Caftan completed - Simplicity 5718

I learned a few valuable lessons sewing this pattern. The pattern was indeed what I wanted. I found it on Etsy:

It was new and uncut, dated 1982. I generally liked patterns from that era and wanted something very simple in lines and construction. The bodice is about the right size. The sleeves fit well at shoulder insertion, but man, they're full of way too much fabric. I added elastic to the cuff because I don't care for hanging sleeves. I also ran out of fabric! I pieced the sleeves. Remember, this is just something to throw on in the morning; I won't be wearing it outside the house. Whew! Lastly, the body of the caftan is huge. I will cut at least 4" from the center of the front and the back next time, and I do have another set of fabrics ready to use. I added a matching ribbon here and there, and am showing a closeup below.

The sleeves look a little funky in the picture because of the piecing, but you can see where there's way too much volume in the gathered portions. That's easily corrected. The non-checkered fabric was used for the cuffs and I used 2" elastic because the cuffs were so large. I will make them half the size next time and perhaps use 5/8" or 1/2" elastic.

I happened on the ribbon at Joann's and it matched the flowery fabric perfectly.

Overall, I'm okay with the pattern itself. The fabrics I chose are too heavy and, as mentioned, I ran out and had to do some not-so-pretty piecing. Live and learn! I have some lighter fabric that I've had for years and wouldn't use for a garment that is perfect for this type of garment. It should be a quicker sew as well. The pockets from 1982 are cut kind of funky, so I adjusted them and made them a little deeper.

This caftan will get worn a lot this winter. I can see me frumping around with this, socks, and slippers when I take the dog out in the morning.

I have a cardigan cut out and ready to go next! Plus, my package of sale knits came today, so more cardigans are in the works!

Keep sewing, even when it's ugly. You will learn something and just might get some wear out of it too.

Update (09/14): Hated this house dress. The yolk is now gone and I used the rest to make a really nice summery skirt. I have a salmon colored tee that goes well with it. 

Sewing and finishing stuff! (And always more to come)

I finished the button mannequin project. I'll have photos when the sun is bright enough to get a good view. I coated it with a concrete-like paint and finished it with a vinyl coating. I actually like it a lot. More to come!

I've lost a considerable amount of weight and need clothes. I don't want to buy them, so am doing a buy-a-few/sew-a-few combo. For the summer, I had bought a few pair of shorts, some solid tees, and made a number of skirts. I want to share one of the skirt sets as it's a recycle project, where I took a business suit and turned it into summer casual. More to come here too!

I've been working on tote bags too, like this one:

It has a recycled blue jean pocket in the lining and the lining itself is the large M&M fabric. All my M&M ribbon is finally gone!

I've cut out an open weave cardigan and am almost finished with a caftan that I'll throw on in the mornings. I want to make two of them. Next comes a couple pair of pants for the fall and winter. I plan on making several cardigans to go with the pants I have and use the tees from this summer underneath. I have a ton of receiving blankets that I use inside Christmas stockings and placemats, and they'd make the best liner for a woven fabric cardigan. I did buy two pair of jeans at Walmart. A girl's gotta have jeans, right? I'll be ready for the colder weather in nothing flat! More to come!

I'm sewing just about every day - how about you?

Works in Progress or UFOs

If you're like me, you have a bunch of works in progress and stacks of fabric waiting to be turned into a garment or a treasure or both. I thought it was time to make a list of what I'm working on and maybe see if I can manage to get these things done!

