Tag: sewing

Adventures · Sewing

Accuquilt Fun

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(I swear this isn’t a sponsored post!) I’ve had my Accuquilt machine for a while and it’s been super useful and fun, so I wanted to share some things about it. The Accuquilt is a die cut machine for fabric. Here’s the machine when it’s ready to go:

I was introduced to it through my MIL when we used to cut our jellyroll strip pieces for our Jellyroll Quilt class. (She’s fond of getting me hooked on “sewing game changers” that happen to be expensive. Not that I mind, obviously!) I finally got one of my own after a really bad tendinitis flare made it impossible to quilt or sew. I just can’t cut fabric for that long without hurting myself. Cutting fabric is my least favorite part of sewing, only shortly after ironing in levels of “eww.” Since it’s more accurate than rotary cutting as well, it makes my quilts look much more professional. Sadly, it does not iron my quilt squares for me, so it’s not quite perfect, but you can’t expect everything I guess.

On to how it works! It has dies that are plastic on the bottom and foam on the top with some mysterious heavy thing, probably metal or wood, I would guess, in the middle. It has blades hiding deep in the foam that form the pattern you are trying to cut. Here’s a picture of what the die looks like. This particular die is a Block on Board one, which means you can make a whole block with just these pieces. They are turned to make sure your fabric is cut on grain, as a lot of quilt fabric can be slightly off grain.

This particular block is a Bear’s Paw block. Isn’t it cute? I’m going to make a Scandinavian Christmas gnome quilt with it.

To use it, you make a sandwich with the die on the bottom, up to 6 layers of fabric, and then a special cutting mat. Then you put it on the flat part of the machine and gently guide it through. The machine compresses the sandwich/foam and allows the blades to come out and cut the fabric. It comes out the other side, as you can see. but you have some time to get around the machine and support it on the other side.

After it comes out of the machine, you can pull off the extra fabric and you’re left with the cut out pieces for the quilt square. Then you can do the fun part and actually sew!

This quilt will be a Scandinavian Christmas Tomte quilt. I have this fabric in a bunch of different color ways and I think it will be super cute!

I’ve been enjoying collecting all my die cutters for it and have used it to make a bunch of quilts without hurting my hand. This was the first one I made, although I used my MIL’s Accuquilt. We took a jellyroll quilt class together and decided to make our own rolls instead of buying one. The borders weren’t cut with it, but the strips for the blocks were. I have this quilt in my office currently for naps and times when people might need a comforting blanket.

This quilt is one I made for my boss for her wedding. It’s the same pattern, I just had forgotten the sashing in my office quilt. I really liked how sunshiny it is!

This is probably my favorite quilt I have made and I gave it to a friend of mine because I thought it belonged to her after I made it. It uses two Accuquilt dies- the Gnomies and the Snail’s Trail die. The Snail’s Trail is one of the block patterns that I really wanted to make, but I was intimidated by the smaller pieces. I didn’t think I could get the pieces cut accurately enough, so I was super pleased with how it turned out.

The latest quilt I’ve finished is this one for my friend above’s mom. It did get a little wonky. I think I forgot to flip the rows as I was sewing them together.

I can’t find the picture of this quilt finished, but it had another row of hexagons and then also another big black border on the top. I made it for my Secret Garak swap in one of my craft groups. I was pretty pleased with it.

I have three more quilts cut out so far: one hexagon with gnomes, one similar to the quilt above with really pretty florals, and one made of strips to be a bookshelf quilt! Won’t these two be super pretty?

I hope you enjoyed seeing what’s been helping me with doing more quilting lately. I’m excited to start using more of my die cuts once my sewing area is more set up. Wish me good, quilty luck, smooth thread, and never empty bobbins!

Monthly Review · Sewing

Sewing Round Up- 2021

LSieh2 Comments

Sew how did your year go? Was it a creative year, or did you get creativity slumps like me? It was really hard to maintain my sewing habit this year, due to several basement heavy house renos. We’re grateful to have the means with which to fix our house and looking forward to the new windows in March so we have less drafts, but it was a lot to have done all at once. I did still manage to do a lot of sewing this year. I kept up mostly with the 52 Week Sewing Challenge, although I had to utilize the make up threads a little bit.

