Otherwise known as “How Piggy survives the winter.” Also features blankets (and a shirt) made by either myself or my MIL. May your Wednesday be as cozy as Piggy is here!
Wordless Wednesday- Piggy Dumplings
Tag: handmade
Handmade Presents
Hello again! Now that everyone has finally gotten their gifts, I can finally share what I sewed this year. It took forever for our Christmas presents to reach people this year. It’s a good thing we celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas! The Husband said he was told at the post office that the building had been so full of packages that you couldn’t actually walk inside! Crazy times we live in!
Here’s some hats I made. The one with the hippo was for my Dad and the plain red one was for my friend.
My dad one year when I was little, kept singing the song “All I want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus” and we ended up finding him a clay hippo statue at the local thrift store which made us all giggle. I thought it was time for him to have a nice warm hippo hat to remember his daughter. The hat for my friend is lined, although I forget what I lined it with. I think a dbp maybe? He’s outside a lot and I made neck warmers last year for him, so I thought a hat would also be useful. He is married to K1.
For K1, I made a nice Cocoon Cardi and I might have to make a matching one for me. It’s so elegant looking! I did forget pockets though, although sometimes they don’t look nice in dbp if it pulls funny.
The boys got Viking shirts, which was really fun! I had virtual tea with both Ks today and the older boy was wearing his. It warmed my heart!
My younger brother got another set of pjs. This one had flannel pants with food puns and a plain blue raglan shirt.
I made the pun pants in memory of my Grandpa Ollie, who could clear the room with a few well placed puns. My brother says they both fit nicely and are very warm.
Everyone got microwave bowl cozies and a soup mix from Motown Soups. They were a hit! When we had our family zoom with my inlaws and sister in law, the inlaws opened theirs first and my sister in law was so impressed that I had to suggest she not go looking for any until her package actually got there. 🙂 The inlaws got bowling pin fabric. These two below are my parents’ set and my sister in law, I believe. My aunt got lemons and my brother got the same “basgetti” ones that we have. I really need to make a couple more to take to work as they would be extremely helpful there.
The Husband also got one of the pj pants that I have said I’d make him and then didn’t… Whoops! In my defense, the pattern I used first was not comfortable and I couldn’t find another one for a while. Since I’ve found a good pattern now, I can hopefully catch up. This pair has bears in sweaters. The Husband has a thing for bears in sweaters.
Piggy got a few handmade presents as well, although not by me. My inlaws made her some adorable bandanas and a little coat that will need some adjustments. She is still a chonky one.
She also got food treats from K1 when we got our cookies and gets so excited for them!
It’s so funny because she is so little on the face and then opens her mouth and it’s like you can see to Australia! I’ve actually compared it to a Tardis from Dr. Who- much bigger on the inside. 😉
I made these cute ornaments from toilet paper and paper towel tubes, because 2020 may have been sh*t, but I could at least make something pretty with it. 🙂
Behind it you can sort of see the Lego Christmas Village, which has a new home in the china cabinet. What? You mean other people actually display their china in the china cabinet? That’s some small imagination right there it is! Legos look much better there!
We missed the Lego Christmas Village set this year, unfortunately, but did get a really cool A Christmas Carol Lego book, which will look very neat in the village next year.
For my work people, I made a few spa things- peppermint sugar scrubs and green tea peppermint bath salts. I don’t have pictures, but they were both super cute. I packaged them in a zipper pouches. My parents got fun masks too. My dad got a soaring eagle and my mom got pianos that she can wear while teaching.
Although I didn’t make as much as I wanted to make this year, I’m pretty happy with what I did get done. The bowl cozies were super well liked and I gave a lot of people books too. I hope to start earlier this year and make more of Christmas handmade.
For now, I’ll leave you with a peaceful Piggy picture. I don’t know about you, but I could certainly use some extra peace on Mondays!
Why I Sew- Shark Shorts Edition
I’ve been running around for the past half hour making up songs about shark shorts. I don’t know how the Husband puts up with me…
To back up a little, I saw this fabric a while ago and said to myself “I neeeeeeeeed this to make shorts for Shark Week.” Then I texted the Husband and my sewing buddy and said the same thing. Much to my surprise, they both enthusiastically agreed. Then I waited for payday, the fabric sold out on all my websites and I finally found it online at a Michigan store. It cost a little more, but these shorts and I needed to be together. Lesson learned, buy the fabric! So here are the shorts:
They are a lighter quilting cotton with a navy blue cotton trim that I bought a few weeks ago, originally to use for something else. It matched perfectly though. It’s little round shapes with a band on each edge. They have back pockets, a fold over yoga waistband, and are just the right length. Next time I’ll move the pockets closer into the center line, but they fit very nicely.
These are the same pattern as my flamingo and minion shorts from last week: Linen Loungers by Patterns for Pirates.
I had a bit of a revelation about shorts and myself while getting ready for the concert last night. Ready for it? Here it is! No one but me, cares what I wear! I was so hung up on the fact that the store shorts didn’t fit, and squeezed everything, and looked like I should be 80 while wearing them that I forgot I might just be wearing the wrong style. These have a built-in hip curve and make me look cute, rather than emphasizing the things I don’t like about my body. I seriously have not worn shorts in over 5 years because I just was so self-conscious.
The other thing I appreciate about this pattern is that although I can wear them for sleep shorts, with the right details and fabrics, they don’t actually look like sleep shorts. Minions, yes, sharks, no. Details matter.
I posted a picture of myself looking nervous, but wearing the flamingo shorts in one of my sewing groups and the response was affirming. I’m still working on accepting and changing the things I need to change, but I can’t let it stop me from trying new styles or from being comfortable.
It made me really think about how I need to change my thinking. How can I sit with clients, especially teen girls, and make all these statements about acceptance and self-esteem, if I am not willing to work on my own?
