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Sewing Up A Storm
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Sewing Up A Storm

LSiehLeave a comment

My dresser drawers are getting full of clothing I’ve made and I’m finding myself being in me made outfits from head to toe more often than not. Today it was about half and half for work. I still have nice store bought pants and sweaters that are in the rotation, but I wear so many me made things now that everyone at work just assumes I made whatever I have on. 🙂

Speaking of work, one of the biggest things I’ve sewn lately has been this quilt that I essentially finished in a weekend for my director, who got married! She’s always elegant, so I thought this color palette would be nice and not overly girly for her husband and family. I’ve been told that everyone loves it, even the dogs! 🙂

It’s a little wrinkly from being wrapped up. This is the second Jellyroll Serger Quilt I’ve made, after taking the class in the winter at Decorative Stitch with my MIL. This time, I remembered to add the sashing! I think it turned out super cool. I have enough leftover fabric to make a baby quilt to gift when needed. The featured picture is a close up of one of the unicorn squares. Had to have a little whimsy, after all. Isn’t it so vibrant? The quilt was actually inspired by the fleece blanket that I used for the back. I had bought one of those no sew fleece blanket kits, but hate how the fleeces feel when you tie them and they are the perfect size for quilt backs.

I’ve been batch sewing a bunch of Lago tanks lately, as they are my absolute favorite tank so far. I have pictures of three of them, but have made two more too, a purple one and a long one for a night gown. The night gown used the rest of the black skull and hearts fabric from my purple skort. Here’s the ones I do have pictures of in a handy collage.

The pink one is a little, very soft and cool feeling, rayon spandex night shirt. The bicycle one is also mostly for sleep, as it can be a little more sheer than I’d like, but could be worn for every day too. The mint one was for my friend with the little boys. I’ve had this fabric since last year for her, but couldn’t figure out what I wanted to make for her with it. She liked this one a lot, so I think I made the right choice. It’s tunic length, so could also be a sleep shirt.

The Husband was traveling for work near where our friends live, so he was able to drop off a little box for them and get us two pints of the best (and pretty much only) maple syrup I will eat. There may have been some nerdy LOTR references made when she told me we could get it in pints. 😉 Yum!

I made a Patterns for Pirates Sweet Tee for her as well.

I was pleased with how this one turned out. I have a couple of Sweet Tees myself, so was pretty sure she’d like it.

The boys got shark themed outfits for Shark Week, which is coming up August 9-16th. I mean, we all know what I’ll be doing that week, but now the boys and I can match!

I hope the boys like their outfits! I made sure to send pants this time, as the older boy last time was slightly perturbed that he had only a shirt. 🙂

I made some more doll clothes for the office, but have pictures of just a few of them. The rest are at work and have been used already by the littles.

The button shirts have been seen before, but the snaps all came out, so I used velcro or snap tape the second time around.

Masks are not freaking me out as much to make currently, although they do hurt my hand, no matter which tool I use to cut them out. I have a bunch of pet themed ones started to do a fundraiser for Fancy and Piggy’s rescue. I found the most ridiculous cat dating site fabric for some of them and it cracks me right up. I’ll be sure to take a close up picture of that one. In the meantime, here are some of them.

The flamingo with the camper mask is staying with me, of course.

A few of these are going to work with me too, for anyone who wants to take them. The papery masks make me itchy and are super uncomfortable, so I wanted to offer them if other people were having the same issues. I figure if I get a set number of them ready, I won’t be inundated by requests and will be able to calmly get them out. I’m not taking custom requests or selling more than I have made up.

I used the camper/flamingo fabric to make Linen Lounger shorts, but need to go back and add a taller waistband, as I forgot to increase the back rise. I added pretty pink lace though and think they are super cute. I added pockets too.

Another victim of not enough rise, are these pants. At least I think that’s what’s happening? They’re also a weird length, hence the sad face.

I need new capri’s and pants though, so I’ll keep trying things out. I did make knit shorts from this cool zipper pattern cotton lycra. They’re very comfy and have pockets. I used the Solar Flares pattern by RAD patterns. The theme last week for the sewing challenge was Pants or Shorts.

I also made another skort! This book fabric was a custom fabric from Peekaboo Fabrics and they don’t have any more. I had just a half yard of it and it worked out perfectly. The shorts underneath are a blue anti-microbial athletic fabric that apparently runs easily. I may switch it out for a plain cotton lycra at some point. It is very comfy though and looks tidy enough that I do wear it to work on days when I have mostly kids.

Well, that’s all the sewing I have pictures of, so I guess I’ll sign off for the night! I’m definitely relaxing in my zipper shorts tonight. The house got pretty warm when we were all out of it. I’ll leave you with this picture of Piggy, because if it doesn’t make you smile, I’m not sure what will.

Sweet Dreams!

Sewcation!
Life Posts · Sewing

Sewcation!

