What I've Been Working On

I've been sewing!

I had a request from a family member for a large bag to use for her frequent trips to the beach. She lives in Florida and often has a need for a beach bag. I did a LOT of fabric searching, I tried to share options with her while shopping but nothing really truly inspired me.... I wanted it to be a thick canvas type fabric with a lot of body and I was looking for a bold print. I finally found this and used a yellow duck cloth that matches the yellow flowers for the inside lining. I used the pattern for the Everything Tote from the book Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.


I loved creating this bag, the size is great, and the structure is fantastic too. The pocket has two compartments, one is perfect for a cell phone, the other is larger for a few small incidentals.


The main compartments is HUGE.... i put two large beach towels in this one to photograph it and still had a TON of room.

I loved this bag so much that i had planned on making another exactly like it for me. But, the fabric was sold out by the time i got back for more. I DID purchase another print for me and hope to sew another one soon. I did make a small modification. The bag is intended to be sewn in a lighter fabric, one with a bit more give. The gathers are supposed to be created in the same way ruffles are created but the fabric was way too stiff for this. I decided to do two small pleats instead on each side instead and I think I prefer this look over the ruffle/gathers.

In addition to the bag, I also made two skirts last week. I used two different patterns.

1st - Angry Chicken's 5 minute skirt, pattern found here.
2nd - Easy Breezy Skirt, found in the book Sewing Green by Betz White.

This is the "5 minute" skirt, it took way longer than 5 minutes... in fact I had to put it down for a day because i was so annoyed with it. Once I learned where my errors were, it all worked out and I will be tweaking this pattern for more skirts. Problem One, the waist was HUGE... I had to decrease it by about 8 inches... (I'm not sure that's really a problem really LOL). Problem two, was the trapezoid shape that resulted in pointy sides that hung down further than the front and back hem... remedied by adding a curve to the hem in the front and back... it creates an optical illusion... Both issues taught me a lot about skirt construction. Thus, I'm not in the least bit upset because I learned something AND the skirt is wearable in the end. Another thing I learned is that finding FOE (fold over elastic) is not something that you can do at Joann's... i improvised and used a 3/4 in thick piece of black elastic, it "worked" but is not ideal. I plan on purchasing some online before i make my next skirt with this pattern.


This is skirt number two and is commonly known as "the pillowcase" skirt. However there is NO WAY my ass would fit into a pillowcase... so I followed the directions in her book for using other fabric. In short, this skirt is a long straight tube and the width is based on the widest part of your hips. It's got an elastic waist and a nice substantial hem. This fabric was purchased in Ithaca NY, while on vacation, it was $4.73 and was a remnant in the discount rack. Add in the elastic for the waist and rick rack for the hem detail and I made this skirt for less than $10! Same goes for the skirt above, however I think that was was even less, MAYBE $6 bucks!

almost a month

It has almost been a month since I posted last... sorry for the neglect!

We've been really busy in the past few weeks, Chris has been finishing up his semester, that's usually a pretty busy week or so, and we've started some home improvement projects too, so we've been outside and running here or there and that leaves me with little time to blog or even create things to blog about. I haven't been knitting much of anything.... except for these:


This was the first one i knit knowing that i would use it as a drawstring pouch for a pretty bar of soap. This along with a CD was my gift to my mother on Mother's day. This pattern comes from MDK, I've knit a few already and love to use them as kitchen washcloths. They are a great size and are also entertaining to knit.

In other crafting news, I've purchased three new sewing books.... they are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping for some inspiration to fall out of those. I also purchased some fabric for new couch pillows. My current ones completely split at the seams..... not a good look... the pillow form is still in perfect shape though so i'll be sewing new covers. I also have plans to make this for myself OR something similar. I have a goal of sewing a skirt and at least three shirts/blouses for me to wear THIS summer. I need to get sewing!

