The Year Of Sewing

Week 1

2011-01-08T12:29:00.001-07:00

{all sewing done by machine unless otherwise indicated}

Jan 1: by hand, felt owl ornament inspired by Juicy Bits 131 {completed}
Jan 2: by hand, felt mistletoe {begun}
Jan 3: by hand, felt mistletoe {continued}
Jan 4: new hair clip/band holder for MiniDork; and a hanging bookshelf {from the Penny Carnival tutorial}
Jan 5: a bed pocket, and a cloud pillow for MiniDork’s room; a failed attempt at a doll dress
Jan 6: Pajama pillow; doll skirt, begun working on Lucy’s i-Spy quilt
Jan 7: continued working on Lucy’s i-Spy quilt

I almost forgot to sew last night. I was drifting off to sleep when I remembered. So I dragged myself out of bed and sewed together a few squares for Lucy’s quilt. Today I was smart and sewed not long after getting up. I’m working on a post about the pillow I made for her. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to finish and publish the post next week. Right now the sewing is more pressing than the blogging. I’ve got a few more days before I’m back to work so I want to spend my time getting projects done.

365

2011-01-05T07:50:00.003-07:00

2011 will be the year of sewing. January 1st marked the beginning of my “official” attempt to sew for 365 days straight. I will make a note each day regarding what I did and will post my notes {ideally} once a week. So far, so good. I’ve got some free time before I go back to work and I’m using it to sew all sorts of things {mainly items for MiniDork’s “big girl room”}.
In the meantime here are some snapshots of some sewing I did for the holidays {including my very first quilt, a gift for my mother}! I used this tutorial (though I made plenty of mistakes…measure twice, cut once people)! The tutorial was written by Melissa Mortenson (of The Polka Dot Chair) for Moda Bakeshop.I used a Lumiere de Noel layer cake from fabric.com {which they no longer carry, but as of today you can get the same fabrics here} for the quilt top, and cream colored snuggle fabric for the back. I skipped the inner batting because the snuggle fabric seemed plenty warm enough for a lap quilt. The snuggle fabric is hard to work with, even when using a walking foot. So I ended up with an uneven border (I used the self-binding method). But holy cow is it soft!

I also appliquéd a tracing of Lucy's hand to one of the squares. Getting her to sit still long enough to trace her hand was probably the most difficult part of the appliqué process!

The other sewing project I finished up last month for the holidays was a set of doll diaper changing accessories to go with Lucy’s new doll {a Christmas present purchased from Nova Natural Toys}. I made a changing pad, two diapers, and a wipes case with three wipes. Lucy loves to tell us that Eleanor’s bum is wet.Now, and here’s where I reveal how spacey I can be sometimes, I thoughtlessly deleted the bookmark for the blog that inspired this project before I had a chance to put the link in this post. And now I can’t find it. I didn’t follow her tutorial, but I got the idea to make it all from a specific post. I’m really sorry I can’t give credit where credit is due {and I’m sorry I can’t send you there to see it because hers were very cute, and she made a diaper bag to boot!. If you think you know what blog I’m talking about, tell me in the comments please. I know I’ll recognize it when I see it.

And now, here is a gratuitous picture of my offspring:

Here’s to 2011, The Year of Sewing!

Hiatus

2010-10-12T07:22:00.001-06:00

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve been missing lately. I’m really sorry about that. I started a “real job” and it’s taken a while to get used to my new schedule.

Also…I totally haven’t been sewing every day because of it.

I have been sewing {working on my Mini’s Halloween costume most recently} but not daily. So here’s my plan…with the holidays and Nanowrimo coming up, and my to-do list being the overwhelming length it is I’m postponing my 365 experiment until the start of 2011.

I don’t plan on completely abandoning this blog until then {after all…I do have sewing projects I’m doing for the holidays, might as well show them off right?}. But I won’t be posting regularly again until January.

I apologize, but I gotta do what I gotta do. And what I gotta do is not drive myself crazy trying to do everything at once.

