dontcallmebecky

putting idea books to use: my projects

Because I didn't get around to posting the details of the projects that I made for the challenge earlier this week, here they are...

I focused on using the Weekend Sewing Book and made the Weekend Away Bag and the Everything Tote. (I'm just going to do you all a little favor and link to the errata for the book right away).

This is my first attempt at a lined zippered bag. I really like the fabric and zipper color that I used, but I was just not a big fan of the design of the pattern. All of the other projects online made with this pattern turned out great, so it's probably just a user error on my part (sewing from patterns has not been so good for me lately with everything else I have on my plate).

After being defeated by this pattern, I sought out a different zippered bag tutorial to follow and came across this genius tutorial at Flossie Teacakes.

I managed to mess up this bag by not trimming the corners around the zipper. The corners aren't square on the final project and I didn't want to undo the bag and start over. (It was at this point that I swore off all sewing for good and took a nice long break from my machine!). At least the fabric is fun, right?

So, after switching to knitting for a while to find comfort in a stress free and stress relieving hobby (for me at least), I finally made my way back to my sewing machine to make the Weekend Away Bag for the giveaway. The most glaring error on this pattern was that you need 1 yard each for the outside and lining (not 1/2 yard as the book states). Luckily, I had plenty of extra fabric on hand and I avoided a tragedy!

 
The instructions for this pattern were fairly thorough, but I relied on this tutorial for a bias tape tote to attach the handles and finish off the bag. Both bags are very similar, but the Everything Tote is just a million times bigger.

Basically, the Weekend Sewing book is total eye candy, especially because it uses so many of Heather Ross' fabrics in the projects, but the directions for the projects could stand to be a bit more clear and accurate.

putting idea books to use: your projects

It's been a month since I posted about the "putting idea books to use" challenge. Lots of you have joined in and posted some beautiful pictures of your projects to the flickr group. Thanks so much for participating with me! The group on flickr will continue to be open because there are lots more projects and lots more project books out there waiting to be used.

I'll be posting the projects that I made with my idea books later on this week, but in the meantime, go ahead an link up your projects in the widget below. Make sure that your flickr link or blog link includes the name of the book and project that you used.

I'll select a winner at random to win the above tote bag, made from Weekend Sewing, and I'll also include some yarn or fabric and other goodies based on the winner's crafting interests. I'll leave the drawing open until Friday at 3:00PM EST so that everyone gets a chance to enter (and finish up those last minute projects).

2009 Finished Projects

It's become my yearly tradition to post these project mosaics (see 2008 and 2007). So here is my 2009 project mosaic:

You'll notice that I ramped up the knitting projects considerably this year...all I can say is that knitting has been a great stress reliever (ahem!).

I'm looking forward to turning 2010 into a "use my stash" year and I've got plenty of projects to keep me busy. I'll be staying away from retail stores in 2010 and unsubscribing myself from email sales blasts to keep the temptation at bay. Wish me luck!

Holiday Traditions Exchange

Sew Liberated has been running the Holiday Traditions Exchange for the past two years and my December schedule was light enough this year that I was finally able to join. I put together a little package of recipes, my holiday traditions, my favorite Christmas music and this stocking for my partner, Carrie, at sweetmommydreams.

I've been eyeing this Elf Stitchette pattern from wee wonderfuls ever since it was published a few years ago and finally had an excuse to stitch it up and turn it into a stocking. 

I based the pattern for the stocking on these stockings that I made a few years ago. The stocking is lined with a green polka dot fabric and a layer of thin cotton batting. I had fun in the trim aisle and used an iron on rick rack and a pom pom trim that I secured with a zig zag stitch. For the foot and toe, I used fusible webbing to adhere it to the stocking base and then used a zig zag stitch to applique it to the fabric.

green projects

It seems like my big craftwind last week has died down. I managed to tweak out these two projects before life got the better of me.

First up is a few cat pillows for around the house. I found this microfleece blanket for $5 and was able to make 3 pillows out of it (with lots of leftover fabric) for the cats so I was glad to find such an inexpensive piece of fabric to use. The pillows are your basic rectangle stuffed loosely with fiberfill. The cats like to sleep on the floor in front of our heating vents, so I made two for in front of the vents and one for the couch. (Mental note: buying a dark couch is not such a good idea when you have light colored cats...we are constantly vacuuming fur off the grey surface). As soon as I finished the first pillow and set it on the floor, NukuNuku jumped off my lap and splayed herself across the pillow. It's always nice when someone appreciates my work! Even though we have three pillows, they always seem to be fighting over the use of whichever pillow the other cat is using.

Nuku Nuku thinks I iron everything too well...she always likes to make sure everything is sufficiently scrunched up.

