Window Seat... Finished

I had grand plans for showing you step-by-step how I made this window seat, and those all flew out the window when I got the full-time job in September. I'm settling in to the job, but still exhausted, so the best I can do is let you know that it is finally finished. Just in time for the holidays!!

The dogs both love it, but only Danny really likes to have his picture taken. The blue bolster bit is already covered with dog fur. The good news is that it is washable. The coppery front cushion is faux leather (aka vinyl) and just be wiped off should doggy paw prints (or worse) appear.

While I think it does look great (applause! applause!) I feel I should confess that there is some half-assed shenanigans going on in the parts that you can't see. If I paid someone to make it, I would be unhappy. As it is, I'm thrilled! Long live imperfection!!

Now I must head off to my destiny of ensuring that bridal parties around the southeast (and indeed, the entire country) look their very best!

First Skirt is Finished

The skirt that is my first garment for myself other than a Halloween costume, is finished. Some observations:

If it's Saturday, and you don't put any product in your straight, fine hair, and hold the bangs back with a bobby pin because they're bothering you, your hair will look like this.

If you've worn socks all day, and then take them off for your fashion photo shoot, you will have sock lines around your ankles.

If you try on your skirt over jeans while you're making it, and it fits, when you take off the jeans when it's finished, it will be too big. And, this time, you won't really care. It will just sit a little lower on your hips and be kind of comfy in that, my skirt can spin all the way around my body easily, kind of way.

If you aren't careful when cutting the skirt out, and your scissors are kind of dull anyway, some things will end up a little weird. Like the yoke that turned out to be a little wider in the center.

If you've never put in an invisible zipper in, you might not leave enough room at the top for a hook and eye, and then the invisible zipper will be not quite invisible.

I don't love this skirt, but I do like it, and I'll wear it. Especially since I just got this sweater on sale at Talbots, and it looks so good with it.

For the record, it's Simplicity 2564. The fabric has a herringbone weave, and is some kind of moderately stretchy polyester thing that I purchased at the fabric.com warehouse sale a couple of years ago. The kind of fabric sale, where you stuff everything you want in a bag, and you pay by the pound. Not quite sure of its washability, but does it matter? Oh, and I lined it.

And for you fashionistas that care about this sort of thing, the shoes are Tahari.

I HAD to Have It!

Has that happened to you? You see something so cute, adorable, beautiful, or wonderful that it just has to go home with you? When my mom and I were in Houston last October, attending the International Quilt Festival, wandering up and down the rows and rows of vendors with fabulous stuff, I saw it. The Pony Pouch. So cute, soft and cuddly, and SO impractical! Really! I don't have anyone to make this cute little thing for, and I'm way to old, really!

Tutu Fun

It seems I'm still Sewing.For.Others (SFO). This project though can't entirely be classified as sewing, as much as knot tying. There was a tiny bit of sewing... I sewed the ends of the elastic together to make the waistband... it took about 2 minutes, but I did break a needle in the process. Don't ask me how I did that!

I had all these leftover tulle strips when I decorated for my dinner party. You can see how I tied the tulle around the chairbacks and then inserted a glittery floral pick from Michaels to really dress it up. Well, I don't have any little girls directly in my life, but my daughter's fiance has a 5 year old niece that would love a tutu. You don't have to look far in the blogosphere to find a tutorial for tying the strips around a ribbon or elastic.

I opted for the elastic, and after about 5 minutes of tying, my attention wandered. Laura was around though, and she finished tying the rest of them and we have this adorable tutu, ready for the dress up closet!

We decided we like the raggedy edges

 

Don't worry sewing fans, the real sewing is about to begin! I know most sewists have lots of projects planned and even cut out in their minds, and I am certainly no different. I even have no less than 3 handbags in various states of construction as well! Today's non-sewing project involves pheasant. More on that later!

Selfish Seamstressing: Another Take

I recently discovered sewing blogs (I know, I am always so far behind on any trend), and one that inspired me to start my own is The Selfish Seamstress. She has actually inspired me in a lot of ways, and one of those is an entire attitude shift on "why I sew". Of course, #1 is I haven't figured out life without sewing, so that hasn't changed. Anyway, she recently wrote a "Guide to Selfish Seamstressing" and I thought I'd throw in my version.