But, I’ll be back {you may take that as either a promise or a warning}. ;P

Life Happens

2010-09-02T14:54:00.001-06:00

OK, so traveling two weeks in a row, starting a new job, having a house guest living in one’s sewing room, beginning a new workout routine, and scrambling to find a day care for one’s offspring? NOT conducive to daily sewing. I so totally screwed up my daily sewing routine that I’m starting the countdown over one more time. After this if I screw up I screw up and that’s just too bad.

I still need to take some pictures of a few mini-projects I hand stitched. I embellished a t-shirt and a headband with fabric yo-yo flowers and made the front half of a little owl Christmas ornament. I also have started working on a quilt. Fabric.com messed up my Christmas fabric order so I’m waiting for the correct print to arrive before I begin working on my holiday quilt. But I’ve got plenty of projects keeping me busy in the meantime.

Sorry for my absence and all that. I’ll be better, promise. ;)

TTFN

2010-08-19T13:59:00.001-06:00

I apologize in advance; this post has no pictures.

I’ve done a few itty, bitty hand stitching projects lately while I postponed trouble-shooting Viggo. Once I gathered the will to tackle his “illness” it was fairly simple. When all else fails, clean out the lint, oil the shuttle, and replace the needle {even if you just did it a week ago}.

All the crayon rolls are now done, and wrapped. We’ll mail them off this weekend {along with the beanbags and a non-sewn gift} while we’re in the states. And once we get back I’ll give you some pics of the hand stitching I’ve been doing. I’ll be doing more this weekend as I am *not* taking Viggo on a road trip with me.

Also…I forgot to sew one day {again}. But this time I’m not starting over. It really was an honest-to-goodness mistake. If I had remembered I would have sewn. Seriously…if I’m in bed, falling asleep, and I remember I need to sew I *will* get up again. But if I don’t remember until the following morning there’s not much to be done, is there?

Have a good weekend! Wish I could say mine would be relaxing…but it should be exciting!

Crayon Rolls

2010-08-08T15:22:00.002-06:00

I’m getting closer and closer to finishing all the Christmas presents for the nieces and nephews we have in the gift exchange this year. I managed to get three crayon rolls done {one is for MiniDork} before Viggo started misbehaving again. I’m hoping it’s just a bent needle or something. I need to make one more crayon roll {in the heart pattern} and a few other projects before our trip to Utah this month {so I can take advantage of those flat-rate shipping boxes the USPS has while we’re there…hey, Canada Post, you could learn a thing or two from the USPS}!
Anywho…more pictures!

I used the tutorial from Chocolate On My Cranium. Good tute. You should try it, you know, if you have a need for crayon rolls. I think they’d make great stocking stuffers, and that’s exactly what I plan to do with MiniDork’s.
The heart fabric is from Ikea. The pink sparkle fabric was given to me. And the Canadian animal print and green fabric came from Fabricland. I completely adore the animal print. It has bison, moose, beavers, polar bears, porcupines, etc. as well as mountains and trees. It’s really adorable. And all the ribbons were from my Michael’s.

And, just because I think they’re super cute, here’s another picture:

Improvising

2010-07-31T16:03:00.001-06:00

Sometimes when you sew without a plan things turn out just fine:

And sometimes they don’t:

That top project was a cover for my camera strap. Very simple, all straight lines. The bottom project was a monkey. I made it knowing it probably wouldn’t turn out {but would make good practice} and should it turn out it would be a gift for a monkey-themed birthday party I went to today. Well, it didn’t turn out {which is why I had a back-up gift}. But Lucy still thinks he’s pretty fun.

Viggo was sick this week. But, with a little hair-pulling, cussing, and perseverance I managed to heal him. Hooray!

And now I’m off to enjoy my long weekend {Monday is a civic holiday, yay Canada}!

Play Jewelry

2010-07-28T14:08:00.002-06:00

MiniDork loves to steal my necklaces. I have a Mommy Necklace and a key lanyard that she demands to wear whenever she sees them. While the Mommy Necklace is probably safe for her to wear I can’t let her wear the lanyard unsupervised because it’s a strangulation hazard. Plus, I’d really rather she didn’t steal my stuff. I’m always nervous she’ll lose something under the couch or that I’ll forget I took my keys out of my purse and get locked out. So I made her jewelry of her very own.

