Santa's Got a Brand New Bag

On the first day of Christmas, I had an inspiration.  And acted on it.  I made my daughter a handbag which I call "Santa Purse" for reasons obvious.

This is a box style bag, front, back, sides, bottom and zippered top.  There's no pattern, but based on a booklet called "Totes With Zippers" by Cindy Taylor Oates.

I quilted red satin fabric to polyester fleece at 1/2" intervals.  After large blocks of fabric were quilted, I cut out the pieces.   I really lucked out when I found these red/white stripe handles online.  They are perfect for this bag.  I bought white fur, but didn't like it once I got it home.  Then I rememered our Santa Hats, and I tok the fur off of them and used it as trim.  The large initial is an ornament by Henry Miller that I bought last year.

There are side pockets.  On one side, I attached a rhinestone D-Ring for a key fob.

I stacked buttons together and sewed them on the bottom for feet.  It's lined in red satin  and has a zippered pocket inside.  The top zip has a rhinestone circle for a zipper pull.

I took it to a sewing meeting Tuesday, and  the ladies were all over that purse!  I gave it to my daughter last night.  She liked it, I think.  It's a whimsical bag to carry during the holidays.  Fun.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, however you celebrate it, big or small. 

Repeats and Redesigns

Some projects just wanna' give you grief from the beginning.  I hope this will not be one of those.  Last summer, I found this fabric on the grab table at a sewing meeting.  It's a brushed cotton, but it is so lush it looks like velveteen.  Drapable.  It's a very dark olive green/black print on a white background.

It's a large print, large repeat.   I decided to make an old TNT blouse pattern from it, thinking there was plenty.  That was wrong thinking  my first challenge.  I wanted the print to not only be centered vertically, but horizontally as well, so I treated it as a horizontal stripe. 

Had I changed the pattern to have a separate front facing instead of cut-on facings, I would have been more successful in trying to match all the pieces.  But those cut-on facings take up a lot of fabric.  I know that.  I was in denial.

So that the print would match horizontally around the body, I rotated the bust dart to the underarm.

Original pattern

Cut out bust dart

         Original dart closed and new dart rotated to underarm.

All was well.  Until I started to cut the sleeves.  In order to cut the print so that the sleeves/body stayed horizontally matched, I had to cut the sleeve vertically in the center, add seam allowances and make it a 2-piece sleeve.

I also had to shorten the sleeve to 3/4 length and add a cuff.

The pieces are all cut out.  As I worked on it, I wondered why I'm going through all this aggravation for a blouse.  Although I like the fabric, it's not not the most fabulous I've owned, and it was free, after all.  I just don't want to be defeated by a piece of fabric.

And sew I go on.  I win.  But --what price glory?

T-Shirts, Patterns and Bargains

What can you say about a T-shirt that hasn't already been said?  They are what they are.  They are also exactly what I need.   I cut out 5 at once, stacked them and sewed them.

                                                                                    

I ordered two shirt patterns from Hot Patterns.

Their Great White Shirt and Princess Shirt. 

At one of my recent sewing meetings, I picked up a few old issues of Burda magazine.  They range in years from 1996-2004.  I also scored two pieces of really nice wool fabrics.  There is three yards of a solid, charcoal gray, and three yards of a loosely woven gray with a small black stripe.

It was a pretty good buy at $3.00.

I started cutting out a shirt today, and will continue tomorrow.  I'm playing with the new formatting Blogger offers. The photos  load easier, where you want them instead of having to move them about.  So far, so good.   However, when I hit "Publish", I don't know what I'll get!  We'll see.  I can't find a spell-checker, so hopefully there's no typos.

Blogger Help !!

In my last post, the "comments" ended up wayyyyyy down from my post. This happens every time I fiddle with photos. Is there a cure for this disease? I cannot figure out how to correct it.

Cookie Cutter Wool--Jacket Class Day Two

I learned an interesting and probably, little known, technique in the Felted Wool Jacket Class. I had never seen this until introduced to Barbara Skimin, the instructor of the class. She has won several contests using this technique to embellish her felted wool garments.

The following samples I made up quickly, and they are not as accurate as they would be if I were actually working on a garment. This is fun but not for the faint of heart! Those who like to play with embellishments and make art garments will find it challenging and fascinating.

Begin with wool that has been felted. Cut out a garment. Work out a design on a muslin . Think applique type designs. The design could take the form of a flower, hearts, or something geometric. Once you have a design drawn on your muslin (or pattern paper), pin the muslin to the garment. And--cut the design elements from your garment fabric. This is like cutting cookies out of dough. See--big hole cut into wool fabric!