LSiehLeave a comment

We were excited to visit friends a few weeks ago for a weekend. I shared some of the pictures on a Wednesday, but forgot to include these last few. I’m always amazed at just how cool our friends are. They can simultaneously keep both children and animals alive and thriving! Also, they are excellent hosts. I didn’t get pictures of the food we ate because I was too busy enjoying it. One of the highlights was homemade zeppoli for breakfast the day we left, but we also had delicious BLTs and a lovely chicken and pasta dish.

Here are some of the other pictures.

I got to snuggle a baby and it was fun to see their older boy, who we haven’t seen in a year or so. He was talking up a storm, including telling the Husband a long and involved story about “coconuts poofing” away while he was attempt to nap. He was also fascinated by both the superhero stories we brought the boys and the Husband’s grown up book that had only words, no pictures. Fancy stayed with a dog sitter, as we weren’t sure how she would handle a toddler and a 7 month old, but the older boy might have remembered her a little, after I showed him pictures of him and Fancy at our last visit. We have a picture of Fancy and S from last time up on our mantle display at the moment. 🙂

Besides seeing adorable children and our friends, we had an ulterior motive. Well, I did at least. My friend K (technically K 1, since we met in college) has not has not had much experience sewing with knits and wanted to learn, so I brought both my serger and my sewing machine up, as well as fabric, and some of my free patterns. She has a vintage Viking machine that purrs like a kitten. I was expecting a little trouble honestly, since my modern one has issues sometimes, but it loved sewing knits!

We used this really cute elephant fabric to make matching leggings.

Here’s a legging closeup:

We’re both wearing Lago tanks in the picture too. I made both of those, but K(1) made herself a black Lago after making the leggings. We also have matching leggings in this fabric:

Mine are shorts and hers are full length leggings. K(1) was nice enough to share fabrics. There may also be another pair of matching leggings coming when I can figure out how to cut things without hurting my thumb again.

This was the weekend I decided I really did need to get my hand looked at after I woke the Husband up by rolling over on my right hand and whisper screaming when I couldn’t move my thumb. I now know I have sewing related tendinitis and am not allowed to use scissors for a bit. I think I can still use a rotary cutter though, but have been resting it as much as possible.

Regardless of hand condition now, I did manage to make a pj set for K(1) which turned out so cute that it almost didn’t make it. 🙂

I had already made myself a pair of jogger pants with the neon sign material and was able to get a tank out of the mint fabric, so she did get it in the end. It was close though!

I also finished these two Lago tanks, one out of heathered blue tri blend- a mix of cotton, rayon, and spandex, and the dino one out of swim material.

Both are jus t serged on the hem because they are workout or sleep tanks. They are both super comfy. I cannot stop making this tank pattern. I think it’s almost my perfect pattern.

I let K(1) use my serger to finish these beautiful linen napkins that she had started. She sent me this picture after we had gotten home and it made me all smiley and giggly.

Look how pretty they are! I did one as an example and then she did the rest.

She also made myself and my other sewing friend, also a K, these adorable pin cushions and sent me hime with some super cool vintage patterns.

I was a bit jealous of this super cool vintage pattern box that includes everything you need to make this dress.

How cool is that? I’m excited to see it made up in the future.

We had a very lovely time and it was so much fun to introduce her to a couple of my favorite patterns. I’m hoping we can see each other again soon and to be able to finish some of the things I have for her and the boys. Send some healing vibes for my thumb and I’ll try to rest up as well. Otherwise, I’ll have to find someone I can bribe to cut out my patterns and fabric for me!

For now, I’m off to dream of more sewcations!

Serging Forward!
Crafty · Sewing

Serging Forward!

LSieh4 Comments

No, that’s not a typo! I bought a serger a little bit ago and I have been having a lot of fun learning how to make it do all sorts of things. It is a “previously loved” Babylock Enlighten.

My mother-in- law is partially to blame, when I asked her about pricing, she said she would just come with me to the sale. 🙂 My sewing friend K was also there, so we both picked her brain about sergers and what features to buy. This model automatically adjusts tension and threads itself when you push a button. It solves the worst problems with sergers in general. 🥰

A serger, by the way, is the machine that makes fancy hems on t-shirts and other items. The stitches look like this:

They are more flexible and secure than a zig zag stitch on knits and make everything look a little more professional. My MIL said it would be “a game changer” for me and it seems to be that way. I have sewist guilt though, about not using my machine. I don’t know that I will use the serger on quilt seams, as that feels a bit weird.

So far I have made some pants, leggings, tank tops, and a woven skirt with the serger. I haven’t had problems with seams, except with the neck and armbands, which are generally tiny and obnoxious to get the spacing just right.

Here are the tanks I have made:

The red one was the first one I made.

I noodled around on scrap fabric for a while and then just jumped right in. It was very exciting! I haven’t worn it yet, mostly because I need to trim the end threads.

