Sunday, December 11, 2011

Finished-Object Friday: Holiday Edition

Couple days late again with this weeks' post, but it's been a wild week.   Forgive me.  Say it ain't so at your house too.  As much as I love Christmas, the calm days of January do hold some appeal right now!

First, I'm just bursting to share this paper star project with you.  My co-worker discovered it and made one for her front window.  Once I saw it, I had to make one of my own.  It's no secret that my heart beats happy over pink glitter, so naturally the scrapbook aisle at JoAnn for glittery paper was high on the priority list.

This thing is TWO FEET WIDE!   And beautifully stunning in it's glittery glory.  I intend it to go in our front window which is exactly 36" square, but I need a ladder to reach the window and my husband has the ladders all gunked up from a home-addition he is building, so we'll have to make do with this less-than-ideal photo and just pretend it's hanging in the window for now.

Total cost: $1.00!   You can make your own by following the tutorial here.
In other news, the fabric I previewed last week turned out wonderfully as a skirt.  Again, I'm really impressed with the Sew Serendipity book.  It takes complicated-looking garments and breaks them down into easy pieces.  Perhaps I'll even try sewing a jacket soon!


When I bought this fabric, I had envisioned wearing the skirt with an off-white sweater.  As luck would have it, the hot pink exactly matched the sweater I crocheted last winter.  Love it when things just fall together like that.  The skirt has faux suede accents.


The sweather is loosely based on one from the book Crochet That Fits, but I added the two-toned cuffs and waistband using a double-ended hook and two colors of yarn worked together.  It makes a nice stretchy ribbing.  They're attached with an exposed slip-stitch.


Lastly, the kids requested that we hang stockings this year.   I never did stockings as a child and if my husband did, it wasn't a big deal I guess, because we've never done it as part of our new family traditions.  Apparently it's important now!  So I crafted up some quick little felt elf stockings.  The pattern for these is a free download from Family Fun.  


The instructions say to hand sew the whole thing (ack!) and they use a decorative stitch too; looks like blanket stitch to me.  I actually stopped reading the directions at the hand-sewing point and went straight for the pattern.  My version is made entirely out of felt.  The beauty of felt is that after sewing the seams, you can trim right up next to it so the lining of the stockings show all around the edge.  It almost looks like decorative piping that way, with a lot less effort.  Both of these took about 30 minutes to make.  Super easy. 

Next up...a facelift for adorable owls and a home-office makeover!


Saturday, December 3, 2011

Babies Like Schedules and So Do I

When my kids were tiny it seemed the only way I kept the fridge full of food and everybody in fresh laundry was to have a schedule.  It went something like this:

Monday - Mom's Group & Playdate
Tuesday - Preschool & Errands
Wednesday - Laundry and Sheets
Thursday - Preschool & Errands
Friday - Laundry, Clean the House

Now that the Little Ones are bigger and off at school all day long, I let the schedule go because it wasn't as necessary. 

Or is it?

These days, laundry gets done when the basket starts to overflow onto the floor.  Or when one of the kids hollers that they have no clean jeans. (Thank goodness we have ample socks and underwear around here!)  The sheets get changed on a regular basis, but it's anywhere from three days to ten, depending on when I remember.  I do a pretty good job keeping food in the fridge, but that's purely my own selfishness of making sure there's always romaine and radishes for my daily afternoon salad.  Might as well pick up food for the other people while I'm buying lettuce and ranch.

However, this blog is suffering from neglect.  I think of it often, really I do.  But sometimes it seems like such a mountainous task to take photos, retake photos (because I am a horrible photographer), upload the photos, write about it all, blah blah blah.  

And so, the blog is going on a schedule.   I'm going to start a thing called Finished Object Fridays, which will be just what the name implies.  Or it may be Almost-Finished Fridays, depending on the week.  :-)

This week: Finished Object Friday (12-2-11)

Sample skirt from the book Sew Serendipity.  I'll give a book recommendation and review later, because this is the best book for skirts and dresses I've found yet.    I wanted to try one of the skirt patterns for size and fit.  This is just stash fabric I had lying around.  It's a flattering A-line with pockets.