The necklace is made with a velcro closure {yay! not a strangulation hazard!}, a fabric yo-yo, and a gem from last year’s Halloween costume.
The bracelet or “watch” was inspired by this tutorial by Gingham Cherry. It’s just elastic, another yo-yo, and a big button. Cute, no?
But, of course, she still seems to prefer my necklace.
On a totally unrelated note: I contacted White customer service to ask them when Viggo was made. Hopefully I’ll get an answer soon. *fingers crossed*

Reversible Bag Tutorial

2010-07-26T15:49:00.004-06:00

I recently finished making the bean bags for the kidlets we have for Christmas this year {ManDork has so many siblings that they don’t all exchange gifts with each other every year and this year we have one of his sisters and her family}. I wanted to make a simple drawstring bag in which they could be stored.
So I did.
It was super easy.
And now I’m going to show you how to make one too.

You will need:

2 rectangles of fabric 23”x14'”. When you cut your fabric make sure that one of the 23” sides is the selvage. I used two different fabrics so my bag was reversible, but you could use the same fabric if you want.
matching or coordinating thread
about 2 feet of matching or coordinating bias tape {mine was leftover from my onesie-turned-t-shirt project}

This project can be completed in approximately 0.5 Naptimes.
Fold a rectangle in half {14” end to 14'” end} with the right side of your fabric facing in. Pin and sew the bottom and the side. The bottom is the non-selvage side. Leave the selvage side open. I did 1/2 inch seam allowances and trimmed off some of the excess.

Repeat with your other rectangle.
Now flip just one of your bags inside out so that the right side of the fabric is no longer on the inside.

Stuff the bag that you did not flip into the bag that you turned inside out. Line up the top edges {the selvage edges} as best as you can. They’re not lined up in the picture below because I wanted to make sure you could see that one bag was now inside the other bag.

Now you will pin your bias tape along the top of both bags. Leave an opening where the two ends meet. You won’t want to sew that closed or else you won’t be able to do the drawstring.

Make sure you leave some inner open space between the top of the bags and the top of the bias tape {see illustration below…if you’re still confused let me know}. You will need that empty space for the drawstring. Fold over the ends of the bias tape so the raw edges don’t show. Sew the bias tape on with a zig zag stitch that overlaps the edge of the tape.

Then all you need to do is thread the drawstring. I used some string leftover from a non-sewing project but you could use ribbon if you wanted to. Just use a safety pin to help you guide your string through the casing created with the bias tape. Knot the ends together and seal them to prevent fraying. I used a lighter to seal the ends and to melt the knot itself a little to make sure it didn’t come untied.
Voila! Reversible bag for storing bean bags, fabric scraps, the evidence from your secret crime, or whatever else needs storing. You could also make this in different sizes to suit your fancy, embellish it with ric-rac or applique, or use a pretty ribbon to make the caseing instead of bias tape.

If any of these instructions are too confusing just let me know in the comments.

More Converted Onesies

2010-07-25T20:39:00.002-06:00

I completed three more t-shirts this weekend. I’ve had my in-laws staying over and not a lot of free time so it just goes to show that this really is a quick and easy project. If you missed the tutorial you can find it here. Cute, no?

From Onesie To T-Shirt

2010-07-23T19:29:00.006-06:00

We’re doing casual potty training with the MiniDork. We’re using the baby signs system but we’re not in a rush. But casual or not, potty training is a pain if your kid wears onesies. Having to unsnap a shirt in addition to removing pants and a diaper is not conducive to speedy potty time. So I decided MiniDork would just not wear them anymore. The only problem was that she had all these cute outfits with onesies. I tried to find shirts that matched the pants but as the outfits were matched sets I couldn’t find anything. That’s when I decided I’d simply turn her onesies into regular shirts.
To remake onesies into shirts use an acrylic ruler and a rotary cutter or use scissors {if you can cut a straight line} to cut across the whole width of the shirt as close to the bottom as possible. Like so:

Unfortunately, after the snap bottoms were cut off, some of the shirts were just not long enough to be worn as t-shirts. As much as I love adorable toddler bellies I didn’t really want my child walking around with hers hanging out all the time. After cutting just try the shirts on your kiddo to see if they’re long enough. If not you can do like me and save them to make into a baby clothes quilt later.
Now you’ll need bias tape and matching thread. I took all my shirts with me to the fabric shop so I knew for sure that what I purchased would coordinate well. I needed about two feet of bias tape for each shirt but you should probably measure yours to be certain. Just measure across the cut area, double it and add an inch or two to be on the safe side {you can always cut off excess but you can’t really add more if you don’t have enough}.
Pin the bias tape to the bottom of the shirt and sew! I used a small zig-zag stitch because it seemed like a good idea since the shirts were knits. {Make sure to fold over the ends of the tape so there are no raw edges showing.}
Why bias tape? Why not just hem? Well, for one hemming makes the shirts even shorter and you’ll want to keep as much length as you can. Also, after several attempts I could not get the hang of sewing the knit fabric by itself. Viggo just kept eating the fabric and ripping it. I tried using paper to stabilize the fabric and keep it from being sucked down towards the bobbin but when I tried to rip the paper away it ripped the stitching too. Finally I did what any seamstress would…I complained about it to my mother. My mom doesn’t sew, but she is very clever. She suggested just sewing a ribbon to the bottom of the shirts so the ribbon could act as a stabilizer. Bias tape seemed less delicate and slippery to work with so I went with that instead. But if you’re a better seamstress than I am you could use ribbon, or blanket binding or whatnot. You could even use strips of a coordinating fabric. Get creative!

I think she likes it. :)

ETA: To see more shirts click here.

Well, Darn

2010-07-20T03:04:00.003-06:00

Saturday I was having such a good day doing a bunch of different things {like eating ice cream, twice} that I totally forgot to sew.
Bummer.
First I thought “Well, I’m not even two weeks in yet. I can just start over.” Then I thought “Meh. I really did just forget. Am I going to start over if I forget on day 364? I need to stop being such a perfectionist.” Then I thought “but the experiment is every day for 365 days, not 365 days except when I’m distracted or don’t feel like it or <insert excuse here>.” Then I thought “do my {potential} readers care how precise I am? Does it make the experiment less interesting and meaningful if I don’t stick to my arbitrary and self-imposed rules?”
These are the sorts of things that keep me up at night worrying. Now you know the depth of my neurosis. {And if you think I’m just ~~being~~ attempting to be funny I would like to point out that I’m working on this post at 3:03 am.}
I also had Viggo jam up on me twice since the last time I posted which was very frustrating. The first occasion was so bad the onesie I was trying to hem into a t-shit ripped {and may not be salvageable}. The ManDork had to remove the needle from the machine just to remove the fabric. I have no idea what went wrong. I’m just hoping it doesn’t happen again when I pluck up enough courage to work on all the onesies I’m converting {we’ve casually begun potty training and unsnapping MiniDork’s shirts so she can sit on the potty is sort of a pain}.
But it’s not all bad. I finished the second set of bean bags which will be sent to certain kiddos to whom I am related as part of their Christmas present. MiniDork is still endlessly entertained by hers so I think they’ll be well-received.
The I-Spy Swap is full and the Flickr pool of fabrics is growing in awesomeness. They’re are a few selections I just don’t like and may not end up using but overall the fabrics are full of awesome and win.
I bought some new towels on sale that are thinner and covered in blue butterflies {MiniDork looooooves butterflies…and bees too thanks to copious amounts of Pooh-watching but there were no bee towels}. As soon as I get more twill tape and get everything pre-washed I will again attempt to make her a bath robe. And if she hates it I’ll concede bathrobe defeat and move on to the hundreds of other projects I have bookmarked.
I’m not exaggerating. I have hundreds of saved links to various sewing projects I want to tackle {and even more links to other non-sewing crafts}. I figure if I stop visiting One Pretty Thing and all the other craft blogs I like {and therefore cease to collect more links} I might finish all the projects on my oooooh-that’s-so-cute-I-have-got-to-make-that! list by 2025. What can I say? Some people collect porcelain figurines of creepy-looking children with oversized eyes, I collect ridiculous numbers of to-do items.

Failrobe

2010-07-16T10:16:00.002-06:00

Mumble grumble moan pout mumble…the project I spent the better part of yesterday working on is a complete fail. I saw this tutorial on Obsessively Stitching on how to make a toddler bath robe from dish towels and knew I wanted to try it. I didn’t see any cute dish towels, so I decided to go with fluffier hand towels {probably my first mistake, made sewing pretty difficult}. My second mistake was eyeballing where to put the belt loops. They’re so low on the robe that they’re below MiniDork’s bum. My third mistake was thinking I could neatly sew the binding {I couldn’t, not at all}. And my final mistake was assuming MiniDork would even like a bathrobe.
She hates it.
She won’t wear it. She cried when I put it on her. And now she hides her face when I suggest she put it on.
So I’m not even sure it’s worth trying again with the recommended type of towels. This whole debacle makes me grumpy. I hate putting so much time and heart into something only to have it not turn out. I’m really grateful for my everyday experiment. In most cases when I have a project fail it puts me in such a bad mood I stop doing that particular craft or hobby for quite a while. This time I’m still dealing with the bad mood bit, but I *have* to get back on the proverbial horse.
I’d just like to point out that these fails are all my own. The tutorial is just fine and you should totally try it yourself {but with less fluffy towels and less failage}.
Also I’m participating in an I Spy swap! Woo-hoo! I first learned about I Spy quilts on Obsessively Stitching. But she ran her swaps before I had a working sewing machine. So I missed out. Well she inspired this swap on Crafterhours of exclusively Spoonflower fabrics and I jumped at the chance to participate.
These are my two contributions to the swap:

I designed the origami fabric myself. I have a thing for paper cranes. You can see more of the swap fabrics in the Flickr Group. It’s not too late to sign up for the swap! So if you’re interested just click the button!

7 Days In, Or “The Week I Went Fabric Crazy”

2010-07-13T19:36:00.002-06:00

I’ve had Viggo for 7 days now. I’ve sewn at list a little each of those days. So far so good. I’ve only had one FAIL so bad that I have to start completely over. For a novice that’s pretty good, right? So what if all my other projects have been simple straight-lines-only-type projects? I’m still pleased with myself. I’ve really only been sewing for a little bit each day {thank goodness for nap time, eh?} but little bits of time here and there really accomplish a lot in a weeks time.
I’ve finished MiniDork’s bean bags and she L.O.V.E.S. them. Hopefully they’ll be just as popular with the nieces and nephew for whom I’m making a set. I’m half-done with their bean bags, but would like to also make a simple drawstring bag to put the bean bags in. I’m also going to be making more heat packs, but this time I’ll be putting nice “smelly-stuff” in them, like cinnamon and cloves {thank you BethanyBob for the suggetion!}.
Sooooo…I may or may not have gone a little fabric crazy in the past week. Between the profits from the sale of my two broken sewing machines, and some money I won, and my allowance I got a little “supply-happy.” Here’s what I got:

Some super-cute flannel for $3.95 p/yard to make more bean bags, rice heat packs, and other projects I’m planning.
A deep cut assembly for my Cricut so I can cut fabric for appliqué {something I’ve been dying to do for years}. Usually the assembly costs $50+ but I found it on Amazon for <$12!!!
Some fabric on Etsy {see pictures below}.
Some fabric from Fabric.com {see pictures below} for making my very first quilt ever {a Christmas quilt}! I heart Christmas so freakin’ much {which is probably why I proceeded to get more Christmas fabric on Etsy.
A free-motion foot for Viggo so I can do free motion machine quilting.
Some silk-screening fabric paint for some projects I have in mind.
Two hot pink towels to make MiniDork a bath robe.
A bias tape maker thingy {“thingy” is the technical term}.

Other then some thread and such I think that’s it. And maybe with the exception of some elastic thread I’m putting myself on a fabric/notions buying moratorium until I get further down my projects list. Anyhow, here are some pictures of some of the goodies I got {click on the images to be taken to the site from which items were purchased}:

So that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll have some more tutorials for you this week. :)

Bean Bags

2010-07-10T18:44:00.003-06:00

I’m getting a head start on my Christmas gifts. And for some of the kids on my list I’m making mini-~~bean~~ rice bags {though I’m making a set for my MiniDork first, as practice}. They’re really easy {just follow the instructions for the rice heat pack but use 4x4 squares instead of 6x9 rectangles and about 1.5 eighths-a-cup rice}. I’m halfway done with MiniDork’s set. I’m sure I’ll be finished with all of them in the next several days.

