Blue Tape Reminder

 Blue painter's tape is handy for a lot of things in the studio. I'll share one of the ways I use it with you right here, when I'm piecing with a 1/4" seam, I use my 1/4" foot (a Little Foot specifically) and it has only enough space for the needle to go through in one small circular spot. So that means No Zig-Zag allowed. Thus the tape over the stitch-width button. I've learned my lesson after hitting the foot with the needle, yikes!

Here's the Little Foot in action, sewing together the last of the tumbler rows. One little zig or zag and pow, broken needle which is scary. The blue tape visual and physical reminder to not adjust the stitch width unless I change the presser foot works for me.

Freebie Bag Makeover

My dear husband bought some books the last time he was at the airport, and they packaged them in this really nice freebie promo bag. I really liked the brown color and this was a seriously well-made bag (especially for a free one), but I just didn't like all the adverts all glommed all over it.

Except I did like the quote which is I suppose from a character named Enzo, in the book being advertised The Art of Racing in The Rain. I know nothing about the book, but I am intrigued by the title.

I thought the best thing to do would be to add some pockets as that was what this bag was lacking. So I measured the area I wanted to cover up, cut out and ironed two fabrics right sides together. One is going to end up as the lining. I decided to make a curvy shaped pocket, just to be different, and I guess I was inspired by the swirly spirals of the fabric.

After sewing the two pieces together, (leaving an unsewed area to turn the pocket right side out), I clipped the curves so that the edge will be curvy and not lumpy when turned.

After turning right sides out, I ironed the pocket, turning in the edges of the turning unsewn area. Then it was all about positioning the pocket to cover up the advertising and pinning it in place to sew it on.
But before I sewed it down I added two more contrasting pockets, sewing them together in order so that they'll be functional. All of the pockets are lined for extra strength.

An action shot of sewing around the edge of the pocket. I had to sew slowly as the bag fabric was a heavy canvas with a waterproofing coating on the inside.

And here is how it looks! Instead of one weirdly shaped pocket, why not three?

On the other bag side with the quote I just underlined it with some pieced together fabrics matching the ones on the other side.

A close up of the top of one of the pockets, it says CONNECTION, which I honestly can't remember why I chose that word (and I made this yesterday. hmmm, CRS really has set in). And you'll notice that I used the selvedge edge of the fabric without turning it over. I thought it look really cool and added a little bit of interest and texture without looking terribly selvedge-y.

Now to figure out what to put in those pockets!

Progress On Yin-Yang bag

Well, an update, the Yin-Yang bag is going together. So far so good, the instructions are clear, and I haven't screwed up anything yet (that I know of anyways). I've got all of the parts machine sewn together with the batting and turned right-sides out. Those bag handles were a bit hard to turn, as they got a little smallish at the top of the arc, but with my trusty hemostat it worked out. The Guatemala stripe and the quilting cotton are playing nicely together so far. Although the woven stripe is much more ravelly on the edges.

Next step is hand-sewing up the turn openings and then the parts all get machine sewn down together. So I'm within hailing distance of a finished bag!


I can see already that this is going to be much smaller than I thought, like it is not going to be big enough for my current wallet, so I hope it will be useful somehow. Or maybe I just need a smaller wallet. And hey, if I have a small purse then perhaps certain young gentlemen will stop giving me things to carry "since I have a big bag" when we are out and about.





Yang and Yin instruct the mind in Wisdom, teaching Consequences. ~ Lao Tsu

Roll With It Baby

Now that I've got that song playing in your head, just from reading the post title....

One of the fun things that happen when you completely rearrange your studio is you find projects that have fallen behind things and gotten lost. ahem. So I found the colored pencil roll in progress that I was making for myself (after making one last year for friend Jaye).

See that post for the tutorial up to this point. Basically I've only sewn together 24 1.5"x10" colored strips of fabric that vaguely match the colored pencils in a Prismacolor 24 set..

That colored strip section is about 22" long and 9.5" high before the next steps.

Here's the first step after you've got the colorful strips sewn together, baste on some flannel to the wrong side. You could also use a very thin quilt batting also.

