Press, cut, sew, press, sew {repeat}

I've been busy, busy, busy following the steps above, but wanted to pop in here for just a moment.  I'm stitching up as much as possible for an art fair that I'm participating in this weekend.  And crossing my fingers for lovely weather (the forecast says possible rain) and lots of sales (pretty please?).

This shoulder bag is one of the things I've been making.  (Forgive the cluttered background and bad lighting -- I don't have time to stage a proper photo right now!!)  I designed the bag around this amazing architecturally graphic fabric I found at IKEA recently.  It's called Bjornloka Figur.  Cool, huh?

{image from ikea.com}

It was screaming out to me, "I want to be a bag!!"  Don't you see it?!  The colored "Y"s on one side, and the white "Y" on the other?  Plus the fabric has just enough of the black field in the middle to cut the shoulder straps from.  I managed to find solids fabrics from my local Joann's to match the mustard and blue for lining the bags and straps.  Here are some bags with the blue lining on my cutting table (aka dining room table).

I'm fortunate to have my sewing machine in our sunny back room and so have been enjoying the sun and warm breezes of this beautiful almost-summer while I work.  Speaking of my sewing desk, I'd better get back to the process of pressing, cutting, sewing, etc. before I run out of time, but I wanted to share this last image, because I love it for so many reasons.

This was taken last weekend.  My 9 year old son is in our backyard fort with the laptop, working on a research project for school.  I like the view of him, concentrating, through the "window" of the missing board.  It's a cool-ish, but sunny, spring day, and our Prairiefire Crabapple is in full bloom.

Quilt plans... and a pouch received!

I did not go to QuiltCon, but my mother-in-law did.  She just happened to be visiting a friend in Austin (who happens to be a quilter) and happened to plan the trip for the week of Quilt Con.  True story.  I'm not being sarcastic here.  She told me she was going to Austin and that there was some sort of quilt show going on then that her friend was planning to take her to.  I'm not (yet) a quilter, but I am completely inspired by the modern quilt movement (see my modern quilt inspiration board on Pinterest) and I would have loved to take some of the amazing classes that were offered at QuiltCon, as well as see the fabulous quilts on display.  I wasn't able to go with my mother-in-law, though, so, of course, I sent her on a mission for fabric!

I specifically asked for a couple of fabric lines that had not yet been released in stores.  In particular, I was interested in this line:  Comma, by Zen Chic (aka Brigitte Heitland) for Moda.  I love the bold graphics and the color palette.  Happily (for me!), she was able to bring me a charm pack.  (Yay for nice mother-in-law's!)  As soon as I had the chance, I started laying out the squares to see what I could do with them.

Since then, I've come up with a design for a very simple cross quilt (inspired by this quilt top) which uses the charm squares themselves (no cutting!) as the pieces.  This will be a new throw quilt (54" x 72") to keep on/near our sofa (along with the beautiful house quilt my mom made for us years ago).  My goal is to keep this simple so I can piece it quickly, then get to the quilting of the thing and actually finish it!  It will be my first real quilt (as opposed to a quilted project), and I want to be able to get it done, rather than leave it sitting around, half finished, or barely started... not that I ever do anything like that!  Ha!

I sketched it all out, and then ordered six more charm packs and the extra fabric I need for the backing and border.  The additional fabric came in the mail yesterday, and I plan to get started as soon as I finish up my projects for the Covert Robin and Handprinted Fabric swaps.

Another package came in the mail last week.  (I love packages in the mail!!)  This one came all the way from Malaysia!  I actually danced around the house, I was so excited.  I knew it was my pouch from the sweet pouch swap, but I had no idea it would be coming all the way from Malaysia (since the swap senders were meant to be secret!).

Suziana made this cute pouch for me, owls and all!  She must have been peeking at my blog, because she also got the color palette just right.  And there was yummy chocolate.  Mmmmm.  Thank you so much, Suziana!!

I think the back is as cute as the front with the fun patchwork and quilting.

What new (or not so new) fabric lines are inspiring you today?

A few things

First: what's on my cutting table (otherwise know as my dining room table):

Newly received fabric ordered from SewMamaSew!  Isn't it lovely?  I have purposes for some of these, but not all -- for now, I'm just gazing at them.

Making Ellie this Emerson tunic.  Tutorial and pattern from luvinthemommyhood.  It was fun picking out the fabric from my stash with Ellie.

Making the cover dress/tunic (Style E) from the Stylish Dress Book for myself.  I'm thinking of using the text fabric for the neckline facing, and maybe the pocket lining.  What do you think?

And this is an in-progress secret project for a book.

Next: a couple of swaps.  I've really been enjoying swaps!

