Saturday, March 31, 2012

BOM April Block(s)

Our instructor, Amy and Craftsy.com took pity on us BOM-ers and let us start on Friday, a few days early for April's block of the month!  This month is English Paper Piecing, specifically hexagons.  And I've been fooling around with it all day. 


This is how my block turned out   
The first block Amy called a "stripe".  We are doing two rows of hexagon pieces on a 12 1/2" block.  


At my house I enlist the opinions of my 23-year old twin sons.  It's kind of amazing what they come up with.  For instance, Amy's 'stripe' is parallel to the sides of the fabric, and a bit off center to the right.  My sons not only helped me with the color arrangement of my batik prints, but decided my stripe looked better a bit wonky.  And so it is.  And I have to admit, it looks pretty good!  Thanks guys!


The second block was Amy's own design, if I'm not mistaken, and she called it "Sunny with a chance of Hex" (racy huh?)    Well she took into consideration that not everyone's quilt themes (ie holidays) would work well with this block, so she gave us a challenge to come up with our own block using hexagons.  


Here's the first block, almost all batiks, because my jelly-rolls weren't wide enough to make hexagons with.  Still.. I like it.  And I tried out my blanket stitch (no more hand stitching please) with some hot pink embroidery thread.  And my son picked out the color of the thread we thought would go the best with the block.  Sure helps that my creative/artistic gene somehow got magnified in my kids.  :D   


Here are some other shots of the hexagons, for fun, and to practice being 'artsy' with my camera.  I think there should be photography classes offered on sights like Craftsy... we need to be expert photographers as much as accomplished 'sew-artists' and quilters!



I've been reading my sewing machine and serger manuals on the way to work (I ride the bus...so no worries!) in my attempt to make friends, very GOOD friends with my sewing machines.  Using the blanket stitch on my machine for the hexagon stripe was fun.  Now if I could just get my buttonholes down! 


(click to enlarge)

As far as being creative with the second block.... we have a plan!  I haven't started cutting and making the hexagons yet, [oh and I tell you...  time to get a new prescription for the glasses!!  It wasn't easy hand stitching this time.  I had my reader's on, and I have my Ott light with the attached magnifying glass ~ I'm sure you've seen them... it looks like a Spiderman villain of the octopus variety! ha  Still not easy...  Although the lighting was terrific!]  but I will tell you it involves moonlight, instead of the sun... and a few fun extras!  I'm really excited about this block... so look for it soon!  :D




Day 2:


When my son woke up this morning he almost immediately asked if we were going to get started on the second block for April.  Is that strange or what?  Not really.  The twins and I were brainstorming yesterday and were really having fun.


So I started cutting the smaller templates and making hexy's actually in all three sizes.  Two were for the "moon" (instead of the sun).   We put the 1-1/2"  hexy on top of the 2"  snuggled in the corner to form the crescent moon ~hexy style.  And I had this cute Japanese lantern fabric that I wanted to scatter around the block.  Originally we were going to hang the lanterns across the lawn of 'grass" (which was a green strip on the bottom of the block).  That changed.  I have some "wave" fabric (same as I used in my What's in the Bag? tote).  





And suddenly we were working with waves, and then a hexy scrap from the first block looked like a boat... and then we were reminded of the lantern scene in Disney's version of the story of Rapunzel, "Tangled".   Cute movie btw.  And we were totally changing things up as the day went on.  


I was working with a black background, and was fine with it, but my son thought it needed something.  But none of the fabrics we could use would have added anything with the lanterns being the focus.  So I got out my different colors of embroidery thread and did a kind of "Starry Night" thing to fill that void.  Obviously I didn't fill the block with swirly thread like Van Gogh did with his masterpiece (wait! Van Gogh used thread?  ...no of course not, you know what I meant), but my son recognized what I was going for.  :D  Anyway... here's what we ended up with.  The creative process was a lot of fun (and second-guessing).  If I wasn't working with hexy's in this block I would totally have many many more lanterns and cut to the shape of the lanterns... there is such a variety of shapes and colors.  But hexy's it is.  I can always do another version.  :D



I totally need to have my camera serviced.  And maybe take along the manual to read on my way to work!  My pictures are not looking as good as they used to, and they are not doing the block justice.  Soon I hope.  

More artsy shots...




Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Recycled, Re-purposed, Men's Polo into Adorable Twirly Skirt & Butterfly Top

My daughter requested I get busy and give her this outfit I created a few months ago for my granddaughter.  ...Have I mentioned what a procrastinator I am?

