked the number fabric, so the linen vases is for me, yay!

I know, I know, it's officially the lunchbag and sock channel around here, and of course I'm working on yet another pair of socks. But I swear I have a few projects coming up just for the sake of variety because even I need to make something else every once and a while. I have a few clothes patterns picked out so you never do know.

Pattern from Japanese "Heartwarming Life Series" lunchbag book, ISBN#4529042642
brown Kona cotton
Japanese vase linen print fabric from Superbuzzy
Alexander Henry Countdown fabric
Insul-Brite
Bambu brand utensils

Even More Tasty Lunch

Are you starting to worry that this blog is turning into the all sock channel all the time? Well, fear not for I bring you a sewing project!





Little sister needed a lunch bag like the one I made for big sister. This one is the same construction and more Japanese fabric and polka dots. See the bread head, bottle head, fire head and ice cube head? Irresistible!



Pattern from Japanese "Heartwarming Life Series" lunchbag book, ISBN#4529042642
blue Kona cotton
Kaffe Fassett polka dot fabric
Japanese print fabric
Insul-Brite
Bambu brand utensils

Lunchalicious

Here is a lunchbag that went together in about an hour and a half today. It's a taller style than the last bag, and it ties together in a bow on top to hold it closed. The fabric is heavier weight linen, and I used the Insul-Brite material between the linen and the cotton lining.

It was a gift so I picked up a bunch of stainless steel bento containers at the Daiso $1.50 Store (downstairs at Westlake Center) and included some bamboo utensils.

Pattern from Japanese "Heartwarming Life Series" lunchbag book, ISBN#4529042642
blue Kona cotton
Japanese vase linen print fabric from Superbuzzy
Insul-Brite
Bambu brand utensils

Making Lunch Taste Even Better

This project was started yesterday at the sewing bee and finished in the wee hours of the night. It's a lunchbag for my 5 year old, though I would have been happy to keep it if she wasn't into it. I love the Japanese fairytale fabric, and I love it combined with the dot fabric.

I basted a layer of insulating material, the kind you use to make potholders, to the wrong side of the lining before I sewed it up, which adds structure to the bag. I wanted to use ties to close the bag but I decided that the elastic loop/button closure would be easier for little hands.



The lunchmat is about 12 by 11 inches, and it's meant to be folded, and see the polka dots on the back, I love that detail. I skipped adding a closure because it really doesn't even need one and I didn't feel like fiddling with ties. There is an almost identical but larger picnic mat in the Lotta Jansdotter book.

No promises, but I do think I will be making more lunchbags or purse type objects, this was super-fast.

Pattern from Japanese "Heartwarming Life Series" lunchbag book, ISBN#4529042642
brown Kona cotton
Amy Butler Lotus Collection camel/full moon polka dot fabric
Cosmo Fairytale three bears fabric
elastic loop and button closure
insulating material
Bambu brand utensils