The list of uses for these is pretty much only limited by your imagination. Here’s a head-start:

juggling
catch
hide and seek
hopscotch “stone”
weapons of “war”
math manipulatives
color sorting
paperweights {that was ManDork’s suggestion}
waste basket “basketball”
hackey-sack

Any good ideas I missed? Leave ‘em in the comments!

Super Easy Rice Heat Pack

2010-07-10T18:32:00.002-06:00

I used to have two microwavable rice packs {great for cramps!} but then we didn’t have a microwave for a while so I tossed ‘em. But now we do have a microwave, and I happened to have some pretty blue flannel damask. So I whipped this up. It’s a really, really easy project as in, so-easy-it’s-probably-an-insult-to-your-intelligence-that-I’m-giving-you-instructions. Nevertheless, here they are!
You need:

a small amount of flannel
rice
the usual {thread, sewing machine}

Step 1: Cut two rectangles of flannel {I find that 9 inches by 6 inches is a good size}.
Step 2: Sew the rectangles together with the right sides of the fabric facing each other. Don’t sew all the way around. Leave a small opening. Snip the corners then turn the pouch you’ve created right-side out.

Step 3: Use a funnel to fill with dry rice {I used 2 cups}.
Step 4: Sew all around the edges, starting at the opening {fold the opening edges in first}. You can use a contrasting thread color {I used white} or a matching color. This is probably the hardest step simply because you’ve got to move the rice out of the way as you go.

Voila. Just nuke that sucker for 1-3 minutes on high and you’re all set to go!

Sewing Machine Cover

2010-07-10T18:15:00.002-06:00

The first project I completed {successfully} with Viggo was a variation of the sewing machine cover tutorial by Sparkle Power. After all, my new love deserves to be cared for and protected from dust. I used one less fabric, and I forgot the second set of ties. But it gets the job done. Viggo is a somewhat awkward shape so it looks a little funny on him. But I don’t think he minds.

Don’t you think he looks cozy in there?
He did come with a hard cover, but it’s quite large. And I’d like Viggo to actually be able to fit in the nook I’ve reserved for him on my craft desk/shelf combo {picture to come of my work space as soon as I get it clean}.
Now, a question for anybody reading this, when was Viggo made? He’s a White 954 but neither the manual nor Google can tell me when the 954 was manufactured. I’d really like to learn a little bit more about my machine so if you have any leads please leave them in the comments.

An Introduction

2010-07-09T20:06:00.003-06:00

The first post on a new blog is always so exciting. But this post seems even more so. I suppose it's because I'm feeling so electrified by my "heliocentric sewing" project. I've had my new-to-me machine, Viggo, for a mere four days and already I've completed two projects {though, one was a FAIL and needs to be done again} and I am about halfway done with another project {a Christmas gift}.

By the way, Viggo is a bad. ass. Seriously. He's a sturdy sonuvagun. I have a theory that the heavier the sewing machine the more reliable it is. Well, Viggo is definitely not a lightweight. I heart him so much, and we've only known each other such a short time. But what we have is magical, special, destined to last.

Anyhow, here's some semi-important information for you:

*This blog is still very much under construction. But as I've already started my 365 days I didn't want to postpone getting started on the writing aspect. So hang in there while I work on design, organization, social media links, getting a button, and whatnot. {But please, in the meantime, there's no reason not to start following this blog.}
*I like swear words. And I will use them on occasion.
*I'm a novice. So if you're new to sewing you'll probably be particularly interested in watching my progress over a year's time. And if you're a seasoned pro I'm sure you'll enjoy giving me your sage advice {or laughing at me - that's fine too}.

Anywho. I guess that's all for now.

Oh, PS, in case you don't already know me...my name is Holly. I also blog on Domestic Dork. <--I fixed the link!