Pillow from a Tshirt

My cleaning lady asked me to make a pillow out of a t-shirt she had.  It came out really cute. Instead of buying a pillow form, I just used a pile of quilt batting that I had already and made my own pillow form. 

A New Jacket!

I had to 'retire' 2 of my light cotton jackets last year because they were too far worn for repair.  So I pulled out one of my Connie patterns(B6533), and made me a new light cotton jacket.
WARNING:  I found it a little tight in the shoulders, so I had to add gussets later.  Check for fit before making it for yourself. If you make it out of a knit, this adjustment might not be needed.

Added later:   Turns out, I HATED the cuffs and hood on this jacket, so I cut them off and put ribbing in place.  The jacket is much more comfortable, and the collar could be tweaked a little more (I had no directions, just winged it), but maybe for the next jacket.
And there *will* be a next jacket.

Vacation Bible School July 2018

My church has Vacation Bible School every summer.  It's a great time, and involves a lot of planning.  This year, the coordinator asked me to make a banner, and here it is.  For the most part, the biggest part of this job was figuring out the right proportions for each banner so it looked right.  Each piece is 24 inches wide and 36 inches long.  The letters are 11 inches each.
It was a lot of fun, anyway, even the headaches of planning.

The Handmaid's Tale

I have not seen this show.  I hope to, someday.  The costume pictures and descriptions are everywhere, though, so when a friend asked me to make her a red cape, of course I was up to the job.
I found a freebie cape pattern online, and we picked up some red gabardine from fabric.com, and that was that.

Here are the cut pieces. 

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Then I sewed the sides to the back.

Finished the edges by just turning and sewing down, and sewing a large hook and eye to the neckline.

And then she tried it on, with the bonnet that she picked up.  I did fix the shoulders later, and open up side slits for her arms to come through (marked by the safety pin).  I'll try to get more pictures later and post them, but here it is.   Really easy job, and she looks good!

Sewing on a rainy Saturday

This is the Ultimate Wallet, found at Craftsy.com.
Yes, I paid actual money for this pattern. 

 It was an interesting pattern, but I was lost until I watched the Youtube video.  While I like videos just fine, I hate that the directions weren't clear enough that I couldn't sew the wallet without it. 
However, now that I know all the tricks, I may make it again, just for the fun of it. It took about 4 hours, with a lot of ripping and re-doing. 

And then I made the Hedgerow Book Bag, found here:
https://www.allfreesewing.com/Bags-and-Purses/The-Hedgerow-Book-Bag-Pattern
This was a free pattern, but really great.  This one took about 45 minutes the first time.

This was a quick and easy pattern.  I like it a LOT.  I will probably make more of these.

Where have I been?

It's been a full year since I last posted.  I have a good reason - I bought a house!

It's a tiny house, actually a condo,and it all came about in a totally unexpected way, but here I am.  Moved, unpacked, and more or less settled.  Two bedrooms, two baths, which means.
I HAVE A SEWING ROOM!   Yes, an actual, real room, dedicated to sewing!  It's small, and I've rearranged it 3 times already, but I'm loving it.
So I've been sewing.  I have a lot of fabric that I want to sew up into little things quickly that can sell at a craft fair, and I'll give the money to my church's youth group. 
Here's some of the stuff:

That's all for now.  I'll post more pictures, maybe if/when I ever get my sewing room settled and ......well, it'll never be neat.  Everyone who sews knows that.

The health kit bags for 2016

I've probably mentioned these before.  Every year, my church collects towels, washcloths, shampoo, and other assorted health items, fill bags and give them away to the homeless.
This year I decided to give them a challenge and made 90 bags.  Here they are.   I know they are greatly appreciated and I love using my talent for something like this.  The fabric I've been using lately is the cotton quilt backing found at fabric.com.  It's a good sturdy cotton and comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns.