Serging Forward!

August 13, 2019August 13, 2019 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. 😉

Sewing

Shear Fun!

July 16, 2019 LSiehLeave a comment

Ha! Sewing puns. I blame my Grandpa Ollie and I do crack myself up, even if no one else laughs.

The featured picture is from my office, where my flamingo sequin pillow has become very popular. I thought it was too cool to not get a picture of before it got redone.

I found a new tank top pattern that actually fits without alteration! It actually fits much better than the Bonus Tank from the last update, so I’m excited. I have discovered that I need some more plain tank tops though, so that’s next on my list. I keep dropping things on my current plain tanks. The pattern is a free one, which is nice, although you have to create an account on the site. It’s called the Lago Tank from Itch to Stitch.

Here are the new ones so far.

This one has fireworks! Sadly, I made it the week after the 4th of July, but it will be around for next year. I added a little bit extra to the hip area, so it flows a little bit more. It’s super soft and comfy and has been teen approved.

This galaxy one is also fun to wear. I graded out at the hips again, as it fits perfectly around the bustline, but needs a little bit around the hips. I added less to the hips, but it still looks very lovely on.

I can’t get enough tie dye, especially ones as pretty as this one. I probably should have put the lighter side on the front, but didn’t think about it until after I had it already cut. I still like it though. It adds interest. This one is flowier, like the first one.

This one I banded at the bottom to make it look a little different. I also thought I would try something a little different and do a fun outfit shoot instead of the regular hanger pictures.

The Husband says that if I start wearing Ugg boots and drinking Starbucks, we’re going to need to have a talk. He didn’t sign up for an Instagram, picture taking, outfit making, basic wife. 🙂 I assured him that I would attempt to keep things weird enough for him.

All of these fabrics were ones that I only had a yard of and I used pretty much all of it with only scraps left. They are all double brushed polyester, otherwise known as the fancy legging fabric.

Speaking leggings, I realized that I had made my entire workout outfit the other day and made the Husband take a picture. Coincidently, this grey tank was the first Lago tank I made to test fit.

I wore the leggings with the side vents and felt very stylish! The Husband said it looked like I bought my tank, which sounds like a weird compliment, but it means it looked very professional. I was proud!

I also had to make a pair of shorts for the Star Trek Exhibit and took a better picture of them with the shirt I wore.

I also tie dyed the Star Trek weekend! It was lots of fun, especially since our friends were here. The boys played video games while we sweated our butts off for fancy fabric art! 🙂 Here’s what they looked tied and dyed:

And here’s what they looked like washed and dried:

I wasn’t sure about the green one at first, but I think I can make it work. I plan to make a maxi dress with the purple one and a skirt, possibly a dress for the green one.

I’m discovering wardrobe holes this summer! I have all sorts of shorts, but they tend to be colors that don’t necessarily match other things, so I need to make a black pair of shorts. I thought I had pants linen left over, but discovered I could make either a back or a front for a pair of shorts, but not both. That would certainly be awkward! I do have material from the discount store that was going to be a skirt, but I need shorts more, so I will use that.

Plain tanks, of course, because I can wear them under cardigans and not be too hot. And suprisingly, a couple more pairs of sleep or lounging shorts. And I always need more dresses. Shark Week starts on the 28th, so I need to finish a couple more things before that too. This weekend we don’t have to much planned, so maybe some of those things will get done then.

For now though, I need to go cut out some more tank tops and shark items. See you later!

Sewing

Just Keep Sewing! Just Keep Sewing!

July 2, 2019July 16, 2019 LSiehLeave a comment

I feel slightly like Dory lately, from “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory,” in that I seem to have a short attention span for sewing projects lately and lots of indecisiveness for what to actually make.

I do need to get my shark themed outfits done for Shark Week, which starts on July 28th! I have three more things to make, I think, and then will be able to wear shark or ocean themed outfits all week! Oddly enough, I don’t think anyone will actually notice. My teen clients last year mostly just rolled their eyes at me when I told them they should be watching it, but I have hope this year, as I have some younger kids who do like sharks. I have to have someone to talk to about it after all! The Husband can only take so much. 🙂

I didn’t sew any shark themed items this week. I was focused on tank tops for part of it and workout gear. I did make a sleep tank top out of the scrap material from my SIL’s sweary panda shirt, but out of deference to my Mom, I won’t show it.. 😉 It’s got a cute panel on the front with the pandas and pink cotton lycra along the sides and back. It was really cute for my first time color blocking a pattern.