Here are some of my favorite patterns or makes from the year.

This purse is one of the things I am most proud of making. I always feel that my bags don’t look as professional as they could, even when I do the ironing and all the extra steps. But this bag turned out really well. The pattern is from Linds Handmade on Etsy and is called the H2O to Go Sling. the rose part that you can see with the water bottle is actually a waterproof fabric, I think a thinner oil cloth or PUL fabric. The front pocket has a little pocket and a bunch of card slots. I sewed a little too close to the zipper, so it is a little hard to zip occasionally, but it’s the perfect size for outings and every day. I made it specifically to take on my Wine Hike Trip with the girls and it worked really well. I need to make one with just plain fabric on the inside too for my every day purse. It fits my inhaler, phone, large battery power back and cord, a water bottle, chapstick, a pen… The list goes on, despite it looking very compact.

These are the Briar Shorties from Petite Stitchery and are my favorite sleep and lounge shorts in the summer. I made 4 pairs because I would get sad if I had to wear anything else. My favorite part is that the pattern itself says you don’t need to hem them.

I adore this dress so much that I needed to use a whole collage to show it off. The fabric is a slinky, drapey ITY (Intertwist yarn, I think it what that stands for.) It’s cool to the touch and flows like a dream, as you can see by the perfect drape of the skirt. It looks gathered, but it’s in fact, just a straight full circle skirt. The pattern is a modified Sweetheart Dress from Patterns for Pirates and it has a lined bodice. I dropped the neckline slightly lower as the original one often makes me feel a little choked and made it a slight hi-low hem, so it lines up across my booty and doesn’t look like it’s two inches higher at the back. You can see the hi-low in the side picture of it on Betsy. (Also, the wall which we removed to fit the new furnace in. )

This dress is the Gala from Patterns for Pirates and was part of my capsule collection. I wore it for work pictures and everyone was very impressed. It’s super sparkly! The gala looks flattering on literally everyone who posts pictures of it and although it has a lot of pieces, isn’t overly complicated. I just finished a tank dress version of it too, but don’t have a picture yet. You can definitely dress it up or down.

I made this little sign for my office, but haven’t managed to get a hanger on it or bring it in yet, so I should do that after I finish writing this post. K2 made me the vinyl. I also have it on a shirt, but the shirt shrank in the wash, so I need to iron it again.

I made this shirt for Valentine’s day! Isn’t it just the most perfect shirt for the office? I didn’t have enough to do both sides so I made the back black. This is the Sun Kissed Tee from Peekaboo Patterns. I really like this pattern and made four or five in different fabrics.

I made this quilt with my Accuquilt on a whim and ended up giving it to another K friend and I adore it. I’ve wanted to make a snail’s trail for a while, but it’s a hard pattern to cut out the pieces for and I was excited to not have to do that here. The rainbows make it so bright and happy! It’s really fun to give someone a completely unexpected quilt. (Look, Dad, you’ve gotten three quilts already! You don’t neeeeed another right now! 😉 )

I’m also proud of making swimwear, but definitely need some work on execution. Both suits had their issues. I just bought another pattern that is a swim dress, so I think that will be super cute!

I did learn to make nice pants this year! Pictured below are the Patterns for Pirates SOS Pants. (I swear, this isn’t a sponsored post, they just have really nice patterns!) I think I need to got up half a size, as my seams are straining a little when I wear these, but they don’t make me feel like a sausage stuffed into too small of a casing. I’ve been very intimidated by the pattern for a long time. I did not add pockets on this first pair but probably will add them on other pairs. I used a nice heavy ponte fabric and they look like professional pants and feel like pjs, which is one of my favorite things.

Now that I’ve showed you some of my favorite makes, want to see some of my problematic ones? Of course you do! Where’s the fun in just seeing the good ones? Take this shirt for example. Idea was good, excecution is way off. The neckband doesn’t work, the color is way too pink. The lettering is on my stomach. *headdesk* I can’t even wear it because it’s also clingy in the wrong places and feels awful. I have no idea how to fix it either.

I was rushing for this one and it shows. I’m sad that I essentially ended up wasting this fabric because it’s not very wearable. I made this for my capsule collection for a challenge and it was the last piece I made right before the deadline. I don’t know if I can salvage it, but it’s been banished to the closet where I can’t see it and be annoyed.

