scrapyard

sewing in the winter months

2011-12-31T18:00:00.000-06:00

When the temperature drops, you can find me nestled in my wingback chair, needle in hand, stork scissors close by, slowly stitching the day away. (Evidence found here.)

This is my latest undertaking, which involves hand-dyeing, reverse applique, and lots of embroidery or quilting, if you rather. I can't decide if I'll call it a table runner or a wall hanging, but I promise to share more photos once I have more to show for myself!

Inspiration:

ralli quilts: wiki and on Design*Sponge
Kuna molas: wiki and decently-sized photo gallery
Kathryn Clark's Foreclosure Quilts

We only have a handful of hours left in 2011, and I am not sad to see it go. It was a chaotically busy year, during which I moved from Knoxville (my home of 9 months) to Cookeville. I began my first semester of university, maintained a 4.0 GPA, held a part-time job, and sewed for school and for my business. I attended craft shows in Greenville SC, Cincinnati OH, and Nashville TN during the semester, plus several other events before school began. I learned to draw and to weave, and to manage my time like a total boss.

I look forward to 2012, don't you?

farewell first semester!

2011-12-20T15:52:00.000-06:00

My first semester of university is officially behind me, and I couldn't be more relieved! At the same time, I don't quite know what to do with my newfound free time, but there are far worse problems to have.

Look! This is my final project for Intro to Fibers:

Aaaah! I think it's kinda cute. The main tree and squirrel fabric (as well as the acorn) was dyed and woven by yours truly.

You know the anxiety you feel when you cut into a favorite piece of fabric, perhaps one long out-of-print or almost too adorable to hack up? Well, imagine if you lovingly (or hastily, as it were) painted each warp fiber by hand, then threaded them individually through the dents and heddles of the loom, then tied them on to this and that beam, and finally spent hours tromping the treadles and throwing the shuttle back and forth, over and over until you have about 45" of cloth. And THEN you have to cut it up? Please! I'm telling you, I had to psych myself up for a good while before I could cut into the fabric I wove by hand.

But I finally did and I am pleased with the outcome. This is a plushie set designed with imaginative play in mind. I appliqued Velcro to the squirrel's tum so the acorn sticks to it. (It's backed with wool felt.) Is the squirrel holding the acorn, or did he eat it? I look forward to watching a little 'un play with this so I can discover the answer.

And here is my final project for Drawing I:

This class was really the first time I'd drawn since high school almost 10 years ago, and I started the semester all but convinced I didn't have the stuff to make it through Week 1. I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful instructor, however, and now have a little more confidence in my ability!

The final assignment was to create a still life portrait of a person/people/relationship with someone, and so I chose to illustrate my relationship with a couple of my closest friends circa 2005, when we all lived together. I put about 3 dozen hours into this drawing, which means I spent a solid week streaked with charcoal dust, holed up in my apartment and living off of canned goods like an apocalypse survivor.

And survive I did, with an A in every class. Hooray!

I never posted about my midterm project in Fibers--an improv-pieced baby quilt, composed entirely of fabrics I dyed and printed by hand. I'll share as soon as I take some pictures!

Surfaces

2011-10-16T10:08:00.002-05:00

Holy...! School has kept me far more busy than I ever imagined possible. Among others, I am taking a drawing class and Intro to Fibers, two studio classes that together occupy the lion's share of my waking hours.

Right now we are concluding the surface design section of the semester in Fibers. I get so excited about screenprinting fabric that I can't fall asleep; my mind is racing with new ideas! It's kind of bad news.

Thus far, we've covered solid shade dyeing, low water immersion, itajime (that weekend's assignment of 4 yards took 22 hours to complete!), and different methods of surface design. I'll post photos of my better work soon!

blueberry pickin'

2011-08-19T13:46:00.001-05:00

How I spent my Thursday afternoon:

Yes! I went to Hidden Springs Orchard in Cookeville with a couple of new friends, and it was a lovely time despite the heat. The blueberry patch is indeed hidden, tucked down a dirt road deep in a holler (er, hollow?) in Jackson County. And what could be better than gathering blueberries with friends? Very little, except perhaps:

Fresh-baked blueberry buttermilk coffee cake! With lemon zest crumb topping. I've been on a bit of a baking tear since settling into my new kitchen, and am freezing about half of what I bake to get me through my first semester of college. This recipe yields one 9" cake (which I baked in an 8" dish so it turned out very tall), of which I froze half.

So here you go! Recipe after the jump. If you use this recipe, I would love to hear (or see) how it turns out.

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

[makes one 9" cake]

Crumb Topping:

1/4 C sugar

3 T unbleached all-purpose flour

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon

3 T cold unsalted butter

Cake:

2.5 C unbleached all-purpose flous

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 C sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 C buttermilk

2 large eggs

8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 C fresh or unsweetened frozen blueberries, rinsed and dried

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 9" springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. (Alternately, you can use a greased 9" baking pan of any sort, or like me, make do with an 8" baking dish. I didn't decrease some of the batter like I should have, and it ended up almost spilling over and needed an additional 10-15 min baking time.)

2. To prepare the crumb topping: In a small bowl, combine together the sugar, flour, and zest. Cut in the butter until the mixture forms coarse crumbs.

3. To make the cake: In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In a large bowl using an electric mixer (or, like me, a whisk and enthusiasm) combine the buttermilk, eggs and butter. Stir into the dry mixture and beat until well blended. Fold in the blueberries with a few swift strokes.

4. Spoon the batter into the pan, smooth, and sprinkle with the crumb topping. Place the pan on a rack in the center of the oven and bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester (or fork, for the rest of us) inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Let the cake cool in the pan 15 minutes. Remove the sides of the springform pan to cool the cake completely, or if you are using any ol' baking pan, just let it hang out on your countertop for a while. I wouldn't let it cool on the windowsill because it might get swiped.

a postcard from Putnam County, USA

2011-08-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

[The view from my kitchen window.]

I now live in Cookeville, Tennessee! My internet connection is spotty but will be worked out soon. Some facts about my new home:

My apartment is next door to an abandoned house, and next to that is a small and overgrown cemetery.
Early in the morning I can hear a rooster crow; some afternoons, I hear what I am guessing is a donkey braying.
I live down a state road a couple miles from the University. At night it is so dark I can't see the cars parked below my apartment.
A little further down the state road is a pasture of cows belonging to the school's Agriculture Department, as well as a field of sheep, and lots of barns and farmland. Also: a This n' That Store and a biker bar that allegedly doubles as a bike shop.

In short: Cookeville is wonderful! I am done with city living for the foreseeable future, and couldn't be happier. Now, to get my sewing area set up...

migratory birds

2011-07-14T13:06:00.002-05:00

Pictured below are some of my favorite fabrics. They are so beloved that in most cases, I have kept them for years, untouched, in my fabric stash. My favorite color (and the lion's share of my fabric collection) is bright golden yellow, and I've amassed a decent chunk of that weird chartreusey-citron color that was everywhere last year.

I finally decided to stop being a crazy person and just USE these, all together, in one quilt. So! Thus far, I've pulled these lovelies for use in a throw-sized flying geese quilt. For the background of the geese, I wanted to use a saturated blue, like the flowers in the central Heather Bailey print. Not surprisingly, it's almost impossible to match! After searching several different shops, I went to one outside of Nashville with a huge selection of Kaffe Fassett shot cottons and behold:

The perfect blue! (For reference, this one is called Spruce. I think.) I often turn to shot cottons when trying to match weird colors. I think their different warp and weft colors give them a chamelion-like versatility.

So, here it is: the start of a new quilt! It's been far too long.

handmade weekend

2011-07-07T12:43:00.000-05:00

My hometown of Nashville, TN is known around the world for its main creative export: music. This Saturday, the first ever Porter Flea is putting Nashville on the map for indie craft and I couldn't be more thrilled!

So, readers, I know some of you are from the Nashville area! Won't you stop by the Owlette table and say hello? And if you're in the Asheville, NC area this Sunday, my esteemed partner Jessica will be tabling for Owlette at the Big Crafty. It's a good weekend for handmade!

Eureka!

2011-06-18T10:59:00.000-05:00

This is my first Pyrex score ever! I bought this canister for 99 cents at a Goodwill in Dickson, TN.

It seems that many crafters are also ardent Pyrex collectors. Why is that? I am not much of a collector, but I was glad to come across something Pyrex--albeit not a coveted mixing bowl. Now, what to store in it?

farewell to the wigsphere

2011-06-15T14:25:00.000-05:00

This has been the most protracted move of my life! Everything I own is now in boxes in Knoxville, I am camping at my parents' house in Nashville, and my apartment is ready for move-in five weeks from now in Cookeville.

[Pictured above is Knoxville's Sunsphere, a relic from the 1982 World's Fair. It is perhaps best known, depending on who you ask, for the Simpsons episode in which Bart and friends take a road trip to Knoxville, only to find the World's Fair is over and the Sunsphere is full of wigs.]

Rocky Top! I'll always be a Nashville girl, but I have a special fondness for you...

Sorbetto top pattern review

2011-06-10T12:59:00.000-05:00

I am so glad that Colette Patterns exists. I am gladder still that they release a free pattern every year! This time around, it's the Sorbetto top:

...which I love! I stitched this up the same day the pattern was released, and not counting the time I spent assembling the pattern itself and sewing the muslin, this came together in just under an hour. No joke. It is a very flattering, relaxed cut with darts at the bust and no shapers in back. (I forgot to photograph the back, sorry!)

I made this while visiting my parents, and the only suitable fabric I had on hand was an old mystery jersey that was stashed in their basement. The fabric drapes nicely, but is still stable enough to handle the front box pleat and bust darts. It also allowed me to take some shortcuts. Rather than finishing the neckline and armholes with bias binding, which I didn't have on hand, I just serged the raw edges and let them be. Same with the hem!

[I promise this isn't a look of annoyance! It's just 100 degrees already, and brick is hot.]

I made a couple alterations to this pattern:

The muslin was a bit too short unhemmed, and cut me off just above the widest part of my hips, making my hips appear even wider. No good. So I added a full inch to the hem, not remembering that even serged jersey rolls. Next time I'll add 1.25" to the hem.

Being petite in the high bust and fuller at the hips, I started with a generous 5/8" seam allowance at the armscythe side seam and graduated to a scant 5/8" when approaching the hem.

This top is wonderful and I plan to make several more before summer's end! Colette Patterns are always well-illustrated with clear instructions, and are satisfying to sew. This pattern is suitable for a beginner; the greatest challenge is selecting an appropriate fabric. Drape makes all the difference here! This chart is a handy reference tool:

Alright, get to sewing and let me know if you sewed this blouse too! While you're doing that, I'll be packing for my fast-approaching move...

See also:

home front

2011-06-05T12:44:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! I've been absent from Blogland since the giveaway, but I have a good excuse: I'm moving! Again. You may recall I moved to Knoxville last August. I start school in Cookeville, TN this August, and am trying to get settled well in advance.

unrelated: Ijams Nature Center!

This has turned out to be no small task. Cookeville is a very small town (population: 30,000?), and it is almost impossible to find housing via the internet. I've made several trips to look at apartments, which is a 3-hour drive round-trip from either Nashville or Knoxville.

All of this is to say, I am still here, I am busy as ever, and I will be writing more consistently once I have an address! And on a side note, I am so excited to start school. I'm working toward my BFA in Fibers, and it's going to be AWESOME.

Winners!

2011-05-27T00:45:00.001-05:00

You're all winners, but two most of all! Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment during Giveaway Day. (Isn't Sew Mama Sew wonderful for hosting the event?)

Random.org chose two winners, and while usually I would take a screencap of the image for proof, I am using a different computer and don't know how to do it on this thing. Technology!

Unrelated: a good egg. Because pictures are nice.

Congratulations to Viv, who won the bonnet, and Amber, who won the fat quarters! I have your addresses and will drop your packages in the mail this weekend.

So, did you win anything? I didn't, but then I only entered a few giveaways. It's fun just to play the game. My mom won a charm pack from Crafty Fox, and she was so excited you would have thought she won a whole fabric warehouse!

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

It's Giveaway Day!

2011-05-23T05:00:00.075-05:00

Hello Sew Mama Sew friends! Let's get down to business: I am giving away two prizes to two lucky readers. Pictured below:

Three cheerful fat quarters!

L to R: two from Denyse Schmidt's ever-popular Katie Jump Rope line, and one sweet little retro floral, by a designer whose name I forgot. Oops! They are all so cute together, I almost wish I wasn't giving them up!

One Bear Cub Bonnet by Owlette! (That's my company!)

This bonnet is sized to fit about 6mo-12mo. It features a fun birdie print for the shell and back of ears, and a bright green geometric for the lining, front of ears, and ties. More specific measurements can be found here!

THE RULES:

1. The giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only! Sorry. Money is tight right now.

2. In order to be eligible to win, you must comment on this post. That's it! Please be sure your email is public in your Blogger profile, or leave it in your comment.

3. If you would like a second entry, follow or subscribe to my blog and leave a comment saying you've done so! (If you're already a follower, leave a second comment saying so.)

4. Comments will be open until 11pm CST May 25th, at which time a TWO winners will be chosen at random and notified via email.