I hacked the Bonus Tank from George and Ginger to make it. I have used this pattern four times now, as it is a free pattern and has only three pieces. It includes actual pieces for the neck and armbands and it’s been nicer than having to measure them out. I’ll show you two other versions, but the third one isn’t done yet. It still needs bands and adjustments.

This one is from a remnant from Joann’s. It was actually the smaller of two cuts that I bought. The bigger one will be a skirt, I think. I believe it is rayon spandex, but I keep forgetting to take a picture of the end of the bolt with the info. It’s lovely, soft, and very light, even in the heat. It also goes perfectly with my blue chambray shorts I made last year.

This one is from a performance fabric, I believe nylon and spandex, also from Joann’s. All the performance and printed knits were on sale for $7.99 a few weeks ago and I stocked up. They are normally $13-20 a yard. I also had coupons!

It’s a bit of a different fabric that I normally use, but is supposed to be moisture wicking and all that fancy stuff. It’s soft and comfy. This was the first one I made and I have since narrowed the shoulders a bit as they were a tiny bit too big.

I also made these leggings with cutouts that I think are super trendy and cute.

They are just black cotton lycra with these panels and I don’t have a good picture of them on. I still have to take about two inches off the bottom of the leggings, but it won’t affect the panel at all. I am short, so the Capri length are actually somewhat closer to ankle. Chances are good I won’t want air conditioning in my leggings in the winter! The Husband thought they were cool too.

Since it has been so hot lately, of course, the best thing to do is to make a sweater, right? 🙂 I actually pulled this out to make because I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it, so it was something I could do quickly. I think it looks cute on me and this pattern has some magic that makes me feel cute, even in a slimmer cut. The fabric is a double knit and was from the Discount Fabric Outlet, which sadly, has closed. 🙁 I had just enough to make it work. The neckband is navy cotton lycra, as the blue floral doesn’t have enough stretch to work for that.

It’s the Fall In Love Sweater from Ellie and Mac. I love it! I have made a black and rose sweater in this pattern too and probably will end up with a couple more for fall and winter. It’s the perfect professional sweater pattern.

In a more seasonally appropriate direction is this dress, which is the Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates extended to my actual dress length with a slight High/Low hem.

If you remember, this is a pattern I have made before, but forgot to add more to the skirt portion when I shortened the torso and ended up with a lovely tunic instead. Joann’s came to the rescue as they had almost perfectly matching bias tape and thread to finish the edges. It is made from rayon voile, which I bought after seeing the fabric on clearance online. I have not worked with this fabric before, but it is so smooth and floaty that I want all of it now. It works perfectly for a little summer dress! I have worn it belted to a friend’s birthday party and with a cropped jean jacket for work (which I thank the same friend for making me buy it every time I pull it out.) It looked lovely both ways and makes me feel super stylish and cute. I plan to make more of this pattern as well.

I have been finding a couple of stash busting hashtags on Instagram that I’m hoping will help inspire me to keep evaluating and adjusting my wardrobe. I’m finding that my style is really emerging and I’d like to keep up that momentum.

This weekend I have fun plans to try tie dying some white cotton lycra to see how it works and I will have some cute things to make after that. For the summer, all the online fabric places have really cool tie dye fabrics and my friend and I decided to try to make some on our own. And of course, my list of projects grows ever longer. For example, how cute are these patterns I found at the bag sale at my local quilt store?

I blame my MIL for part of them. It’s okay though, she got similar fabric (the water color looking ones) to me and blames me for that.

It’s dangerous when we shop together. Also, she has the ruler I need for the Twister Gnomes, so how could I not get it? And and iron pattern called “The Irony?” I mean.. I’m their target market on that one. (By the way, everyone may get a gnome themed table runner this year. Hope you don’t mind… 😉

To distract from more fabric purchases (although they do have a purpose- a quilt with the watercolors/batiks and a skirt or shirt with the floral,) I’ll leave you with this derptastic picture of Fancy on a car ride.

I hope it makes you smile as much as it did for me!

Simple Sundays · Wordless Wednesdays

Wordy Wednesday- Hobby Edition

June 19, 2019June 19, 2019 LSiehLeave a comment

“Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

Vintage thread, my Grandma Shirley’s pincushion and handmade name pin, folding ruler we found in our house, buttons, lace scraps. Beautiful quilt art from a UP artist.

