Mushroom Villagers

Grandma had this oldie in a Goodwill pile, but I quickly stole it. Isn’t she beautiful? A machine like this deserves a name. How does Sally sound? Wonderful! Sally it is…

I tried to sew on Sally a few month’s ago, but she smelt like burnt rubber. I put her away because I figured she needed a tune-up and I couldn’t justify the expense when I had another machine to sew on. I took Sally out again last week because of a large project which requires me sew through many layers of home dec fabric. I think it’ll wear my Janome out too fast, but Sally should have no problem.

My aunt told me that for the older, all metal machines, you can pretty much tune it up yourself. I bought some oil specifically for sewing machines at my local grocery store and had Chris oil the parts he thought needed it. Voilá , it works! In fact, it was very clean and was probably tuned-up up years ago and never used much.

I was even able to buy a manual for it online here for $10 and had it downloaded less than 30 minutes later. Now I know what all the gadgets and levers are for- cool! She’s loud, but she’s a work horse and I love her. Thank you Grandma for saving her all these years!

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Thank you to Sew Mama Sew! for encouraging me to write a tutorial for the grocery bags/totes I’ve been sewing. It’s up on their blog so check it out if you have a minute. And since I’m their Forum hostess, if you have any questions regarding the tutorial, please post it there and I’ll be sure to answer quickly. Also, July is Summer Sewing month so check back often for many great projects and ideas. I can’t wait!

Oh, and thanks to Craft for picking up my Tote tutorial as well.  Woohoo!

I’ve been so busy lately that I did not notice I used the last of my Amy Butler Forest line fabric. It’s the heavier home dec fabric and I’ve used it for so many things. I *love* this fabric and really wish more will be printed. Does anyone know if it will or is it long gone?

I did finish the last of Fini’s birthday presents and the package arrived so I am free to post these pictures.

At her request, I made her another CD Poket and a lunch bag. The lunch bag had to be big enough to hold a frozen meal and a can of soda. I hope this one fit the bill.

It’s large measuring 10″ across the top, 12″ high and 15″ across the bottom with 2½” gussets. (I love gussets! I put them in everything.) I added a magnetic closure because it seemed to need it. I wanted to do a roll-up one something like this pattern, but with the interfacing, heavy fabric and lining, I thought it was just too thick to try to roll and velcro closed.

Anyhoo, it’s done and I even found my new favorite song downloading some tunes she requested. I could seriously listen to this song all day long, but I can’t because some little people in my house insist on listening to this at least 20 times a day as well. I guess it could be worse… (Yep, this one’s Daddy’s favorite.)

So I started this lovely dress a month ago. After this success, I thought I could conquer Simplicity 9784 with ease. NOT. In reality, it had nothing to do with the pattern. It was entirely me.
I was trying too many new things: piping inserted on the collar, working with corduroy, adjusting the size since the pattern only went up to 18 mos and I was going for a 2T. Also, I’ve said this before, but I can’t read. After ripping out the same step at least 5 times, I asked Chris what he thought the step was instructing. Duh! I was missing a whole pattern piece and didn’t realize it.
Anyway, I finally finished the dress today and it’s a little short, but it works.

I found this material at Mill End here in Beaverton and had to have it. I love polka dots!

The collar was a little tough to sew because I was trying to sew two pieces of thick corduroy with piping inserted along a curve. Curves alone throw me off and adding the other two issues really took some patience. I love the look of piping though and will be trying this again.

(Sorry to insist, but you gotta see what my little princess wears under such a dress.)

Also, after reading this article, I *really* want to try pleats. Something straight, cotton, tank, square-neck with nice crisp pleats is on my must do list.
But first, I still have to finish Fini’s April b-day presents- yikes. Sorry Fini!

I lied. I know I said that I was going to sew Ms O’s wedding dress, but instead I made one for me.

Nana ended buying Ms O a dress so it wasn’t high on my sewing list anymore. MY dress was next in line and I HAD to make myself something. I tried to find something at the mall, but everything I liked was at least $100. I felt like I could make the dresses myself AND for less money- which usually isn’t often with the cost of fabric these days!

I set about thinking of my dress and I remembered that I had cut out a dress using everyone’s favorite Built by Wendy pattern 3835. I sewed the dress but found that for the wedding, it would have to be out of linen or something nicer than a cotton print.

I bought some decent linen and went to town. It took me an hour and a half to make the basic dress then a little more to add the blue band at the bottom of the dress and for the arms. (Do you see that perfectly matching bias tape on the arms? I made my own bias tape for the first time and it’s just as easy as everyone said it would be!) The dress was done a couple nights ago but I decided to take it in a little because it felt too big.

In the end, I took in about 2 inches and now love the fit. My favorite shirt pattern has now become my favorite dress pattern. Hey, I may even have time to sew Ms O’s dress after all.

BTW- I sewed the band using this tutorial for a twirly skirt with a band starting here. I love how neat and easy it was to sew although I did topstitch.