5. I would really like for these prizes to go to people who will use them! I understand not everyone sews or knows a baby, SO: If you would rather win fabric, please let me know in your comment. Likewise, please make note if you are in it for the bonnet and have no use for the fabric!

Thanks, and best of luck!

**comments are now closed; thanks for participating!**

my mama loves me.

2011-05-15T15:29:00.000-05:00

Not to brag, but my mom is pretty great. Last year for my birthday, she made this quilt for me. The design is her own, and she spent many hours agonizing over it. It is ranked among two or three possessions I would run into a burning building to save. For my birthday this year, she made this quilt:

I absolutely love it! The prints are entirely from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush line, with some Gee's Bend hand-dyed solids and Kaffe Fassett shot cottons thrown in. I think they compliment each other nicely.

I remember when my mom first bought all these fabrics, and couldn't decide how to best use them. She finally settled on equilateral triangles (sometimes called Thousand Pyramids) and I think the geometry suits the prints nicely.

[my favorite photo of this quilt!]

I don't know how much time she spent cutting out these triangles, but it must have taken days! She said she gave the quilt to me because she knew I could appreciate all the work that went into it.

My mom quilted it with free-form wavy lines, reminiscent of my twiggy quilt, which was inspired by the hills of Tennessee.

This quilt was on my bed until recently, when Knoxville was suddenly boiling in 90-degree weather. Summer happens all at once here! It's been cooler the last few nights, so perhaps I can get a bit more use out of this beauty after all.

You can see more of my mom's work on her Flickr site, here!

One more thing before you go: I will be hosting a giveaway here next week for Sew Mama Sew's annual Giveaway Day! It begins May 23rd so be sure to check back!

Tennessee springtime

2011-04-26T15:12:00.000-05:00

A storm blew through yesterday evening and wrecked a tree two houses down from us. It lasted about ten minutes and just look:

It's hard to gauge the enormity of this tree, but it's covering two cars. That's my little red Honda down the road--a little too close for my liking!

The tree made short work of the neighbors' wrought iron fence. I heard that winds were 50-60 miles per hour.

And there it is from the back. It doesn't look like too awful much from this view until you realize it's fully covering several cars and over half of the street! It's kind of stunning; I wanted to share before I get on the road to Nashville!

Betty Dear

2011-04-21T13:21:00.000-05:00

I love this fabric. LOVE. And it's so hard to find!! I was lucky enough to score several yards from this Etsy seller. If I had the bank account for it, I'd buy a whole bolt!

How about you--is there one fabric you absolutely adore? That you hoard and never use, or buy over and over again because you use it in every project? Links please!!

Flora & Fauna

2011-04-13T18:29:00.000-05:00

Things have been a bit quiet around here, but not for lack of activity! I've been spending long hours at the sewing machine getting Owlette ready for spring craft shows. I am really excited about our new series of screenprinted goods, called Flora & Fauna:

Little Acorn Bonnets

Last week I was in Nashville with my beloved business partner, Jessica, screenprinting our little hearts out. The kind folks at Friendly Arctic Printing allowed us to use their very professional setup, which made for my first successful experience with screenprinting. Hooray for that!

I intended to photograph the process, but didn't break out my camera at the right time. Perhaps next time! It's really neat to watch.

Bee is for Bloomers!

We printed some bloomers with bees and some with octopus. (Octopi? Not pictured, anyhow.) I happen to really love the bee, but the... er, cephalopod, is pretty classic and gender-neutral.

We redesigned our bloomers to be smaller and more underwear-style, so they fit more like shorts or diaper covers for the summer months.

Our next craft show is this weekend so I must get back to sewing. You can find us at Crafty Feast, part of the Indie Grits Film Festival in Columbia SC! If you're in the area, please stop by our tent and say hello. It's going to be a lot of fun!

postage stamp.

2011-03-30T13:07:00.001-05:00

Here it is!

All these feedsacks ended up here, and I think they look downright sweet all together! This is a custom quilt for a lady in Indiana. She chose the pattern and wanted feedsacks paired with white.

My mom and I worked on it together, although I must say she did most of the work. I was in town for a weekend and functioned as her sous chef: cutting, ironing, arranging, subcutting, and occasionally seam-ripping. I think she and I make a good team.

Here's a detail photo of the top before basting and quilting. The quilt measures 40.5" by 49", and contains 891 total 1 1/2" squares! I hope it is well-loved in its new home.

little bitty

2011-03-22T12:20:00.000-05:00

Does it seem to you that feedsacks are getting harder to find? Reproduction feedsacks I mean. It just seems that shops these days are cutting back. And I happen to love these tiny little prints!

They are so cheerful. Pictured above: elephants playing croquet, babies riding ducks (or geese?), cats playing the piano, and all manner of sweet little florals and geometrics.

These fabrics are being made into a very sweet, very intricate baby quilt at the moment. Photos of the pieced top to follow!

Oh, a question for you, dear reader: Can you recommend a good source for buying [reproduction] feedsacks online?

45mm of Fury: A Cautionary Tale

2011-03-13T17:03:00.001-05:00

I don't recall quite how it happened, but here's how it ended:

Beware the new blade! I didn't feel anything at first but knew I nicked myself (oh, what a nick!) because I watched my hand bump into the rotary cutter. When I inspected the damage, blood was dripping down my wrist and I could see inside my skin. I know, sick right?!

Notions for my fellow accident-prone, blade-wielding seamsters:

Fons & Porter Klutz Glove (now on my shopping list)
Rule Steady (for your acrylic ruler--I ALWAYS use this and will forevermore amen)

Got any gruesome rotary cutting tales to share? Comment with your story or a link!!

Cool Cottons love

2011-03-10T12:44:00.000-06:00

PORTLAND. It is home to my favorite octogenarian AND my favorite fabric shop! What more can you ask for in a city? I recently flew to Portland to celebrate my Grama Dona's 80th birthday, and made the customary visit to Cool Cottons on SE Hawthorne.

Behold, the spoils:

Okay. I've said it before: I love this shop, and in case you need convincing, I took some photos! Looking them over, I find myself wishing I could board a plane to PDX today just to be among the bolts.

I love that the shop is organized and uncluttered! There seems to be a gene shared by most fabric store owners which compels them to amass great piles of junk and present them as though they were salable. Pam and Marie don't seem to carry that gene, and it makes for a most pleasant and inspiring visit.

If you keep up with my blog you know that much of my sewing in the past year has been for Owlette and not for the heck of it. Well, sometimes it is enough just to shop for fabric. I actually bought exclusively for my personal stash at Cool Cottons, which hasn't happened in many months.

When my mom and I arrived in Nashville, our first order of business (before eating dinner, naturally) was to show my dad our new fabric. My mom joked that now her stash really was too big, to which my dad replied, "Well if it's nice fabric that you like, there's no such thing as too much." Correct!!

Pictured below is the cutting area, and to the left under the window you'll find tons and tons of shot cottons, including stripes!

I am not certain but I believe Cool Cottons stocks nearly every solid shot cotton there is--at least enough to where you won't miss the ones they don't carry.

If you can't tell, this is my Happy Place. Cool Cottons, you're the best!

in and out of town

2011-02-23T19:53:00.001-06:00

[photo taken at the Knoxville Museum of Art--forgot to record the artist's name]

-Spent a week in Portland for my Grama Dona's 80th birthday celebration, and yes, I brought home lots of fabric!
-Caught a moderately nasty flu virus upon my return to Knoxville; currently laid up with said virus.
-Going to Bloomington next week to work the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show.
-Prime directive: recuperation! Be back soon.
xoxo

folk/art

2011-02-08T09:08:00.004-06:00

Last December I visited the American Folk Art Museum in NYC. It was, predictably, full of wonders. Here are a few:

Isn't the composition extraordinary? It looks effortless, but I know I couldn't do that if I tried. I don't think I have the improvisational gene.

The story behind the second quilt, if I recall correctly: the maker was fired from her job for exercising her newly-gained right to vote, and as a way to work through her emotions, stitched a series of FREEDOM quilts. She made this one in the 1980s.

A Vivian Girl by Henry Darger. I was disappointed to have just missed the big Darger exhibit. If you are unfamiliar with his work, you can view it here (via American Folk Art Museum) or see it animated in the documentary In the Realms of the Unreal. If you've never heard of Darger: he was a recluse, a custodian, a self-taught artist and writer whose beautifully illustrated, thousands-of-pages-long epic tale of the Vivian Girls was discovered on his deathbed.

American Folk Art Museum, I'll be back some day.

cut & paste

2011-01-29T22:16:00.000-06:00

I agreed to make this as a sample for the quilt shop where I worked in Bloomington, thinking I would have lots of spare time once settling into Knoxville life, but that was not the case. I am embarrassed to tell you how long this project waited for my attention, so let's move on!

It actually didn't take too long once I got going, but then again my mom lent a hand! Can we talk about the above photo for a second? It looks fake to me, like I Photoshopped the quilt top onto a photo of my backyard. I guess because the quilt is in the shadow of my house...? Anyway.

I seldom do applique, but it's actually kind of fun. This is just fused and raw-edge, which is about as far as I will take applique at this point in my life. I'll zig-zag the edges in the next few days and mail it off to Bloomington!

Pattern: Lilly Pilly by Don't Look Now!
Fabrics: mostly Westminster & Rowan brights on 100% linen

[patch]works-in-progress

2011-01-27T13:46:00.000-06:00

I haven't made a quilt, start to finish, since Elvie's quilt last May. Who am I?! I've been focusing so much on Owlette that quiltmaking has taken a backseat. Apologies to friends and friend-babies who are expecting a quilt from me--it'll be a while!

Contained herein are several patchwork-related works-in-progress in varying states of [in]completion.

Scraps from bonnet- and bloomer-making. I intend to use these for my hexagon index quilt, but but the rest are for some undetermined scrap quilt project. Suggestions?

Aren't pre-cuts glorious? I have two of these Hello Betty 1.5" strip sets that I intend to combine with this odd taupe-ish solid in order to make a Trip Around the World quilt. Just imagine! It's going to be quite nice... one day.

I began piecing several blocks improvisationally, with the intention of making them into place mats or pillows or a table runner or something. To be honest, I am a lover of planning and organization, and this project was neither of those things. So until I can figure out how to plan spontaneity, these blocks are on hold!

Right now I am battling an overwhelming urge to piece my little heart out. Do you ever get into sewing/crafting moods?

crocheting the night away

2011-01-10T15:24:00.002-06:00

All the women in my family crochet, back to my great-great grandmother Ingeborg. (What a name! She was Norwegian.) I just learned, and am finding it rather enjoyable. In keeping with my own tradition, my first project is enormous. Here it is, what will someday be a decent-sized afghan:

It is just vertical stripes of single crochet in varying widths, inspired in part by traditional Amish bars quilts. Who knew crocheting would require so much yarn! I still have a lot to learn, but I like having a new way to busy my hands while the rest of me relaxes.

Do you crochet? If you know of any contemporary crochet blogs, beginner resources, tutorials etcetera, please share! I would be so grateful. The modern patchwork and sewing community is vast and thriving, but I am finding it more difficult to break into the parallel world of modern crochet--surely it exists!

Next time I take up a new craft, I must remember to start small.

excuses & eye candy for you!

2011-01-05T13:45:00.000-06:00

Hello Friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? I have excuses of course: for the first half of December, I was on a road trip of sorts, from Knoxville through Indiana and Ohio, to Pittsburgh and rural Pennsylvania, on to New York City and then back to Nashville for the holidays! Also, my computer died. I wanted to do another Year in Sewing post but every blasted photo I have is on that hard drive.

Well, I'm tired of being a deadbeat blogger so here is a quilt my mom and I made together! I pieced it and she quilted it. Please disregard the fact that it's hung upside down.

The fabric and pattern are by Tula Pink, from her line Plume. I pieced the top as a sample for the quilt shop when I worked there, and once it aged out I got to take it home. Oh, how I miss the perks of working there!

My mom quilted this with irregular vertical lines and haphazardly-placed patches of horizontal crosshatching. It's just a little modern and a little relaxed, which I think suits the patchwork style quite nicely.

Maybe you can see the detail a little better here? I really like how the quilting turned out!

My cousin Jessi and her husband Danny were married in August 2009, and a year and a half later, we sent them their wedding quilt! We are now part of the proud tradition of quilters who finish a wedding quilt after the first anniversary. It happens. Late or not, I hope they enjoy their quilt. They've been together for over ten years already, since they were in high school, so married or not, they have more than earned it.

In other news, I've started crocheting! It is a confusing sort of fun. I will post photos once my work stops looking so beginner-ish to my eye. Now that I have a use for it, I can justify one day learning to spin yarn! Oh boy...

Charley Harper in Ohio!

2010-12-09T15:31:00.002-06:00

Ever heard of Charley Harper? My first introduction to his work was through this Purl Bee post. After a little research I discovered he had done a tile mural at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. I am on a road trip through the Rust Belt and made a point to stop and check it out. Look!

I bet you are already thinking of how to turn these critters into embroidery designs, or patchwork blocks, aren't you?

The mural represents 81 different lifeforms, some favorites pictured below:

PS: To those of you waiting on an Elvie Block tutorial, hang in there! I'll be out of town (and away from my machine) for most of December, but intend to put something together at the end of the month. Thanks for your patience!

slow work

2010-11-29T14:22:00.000-06:00

Confession: I secretly love embroidery. There is something so satisfying in slow, intentional work like this. So much of the production sewing I've been doing lately is about speed and efficiency that I relish any opportunity to step away from my machine and just concentrate on one stitch at a time.