Love the stitch detail on this piece.  Here's a pocket close-up:


It's a little snug so I'm going to make the next one a size larger (that's why a sample is so important!), and I'm going to make a winter version using the dark gray tweed with microsuede below.  It will be so pretty!  Picture this stuff with tall black boots and a fitted sweater.


In other Work-In-Progress news, I've made more octagons for the Realta Afghan.  I'm about 20% done with the thing...maybe.  It's been so relaxing to sit at the end of the day and make an octagon or two, so it's ok that this will be a long process.  They just POP with color and bring such cheer to these cold winter days!



Till next week, then.  :-)

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Basket of Joy, Refilled

Check this out


No, that's not mine.  It's called the Realta Afghan and it was designed by one of my fellow crocheters on Ravelry, The Gingerbread Lady.  When I first saw it, I kind of forgot to breathe!  My face got closer and closer to the monitor as I tried to analyze it's construction and stitches.  Then I sighed (loudly) closed the browser, and moved on to more practical thoughts, because an afghan like this takes a looonnnnng time to crochet.

That was probably two months ago.   But I've secretly been pulling up this photo and going breathless over it on a regular basis.  And then it hit me - who cares if making one would take a looonnnnggg time!  It's November 15th, which means we could have several feet of snow on the ground, like, any second now, and I really don't have anywhere to be until Spring. 

And so the Basket of Joy was refilled! 


This is truly a clever afghan design.  It starts out with a rainbow assortment of colors (I'm using 12 colors), which are laid out in a color wheel.  What really makes this pop is that each octagon is made using colors that touch on the wheel.  I never woulda thought of that.

I envision this wonderfully cheerful, colorful afghan to work on all winter long.  The snow will fall peacefully and the kids will play happily by the fire pick fights with each other through the cold depths of winter as cabin fever sets in.

Three motifs done.....a billion to go.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Scary Things

Remember the list of goals I wrote about back in August?  The first item on the list was Learn to Insert an Invisible Zipper.  Cross that bad boy off the list because I've done two of these zippers now (disclaimer: The first one was a test on some scrap fabric.  Only once did I insert the zipper into an actual garment.  The zipper is crooked, but it IS functional and the dress is wearable so I'm calling it a success.)

Today I need to be even braver.  I'm making a party dress.  Out of slippery satin.  With an invisible zipper. 

Yikes.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Fred Rogers Cardigan

Hello neighbor.

Mr. Rogers has a special place in my heart.  I grew up watching him on TV.  He was kind, he never got his feathers ruffled over un-neighborly behavior, and he took his viewing audience on wonderful field trips to see how stuff was made. 

Reruns were still on TV when my daughter was born.  When she was old enough, I excitedly introduced her to the Neighborhood of Make Believe and all the other wonderful characters in the 'hood.  She didn't care.  She actually thought it was kind of slow-paced and boring.

Whatever.  Kids these days don't know what's cool.

It's getting cold here, so I've been thinking sweaters. 


This cardi began as the Japanais Tunic by Amy Swenson.  Beyond the basic stitch pattern, it doesn't really resemble her original much anymore.  I added extra rows to make it longer, changed it from pullover style to zippered cardigan, and re-worked the neckline to make it fit me more snugly.


I like how the stitches go from dense to mesh 2/3 of the way down.  Gives it nice detail.


The next sweater is already underway.  I'm happily hooking along on the Circular Motion Pullover, a freebie from the Lion Brand Yarn website.  It was originally designed for men, but I'm using a lighter weight yarn and smaller hook to make it woman-sized.  Hopefully.  :-) 

No-Mess Pumpkins

Love Halloween but hate the mess of carving pumpkins?  I hear ya.  Carving jack-o-lanterns always starts out like a good idea, but after ten five two minutes the novelty wears off and I am the one left scooping icky sticky pumpkin guts. 



