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.

Happy New Year sewing!

I did a fair amount of sewing over the new year's long weekend.
Found this pattern online:  http://www.museofthemorning.com/museblog/2013/make-a-big-beautiful-beach-bag-tutorial/

And made it out of some heavy cotton that used to be curtains in my last apartment:

Enjoy!  The pattern is pretty quick and easy, and makes a nice bag.

Here's another picture, with the bag stuffed with THREE of my jackets!  It's HUGE.  I love it.

Sewing for Christmas

I found this pattern on Facebook.  It's a cell phone holder wristlet, very quick and easy to make.  It comes in three sizes and this is the largest size.

I couldn't put the cell phone inside and still take pictures, so I put my Roku remote in, just so you can see how it works.  It snaps closed.

And I liked it so much that I made two more of them!

Merry Christmas to all.

Another big project - A Regency Corset

A friend asked me to make her a Regency corset.  As always, I can't resist a challenge, so I took it on.  Surprisingly, the sewing part was rather easy; it was the fitting that took a lot of time and patience.  But it came out beautifully, as you will see:

Here is the pattern I used.

There were also a lot of web pages that I referenced.  First thing I learned was to use a good sturdy cotton (or silk) fabric that didn't fray very much.  I found a nice woven cotton at Walmart that I used for the lining, and a nice cotton twill for the outside layer. 
These are the pieces, before I sewed them together.

Do you see that little dip in the top of one of the pieces? That's the underarm piece.  It will be important later.
My first attempt at fitting was with the simple lining. Bad idea.  Without boning, the fit just never works right!  So my 2nd fitting was using 2 layers of the lining, so I could put minimal boning into the corset.  That made a huge difference!   Then I sewed the pieces together and fitted again.  Here are some pictures.

The next learning point was to *not* use metal eyelets!  They shred the lacing!   And, when I tried to fit at this point, it turns out that those underarm cutouts cause a definite lack of support for the chest.  Ah!  So in my next attempt, I remade the sides, taking out the cutouts, and put sewn buttonholes in the back instead of metal eyelets.  Success!  I also put in all of the boning and the busk in front, to help with body definition. 

Here are pictures of the back and the front, with boning, and the straps added.   All I had to do now was shorten the straps a little, and we were done!   The model graciously allowed me to take pictures for the blog.

So now I can honestly say that I have made a Regency corset.  It was a fun learning experience!
I don't know why the corset looks so yellow - the fabric really was white!  Must be the lighting.

What happens when I'm awake at 4am on a Sunday?

This:

Found the pattern online and thought I'd try it.  Cute. This pattern has gift potential.

Pillow Shams

Never made them before, so naturally when a friend asked me if I could make a pair for her, I said sure!!  She gave me fabric, and here's what came out.  Surprisingly easy.  And so pretty!

Another new T-shirt!

Again from Teespring

And yet another new T-shirt!

As long as they keep coming out with these cool shirts in MY size, I'll keep buying them!
This one is in a really nice purple.

Another new T-shirt!

I found this and the other one on Teespring, on Facebook.

My Sewing Room, Where the Magic Happens

I have never posted pictures of my sewing room, where 'the magic happens'.    This is in a corner of my apartment living room.

 Obviously, things get moved around a lot as I work, so this is just a quick picture of what it looked like at that moment.  The sewing machine is hiding behind the white cutting board, and the serger is on a small table behind the worklamp.   The wall to the side is where I hang the tools that I use the most (a lot of scissors, too!), and the shelves behind are for my patterns, books, notions, and other stuff that hasn't been put away yet.  It's in a constant state of flux.

And this is in my spare bedroom, otherwise known as 'my fabric collection'.  Just like the sewing corner, things get taken out, new stuff gets put in, and stuff gets moved around a lot.  For example, those books are now in the main sewing area (easier to reach).  I like the wrapped-wire shelves because they allow air to circulate around the fabric, and whenever I move, they disassemble easily and can be made to fit any new space.  They're the perfect answer to an apartment sewing professional's fabric collection!

My new T-shirt

Sewing for the Shelter

I have been helping these lovely folks:  http://www.connieandteri4animals.org/
and in January, we make little quilts for the kennels at the local shelter.   So last weekend I got a couple of HUGE bags of fabric and batting, and cut out a bunch of quilts.  This weekend I sewed them.  All told, I made 45 quilts.   And they were approved by my very own quilt-tester, the Princess Rita.

It's a great project, and I love helping the animals, because I can't bring any more home.  My allergies and budget just couldn't handle the stress.   So I'll make them little quilts to protect their paws until they find a forever home.  If you don't have a furry overlord ruling your household, now is the time to go find one!  It's never too late.

More bins!

I think I like this pattern.  They would be cute in some kind of holiday-themed fabric, wouldn't they?

Fabric bin

And again, I have been checking out new patterns that I found online. 
http://birchfabrics.blogspot.com/2013/08/tutorial-fabric-bins-featuring-fort.html
Here's my first attempt.  I like the concept, but I want to get a better fleece next time.