There's still time to sign up for Handprinted: a fabric swap, hosted by Leslie of maze & vale.  If you've ever wanted to experiment with any kind of printing onto fabric, plus get some amazing handprinted fabrics in return, then this is for you.  I participated last year and am very much looking forward to doing it again this year.

Sign ups are also open for the Covert Robin mystery gift exchange.  This swap has multiple hosts, including Rachael of imagine gnats. Make a gift, get a gift, and blog about the gift you made or received for a chance to win fun prizes.  I didn't participate last year, but wish I had.  So I'm excited about taking part this time!

Finally:  here's a sneak peek at two projects I recently sent off to Stitch magazine for their Fall 2013 issue.  I also have a project in their soon to be released Summer issue.  More on that soon.

What's on your cutting table today?

DIY Trunk Show... almost ready!

Making owls.

And zipper pouches.  And so many other things that I don't quite have time to photograph right now!

And figuring out packaging.  I love these craft paper round labels from Avery.  The bags and cool orange burlap twine are from Nashville Wraps.

I'll be a vendor tomorrow at the DIY Trunk Show.  This is by far the biggest fair I've done, and I have no idea if I have enough wares or not, but I suppose I'll find out soon enough.  If you're in the Chicago area, please come by and check it out.  There is a really amazing list of vendors which you can peruse here.   And I'd absolutely love it if you stopped by to say hello to me at Booth 91!

One more quick thing before I get back to work.  Here's a sneak peak at the package I sent off for the Secret Santa swap, hosted by Me and Elna.  More about that next week.

Teeny, tiny patchwork

Are you on Threadbias, yet?  I am, and, although I'm not yet using it to it's full potential yet, I did enjoy participating in this Threadbias Pincushion Swap.  The only project requirement was that it use some or all of the colors orange, blue and green.  This is the pincushion I made.

I pieced these little teeny, tiny pieces to make the letters.  Look at the size of this patchwork!  I was really scared when I started (I thought my sewing machine might suck the pieces inside and destroy them!), but it worked out fine.  Paper piecing would have probably been easier, but I was in a rush and didn't want to spend the time drawing up a paper pattern.

Here are the pieced letters, and my notes.  I used linen --oh lovely linen-- for the background.

Here's the finished block, all neat and trimmed.  {Don't look too closely at the "W"!}

I quilted it, sewed on the green print for the back, stuffed it full of fiber fill, then wrapped it up like a burrito to send off to my swap partner.

And look at the awesome ORANGE cathedral window pincushion I received in return.  It's already on my sewing table, getting heavy use.  I kinda like this swap thing!

What I'm doing instead.

I'm supposed to be finishing up sewing instructions for a tote bag for Stitch magazine.  Here's a sneak peak at the project.

...And finishing my daughter's werewolf costume for Saturday's Halloween parade.
...And starting my son's Gogo Crazy Bones costume.  He wants to be Targy.  That's this one:

I still haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to make it, but I'm pretty sure it will involve pleather.  Yes, pleather.  Because it's shiny... and, well, I just like to say, "pleather."

...Finishing a pin cushion for this swap.
...Making gifts for this secret santa exchange.
...Stitching a placemat for this sew along.

I'm behind on all of this because I had my first ever allergic reaction to food this week.  Some really yummy Thai food I ate Sunday evening, in fact.  I ended up in the ER on Monday, and have been in a fog of Benedryl and Prednisone ever since while I wait for whatever it was that my body didn't like to work it's way out of my system.

What I'm doing instead of all these "supposed to's", is sewing a little zipper pouch of hot pink corduroy with a cute little appliqued cloud and raindrops.  Because I felt inspired and it's making me happy.

Tutorial: Stripey Skirt from a Tee

Up until about three months ago, one of the last things I thought I'd be posting is a tutorial for a girl's skirt.  Before that, I really had no one to sew a skirt for... except myself, of course.  Then, surprisingly, my previously anti-princess, anti-skirt, and anti-dress daughter decided she's okay with certain types of skirts and dresses.  Still, no ruffles, bows, or anything too frilly -- and I'm just fine with that.  It started when she said she might want a jean skirt like the one I was wearing.  Then, when my mother-in-law took her shopping for a few new fall outfits, she not only picked out two dresses, but came home wearing one.  I took this as an opportunity, and quickly stitched up a (not-too-girly) skirt from an old t-shirt of mine that I'd been saving.  And she likes it!  She's still anti-princess, though.  Thank goodness, or I think all this change would be too much for me!

So, without further ado, here are the easy peasy instructions for sewing your own girl's skirt from a tee.

MATERIALS:
Adult size t-shirt  (I used a women's size large)
3/4" wide non-roll elastic
Matching thread

1.  Decide on the length you want the skirt to be -- from waist to hem -- and add about 1-1/2".

2.  Lay your t-shirt out flat, straightening the side seams and aligning the bottom hem.  The bottom hem will be the hem of your skirt, and you'll keep the side seams intact, too.  Mark the length from the bottom hem, and cut straight across.  I used a quilting ruler, rotary cutter and a mat, but scissors would work fine, too.

3.  You'll end up with a tube, like this.

4.  Turn the tube of fabric inside out, and, at the top (cut edge), fold 1/2" to the wrong side, and pin.  The stripes on my shirt just happened to be 1/2", so I just used them as a guide.  Stitch about 1/4" from the folded edge, stretching the knit fabric ever so slightly as you go.

5.  Turn the same edge another 1" to the wrong side, and pin.  This time stitch just to the left of your first line of stitching (see photo above).  Start near the center of the back of the skirt, stopping about 1-1/2" before the point where you started, in order to leave an opening for the elastic.

6.  Cut a length of elastic 1" longer than the desired waist size (or several inches longer, if you'd like to wait to try it on the recipient before you commit, as I did).  Using a safety pin, feed the elastic through the casing.  Making sure the elastic is not twisted, overlap the ends 1/2" and stitch closed.  (Or -- if you're not quite sure of the waist size -- try the skirt on it's recipient, pin the elastic, stitch closed, and then trim.)

7.  Sew the opening in the casing closed, being careful not to catch the elastic in the stitching.  Then distribute the fabric evenly around the waistband.

8.  If desired, stitch the elastic in place along each side seam to secure.

9.  And that's it! You've upcycled an old t-shirt into a fun new skirt!

I was happy to have such an eager model for my skirt!  Doesn't she look like she's having fun?  

If you decide to make a skirt from this tutorial, I'd love to hear about it -- and even see photos!

Happy stitching!

sewing summit sewing

I expect to do a lot of sewing at Sewing Summit, but I hadn't really considered that I'd need/want to be sewing for (and before) the conference.  Well, it turns out that I do.  I made this little zipper pouch for a swap at Sewing Summit.

And, lest you be fooled, this is not just any old zipper pouch.  It is, in fact, my very first, actual, sewn (and finished) quilted project!

Yes, I cut little teeny tiny strips of fabric and improvised a little bitty wonky log cabin.  Then I made my very first, actual, quilted sandwich!  I know I'm a sewing nerd, but, man, was this exciting.  And it didn't hurt... not even a little bit.  I'm not quite sure what I've been afraid of for so long.  I can see now how this quilting thing could become addicting.

Here's the finished product.  I even added one of my labels to the lining.  I sure hope the recipient likes it!!  It was so much fun to make, I'm hoping I have time to make a couple few more before Sewing Summit both to keep and to give away.

I stitched up this little sewing kit from the Zakka Style book, too.  I've been pouring over this book lately.  I only have a copy from the library right now, but there are so many great projects in here, the book will, without a doubt, be going on my Christmas wish list.

I used prints from Lotta Jansdotter's first fabric collection, Echo.  I think they go nicely with the natural linen. (Of course, I have a tendency to think every print goes well with linen.)

Next, I have plans to sew a new bag for toting all my things around the conference.  I'm thinking of making the Madeleine bag, tutorial courtesy of Rachael at Imagine Gnats.  Well, I'd better get started and go pick out my fabrics!

Handprinting fabric and more

I'm so excited to be participating in this fabric swap, hosted by Leslie of Maze & Vale!  Not only do I have an excuse to play around with printing on textiles, but I will also receive a hand printed fat quarter of fabric from each of the other four members of my group.  I can't wait to start experimenting with my own designs... and to see what my group-mates come up with!!

I haven't decided yet if I'll be screen printing, block printing, potato printing, or something else.  In the meantime, I'd like to experiment with all of these methods.  If you'd like to play around with printing on fabric, too, check out all the great resources on Leslie's blog.  To make this all even better... after I told my friend Lori about the swap, she stopped by to drop off two books from the 1950s and 60s about block printing on fabric.  I've really only had a chance to skim the books so far, but they seem fabulous and inspiring.  I had to share some images from them with you.

The image on the left reads: "The simplest and most direct way to apply pressure in block printing."  And I love the two-color pattern on the right.

A great illustration on the left; an inspiring modern sunburst graphic on the right.

The only bad thing about all of this is that I need to wait to start on this project until next week!  I have submissions due by Friday for a possible book project (Exciting!), and am also preparing for one of my all time favorite craft fairs -- happening this Saturday.  The Constructor Craft Fair is a little like a mini-Renegade.  In addition to the amazing assortment of handmade goods, there is beer and food to be had, fun (sometimes-live) music, and the first fifty people in the door get a nifty swag bag.

If you're in the Chicago area, I'd love to see you at Constructor.  Stop by on Saturday and say "Hello!"