True Up

True Up is my new favorite blog. It’s the beautiful brainchild of Kim of Dioramarama. What it is, is: All Fabric, All The Time.

Girl knows her fabric, and her giddy joy at fabric of all kinds is very nearly palpable. You could practically slice through her joy with a good Olfa rotary cutter, all the way through the computer, it’s that strong. And that makes the blog not only entertaining and interesting but informative, too. Hell on the wallet, though — makes you want EVERYTHING.

April 21, 2008 | Filed Under check it out, sewing | 2 Comments

Spring wardrobe sewing: Wants and ideas

A.k.a. “If I could go shopping, this is what I’d buy, but I can’t, so I’ll dream about sewing it instead, but really, in the end, we all know I’ll end up wearing the same ratty Old Navy t-shirts I did last summer.”

In fact, two of those are sewing pattern images (the green coat: built by wendy; the other one a japanese sewing book [got to find the link]); the rest are from the gap, j.crew and old navy.

I have a few pretty versatile blouse patterns; that and a bolt of bleached muslin would get me most of the way to those white shirts. The pants pattern in Sew U would get me the bermudas and capris; and my own good sense and a ruler would get me the tote bag.

There’s no help for the yellow Chucks, though. Those I’m just going to have to shell out for.

April 8, 2008 | Filed Under create, sewing | 3 Comments

Vintage-sheet quilt

Just a little something I’m putting together for our new queen sized bed for spring. The top will be about, oh, 85”x95”, made of alternating rows of 4.5” rectangles and 7” rectangles, all different lengths. I think there are 5 different vintage sheets involved and two or three different bits of calico. You might remember some of the prints from maternity-wear shirts I sewed last year.

I bought 100% cotton batting in a light loft for the inside and haven’t decided how I’m going to piece the back (or from what). I also haven’t decided whether I am going to do a white border on the top. Nor have I decided how I’m going to quilt it — I’ll do it by machine, but should I channel quilt it? On the diagonal? Wiggly lines? I don’t think I could do free-motion on my machine, but that would be cool.

I drew inspiration from the patchwork throw in Amy Butler’s In Stitches; from the summer throw quilt in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, and from the easy lap quilt in Bend The Rules Sewing, as well as the patchwork quilt from Machine Made Patchworks. I made the rectangle widths in two uniform sizes but varied the lengths as whim dictated. I cut so many rectangles that I might have enough left over for a baby quilt that I might sell on etsy, along with a vintage-sheet grocery sack. (My etsy shop is like a million years in the making. Taking forever. Probably worthy of its own post.)

The sheets I’ve been saving for a year or more, and I had the idea for this quilt last summer but obviously have not had the time to get going on it. Quilting Month seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I love to strip-quilt like this, throwing things together and seeing what I like. Fussy quilting and intricate blocks drive me bonkers with the tedious and the boring and the detailed; I’d rather have a finished quilt on the bed than 500 teeny triangles in a pile on the floor, you know?

February 29, 2008 | Filed Under create, sewing | 7 Comments

Sewing: Rainbow pencil rollup, for my sister

I used the pattern in Joelle Hoverson’s “Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts,” which in turn came from Pink Chalk Studio, for this one. It came out well, despite my utter inability to sew in a straight line.

The rainbow interior piece is sewn from stash scraps arranged in color order; the exterior is sewn from remnants of our living room curtains. Those curtain scraps have really served me well. I quilted it according to her recommendation (up, down, one continuous snaking line) and boy howdy, what a smart way to do it.

February 5, 2008 | Filed Under create, sewing | 6 Comments

Sewing: Cormac’s quilt, finished

Before his first birthday, even!

I took Denyse Schmidt’s “What a Bunch of Squares” quilt as basic inspiration, but neglected to follow her pattern. The squares are simple wonky log cabins of green and blue batik, sewn into strips with white muslin and bordered in white muslin (instead of finishing the log cabin blocks with white muslin and sewing them together). I bordered it with a tomato-red gauze for texture purposes and backed it with a nubby teal turquoise, also for the texture. It came out well, though the muslin was far too thin and shows the teal backing. I quilted it with narrow vertical channels and wide horizontal ones. A run through the washer and dryer gave it a good wrinkly look.

I had a good time making this. Baby quilts are the perfect size, to me — not too big that you’re overwhelmed (or can’t find the space to work) and not so small that they aren’t usable. Just right.

February 4, 2008 | Filed Under create, sewing | 3 Comments

February is quilting month!

I’m psyched about February’s theme at Sew Mama Sew: quilting. Not only because I love to quilt, but also because I think I’ll finally be able to sew along this month and contribute to the pool.

I already have a few quilty projects completed, which I’ll post promptly, and I also plan to do the quilt block sew-alongs as well (SMS will post a new one every Friday).

Mac and Owen are at long last allowing me to get some tidbits done here and there, playing by themselves or with each other while we all hang out upstairs in our attic/sewing room/playroom. Honestly, six months ago I thought I’d never reach this point. Now that Mac can sit unassisted (and isn’t nursing) and Owen has his Christmas toys to occupy him, getting 15 or 30 minutes of hands-free time is not such an insurmountable goal. There is hope yet of my sanity returning.

February 3, 2008 | Filed Under check it out, create, motherhood, sewing | Leave a Comment

Another Built By Wendy book

I had a little money to spend at Barnes and Noble over the weekend, and I was so disappointed I couldn’t buy this:

home stretch

because it’s on pre-order. It’s Wendy Mullins’s second book, Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics. Sewing knits is still very much a mystery to me, which is why I can’t contain myself that this book is coming out. At last, I’ll have answers. According to the publisher’s blurb, she has tips even for people without sergers, such as myself.

I have her first book, Sew U, and love it — and I especially love that her books come with full-size tissue patterns. So I have high hopes for this one, as well. I only have to wait until May.

January 23, 2008 | Filed Under check it out, create, sewing | 4 Comments

I need a Single Girl

Denyse Schmidt knows what I want before I even know I want it. single girl pattern

I just saw this on Sew Mama Sew and ohhh, how I want. I love quilts with lots of white like this. And boy, what an excellent way to use up your scraps. WANT.

January 20, 2008 | Filed Under check it out, create, sewing | 2 Comments

Sewing: for babies

(I just can’t leave that other, raw, depressing post at the top of the page.)

Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts

Quick tip: the Bird Ornaments featured in Joelle Hoverson’s Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts make great teethers for babies when sewn in a cheerful cotton and when the hanging loop is omitted. It’s just the right size for fat little hands and can be tossed in the wash when the drool gets to be too much.

I’ve made one for Mac already and it’s a good, squishy little toy to pack in the diaper bag or hand him during lunch.

January 11, 2008 | Filed Under baby, create, sewing | 3 Comments

stamp quilt ornaments

About the size of a big fancy postage stamp, for an ornament exchange I am a part of. I finished about 75% of these in October, before life started kicking my ass again and again and again.

Most of them are raw-edge patchwork, polyfil batting, with selvages for hanging loops. You can totally tell where my sewing machine started to kick the bucket, too.

I wanted to do candy-cane cozies but somehow this is what came out of my machine. Does that ever happen to you?

December 18, 2007 | Filed Under create, sewing | 3 Comments