More buttons! Unknown antique Singer attachments, new mini sewing box!

“The only thing more dangerous then a vampire crazed with blood lust was a vampire crazed with anything else. All the meticulous single-mindedness that went into finding young women who slept with their bedroom window open got channeled into some other interest, with merciless and painstaking efficiency…”

― Terry Pratchett, The Truth

Movie Theater, Pool Hall/Detective Office, Barber Shop

“I love crafting. Knitting, decoupage, scrapbooking, any “lady-ish” art form, I’m a fan. For about six months each. Then I shove all the supplies in a closet, alongside the skeletons of long dead New Year’s resolutions, like saber fencing, playing the ukulele, and Japanese brush painting.”

― Felicia Day, You’re Never Weird on the Internet

Above: Parisian Restaurant, 50’s Diner (!!), Pet Shop, Apartments, Brick Bank/Laundry Mat

Wordless Wednesdays

Wordless Wednesday- Fabric Frenzy

June 12, 2019 LSieh2 Comments

Sewing

So Much Sewing!

June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 LSiehLeave a comment

Hallelujah! I have found my sewjo again! I have tried a couple of new patterns lately with great success and now have renewed confidence. I also went off my fabric fast with a bang, but in my defense, did have plans for almost all of it… You’ll see some of those lovelies tomorrow for the Wordless Wednesday post.

For now though, I’ll start with the additional vending things that I made. The show itself, Detroit Raks, was excellent and I was excited to see all the local dancers participate. I did very well vending too and had lots of people jazzed up about my costume pieces. It was funny though, I stayed up way too late to make three more things and one of those things was the first thing to sell!

It was this little dino skirt.

I call these “hip skimmers” based on a pencil skirt pattern. I came up with them one day after work when I went to class, but had forgotten to bring dance clothes to change into. Luckily, I happened to be wearing a stretchy handmade pencil skirt and leggings, so just hiked up the skirt a little for ease of movement and it looked super cute! So of course, I made more to try out to vend.

The lace one is see through, which garnered a surprising amount of comments. I assumed everyone would know it was really to be worn over leggings (I was wearing one to demonstrate,) but people seemed confused. The red fabric is awful to work with! I ran out of three three times and gave up on the third time. It looks cute though. I have a couple more, but these were the ones that I actually got pictures of.

I also made new hip skirts, one of which has been adopted into my costume stash. I mean, really, when it looks this good with an existing costume, it definitely needs to be mine.

It’s dreamy! It’s backed with a gold fabric, seen here. It’s crackly, but hard to take pictures of.

Here are two more.

The black one is also calling to me, but I really am going to try to sell it first. I can’t find the peacock fabric at Joann’s at the moment, so really do only have one additional one. I’m hoping to get my Etsy store up again. It’s currently closed for renovations and evaluation.

Also, on my completed, but not really for me list are my cutest doll clothes so far, the bathrobes! Aren’t they just adorable?!

I now have three dolls, so I need one more, but these are a good start. One of the few boy dolls that I have seen went on sale and I figured it would be helpful to have a boy too. I have a couple of boys who love to play with the doll food and tell me which clothes to put on which girl doll, but refuse to interact with the girl dolls and I’m wondering if they would use a boy doll. I made a couple of more neutral shirts and pants too, just in case.

These pants are made out of sweatshirt material that I promptly used the stretch the wrong way for, so I am interested to see if they will actually go on the dolls. I haven’t tried it yet. The office dolls are all slimmer than my Kirsten doll. I do have a collared shirt pattern to try and have a bunch cut out, including a linen one from scraps of my Ren Fest shirt.

I made a second leotard too and I’m going to use a different method for putting it together if I ever make one again. It’s a little wonky, but decent for my first one.

It’s funny, some of these patterns use techniques that are intimidating to try on bigger clothes, but easier to try out on smaller pieces first. I definitely feel like my skills are growing just through the sheer act of sewing pretty continuously.

I have sewn some things for me too, not just for other people. I made these spectacular leggings on Saturday, when I was missing aerial yoga, due to vertigo and a headache. I thought spinning around might not lead to happy things. These leggings did make me happy though. They’re electrifying!

They have a black waistband, you just a can’t tell. They are cotton lycra from Timeless Treasures. I’m actually a little disappointed in the quality of the fabric. I have worn them once and washed them inside out and they are pilling on the inside of the thighs already! It also doesn’t have as much recovery as most cotton lycras have. The pink is from Purple Seamstress and is fabulous, but I don’t know that I’ll be buying that company’s knit again. It makes me very sad, as the constellation fabric I wanted is from them, but if it’s going to be bad quality, I don’t want it! They will be cute for as long as they last though.

This is a new pattern, the Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates. I have had this pattern for quite some time, but was all intimidated by how good it looked on everyone who made it. It’s two pieces… Four if you do the optional chest pocket and the Henley button placket on the neck.

It’s supposed to be dress length, but the hip curve was hitting down by my knee, so I shortened the pattern by an inch (measured and everything! I was very impressed) and forgot to then extend the skirt portion. So now it’s a really cute tunic and I like it a lot. It has bias binding along the neckline and hems everywhere else. I will probably do a binding along the hemline next time too, it would be much neater than just a turned hem. I did discover that I have a blind hem foot on my machine, but I couldn’t quite get it to work and was too impatient to wait. I love it, even with forgetting the bust darts. I’ll try those with the next one and see which way I like it. It’s peachskin fabric, which kind of feels like fuzzier board short material, I guess. It’s super smooth on the inside and very cool to the touch. I wore it all day at work and didn’t get overheated at all. I’m sure it’s polyester. I have a couple more planned and will definitely be keeping this pattern in mind.

Of course, my crowning glory for this sewing round up is the Shark Dress. 🦈

I blame the Husband. Well, and Shark Week. I asked him if he would mind being seen with me in public while I was wearing a Shark Dress and he said he wouldn’t be seen with me if I didn’t make and wear it. I wore it to his theater banquet, where no one even blinked an eye. Here it is!

It is a CKC Amy dress, with pockets. It’s my fourth dress from this pattern and I think it suits me very well. I was slouching in this picture a bit, I think. It has shark lined pockets! My hems went a little wavy on the bodice, so if I used this fabric for anything else, I will bind it or interface them before I sew them. Once it’s on, you can’t really tell. Both fabrics are cotton lycra. The Sharks are from Purple Seamstress and the navy is from Elevated Fashion Fabrics. The sharks are thinner than the navy, so I was glad the bodice is lined. It gave it a little more support.

I adore it, of course! Some of the sharks are emo sharks and look like they are simply undone by life.

I had to order more, because obviously, I know some boys who might enjoy shark outfits… Luckily, they have awesome parents, who might also appreciate sharks. 😉

I’m pretty pleased with my sewing adventures these last couple weeks. I’m still working on getting the basement presentable and organized again. It’s supposed to rain most of the week and into the weekend, so I think that I will do a bunch on Saturday after my staff meeting. Friday, I have plans to can and Sunday is aerial and sewing. Hopefully a productive weekend, even if rainy.

Fancy is giving me this look in an effort to make me go to bed.

She likes to lay on my feet and doesn’t like to go to bed alone at night. I should probably take her advice and head that way.

Have a lovely night!

Crafty · Monthly Review · Sewing · Wordless Wednesdays

Monthly Review- Wordless Wednesday Style

May 15, 2019 LSiehLeave a comment

Crafty · Sewing

Sew Many Things!

May 11, 2019May 11, 2019 LSiehLeave a comment

I have been sewing a lot lately and can finally share a couple of my super secret sewing projects! I have been finding it very soothing, especially since taking a knit break and finishing a scrap quilt to go to a friend.

This one started life as a baby quilt for my step-cousin’s second baby, but my Mom sent me cuter fabric, so I had to switch it over. My friend works in a hospital setting and I sent her two quilts to use for sensory issues/cool down times previously. The next couple will be going to their collection for kids with emergency situations.

I needed to expand the quilt past baby quilt size, so now it’s a rough square. I found the coolest pastel tie dye backing for it too, so I think it should be really cute. I finished it the week I was on steroids for a cold/asthma issue and I think it was one of the things saving me from full on ‘roid rage. Ugh. They mess with me so much, but it definitely almost completely got rid of the asthma flare. As a consequence though, I didn’t really sleep much and this was mindless enough to be able to sew it on little to no sleep. It was really fun to do too, of course. I just need to bat, quilt, and bind it and then send it off. I will probably add a tie to the middle of the white squares. I don’t have colorful enough buttons, I don’t think. It’s so cheerful and bright that I hope it will bring some joy to someone who needs it.

So for the super secret part of sewing, I made two little matching outfits for my friends’ boys and a cardigan and leggings set for my friend. I didn’t have matching fabric for a shirt, so I owe her one at some point. Somehow the leggings never got photographed, but they were a pretty teal color with a watercolor decorative part as a cuff. The watercolor part had purple, white, and teal colors in it. Her cardigan is a Cocoon Cardigan from Patterns for Pirates and has pockets! I used a fancy double brushed poly in a dark grey so it looks a bit more lux than a regular grey, I think. These are my favorite cardis to wear, so I knew it would be lovely for a new Mum. I have heard from reliable sources that it is extremely cozy, so I’m happy with it. 🙂

The boys got an outfit each and they happened to be free patterns! I used Ellie and Mac’s Grow With Me PJs for the older boy’s outfit, and Patterns for Pirates Wee Lap Tee and Petite Pegs for the baby’s outfit.

I was super nervous about making them and about fit, but my friend told me they fit very well with a little room to grow. The Husband reminded me that the boys are still tiny, so clothes would need to match. 🙂

Here’s a picture of the outfits themselves:

And a picture of the two cutest boys wearing them! (Posted with my friend’s permission.)

A note, I didn’t show this picture to my friend before she sent me her pictures of the boys, so it’s kind of funny that they ended up in the same places! Also, how cute are they?! I have some more things planned, some with a Lego theme, that I can now work on, since the sizes are right. I’m glad she liked them all, I was super nervous! They were such tiny clothes!

I had to laugh while cutting the Cardigan out. My pattern weights are “somewhere safe” in the messy basement, so I just grabbed the things closest to me, which happened to be the Firefly decor pieces. 🙂 Whatever works, I guess. I have occasionally used the dog as a pattern weight when she wouldn’t get off my fabric.

I made yet another Cocoon for me too. I just can’t stop, but should maybe branch out pattern wise. I don’t have a picture of the full cardi, but it is the grey from my friend’s cardi as bands and this fabric as the main piece.

It’s so pretty and drapey! Originally it was going to be a dress, but it is way too thin and I thought I would get more use out of a cardi than having to line the whole dress. It is a cotton jersey spandex, I think, so lighter and looser than the grey cardis.

Another new material has been fun to work with lately has been vegan leather. I bought it to try out for this next vendor/bellydance show and it’s been interesting. It’s super slippery and slightly stretchy, but only in one direction. The fancy craft glue I bought for it doesn’t actually work with the felt backing that I wanted to use, so I may end up using hot glue for the rest of the flowers.

I have one tiny one done too, but it’s drying. I have black vegan leather as well, so am planning fancy hair flowers, pouches, and a couple of slouchy bags. We’ll see if they sell. I might end up with a fancy new purse! I do plan to make some of the hair flowers, both of this material and cotton fancier with beaded tassels. Bling in a hair garden is always pretty!

Here are a couple more pictures of some of the things made with it. It doesn’t like topstitching, so I won’t be doing that probably for the other pouches. Both my tester ones ended up looking weird.

This bag is going to my Marvel loving friend. It ended up not quite the shape I was going for, but is still cute. I did topstitch this one because it works better when the machine isn’t directly touching the leather. I plan to make a couple more bags with some accents for fun.

I have a couple more things in progress, but will share them next time. Next weekend is the vending event, so I have given myself until Wednesday to finish the sewing stuff. I have sorted and organized my bins a little, so that should be plenty of time.

I was the lucky recipient of these fun sewing books too, from a family friend. My Mom brought them down when she came to visit and I have projects planned from both of them already.

You can never have too many bags! My bicycling friend may be getting panniers from the first book. You know, because I have no additional projects waiting in line… 😉

I definitely have lots of sewing to do in the next couple of days, so wish me luck keeping everything together. 🙂 We’re planning to attack the yard some more after my aerial yoga class tomorrow, hopefully after that, I’ll still be able to use my arms! Wish us luck and maybe check in, if you don’t hear from me… The yard is still kind of jungly, so who knows what’s lurking near the garage!

Sewing · Simple Sundays

Not So Simple Sunday Sewing

April 7, 2019 LSiehLeave a comment

I thought I’d change it up a little and share a sewing post, so you wouldn’t get too tired of book posts. Gotta keep your interest up for the third book sale next week!