I made these booties for Elvie, and gave them to Jessica as a surprise. She said her heart beat fast when she saw them, or something like that, which I think is a good review. They are entirely hand-sewn from Simplicity 2867, which was originally released in 1948.

This was my first experience embroidering wool felt and I am absolutely in love. It's perfect! It isn't squirrely like a woven fabric so you don't have to hoop it, and the needle just glides through. Perhaps coincidentally, or perhaps due to some magical property of wool of which I'm unaware, the embroidery floss tangled seldom if ever. Either way, I love embroidering on wool felt. LOVE.

Elvie was kind enough to model for me, and I think the shoes compliment her style quite nicely.

The free-form nature of the embroidery was inspired in part by Love Maude. When I first saw her work, I got chills! As recommended in the pattern, I crocheted the little laces from embroidery floss... you know, so Elvie has something to untie, and so her parents have something to retie. Okay, one more cute baby photo:

What's your favorite 'slow' project? Do you find your sewing or craft focus shifts as the weather grows colder? I notice myself favoring projects that can be executed under a blanket or two. Do you switch to knitting or crocheting, or are you tied to your machine no matter the season?

Bloomington Handmade Market roundup

2010-11-14T10:33:00.000-06:00

Hello all! We survived the Bloomington Handmade Market, but barely! Half of the caravan (myself and Elvie) had a serious case of the sniffles, so there were two babies on the trip instead of just one. We had a gigantic table for our booth, which was exciting after trying to cram Owlette into a 4' space at the Indie Craft Parade. Lesson learned.

You know, I am always amazed and humbled by the positive response we receive at shows like these. I suppose when you spend all your time romancing a sewing machine, it's hard to know whether your work is a niche within a niche, or if it has mass appeal. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth, awww!'ed the bonnets, and supported us with kind words or dollars!

Some favorite vendors from Bloomington:

Orange Fuzz, my new favorite soapmakers! Check out their shaving kit. I bought one as a Christmas gift for my other half, but was so excited about it I gave it to him yesterday! Oops.
Clutches and other pretties from Felix & Jayne: her bags are made of vinyl with big, bright zippers, screenprints, and couched yarn! You really must have a look.
Beautiful (and affordable) metal jewelry from Courtney Fischer, whose work reminds me why I love abandoned buildings and metal scrapyards so much.
And of course, Panther By Hand: for those who love colorful unders for grown-ups and breakfast imagery for their home!

We also had a chance to visit Paper Crane Gallery. It's part art gallery, part handmade boutique (I have an aversion to that word but heck), part community workspace/resource. When in Bloomington, be sure to check it out!

calling it a night...

2010-11-04T23:18:00.001-05:00

The Bloomington Handmade Market is this Saturday! It's held at the Bloomington Convention Center and is free to the public. Hooray! If you are in the area, stop by and get your holiday shopping done early.

I've been in Nashville the last week getting ready for the show with Jessica. This was her last act before heading home to get some much needed sleep:

Yes, I think I am right there with her. Goodnight!

forgive the wallpaper, just focus on the pants

2010-11-01T11:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, I swear this blog is not turning into a vintage kid's style blog. That said, behold! I love this photo of my aunts, taken in the 1950s sometime, for several reasons:

1. The wallpaper, eeeew!
2. The suspenders! And most of all...
3. The probably handmade pants, with topstitching, and matching contrast cuffs!

The cuffs are especially great, because they allow the pants to grow with the child. This week, Jessica and I will be drafting a child's pant pattern inspired, in part, by this photo. It will be my first hands-on experience with flat pattern drafting and I am thrilled to learn!

Recently I bought this book and recommend it to those who are interested in a contemporary, technical-but-not-textbook introduction to pattern drafting. Do you have any resources to share?

vintage patterns: girls' outerwear edition!

2010-10-20T15:41:00.000-05:00

First things first: in my last post, I wrote about Elvie's quilt. Stay tuned, a tutorial is in the works! Also, thanks so much to {KID} Independent for featuring Owlette last week! {KID} Independent is an indie style blog for kids and parents based in Australia, a country that gives me more and more reasons to love it each day.

At a flea market last month, I found a box full of children's clothing patterns from the 1940s-60s (at the latest); I bought all of them for $10 and just about skipped home! Here is a selection of girls' outerwear; I hope you find these as exciting as I do:

[LEFT: my favorite, Butterick size 4 girl's coat. "The double-breasted coat with buttons to the waist. It is nicely fitted, and has a gently flared skirt. The back belt buttons on neatly. This is a favorite dress-up fashion for the young miss... and it does for every day as well." RIGHT: Advance size 8 cape and hat.]

Realistically, I know I won't make half of these. But they serve as great style inspiration for Owlette, and I've had a difficult time tracking down vintage kid style resources.

[LEFT: Simplicity size 4 child's coat, hood and leggings. "The flared-back coat, finished with lining, is styled with a double row of buttons and welt pockets... In style 1, the leggings, made with suspenders, have openings at the sides and are finished with elastic casing in back. The straps at the lower edge fasten with hammer or metal fasteners..." CENTER: Simplicity size 4 child's one-piece dress, coat with detachable collar and hat. RIGHT: McCall size 8 child's coat.]

[This is for my fellow lovers of technical illustrations! I find them more useful than the pattern front.]

It is clear to me, from reading through these patterns, that our collective sewing knowledge has shrunk in the last several decades. The reasons for this are obvious; perhaps I'll tell you what you already know in another post. Inside of one of the patterns I found another mystery pattern, traced onto the funny papers:

[Note the date of copyright on the comic strip!]

So, readers, do you have any tips for working with vintage patterns? What about for preserving them? Some of the patterns are water damaged and especially delicate... about a third are unprinted, and have those holes punched in the tissue. Does anyone have a good resource for deciphering unprinted patterns? All advice and anecdotes are most welcome!

a quilt for Elvie

2010-10-11T09:02:00.001-05:00

Nobody would know the baby's sex until it arrived, but I was sure all along it would be a girl. Jessica's water broke, we spoke on the phone while she was waiting for the contractions to really begin and I started on the quilt that night. Here it is:

Jessica and I have been sewing together for years and independently, even longer. So as much as I loved my little collection of Wonderland fabric with all its sewing imagery, I knew I had to make it into a quilt for Jessica's little one. Elvie was born the next day, and the quilt was finished a few weeks later.

This quilt is responsible for helping me rediscover my love for embroidery. I remember working on some of it while staying in a hotel during our first visit to Knoxville; I love a sewing project that can travel easily!

I pieced the backing and binding from fat quarters I got at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show. For those who aren't familiar, this fabric is near impossible to find in person, so I was thrilled to discover that another vendor was selling bundles of it.

The quilting was done by machine: first in the ditch around the square, then outlined by about 3/8-1/2" inch. With all the pivoting at corners, it was a great use of my Bernina Free Hand System (that knee-lift thinger)!

I've been waiting to write this one for a while, thinking perhaps I would write a pattern or organize a sew-along based on Elvie's quilt. Obviously that didn't come together, but if anyone is interested, I'd happily write a tutorial! The block is quick to construct, and the step where you make it crooked is very fun. Exciting, even! So how about it?

And finally, I made coordinating bibs for Elvie, thinking she wouldn't really need them until she started eating solid food. I was very wrong! Apparently, babies are DROOLY. Who knew?

a sartorial detour and story time

2010-10-08T16:34:00.000-05:00

This is a photo of my Grama Dona around 1952. She is holding my Aunt Debe and is pregnant with my Aunt Kathie. My mom would be born several years later, the seventh of eight children.

My Grama is wearing a suit that she made. I love the stripes and the purple lining--so sharp! She sewed for many years on her grandmother's treadle machine before finally entering the modern age with an electric machine. After sewing virtually everything for eight babies, Grama decided she was through with sewing and I can't blame her. Her grandmother Ingeborg (my great-great-) was a seamstress, a trade she learned in her native Norway and brought to upstate Minnesota in the 1890s.

They were homesteaders, and lived for a number of years in a cabin built by my great-great grandfather. Ingeborg had twelve children, so I imagine her sewing skills served her well. She also played the harp and made hairpin lace, and baked a dozen loaves of bread three times a week. Kind of my dream life, minus the twelve kids...

sewn footwear

2010-10-03T20:45:00.002-05:00

I really love handmade slippers. Or room shoes, or house shoes, or whatever you call them. They're so much cuter than your standard rubber-soled fuzzies!

I made these as a sample for the quilt shop where I once worked; they are the Favorite Things ballet slippers pattern. A major bonus of this pattern is it is sized infant through adult! I don't recall whether the adult sizes are according to shoe size or S/M/L. I can tell you I wear a 7 and these are the tiniest big snug. I made an infant medium, and they were a snap!

I shoulda finished the seam inside but what the heck. Sometimes, life is too short. Other times, you don't read the directions all the way before declaring yourself finished!

These sew up relatively quickly and would make great gifts! If you choose to do either of the two strap variations, invest in a turn-all tool. If I were to make these again, I would probably just make straps by cutting a strip 4 times the desired finished width, then press the strip in half the long way, and press the raw long edges to the center. Edgestitch and you're done!

Here are a couple of links to past room shoe sewing projects. Happy sewing!

*Note: I used Jiffy Grip for the soles. It's nice and seems to be more durable than scrap denim.

I'm still here!

2010-09-29T19:55:00.002-05:00

Jessica and Elvie visited yesterday and part of today, and we accomplished a lot! Elvie woke me up a few hours earlier than usual, which was good for productivity but now I am exhausted.

We put together a parcel for Paper Crane Gallery in Bloomington IN, plus we're getting ready for the Bloomington Handmade Market, the Rock n Roll Craft Show in St Louis, and the Crafty Supermarket in Cincinnati. (I finally learned how to spell Cincinnati thanks to this event!) I will post photos of the stacks of bonnets we made soon. It's quite a sight!

Edit 09/30:

This is my half of the workload, which need the binding sewn on and that's it! We made 22 bonnets. We are machines. Speaking of, mine will be spending some time up on blocks again. The tension is all kinds of wrong... looks like the $100 I spent to have it serviced earlier this month was money well spent! Arrgh.

a quilt I didn't make (but wish I did)

2010-09-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

I haven't had time (or made time) to finish a quilt in quite a while. My mom, on the other hand, sews circles around me! She pieced this quilt and had it longarm quilted by Kathy Kessler in Bloomington, IN. Kathy's rates are very reasonable and she ships! She's also the most cheerful person you'll ever meet which somehow comes through in her quilting.

The prints are a mix of Kaffe Fassett collective, Anna Maria Horner, and Aboriginal prints from M&S Textiles. The solid fabrics are Gee's Bend hand dyes and Kaffe Fassett shot cottons (street name: chambray).

I advised my mom to choose Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting, which is all silk fibers with a polyester scrim. It's very light and breathable, so is good for warmer weather. Isn't Kathy's quilting amazing? This is no pantograph--she quilted the design freehand!

The smallest block is about 3.5" finished, and the largest is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15". I just can't get over the colors! Here is the quilt pictured with the pillowcases I made and featured in my rolled pillowcase tutorial:

Dear Mom, if you ever get tired of looking at this quilt, I will do you a favor and take it off your hands. Fair deal?

a bunting/pennant-themed treasury

2010-09-19T07:45:00.001-05:00

Okay, I don't have the patience to curate treasuries on Etsy but once every blue moon. Here is my latest blue moon moment, inspired by the miles and miles of felt pennants at the Indie Craft Parade last weekend:

You're Invited!

organic cotton tea towel
katherinejlee$18.00 USD

Crocheted Triangle Pennan
BobbiLewin$35.00 USD

Banner Flag Bunting Lined
robayre$7.00 USD

Wooden Bunting - Hooray
blissinateacup$35.00 USD

Faux Bunting Note Card Ga
AshleyPahl$4.50 USD

organic pillow sham - par
katherinejlee$60.00 USD

DE COLORES -M- (3-pk) Cus
aymujer$42.00 USD

Let's Ride - 5 x 7 -
NanLawson$10.00 USD

Bunting Pennants Rubber S
olivemanna$15.00 USD

Wooden Bunting Flag Neckl
lucie0ellen$18.00 USD

Bunting sugar bowl
Ninainvorm$36.00 USD

Handmade Quilt - Lime Gre
PeppermintPinwhe$240.00 USD

ORIGINAL Cake Bunting CHE
KikiLaRu$24.00 USD

SPAGFLATION small medium
ruffeoheartslils$75.00 USD

Cat Tails Vintage Illustr
thestorybookrabb$20.00 USD

Fabric Bunting Card Set-
katieshandmades$6.49 USD

Generated using Treasure Trove by packagery.com

Indie Craft Parade roundup

2010-09-18T18:46:00.000-05:00

Oh boy, what a weekend! Last weekend, I mean. I am happy to report the Indie Craft Parade was a huge success! It was held in Huguenot Mill, a renovated old textile mill in downtown Greenville, SC. The space was beautiful:

[the view across from our booth]

The event lasted two days, with the first day being a 3-hour evening event featuring a live performance from Jessica's husband. Everyone was incredibly stoked, and we were told there was a line wrapping around the block to get in! The second day was the standard 9-5, and again people lined up for much of the day, this time in the rain.