I thought I'd show you what I made with my son's work polo's. The polo's were fabulous, in great shape, but had his former job's logo on it.   And he didn't want to wear them anymore.... so I took two of them (one for the top and one for the skirt) and made this outfit:



This is the top and skirt together.  I don't have tutorial pics (sorry~I wasn't thinking of blogging when I made this) But I can try to tell you how I did it.

The skirt was made by cutting the polo just underneath the armpits and across the body of the shirt.  ~Rotary cutter and ruler work well here.  I had to keep in mind where the logo was on the back of the polo, you might too if you are recycling.  So basically I had two finished side seams, a finished polo hem and one raw edge to work with.  All you'd really need to do is sew a casing at the top and insert elastic and you would have a finished skirt.  VERY easy!  But I wanted to add something since it was all black, and this was for my 3yo granddaughter.


I went through my stash and found this wild print.  (Don't ask me what I had in mind to make when I bought it, I don't even remember!)  But I did think it would brighten up the skirt and be fun for my granddaughter.  I intended to make ruffles.  But gathering this length of fabric seemed like too much trouble at the time, so I cut two strips 6" wide and long enough to go all the way around the skirt.   For each strip I folded them long-ways right sides together, stitching 1/4" away from the raw edges forming a tube.  I turned the tube right side out and pressed.  These strips became the fabric faux ruffles at the bottom of the skirt.  The bottom strip was placed so about an inch of the black hem showed below it, and then I sewed the upper strip/faux ruffle so there was maybe a 2 inch overlap but you could still tell there were two pieces. The  finished hem  of the polo shirt became the finished hem of the skirt.




I made the elastic casing by folding over and pressing 1 1/2-2 inches of the top edge of the skirt. *I want to share this trick for making tight casings:  I top-stitched 1/4 inch from the pressed fold all the way around the skirt.  Then I took my length of 1" wide elastic (safety-pinned together), and laid it flat against the stitching inside the casing.  I changed my presser foot to the zipper foot, laid the casing over the elastic, and sewed the casing closed with the zipper foot as snug against the lower edge of the elastic as I could (without stitching through the elastic).  You will have to manipulate the elastic as you progress around the skirt.  It helps if you keep track of where the safety pin is, so you don't enclose it in the casing.  If you aren't sure about the waistline measurement, you can still leave a two-inch opening in the casing to be able to adjust the fit if necessary, before you overlap the ends of the elastic and zigzag them together.  Remove the safety pin and   complete the top-stitching to close the casing.   I like this method because it keeps your stitching straight, you know you have enough room for the elastic, and it gives a nice professional looking finish.

(click to enlarge)

Now for the Top!


(click to enlarge)
I have a tank top pattern out of t-shirt fabric that fits my granddaughter. (I didn't make anything out of it because there was a spot on the fabric... so I use it for a top pattern~ I used the same top pattern when I cut out the Sparkly T with the matching leggings).  I cut 2 of the tank pattern pieces out of a second polo shirt, to make the front and back of the top.  I sewed those right sides together at the shoulder seams.   I then cut the sleeves from the polo shirt.  I was going to size them down, but I thought 'what a waste!' ... So I gathered the sleeves to fit the armseye of the tank.  I even used the band on the bottom of the sleeve to keep that ready-made look.  I sewed the side seams from the underside of the sleeves around the armpit area and down the side seams. It made nice puffy sleeves!  Then I hemmed the bottom of the shirt by folding and pressing the hem and sewing it with twin needles, encasing the raw edge with the zig-zag stitch that forms on the underside of the stitch, (a double row of stitching works well too, to keep that polo finish look)   



(click to enlarge)
Now for the Butterfly...  This was a happy bit of inspiration.  I had scraps of this fabric on my cutting table.  Somehow I ended up with two half-circles.  The fabric is light and kind of 'floaty' and when scrunched a bit the half circles reminded me of wings... butterfly wings, so I went with it.  I cut a backing of the black T fabric the same size, sewed them right sides together ~leaving a 2 inch opening for turning, and turned the fabric right sides out again, pressed it and top-stitched close to the edge, stitching the opening closed in the process.   I had two half-moons.  I played with the placement before I realized if I sewed down the round sides facing the middle they became the wings, and if I left part of the half circle unattached to the front of the shirt they had a bit of movement to them.  Just what I wanted!  [If you notice the half-moons don't look like half-moons because I placed the top and bottom corners so that the strait sides 'buckled' or opened up a bit to give that flutter affect.