This dress, I do want to save! I adore the pop of yellow I used and it has snails on it. The skirt part fits well. The bodice is all jacked up. I can’t raise my arms in it, it has those big wrinkles in the front, and it was so disappointing. I think I jus need to actually make a muslin for the bodice and try again. It is a big 4 pattern- McAlls, I think, so it’s not always reliable or customizable. I graded the bodice up as I have a pattern that stops one size under where I need, but it didn’t work. I’m debating cutting the bodice off, and just putting a waistband on the skirt.

I’m sure there are more, but these were the most egregious errors that I can remember.

It was a fun year of sewing and I’m excited to see what I can do this year. The 52 week challenge changed the format this year and you can up to 4 projects and 4 bonuses per month. It’s been a lot less stressful to sew for knowing I could have done them all at once instead of waiting a week to start a new project and only have a week to get it done. The challenge of course, continues to be not waiting until the last minute to finish!

I hope your year is off to a creative start!

Sewing

Still Sewing!

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I haven’t had a sewing post up for a while because while I have been sewing, it has been erratic. We’ve had so many house repairs done in the last four months, most of which required the basement to be ripped apart. Our last one until the windows was last week and we had to move everything away from the basement windows.

My sewing area is currently spread across the basement, my serger is packed in its travel case, and my sewing machine is upstairs on the dining room table. It’s a mess! Hopefully this week, we can start rearranging. The Husband starts play rehearsals this week, so will be having some late nights again for a few months. I’d like to have the heavy things moved into place at least before that happens. But I have managed to sew some things amidst the chaos. Here’s what I have pictures of at least.

This is my favorite tank, the Itch To Stitch Lago. The fabric is a drapey rayon spandex. It’s super comfy to wear and can be dressed up or down (relatively speaking.) It’s got tiny hearts! I just serged the bottom hem.

This is probably my favorite dress I have made in the past few months! This is a modified Sweetheart from Patterns for Pirates in a super slinky and cool feeling ITY. I lowered the neckline, banded the sleeves, and made the skirt slightly hi/low to better suit my bubble booty. I wore to work and the very stylish people there all liked it! It makes me feel super duper cute, which is always helpful. The skirt was cut in half circles instead of a full circle because it is a directional print. I forgot to put in pockets, but ITY is a funny drape sometimes and this fabric is super thin, so I wasn’t sure how the pockets would hang. It definitely fulfills my twirly skirt dreams!

I love this pattern, but I think I need a full bust adjustment, because although it looks cute here, I cannot raise my arms in it and it pulls very funny. It has princess seams though and is made for woven. This is a snail print rayon voile maybe? I ordered it a while ago, so don’t remember exactly what it is. The skirt part fits me though so I may just try to recut the bodice into a shape that fits better. This one does have pockets!

Now this project was super fun to try, although a bit confusing. It is the H2O To Go sling by Linds Handmade. It carries a water bottle for hikes and is lined with waterproof fabric, so it won’t get the rest of your purse wet! It’s my favorite purse right now and I need to make another with just regular fabric so I don’t wear this one out. I used the card slots in the pocket. I took it on our wine trip and it worked very well!

These are the inside pockets/card slots. It actually fits my inhaler and everything! Funny story, I had this when we went to visit K1 and her family and she gave me a tiny bottle of herbal bitters that I put in the water bottle pocket and promptly forgot about. I’ve been carrying it everywhere with me unknowingly since! I found it again early this week and it’s now in the booze cabinet where it belongs.

I think I have four pairs of the Petite Stitchery & C0 Briar shorts now! They’re so comfy! I made these for a challenge and it took me 20 minutes to cut and sew them! Super easy and super flirty. I made a matching bra top to go with them, but got the band wrong, so have to fix it.

These pants are for K1’s baby, but if I don’t get them there soon, they’re going to end up as capri pants instead! Her brothers have matching pairs and the oldest helped me serge his. He was super excited to help. They are flannel, so they’d be good pj or lounge pants. I used the Walk the Plank Kids PJ Pant Pattern from Patterns for Pirates.

I made these two leggings for me! Both are Peg Leggings from Patterns for Pirates. I love the bright leggings and wear them with my plain colored tunics or dresses so they have the proper focus. I will be wearing them possibly all winter, although they are capri length, so I may not be able to wear them with boots. Maybe just summer and fall. The cacti are cotton lycra and the bright pair is DBP.

I have made two swimsuits this summer! I only have a picture of part of one though because swimwear pictures are not something I’m ready for. This is a set with a Shenanigans Skort and a LBB from George and Ginger with an attached lace part for the belly coverage. It works pretty well. I wore it on our visit to K2 and it held up decently in the water. I think I would give myself a little more top coverage and shorten the straps though. The purple and black are both swim fabrics.

Piggy swam out to “rescue” me and nearly pulled down my top clinging in panic to my shoulders. She’s not so much a water dog it seems. After the first time of swimming out to me (attached to a leash held by the Husband for safety) she swam back to shore and shared K1’s lap with the baby and shivered for a while. We’re going to get her a life jacket before taking her on the inlaw’s boat.

I just made this quilt for a coworker’s mom and I’m hoping she liked it. I’m pretty proud of myself, as this is my second all Accuquilt cut quilt! The sashing got a little bit wonky, but oddly enough, it was wonky in a way that looks almost deliberate. I tried to do something fun with the border, but think it looks weird.

K2 and another friend came over for a tie dye birthday party for K2. I was proud that I got all three of these garments done. I do have a ton of white fabric left over though, so I might try to make a couple more things with the leftover dye. Or maybe just save them for next summer. Who knows? They are- Patterns for Pirates Cocoon Cardi in the big sweater, Petite Stichery & Co Briar Shorties, and the Sinclair Cachet for the shirt. The Cachet just has serged edges as it’s meant to be a swimsuit cover up or pj shirt. The Cocoon has a shawl collar and can I just tell you how comfortable this is? Oh my goodness, I neeeeeeeed one as a cozy fall cardi. I think I have an oatmeal colored waffle and a dark blue waffle fabric that will be shawl collared Coocoons when I get my space back.

I made a doll shirt for my challenge today as I was feeling under the weather. I have two more cut out, but my bobbin thread ran out and I didn’t feel like threading more.

And last, but not least, in my quest to have all the cozy hoodies, is this slightly oversized Ellie & Mac Be Creative Hoodie. It’s made with white printed French Terry and a purply waffle fabric. Waffle is like thermal, but thinner. Still pretty warm though, but doesn’t have a lot of recovery. I may go in and slim it down in the sides and arms a little. But it’s super cozy! I ran out of material for the sleeve, but I think it looks good with two different ones?

I’ll leave you with this picture of Piggy in a shark hoodie. Look, it was on sale and I couldn’t resist. Plus, she seems to actually be ok with shirts when she’s cold. And she’s got a belly skin thing going on, so this helps keep that reaction down when she goes outside. I hope this makes your night end on a giggle!

Sewing

Sewing Shenanigans

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Literally, in fact, as I made two new 5 out of 4 Patterns Shenanigan Skorts! This is my favorite pattern and I laugh at how much things come back around, because I threw terrible fits when my Mom tried to make me wear them in middle school. Now as an adult, I’m all about built in chafe protection and ability to sit on the floor with kids without showing off any unmentionables. 😆 How times change!

This skort fits me really well without any modifications. I have yet to mess with pockets on one, but I think it would be pretty simple to add them. I made these two for a sewalomg sponsored buy the pattern company. Sadly, I didn’t win any of the randomly drawn prizes, but I now have two more cute skorts. It also inspired me to fix the shorts on the two (books and birds) that would fall down, due to the shorts not having enough vertical stretch. Here are the two new skorts.

This first one is made out of blue refined ponte that I found as a remnant or end of bolt at Joann’s. Ponte is a structured knit that holds its shape and is slightly less vertically stretchy than horizontally stretchy. It works really well for things like this and looks really professional. The shorts underneath are a teal dbp. I didn’t hem them, as I wasn’t sure if the length yet. They need to be shortened just a smidge. I just finished the bottom by serging it. Honestly, no one really cares or knows the difference. Ponte won’t unravel anyway, but it helps the hemline looks nice and straight.

The second one is dbp for both the skort and the shorts. Something went wrong with the shorts, so I need to remove them and put in new ones.