1. Hexagon quilt: I've been working on this for a few years. It's hand sewn and will take a while longer. I finished one of the two twin quilt tops. The second one is about two-thirds finished. 
2. Smurf dress: I cut this dress out last year. It's a girl's size 5. One of my Hippie Sewing friends gave me a zipper to put in it. I went to start stitching this together two days ago and found that I no longer have the pattern envelope with the instructions in it. I can probably put it together without instructions, but I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to zippers. This zipper will go into a lined bodice. Eeep! I ordered another pattern from Simplicity. They have a certain number of  out-of-print patterns and thankfully, this was one of them. What a wimp, huh?
3. Steelers mug mats: I have two of four made. I tired of them almost immediately, but put them on Etsy, so when they sell, I'll definitely finish them. I have two packages of craft batting to make things like this, so I guess that it sitting around means it's another unfinished project in and of itself!
4. Christmas stockings: I have several of these started. The ones that are waiting for me include one made of denim strips and Christmas trims, two cut out of a cutter quilt to which I added reinforcement zig-zag stitching, and several lining pieces. 
5. Dish or hand towels: I have a couple of hearts cut from the above-mentioned cutter quilt to applique to a recycled bath towel or two. You can never have enough dish towels, right?
6. Black and white dress: This is a drop waist dress made of black and white as well as black fabric. I ran out of the black and white, so did some strip piecing for the bodice. It has patch pockets short sleeves. I made the bodice and lost interest. It hangs in the sewing area and stares at me. 
7. Skirt: I have the pattern, pins, and scissors on my cutting table as well as the fabric - a cheater patchwork quilt fabric (not quilted). I'm not sure what the holdup is here. Once cut, it will take a couple hours to make. My intention is to make the same pattern with several pieces of fabric I have hanging around. 
8. Skorts: Oh skorts. How you taunt me. I bought a pattern for a simple skort. The pattern cries out for my attention, but I haven't gotten there yet. 
9. Robin's quilt: Robin's mother asked me to make a quilt out of her mother's hankies and I said yes. I have a box of hankies, some clothing for accents (Robin's mother recently passed away and I asked her to pick up a few pieces that remind her of her mom), and a sky/cloud fabric for the background. It will be an 18", 5 x 4 blocks quilt-as-you go similar to the tee shirt quilts I've made in the past (you can see a few in my gallery; link on the right). I'm holding off on this quilt for a little while. I'm not ready to tackle it yet.
10. Last, but not least, Tracey's quilt. I've posted pictures of this one in progress. I plan on sewing more of it today; in fact, I did sew a row of tumblers earlier. I also cut out more of the denim tumbler pieces. I most likely will finish the top today. At least, that's the plan!

I have a longer list of things I'd like to sew in my head, but it's overwhelming to think about it. Maybe simply spelling out this list will spurn me forward. I'll update as I finish these. 

How many projects are you working on? 

New project added - gift tags

Years ago, I worked on a site called SewingWeb. I don't think it's still with us, but that's another story for another day. I did several projects when I had the site and am sharing one with you today. It's a simple way to use fabric, Wonder Under, and some string/yarn/ribbon that you have around the house.

Use this as a jumping off point. Let your imagination take hold and use the concept for greeting cards, embellished stationery, putting a new bit of artwork on a used greeting card, business cards, name tags or any other paper/fabric fusing you can think of.

Take a peek. It's gift tags!

Mug mats gone awry!

I started a mug mat project. I wanted to give a friend of mine a little something for a favor she had done. I picked out some vintage quilt top, muted batik backing, and some batting, and got ready to get going.

I used a glass for a pattern and then cut 1/4" around that. The blue line is disappearing ink. Love that stuff. Here's where I made my first error. The circle should have been about an inch or more larger. 

I made a sandwich of backing wrong side up, batting, and quilt piece right side up and reinforced the seams of the vintage quilt top with a zig-zag stitch. 

I had some blue bias binding left over from another project and began to stitch it in a 1/4" seam on the right side of the mat. It was about now that I realized this was not going well and the mat itself may not lie flat due to its size. 

I folded the bias binding to the back and hand stitched the reverse side. As you can see in the photos below, I had almost cup shaped mats!

They're cute, but not even close to what I intended to make. 

PLAN B!

I actually tossed them aside and then decided to dig them out of the trash and make a mini wall hanging. I got some white ribbon and made a loop for the top and attached each circle to the ribbon. 

You can see where I made a "fringe" of extra ribbon on the bottom for a touch of fun.

So, no mug mats for my friend, but a tiny wall hanging for me and some lessons learned. A 4" square of fabric does not make a good sized circle mug mat. I will try again for sure. I have three vintage quilt tops to play with. I can make bias binding in my sleep. And batting? I have enough to keep an army warm. 

If you're interested in trying your own hand at mug mats/mug rugs, here are a couple links to patterns and one link to binding instructions. I'll have to read over these myself before I try to make another set!

Tip Nut Mug Rugs

Curious Quilter Mug Rug Patterns

Chicken Julie''s binding instructions

Just a little sewing

I've been doing a bit of sewing here and there and finally finishing a few things. I changed my mind about the baby quilt noted below, but you'll have to wait to see what I ended up putting together. I used the fabrics (other than the backing) that I said I would, but well, it's not done yet. 

Today, I started working on some mug mats. All I have left to do on those is the binding. I'll post the pictures in a sort of tutorial after I get the photos ready to go.

The one thing I did finish was a tiny little drawstring bag. My husband had asked me to make a velvet drawstring bag for a firearm part he wanted protected. I don't have any velvet, but I do have fleece! this was a quickie project, but it'll work fine for storing the cylinder he needed to have it for. I thought it was cute enough to photograph, so there you have it.

I'm about to be semi-retired (after May 31), so I'm looking toward my stash and dreaming of sewing projects that I've been putting off. Oh yeah! Etsy, watch out. I'm getting ready to get my sewing act together again. 

How's your scrap stitching going?

Wow! Time has flown, hasn't it?

Let's see - an earthquake and a hurricane, no power for a period of a few days, several sewing projects  being worked on, then on hold, then being worked on, and a busy life in general! That's no excuse for ignoring the blog, now is it? Time for some good karma!

I have a store-bought quilt that is falling apart on the patchwork side, but the back is in great condition. I decided to rescue it and repurpose it and make it a loved member of our winter warming blankie collection. I gave away lots and lots of my stash, but I held onto the browns I have. I cut those all into 8" squares, saving the smaller pieces to make binding. I've been spending time at the machine sewing the squares into strips. It looks like it will be 10 squares by 12 squares to cover the queen quilt top. A true scrap stitching project, I'm using threads that are left over from other projects and garments. I have so many that are gold/brown/off white! After I get the top completely sewn, all the strips combined into one piece, then I will tie the patchwork onto the old quilt, trim up the edges, and bind it anew. I'm very close to finishing the quilt top!

I've also decided to make some clothes for myself. In making this decision (and knowing I'm losing weight), I went through my patterns and have decided to put all the oversized ones on Etsy for sale. As things tend to happen, I found a bunch of 18" doll clothes patterns that I had in duplicate or were collecting dust, not to be used, and am also selling those on Etsy. Soon, I will put together the unlined paisley shirt jacket and the aquamarine top to wear under it, and thus will have a new outfit for flying in October.

Lastly, I have been looking into purchasing more Peter Max fabric for bags and other items to sell. I get so many comments on my Peter Max bag. Every woman should have one!

Happy sewing and look for pictures soon of the browns quilt. It's coming along. Happy Labor Day and enjoy the end of summer. Think good karma!

P.S. Here are a couple pillows I made on contract:

 

and their backs:

Memorial Day - Scrap Sewing Can Help

It's Memorial Day. This is a day when we consider the fallen soldier, giving thanks in our personal way. It's also a time when we send our thoughts to the families of fallen servicemen and women. I saw a story on the ABC news and then again on our local news about a woman (Marcia Bonifas) who makes teddy bears for children of the fallen. She herself is a military widow.. Ms. Bonifas' story was told on the web at Coastal Point (Delaware) you can read it here. I've also provided a link to the video of the ABC story as shown on my local ABC affiliate. 

I appreciate what Ms. Bonifas is doing. I wrote to her this evening asking if her pattern were still available as it was not found on the site pointed to from the Coastal Point story. I love that she is providing "something to hold" for youngsters whose parents are not coming home. The mechanics of the teddy bear are simple - they'd be very easy to make and you most definitely can make them with scraps or remnants or patchwork that you have on hand. Hers is an easy, jointless, 2-piece pattern that is sewn around the edges, turned, and stuffed. She embroiders a simple face on them, and if you decided to make one or a bunch, this could be optional. The only expense I can see is the cost of the fiberfil, and even that is something most of us have in our sewing rooms already!

I hope Ms. Bonifas writes back and shares her pattern. If she does not, run with the idea on your own. Get in touch with a local military base or one of the many organizations on the web for children of fallen soldiers. Create a pattern of a bear or a cat or a whatever and get those scraps out and start sewing. There are so many things we can do for our military families; this one speaks to me, though - it's truly needed, wanted, and falls under the scrap stitching definitely of making do. Love isn't expensive. Let's all show some to the folks who put their lives on the line for our freedoms every single day.

NOTE 05/31/11: Ms. Bonifas did reply to my email and provided the following links for instructions and pattern for the teddy bear she makes. 

http://oceanwavesquiltguild.org/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Teddy%20Bear%20Instructions.pdf
http://oceanwavesquiltguild.org/teddybear_large.upper.pdf
http://oceanwavesquiltguild.org/teddybear_large.lower.pdf

Want to make some placemats?

Over on the right side of the page is a link to projects I've created over the years. Today, I posted a project for placemats. I worked for Sewing.com for a while and part of what I did was make "stuff" and photograph the steps along the way. I have made placemats like these a bazillion times and decided it was a perfect fit for an online tutorial.

So, while I continue to be on vacation, I'm still playing with some of the sewing projects I've done online. Feel free to make the idea your own!

Unfinished projects - UFOs

It's been a sewing few days:

• I'm getting ready to travel, so I got a small Cathedral Window quilt cut out and all the machine work done. That's ready to go with me for hand sewing on the road.
• There was a set of prequilted placemats waiting to be bound in my placemats container. I got out the strawberry fabric today, made bias binding, bound the strawberry quilted placemats  by machine, and they now are on the table, adding some much needed color and love to the room.
• I have a stack of 4" square Halloween fabrics. I've wanted to make trick-or-treat bags, so I started stitching the squares together and cut some 2" strips to go with them, made handles, and made a prototype lined bag. I didn't like the size, so I redesigned and made another one - perfect! I now have a design for trick-or-treat bags that I can work with and made one more. Those will make a nice sale item. I have models in mind and will take some photos when I get back from AZ. 
• Though this is not sewing, per se; I've rounded up all the denim pieces and jeans I have around the house and have been dissecting them to beat the band. I've got a nice stack of 5" squares to work with when I return from vacation. I want to make another Smurf quilt. 

So there you have it - my sewing room has not been sitting quiet. I've been a busy beaver. I have a lot of projects left to finish and many more to begin, but it's all going to have to wait. I have another trick-or-treat bag to finish first!

Working on unfinished projects!

Recently, I spent some time cleaning my sewing area and during that time, I organized my unfinished projects in such a way that I'm able to get to them and work on them easily. I don't have oodles of things to complete, but I do want to get them done. As I was sewing today, I thought of several more projects to begin! It's never-ending, isn't it?

Today, I pulled out a lap quilt I started - Smurfs! I use junk jeans for a lot of things. One of the items in my box of fun things to finish is a Smurf lap quilt. I'm using 5" squares of Smurfs fabric (a vintage sheet I purchased on eBay) alternating with recycled denim. It's a nice look! I put together three rows today and attached them one to the other, for a total of four. The end result will be nine rows by eight squares, and the binding will be smurf fabric that I will piece together from bits of the sheet. I am backing this particular lap quilt with minkie that I have which was purchased for another project and not used. It will make for a wonderfully soft backing and warm too! I like to use fleece when I can with denim quilts because the denim is so heavy that it's often difficult to work with a traditional backing and batting.

It felt great getting this one to about the halfway stage. I'll be making at least one more row tomorrow and then it's time to cut more squares. Before I know it, my unfinished projects box will be empty!

18" Doll Vest Project Up!

I love to sew for 18" dolls. Sometimes I sell the items I sew and other times I don't. I may give the clothes away, swap with others, or simply keep them. There is a huge community of people who sew for 18" dolls, be they American Girl Dolls or others. I personally have about 10 dolls, including American Girl, Apple Valley, and a few hybrids. I have some that I want to rehab to give away or sell. They need some TLC for sure! Indeed, one or two of them could get haircuts and become boy models for clothing. But I digress.

Today, I received an E-mail from someone asking me for instructions on how to make an 18" doll vest. Many years ago, on a site I used to run (SewingWeb.com, may it R.I.P.), I created instructions and an online tutorial for that very thing. I re-coded it and put it up today for you to use. I made the pattern on my own. You can make one of our own or use a purchased one. The idea is to use up some smaller bits of fabric with the strip quilting process. You're not limited to the fabrics I used. Feel free to check out the projects link on the right or click here for the vest tutorial.

Here are a few vests I've made using the same general instructions:

P.S. If you go to ScrapSewing.com now, it will redirect you here. As mentioned below, the content of ScrapStitching and ScrapSewing will be here and projects and other information will be provided via ScrapStitching.com's space. You won't notice a thing other than ease of navigation.

Feel free to contact us anytime!

Hexagon Scrap Quilt

I decided I needed a new hand sewing project for several reasons:

1) Quitting smoking 11/18 and need something to do with my hands.
2) Having surgery on 12/14 and will need something to do while I hang out and rehab.
3) Want a new quilt made of scraps and that I can work on anywhere, anytime.

Years ago, I made a Grandmother's Flower Garden for my daughter in the traditional sense. I used English Piecing and fabric I purchased. I made curtains for her room out of the same fabric with a pieced block edge. I remembered how much I enjoyed that. I printed out 2" paper hexagons on recycled paper using a border of red so the lines would show on printed paper. Then I gathered 4" squares of fabric.

Each fabric is different and I won't be using a flower garden type pattern. This will truly be a scrap quilt.

Add a paper hexagon to the square with a pin.

Trim the fabric around the hexagon.

Baste the fabric to the paper design per the tutorial above.

I chose to stitch together rows of 10 various hexagons varying light and dark colors.

And then I stitched the rows of 10 together.

This quilt is a work in progress and is being made one row of 10 at a time. You can take your time and do the paper piecing first and then do the rows or do a little of this and a little of that for variety. Right now, I have a very large tote bag with all the components in it, including an envelope with paper hexagons, a contrasting thread for basting the pieces, a bag with basted hexagons, lots of rows of 10, and a small piece of rows that I've put together. In time, I'll be able to build on the piece until it's lap, twin, or queen sized, and then I can back it and use it. When you have surrounded one piece, you can remove the paper, by the way. The basting and paper are temporary. In the end, you'll have paper only in the hexagons around the outside of the quilt and those papers will be removed so you can back and bind the quilt.

These instructions are sketchy and a bit incomplete, but you get the idea. I'll be working on this for a long time and it'll be beautiful every step of the way.

Update 05/13/12: I'm still working on the quilt and it's growing by leaps and bounds. I'm working in strips of 11 in rows of 39. Four of those will make a nice sized quilt. I have a long way to go! Everyone should have a little something like this in the "what do I feel like sewing today?" pile.

Bee Potholders 1 - How a project happens

I'm back home and after some family health issues, have decided it's time to sew, and that means it is time to post.
People often ask me - "How do you come up with stuff?" Honestly, there is no rhyme or reason to it, but hey, here's a shot at explaining it. What I'm not going to do is go over every instruction for these potholders. You can see the general "how to" for potholders here. I've made them many times and the process is the same.

For many holidays and birthdays, when my younger son was asked what he wanted as a gift, he would respond, "a jar of bees." One birthday recently, I decided to do just that and made him a jar of bees pillow.

I  have leftover bee fabric and it has been speaking to me. So I went looking for bee pictures and found this one:

 

Now I have bee fabric and a drawing of a bee. Hmm, what to do? Potholders! I traced the basic bee parts from the drawing onto Wonder Under and cut the body of the bee out of a golden bandanna and the top and head out of black, but couldn't decide what to do with the wings. I fused the body to an 8" potholder blank that I cut out of recycled denim. Then I used a tight zig-zag/satin stitch on my machine to make the stripes on the bottom of the bee.

It looks kind of plain, but there's a lot of work to be done. I decided right about at this point to use the bee fabric for the wings and then use a satin stitch to give the illusion of veins per the drawing.

I have not yet stitched the wings down as I want to do them last. I'm still thinking on it, but I think my next step is to draw the legs, eyes, and antennae with a water soluble pen or pencil and get them stitched onto the denim. I'll use a water soluble backing when I do the embroidery (I do not have an embroidery machine, so will be creative with the Bernina I do have) for stability. The back of the potholders will be the bee fabric. I don't have enough of it to do the binding, so am thinking of doing a striped length of fabric with the black and bee fabric and cut my bias binding from that.

As projects go, this one is fairly easy. It will be time consuming because of the legs on the bee and the fact that I'm making four of them, but I need a machine project that will take some time. I'm not sure if I will sell these or keep them, but there you go. I looked at a pillow made from interesting fabric and decided it was time to use the remnant. I gathered other fabrics, including the junk jeans, that I already had, hit the internet for a drawing to use for my Wonder Under pattern, and there you go. You could do something like this on jeans or anything you wanted.

Start with something in your stash that speaks to you and just do it. More to come as the design progresses. Hope you have fun with your sewing!

No Sewing for a bit!

I am in Phoenix for a bit, visiting my sister. She is having surgery on her eyelid tomorrow and I'm here in case she needs help. I'm sure she'll be fine and it'll go very smoothly. But I only have hand sewing with me, and that's difficult to work on because my right hand is not as keen on fine movements as it once was. I'll take the sewing with me to the surgeon's office and possibly work on it some; I can't not sew! I'm making a doll quilt/wall hanging that is a Cathedral Window design - muslin for the windowpanes and M&M fabric for the windows. It will provide a calm familiarity when I thread the needle and slip stitch the muslin frames and colorful M&Ms into the design. I'm working with a muslin that is heavier than I like. I mail ordered it. Let that be a lesson - you need to know what kind of muslin you want if you order online or you need to purchase it in person so you can touch it and know the feel.

I'll be out of touch until about June 30. I may take a trip to a local fabric store, but I really don't need any. I have more fabric than I could ever use. I'm sure I'll find something sewing-related to do while I'm out here, even if it's merely designing in my head or buying a pair of light denim jeans at a yard sale for my dark/light pillow projects.

The Denim Pillows in Pictures

Here are the three pillows together. The single log cabin pillow was supposed to be round. Oh well, sometimes things don't work out perfectly, right? My daughter thinks the light/dark triangle pillow looks like birds flying. I told her there was a Flying Geese pattern that was similar, but this one was not the same. The four log cabin pillow is paned with a piece of denim to allow for the seam allowance. There are no photos of the back, but the backs were made of 6" wide random denim with reinforced seams. Fun stuff.

I mailed these off to Linda and Grace and they'll be receiving them soon. If you do make pillows like this, remember to put them in a pillowcase when you wash and dry them, then fluff them up when they're dry. I used stuffing rather than pillow forms; I've never worked with pillow forms. I reinforced all seams I could because recycled denim tends to fray. You can use any design you like. If you use tiny pieces, though, you may struggle with thick seams.

Coffee Accessories are Cool

If you click on this link, you'll be whisked away to a quickie tutorial about this, but we had to share anyway - it's a coffee container and placemat that I made lickety split one day. Well decoupage is never quick, but you get my drift.

It was time to gussy up the counter with something other than blah for the grinds and mat. It's a simple decoupage on a Cool Whip container and then a strip quilted mat. The coffee doesn't stain the mat if I spill a drop while pouring out and it's easily machine washed. I didn't have a pattern and I didn't follow any real rules. I just did it. And you can too.

Frugal Devolution (or why one shouldn't blog when feeling pensive)

A couple of sewing thoughts to ponder. They're not just sewing thoughts, but could honestly apply to anything in life. So let's get started.

There is talk nowadays about 'devolution.' It's nothing new; the music group Devo had it down to an art. They suggested that everything is created for obsolescence and that we were devolving. Okay, that's a little heady, but it's worth thinking about. In the process of devolution, we will have met our level of competence (or a Peter Principle - level of incompetence) with technology. Our electronic world will begin to fail and we will start stepping backwards to a time when we knew how to take care of ourselves. Many people today would be hard pressed to raise their own food, build or maintain their own homes, keep themselves warm with fire, or to make clothing. That's where sewing comes in. With our sewing skills and curiosities, we're way ahead of the game. I would wager to guess that not only do people who sew create great clothes, dolls, crafts, etc., they most likely do something else that is creative - growing vegetables and cooking them into delightful dishes - that kind of thing. So congrats on knowing or learning how to sew. You're ready for the electronic crash.

A lot of discussion is held about frugality these days too. Not cheap, but frugal. Frugal often is defined as living beneath your means, like voluntary simplicity. (The two are not mutually exclusive, you know.) There are many ways to sew and do it frugally. There is no hard and fast rule that says you have to buy your supplies at a traditional fabric/notions store. Nor do you have to buy the most expensive sewing machine, used or new, to make the magic happen. I personally started with hand embroidery. I embroidered all the time. My work wasn't as perfect as machine embroidery, but that's okay. I didn't spend a fortune on an embroidery machine and I have such a respect for those who still embroider. I drew pictures on fabric and turned them into colorful paintings with thread. But I digress. I've had my sewing machine for 25+ years, keep it cleaned and tuned up, and it's running as good as new. I purchase fabric at yard sales, sometimes the thrift store, often on line (eBay is a great place for a smokin' deal, but keep an eye on those shipping rates!), and from friends or Freecycle for free. I do go to Hancock Fabrics from time to time, but only with a coupon from their flyer. I recycle towels into hand towels and dish towels. I recycle cotton tee shirts into cloths for cleaning. I recycle old blankets as batting for a quilt project. I use small pieces of fabric for doll clothes and crafts. I try to save where I can, but I also try to make sure I make time to sew.

Whether it be devolution or frugality, people who sew are ready for at least one portion of the de-techologicalizing of our lives! And we're going to keep practicing too, right?

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?

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?