This one was made as a subtle Shark Week outfit. It’s a thinner tshirt knit with low recovery from Seweird Fabrics. I had just enough to make it work.

I had three intakes at work during Shark Week and while I think most of them probably wouldn’t have even registered that I was wearing sharks, I figured I should attempt to be professional. Hence the subtle shark tooth motif. I wore a red cardigan (because, hello! Shark Teeth!) red and black jewelry, and my black jean leggings. I definitely giggled to myself all day, but have worn the tank a couple more times after. I still haven’t figured out hemming where it won’t be seen on the shirt. Excuse the thread. I was using up what I had.

I also made a casual or workout tank out of teal cotton lycra. This was out of a remnant from my friend’s leggings, so I was excited to see I had enough. I’m really working on using up scrap pieces to test patterns and be more conscious of my fabric collecting (hoarding) habits. It is currently in the wash, but imagine a teal version of the red tank.

The tanks are all the Lago tank pattern, as it is my favorite.

I also made this shark skirt out of woven fabric, but it didn’t quite hold up as well as I had hoped. I hemmed it using a special stitch called the “wave stitch” that was one of the primary reasons for buying this particular serger. You can sort of see the black/grey waves on the edge.

There’s a hilarious story involving a luckily no show appointment, binder clips, and the absence of a TJ Maxx to explain what happened, but I might not have blog space for it. You’ll be happy to know that Rite Aid carries sewing supplies and I made it through the rest of the night with a hastily sewn shut skirt. The intern was very amused and pretty impressed that I fixed it as quickly as I did. I’m still debating if I need to just make another version of it, or just assume it wouldn’t be good for a skirt. It’s a very thin cotton batik.

I almost forgot that I made these little yoga shorts too. They are a little see through to wear to actual yoga. (Knowing me, I would forget that and wear the most wildly printed underwear I had…) They work really well for sleep shorts or under skirts or dresses though.

They are double brushed poly, so super soft and comfy.

I made these shark leggings ankle length so that I could wear them all year. Sharks need love year round, after all. I used the Patterns for Pirates Peg Legs patterns for both the yoga shorts and the leggings. They are cotton lycra for both fabrics. I quite enjoy them.

I did try to make this shirt for Shark Week too, but it went horribly wrong and has been put in the naughty bin for now.

It sticks out weird at the lower back portion. I think I need a sway back adjustment to help control extra fabric. The lighter blue is also a very thin knit and I think I need one that is a little thicker to help control the pull. The water fabric is a quilting cotton and as much as I want to wear it, I think it might not be destined to be.

I did also make a tank out of a remnant from a fabric that K found before me at the discount store. It’s super soft and I used black cotton lycra for the bands, as the fabric wasn’t quite stretchy enough.

In other sewing news, I had a bit of an unexpected trip to the UP for our family friend’s funeral and although that was a sad part of the trip, I did remember to take pictures of the quilts that are at my parents’ house that I made, but forgot to document. Two of the three of them are my Dad’s and despite him actually receiving three total (one shredded from too many bias cut strips,) he still strongly hints that he should receive another one. I think maybe he should be grateful and let Mom have a turn. 😉

These are several years old, but they look like they are holding up well.

This is the second one he received after a year or so of hiding the old one so I wouldn’t take it to throw away when it started ripping. I believe it is from Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville. I think it is the Maverick Star quilt.

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/maverick-stars.html

It’s backed with flannel, with no batting. I’d forgotten how much fun it was and now am itching to make another one. I just can’t stay away from the scrap quilts!

This one is a 9 patch from one of my books, I think. It’s a fairly common pattern. 9 patch with a plain alternating block. I used this cool gun fabric for it after seeing it in a quilt shop and needing to get it for him. This one is backed in cotton, no batting, after the flannel one was said to be too hot.

I’m pretty proud of the color scheme. I used up a lot of oddball fabrics for this one and I believe it uses pre-cut 2.5 inch squares for the 9 patch, so it’s pretty easy.

This one I did make for my Mom, wonky hand-stitching and all!

It’s composer fabric and hangs in her studio, doing double duty, protecting the harpsichord from drafts and being decorative. Yes, my Mom is the cool Mom with the unusual instruments. 🙂

I have sewn a few more things, but some of them I cannot show you yet. I have to learn to alternate things I can show, with those I can’t. It makes posting a little difficulty occasionally. I have also been doing some organizing. I now have enough bins to put everything away and as my Mom gleefully reminded me this past weekend, should probably be on another fabric buying ban until I sew some more of them down.

I should really go plan out some more projects, or maybe clean off the table. We’re having our Big Summer Blowout this weekend and the table is currently covered with tracing paper, fabrics, and serger accoutrements. Wish me luck and maybe call the Husband if you haven’t heard from me in a few days. 😉