Early on during day 2 we ran out of business cards (thanks Aaron for making more!) and sold out of our bear cub bonnets. We received a lot of good feedback and over a dozen requests for screenprinted bloomers in adult sizes. (Hello Panther By Hand! Next time we should take your business cards along.)

The booth to our left was Third Girl Studio, also known as Holly Mitchell. We couldn't have asked for a nicer neighbor! At the end of the event, we took home this little toadstool buddy made from recycled and found materials by Holly. How cute!

Before the Indie Craft Parade, I traveled to Nashville so Jessica and I could get some work done together, in the same time zone, in the same city, in the same room even. It's much more efficient that way.

By the time I made it back to Knoxville last night, I had spent at least 22 hours traveling 1,280 miles in a car. Much of the time, I was accompanied in the back seat by my four-month-old friend Elvie:

Life is both quieter and less cute without her around.

Other vendors of note who you may enjoy:

Daisycakes Soap, whose peppermint & oatmeal soap was a hit with my other half
Ansley Green's amazing crochet jewelry
Pony & Poppy, where banana seat bikes and tea towels intersect
beautiful metal silhouette jewelry by Ashley Buchanan
Sweeteeth Chocolate, whose caramel/salt chocolate bar made me very happy (and which I will not share next time!)

sewing for fun and profit

2010-09-09T15:15:00.000-05:00

The Indie Craft Parade is tomorrow in Greenville, South Carolina. Jessica and I have sewn much and slept little the last few days, and tonight will be no different!

The blankets have been tea dyed, serged, turned and edgestitched.

The skirts are all hemmed and ready to go.

The bibs are ready too, with the exception of about ten which still require snaps.

The bloomers are screenprinted and assembled, right down to the elastic which I wasn't sure we would finish!

The crayon rolls are filled with crayons and ready to be rolled up! And now...

The bear bonnets just need a binding to enclose the seam and create ties on either side...

The quick change diaper wallets need snaps, which Jessica is installing this very minute...

...and the vests need buttons and buttonholes. And that is it! Aside from inventory, and pricing everything, and packing, and... you know how it goes. Any suggestions on what we should bring? Any bets on what we'll forget?

Wish us luck; we're nervous! Anything we don't sell will be available in the shop next week or so.

postcards from autumn

2010-09-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

Found these on a walk through our neighborhood in Knoxville:

Squirrels had destroyed most of them, leaving their spiny hats all over the sidewalk. They look like sea anemone acorns to me. Any idea what they really are?

crayon time

2010-09-04T21:16:00.001-05:00

Can anyone guess what I'm doing? Aside from fulfilling my childhood fantasy of Roy G. Biv'ing 240 beautiful new crayons?

If you guessed "loading 14 crayon rolls so that people know what they are for when we table the craft show", you are correct! Five days until the Indie Craft Parade in Greenville, SC! I am excited and a little nauseous.

Let me tell you, Crayola has come out with some new colors since my coloring days, and they do not disappoint. You can see the Crayola color chronology here. It is interesting to see which colors were added during my parents' childhood; I vividly remember the excitement surrounding the addition of 16 new colors in 1993.

Now it's time for me to try not to lose in a game of Dutch Blitz! (Thanks to Jessica and Aaron for getting me hooked.)

postcards from my sewing room

2010-08-28T17:59:00.002-05:00

[Looking out on our backyard, toward the neighbors' house. Note my fondness for succulents and creepy dog statuettes.]

[for reference!]

titles of note, first shelf:

The Vogue Sewing Book, 1975 edition (links to new edition)
Color Your Cloth
Design-it-Yourself Clothes
Bend-the-Rules Sewing
Soft Covers for Hard Times
A People and Their Quilts
The Quilts of Gee's Bend
Gee's Bend: The Women and Their Quilts

titles of note, second shelf:

Sew U Home Stretch
1000 Great Quilt Blocks
Seams to Me
Ancient Dyes for Modern Weavers
Denyse Schmidt Quilts
Quilts and Coverlets
Complete Encyclopedia of Stitchery, 1979 edition (links to a new edition)

Do you have any suggested craft reading?

Note: I am not blog buddies with amazon.com and am not making money every time you click a title... I considered linking each title to Powell's Books, an independent bookstore in Portland OR, because I prefer to support independently-owned businesses. Ultimately, amazon.com has more content and customer reviews of these titles than powells.com, which is why I chose to link to Amazon. Read up on the books you love and track them down at your local independent bookstore!

on Not Sewing...

2010-08-25T23:11:00.000-05:00

Do you have any tricks for getting out of a creative slump, dear readers? I sure could use some help, because I can't focus on anything. Jessica and I are tabling the Indie Craft Parade in Greenville, SC in a couple of weeks, so I have no shortage of sewing to do.

[Luna moth bloomers by Jessica]

[Summer Vacation Crayon Roll--perhaps the only thing I finished this week!]

&c.:

This article, entitled "Ankle Porn and Knee-gasms: Making Sewing Sexy", features photos from the early 1900s of women mending, revealing their ankles (in stockings) for all the world to see! I'm forever entertained that that was once risque.

I just set up a mailing list for Owlette. If you are so inclined, click here to sign up for Owlette Collective email updates! No spam, we promise. Just occasional notice of sales, upcoming craft events, the like.

my favorite dress

2010-08-19T12:58:00.000-05:00

I've started sewing a lot of garments, but have finished few. Jessica observed that I'll happily spend dozens of hours making a quilt, but get impatient with clothing construction halfway through ironing my pattern pieces! She's right; I suppose it is because I know a quilt will fit. A dress? Way too many variables there...

Over the winter I began working on this dress, Simplicity 2443, designed by Cynthia Rowley:

You can see the designer version here. It sells for $295. The bodice, in my version, is an olive green cotton interlock knit; the skirt is a grey pinstripe linen. The pattern is designed for a knit bodice and either a knit or woven skirt. T-shirt alterations aside, this was my first real venture into sewing with knits. (How intrepid!)

And guess what? Knits aren't scary anymore! Same goes for invisible zippers, though I was actually sweating while installing one in the side seam. Ack. I chose an interlock knit because it had a decent amount of stretch, but felt stable relative to the other knits at the store; the linen is lightweight with a lovely drape, though I admit I was drawn in initially by the pinstripe!

The pattern was easy to follow but is probably for those with intermediate skills. Attaching the top band to the bodice had me swearing passionately, particularly when it came to negotiating the band onto the racerback.

Thanks to the harsh sunlight, the bump where I gathered my bra straps between a huge safety pin is pretty evident! I am short-waisted, and shortened the bodice a tiny bit out of habit. The waistband would probably fit more comfortably had I not done that, so if you are long-waisted, be sure to lengthen the bodice! Below, dawn breaks through the hole I've made in the waistband seam:

I am happy with my dress. It is perhaps the first article of clothing I have made that fits my body well, which is a credit to the design of the dress and also the glory of knits!

Knit advice: I used a universal needle, size 75/11 if I recall, to construct this dress. My Bernina has a stretch stitch for joining knits (below), which does the trick. Check your manual and adjust your machine accordingly. I also decreased my presser foot pressure significantly, from 47ish to 12ish, so my seam wouldn't ripple.

Notes on Construction, Simplicity 2443:

Skill level: intermediate
Skills/techniques: invisible zipper installation, working with knits, attaching a knit to a woven (optional), joining curved seams
Hem: blind hemmed by machine
Interfacing: Armo-weft fusible for the waistband and to stabilize side zipper seam, knit fusible interfacing for the bodice band
Alterations: shortened bodice... unnecessarily; took several inches off the skirt as well

This is how I get my kicks:

2010-08-15T17:19:00.002-05:00

While visiting my family in Nashville, I began free motion quilting a top I had finished in February, I believe. Because of its simplicity, both in color and in pattern, I was really stuck when it came to the quilting.

See what I mean? I certainly couldn't quilt in the ditch, and had no real patchwork shapes to follow. An all-over motif might have worked (kinda like this, which was done with a walking foot and the feed dogs up), but ultimately I felt it called for free motion.

I wanted to address each area differently, so I referenced 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting (index of designs can be found here) and chose her Modern Art motif for the blue 'border' of sorts. I did zig-zag lines radiating from the squares on-point, and am pebble quilting the center squares, which is oddly addictive!

I had to stop, though, because I ran out of thread. As for the stripes which comprise the bulk of the top, I am still undecided! I'm having trouble finding a long, skinny motif for each individual stripe and so am leaning toward an allover design.

So far this is the strongest candidate, which I'd quilt allover in patches of different thread colors which would match the stripes--but I'm not sold. Any advice out there? I could sure use it!!

Pattern: Phoebe by Valori Wells
Focus print: from Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party line
Hand-dyes: Gee's Bend solids
Chambray wovens: Kaffe Fassett shot cottons
Also: I blogged about this quilt a little before!

Knox County USA

2010-08-09T13:58:00.000-05:00

It's official, I live in Knoxville now! Moving from state to state is such a lot of work. Steven and I first drove our little convoy (he in the 16' truck with my little car hitched to the back, and me following in his car) from Bloomington, IN to Dayton, OH to pick up furniture from his grandmother. We got some great stuff, including a china cabinet that currently houses all of my quilts!

The next day, we made the 6-hour drive down to Knoxville. The last 30 minutes or so were absolutely white-knuckle driving as we crested the hills of East Tennessee. But we made it to our destination, the bottom floor of this house:

We have a lot more space in the new house. I have a little room dedicated to sewing, and our kitchen is large enough for two people to cook together! Our yard is enormous (compared to our non-yard at the old place), and we are as close to downtown as one can be while still living in a neighborhood.

On Friday, we packed up the car for a week in Nashville. As you can see above, I took only the essentials for a week of sewing with my mom. We've accomplished a lot so far--more on that later!

My car, which was in tow, was completely full of plants. They all survived the move, but will they survive my being gone for a week? I guess we'll find out soon!

birdie friends

2010-08-01T10:22:00.001-05:00

I kind of love making stuffed things: pincushions, toys, umm... I guess that's it. Pincushions and toys. I started toy-making a year ago, when I needed to make a gift for my cousin's 4-year-old daughter, Kailee:

Upon receiving her little bird, Kailee began twisting the button eyes and trying to pull them off. I should have anticipated that! She seemed to understand when I reminded her the bird couldn't see without its button eyes.

This bird, I made for my friends' baby, Oliver Blue. Naturally, it is a blue bird. If you click here, you can see a photo of Oliver sucking his thumb with the bird on his head. Which is where a bird like this belongs, of course!

And this is Elvie's bird, which matches a pair of bloomers I also made. Both were sewn about seven months before Elvie was born.

The pattern is from an older issue of BHG Quilts and More. (I wish I could tell you which issue!!) They recommend using fleece but I didn't, obviously. Prints are much more fun!

tips on joining hexagons

2010-07-30T15:27:00.002-05:00

When I held my hexie giveaway, I asked readers to leave their hexagon-assembling tips in the comments. In particular, I was looking for advice on preventing/remedying that little gap where the corners join.

[by Brooke of Glory of the 80s]

Here is what you all had to say about piecing:

"...I like to put an extra stitch through each point where all 3 corners of the hexagons meet and pull it tight before moving on, this usually works for me." -Jill

"...I try to eliminate that gap by grabbing just a thread or two of my corners with the needle, right where they fold over and create all the extra layers. I do a ladder stitch for connecting them, and I sometimes go back a stitch or two back the other direction to be sure I've caught those corners well." -Holly

[by Penny of Sew Take a Hike]

"If you have issues when you come to a Y seam -I'm assuming this is what you're talking about- is to first stitch two corners together, and then stitch the third corner in a V shape..." -Amber

[by Jaclyn of Urban Crunch]

"Having sewn together over 900 1" hexies for my charm quilt I've had lots of practice on the point bit. But explaining it may just confuse more...I'll have a go though. Once you've got two hexies sewn together you'll get a 'point' when you add a third or more. I lightly crease the third addition along it's centre then when I'm getting towards the point bit then draw the needle through the very end of the first two and back through the third. I sometimes do this a couple of times. If you continue in this manner you keep the points but you also get strong stitching where all the hexies join." -Isisjem

[by Marilyn Butler]

"When I sew 2 hexies together- I get to the end and make a little pseudo knot there by running the needle thru the loop of thread as I pull it. It seems to make it stronger there-- so when I add the 3rd hexagon it just comes all together." -Karen

" I work slowly with small stitches on my hexies watching where I place my stitches so it's consistent and the spacing keeps them close." -SewLindaAnn

[by Jo of Islay Bower]

"I print the hexes onto freezer paper then iron them into the fabric. To join those little corner, I sew each corner to both of the others if that makes sense." -Lynne

"...To get the points of the hexies to come together i usually take some stitches around all the points...sorta do a running stitch like you do with a yoyo,give it a small tug to bring the points together. don't tug to much cause you dont want to cause then to gather like a yoyo." -lej619

[by Angela of Cut to Pieces]

"I put in an extra stitch or two to close up the gap when I'm joining hexies. It works just fine for me." -Stacey

"My tip for the corners is that i put 2 tightly pulled stitches in the very corner point at the beginning and end of sewing a side..." -miesmama

[by Chickenfoot]

General hexagon advice:

"Don't clip the thread between hexies! Make a "hexie chain!" It stays together on the subway that way, and then just snip threads after." -Shelli

"I do hexies the traditional way. I find having a bit more that a quarter inch seam allowance is nice and I iron them a lot before and after removing the papers." -Christine

[by Amy of Badskirt]

"I found out that appliqué stitch worked great with hexagons." -Sylvie

"...I've made a little 2.5" cardboard square template & have cut a 1" hexagon shape out of the middle of it so it doubles as a fancy cutting guide."-Roseyposey

[by Melanie of Texas Freckles]

More hexie resources from readers:

"I don't have any hexie tips unfortunately - everything I know I learned from texas freckles' video tutorials." [found here] -Angelina S.