Feeling spring-y, I made this dress last night:

It took me almost 4 straight hours of sewing, but it was fun. I used Simplicity 3511 and actually understood most of the pattern’s directions.  The best part of the pattern are the buttons on the back. Although they aren’t really necessary since I can get the dress on and off Ms O without using them, the buttons are too cute to leave out.

I haven’t made a square neck in a while and wanted to make a “practice” dress before sewing the dress which Ms O will be wearing to a family wedding in a couple weeks. I thought about making the practice dress out of muslin as most people do, but I knew that if I put all this effort into making something I wanted it to be wearable even if it may be a little off.

I am so picky about my fabric. For this dress, I used fabric from Denyse Schmidt’s Katie Jump Rope line. I had made myself a skirt out of this stuff last year and really like it because it’s light-weight and super soft.

Overall, easy pattern, straight forward and cute finished product. I’ll be making the actual wedding dress today out of this fabric and can’t wait.

And on a different note, have you noticed my new Sew, Mama, Sew! button in the sidebar? I was introduced today as one of the four Editorial Board Members. When Kristin asked if I would be a part of a new planning team, I about fell out of my chair. ME? Of course I would! Since then, we’ve started brainstorming great ideas for next month’s theme and I can’t wait for it to start. I’m always going to SMS blog for their great tutorials, links, and of course, fabric! I hope you will swing by and take a look as well.

Hey Fini-

These are for you!

Sorry they’re like *weeks* late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Yes, I still have more presents to sew, but I’ve been lazy.

For the rest of you, these are cloth grocery bags but really they could be used for anything. I’ve used mine for zoo & beach trips, for clothes & toys, and for just about anything that I would normally grab a plastic bag for. The best use is for groceries. It’s nice to have something sturdy, totally stuff-able, and has easy carry handles. I have five of these myself, but only made Fini four. I didn’t buy enough fabric so could only make four plus this little cutie for me. The fabric is Alexander Henry and is the heavier home decor cotton. Fini likes the bright stuff so I thought this would be perfect for her.

Here’s a little on the bag’s specifications:

- They are cut from a 20 x 40 inch panel.
- The straps are 1.5 x 26 inches.
- There are 2.5 inch guessets.
- I used french seams for the sides of the bag for a neat and clean finish. (Still no serger!)
- There’s a 1.5 inch hem at the top where the straps are tucked into.

That’s it. Really simple to sew-up and totally worth it. Yes, you need to make some and be stylin’ at the grocery store with us!

OR- you can buy some…

We’re better, but I must still feel a little down because everything I made this weekend was blue.

The first project was matching pj bottoms for one of my daycare families who just had a baby boy. I used this “Britches & Bloomers” pattern for the baby and 4 year old brother, but since the pattern only goes up to a size 4, I used Simplicity 3669 for the 6 year old girl. ( I still added the ruffle from the Britches and Bloomers pattern to the girl’s pants instead of the plain hem from the Simplicity pattern.)

Yeah, these are way too big. I knew that she’s a “tall” size 8 so I figured I would make the next size up on the pattern, a 10. When she held them up, the waist was at her shoulders! I brought them back home with me so I could “adjust” them, but who are we kidding- I will probably have to resew the whole dang thing.

For her brothers, I used the “Britches & Bloomers” pattern which was reviewed here. I have a hard time with clothing patterns. I think there should be real photos included. You can’t tell a darn thing from the drawings! Since I’ve sewn some, I was able to figure things out, but I would really love photos. The pattern was very simple, but almost too simple. If I hadn’t done gathers before or pants for that matter, I would have had to do some guessing.

I used this wonderful Woolies flannel by Maywood Studio. I love this fabric and would buy the whole line if I could. It’s thick, soft and comes in beautiful colors.

The next project was a lunch sack for my sister-in-law. Elizabeth has this great tutorial which I should have followed better, but I was in a hurry. She calls for a lining and interfacing which I didn’t want to do. My bag doesn’t stand up as nicely because of it.

The fabric is the heavier decorator fabric of Amy Butler’s Forest line. It was expensive, but well worth it. I even embroidered her initials to try and add more details to my projects like I promised.

The last project was another try at heat sacks. Remember my last fiasco with these?

This time, I decided not to take any chances so I didn’t add any fragrance. Instead, I went with straight-up flax seed from my grocery store’s bulk section into a white cotton bag divided into three sections. I remembered from last time that for the size of my heat sacks, 10″ x 10″, I wanted to add some seams so that the seeds wouldn’t all fall to one side while in use.

Basically, I folded a 11 x 21 panel in half and sewed up the sides. I turned the bag right-side out and added the middle seams. Working with only one section at a time, I added the seed and sewed each section closed before moving on to the next. I pinked the top seam and then made the outside bag to fit with a couple of velcro strips for the closure. This way, the outside of the bag can easily be thrown in the wash as needed and the heat sack is more durable.

Whew- that was a long post! All in all, it was a good sewing weekend even if it was all blue.

Have you seen Craftzine lately? Yahoo!

