Another dress from heck and vacation sewing

About 2 years ago, I cut out a dress from Smurfs material. It's a size 5/6 for little girls. I thought it would be fun to put together, embellish, and possibly sell. I started sewing it together and saw that the fabric had some small blue blotches here and there. Argh. I got mad at it and put it away. Did I mention the dress has a zipper and I hate zippers? Argh again.

I pulled it out before vacation in February and decided it was time to finish it. Two years was long enough to get over being mad at the fabric. Peter Pan collar, a bodice to which I could add some trim, and what a cute dress it was turning out to be. A friend had given me a zipper and I put it in as best I could. Then it broke. The derned zipper broke.

Off to the store with me. I was determined by now and bought a zipper for the stupid dress. Before I could sew it in, I had to rip out the other one without ruining the back of the dress. I've mentioned before this is my favorite sewing tool:

I got it out and went to work. One stitch at a time, then two and three, and finally, got it out without too much damage. I was happy to throw the broken zipper away. It gave me a feeling of power. Take that, zipper!

The new zipper went in okay and I added a little hook at the top of it to provide full closure. I had asked my nieces to get me some arm measurements from their daughters, so that made finishing the sleeves possible. Last came the hem. Easy peasy as I was going to add trim anyway. Whirrrrr on the machine. Honesty, I don't think I hate it anymore! But I can't sell it. I messaged my niece on Facebook last night and asked if her daughter/s could wear this size, and yes, they can! I packaged it up and mailed it off to Texas this morning. I even included extra trim in case she can use it for their hair or something. So, how did it turn out?

I hope the girls love it.

While I was on vacation, I started a small lap quilt. I took the white and red fabric with me, but my poor sister had to go to the fabric store to pick out the green. She is the one who found just the right green! There's more to come on this one; I never go out of town without my hand sewing.

It's a lot further along now, but this is how it begins.

Smurf quilt done and in its new home

The Smurf quilt is done. Not only is it done, I put it on Etsy and it was gone within days. It now lives with a young man in Virginia who loves Smurfs. I'm going to make a Smurf pillow for him as well. It will be a simple square pillow stuffed with Polyfil, but he should love it. It makes me smile to think of him with these items!

Getting Smurfier!

The Smurfs quilt is almost done. All the fabric's been cut and every day, I've done a little something.

Patchwork - done.

Backing - done.

Machine "quilting" - done.

Binding made - done.

Binding applied - working on it! I suck at quilt binding. I have to do it by hand because I can't get the hang of doing it by machine. 

I should have the binding done in another couple days. It will take a while.

Sewing may not be on the top of the priority list here soon. I'm going to be traveling in May, so I want to work really hard in April to get my knee up to snuff so I can walk as much as I want to. That's a lofty goal, but I can make it at least halfway to there, I'm sure! I definitely will continue to hand sew the hexagon quilt (it's going to take a year to finish) and will start a small project to take with me on the plane in May. It might be a small Cathedral Window again. I have one almost done using M&M fabric that is doll sized.

I also have two ideas for items to make and sell. More about them as the ideas develop. Wouldn't it be great to make my whole 'paycheck' with sewing and Amazon, Etsy, and eBay? Well yes, it would!

Smurf day!

Twas Smurf day in the sewing room. I know, it's supposed to be Friday and I should be planning the weekend. But I am not. I am relaxing after having cut and sewn and Smurf'd my way through the day.

I cut the remainder of the 5" squares for the Smurf quilt. That didn't take long, but I used an "I spy" technique so that I could utilize the fabric in the best way possible and get a good image on each square.

I also cut out a little girl's twirl dress using the Smurf fabric. I will be putting a white Peter Pan collar on it and using some white decorative ribbon to fem it up. I have to get that fabric and the zipper for the back, but other than that, it's cut and ready to sew.

With the remaining pieces on the floor, I cut bias strips and made the binding for the Smurf quilt.

Okay, so I did cut a few denim squares and it wasn't 100% Smurf fabric day, but it almost was! Happy Smurf Day!

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!

Dissecting the blue jeans!

One of the things about sewing with junk jeans and recycled denim is that the fabric had to start somewhere. For the most part, my junk denim comes from my husband's old jeans. They get one hole too many or aren't presentable for work, and so they become placemats, hot pads, mug mats, strips for quilts, and all told projects that I can think of, including clothing.

Tonight, I was gifted with three pair of worn out jeans! He was doing laundry and gave me the three that were ready to retire after their wash and dry. Yahoo! Fresh denim. I got out my "I can use these to cut anything" scissors and set to cuttin'. Each pair gives me two large pieces from the front of each leg, a long piece from the back of one leg, a three-quarter length piece from the back of one leg, and a pocket from the back of one leg. If I were truly a recycler, I'd keep the zippers and side seams, but I don't. I used to keep the side seams and did some weaving with them, but man, they are a mess! I tried. I don't want to try again

For now, I have to think of what's next. I will make a three-knotted leg of denim for the dog to play with, I need backing for some hexagon faced mug mats, and it's about time to make some more Smurf hot pads. Hmmmm.....