Next choose a fabric that will be the pocket for the pencils, I chose a very stiff muslin and cut a piece about the same width and same length as the colorful strip base. Iron in half length-wise, baste onto the side and bottom of the colored strips section.

Then you get to choose the fabric you want on the outside of the roll and a ribbon that you want to have to tie it up. I chose a wide purple ribbon an then added some black/white small ribbon on top. The length of the ribbon is about 37", a bit longer would work fine too.

Cut out a piece of the outside fabric you've chose, the same size of the colored strips section and right sides together, sew, leaving a spot on the end to turn it rightside out. Don't forget to baste the ribbon tie on before sewing this seam.

After you've turned everything right-side out and pressed top-stitch around the edge.

Now you stitch on each seam between the colors all the way down to the bottom of the pocket. Instead of sewing each one all in a row, I split it up into 1/4ths to distribute the fullness a bit. One seam in the middle, then another several rows over, another the other direction. Then fill in the rows you've skipped. If you don't stitch it this way, it might end up messy down at the final seam...Or maybe that is just because I don't pin enough when I sew!
Look at all those colors, all laid out and ready to use. Looking at this picture makes me want to go sketch in my sketchbook *right now*.

And here it is all rolled up and ready to go in my sketch bag.

Wardrobe Refashion, Beginning Again

I've been participating in this Wardrobe Refashion challenge kind of haphazardly for more than a year now. But I thought I'd give it six more months to give it another try, and follow-through on completing some of the refashioning projects I have started, planned, dreamed about, or not thought up yet.

• There are several t-shirts that have been over-dyed, but didn't turn out too well, and will be re-re-re-dyed at least once more.




• A few shirts will be stamped with some of my hand-carved stamps.




• One of said t-shirts I'll be using potato starch resist on, to see if I can get a similar look to one of my favorite pieces of fabric I've ever dyed.




• There are several skirts that I'm modifying, to make them wearable once again.




• And some shirts that I'm rehabbing or transforming with additions or substractions (oooh mysterious eh?)

I'll admit it. I'm just too stubborn to throw out this pile of stuff. I just know that it is worth spending not tooooo much time on to get something unique and cool out of the whole deal.

Simply Sneetches

Do you remember the Sneetches from Dr. Seuss' "The Sneetches and Other Stories" ? The big-bellied yellow creatures with "stars on thars". Big stars on their bellies which they pay to have removed and then put back on again depending on the current fashion, a tale essentially about discrimination.This was one of the other costumes I got to work on for Seussical. I dyed nine x-large men's white t-shirts in mottled yellows. Another drama mom cut out the stars. I was worried that they were lame', you know the kind that shreds insanely, is terribly slippery and never looks good on the edges. But no, the stars were cut out of plastic-y, stretchy, thick, gold bathing suit material. So no worries about shredding or slipping. I did pin the heck out them though, since they did stretch quite a bit as I sewed, at a different rate than the very stretchy t-shirt. But my sewing machine didn't glide over the stars, it would get caught up about every inch or so. I got a workout with my knee-lift that day, let me tell you! Friend Jaye pointed out that there is a sewing machine foot for this exact problem, mainly for sewing leather, it is a roller foot. Not a standard foot that is included with most machines. But since I'm not anticipating sewing this type of material in the future I think I'll hold off on getting one.

So, here is what the shirt looks like after the star has been sewn on. Kinda cute, but not quite into costume territory. So that means, now onto the elasticisizing..The costume designer had the idea of using the existing hem at the sleeve and bottom as an elastic casing. It worked pretty well, just undid a little of the sewing and then ran the elastic through, sewed it up closed. The elasticsizing made these costumes really look like costumes on stage, instead of just decorated t-shirts. They bloused them up at the bottom so they poufed out like bellies, worn over black pants.
Here they are, all nine of them, stacked up and ready to go!