These guys aren't exactly jack-o-lanterns, but they were a million times more fun to do than carving pumpkins.  Between do-dads from the sewing cabinet and my husbands leftover hardware bits in the garage, the kids had plenty of inspiration. 

And these pumpkins will last a whole lot longer than two days, unlike their carved counterparts.

This idea is courtesy of Family Fun magazine

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Upgrades

After carrying the super-awesome bermuda bag around for a week, I figured out that not having a shoulder strap makes me positively batty.    Here you go my friends, the 10-minute solution for adding a strap to an already completed bag:


Mitten clips!  Ingenious invention they are. 

One note about mitten clips: make sure they are the newer kind with a layer of squashy rubbery stuff.  This holds them tight to your fabric without damaging it.  Mitten clips used to be two pieces of metal claws with "teeth."  That kind will slip and slide on your bag, and will eventually wear holes in the fabric.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Speaking of Retro Awesomeness...

Hopefully I'm not dating myself too much here, but back when I was a kid every woman had a bag with wooden handles and a cover attached with buttons.  They were all the rage, at least amongst the Church Ladies, which was the extent of my exposure to fashions of the time.  I'm not sure of the exact era.  Late 70's; early '80's.  They were called Bermuda Bags (which I only discovered after scouring eBay for said wooden handles and searching all derivatives of "purse with wood handles/buttons/removable covers").

Look familiar?  I yanked a couple photos of vintage Bermuda bags from eBay to jog your memory:



Remember now?  Ok, so I love the look and the idea of these bags with interchangeable covers, but I don't particularly love the fabrics.  Somebody spent hours and hours creating these back in the day and while I appreciate their effort - it's just not my look.  I wanted to do the same thing, but with a more modern twist.

Here's my version:


The handle is not the traditional wood, but is vintage Lucite (fancy plastic), and the design is really quite clever because the handles lock together at the top closing the whole thing securely.  The handles were an eBay find, and they came with two covers.  I'm sorry to say I threw them away almost immediately so I can't show you.  One was tan with embroidered mushrooms on it (maybe I could have resold that one because it was oh-so-vintage) and the other cover was navy blue with red piping.  Yikes, man. 

Check out the way these handles work!  Somehow two layers of lining are attached to the handles, with buttons on the outside for covers.


I made my cover completely reversible, with no exposed seams.  Let me tell you, it was crazy tricky!   But now that I've done it once and drafted the pattern, I'm sure I can do it again.  This will be the best-dressed handbag west of the Mississippi.  It might also be the only dressed handbag west of the Mississippi, but it takes time to resurrect awesome vintage ideas such as this.  At least that's what I tell myself.  It's better than admitting I'm a dork stuck in a time bubble.


The orange/blue fabric is from a 2009 line by Riley Blake, called Wheels by My Minds Eye.    The floral is intended to look vintage, yet feel modern.  It's is part of the Pretty Bird line designed by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics.

Stay tuned, because now I've got all sorts of other ideas for bag covers, including a crocheted and felted one that looks like a giant pink rose.  Betcha can't wait.  :-)

Monday, October 3, 2011

Bringing Back Retro, Baby

There's something about the 1960's that appeals to me.  The fabrics, the fashion....Women in their house dresses and aprons.  Men in suits and hats.  Children washed up and combed for dinner.  Everybody was fancy. 

On Saturday I found some delightful fabric that totally encompasses the 1960's housewife.  It's by Johansen Newman for Elizabeths' Studio, but I don't know what the actual design is called.  It's a black background with seven different housewives in separate window panels, all doing their daily chores. 


They're so sweet!  They look like they live to vacuum and bake and set up tea service, with a charming smile all the way.

At Target I found 4-packs of flour sack kitchen towels for $3.99.  Flour sack towels are amazingly absorbent.  Love 'em.  Then I used double sided fusible web and a super-quick satin stitch edging to applique a housewife to each towel. 

Theses lovely ladies bring such cheer to my kitchen!  I wish I looked half as good doing my daily chores.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Q - What Did Harry Potter Say to Hedwig?

A - Owl See You Later!

My 8-year-old is obsessed with Harry Potter.  She saw the first movie on July 4th, and between then and now she watched all the movies and has read almost all the books.  She has about 1/4" left in the very last book, so by the time you read this post it will probably be finished. 

Obviously, it was a given she would choose a Harry Potter character for her Halloween costume.

It was a tough choice, because she didn't really want to be any of the main characters because that's what all the other kids at school would probably be, and my daughter is nothing if not different from the masses.  Her favorite teacher from the story is Professor McGonagal, but she wasn't quite sure how to pull that off convincingly.  And so we pondered.....

....and one day I was wandering in JoAnn's and saw a free project sheet for a felt owl costume!  Clearly, this owl could be Hedwig!

[if you aren't familiar, Hedwig is Harry Potter's messenger owl, which is how most people communicate in the wizarding world.  It has always struck me as odd, though, that those who possess such amazing magical skills as Transfiguration (turning a person into an animal, for example) can't figure out a more efficient way to talk, like telepathy or something.  But that would probably make for a very boring movie, with people just standing around and staring at each other for two hours.  Anyway....]

Today, with a wave of my magical sewing machine needle, my daughter became Hedwig, the messenger owl.



I made a few changes to the pattern for stability.  They say this is no-sew.  What that really means is glue-the-snot-out-of-it.  In my opinion that might hold up for one night of trick-or-treating, but it certainly wouldn't make it through a classroom Halloween party, a costume parade, trick-or-treating, and a crazy amount of running and flapping through the yard while hooting and trying to nip your little brother who is pretending to be a rat. (They did this for quite some time today.  Really.)

And that is why we sewed this one together.  It isn't as hard as it looks, because the feathers are stitched on in long strips.  It takes longer to cut the feathers and lay them out than to actually sew them on.  Plus, it's cheaper than store bought because we got all the felt on sale so it came to just under $10.

Oh, and we changed the colors because Hedwig is a Snowy Owl.

All we need to do now is roll up a piece of parchment and tie it to her leg.  She wouldn't be a messenger owl without a letter waiting for delivery.

Happy Halloween, a few weeks early.  :-)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Betty and I are through.

It was short and intense; one of those relationships that starts with a lot of excitement and promise, but quickly fizzles.

It turns out that Betty likes to keep things simple.  She likes to sew straight, flat things.  And only on cotton.   That just didn't work out well for me, because I needed her to sew fleece, and to create beautiful quilt bindings.  It wasn't meant to be.

Betty and I did manage to complete the doll quilts today, but don't you dare look too closely at that edge binding.   Please, avert your eyes and look instead upon the details of the doll sheets, with the little row of flowers embroidered down the hem (that little bit of delight was done with the machine that's out for repair, before The Breakdown).


This is my 8-year-old daughter's project.  She choose the fabrics, designed the two quilts, and pieced the tops together.  She started quilting the first one, but then decided that quilt-making takes soooo looooonnnngggg and the project sat for a bit in the studio.  When she was ready to tackle it again, the sewing machine began The Breakdown and she couldn't finish. 

So, I finished it up for her today, but I still consider this her project because I just love how she pieced those blocks together, with their edges sorta-matchy-but-not-quite-perfect. 


Her dolls will be sleeping in blissful slumber tonight my friends, complete with fitted sheets, flat sheets (with oh-so-delightful flowery details!), cozy quilts, and matching pillowcases.  Now that's doll luxury.


Monday, September 26, 2011

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No, it's SuperMom, striving to deliver spare sewing machines to all in need!   "da da da da ta daaaaaa........!"