"A neat tutorial I found is by Lady Harvatine and she shows you how to machine sew them together: [here @ ladyharvatine]" -Artisania

[by Joan of Wishes, True and Kind]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! Please leave a comment if you have more to share. Also, big thanks to those who granted me permission to use their lovely photos. They really make the post!

[by Ashley of Film in the Fridge]

I am going a little crazy because all of my sewing stuff is packed up right now, hexagons included--not a smart move, I now realize. A girl needs her handwork!

HOW TO: make a rolled pillowcase

2010-07-27T15:47:00.001-05:00

Hi all! Last Christmas, I made a very, very magenta pillowcase for my younger brother. He is 19 and thinks pink is somewhere between funny and cool, as I understand.

[pillowcases I made for my parents, to match my mom's latest quilt... more on that next month!]

The point is, I spent a stupid amount of time zig-zagging all of the raw seams so they wouldn't fray. At the time, I didn't have a serger; I also had not learned how to make a rolled pillowcase, a technique which completely encloses the seam where the cuff/accent band/body fabric meet. Like this:

Generally when sewing, I look at the diagram and read the instructions if need be. I couldn't figure this one out on my own, and didn't understand the instructions as my boss at the quilt shop had written them. Someone finally gave me a demonstration and it all made sense!

These instructions are written for a home sewing machine and serger, although the side and bottom seam can be sewn without a serger. You can use a French seam, or just zig-zag your edges to overcast. I linked to French seam instructions, but can post a tutorial if anyone is interested!

Materials needed:

3/4 yd by width of fabric (WOF) for body of pillowcase
1/3 yd by WOF for cuff
1/8 yd by WOF for accent band (3" will do if that's all you have on hand!)

Instructions:
There is no need to trim your selvages before sewing. This is part of the assembly process later.

First, fold your accent band in half the long way, wrong sides together, and press.

On the table in front of you, lay your cuff piece RIGHT SIDE UP. Next, lay your folded accent strip on top of that, matching raw edges with the cuff. Finally, lay your body piece WRONG SIDE UP, matching raw edges with the accent piece and cuff. You now have four layers.

Note: If your fabric was milled at slightly different widths (mine was), just align the selvages on one side. See below.

Pin these layers together along the top raw edges. Starting from the bottom, long, unpinned edge of the main fabric, begin rolling it toward the pinned edge until you are about an inch from that edge.

Now, bring the free raw edge of the cuff fabric up and over the main fabric roll. You will have a right side and a wrong side together, which will look weird, but it's correct! Pin in place.

Now you have a big fabric snake.

With a 3/8" to 1/2" seam, sew along the raw pinned edge of your fabrics. It doesn't really matter what your seam is, so long as it's straight. It's easier to keep your layers from shifting with a larger seam allowance.

Grab the main rolled fabric from the center and pull, turning your tube right side out.

Smooth out the cuff and press it flat. The little accent band always seems to want to turn back onto the main fabric, so I press in that direction. I find it easiest to press from the front first, making sure everything looks nice, then turn it over and press the back of the seam.

Trim off the selvages on either end, making sure your edges are straight.

Fold your pillowcase in half the long way, so that the raw side edges meet. Pin together if desired and serge the long edge. If you don't have a serger, make a French seam or just zig-zag your raw edges to prevent fraying. (Anyone want a French seam tutorial?)

Serge, French seam or zig-zag the bottom of your pillowcase.

Thread a chenille or tapestry needle with your thread chain and sew it back up through your stitching.

Trim the excess thread and you're done! I didn't bother doing this with the thread chain at the bottom of the pillowcase--I just made a big knot. It saved me about eight seconds, and might be breaking some big serger rule, but I think it'll be okay! I just didn't want a knot at the cuff seam, because it would be visible when on the pillow.

Congratulations! Your pillowcase has one magically enclosed seam, and the rest are nicely finished.

A word on directionality: I intended for the acid landscape fabric to be facing the direction it is, but didn't notice that the main blue fabric was directional until I had assembled the whole thing. If this sort of thing would bother you (it does me), choose true all-over prints. Is that called multi-directional? Four-way directional? (I remember reading about it on True Up, but couldn't find it again.)

Please leave a comment or email me if you have any questions! This is the first tutorial I've written so I hope it makes sense.

hexie winners & other news!

2010-07-24T20:12:00.002-05:00

Oh, wow! I didn't realize so many of you are just as crazy about hexagons as I am. Good ol' random.org pulled five numbers for the giveaway:

So, congratulations to the winners:
#87, Gretchen; #123, Lisa; #22 Chilimango: fabric
#58, Andrea: needles and ruler
#34, Holly: hexagon papers

I emailed you all last night, so please get back to me with your mailing address if you haven't already! Many thanks to everyone who took the time to comment, follow my blog, and blog about the giveaway. I wasn't expecting such a great turnout! You all had some wonderful hexie-joining tips. I'll be compiling them into one post soon.

I'm about halfway to my 100th post, which will definitely call for another giveaway. Hopefully that will happen before my blog's 2nd birthday...

Perhaps you read that I am moving soon? I'll be fairly absent for the next couple of weeks during the transition, though I'm preparing a post or two that will auto-publish during my break from internet life.

Also, something kind of exciting happened today:

We made it to the front page of Etsy! Wahoo!

the great HEXIE GIVEAWAY!

2010-07-16T19:52:00.003-05:00

It's kind of hard to believe that a year has elapsed since my first blog post. To celebrate, I have a little giveaway for you all! You have three chances to win, and five possible prizes. Behold, our theme:

paper-pieced hexagons baby!

First up, a set of eight 2.5" strips from Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley! These are all from the New Day colorway, and are great for 1" hexagon-making, as explained here:

Second, a package of 100 1" hexagons from Paper Pieces:

Third, a set of eight 2.5" Hope Valley strips in the Fiesta colorway:

Fourth, a 2.5" square Olfa ruler, perfect for fussy-cutting squares for 1" hexies AND a set of my favorite hexagon-making needles! They are John James applique needles, which are super sharp and glide very easily through paper and fabric.

And finally, a set of eight 2.5" Hope Valley strips in the Piney Woods colorway:

Now for the nitty-gritty. You may enter three ways:

1. Leave a comment, anything at all! If you have any hexie tips to share, that would be lovely. (Do any of you know how to remedy that little gap where the points join? I can't quite get the hang of it.)

2. Follow or subscribe to my blog! Leave a comment letting me know you're a follower. If you already follow, leave a comment too.

3. Link to this giveaway on your blog and comment with a link to your post!

The giveaway is open to anyone from any country. You have until 9pm EST on Friday, July 23rd to enter, at which point the winners will be selected randomly. Be sure I can email you via your Blogger profile, or leave an email in your comment. I will post the results of the giveaway the weekend of the 23rd, so stay tuned!

Best of luck to everyone, and happy hexing!

**COMMENTS ARE CLOSED AS OF 7/23 AT 9PM EST. I WILL CONTACT AND ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS BY MONDAY!! Thanks to everyone who entered! **

an anniversary and a beginning

2010-07-14T20:25:00.001-05:00

Hello out there! Do you find yourself enjoying the weather more than the company of your sewing machine these days? I have been feeling that way, and that goes double for the company of my computer. My monitor, purchased for less than $10 at a thrift store, is going out and causes me headaches after prolonged, um... computing. So, apologies for my absence or brevity or delayed response time! Okay!

Meet the vortex into which all of my spare time has disappeared:

owlette collective's etsy shop!

[thanks Santana for the shop avatar and banner!]

I've been photographing, describing, and tagging and now our shop is partially up and running. (Etsy requires a surprising amount of work!) These are some of the items leftover from the spring Bloomington Handmade Market, which Jessica and I hope to attend again this winter.

Pretty Kitty Crayon Roll

May Day Crayon Roll

A year ago yesterday, I wrote my blog's wee first post. In celebration of this modest milestone, I will be hosting a giveaway with several prizes in my next post! Stay tuned, I think you'll like it...

recently hatched

2010-07-11T17:21:00.002-05:00

I finished my gathered clutch! It's been done for a couple weeks, actually, but I am not the swiftest photographer. I used a cream-on-navy chickie linen for the body, a gold egg/oval print for the accent and lining, and a yellow ticking for the pockets and divider. See:

I like how it turned out! I added a loop with a D-ring so I could detach the wrist strap, rather than sewing it into the side seam. When Steven and I visited Knoxville recently, I used it rather than lugging around my shoulder bag. Do you notice that the bigger your bag is, the more stuff you need to carry along? Ack!

This was my first experience with zipper tabs and with inserting a zipper between two layers like this. Because I was sewing blind, I worried I wasn't catching the zipper tape or was too far from the teeth. I didn't think about the fact that you want the tape to show, so your top boxes properly!

For accuracy, I pinned the heck out of my three layers, and with a water-soluble pen, marked the ditch right beside the zipper teeth so I had a straight line to follow.

You can find the easy-to-follow free pattern here, and an expanded version here, for $6. Thanks, Anna, for such a lovely pattern!

July FQ swap

2010-07-07T16:12:00.007-05:00

And now for this month's installment of Mother-Daughter Fabric Hoarding! Each month, my mom and I swap a fat quarter or two of a specific theme. Perhaps you recall last month's theme, chosen by my mom, was yellow. For July, I decided on "things that fly". This is what I sent her:

[Ivy League Bees by Jay McCarroll; ducks from Lizzy House's Red Letter Day]

And this is what she sent:

[top: birds from Timeless Treasures' Mod collection; bottom: Amy Schimler's On a Whim collection for Kaufman]

A cheerful assortment, if I do say so! No word yet on next month's theme, but it will probably be postponed due to the move. Did I mention how excited I am to be moving closer to my family? Because I really am.

going back to Dixie

2010-07-05T13:21:00.001-05:00

Big news! As of next month, I will once again call Tennessee home! This time around, I'll be in Knoxville.

Steven will be working toward his Masters in Social Work at the University of Tennessee (Anna Maria Horner's alma mater), and I will be waiting it out for a year before attending the Appalachian Center for Craft to attain my BFA in Fibers. Really!

This is a view of Center Hill Lake, a reservoir 64 miles in length, which is minutes from my future campus:

The Craft Center is located in Smithville, TN, which has a population of about 4,000 and an area of 5.9 square miles. It is really tiny, really rural and absolutely gorgeous.

The fibers program itself is tiny but impressive, with about a dozen students on average. I will be learning weaving, dyeing, surface design (screenprinting and block printing onto fabric), designing in repeats (and not!), how to weave enough fabric for a specific project, and so on. Can you imagine?!

Have any of you been to Knoxville? Growing up in Nashville, I had met folks from Knoxville but never visited. All I knew of it was the Sunsphere, a charmingly gaudy souvenir of the 1982 World's Fair. Last month Steven and I visited for the first time, and were immediately taken with the city. It has more public parks, meeting spaces and neighborhood playgrounds than any city I've been to.

[an old mansion near UT, apparently being renovated, and beautiful in its half-ruin]

A few things we found in Knoxville that are quite exciting:

Tomato Head restaurant, home to the best sandwich I've ever had
Gina's Bernina Sewing Center and Mammaw's Thimble, two great fabric shops
Rala, a new shop full of wonderful handmade things
The Birdhouse, a volunteer-run community arts space

postcards from the Corn Belt

2010-06-23T18:03:00.001-05:00

About an hour northeast of Bloomington lies Franklin, Indiana. It is a charming little town of 20,000 that gives you the feeling you are walking through the pages of Robert McCloskey's Lentil. For the next three days, it is also home to a nice little fabric store.

Johnson County courthouse

Steven and I made a trip to Clementine's Dry Goods one last time to take advantage of the closing sale.

broken dishes, anyone?

At 40% off, I got a whole lot of yardage for less than $6/yard!

I guess I'm in a green phase...

Amy Butler solids, to be divided between me and my mama. We are both hoarding solid fabric right now!

I really, really have to start using my fabric en masse. No more fat quarter projects; this calls for some serious sewing.

Here is Franklin's classic theater, which closed in 2000 but still shows older movies to raise funds for its own restoration. Check out its name!

On our drive home, I tried to photograph the cornfields. From a moving vehicle. Later in the season, the corn stalks tower over the state roads in a very Wizard of Oz way. I am not an Indiana native, and fields of corn still strike me as a midwestern novelty.

corn at 45 mph

A scenic drive with my sweetheart (who likes to do the driving and doesn't mind fabric shopping!) and yardage on the cheap... all in all, a lovely day in Franklin.

two camera case wristlets

2010-06-20T18:17:00.001-05:00

Look! I can finish projects! My dear friend Abbey was in need of a protective case for her new camera. We found nothing that fit the bill at thrift stores, so I volunteered to make a camera wristlet from Keyka Lou patterns. While I was at it, I made one for myself too!