If you've never seen The Sneetches, which was a tv special, here is part one:

and part two:

A Skirt Per Week

I'm embarking on a new quest, to actually sew the skirts I've bought fabric and patterns for. What a concept eh?
I'm getting tired of all the room this stuff is taking up in my studio as well as on my mental to-do/shame/regret list. I also am still not buying new clothing as part of my wardrobe refashion pledge. I want a bunch of lightweight, easy-care, comfortable skirts that I can wear this summer instead of all my very worn-out shorts.
Because of the progression of my disease/condition I can't tolerate a lot of binding tight stuff around my middle. So I don't think that I can make anything that is really structured with a constructed waistband. Maybe if it is set low enough I can. But I'm not sure how flattering that would be, since I do still just barely have a defined waist, I ought to emphasize it, right?

I used fabric that I blogged about just over a year ago. One of my long-term half-baked plans was finally ready, hooray! This vintage fabric was found in Goodwill for a couple of bucks. I really like all the browns in it with a bit of contrasting blue, and the allover patterning is great for hiding wrinkles. And I have a shirt that goes with it, even better, right? One less thing to have to make...
So this elastic-waistbanded skirt was made with a pattern I drew myself from the fun, clearly written, beginner book Sew What Skirts. I've never sewn anything for myself to wear without using a store-bought pattern, so this was kind of thrilling in a small personal way. Instead of taking a pattern and altering it to fit me, I made a pattern from my measurements (what a thought, right!). And lo, and behold it fits, hey I can follow directions sometimes. The skirt is perfect, not too tight, not too loose, waistband just right, and I like the length. Now I can't get too cocky because this is not like sewing pants or something, but I'm still pretty chuffed about it all.
Now to choose the next one to work on for the upcoming week. I think it will be the embroidered purple cotton gauze using the Park Bench Patterns swirly circle skirt Griffith Park.

Refashioned Shirt

What I'm wearing is something I made for myself out of a ruined t-shirt in one of my favorite colors. I made the mistake of actually washing up the kitchen while wearing this and some of the cleaner made some unrecoverable bleachy type of spots.

I started out this refashioning project by adding to the bleach spots that ruined this cool green tee. A few bleach spots is yuck. A lot it turns out is yum. This was accomplished by propping up the shirt on a cardboard box in the backyard and flinging bleach undiluted via old toothbrush at the shirt. I know that would have been a good picture, but I was too busy flinging bleach around. Then I soaked it in anti-chlor (to stop the bleaching which continues until your fabric disappears), washed it, and took it to the sewing lair. bwaahahaaa.The first sewing was turning out the hems of the neckline, sleeves and bottom. All I did here was to turn the hems outwards folding them back onto the shirt. This shortened the sleeves and bottom a bit, and changed the neckline to something a bit more comfortable. The stitch I used looks like a zigzag, but it is a mending zig zag, each zig is comprised of a bunch of teeny tiny stitches. Oh, and I remembered to us a knit jersey needle (yeah me!), which works so much better when sewing t-shirts. Sewing slowly and using a lot of pins on these hems resulted in no puckers gathers or lumps.Now it was time to pin on the patches I bought from leethal. I decided to give them a little more oomph by giving them some other fabric to perch upon and relate to. One piece has upholstery fabric (this one by the coffee), one has cotton-poly, and the last has silk. All of these are recycled fabric scraps.Before stitching I made sure to try on the shirt to ensure no obvious placement problems had arisen. Those of you with breasts know what I'm talking about here.I used the same mending zig zag that isn't a zigzag stitch as I did on the hems.
I realized I didn't like how light the bleach spots were, so I obsessively colored them all in with a sharpie pen. Now I like it better with this color.



So here is how the shirt looks on the floor.
And here is how it looks on me. I have no idea what that expression on my face is meant to convey. I think I was very near to actually smiling, but who knows. The result, very comfy, unique and me.

A Bag, Finally

Here it is, the long-awaited, finally-done, "spring" bag. Yes, done just in time for the end of Summer. At least it isn't quite Fall yet, right?
I bought the fabric way back in April, and the Sewing Workshop L2 Bag pattern in May.

What was the holdup? Well, hmmm. I'm not sure really. I guess I got it cut out in June, started sewing it, realized I didn't have the iron-on interfacing or stabilizing stuff, had to find some, then I needed some ultrasuede in the right color. Anyhoo, after several stops and starts it went together super easily, and I can't wait to transfer my stuff into it and begin using it already!