The objective is to fill that hole with co-ordinating wool felted fabric(s), using the cut-out shape as a pattern. It can be a solid color piece of fabric, or fabrics pieced like Crazy Quilting. To make a patchwork fabric, cut two pieces of felted wool, making sure the two edges that are to be joined are straight.

Butt the two straight edges up against each other. They should be "bunched up" --crowded--just a bit--not laying flat when they go under the presser foot. This will ensure that when they are stitched together, there will not be any gaps between the fabrics.

Sew them together using a "serpentine" stitch, and using lightweight (lingerie) thread to match the fabrics. Instead of lightweight thread, I used transparent nylon thread on top. (not the cheap, packaged stuff but good, flexible quality like YLI) and lingerie thread in the bobbin. Use an open-toe foot. Stitch length set at 1.

Continue adding fabric and repeating the piecing process until there's enough for the shape that was cut out. Lay that cutout onto the pieced fabric and cut out the shape. Press well.

Lay the new pieced fabric back into the hole in the garment. Make several registration marks completely across the design and garment fabric. Those are necessary when sewing the shape back into the hole.

Sew the shape into the hole. Using the same technique as above, put the fabrics under the open-toe foot. Butt them together, crowding them together and sew with a serpentine stitch. This is a slow process, concentrating on sewing from one registration mark to another. Sew from the center to a point. Stop. Sew from the opposite side to the point. Press well.

On my sample, I didn't set the piece in accurately, and it isn't as smooth as it should be.

The seams are now embellished with decorative stitching. Using lightweight thread in the bobbin and a heavy thread on top, sew over the inside seams using a decorative stitch. I used lingerie thread in the bobbin, Sulky 12 weight cotton variegated thread on top, and a wide feather stitch.

When the inside seams are finished, continue decorative stitching around the outside of the design. Extend the stitching if you wish, into the garment, wherever you want. This is the finished sample.

Now that I understand the technique and have worked on some samples, I have second thoughts on the design I have. Fortunately, I haven't cut into my garment. I will redesign. I have some sketches and when I'm satisfied, will start the garment. It's been long time since I did an artsy type project and this will be a work in progress for a while.

Meanwhile, I cut out 6 long sleeve t-shirts. They are stacked up and ready to sew while I think.

The Traveling Pincushion

"Necessity is the mother of invention".

Anyone who takes their sewing gear from one location to another has encountered the problem of securing their pins. Pin cushions just don't work for travel because pins inevitably fall out. If they are in a box, they are difficult to pick up and use.

The instructor of the Felted Wool jacket class, Barbara Skimin, had this most simple, but perfect solution to the traveling pin dilemma. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that" things.

This traveling pincushion is not pretty, although I suppose one could dress it up. But--it works. It starts with a pill bottle. Just your normal size pill bottle, about 2 1/2" high and 1" in diameter. Any size will work, but this is what I had in my medicine cabinet. You also need a piece of wool felt, 4" x 12".

Fold the wool felt in half, lengthwise so it is 2 1/2" by 12" and roll it up tightly, like a jelly-roll.

Stuff that roll into the pill bottle with the folded edge on top.

Stick your pins into the felt, pushing them all the way down, and put the cap on the bottle.

This took maybe 2 minutes. My bottle is now filled with pins and ready to go. The pins are secure but I can still get to them easily.

I will be posting a pictorial of the "seamless piecing" technique that I learned. It's quite ingenious and something I had never seen.

Felted Jacked with Seamless Piecing Day One

Our first day of class was terrific! Needlework and Textile Guild of Michigan had Barbara Skimmins today and tomorrow to teach her "seamless piecing" method using felted wool. The day began with a lecture and trunk show of her fabulous art garments. After lunch, we began our class.

Our wool fabrics were supposed to be pre-felted for class by washing in hot water/cold rinse and lots of agitation until felted properly. We were to have a muslin, fitted and sewn together. The instructor had us draw a design on our muslin. Here is my sleeve.
I made a teardrop shape. There are similar shapes drawn on the other pieces of the jacket. We took the muslin apart and used it for our pattern to cut out the jacket.

Next comes the fun part. We are going to cut design elements out of the jacket pieces, leaving a hole . As if you were cutting dough with cookie cutters. Only out of our fabric. Scary huh! Cutting a big old hole in a beautiful piece of wool! I will cut that teardrop out of my sleeve. The hole will be "plugged" with another piece of wool in a different color. It will be sewn into the hole using decorative stitching with heavy thread. Thus--"seamless piecing".