The Salvation Army’s 21st Annual Fabric Fair

i went here today with some friends. we all fared well. i am full of inspiration. so much so that after we put the kids to bed this evening, i organized my fabric stash. it is now in neat stacks on a small set of shelves in my crafty corner of the 3rd floor office. it's neatly folded and organized by fiber, print and yardage.

the SAAFF was really interesting. i found buttons, zippers, yards of fabric, patterns and a sewing magazine ooooh and a LOT of inspiration, all for $30.34!!!

here are a few of my finds:








photos of everything i brought home can be found here.

sew it's still winter

it's still winter, it snowed overnight and the weather peeps are predicting a few more snow showers and cold temps through the weekend.... i'm not excited. i'm over winter. i LOVE winter, but i'm over it for this year season. i'll be happy to see the first flakes fall again by next december.... but for now, i would love to see some crocuses and daffodils and the tulips we planted in the fall fill the spaces where the brown, dried out, rotting leaves currently live.... so to fill my time i've been sewing again! this has been a bit of a seasonal thing for the past few years. i'm not going to let that happen again, i'm planning to make a few changes in my life in hopes to creating a bit of a small business by using my sewing machine. so, i hit the ground running with a few projects.

i had a baby shower to attend a few weekends ago, i dusted off the sewing machine and fired her up to make this little set:

the patterns are from Bend the Rules Sewing, by Amy Karol. I've sewn a few of these Scalloped baby blankets before. this one is the same as those, i used brown and white polka dot cotton on one side and a light blue, star embossed very, very soft chenille on the other. no flannel as interfacing inside like the pattern calls for. i used the same fabrics for the bib and burp cloth. i just LOVE this blankie pattern, it's really simple yet looks pretty cool with the scalloped edges. the bib whipped up in about 15 minutes! seriously! and i had made two burp cloths but managed to screw the 2nd one up pretty badly due to a brain malfunction that i can't believe i did... i'll discuss that later...

after i completed this project i was on sewing machine fire! so i collected up some of my fabric stash and made this:

it's pleated beauty again from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol.

the detail stitching on the front panel was a bit finicky and puckered quite a bit, i'm attributing that to the fact that the black fabric i was using was not 100% cotton and had a tendency to stretch while i was free styling it! oh well, lesson learned....

i'm moderately happy with this bag. i LOVE the size, love the accessibility to the inside and it was FUN to sew. however the straps are too thin, i prefer a heftier strap and they weren't reinforced into the bag very well, i've had a bit of pulling and i'm sure i will have to mend this one soon. it's also a bit on the floppy side, the next time i make this bag (ps there WILL be a next time and it will be very soon) i plan on using a stiff interfacing so that the sides have a bit more structure. i like to be able to put my bag on the floor and have it stand up on it's own.

as you can see, i also made a few zippered pouches that coordinate with the pleat fabric. this was my first exercise in sewing on a zipper! whoooo what fun!!! it was tiny bit daunting the first time, but since then, it's opened up a whole new world of bags for me! these zippered pouches contain 4 diapers and a half pack of kirkland brand wipes in the large pouch and a few of my small incidentals like chapped stick and other lip gloss tubes, tissues, and deodorant(!!) in the small pouch. due to the floppiness of the bag these items wouldn't stay put in the small interior pocket so they needed their own home....

as for my brain malfunction... man, looking back, i really can't believe i did this... i sewed the baby blankie, the bib, the burp cloths and the entire bag!!! with the needle inserted into the machine backwards... the top thread kept breaking and pulling and i had to rip out so much stitching, it was horrendous. lots of bad words were yelled and i even swatted at my machine once or twice, i was sooo frustrated. i finally was looking through the machine manual for something completely unrelated when i noticed a HUGE warning about how the flat side of the needle should be towards the back! i could have spit i was so ticked at myself... it caused me to spend about twice the normal amount of time on all said projects due to ripping and resewing numerous times... once i fixed the problem my machine sewed through many layers like it was sewing through butter.... i was THIS close to calling Singer for help....

oops as promised - photos of blankie

blankie detail for laurenentire blankie for lauren and a little model named max...