For the “Fix The Fit week I sewed up holes in these pants and shorts. It seemed appropriate and now they can be worn again.

These cute Linen Loungers were made from a remnant. I like them a lot!

This fabric was advertised “sheer,” but after it’s been washed, it goes pretty opaque. It’s super comfy and goes with a flowy pair of teal Briar sleep shorts.

I finally made this shirt, but then I washed it and it shrunk. It’s still nice to wear though!

I really like the Made For Mermaid’s Sweetheart Dress, but it is a little tight in the arms. I probably just need to go up a size and grade from there. The fabric is flowers in kaleidoscope patterns. It is a single brushed poly, so is super soft on the outside and not as stretchy. It needed to be in a garment that wouldn’t hide the pattern by being too complicated.

The skirt is very twirly, so I do love it. I’m going to make some more, I’m sure.

So those are my latest sewing adventures! Hope you enjoyed seeing them!

Sewing

Adventures In Capsule Sewing

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A lot of my sewing groups have been running extra challenges with fun prizes and percentages off patterns, so you know I’ve been abandoning my previous projects like a snake shedding skin. 🙂 For this particular challenge though, I was able to fill a couple of wardrobe holes.

The idea of a Capsule Wardrobe has it’s roots in minimalist culture as a way to get the most out of a few pieces. They are all supposed to mix and match, so you have lots of options. Generally this means picking a focus fabric and carefully thinking about prints.

I called it my “Picture Perfect” Capsule, because I needed a few new work things, especially something for my new headshot. I had planned to sew up mostly solids and did succeed in getting some more made. I had to abandon part of it though, as I ran out of tracing paper.

This particular challenge was sponsored by Made for Mermaids and Patterns for Pirates. They are PDF pattern companies run by two sisters. The vibes are similar. Made for Mermaids tends to be softer and more flowy. Pirates seems to have more sleek things. I have a bunch of patterns from both, so was excited to use new ones. The deal was that you had to use only patterns from both companies and you could mash them together if you wanted to. You had to have 9 items total and could use up to four previously made items.

Mine ended up being almost all Patterns for Pirates by accident. More of them fit into my capsule idea and I ran out of time and tracing paper to include the Eloise and the Lauren from Made for Mermaids. Here’s what my original concept was:

It took me a while to combine the fabrics, as I didn’t start with a main fabric. Once I realized that having a main fabric would help pull everything together, I settled on this one: a floral Liverpool with a navy background.

After that I pulled a couple of coordinating colored fabrics. The purple rayon spandex below really wanted to be an Eloise and I have it cut out, just not finished yet. The glittery blue is actually on a black background and is ITY, which is a cool, slippery feeling fabric. The flamingo is a rayon challis, I believe. The green next to it is another rayon spandex, but it’s thicker and more slinky feeling than the purple. It could possibly be bamboo rayon, but I’ve never felt that, so I don’t know for sure.

The main dress is a Patterns for Pirates Sweetheart Dress. It has a full circle skirt and is very dramatic and excellent for twirling. I may have twirled every time I got compliments on it. 😉

The only thing I didn’t like is that the neckline feels like it’s strangling me. I’m going to scoop it out lower for comfort.

My original pre-made items (we were allowed 4) for my capsule were a pair of grey leggings, a navy floral Brunch Blouse from P4P and a grey cardigan. I switched it up at the end as the cardi didn’t really go and I was running behind on time. I decided that after all the work clothes, I would probably need an after work outfit and used my vaccination outfit as my final two pieces.

This is the Made for Mermaid Penelope dress. I have been waiting a long time to make it, as it seemed very complicated. It has princess seams which run straight down from the shoulders, making it drape nicely and flare at the bottom. It has cap, short, 3/4, and long sleeve options. It also has mini, knee, and maxi length skirt options. My sleeves were slightly longer than the short sleeve.

This is fine in the front for work, but is a bit shorter than it probably should be, due to my curves at the back. I’ll most likely be wearing this with leggings or shorts when I do wear it to work. I really like how it looks on me and will definitely make more.