The teardrop shape will not be just one piece of fabric, but several pieces patched together like crazy-quilting, with decorative stitching.

So far, so good. My jacket is cut and ready for the embellishment process tomorrow morning. There were 20 people in class today. Twenty ladies who definitely know their stuff. These are all seasoned sewists. It was a great day. I am so looking forward to tomorrow.

Holiday Sewing

Bring on the holidays! No, not yet? What--you're not ready? DH and I went Christmas shopping and we are D.O.N.E. !! I try to have the shopping done by Thanksgiving.

I don't do a lot of holiday type sewing, but I like to have a "little something" for a couple of ladies. This year it's aprons. I made the 4-Corners Apron from Vanilla House Designs.

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This is Sewing 101. The apron is lined with the co-ordinating fabric. The public side has trim around two edges. Two large squares sewn together. Add straps at the neckline and waist. I used a religious-themed cotton fabric for the right side, and found a dotted print for the reverse side and trim. I think the recipients will appreciate the fabric choice. Ease-peasy. I will make another, probably tomorrow.

And then, I am finished with holiday gifts. The day after Thanksgiving, while people are out shopping in droves, I will be at home, hopefully in my sewing room, enjoying the day. Or-perhaps wrapping gifts!

Tomorrow I will pack my gear for the Felted Wool Jacket class on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm looking forward to two days of fun!

A Free Invaluable Tool For Everyone

Carolyn's post today was "Stretch and How to Work It". We have all struggled with fitting difficulty, particularly when using a stretch fabric. Make a top in one knit and it fits perfectly. Make it again in another knit and it's too big, or too small. What is the key? She asked for suggestions, and although I left a comment on her blog, I am posting a wonderful worksheet here for anyone who has ever had problems figuring out how a pattern is going to fit using a stretch fabric. I believe that includes most of the blogging community!

Christine Johnson has been producing her own line of patterns for many years and is an authority on fitting knits. She developed a wonderful tool for calculating ease using any pattern, any fabric with any amount of stretch. It's a PDF worksheet. She has you measure your pattern, and determine the amount of stretch in your fabric using her guidelines. Following her instructions on the worksheet, do the math--and you have the amount of ease your garment will have. And, it's free.

This worksheet allows you to calculate how much ease you will have using fabric with 25% stretch, 50% stretch, 75% stretch, or no stretch at all using the same pattern.

Go to http://cjpatterns.com/. Click on "Tips and How To's". When that list comes up, click on "Perfect Sizing Worksheet". She has a good explanation of how stretch factors in the fit of a garment. It is an invaluable tool. No more guesswork.

I hope you take advantage of this worksheet and that it helps solve the mystery of stretch. This is a good thing people. Go get it!

Finished !

The beading on my bag is finished. I want to find a silver chain to use as a handle, and I will make a lining for it. Nancy K asked if I will bead on garments. I have done some beading on clothes, but beads get heavy, so I've used them sparingly. There is a good sample of beaded embroidery on a dress in the current issue of Threads. This little bag is surprisingly heavy.

I made a muslin for the Felted Wool Jacket class that is next week, already. I don't know what happened to October. I seemed to have missed it. Anyway, the instructor wants us to have a fitted muslin for class. She wants all construction marks on the muslin, which means we will be taking it apart and using it for our pattern.

I made S2701. (Blogger will not let me link today. Someone else was complaining about that earlier.)

The instructor advised us to have a collar-less jacket. Preferably Princess seams, rather than darts, and a simple design. This pattern seemed to fit the bill. There is a round-neck version. There is a pleat in the back, which I took out. I have a good fit, with all construction marks, grainlines, etc. on the muslin. All I have left to do to prepare for the class is get my "Little Brother" sewing machine from upstairs and make sure it sews the decorative threads without issues.

Next--I want to make a couple of aprons for holiday gifts. I have the fabrics washed. I'll probably get those started on Thursday.

Busy Beading

I've always loved to do handwork. A lot of it has passed through my hands. Needlepoint, many types of embroidery, knitting, crochet. I've been enjoying beaded embroidery the last couple of days. I took a class with Christine Reilly a couple of weeks ago and posted about it previously.

I'm working on the class sample. It's a little beaded bag. Here it is, in progress.