(left: Abbey's, right: mine; both featuring Denyse Schmidt fabric)

Each case comfortably holds a slender digital camera with a little extra room. I love how the bottom loop wraps around the body of the camera--it's so cute! There's a back pocket also, which is held shut be the other loop.

The pattern is well-written with detailed, logical instructions; it's also illustrated with photos that clear up any potentially confusing parts, like the order of operations for layering and basting. This is a great pattern overall, and I'd suggest it to someone with confident beginner/intermediate skills because of the fussy nature of tiny projects.

I did tweak the instructions in a few ways. The pattern didn't suggest an interfacing weight, so I used Decor Bond because I had it on hand. It's medium-weight, I believe, and I like that it gives a bit of rigidity and body. I trimmed about 1/4" from the interfacing and batting pieces before adhering them, rather than cutting the excess away after stitching. That would make for a very bulky seam in such a tiny space!

I also used 505 temporary adhesive spray to adhere the batting to its corresponding pieces rather than basting it in place. It's repositionable but still sticks without gumming up your needle. I believe fusible fleece or thin fusible batting would work too, but then you'd definitely want to trim before fusing.

You can buy the PDF for $6 here, which grants you permission to make and sell these camera cases on a cottage industry scale. Nice, huh? While you're at it, check out the Keyka Lou blog and share your finished projects with the Keyka Lou Flickr group! Have any of you used other Keyka Lou patterns? How did you like them?

fabric haul: Cool Cottons

2010-06-17T21:19:00.000-05:00

And now for another installment of "Fabric I bought in Portland almost two months ago!" Truly, I did not intend for this to drag on so. (Click to read about Bolt and Fabric Depot.)

Alright! Our tour of Portland fabric shops ended at Cool Cottons on SE Hawthorne, with my mother, two aunts and myself all verging on cranky from a long day of fabric shopping. This is all I ended up with:

Pictured from upper left: 1/4 yd of Botany by Lauren and Jessi Jung; 2 yards of Lecien's 'Old New Fabric Collection: Spaicy [sic] Scrap'; 1/4 yd of Botany again; 1 yd of Joel Dewberry's glorious Modern Meadow; at center 1/2 yd of a lovely chartreuse from Luella Doss's Jungle Fever; below that, 1/2 yd of cuteness from Sevenberry; another 1/4 yd of Botany; a good chunk of Jay McCarroll's Woodland Wonderland, which I've used before!

I say 'this is all' because Cool Cottons might be my favorite fabric shop ever. They do not stock a single bolt I don't like, not a one I feel enh about. The owners, Pam and Marie, have impeccable taste which is hazardous to my pocketbook. If you visit, be prepared to spend!

Cool Cottons has a full selection of shot cottons and lots of adorable Japanese prints from the likes of Echino, Kokka and Lecien. They also carry a bit of organic canvas and hard-to-find double gauze, but their main focus is quilting-weight cotton. All of the fabric at Cool Cottons is organized by color, which I like because it makes thinking outside of fabric lines much easier. I kind of want to go there now. Oh no.

For now, I'll have to visit their website and check their blog! Sadly, Cool Cottons does not have online shopping, though Marie told me she'd ship if I got back to Indiana and discovered I needed anything more. Umm, yes please?

tornado time

2010-06-16T10:40:00.001-05:00

Sorry for disappearing from Blogland! I was in Tennessee for the weekend and spent the last two evenings here in Bloomington waiting out the tornado warnings. We either didn't have power or were confined to the basement of the house Steven is housesitting. Ah, tornado season!

dinner by flashlight

On Friday I started making 1" hexagons. Since then, I've made 100. (To be fair, my mom made some of them.) No idea how I'm going to set them yet!

But aren't they addictive?

a clutch for me

2010-06-10T16:56:00.003-05:00

Have you made a gathered clutch yet? Anna from Noodlehead blog generously shared her pattern for free last month, and the call of the bandwagon finally got to me:

If you are interested in making and selling these on a cottage industry scale, she is offering an expanded version of the tutorial for $6. How nice! And now, I am off to wrangle a D-ring and clippie-thing to make a detachable wrist strap. After weeks of new baby sewing, I am a little excited to make something for myself...

[Edit: just found a Noodlehead tutorials Flickr group! Go here and share.]

June FQ swap

2010-06-08T21:28:00.001-05:00

Like most quilters, I have enough fat quarters to choke a horse. (Do people say that anymore? It's kind of a gross figure of speech.) Anyway! Recently my mom and I agreed to do a themed monthly fat quarter swap to build our respective stashes.

Mom chose June's theme of yellow. This is what I sent her:

(Seahorses from Heather Ross's Mendocino collection)

And this is what she sent me:

(top: tile mosaic from Laura Gunn's Poppy line; bottom: an older Kaffe Fassett from his Lille Collection)

I already have a good bit of the Kaffe print in yardage already, and was pretty sure mom knew that. When I asked her about it, she said she sent two fat quarters because she "wasn't sure if I would like the first fabric, but knew I'd like the other one because I already had it". Ha!

Note: I have not traded sewing for fabric collecting; rather, all my current sewing projects are gifts and cannot be blogged about until they've been given!

hand embroidery is love

2010-05-31T11:21:00.000-05:00

When her children were very young, my mom used to do a lot of embroidery. Cross-stitch, mostly. I remember watching her sew and I remember her finished pieces framed and hanging on the wall. Over time, she lost interest I suppose and I ended up with her embroidery floss. Two boxes, this size, of which I have used sparingly over the years:

It's kind of exciting, having this rainbow of thread ready to use at a moment's notice! Thing is, I never want to use it (because if I use it, it won't be there for me in the future) and besides, I seldom have a use for it. Then I started working on a quilt for Elvie, my friends' brand new baby, and the quilt required embroidery in two blocks. Here is a tiny peek at one of them:

I can't reveal the design until Elvie and her parents receive the quilt, but I am so excited about it! I really love embroidery. Everyone talks about how relaxing it is... to me, it's relaxing because it allows me to sew while I am doing something else, usually watching a movie with my sweetheart. My sewing machine is located directly across the room from the couch; oftentimes I find myself gazing longingly at my machine, my fabric, my projects-in-progress rather than paying attention to the television.

I used a simple split stitch to embroider the letters. The stitch looks braided and textural, which is why I chose it over a backstitch.

If you don't use John James needles already, do your fingers a favor! They are nickel-plated steel and incredibly strong. I don't know what size needle you're supposed to use, but this was my only choice at the store. It's a bit large but I worked with all six strands of floss and the eye accommodated the bulk just fine.

Also useful was this odd-looking spring embroidery hoop. It's marketed to machine embroiderers, but works just as well for hand work. My old hoop was this crummy plastic number I bought at a chain store. It didn't fit together well in the first place, was difficult to load, and only seemed to keep the fabric stretched taut for a few stitches. Enter the spring hoop!

Step one:

Lay your fabric on top of the outer plastic hoop. (You may want to load it right-side down so your fabric sits toward the top as with a traditional hoop. I find it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, as the hoop itself is rather slender.)

Step two:

Squeeze the metal ring by its little handle things and lay it inside of the plastic ring. Release and ta-da! Your work is perfectly stretched and ready to be embroidered. And it took about two seconds. These hoops appear to be kind of rare in internetland, but you can ask for them at your local quilt shop.

Do you all have any embroidery tips to share? Notions you can't live without, stitches you love, techniques that are real time-savers? And how do you secure your stitching--do you knot it or do that thing where you weave your thread ends through other stitches? What about six-strand embroidery floss vs. perle cotton? I still don't really understand why you would use one or the other.

fabric haul: Fabric Depot

2010-05-30T16:30:00.000-05:00

Last month I spent some time in Portland, Oregon, as blogged before. My mom, two aunts and I spent a day shopping for fabric. We kicked off our tour with Bolt, which I wrote about last. Next up was Fabric Depot all the way out on SE 122nd Ave:

Pictured from upper left: a sizable remnant of Meadowsweet; a nice little green dot remnant; two 1/2 yd cuts from Lizzy Dish; and another anonymous remnant of Kona solid.

I bought more than 3 yards for around $20. Dang! The remnant section is the place to be; these pieces of fabric are some kind of insane deal. 50% off maybe? Fabric Depot is a vast and overwhelming store, containing fabric of all types. Much of their offerings are quilting-weight cotton, grouped by collection or designer, sometimes manufacturer, and eventually by theme.

Fabric Depot is not a quilt shop per se and as such does not have that welcoming, inspiring atmosphere. It's bustling and warehouse-like with long lines at cutting and checkout, but that's the cost of buying fabric on the cheap! Their fabric seems to always be on sale a little, and it's a good place to go if you have an idea of what you are looking for. Chances are Fabric Depot has it, and at a discounted price.

Stitch Magazine has a blog!

2010-05-27T17:43:00.001-05:00

And I am in it! They featured photos of the bag I'd made from Rashida Coleman-Hale's pattern in the Spring 2009 issue of Stitch. Go here to read the article.

Oh boy, I made this bag a long time ago... last October I think? I recall a surge of adrenaline as I cut holes in the bag to fit the grommets. Panic! This was my first experience with big-ol' grommets, and I was worried I'd make a mistake and hammer them wrong somehow. It turns out I lacked the brutishness required to properly set them, so Steven strongarmed them for me.

The twill stripe was a vintage fabric, and I was intrigued by the hand-lettered selvage describing the dye process. I fused it to the interior pocket (not included was the text indicating the fabric was treated with Scotch-Gard).

The article on StitchBlog gives suggestions for departing from a pattern's original design. I really loved Rashida's original fabric choices, and considered copying her signature linen/cotton look; I ended up working from my stash because the local quilt shops are all closed on Sunday, which is when I do much of my sewing.

Thanks, StitchBlog, for using my photos of my work! I always find Stitch an inspiring read, and the blog is no different. Check it out!

two kinds of cactus

2010-05-21T20:20:00.001-05:00

For the little ones:

The beginnings of a cactus-shaped rattle, with French knots for spikes, and an embroidered face! I think I'll post a tutorial if it turns out alright.

And for me, a ric-rac cactus, newly acquired from May's Greenhouse. I had admired this plant for some time because of its weird Seuss-like antlers. When I discovered it was named for the perennial trim favorite, I knew it had to be mine!

I've been blogged!

2010-05-18T19:49:00.000-05:00

Remember this? It's the picnic quilt I made from a Botany layer cake and a little solid yardage. I wrote of it when it was still 'in-progress', meaning I had not accepted that it was, and would remain, imperfectly quilted and bound. After all, it is the canvas for many years' worth of potato salad stains!

Well, I contacted Lauren Jung (half of Botany's talented mother-daughter design team) via her blog, and was happy to learn she wanted to share photos of my work on her blog! Good news, huh?

You can check out the very kind post (with more photos) here. Thanks, Lauren!

Pictured above: the Botany picnic quilt, two picnic placemats made from Botany and a linen/rayon blend, and me in my version of Simplicity 2443... pattern review coming soon!

Have you all made anything with Botany? I keep finding more and more things it'd be great for. Now I am thinking summer garments--Moda fabric drapes so well for a 'quilting-weight' cotton!

Welcome to the world, little Elvie!

2010-05-17T11:07:00.001-05:00

My dear friend (and Owlette partner) Jessica, and her husband Aaron, welcomed their new daughter last night!

Meet Elvie Olivia, born Sunday May 16, 8 lbs 1 oz, 19.5 inches long. My, what a cute and chubby baby! Her parents chose not to find out the sex til she was born, but we all had a feeling Jessica was carrying a girl. My mom even dreamed it.

This photo of Jessica and me was taken about three weeks before Elvie exploded onto the scene. Can you tell? Congratulations to the new and very proud parents and grandparents! Elvie couldn't ask for a better family. And now, let the baby sewing begin!

fabric haul: Bolt

2010-05-15T22:13:00.000-05:00

Last month I spent a couple weeks in Portland, Oregon visiting family with my lovely mama. We devoted an entire day to fabric shopping; also part of the fabric safari was my aunt Debe (who quilts), and my aunt Connie (who does not, but exercised boundless patience in the role of chauffeur). I figured I'd break down the fabric haul by shop.

Here are my spoils from stop #1, Bolt Fabric Boutique on NE Alberta:

Pictured from upper left: 2 yd Little Folks voile; 1 yd of oak trees and 1/3 yd of a nice irregular herringbone from Modern Meadow; 1/3 yd of a versatile helicopter dot from Timber; 1/2 yd of pastry line dobby stripe from Little Folks.

You can see I was trying to keep myself in check. I decided 1/3 of a yard is the new 1/4... 12" is far more usable than 9" for quilting, but it still feels like I am being conservative in my stash-building. My first order of business was seeking out Colette Patterns' Sencha blouse. I didn't find it, and asked a staff member who kindly produced the last copy from their back stock. What luck! The Little Folks floral will some day become a Sencha blouse.

I like Bolt; I've said it before! The shop is compact, but has lots of quilting-weight cottons and a substantial inventory of home dec-weight prints. They also have a really nice, carefully curated selection of garment fabrics, which I appreciate although I didn't buy them. Like wool jersey. And other beautiful fabrics, of different weaves and fiber content, which I cannot recall.