And here is the super cool, full-'O-pocketsessss, contrasting inside.
I used a Clover magnetic catch, which was super easy, and it looks good, and holds well.

Guess I better get started on my Winter bag, right?

A pillow, now covered

This was a wedge-shaped pillow that I recently covered. Just randomly sewing together squares and rectangles without measuring, squaring up, or trying to match seams or corners. I think it turned out pretty well, and I like how it looks current even though it is from 70's batik-y kinda fabric.
Maybe kristen will recognize it? Her mom gave me the fabrics a few years ago when we met up at the very first Chicago Quilt Fest. The squares were in some stash she was giving away when she was moving. They were wrapped up with some upholstery fabrics which I was perusing for an ottoman I'm in the process of recovering.

Those squares already cut out and too tempting when I ran across them while sorting my stash. I must have some OCD thing about sewing together squares that I run across.
Like it is a compulsion I can no longer control.
Squares, cut out, just waiting to be resewn into something new.
Just an easiness, no challenge, no pressure, and I like how it comes out in the end..

Wardrobe Refashion Re-pledging

I am officially re-pledging myself to the Wardrobe Refashion (this time for a period of 4 months). I think it begins in June, but I'm practicing already, so it'll be 6 months by the time I'm through.

So, why pledge to not buy new clothing for a period of time? To use my time and creative energy in this way?

I think the idea of refashioning the stuff I have already into something I'll actually wear and enjoy wearing is a good way to practice what I preach. You know, the whole reuse,recycle mantra.

What better way to celebrate Earth Day?!?! Think of how much energy it takes to get that new shirt to you, to grow the cotton, to power the factories, not to think of the pesticides,etc...So since the stuff is already made, bought and in my hot little hands, I'm using it.

Here is what I made on Friday afternoon/eve (woohoo, how fun am I?). ahem. Well, I was also hosting a sleepover at the time. And we had pizza instead of me actually cooking. The funny thing was all the menfolk in the house at the time actually noticed the shirt when I appeared wearing it instead of the usual t-shirt. And they complimented me (smart move on their part!).
I started with a really nice shirt of my husband's. He recently tore out the elbow (never got the story on exactly how that happened, hmmm....). I'd always liked this shirt, it is a nice light grey, and the fabric has a beautiful sheen. It is a Kenneth Cole Reaction brand. So first off I chopped off the sleeves with my trusty pinking shears.


Then I thought of what a good spring fabric that I have, I knew that it had to have grey in it somewhere, and probably something floral. Came up with this gazania print out of my box of florals. My first stopper was how to figure out how big to make the new cuff additions. So I measured the sleeves I'd just lopped off. Here you can see the rip that got me this shirt to work with.

I decided to have smallish "cuffs" on the sleeves and cut a strip 5" wide and about 2"longer than the needed length to make it around the sleeve. Ironed it in half lengthwise. Sewed right sides together. An action shot:

Pressed open the seams, turned the cuff right side out, and folded in the ends. I also turned under the raw edges of the existing sleeve and sewed a small hem.

Next, I pinned the cuff-to-be on and sewed it on just on the edge of the sleeve end. It overlapped very nicely and I did a little decorative stitch (flowers!) to tack it down on the overlap.


So here is how it looks with the sleeves done. But bleah, I don't like wearing a structured collar, too scratchy and binding.


Cut off that collar! It was worn out anyways. And waaay too pointy for me.

The collar was replaced with the same floral fabric used on the cuffs, and in pretty much the same fashion as described above.


Here are the former sleeves and collar. Don't they look funny without the shirt?

No, I haven't yet thrown them away. Look for them appearing later in a project coming to a blog near you!

Here I am wearing the finished product. A very comfy shirt, that looks nice too.

I'm thinking of replacing the original dark grey buttons with either fabric covered ones (out of the same floral, how matchy-matchy!). Or maybe these hand-dyed ones that are a nice lilac color that goes with the flower petals.