This beauty is the Patterns for Pirates Gala Gown in the knee length option. It’s made out of ITY, which stands for Interlock Twisted Yarn. It’s silky, slippery, and cool to the touch. It also rolls like crazy and was super annoying to sew! I wore this dress for my professional headshot and it made me feel special and confident. It’s got a fantastic twirl factor too. The pattern is complicated, with many pieces, but not difficult to put together. I did forget to add in the pockets though.

I love it and had a grand time swishing around in it. It also looks flattering on pretty much everyone that I have seen make it. I’m interested to try it with some other fabrics.

This is a Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates. I think it’s rayon challis. It’s nice and drapey to wear. I switched this out for the Eloise.

I made pants to go with it! They are super comfy! I have been irrationally afraid to make the Patterns for Pirates SOS pants for a while, but they weren’t that hard to make. I do need to grade out at the hips. This pair has some pulling in the seams. But I do have plans to make more with my fancy pants fabrics. Excuse the wrinkles, I forgot pictures before wearing them.

Overall, it was fun to push myself to try new and somewhat intimidating patterns. I will make all of them again and it’s boosted my confidence in trying more of my patterns. I should be on a pattern buying ban, but we all know that’ll never happen. 😂

I think I’ll go find some more capsule options and work on filling my wardrobe holes next! Wish me luck!

Sewing

Stash Shopping- Challenge Accepted!

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While we were sorting out the pantry the other day, I came up with a good idea to potentially help me get a handle on my fabric storage issues. Namely, I need to sew more and buy/store less. The problem is, I get excited about new fabric and don’t sew up the old fabric, or get bogged down in ideas about what things could be and can’t decide what to make with that particular fabric.

So I decided that in order to cut down on some decisions, I would make myself a new challenge. I will only use the fabric that’s sitting out until most of it can then fit in my bins. Of course, there are a few exceptions. If I need a particular solid color for accent, or a specific fabric for the 52 Week Sewing Challenge bonus, I can use that. I took pictures of all the fabrics I had that weren’t put away yet so I could stay accountable.

The funny thing is, I generally have an idea of what I’d like to make with the fabrics, I just get distracted.

Left to Right: Pink French Terry, Teal Cotton Interlock- no stretch, light blue lightweight sweater knit, heavy quilted sweatshirt fabric, polka dotted french terry.

The pink french terry has enough to make part of a sweater. It’s thinner, so it would be good for a short sleeved shirt too. The teal interlock will be a shirt. Light blue sweater will be a summer weight Cocoon Cardigan, as it has little holes where the bow ties are. The polka dotted french terry wants to be a sweater pattern. I don’t have a ton of it though, so not sure which pattern yet. Blue quilted knit will be a vest, I think for fall. It’s super heavy and not very stretchy, so I’m not sure I want it to be a full sweater.

Black Birds- cotton interlock, not super stretchy. Good for tshirts. Music fabric is a gorgeous, thicker double brushed poly. It might be a skirt for a dress, or a tunic. I can’t decide if a tunic would be too busy. I have a lot of it though. The monsters are for my favorite little boys. It’s a cotton lycra. It will pair nicely with the black cotton lycra that’s next to it. The grey is leftover DBP from a tunic dress for K1. You can’t really go wrong with a nice grey shirt or tank top, so that’s probably what that will be. Actually, I do need to replace a grey tank I have that just doesn’t work for me anymore. This would be perfect!

Grey lightweight sweater fabric has already been made into a very nice tunic length Grandpa Cardi .

It’s got a little shimmer to it and is light enough that it doesn’t make me too warm, but keeps me at the right temp. I think it will be perfect in summer too.

The flamingo fabric is swimsuit material. I was going to make a swimsuit this week, but chickened out. I need to make a test version first and just didn’t have the time before I was down and out from the second vaccine dose.

The plaid is a soft hacci sweater knit. It wants to be a tunic or sweater dress. The starry fabric is french terry. I have a Cocoon Cardi in this, but liked it so much I wanted more for hoodies. The teal is crushed velvet for fancy pajamas. I know I swore off crushed velvet, but I couldn’t help it. These last three are from Olga’s Closet and so will be bonus entries for the challenge.

Top is a scrap of french terry for accents. I’ll make the Husband more shorts with it if there’s enough. Next is my River Tam panel, which is going to go on the back of a motorcycle jacket because it’s that awesome. The teal is a dbp and will probably be leggings or a tank. Black is dbp as well and will also be leggings. I only have one pair of black and that hasn’t been enough. The red is more berry like in real life and is double gauze. That will be a nice peasant style blouse or dress.

The wildly printed fabric is dbp and will be used for test night attire and other muslins. I really wanted it, but ended up with a lot, since it was on clearance. The white is a loose weaved sweater knit for a summer sweater. Probably a grandpa cardi as it doesn’t have a ton of drape for a Cocoon. The grey is a thermal. Probably a shirt for the Husband or the Brother, or possibly another sleep shirt for me. The gold veined fabric is a dark teal in real life and is cotton lycra. Originally it was going to be leggings, but it’s super pretty. It actually goes really well with the mustard stars, so it may end up being a hoodie instead. The stars are french terry.

The top is knight and dragon flannel that will be Husband pj pants now that I’ve found a good pattern. The next one is actually a dark navy and will be capris or pants. The next one is black jegging material and will most likely be Solar Flares. The last one is a navy bullet/Liverpool and will be a short sleeved dress. I think I’m going to try a Mix it Up dress by George and Ginger with a really pretty neckline for interest, since the rest of the dress will be so plain.

So that’s my plan for the next couple of months. Hopefully I can figure out what to do with my scraps too. They’re taking over the basement. I know some of the H&M stores will take them to recycle them. Maybe I can find a Girl Scout troop or something too. It seems Piggy needs more cushions too as she tends to curl up on whatever she can find sometimes. She needs a bed for the Husband’s office so she’ll go hang with him and not make trouble in the living room. Wish me luck!

Crafty · Sewing · Uncategorized

Scrappy Sewing and Spring Cleaning

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Hello! This weekend was a very productive one. I deep cleaned the stainless steel kitchen island. A certain Piggy has been very interested in the bottom shelves lately. It’s nice to have it all shiny and organized again! Here’s the pictures.

Before
After
After

The Husband and I tackled the pantry shelving, which was sloppily built into the walls and had a distinct tilt to the front. I was honestly waiting for it to fall over in the middle of the night. Eek! Also, apparently, that’s where all the spiders were coming from. Blech! I made the Husband deal with that part. Here’s some before and after.

Before
After

To be fair, he did the pulling down of all the shelves and I helped organize and take things out to the recycling after breaking them down. We have these metal shelves for my craft stuff too and they are good shelves. There’s space for one more shelf next to the wall too, so there should be extra storage space. I worked on my sewing spot while he was pulling shelves off the wall.

Speaking of my sewing space, I made something fun for the week where the theme was to sew something other than fabric. It was inspired by someone in the button week who made a picture like it for her sewing room. I haven’t decided exactly what I’m going to do with mine, but it’s super cute.

Isn’t it adorable? I used the leaf stitch on card stock and then backed it with translucent vellum and purple card stock. It was fun to to make. I made a water one too, but it wasn’t as successful. The buttons are hand sewn. I do have a button feature on my machine, but wasn’t in the mood to mess with it.

This wallet was made for the sewing challenge too. It’s not quite where I’d like it to be and I was reminded how much I hate making wallets while I was making it. They’re so fiddly and ridiculous. This pattern is the Demi Wallet from Linds Handmade. The pattern and instructions are fine, but my spatial reasoning and not wanting to take a couple extra minutes to interface did me in. It’s cute though and works well for the most part. I do think it’s a little chunkier than I’d like and the card slots got a little wonky, but that was due to user error/impatience, not the pattern.

This week, my entry was this cute tote bag in the same fabric for an extra Secret Garak swap present. Garak is a character in Star Trek: DS9 and is supposedly “just a simple tailor.” There’s a set of Star Trek groups on FB that are lovely and the craft group is called Garak’s Craftiers. They do a gift swap every year and I was able to join this year. This was the extra gift, as they needed an emergency gift. I’m going to make a little zip pouch to go with it too.

This was the amazing gift I received! It fits perfectly into my office decor.

This was the gift I sent. I was mostly pleased with it and my giftee said he liked it very much. There’s glow in the dark paint around the ship and for stars. I was excited to find black canvas to put it on. The ship is a vinyl sticker purchased from Etsy. I thought it was a cool angle. You don’t often see a front view.