My machine has some embroidery stitches, not like my sister's super-duper model, but I experimented on my scraps and came up with a butterfly body that looked OK.  I used a dryer sheet for the backing on the inside of the shirt (which tears away easily when you're done) and I had a decent looking modern-art monarch!  hehe   This was really exciting.  I love it when a plan comes together.  [If you use your machine embroidery stitches I recommend practicing on scraps until you are confident you will get it right on the top!  Picking out embroidery stitches is NO fun!] 



(click to enlarge)
The only part I wasn't really happy with was the neckline.  I finished it with the woven fabric, for another bit of color, but I probably should have stuck with t-shirt fabric, or a much larger neck opening, or even tried to use the knit collar from my son's polo... (the woven fabric didn't allow the neckline to stretch, and we couldn't get the top over my g-baby's head!)  So that's why she's not wearing it yet, and what I need to work on next so she can wear it.  My daughter loves it, and keeps bugging me about finishing it.  So I will this weekend.
  
The best part???....this outfit didn't cost a dime!


Now couldn't you imagine some bright colored polo's, striped even, or tie-dyed shirts ready to be recycled into cute skirts/tops with accents in sweet spring/summer prints?  


Speaking of tie-dye... buy some extra egg-dying kits (after easter sales) for a tie-dye project.  It works really well!  My youngest daughter (now a mother herself) did a tie-dye project in pre-school with easter egg dyes on T-shirts. Too much fun!


And here it is being modeled by my beautiful and precocious granddaughter... 
I asked her mom what happened to the top, and she said Lele was playing with chalk when she said "OK Lele, ready to take a picture?" and Lele put down the chalk, wiped her hands off on her shirt, and said "Ready Mommy".  This kid cracks me up!  I (heart) her so much!















Sunday, March 25, 2012

Market Skirts... just the cutest little things

Hi!  The weather has been holding up nicely in the Mile High City.   Alas!  I have no off-spring's art to share (yet) but I did accomplish some sewing this weekend.  And all-in-all it was very satisfying.

I don't see people struggling with their machines on their blogs, but maybe that's because they've become properly acquainted and are good friends with theirs.  Haha!   In the past my old reliable's, my Pfaff 1471 (circa 1989) and my Pfaff Hobbylock and I were very good friends.  Unfortunately I had to replace my serger because the pedal stopped working, and the pedal cost about as much as a serger...  So I found a deal on ebay a few years ago and upgraded both my sewing machine and serger.  My 1471 is still reliable, and I may have to bring her out for buttonhole duty, because the "new" Pfaff probably needs a tuneup and the buttonholes were a fail.  Don't get me started on threading my serger!  Now that I finally found a threading instruction guide (with clear diagrams) online, I think I'm set.   I'd like to love my machines and all they can do.  If I keep putting the hours on them I have been, it won't be long!  :D  

I decided to make up some "market skirts" I pinned on Pinterest, with a great tutorial.  You may recognize the fabric... because I have been using it in my BOM.   I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the process, but the tutorial is very clear, and includes some very helpful tips (for those of us who are a bit rusty).  

Market Skirt #1
There are a lot of good things about this skirt.  
  1. *It's simple.  
  2. *It's a free pattern (or pattern-free)... the best kind to my way of thinking!  
  3. *It can grow!  As your child (or in my case.. granddaughters) grows you can make new ones based on their waist size and length needs .. I love that!  Some of my stash is from when my daughter's were little and I had every intention of making all three of them outfits.  Now my 3yo granddaughters are two different sizes already!  This little skirt can be adjusted up into their 'tweens'.  
  4. *It's a great stash buster... not that it uses a lot of fabric... 
  5. *You will go crazy with the possibilities for changing up the look.  Trims and pockets, etc.


Which brings me to Market Skirt #2

Adult ADD must have set in... I cut the blue fabric 15"x7" and 15"x8"... OY!  Undaunted, and keeping in mind that necessity is the mother of invention, I got this wise idea to make a bunch of HST's (half square triangles ~ for those of us who are abbreviation-adverse!) to put back the length I lost.  My artist son and I had fun experimenting with the patterns we could make for a good long time... and finally settled on just one row.  Before I inserted them I covered the backs of the HST strip with some white fabric and serged the skirt fabric, the HST's and the white fabric together.  My camera is charging, or I'd run take a photo to add (will add later so you know what I'm talking about).  And  the rest was done pretty much following the tutorial directions.  Cute huh?  A bit of A.D.D./O.C.D.  genius if I do say so myself!  