Also, I had a lot of sewing pictures building up. I finally did some sewing that was not super secret and I liked pretty much all of it. Today, I finished my grey cardigan and almost made us late for the book sale, because I had to just finish the end of the edge.

I did finish it though and wore it to the book sale. It was perfect for today’s weather, which was in the 60’s, as it is made of a silver/grey cotton lycra. Cotton lycra is much more breathable than the polyesters and it has a bit of stretch from the lycra. It’s a very smooth fabric, although you can tell by the arms that it does wrinkle a little. This was after wearing it all day. It’s super comfy and fills a gap in my wardrobe, so I’m excited to have finished it.

I have also finished off some tea wallets, a batch of Star Trek ones and some miscellaneous ones from my hand projects box.

Oh, and a random Halloween one. Earl Grey, hot, anyone?

Here are the other ones, which happen to be nice and springy.

Aren’t they cute?

Doll clothes have also made another appearance. I had a really bad evening unexpectedly at work last week and came home jangly and upset. Working on these doll clothes helped me settle, although I still didn’t get much sleep.

This one is a Made for Mermaids Dolly Paige shirt.

It was made specifically go with these space pants!

This pattern is Patterns for Pirates Bonny Leggings with the attached skirt. My machine hated this fabric and kept coming unthreaded, which cased ridiculous thread nests on the inside and there’s a part of the skirt in the back that wasn’t caught in the stitches. They still went into my office though because I wasn’t in the mindset to unpick or try to make my machine behave.

The Bonny leggings is pretty much the same as the adult Peg Legs pattern, except the doll size takes me 10 minutes instead of 20. Here are the other Bonny Leggings I made:

Your eyes do not deceive you, those are white lace leggings, although I think of them mostly as tights. That fabric was in a bag of scraps that a friend gave me from her theater department. It was actually a lace bodice that had been traced, but not cut. You can see a little bit of the blue marker yet on the bottoms. I think the little girls who play with these will be thrilled!

This Audrey dress/shirt pattern from CKC patterns is a good one because it combines woven and knits. Knits for the bodice, wovens for the bottom. It gives me a chance to play with scraps. I made two, and fudged the gathers both times.

I’m super annoyed that my necklines on these look better than some of my shirts I wear! But it’s all practice. These both close with velcro in the back.

And last, but not least, as the little girls keep asking for jackets for the dolls; I finished this starry jacket which was at home thinking about what it had done (otherwise known as it got messed up and I hated it.)

This is the Ellie and Mac Emmelyn Cardigan. I do not like how it turns out most of the time, so I may try a different pattern. It ends up wavy and crooked no matter how I do my seams. But it has pretty stars, so I’m good with the finished product at least.

I have a couple more doll clothes cut out ready to be sewn. I have a white lace and gold lame Audrey dress that I think will make the girls fall over, and a woven jacket pattern to try. I’ll probably be making pjs and a few more “prom dresses,” as they have been requested. I brought my second doll that I got from a friend into the office, just for fun.

In other news, I did buy fabric. I had plans for it and also a gift certificate for my birthday from my inlaws. It was 5th Saturday bag day at the local quilt shop and so I got my present early, also 20% off everything in my bag, including patterns.

The Husband saw this pattern and said “Well, we need this” so it ended up in my bag. It is super cute, but our house might be a little bit more eclectic in decor than originally anticipated. Although, it currently has fairy tale items and Legos as the main components, so I’m not sure how much more whimsical it could get. 🙂

Here’s the pattern.

It is lovely and I’m slightly intimidated by it. I’m sure I’ll enjoy figuring it out though. (Side note: The otters are holding paws!!)

These fabrics slipped into my bag and have been washed and are in the stash. The polka dots may be used for the flying geese quilt that I am having trouble finding a good border for.

The white fabric will probably be a bag lining or pockets. The feature picture today is of a grey fabric that will be pants and the birds needed to be a shirt. The shirt will be knit on the front and have a woven lower back. I’m excited to wear them together actually.

I have been working on some more scrap pieces too from this quilt. It will be going to my friend Cassie, who works at a hospital to be a comfort quilt, but it needed to be larger to be closer to twin sized. I had to make 5 more blocks to make it work. They are done, but not sewn together yet. I needed a break from knits for a little while.

