Birthday present!

Happy birthday my dear sweet Daeleen! We've been friends for a long time and I only plan on being friends even longer. Since I know you already opened up your present 5 days early I know I'm not spoiling anything by posting this.  (I'm just glad it shipped to you so fast!)

 

This is the easy clutch I made with some awesome wool I got for REALLY cheap at Goodwill lined with some muslin I had on hand. I love this project and it took hardly any time at all (unless you are Daeleen then I slaved over this for days).

STEP ONE

Cut out one large rectangle of the wool or other thick shell fabric. You can guess on size by folding it into thirds. Cut out a slightly smaller piece of stiff muslin, about .5 an inch wider on both sides and 1 inch longer on both ends. 

STEP TWO

Bind one end of the muslin, this will be the inside edge of the clutch.

STEP THREE

Fold the pocket of the clutch face side to face side (wool to wool) making the pocket and the flap the desired size you want and stitch along the sides, making sure to sew all layers together. Then trim the excess off leaving just enough for a small seam.

OPTIONAL: Before you do this add a small inside pocket and or tag as I did.

STEP FOUR

Bind the final edges. Finish the end by snipping and folding where need be and sewing it down. For a cleaner look sew another row close to the finished edge. Sorry I didn't iron this so it looks really sloppy!

STEP FIVE

Sew in your button and add your button hole! 

I love the way this turned out and am excited to make something for myself out of this beautiful wool!

Sew Much Better!

Kendra bought this Coldwater Creek skirt a few weeks ago at Value Village and thought it be cute. After trying it on when she got home it was a bit more frumpy-drab than fashion-forward.
So I snip-snipped, stitch-stitched and voilà! Much better if I do say so myself.

After.

It's clean!!! I used the door, every wall and the ceiling for storage to organize my new and improved craft closet.

Pouf there it is

It's trendy. It's functional. It's adorable. It's a Pouf!

A happy yellow pouf from World Market
A mushroom pouf from the amazing Anthropologie, perfect for my lawn gnome Halloween costume.
A casual neutral knit from the always green Viva Terra
And a few more adorable options from Urban Outfitters

Books & More Books!

As I was reorganizing my room yesterday I decided to write down all the posts that I intend to do and realize I better get cracking. Equipped with a brand new laptop, I figure there is no better time to play catch-up than right now.

One of my most recent joys is books. Some fiction novels but primarily my growing collection of vintage sewing and fashion books. You can find them for such great prices and they have such great pictures and tips in them that I just can't get enough!

In this picture I am holding 7 Time Life "The Art of Sewing" books that came each with there own textile covering. They were published in 1974 and are chalk full of daring fashion and interesting history.

My collection of books grows with each garage sale, thrift shop and antique store I go into anymore. I even splurged (for me that is above $10) and bought the The Dressmakers Technique Bible from JoAnn Fabrics and haven't regreted it at all. It is a great book filled with ideas, tips and vocabulary that helps improve my sewing skills. At a local antique shop I got one of my greatest finds a 1961 Home Economics text book that teaches everything from how to brush your teeth to how to sew to how to be confident in yourself. It even has the check out card from the local highschool where it was used. The contents let me learn about the history I actually find interesting.

One of my favorite parts of my books is the way it uses materials that are hardly used by the average sewer anymore. I now know how to trim and use snake leather, you aren't taught that in your average new sewing book. Looking through the pages of each book is an experiance.

My collection keeps growing and making me happier and happier. Now to organizing so I have space for them all!