(click on picture to enlarge)
(click on picture to enlarge) 

Once the skirt was finished I figured a top was in order.  I picked out this summery little number (McCall's M4762) and used both fabrics... the buttonholes didn't work out so well, so I'm going to be tweaking the closures, but I'm aiming for a reversible top.   (If you notice, in the pic above you can see the matching blue fabric on the inside of the top). 

Anyway... I'm thrilled that I'm completing clothes in the actual season and for the person they were meant for!  :D
 





added another ruffle for length







Sunday, March 18, 2012

Oy... time to dig... can't find my 'stuff'

OK.. there is a break in the BOM (Block of the Month) quilting class until ..haha.. April Fool's Day.   I've made a few more of the coffee cup sleeves,  minus the hook and loop closures.  Where is that monstrous roll of that stuff anyway??  I've been eyeing my boxes in the front closet that have been unopened since I moved into this apartment 2 years ago, wondering where that hook and loop tape could be.  


Back story.. I moved from a small 5 bedroom home the kids and I lived in for 22 years.  Sign of the times.  I lost my job due to down-sizing and couldn't afford the mortgage.  My job search was miserable.  And I lost the house.  It was devastating.  But I moved on, to a one-bedroom apartment that was really sweet, nice amenities, a pond with ducks and geese right across from my balcony and life goes on.  I couldn't have done it without the help of my sister and a good friend from my old job.  My sister basically packed what I couldn't deal with anymore.  Sizing down was monumental.  Hence the boxes I haven't opened. 


But now is the time.  I've been pouring over sewing rooms and organization ideas online and on Pinterest.  And I have a pretty good idea of what I want to happen.  It IS a one-bedroom apartment.  I don't have a whole room to devote to sewing, and even if I did, I'd still want it to look like I could use it for overnight guests.  So I'm trying to find my sewing tools I haven't uncovered yet... like my velcro, and my nifty turning tools, and my extensive sewing library of books, and try and reclaim my cute apartment and putting the shui back in my feng.  lol  I really believe in that [feng shui].  And my cluttered existence right now is reflected in my cluttered place.  


So, right now... it's back to decluttering and organizing with the goal in mind of being much more productive and happy and organized in my life, my blog, my eco-minded ways, and my sewing.  


We shall see.  


April Fool's is fast approaching!  :D

Sunday, March 4, 2012

FUNNY... but true!



My son said all I had to do was stop dyeing my hair and it would be me to a T.   Haha... (now wait a minute!!)

Craftsy's BOM Class

I took the plunge in December and signed up for Craftsy.com's BOM Quilting Class.  Check it out!  Not a huge financial plunge, the workshop is FREE (you can sign up anytime) I'm just very non-committal these days... and the beauty is, well there is a lot of beauty to this.  Let me try to count the ways...


* I currently don't have a car. (Lugging a machine etc. on a bus to a predetermined and sometimes not convenient place/hour...not loving that too much).  No need, the class is on my laptop... whenever, wherever I want!


* Online anytime.  If you are working and can't make a scheduled class, or waiting for nap-time, or might have some time in the wee hours of the morning... all you have to do is turn on your computer and log on to your class.  Click the play button and your instructor is right there ready to go!  And let me tell ya, Amy Gibson, the instructor, is bright eyed and bushy tailed and sweet... as well as fun!


* I have a hearing problem.  I don't hear well in crowds.  Classes don't always work for me when people are chit-chatting among themselves.  I get it.  But I hear Charlie Brown's teacher...lol   I'm just not going to get anything out of the class if I can't hear what is being taught.
  
*Also, if I miss something, I can replay the lesson as many times as I want, with great camera angles so I can see what the instructor is doing.  I've been learning sewing techniques via video classes for over 20 years and it just works!


*Online chit-chat... LOVE it!  We can share pics of our projects, ask questions, make comments, cheer each other on....everything that disturbs me in a real classroom setting is GREAT in the online setting.
*I have completed 1 (one) quilt ever!  and I want my quilt to be finished, top-quilted and bound this time.  This class offers it.  I'm thinking of doing two quilts side by side because the pace is so manageable.


*Personal reasons: I am using a lot of my stash on this quilt.  Fabrics I originally bought to make dresses, etc. for my girls.  My girls are in their 20's and 30's now. (so embarrassing!)  This quilt is my "Procrastinator's Redemption"  ~ I might just call it that too!  Oh and since I'm all fired up about sewing/quilting again... I just may get some of those dresses made for my GRAND daughters... hopefully more redemption!  