I’m still lucky enough that my friend and her boys still happily wear the things I make. I made this tunic dress for her birthday. No pockets because they lay funny in this thinner dbp.

The boys got woodland shirts and these Baby Bear Joggers in a french terry. I have seen pictures that they are slightly too large for them and so look ridiculously cute.

I have a matching shirt. 😁

Here are two more shirts in my drawer. A neurotransmitter shirt for Valentine’s Day! Also, for work, because it’s the perfect therapy shirt. It’s got black bands and back and is the Sunkissed Tee.

This is another new pattern that I used for the challenge. It’s a Green Tee by Greenstyle Patterns. It’s free with a code from the FB group. I messed up the v neck, so it’s an around the house or under a sweater kind of tee, but it’s pretty comfy. The pattern comes with a scoop neck too.

Last, but not least, I made this super cute quilt for a friend from the office. She happens to like gnomes and rainbows and this quilt needed a good home!

I used the Accuquilt machine to cut the fabric for both blocks. The Patchwork block is a Snail’s Trail and the gnomes were fused and then machine sewn to the white blocks. Here are some close ups.

She really like it and has gotten many compliments on it. It makes me smile when I see it in the office. I’m definitely making one for myself at some point too. The Husband will complain for sure, but he can just deal with it. My love of gnomes isn’t going anywhere, after all.

Well, that’s all my exciting sewing and crafting for now. Piggy and I are both super tired and look like her picture below, so I should say good night. May your dreams be as cozy and comforting as a warm puppy!

Sewing

New Year, New Patterns!

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At the very beginning of my blog, I had a pair of slippers that I gave up on because they were too small and I couldn’t figure out the bottom. Well guess what?! I figured it out! They look a little funny still and I didn’t add the elastic on the back yet, but I have made slippers! They are from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.

I still have not quite figured out the bottom, but I managed to make slippers that are cute and actually fit. They will be perfect for my at home sessions where my feet get cold, but I don’t want to wear shoes in the house.

Speaking of home sessions, I made a lovely therapist cardigan. It’s out of ponte, which is a new material for me. Ponte is structured, with a little less stretch than some knit fabrics. It’s thicker, smooth, and feels a bit squishy, but not unpleasantly so.

It’s a therapist cardigan because it’s an unspoken rule that you must wear a cardi if you’re a female therapist. 😁 This one is a Grandpa Cardigan by Patterns for Pirates. It’s structured and looks professional, but it’s so soft and comfy that it feels like secret pjs. It also wasn’t overly warm. It held body heat nicely, but also breathed. I think I’ll be looking into some dresses or pants to make with it. This was a new pattern, but it was very easy to follow and sew.

I made a tiny doll cardi too, because why not? I think this is the Fleece Fun pattern.

It’s been cold again, so I made some more sweatshirts and hoodies. The fabric below was made into a black Ellie and Mac Fall In Love sweatshirt with purple dbp cuffs, neck and waistband. I look ridiculous in the picture because it came out way too big and I don’t have a picture of after I resized it. It’s a cotton french terry, so more like a bath towel than drapey, so it doesn’t have a lot of stretch or recovery. It’s a super comfy lounging sweatshirt though.

Probably my favorite hoodie I have made lately is this Lotte Hoodie by Sinclair Patterns. I used two sponsors from the challenge in it. The panel is fan art of Kaylee from Firefly. She is one of my favorite characters.

The panel is from 5 Ocean’s Fabric and is stretchy cotton lycra. The pink and yellow are thinner, drapey french terry from Girl Charlee. I lined it with more of the french terry, since it was thinner fabric. It has thumbhole cuffs, which I adore. The hood is navy dbp.

I received a bonus entry in the challenge the week I made it because Sinclair was one of the sponsors that week. 5 Oceans is a sponsor again, so I bought another panel to use for that week.

I have a few more things that I’ve made, but I’m keeping them for a separate post. I thought it would be fun to do a comparison post with the same pattern and different fabrics. I’ll leave you with a picture I sent to K2 to make her jealous that I got to snuggle Piggy on Monday before work. Wearing my new therapist cardi, of course! I hope your night is as snuggly as she is!

Sewing

Handmade Presents

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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!