Portland, I envy your access to amazing fabrics! When in Portland, plan a trip to Bolt. And unlike me, make time to visit Modern Domestic, Bolt's BFF business a few blocks away--they offer classes and open sewing for a small price.

Sadly, Bolt does not offer online shopping. But like all great fabric shops, they have a wonderful and inspiring blog!

A Good Iron is Hard to Find

2010-05-12T19:11:00.002-05:00

Last week my iron of five years gave up the ghost. I was just ironing along when suddenly, it shut itself off. It has an auto-off function, so I thought perhaps it was confused. When I brought it back up to temperature and began ironing again, it started flashing on and off and beeping wildly.

After calling various 800 numbers regarding my beloved iron, I discovered that nobody repairs irons anymore AND my model was discontinued some time ago! Ack. Here it is:

A Black & Decker Digital Advantage D2020, 1500 watts of glory, with 7 temperature settings and fully adjustable steam (that little wheelie-thing above the handle). I often fogged up my glasses while ironing with the steam at the highest setting. Ah, memories...

I checked Consumer Reports and user reviews all over the internet, and realized that the ironing needs of the average consumer are different from those of the sewing maniac. If you quilt, you know the importance of lots and lots of steam and very high temperatures! (Though I do use a dry iron for setting seams and persnickety piecing.) In my garment-sewing experience, high temperatures are critical depending on the fabric, and steam control is a big deal--or perhaps I am steam-obsessed?

So how hard can it be to find a decent replacement iron? Well. I had the best, and was forced to try the rest.

This was my first attempt at moving on. It is a Shark Lightweight Professional: 1500 watts, electronic with an auto-off function, four temperature settings, anti-drip feature (akin to advertising "This iron does what an iron is supposed to do!"), stainless steel soleplate, and a wheelie-thing for adjusting the amount of steam. Sounds pretty good, right?

No! It never got, you know, too hot to handle. What I mean is I can touch the soleplate for a second and not burn myself. Which is bad. The so-called "variable steam" wheelie-thing does not noticeably change the amount of steam produced, and, on occasion and without reason, it does not steam at all. You have to raise and lower it again to remind it to do it's thing. I used the burst of steam button constantly to achieve crisp seams. I guess if you just needed to press a dress shirt every now and again, it would do just fine; however, this iron is going back to the department store from whence it came.

Next up is Black & Decker's Classic Iron, which has a charmingly retro look about it: 1100 watts, auto-off function, seven temperature settings, anti-drip system (again!), aluminum soleplate (kinda draggy), and automatically generated steam but with a button to disable it.

I tested the two irons in steam and dry ironing, and concluded the new Classic Iron gets much hotter than the Shark, and with more steam. I am happy to report I burned the heel of my hand on it in preparing to take these photos! No word yet on the foggy glasses. It also feels very solid to use, which is also to say it is HEAVY--a big deal for those of us with joint ailments, but something I can live with. I think I'll stick with this iron for now, though I am still looking for The One.

Any suggestions?

Further reading:
My New Iron and I Always Do My Collars First by Kathy @ Pink Chalk Studio (the comments on each post are especially illuminating!)

Edit 05/13: This post from Ann Champion details the history of the iron, with great photos to accompany! Check it out.

on flooding

2010-05-05T23:11:00.006-05:00

Nashville flooded over the weekend, but you probably already heard. Nashville is where I grew up, and is still home. My parents and brother now live just south of town. On Saturday, while at work, I received a text message from my mom: "This storm is awful. Barely got home. [Main access road to the house] closed. YMCA flooded. Up to roof on cars."

photo via president raygun

I spent Saturday checking in with my friends and family, and searching out any kind of information about the extent of the flood. It was still very early on and the Cumberland River had not yet crested. The first images of destruction began to appear: a man carrying a 10-year-old girl through waist-high water (caught on video); a portable schoolroom (not a trailer) swallowed up by floodwater on I-24.

photo via president raygun

Sunday, my mom called on her cell phone to let me know they had lost power around 7 am and had several inches of water in their basement/garage. After about eight hours, they were back on the grid and accumulated no more than a few inches total. They were lucky. I stopped worrying for them. My dad observed that it is the kind of thing you see on the news happening in other cities... not your own.

photo via president raygun

The river crested at its highest level since 1937; downtown Nashville flooded. Most sources place the death toll from the flood at 29 and rising, around 10 of those in Nashville proper. President Obama declared this four-county region a disaster area. [Edit 05/06: a TEN-county region.]

photo via president raygun

Over 900 people are in Red Cross shelters across the mid-state, with the Nashville Red Cross providing over 3,000 meals each day. These numbers are difficult to imagine, but what's harder is living them. There is so much to say about the devastation, but the thesis is this: do something. You can help.

Donate to the Nashville Red Cross. Check here and here for more photographs. (Having spent over a decade in this one place, I can't begin to explain how surreal it is to see it underwater.)

If you're in the Nashville area, visit this site and this one for a list of ways you can help.

I am compiling a list of crafty relief efforts, which so far is very short. Get in touch if you are crafting for Nashville!

a quilt for picnics

2010-04-28T20:23:00.001-05:00

Have you heard of Lauren and Jessi Jung? They are a mother-daughter design team who recently debuted their first line of fabric! It's called Botany, and I am in love. Notice the tiny spiderwebs, lizards, frogs and hummingbirds hidden in a few of the prints. I found a Layer Cake (Moda's 10" square precuts of one entire line) on the cheap and decided to turn them into a picnic quilt!

Now, the first time I heard someone say "picnic" and "quilt" together, I cringed. You mean to tell me, I thought, that you would spend hours of your life on something that will doubtlessly be decorated with potato salad and grass stains within the first ten minutes of use? Yeah, pretty much. What can I say? After such a long, crummy winter, I've built up an appetite for picnics. And a good picnic necessitates something nice upon which to eat, and read, and nap. That is how this quilt came to be.

But I couldn't just sew all 42 squares together and call it a quilt! That would be too easy. Rather, I cut an assortment of squares, ranging in 1/4" increments from 3" to 4" each. These I marked on the diagonal and stitched to two opposite corners of each block, making almost a stretched star block. It was inspired in part by this quilt by Ashley, which in turn referenced this book by Gwen Marston.

Over the weekend I pieced the top, and Steven helped me pin-baste the quilt. The backing is a nice organic cotton canvas in aqua, and the batting is mid-loft polyester. Hear me out! I chose polyester because of it's loft and resilience. That's all. I dislike working with it because of how much it shifts, but it seemed appropriate for this application.

For the quilting, I decided on a big spiderweb motif which I regretted once it was too late. I think it just needs more stitching, so until then, this will be one of those eternal works-in-progress. I bound it in this big leafy print from Sew, Mama, Sew, and finished it by machine rather than by hand. It was my first attempt at all-machine binding and I did a not-good job, if you ask me. But hey! Potato salad and grass stains, right?

For your amusement, here is what happens when you lose focus for a fraction of a second (don't worry, the needle survived):

Next up: coordinating picnic placemats via Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter, available for free here!

Mama-made: The Guilt Quilt, part II

2010-04-25T15:42:00.002-05:00

This is the quilt my mom made for my birthday at the end of February. It was a response to the Guilt Quilt that I made her for Christmas. I told her I'd like a quilt out of either Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt, or Tanya Whelan's Dolce. My mom chose the latter, and I referred her to the Fresh Modern Quilts pool on Flickr for inspiration. After much agonizing and planning, she came up with this:

But wait--that's not all! She had so much fabric left over that she made a pieced back. I especially like the patches of dark grey:

So this, friends, is how my dear mama out-quilted me, several times over. She calls the quilting pattern 'chicken scratch'; it's a randomly-placed allover diagonal sort of design that echoes the lines of this print, used in the body and for the binding:

I really can't put into words how much I love this quilt. Design-wise, it is kind of out of my mom's comfort zone. She made up the pattern and went for it, and the result is stunning! The center rectangle of each block is the same size, but is placed differently within the block. (She did this by adding borders and then squaring up.)

My dad had the idea to sash the blocks and set them on the diagonal, and helped choose the two shades of grey used on each side. I think he also helped arrange the blocks, which is something he likes to do and is good at doing.

I also really like the back. The stacked books design is understated and nice way to let the prints do the talking. My little library is around 400 titles strong (most of them NOT about sewing, can you imagine?), so I am a sucker for book-inspired design!

This is one of the best gifts I've ever received. Mama, you outdid me. Moreover, you outdid yourself!

return from Stumptown

2010-04-21T18:33:00.000-05:00

I spent last week in Portland, OR with my mom. We were visiting family--and buying fabric. Oops. We flew into Nashville and I spent a couple of days there before driving home last night. And working this morning. That makes three time zones in four days! I'm exhausted, and still have little jolts of forgetting the geographical location of my person.

What are these flowers? They are planted all over my grama's neighborhood in Portland. I have developed a definite thing for chartreuse flowers. Okay! More about the trip (and the trip's fabric acquisition) shortly!

chaos week is over!

2010-04-05T11:43:00.001-05:00

I tabled at my first ever craft show on Saturday, and now I can sleep in and sew for fun if I want to. Amazing! You may already know that I started a little sewing business with my gal Jessica. We call it Owlette. At the very last minute, we decided to participate in the Spring Bloomington Handmade Market, and spent the last month sewing and minding the details. Jessica, being uber-pregnant, could not make the trip up from Tennessee and so I enlisted Steven, the manfriend, to help.

We had a corner spot! Being the first booth as you entered one of the rooms kind of made official greeters out of me and Geek Soap, the table across the way. Our banner, above, I finished at 1:00a the day of the show. Slept a little, dreamed about fabric (not kidding), woke up and loaded the car.

Sorry the photos are blurry--that's what I get for not using the flash! Here's our booth. Steven is very proud of the display he engineered, which was built from about $20 in materials. In planning this structure we did not consider how we would transport something that is 4 feet wide by 4 feet tall, and ended up strapping it into the trunk with the arms sticking out. The venue was maybe two blocks from our house, so it wasn't a problem, but we'll have to rework the design for future tabling ventures!

Jessica's screenprinted bloomers are so cute! A lot of ladies joked that they'd like a pair in their size. I am a fan of bloomers for all ages, and believe they are on to something.

Here is my happy-delirious face. Everything came together well, and I am still surprised. I have tabled before when I operated my own zine distro, at huge indy book fairs when I worked for a small publisher, and more recently, at quilt shows large and small. So standing behind a table, exchanging goods for money is nothing new; it's just far more nerve-racking when the thing you are selling is so close to your heart!

Do any of you table at craft shows, or do you have plans to? What have you gathered from your experience, or what would you like to know? I feel as though I was miraculously well-prepared, though I also learned an awful lot too.

In case you can't get enough, read the Owlette interview over on the Bloomington Handmade Market blog!

spring reading, part II

2010-04-01T18:46:00.001-05:00

Last week I posted about books I started in spring and have yet to finish, and which I find myself wanting to return to now that spring is upon us once again. This week, we have more spring reads! These are books I tore through at least once already and intend to revisit.

In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash

Ask the Dust by John Fante

The Guilt Quilt, part I

2010-03-27T15:36:00.000-05:00

Meet the Guilt Quilt. I made it for my mom to replace the first one, which she literally loved to pieces. This was her Christmas gift.

My brother Taylor and I nicknamed it The Guilt Quilt because at the time it was given to our mother, she had made quilts for just about every person she ever met--and two for Taylor--but none for me! The joke went that perhaps she would feel guilty upon receiving it, and finally make a quilt for me. For my birthday last month, I finally got my quilt, and she totally upstaged me! But that is for another post.

Anyway, this quilt is a slightly updated take on a classic pattern called Flying Dutchman. One of my favorite things about traditional patchwork is the history and significance of naming. (It reminds me a bit of how people named and identified constellations: imaginatively, and with much creative license.) The Flying Dutchman is a folktale detailed here and here, essentially about a ghost ship damned to sail the seas forever. Each block represents the ship's eternal journey, or ocean waves I suppose. Either way, it's a great geometric interpretation of folklore.

I used the folded flying geese technique to construct the blocks. Each center pinwheel is edgestitched (using a Bernina #10 foot) to create a curved seam without curved piecing! Because of the extra layers and because I used a home dec weight twill for the backing, this is a fairly heavy quilt.

The entire thing is free motion quilted, and I admit I cheated and used the Bernina Stitch Regulator. I have mixed feelings about the BSR, but it came down to this: I needed to finish the quilt, it could not be quilted any way but free motion because of the dimensionality, and I did not have time to warm up every time I sat down to quilt! The binding was finished by hand at 2am, followed by a quick rest, followed by the drive south to celebrate Christmas with my family. I am a last-minute kind of person.

(Note awesomely bad bathroom paint job courtesy of a previous tenant! At first appalling, it soon became a funny joke and is now the first thing we show guests: Come look at the bathroom, you won't believe it!)

spring reading, part I: unfinished business

2010-03-21T13:20:00.002-05:00

I guess my taste in books changes seasonally. Here are a few books I started in springs past that remain unfinished. Now that the weather is changing, I find myself longing to return to those interior worlds again. I probably still won't finish reading them because I enjoy them too much--I like knowing these books are waiting for me. Do you do that too?