That's right my friends.  Some people have skeletons in their closets.  My mother has sewing machines in hers.  Old machines seek her out like stray cats looking for kibble.  They plead to her sadly from their garage sale tables and thrift store shelves, and she lovingly lugs them home and puts them through a rehab program, where they await adoptive homes. 

Mom is here visiting for her regularly scheduled grandkid fix and trip to the annual Quilt Show.  She brought along this fabulous vintage Singer machine.  Ain't she a beaut?


Ok, so it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of my beloved machine.  I don't think bells and whistles were invented yet when this one rolled off the assembly line, but she is wonderfully solid and is helping me catch up on multiple projects while my machine is still in the fix-it shop. 

I've taken to calling her Betty.

Today Betty and I are working on a project my daughter started: doll bedding.  My daughter did all the piecing for two doll quilts weeks ago, but my machine broke before she could get far into quilting them.  Betty and I quilted them both today, made two little doll pillowcases with the scrap fabric, and started piecing the binding strips. 

There are lots of other projects in the queue for finishing, too.  We're going to have a Sewing Marathon tomorrow and try to finish as much as possible.  Stay tuned for pics!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

It's not fair!


Lots of people have asked where I've been, since the blog hasn't been updated in awhile.  Sorry about that folks.  See, my sewing machine broke and has been out for repair for several weeks, and I'm having the big 'ol stomp-my-feet, carry-on and whine, mother of all tantrums here.

Projects from weeks ago are teasing me in my studio.  "Na na na...you can't finish me!!!"

I've been trying to console myself with crochet, but even that is coming along crappily (is that a real word?).  I spent days and days working on a beautiful cardigan.  The body of it is truly delightful.  But the first sleeve?  Hidious.  It's all blousy and too big at the top, which A) makes my upper arm look flabby and B) eerily resembles outfits from days of yore....



Hey lady, nice sword.

Everybody has days like these, right?

p.s. I have no idea who the people are in these images.  Type "tantrum tears" into Google Images and you'll get also sorts of delightful photos to perfectly suit your mood in times like these.  You'll also get several imges of Justin Beiber, which is just weird.


Sunday, August 28, 2011

'Tis the Season

Ahhhh.....late summer.

The Little Ones have returned to school.  Life resumes a regular schedule.  Bedtimes are again enforced.

This is my New Year.  It's a chance to start fresh.  In addition to getting the kids geared up for school, I cleaned out my home office and re-organized everything.  Very refreshing.

My August New Year comes complete with resolutions.  This year, I want to challenge myself try new techniques, including but not limited to:
  • Insert an invisible zipper
  • Sew more with knits (two successful projects this week - more on this in a blog post soon!)
  • Make something wearable using Tunisian crochet
  • Learn the knit and purl stitches with the double-ended crochet hook
  • Take a knitting class
  • Make a project from Lily Chin's Mosaic Magic.
I'll keep you posted. 

In the meantime, one of the ladies from my Ravelry Crochet Club mentioned the Attic24 blog a few weeks ago.  Wow.  Such inspiration!  The author is Lucy, she's english, and she writes in a delightfully english tone.  She sounds like the kind of person you'd pop over and visit for tea unannounced whilst our kids scampered off to do whatever.  Someday, when I cross that overseas trip off my bucket list, I am soooo going to try and meet up with her.  I'd like to meet her and thank her in person for the free patterns she designs and the joy she shares with the world in her writing.

Anyhow...

Today's blog post is directly related, because both patterns are available on Lucy's blog, attic24



The flower cushion was just pure fun. It embodies summer and joy and it makes me happy to see it sitting there on my furniture.   Below is a close up, and a view of its stripey backside.


The rest of the yarn was made into this Granny Stripe afghan.  Moment of truth here: I usually find afghans tedious and boring after about one day.  This one was not boring at all!  In fact, it was a scientific study of color that I've never done before.  With 14 colors at my fingertips, this was pure color exploration in putting combos together that I never would put together ordinarily.  I discovered some truly wonderful combinations that will surely show up in future projects.