Once Apron a Dream

The other day I was sewing the curtain Sharayah bought me fabric to make and found myself distracted. Leftover was the perfect size rectangle to make her a surprise. I had an adorable "pattern" for a half apron (I use the term "pattern" loosely because I never even got the pattern my friend made out and just went from memory). I knew Penelope, the resident wire dress form in Shae's kitchen would look fabulous in it.
This apron is incredibly easy to make and takes barely any time at all. It is easily adjusted to fit any style and size. Here is my handy work on paint, an unproportional pattern to get you an idea.
1. The skirt: Hem right, left, and bottom of A. Run a gathering stitch on the top.
Get creative: add Rick-Rack, pockets, lace, bias tape, ribbon, buttons, and personalize the apron.
2. The ties: Hem bottom, left, and top of B and add a gathering stitch on the right.
Get creative: I add Rick-Rack and ribbon to the ends of the ties to add personality.
3. The waistband: Iron in the raw edges and iron in half, so you have a long rectangle that you can't see and raw edges and see the right side of the the fabric only.
4. Gather the skirt so that it is just skinnier than the waistband is. Gather the Sides of the ties so they are skinnier than the sides of the waistband.
5. Pin the left tie on the waistband, then the skirt, then the right waistband sandwiched in the waistband so you hide the unfinished edges. Sew along those three sides and you have yourself a brand new apron.

Play with the fabric combinations, make the ties different, piece together the skirt from a bunch of different patterns, add lace tiers. This pattern is so not picky which makes it a fun, practical project.

Party

On June 10th Kendra and I graduated from High School. After 13 years at our small christian school we were finally ready to be done. There is no better way to celebrate such an accomplishment than with a party, right?

Our school colors were, you guessed it, blue and white. But the real color wasn't all that pretty, so we started our plans with mismatched blue floral and patterned fabrics. We cut them in squares as large as the fabric would let us and put them on top of white tablecloths as overlays.

We got some more mismatched fabric and I made a fabric pennant banner. By making a paper pattern triangle the size I want the pennants I used it to cut the fabric to size I folded over the edge and buzzed over it with my sewing machine making a pocket which I slid some cotton yarn through. I made two strands, one was double sided because it could easily be seen from both sides and this one I cut on the fold and stitched along the edges while still leaving a pocket at the top.

For a photo display we arranged spray painted willow branches in a hurricane with some blue beads in it. From the branches we hung photos that we had printed up at Costco with a white border. We sandwiched fishing line in between two photos with some tape. Around the neck of the hurricane we tied a strip of one of our blue fabrics. This sat nicely in the middle of my cupcake display.

The cupcake display was arranged with a bunch of cake plates stacked on top each other, some cupcake trees, some upside down wine glasses in various shapes, some blue beads, a square of fabric and some glass domes. I used aunt Martha's cupcake liners that were in 2 silver patterns.

The food was a pasta bar. The table was two layers as it had a closet door that was bought at a salvage yard and covered in chalkboard paint for easy food labeling. There were two types of noodles, a white sauce and a red sauce as well as baked ziti. We had salad and bread, both bread-sticks and a french bread.

The entire party was a huge success. It was weird having so many people I knew from so many different places all together in one place. We loved every minute of it.

Infinity

Around the time my sister Sharayah moved out of our home I decided I loved to sew. When she needed curtains hemmed, I dug out May-Ruth, my Grandma's sewing machine we borrowed over 5 years before to make pajama pants with my mom (I might add we never made) and I shortened her curtains, made her several other sets and pillows and cushions and more to decorate her little apartment. Soon enough I made a couple shirts, a dress, aprons, more pillows and the story continues.

Recently a friend bought what is called an infinity dress, I had seen them before, in fact Sharayah owns one. Its essentially a skirt with a waistband and two really long pieces of fabric that can be wrapped and re-wrapped into and infinite number of dresses.

I had some stretch jersey that I bought a while before and knew I could do it fairly easy. The other morning I drew out a pattern of 3 pieces (in the picture on the top right; left to right: skirt cutout 7 times, waistband on fold double layer, and strap 2 yards) and sewed it together with unfinished edges to allow the straps to stretch the way they want to.

The dressed turned out so well my sister Kendra begged and bribed me (a whole $2!) to make her one. It took just under 3 hours with the pattern already drawn up and I'm sure if I make one again it will be even faster. (Pictures of dress 2 up soon)