Little, Big by John Crowley

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

for those about to draw, we salute you!

2010-03-18T19:34:00.000-05:00

It seems like every cell in my body is aware of spring's arrival. All of the old-time Bloomington folks I know keep saying it could snow again, that March in Indiana is tempestuous. I choose not to believe them, siding instead with this, the tiny surprise I found next to where I park my car:

Though I've been slacking in blogland, I have been sewing at a frenzied pace in preparation for the upcoming Bloomington Handmade Market! It is held twice yearly, and this is my first time as a vendor. Actually, it's my first craft show. I'm kind of nervous and very hyped! Jessica and I formed a little sewing operation called Owlette, and we are focusing on cute things for little ones and their parents.

She holds a degree in fashion design and already had a number of patterns drafted for different sizes. What luck! Jessica and I both grew up sewing, and if I remember right, sewing is what got us talking in the first place. I think I approached her at Food Not Bombs, having heard she was a seamster, and suggested we sew together. That was almost six years ago, and since then, I taught her to make quilts and she taught me to make clothing. (Well, we are both still learning.)

I just completed a set of crayon rolls to sell at the Handmade Market. I bought a set of crayons in order to figure out the measurements, and had to remind myself I don't need the 120-pack. Grade-school habits die hard, I guess.

My heart leapt when I opened the box--the smell of new crayons! So much promise in that box: no broken ones yet, no peeled-back paper, no duplicates or vacant spaces as a result of mandatory sharing with imprudent classmates. Yes, I was the kid who hoarded their art supplies.

And I would've been very, very into these! It combines two loves: crayons and organization! Each one holds 16, and rolls up for easy travel.

Some are print-on-print and some are linen with a cotton print as the pocket. Linen, I love you!

I actually made two of the circuit board print. For one, I like it, but it also seems like kids these days are born with a sixth sense called technology. It's a wonder to watch!

Linen, cotton applique, and jute. I used the green, leafy print to back a quilt for Oliver, as seen here.

Early on I decided to stay away from too many heavily gendered color and print choices. When I was little, my favorite color was blue because every other girl seemed to favor pink.

Here is my favorite, featuring linen and a Heather Ross horse print. I think the jute really adds to the whole 'giddyup' feel, don't you? This one is a nod to my past as a Horse Girl. My cousin owned a horse named Dolly, which she bought with her own money that she told her parents she was saving for a car. Instead, she brought home a mare and I loved her for it!

I made all the crayon rolls I can stand and am now moving on to greener pastures; namely, market bags. How do I know how much of one item to take along to a craft show? That's what has really got me, and I don't think there is a definitive answer.

scenes from a quilt show

2010-03-08T14:42:00.001-06:00

Well! I was busy, busy, busy the last month preparing for the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show, which took place last weekend here in Bloomington. I work at a local quilt shop, and we had a booth at the show which I set up and manned some of the time. Many long days were spent cutting jelly rolls, preparing kits, bundling fat quarters and getting temporary staff up to speed. It's an exciting weekend, but it's high stress leading up to it, and I am glad it's over.

Here are a few highlights! I didn't have much time to walk around and take it all in, but I snapped photos of what caught my eye. Sorry there's no information about the pieces--I had to make the rounds during rare lulls in activity at our booth. The lighting at the convention center was not great, but I did my best to fix up the pictures so they'd look accurate.

I think this was called 'Grape Harvest', and as you can see it took Best of Show in the Wall Quilt category. It's machine appliqued; the grapes are fussy-cut.

This quilt contained so much amazing detail! These little patches of pintucks give texture to the foliage in the background.

Here is a pretty traditional wholecloth quilt. The sort of cutwork in the border and around the centerpiece is so unique; I've never seen anything quite like it! I don't think it's actually cutwork, but once again I didn't have time to read up on it. It took second place in something.

See, what is that? I'll call it noodlework.

A detail of the free motion quilting, with what looks to be couching or bobbinwork (or good ol' embroidery) for some of the tendrils. Imagine how many hours this section alone required to complete. My shoulders ache at the thought!

This little quilt is definitely my favorite. A 9-year-old girl pieced and quilted it for a school project, as an example of Seminole patchwork.

I like the slight wonkiness of the patchwork. Few people possess such patience, let alone a person in the fourth grade.

It must run in the family, because here is an entry from her 7-year-old sister. I really like the composition of this one: the spacing of the nine-patch units, and the fact that some are placed side-by-side.

And lastly, we have an entry from Greenwood, Indiana's Mary Buvia, which won 1st place in the Fabric Art category, as well as Exemplary Machine Quilting. I couldn't get a shot of the whole thing, but you can find one here.

Mary teaches free motion quilting at the shop where I work. Many of Mary's designs begin with a painting or sketch by her husband Bob; I believe this one started as a painting. The collaborative flow of ideas between the two is enviable. Though this quilt isn't exactly my style, the workmanship is stunning. Detail of the applique and quilting:

Sometime during the making of this quilt, Bob's cancer returned and Mary stopped teaching in order to nurse him through chemotherapy. She was able to complete this piece in the meantime.

Really, look at that. Quilting to stop hearts! Despite being in his 80s, Bob beat cancer once again and still drives Mary to the shop to teach every month. What Bob and Mary have is rare; her quilt symbolizes that.

make do and mend

2010-02-26T21:34:00.001-06:00

I have this friend who is very good at finding treasures. All manner of curios have passed through his hands over the years, and occasionally one is gifted to me. Perhaps you have a friend like this, or you have this strange ability? Once, he found a vintage suitcase on the side of the highway. Upon opening it, he saw its lonesome content: a taxidermied baby gator, very dusty and old.

Last fall, he found a rusty red tin of buttons and gave them to me. The tin appeared to contain a lifetime of buttons, none of them newer than the 1960s I think. (Is there a button-dating resource? I'd like to know.) One night I sat down and separated the buttons into shank and flat jars:

Digging through the sediment, I found many striking old gems. Buttons today just don't measure up! I also discovered button tins are full of non-button things, such as belt buckles, bra backs, and beads. If you collect buttons, for the sake of the next generation, please keep your miscellany separate! The remnants:

I like the feeling of viewing a person's history (or a family's history) through the lens of a button collection. There are matching sets apparently cut from a garment, and covered buttons slowly disintegrating. I found several dozen clear flat buttons designed for utility's sake. Probably a third had been salvaged from clothing--the thread was still attached. This collection was a hard-times response: make do and mend. Today, maybe it'd be considered hoarding. It doesn't appear the collector wasted a thing, and I hope to do her thriftiness justice over the years. I will never, ever need to buy another button in all my years!

Here's the best part! My three favorite non-button finds, two bullets and a lapel pin named Don:

Another gift, found by said friend and given to my other half, guards our living room. I will let you decide whether it is treasure or something else:

Madeleine Mini Bloomers pattern review

2010-02-15T18:35:00.001-06:00

If you've read any sewing blogs the last few days, you've likely heard Colette Patterns released a mini bloomers pattern that is free to download. Last night, after cutting out Simplicity 2443 (and realizing I had miscalculated yardage for the skirt by 1/4 yard) I decided to switch gears and start on these sweet little bloomers. I used some leftover voile from this dress, cut it out quick with a rotary cutter and cans of tomato paste as pattern weights, and got to sewing.

The instructions are easy to follow and clearly illustrated, and the whole project came together in a couple of hours. The most time-consuming parts: threading the elastic and ribbon (I used twill tape) through their casings. This took no more time than usual, but would've been quicker had I trimmed the seam allowances enclosed by the casing. I struggled to negotiate the safety pin (pinned to the end of whatever I was threading) through at every seam intersection! To be fair, the pattern suggested trimming. I just didn't do it.

It seemed like a beginner or advanced beginner pattern to me. No extraordinary skills or know-how are required--just a little bit of patience! All the raw edges must be finished, so if you have a serger or pinking shears, use them. I zig-zagged the edges but I suppose it would've been faster to pink them.

One weird part: the front and back crotch seams don't match up perfectly. When it comes time to sew that seam, you'll notice that either the front or back piece (can't remember which; I think it's the back) is drafted so that a very angular piece extends beyond the opposite half. Does that make sense? Anyway, this is inconsequential. Once you sew the crotch seam, you can trim that little triangle so that the front and back edges form a continuous line.

What few modifications I made were out of necessity: I didn't have any 1/4" ribbon on hand, so I made a wider casing to accommodate the twill tape. I also did a few steps out of order because I thought it'd be easier. (Rather than sewing the elastic casing, then threading the elastic, then sewing the ribbon casing, then threading the ribbon, I stitched all casings and threaded last. That way the garment wasn't gathered and puckered while I was trying to sew the leg seams.) Also, be sure you stabilize your buttonholes on lightweight fabric! I used tiny scraps of light- or mid-weight fusible.

On a real person, pardon the lighting issue:

Next time, I think I'll change a few more things. I cut the pattern according to the sizing chart measurements, and I was the smaller of the two in one size category. The chart covers bust, waist, and hip but not badonk circumference, which would've been helpful. That happens to be my most girthsome measurement (about 13" larger than my waist), and much of the gathered effect was lost in the back because I filled it out. I'm not sure what will remedy this, although I think a slightly higher rise and strategically decreased seam allowances would help. Or maybe just cutting a larger size. Just a caveat for all you ladies with proportions like mine!

So, if you haven't already downloaded the Madeleine Mini Bloomers pattern from Colette Patterns, get to it! And if you make a pair, I'd like to hear how they turn out. I like how they feel and drape in Little Folks voile. If you use this fabric, I recommend a smaller needle, either 70/10 or 75/11.

Note: I tried to be very aware of framing the issue of fit. Like a lot of women, I have more going on in some parts of my body than others. So few of us can sew a pattern straight through without making alterations. Sewing for my body can be frustrating because I usually can't just pick a size and go, but it's also a welcome challenge and has helped me feel more comfortable with myself.

voile, vintage, and Value World

2010-02-11T20:35:00.003-06:00

Look! I finally took a photograph of the dress that won't sew itself! This is my rendition of McCall's 5845 in Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks voile. Back view:

There are several things to note about this pattern. First, the dress is supposed to have exterior darts. This was kind of a neat detail, but didn't suit the vintage/classic feel I was getting from the fabric. It's fully lined (skirt shown unlined) and because of this, the garment contains a total of 28 darts. TWENTY-EIGHT. Next time, I will find a faster way to mark them, because something tells me I took the long route.

The reason the dress is still separated at the waist is this: I sewed the skirt sides together without fitting it first. Same goes for the lining. Then I trimmed the frayed bits from the seam allowances, and only then did I think to try it on... And you know what? I have a little too much real estate to cram into that skirt. Now I am avoiding the most horrifying part: figuring out whether I can just let out the seams, or if I must reconstruct half of the dress. Damn. It.

My goal is to have it finished by my birthday at the end of the month. It'd be fun to dress up in something I made!

If I make this dress again, I think I'll use a heavier-weight fabric, forego the lining and just finish the seams. Lining is a nice idea, and the sheerness of the voile really necessitated it, but making a lining really means putting two dresses-worth of work into one garment. No thanks. I'd rather have two dresses.

Last Monday Abbey and I made a trip to Indianapolis, our closest major city, for a day of mall commerce and thrift store bargains! One Value World (née Village) had an amazing selection of vintage patterns, and I chose just five to be my very own:

Only $0.49 each! See the one in the center? Before finding that pattern, I bought a dress cut just like it at H&M for $15. Perhaps I'll finish one project before beginning the next, huh?

three items

2010-01-26T16:32:00.001-06:00

1. Weekend bread-baking was a success! I used this recipe, with a few adjustments, to make asiago cheese bread. It turned out beautifully! (We were short on asiago cheese, so I added parmesan. No major changes--I am too much the novice.) Here it is, what do you think?

The recipe made two loaves, but we finished the first one before I could photograph it. Next time, I'll double up! There's something about baking bread I find incredibly satisfying. The process is simple, relatively few ingredients are required, and kneading just feels good. My arms are a little sore even, which tells you a bit about my non-exercise regiment.

By the way, the fabric in the background is from Rosalie Quinlan's "Grandmother's Flower Garden" line for Lecien. It's from a fat quarter pack I bought from Sew, Mama, Sew, and am too in love to cut into it just yet.
2. Here is a snippet of another quilt-in-progress, which I hope to finish today:

It is mostly Gee's Bend solids (which are actually hand-dyes) and Kaffe Fassett shot cottons, with a focus print from Anna Maria Horner. Most of the yardage was a Christmas gift from my mom. She has my colors down, that's for sure. Shot cottons are notoriously hard to photograph, and the fuchsia pictured is far more vibrant in person! (On the topic of shot cottons, have you seen this Work Quilt from Victoria at the Silly BooDilly? It's incredible!)

3. I have a half-plan to start using my scraps, and figured the best way to do that is to just start. I made these cards by stitching down two pieces of fabric. (Note: spray adhesive is immensely helpful, though not essential.)

Nice for Valentine's Day, perhaps? I just love looking at fabric. Agh. Seriously, it's an addiction! Once you start making these, you won't want to stop. Ultimately I will settle on a scrap quilt design for the bulk of my scraps, and have been researching antique patterns for inspiration. One thing at a time though, right? (Or two or three!)