It’s been a fairly productive sewing time for the last couple of weeks. I have had a couple of migraines, but can normally sew, as it doesn’t require reading or screens. I’m starting my list of things I need to sew for spring and trying to weed out my closet too. It’s a large task, but I’m still working at it.

Right now though, I need to work on dinner. We had a late lunch after the book sale, but now we’re both getting hungry. I’m using a new recipe from the 9 x 13 pan cookbook and it smells really good. I may be focusing on that book for the next week or so. I’ll update you on how it goes!

Have a great night!

Crafty · Life Posts · Sewing

Book Sale Haul

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 LSiehLeave a comment

I thought you all might enjoy seeing the cool books I found at the book sale this past weekend. We went on one of the days when we got another 10 books for every 10 books we bought. 🙂 Side note, I need more bookshelves.

I also picked up a couple of new cookbooks lately, but couldn’t remember if I had shared them yet. I’ll start with those. I blame Eric for two of them. We were at this weird bargain store called Ollie’s which has everything you can think of piled haphazardly on shelves. Right as you walk in, there’s a huge section of discount books. You know I can’t walk by piles of books. There are a lot of cookbooks there. I found this one which I’m hoping will help with dinner prep. (I did not pay $12.88!)

The Husband found these two and decided we needed to add them to the collection. I didn’t need too much arm twisting, as you can imagine.

This one needed to be ours for an obvious reason. The dork factor is strong with this one. 🙂 I was excited to see that there were both indoor and outdoor recipes. Not that I think we’ll have time to camp this year, but it’s good to know for the future.

He also requested we get this one. We have a lot of Asian cookbooks now. He may be trying to hint to something…

At least we’ll be set for the Lunar New Year!

We also found this cookbook at the used book part of the library a few weeks ago. I may be able to replicate some of these decorations.

I tried a walrus cupcake from one of the other cookbooks from this series and it was a total failure. A hilarious failure, but failure none the less. These might be a little less complicated.

I haven’t used these cookbooks yet, but will try to use them soon. I’m also going through my cookbooks to try to figure out which ones we are done with and can pass along. I have a couple specific themed ones I will be on the lookout for and the other book sales. I need a gluten free/dairy free cookbook for my friends who need both.

Speaking of book sales, here is the Husband’s pile.

He found some good music potentially for his next play, a couple of Dilbert comic books, and some Asimov books.

It’s possible I’m addicted to collecting books. Reading them too, of course, but mostly just having them surrounding me. I get nervous if go to someone’s house and I don’t see books around.

This is the semi-trashy romance and fantasy pile.

Note the Redwall mixed in there. I did find a couple of new authors to try and some new books from my regular authors. The black one on the bottom right has all three of the “Queen’s Own” trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. I found two of the trilogy at one of last year’s book sales and I never ended up getting or reading the third one. So now I will be able to find out how it ends and can give away the other two.

These are the fiction books that aren’t trashy romance or fantasty.

The bottom one is “A Child Analysis with Anna Freud,” which I thought was pretty cool! It will probably come to work with me, but I should probably read it first. This sale had a lot of older child therapy books, but they were mostly texts and I didn’t know if they would still be relevant or not.

Kate Jacobs writes easy reads about women and relationships and this one is all about food. I’ve read her knitting series and it was lovely, so I thought I’d pick it up.

“The Lace Reader” is a book that I read a couple of years ago and it has haunted me ever since. I picked it up on a whim at the library and promptly forgot the author. I had to read it twice though, because it was such a good and twisty book. I’m excited to re-read it and see if it is as good as I remembered. The Herriot stories are always lovely and Carl Hiaasen is hilarious. Wacky, but hilarious. The “D is for Dahl” book is a Rolad Dahl alphabet. It looked really cute.

Of course, there were some crafty books too. The top one has a ton of resources from websites, to books, to places, techniques, and all sorts of other info. The Singer books are always good resources. I found “Sewing Specialty Fabrics” and “Sewing Activewear” this time. There’s also a Rit Dye book called “To Dye For” and a Log Cabin idea books. The bottom book is definitely the coolest book I found.

It’s actually a binder to organize a subscription magazine called “Stitch by Stitch” that has crocheting, knitting, sewing, and needlework lessons. It’s from the 70’s, I think. It has original, never used sewing patterns, plus instructions for all sorts of knitted and crocheted things! I’m super excited to play around with it.

Have a peek inside!