Oh, and another lesson learned.  Fringe is the enemy.

I thought putting a fringe edge on this beast would be an easy substitution to working the remaining yarn ends in with a needle.  WRONG!  Adding that dang fringe took about 3 hours. (yes, I am bitter toward it still.)  A better plan would have been to work in each end immediately upon completion of each row, so I didn't have a mass of loose ends mocking me at the end of the project, saying, "na na na boo boo.....now whatcha gonna do with US?"  Gah.

Fringe aside, this is one my most favorite afghans to date.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Playing Nook-y

Last week the coolest gadget ever entered my life - a Nook Color.  Now keep in mind that I do not have a smartphone, use Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, or any other cyber-stalking tools, so I'm easy to impress with such gadgetry as an e-reader.

Not only does the Nook read books, it went out and fetched my email for me!  It's like a virtual dog that doesn't need fed and doesn't crap in the yard.  It also has loads of books and gadgets and gizmos to entertain the kids, plus lots of apps I have yet to fully explore.  It also surfs the internet in speedy fashion.  I'm enthralled!

What the Nook doesn't do, however, is come with a protective cover.  *sigh*  Of course not.  How else would They get you to drop another $40 for such an important accessory?  Well go ahead and put your wallet away, because I've designed a cheaper (and prettier) option.

This is a simple little project for a Nook sleeve.  The measurements are specific to the Nook Color, but this is easily adjusted to fit any size e-reader, tablet, or other gadget.  I'll explain how to adjust the pattern at the end of the tutorial.


Nook Sleeve Materials List
  • 1 fat quarter (or 2 coordinating fat quarters if you want the lining different from the outside)
  • 1 large button
  • 1 elastic ponytail hair tie
  • 1/4 yard extra firm sew-in interfacing
  • Scrap of quilt batting OR fleece, at least 7" x 20"
  • Thread



Step 1 - Cut the pieces. 

From the fabric, cut one outer piece 7" x 20" and two lining pieces each 7" x 10." 

Cut both the interfacing and the batting to 7" x 20."







Step 2 - Set the lining pieces aside.  Layer the remaining pieces with batting on bottom, interfacing in the middle, and outer fabric on top.  Line up the edges and fold this whole thing in half so the fabrics are right side together.









Step 3 - Sew the two long sides 1/4" from the edge.  Make sure to backstitch at both the beginning and end of the seams.










Step 4 - Turn it right side out and push the corners out so they are nice and sharp.  If any batting or interfacing hangs out the top, go ahead and trim everything so it's even.









Step 5 - Sew on the hair tie in the center of one side, on the right side of the fabric. 

 









Step 6 - Lay the two lining pieces right sides together, and sew the two long edges with 1/4" seams.  Do not turn right side out.










Step 7 - Slip the lining onto the sleeve by sliding it over the outside.  The right sides of the fabric should be together.  Line up the top raw edges, and tuck the hair tie down between the layers. 










Step 8 - Carefully stitch around the top with a 1/4" seam allowance.  When you reach the hair tie, back up and go over it twice.  You don't want that tie pulling out of the seam later!  If your machine has a partially removable table for sewing sleeves and such, it makes this step much easier.







Step 9 - Pull the lining up and press it flat. 












Step 10 - Turn the raw edges of the lining 1/2" to the inside and press.  Stitch the opening closed with 1/8" seam allowance.










Step 11 - Push the lining down inside the sleeve and give the whole thing a good press. 











Step 12 - Sew on your button, and slide your Nook Color inside!  Voila!

Note: to adjust the pattern, simply measure your device and add 2" to each side.  For example, my Nook measures 5" x 8."  Adding 2" to those numbers gave me 7" x 10" - the size of the lining pieces.  The other pieces could also have been cut to 7"x 10", but I choose to just cut one large piece and fold it over instead of having to sew a bottom seam.