My blog is one! Wow. I totally missed my blog anniversary which was March 13th. I can’t believe it’s been a year already. I remember the night I discovered the world of blogs. What an eye-opener this new world has been for me. I have loved every minute of it and know that I will be a part of this for a while yet.

I look back at some of my sewing I was doing then and am sometimes embarrassed. I remember when I bought my first new sewing machine. I remember when all my fabric, batting, notions and patterns actually fit inside my cabinet. I remember when I posted everything I made…

Today, things are different. I’m drooling over a new sewing machine. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to buy one of those beauties, but a girl can dream right? (Really, the Bernina Aurora QE is THE one!) My Janome is great, but it’s a basic machine and has limits- like sewing through layers of fabric. I’m also seriously looking for a serger which I thought I’d never really need. I have so many projects going that I can’t keep my sewing table clean for one day. I’ve tried some embriodery, picked up knitting again and have written tutorials that other’s have actually used. I’ve met many talented people and continue to be inspired daily.

The best is having Chris plan out- on graph paper!- my own sewing/craft room which will eventually be in our unfinished basement. This means I’m sticking around this sewing world for awhile and am getting a wonderful permanent space to do it all in.

So thank you for taking the time to comment, read or just browse. It’s been a great year!

Like I promised, these were whipped up the night before Easter. I made each kid, my 3 plus 5 cousins plus a family friend, 4 books of different sizes and tied some pencils, a pen and a pencil sharpener to each gift “pack”. I of course added some chocolate bunnies and my two boys got their first watches. Eddie keeps informing us that it’s 90:40 and we “gotto go!”

Each pack was opened up pronto and put to great use.

And this is exactly what I like to see, kid writing. I love how they sound out things, how lines are turned into rainbows, and the snakes, lizards and insects crawling here and there.

These are a great way to save those early drawings and writings. And it’s super easy. The idea has been floating around in blog-land for months and I’ve made these several times for my kids as well as for gifts. They really are great and so simple to make just by running them through your sewing machine on the longest stitch or stapling will work as well. All it takes is some card stock, paper (6 pages per book turns out well), and anything you have around to decorate it with- stickers, stamps, punches. You could really go to town with these and make them extravagant or very simple.

These were enjoyed over at Auntie “Mimi’s” yesterday along with ham, cake (it was also Hayden’s birthday), a huge egg hunt, and plenty of sugar to go around. I hope your Easter was a happy day as well!

I know that this is mainly a sewing blog, but really I haven’t been doing much of it lately due to my typing work. (The book is almost done. I only have 3 more chapters to type. Woohoo!)

I made my sister Mary 6 cloth grocery bags out of some more IKEA fabric. (You can’t beat their price or durability.) Yes, she now owes me big time, but I’m happy knowing that she’ll be using (and reusing!) my bags instead of adding more plastic to places like this.

I did more sewing yesterday trying to make cloth easter eggs and tried this wonderful idea, but stuffed eggs require hand stitching. I can’t do that to save my soul so that project didn’t make it far. I even tried to enlarge an egg pattern to see if a bigger egg would be easier to stitch. I wanted to make my kids and all the cousins one large egg with their name hand embroidered on them, but the first one I made turned into a mushy, squished, lopsided ball. UGLY. I gave it to Eleni anyway and she’s declared that it’s a ball for her doll. Great.

Did you know that you can’t just keep enlarging a pattern to the size you want even if it’s a simple pattern like an egg? Chris warned me about this when I was making all the kids’ slippers for Christmas, but I figured that it’s just an egg and what could go wrong. It turns out that you can’t simply enlarge and if you do, everything must be to proportion or else it turns out wacky.

So I’ve got another idea for Easter, but since it’s only a couple days away and I’ve still got 57 pages to type before Saturday, it’ll be a simple one. I’ll post it soon…

In the meantime, here’s what we’ve been eating:

Starting at the top, we have some chocolate shortbread mushrooms, a favorite Uwajimaya treat around here. (Ms O is sticking just to the chocolate and leaves the nubs for me.)

Next, whole wheat waffles with Daddy’s homemade blackberry syrup. This was last night’s dinner- Yummy!

Thirdly, we have the whole wheat artisan bread I promised to report about. What can I say? It was good, nutty and filling, but man, that white bread still rocks!

And lastly, tonight’s bedtime snack- steamed artichokes with your choice of butter or mayo for dipping. These were meant to go with dinner, of course, but since they take forever to steam, they weren’t done until 8pm. Bedtime snack it was and it was GOOD. (Yes, my kids really love these. Augie saw them while grocery shopping today and begged me to get them. I know I was a bad mom at first not allowing him to buy something that was $2 each, but we’re on a budget. So yes, he did have to beg for them! But really I think it’s the fun of scrapping the flesh from the leaves with your teeth. Even though Ms O and Eddie have trouble, they eat up what Daddy can get off for them.)

There you go, our eats so far this week. Tomorrow I’ll be on my own since I can’t stand duck!