There is no pattern for the placement of stitches. It's free-form. Each side is different. There are several cabochons (stones held in place with rounds of beaded stitches). I have started the netting, which looks lattice-like, and goes around the entire bottom portion of the bag.

It's very relaxing, and a good thing to do while watching TV in the evening.

Also, I'm working on a muslin for the felted jacket class coming up. I have it traced and made alterations to the flat pattern. Tomorrow, I'll cut and sew it.

I Felt It

It has been a nightmare of a week. My DH had a medical emergency Monday and we've had two trips to the ER, trips to doctors. He is going to be ok in the end, but right now he requires a lot of care. It has taken all I can do to take care of his needs.

I'm trying to get supplies together for the Felted Wool jacket workshop next month. The way my life shakes out, I don't wait until the last minute because if I do, surely something comes along that takes my time.


These are my fabrics, all felted, ironed and ready.


The light gray wool I got off the grab table at a sewing meeting. There was 3 yards. To felt it, I washed it in hot water/cold rinse 4 times. Then, I threw it in the dryer. It felted beautifully. The red and the black are smaller pieces needed for embellishment. They are blazers I bought at Salvation Army Thrift Store for $4 each. I ripped the blazers apart and felted them. After they were dry, I steam-ironed them. The fabric is felted properly if you can cut into it and it doesn't ravel.

The teacher, Barbara Skimin, likes Sulky 12 wt. cotton thread to do the decorative stitching. I ordered black, dark gray, red, red variegated, black variegated from http://www.speedstitch.com/. I won't use all of them, but I have enough to make a choice when the time comes.

Barbara Skimin is well know in Michigan. She wrote a book for Brother sewing machine company. She's been featured in Threads magazine. I took a photo of her "Felted Wool Jacket with Seamless Piecing Techniques" for reference. Here it is:

Note: This is the work of Barbara Skimin, not me. I didn't get a chance to examine this closely. But, I think what she's doing is cutting pieces of felted wool, butting them together, and doing a decorative stitch where they butt together. Then taking the pieced embellishment and laying it on the jacket and stitching down with a decorative stitch.

I may be wrong about the procedure, but that is what it looks like to me.

There's a couple of things I have to pick up at the local Jo when I'm out that way. Also, I am taking my cheap, little Brother machine with me to class, instead of my heavy Bernina(s).

Make some beautiful things this weekend!

Simplicity Sucks

I have sent an email to Simplicity.com expressing my distaste for their new website. I'm trying to research patterns, and their pages take forever to load, if at all. It's difficult to navigate about the site.

I encourage any of you who do not like their new format to take a moment and drop an email to them. Perhaps if they get enough complaints they will revamp the site.

Books, Fabrics and All Things Good

The "Beading on Fabric" class I took last week was terrific. Two days of uninterrupted stitching with sewing friends and a first-class teacher.

Next month, the workshop is "Felted Wood Jacket with Seamless Piecing". We need a piece of wool fabric which has been wet-felted for the jacket itself, and pieces of contrasting felted pieces for the decorative technique we're learning. I had a large chunk of light gray wool that I got off the grab table at another sewing club. I washed it it hot water/cold rinse 5 times. It felted beautifully. For contrasting fabric, I went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store and picked up two wool blazers for $4 each--one black, one red. I ripped them apart, and felted them also. My jacket will be light gray with black and red contrasting adornment. Now, I have to order some Sulky 12-wt. decorative threads. What fun!

I bought Kenneth King's book, "Cool Couture". I have a LOT of sewing books, so I am particular what I buy now. This one does not disappoint.

Many of his techniques are different from the norm. His instructions are excellent, and he has a lot of ideas about embellishing. Those who are familiar with his work know his style is NOT boring! This is a good read, and I'm going through the book page by page.

I need long-sleeve knit tops for winter. Nothing cutting-edge, stylish or elaborate, but plain, scoop-neck, 3/4 length sleeve t-shirts to wear to the grocery and running errands. I found a black and a white solid cotton knit at Jo's that is adequate. I bought a couple of print knits from http://www.thefabricfairy.com/. I like cotton or cotton/lycra.

The crossword-puzzle print is a hoot! I couldn't resist! There's a black/red polka dot, a solid black and a solid white. I will cut these all at once, and line them up to sew.

There's socks on my knitting needles, the bead-work project on a board and a couple of holiday projects in the works. Last week, I had zero sewing time. This week looks more promising. Yay!

How Much Fabric? Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

How Much Fabric? Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Great giveaway!