So I plan to make more cotton shorts and experiment with wearing them. For now, my sharks will definitely be my favorite!
In other sewing related news, my Mom challenged me a little on my UFO boxes and recommended that I start each month by pulling a project out and committing to finishing that project during the month. I think it’s an excellent plan. I’m cheating a little this month and fixing a couple of wonky new projects, like the shirt with the sleeve where the neck should be…
I’m also going to fix this sweet Cocoon Cardigan that I messed up the band on. It has an owl appliqué on the back and is made from black double brushed poly. It’s very lightweight. 😍
It’s going to be so sweet when it’s done!
Finishing this skirt is on my list. It’s a perfect, flowy cotton. It needs a waistband and a lining.
This star fabric used to be a faux wrap skirt that was too small. I need to see if I can line up the seams to make shorts or a tank top.
I found this skirt at the local thrift store and should probably be trying to find some more of my fabrics or materials from there. Now that I kind of know how to fit things, I can use those cheaper materials to try techniques out. A couple of the thrift stores have full sari sets and some of them carry fabric pieces. It’s all hit or miss, of course, but it never hurts to look.
You may have noticed a sudden influx of stars on my clothing. 🙂 For some reason, stars are making me quite happy right now. I’m alright with that, there are some adorable starry prints out there.
Speaking of stars, I should probably head to bed to dream under the stars. Have a good night!
Me Made May Adventures!
I’ve decided to do something big and scary. I’ve decided to go even further out of my box and participate in Me Made May. Started by Zoe, from “So, Zoe, What Do You Know?”, it’s a way to examine your handmade wardrobe and figure out how to fill gaps and wear more of your handmade items. You create your own challenge and can choose to document in any way you want. Most people use photos and a lot are on Instagram. I took my first picture for it today.
I decided that I would use this time to really figure out what works for my wardrobe and what doesn’t and get more comfortable with taking pictures of myself. Part of the reason I sew, is because it helps me feel better about myself to be wearing well-fitting, cute, one of a kind clothes.
To start, I made a pledge post stating that I would commit to wearing me made items 3 times per week, documenting on Instagram, and here, with either flat lay outfit pictures, or pictures of me wearing the outfits. I will also try to make 2 plain or neutral printed dresses.
I did a closet inventory of my handmade items yesterday.
I have 10 shirts, 9 dresses, 3 pj pants/shorts, and 17 skirts. I need to go through everything and pull the ones I haven’t worn, or won’t work. A lot of my skirts are made from novelty fabrics and I need to get more creative about what to wear them with. I think this will help me really narrow in on what I like to wear and help curb my novelty skirt phase. Not that I shouldn’t have cute clothes, but I need to be more aware of what I can make work together.
I did just make two more knit things, a tunic, which can be worn with several colors, and a polka dot maxi skirt.
This one feels like my expensive tunics, but was from the discount store. It skims my curves and is from the Perfect T pattern. I would tell you who it was made by, but I left the pattern at my friend’s house… It totally threw off my plans yesterday.
This maxi is black with white polka dots and has a large fold over waist piece. It’s super comfy and a good substitute for the very expensive one I was pining after last summer. This one cost $6 or so. I was very proud.
I tried to sew last night, but everything went wrong and then this morning, I had terrible sewing dreams. Fabric went missing, people were yelling at me to finish, I was on Project Runway, Scissors disappeared. I had to use paper scissors to cut fabric!! 😳
I took tonight off, but do have some projects planned for the next couple days. The fabrics in the feature picture are going to be two dresses and a red, short-sleeved tunic.
Hopefully they will go fairly well and I won’t freak out. Wish me luck!
Stay tuned for more Me Made May news.
Fancy and Sewing
Fancy has decided to monitor my sewing and bedtime in a more active capacity lately. She decided the quilt in the quilting hoop was actually a dog tent and a wonderful place to nap.
She doesn’t try to bite it or anything, so I thought it was funny, but then she decided napping on my lap wasn’t good enough and proceeded to climb up my torso until she was tucked in under my chin. That made it very hard to keep quilting, so I just had to stop and cuddle the dog. This quilt is a secret, so I can’t show much of it yet. Oddly, it matched my leggings perfectly. 🙂
Last night, I was quilting again and she decided that 11:30 pm was too late and I should be sleeping, so she did this. It’s a little blurry, because she was moving, but she kept pawing at me until I put down the quilt and then she took over my lap and wouldn’t move.
She will also hang out by my sewing machine, especially when the Husband was out of town. I thought the machine might be scary for her, but even my Grandma’s machine doesn’t seem to faze her. This was her from last week.
Luckily, she didn’t try to guard the pedal.
I got the fabrics for all the quilt tops I need to finish last Friday and since we were dogless, I was able to get the two bigger ones pinned. Here is the second one.
I have started putting the Rainbow Rail Fence quilt together. It’s on the machine, so no pictures yet.
Fancy is currently snuggled up next to me on the couch with her paws draped over my feet, so I can’t get up. 🙂 She’s snoring as usual.
I’ve been working hard on these couple of quilts and haven’t really sewn anything else. I did get grey satiny fabric to go with my grey and purple lace. I think I might make that into a dress for the wedding. I have enough for a fancy slim fitting dress.
In other news, I’m excited to say that I was included in a roundup post about sewing and mental health on the Sewcialists blog. I have been reading the blog for a little while now and when they put out a call for stories of how sewing has helped your mental health, I knew I had to write my story. Check it out if you are interested! There are some inspiring stories out there. I’m planning on writing a longer post about this issue as well. https://sewcialists.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/who-we-are-sewing-with-and-for-mental-health/
Now, I’ve got to get some quilting done before work. It’s my late night at work, so I won’t have a lot of time tonight. Have a great day!