Ties for stockings take 2

Ah, Christmas stockings. Can you ever make enough? I finished three more which I made out of neckties. Wow, that stuff is hard to sew. The harvested fabrics were silky and on the bias. Two-punch - stretchy and slippery! They turned out mighty nice, though! As mentioned below, I spent an evening taking the ties apart and learning about them. I pressed them and used the strip quilting technique that I've mentioned before. I covered the seam lines with gold rick-rack, the cuffs were made of a fluffy terry fabric, and the backs were created with simple Christmas fabric.

On a side note, I put out a "wanted" on my local Freecycle group for Christmas fabrics and score! Another Freecycler had a bag of Christmas fabrics she had been sitting on and realized she'd never use. Interestingly, several of them matched fabrics I've had for years, so they're not all modern prints. They are also the smaller prints that I tend to gravitate towards. What a great find.

I'll post pictures of the stockings made of ties at a later date. Right now, I have several Virginia Tech Christmas stockings to sew! Like I said, can you ever make enough? I'm putting them up on Etsy as I finish them. It's more about the making than the selling, though.

Update - here are some pictures of the three I finished.

Ties for stockings

I've been sewing a lot lately out of my stash. I'm trying to use what I have rather than purchase more, and am having some success with that. Over the past few years, I've been collecting silk ties with an eye towards making Christmas stockings, girls' skirts, or other things I'm inspired to stitch together.

Last night, I sat down with my seam ripper, a sharp pair of shears, a small trash bag, and my box of ties. I dissected all of them that had red or green in them and set them aside. I learned quite a bit about tie construction by taking them apart. Funny how that works.

There will be more to the story as I continue to sew, but for today, that's it. I have to work till 5 and have an errand to run after that, then dinner to make, and then work a little more. I am not sure I'll have much sewing time between now and then!

Now, would someone tell me where my box of Christmas and other holiday fabrics is?

Christmas Stockings for Teachers/School Bus Drivers

I made a few Christmas stockings this week. I used the same principles that I always use - strip quilting onto a backing with batting and then using a cotton back for the stocking. These three have a school/teacher/bus driver theme. I had purchased some school fabric at a yard sale for a quarter and it was basically border fabric that I used to harvest the apples, chalkboard, and other school items in the stockings. They were fun to make. I used some silver rick-rack; red, white, and green rick-rack; ribbons; and made bias bindings for the top of the cuff. It's time to get these made and ready to give, sell, or use!

Junk jeans!

I spent an hour today gathering a huge stack of old denim (legs, pockets, etc., that had already been dissected). While I was on vacation, I had an idea for a denim skirt involving 6" strips. I ordered a 6" x 24" ruler and it was home by the time I got here (believe it or not, it was less expensive to buy the same ruler on line than in a store, including shipping!). I dusted off my cutting pad and dug out my table from behind a bookcase, and finally found my rotary cutter. It's been a while!
Then for the next hour, I cut 6" and 4" strips of denim, and sorting pockets for weighing and selling later. The 6" strips are what I was interested in for myself. Although I only did cutting today, it felt good to be doing something that involved fabric. Everyone I know brings me their old jeans, so it felt doubly good to be cutting denim with purpose. The next step in the skirt is to make strips and put the strips together to make the fabric from which the skirt will be cut.
As for those pockets and 4" strips, I think I'm going to make packages with each of those and my 2" strips and put them on eBay. I'll save enough 2" strips to make Christmas stockings, but I think I'm done with those.
So what fabric recycling are you into these days?

A sachet you can make - giftie project!

We've posted another project from our days gone by on the web. This one is how to make a simple sachet. I used lacy fabrics over a solid fabric. I also used a leftover lace ruffle. These are filled with potpourri. You could use scented cotton or spices or leave them stuffed with scent-less fluff!

Above are the two from the tutorial, heart shaped, but the instructions are able to be adapted to whatever shape you like. I used to own SewingWeb.com (now defunct) and this is one of the projects I created way back then. Okay, it really wasn't all that long ago, but here it is - Sachet.

Smurf smock done!

I made this smock using a Smurfs sheet and a retro (late 60s/early 70s) pattern which I adapted.I think it turned out pretty cute!

I bought nothing, so the frugality aspect is covered. I used my creative juices when it came to trims and trim placement, and that was a very satisfying sewing experience. It took several days because I simply didn't have time to sit and sew. There were also a lot of pieces and the yoke, sleeves, and cuffs required gathering/ease to attach. The collar needs to be dampened and ironed one more time, but it looks pretty good.
I added a flowery trim down the sleeve and also across the shoulder seams. There is rick-rack in the collar seam and across the yoke in the front and back.

The buttons match the blue of the Smurfs (I need to move one of them just a hair to make them match up perfectly, though).
Overall, I'm pleased with it. I like the price! I haven't made a full garment item in a while, so it was actually quite fun. It made me want to go back to making clothing more often, even if it's doll clothes! Wait, maybe it's time to make something for me.
Now to find my Halloween fabrics and get started on those!

That derned serger!

I have a 3-thread Bernina serger (about 25 years old) that I adore. I replaced it once with a 4-thread Bernina, but chose to have the 3-thread tuned up and put back into service. When I did that, they lost my needle threader. If you know anything about your serger, you know you need that needle threader! I ordered another one that is a bit different hoping I'd never have to use it. I'm a firm believer in threading your serger by tying the new thread onto the remainder of the old thread and snaking it through. So, a week or so ago, a thread broke. AAAAAA. It was the looper thread that is hardest to get to and gives old sergers a bad name.
I had to thread it from scratch. I probably have done that twice in the last 25ish years! I tried to open the cloth guard and couldn't do it. I tried to thread the derned thing without opening the cover and couldn't do it. I went to consult the manual. I couldn't find it. It's been in my bookshelf for who knows how long, but it's not there now. Oh no. That would be too simple. I went online and ordered a photocopy of the manual. It came today and well, there it was, a clip that needed to be pulled back to open the cloth guard. Eureka!
It took 15 minutes more, but I got it done. I was almost ready to face the ridicule at the Bernina shop by taking it in to be threaded. But now, I sincerely rock. My serger is back in action - I faced the looper and won. Take that Bernina machine thingie!