I also finished my green quilt top. This was modeled after my other baby quilts (here and here) and the blocks in this quilt are 5" square instead of 2.5" square. I used 10 fat quarters from the Timeless Treasures Apple Collection and 3.5 yards of fabric for the top. I was able to cut 12 five inch squares out of each fat quarter, for a total of 120 squares that were then cut in half. I cut the green fabric into 5" wide strips and cut out 120 squares from each strip and used the remaining fabric for a border.

The quilt is 14 blocks wide and 16 blocks tall with a 5" border of sashing around the edge. From my estimates, the quilt is approximately 72x81. I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt this yet. I was thinking about doing some straight line stitching a quarter inch in from each seam to make concentric squares, but I might just stick with basic stippling. Any ideas?

I was planning on giving this away as a gift (I don't think the person reads my blog), but after I told Jon my intentions, he became very protective of it. Hopefully he'll let me part with it!

Bring on the owls

Our house has been a tad bit owl obsessed lately...

First off...I started this sweater (ravelry link) in June and I finally managed to sew on all 44 buttons and weave in the ends at the beginning of August. Thank goodness for a sewing machine that sews on buttons! I don't know what I would have done if I had to sew on all of those buttons by hand. Instead of following the pattern, I followed Elizabeth Zimmerman's recipe for a yoked sweater and then used the owl pattern in the yoke section (modified to use purl stitches in the owl's body). I shortened the sleeves on the pattern too, because wool sweaters just get too warm for me in the winter. It either has to be a cardigan or short-sleeved for a wool sweater to work for me. This was a quick knit and it was so nice to knit with thick, sheepy, Cascade Eco Wool!

• • •

Next, my youngest sister, Rachel, and I got together for another sewing lesson. She found this bag on etsy and we copied the design to a T. Rachel did all of the applique on this with a zig zag stitch and she did such a great job on it! It's been a lot of fun having a fellow crafter over to make projects together.

When we were younger, we pretended we were on Martha Stewart's cooking show whenever we cooked together. We would stand behind the peninsula in my parents' kitchen, talk to the camera and set up all of our ingredients in miniature bowls so that we could toss them into the bowl (just like on tv). If she keeps up with these mad sewing skills, we'll be ready to start our own "crafting show" on the side too. :)

My little sewing protege

My sister, Rachel, came over last week for a sewing lesson (part deux). We had actually scheduled a sewing night last October and only got so far as picking out the fabric. We were both in the middle of semesters and exhausted, so I'm pretty sure we conked out in front of the tv instead of sewing together.

We came up with this pattern on the fly and based it off of Rachel's messenger bag/purse. The new version is slightly large and has less exterior pockets. She made a pocket on the front with a flap on top (still waiting on a black button/loop enclosure) and quilted the long strap for extra stability.

Once Rachel sewed the inside of the bag she exclaimed: "it looks like the inside of a vampire's house, doesn't it?"  Hilarious! I totally agree with her, though.

She's already preparing for the next sewing project and has laid a claim to my yard of Heather Ross Octopus Fabric.

And, since she's worn it around town, she says she's received at 10 requests from friends to make one just like it to sell. I have a feeling she's going to be hanging around my house a lot more often.

Simplicity 3835

I have been wanting to learn how to sew my own clothes for ages! I dabbled in sewing when I was younger and less experience with sewing in general and never had good results. My sizing was always off, I was impatient and I never was able to understand or follow the pattern directions.

Well, finally, after a few years of sewing experience under my belt and lots of time spent reading, using and understanding tutorials, I decided to give it another try.

This time I read the directions before I started, used the correct measurements and pattern size and took my time making the garment. My patience and persistence paid off and I have a few new shirts to add to my wardrobe. Granted, it's an easy pattern to follow, but I was still able to make it work successfully.

I stocked up on patterns at the $1 Simplicity sale last weekend and hope to try out a few other simple shirt patterns to make some more tops for summer.

Top #1: Simplicity 3835 - Built By Wendy
cotton fabric from Joann's (excuse the weird arm angle!)

Top #2:
linen blend fabric from a local high end fabric store (designer unknown, but it was next to the Echino fabric line)

Top #3:
cotton fabric from Joann's

pincushion swap

I participated in a pincushion (+other goodies) swap on one of the Ravelry sewing boards a few weeks ago. For the swap, I made a pear pincushion from Heather Bailey’s pincushion pattern set for Stacey. I had a fun time playing with fabric combos and ended up using the woodgrain because my swap partner’s husband is a woodworker and has just started building their dream home.

I received this lovely package from Vicky. She put together a wonderfully themed package on spring gardening with lots of flower, spring and bee hive related goodies. Isn’t this flower pot and bee hive pincushion set adorable?

Lizzie Dish Table Runner

I liked the first table runner that I made for Cami so much, that I decided to use the extra fabric that I had to make a second one for our kitchen table.

I have a little fiestaware pitcher addition, so I had the perfect color to match the runner. We've had the same table runner and candles on our table for 3 years now, so it was time for a little switch up around here.