My basic rule is only sew for others if they pay you (hey, I do have an etsy shop that has things that I sew... you can buy them) or you owe them a huge favor. Some people make casseroles or baked goods, or agree to watch small children in return for a favor ... I prefer to machine monogram towels. Of course there are always exceptions.

I think I'll start with her categories in her guide:
Costumes for Kids: I made my kids almost all their costumes, but wouldn't want to make costumes for other kids unless money is involved. But, there is almost nothing easier in that the material is usually cheap, and the workmanship can be, well, mediocre comes to mind. And look how cute! My kids still talk about the shark:

Mending and Alteration: I am 100% with her on this subject! I have clothes of my own that need hemming that were purchased more than a year ago. I'm usually not asked.

Home Dec Sewing: You couldn't pay me enough money for this one, but I'm darn good at it. The house we're currently living in had only blinds on every window, and now they all have fabulous creations made by me, saving the family buckets and buckets of money. I particularly like the valance and matching shower curtain I made for the bathroom next to Roland's office (which also has a matching valance).

 

 When we leave this house, I want to take them all with me, whether they fit anywhere or not.

Clothing for Men: Not going to happen. Oh, wait. I did make College Boy one of those towel wraps for the dorm shower. Even monogrammed it. Not wanting to make it easy on myself, I made it out of some kind of furry toweling stuff I bought at Joanns, that left fluff throughout the entire house. Odds that he actually uses it... slim to none.

Clothing for Women: Also not going to happen, unless it's for lots of money, or for Daughter Laura. She has a cute figure, and is fun to sew for, and she usually doesn't ask. I just do it.

Turns out I am better at selfish seamstressing than I thought I was. At least with those categories. Here's where things go bad for me.

Sewing (non-clothing) Gifts for Others: It seems like a great way to get attention and show off a skill not many that I know personally have. I like the gushing and the "I can't believe you did that". I have made stuff as gifts and not gotten the appropriate amount of fawning over (or even a proper thank you), and those people get gift cards now (ok, maybe not because I'm averse to gift cards, but you get the point). Here's my latest "gift for others" which will actually stay at my own house because that's where it will be used by my future son-in-law (and Thomas, if you read this, you gushed appropriately, and I had fun making it).

Now I just need to work on making more stuff for myself, but I have some projects lined up. Stay tuned!

I Made Something for Me!

I confess, I often don't make stuff for myself. Ok, make that almost never. That hasn't always been true, but in the past 10 years or so, that's been the case. All that is about to change! I'm still going to be sewing for my Etsy shops, because that is my "job" and I love it! But it's time for me to branch out, and I want to try garment sewing again.

So, did I make myself a fabulous holiday outfit? No. I wanted to ease back in, so to speak, and I bought this adorable kit for one of those thread catcher/pincushions when I was at the International Quilt Festival in Houston in October. Yeah, I know I could have just bought one there for less money, but where is the fun in that? The one I bought is called the Abbey Bag from Abbey Lane Quilts, and is so easy that even a beginner can do it.

I pretty much followed all the instructions, as is (I'm notorious for improvising), but the pattern was very straightforward. The only real change I made was to stitch the connector piece to the bag before gluing. And the only real challenge I had was a non-sewing issue, and involved filling the lining bag with sand for the pincushion.

There was an incident with the machine sewn gathering stitches that was remedied by using buttonhole thread and handsewing the entire opening, first gathering the edge, and then pulling the whole thing tight.

Here it is, ready to be encased in the outer fabric. The whole inner part is flipped over, so that the opening will be to the top of the pincushion.

The finished product. The button could be just a wee bit tighter onto the pincushion, but I was having needle issues. I also didn't intend for the outer pincushion fabric to be quite so gathered, but it works and it's for me, so I'm okay with it.

I haven't put it to the "in use" test yet, so I'm not sure exactly where it will end up, but I know I'm going to love it (hopefully) saving my carpet from all those threads that I just toss "in the general direction" of my little trash can by my machine. I'll especially love it when I get the serger out. I'm not really sure what the little pocket is for, but it's still cute.