I am so glad to be bitten by the sewing/creativity bug again.   


Those are a few of the many reasons I am so glad I joined this class!  I am a big, no... BIG procrastinator.  Completing a block is such a win, a mood altering win for me... I get to not only drool over fabric, but now I'm looking around at my lovely stash and seeing possibilities like never before!  Why even while I was on the phone with my friend Debbie, I stitched together a pillow cover for my couch.  he-he  That would have never happened before!


Here are my first eight blocks from my BOM class:


BOM#1  Asterisk block
(click for a close-up)

BOM#2  Wonky Pound Sign block
(click for a close-up)

BOM#3  Balkan Puzzle (or Windblown Star) block
(click for a close-up)

BOM#4  Chunky Chevron block
(click for a close-up)

BOM#5  String block (totally deserves a better name)
(click for a close-up)

BOM#6  Broken Spider Web
(click for a close-up)


BOM#6 Broken Spider Web 2 (the keeper)
(click for a close-up)

BOM#7 Hexagon Stripe
(click for a close-up)

BOM#8 Moonlight Lanterns ~I made this up
(click for a close-up)




Saturday, March 3, 2012

Fresh off the Turnip/Blog Truck

Hi everyone!  My name is Maureen... my friends call me "Mo".


I have rediscovered my passion for sewing after a deflating layoff and intensive job search.  Now that I'm gainfully employed, I can afford to spend my free time doing what I love... SEWING.  I've been pouring over blog sites and flicker pages for inspiration, for sewing projects, but with a purpose.  Recycling, Reusing, Up-cycling, and being practical and frugal in a fun and creative way.  


I have been sewing since high school.  Oh my first project should have ended my sewing career!  LOL.  The sewing teacher wanted us to straighten our fabric before cutting..  I chose camel-colored pin-wale corduroy!   You cannot pull a thread to straighten corduroy!  There was fuzz everywhere, and broken threads, and I thought I'd never get it straightened.  But in the end I had a very cute v-neck jumper.


After high school I was inspired by my work-mate Barb Ely (are you out there Barb?).  She was a sorority girl, working at the university library, and sewing up her wardrobe in her 'spare' time.  She had goals and a schedule ~ 5 outfits by next weekend kind of thing!  I knew I could do it too!


Then I moved to Denver.  Another work-mate was an awesome seamstress... she would wear designer outfits to work she had sewn herself.  Beautifully done!  I can't remember a single outfit I sewed during this time... but my sewing machine moved everywhere I did.  


Then came marriage and a family.  And I was a stay-at-home mom.  Sewing was back!  I started watching Nancy Zieman and Eleanor Burns on PBS, and slowly my home ec nightmares of pin-wale fluff and tangled threads and ripping out seams gave way to more beautiful fun-filled projects.  Clothes for my girls.  Clothes that lasted through all three of them!    


I was making napkins and aprons for a few local restaurants (which paid for my first serger) and I was sewing Lycra, and exercise outfits for a local exercise gear place.  I saw mounds of Lycra in every color and print!  And I was off to Denver Fabrics to rent more tutorial tapes (yes VHS).  Industrial Sewing by Margaret Islander was a favorite.  I had to make my time count.


I took the plunge and bought my first Pfaff.  The kind Nancy Zieman was using on her show at the time.  I still have it.  I love it!  It made tiny little button holes for the doll clothes I made.  It is so solid, and I never had nests of thread to dig out of my machine.   But I wasn't sewing for myself so much, I was sewing for other people.  Altering clothes.  Making custom order coats, and dresses.  Loved their choices.  Loved the finished products.  And loved happy customers.  


My next great inspiration is my friend and non-sewer, Nicole Montgomery.   We've never met in real life.  But we conducted business on the phone in our jobs.  She had a passion about saving the earth...one cloth napkin at a time... and I made cloth napkins!   We have often talked about starting an organic clothing line.  Cute retro-style clothes, yoga outfits, all responsibly- made in the US ..no sweat shops for us!  And I like the recycling side of it.  Reusing and re-purposing clothes that might otherwise be tossed out.  I've done a few things and have a stack of my son-in-laws jeans to make outfits for my daughter and granddaughter.  


So here I am, slow mo...  I am basically starting this blog so I have a place to share my ideas and creations, and be able to comment on other blogs that seem to require you to have a blog page!  LOL


If you've made it through this post, thank you!   Future posts hopefully won't be such a snooze!  :D