Happy Easter and Thank you Mom.

I made a blouse for Easter out of some fabric that I inherited from my mother. The pattern is McCalls 4384, which is now out of print. Mom has been gone for 10 years now, so making something with her fabric is a nice way to honor memories of her. She loved polka dots, and I do too. I don't know what her plans for this fabric were, but I am sure she would have been pleased with my creation.

Greeting Cards

I made three cards, using my very basic sewing on cards method. I keep a plastic zip top blanket bag in my sewing room that I use to collect very small fabric scraps. I have put enough bits in there over the last year to have just about every color one could want.

Here's my very simple method:
1. Select the colors that appeal to you for the card. I like to let the scraps speak to me if possible, sometimes letting a found shape lead the way in the design.
2. Iron the scraps flat.
3. Assemble on the card front as you find pleasing.
4. Glue them down with a glue stick, just enough to hold them in place.
5. Sew the scraps down with lines, wavy or straight.
6. Pull all threads to the back of the card.


7. Cut another card in half and glue that over the threads on the inside cover of the card.

8. You are done.!




Here are all three cards, sorry that my pictures are a bit blurry. I took them with no flash.

Upholstery Fabric Vest

I finally made a garment! It seems like I have been stuck in a bag making mode, so it was very refreshing to do something different. A friend of mine made a vest from Kwik Sew 2843 which I had admired. She was kind enough to trace off a copy of the pattern for me. The pattern is intended to be a zip front sporty type vest. Betsy cleverly left the zipper off and used a nice loosely woven fabric, which made the vest more formal and nice enough to wear in a work or other social setting.

I had a 1 yard piece of upholstery fabric that I had thought I might make into a bag, but decided to go with a vest instead. The great thing about this pattern is that the vest has nice deep pockets. I pre-washed the fabric, so this will be a garment that I can put through the washer and dryer as needed.

The fabric raveled very quickly, so I used the serger to finish all seams even though they are all hidden by the lining.

I wore it today with jeans and a long sleeved T shirt, just the right combo of layers for a woman with "personal summers" that come when you least expect them.

3 Peace Grocery bags

I have made 3 peace grocery bags that I will donate to a fund raiser auction at my church. The bags are all made from denim. The peace symbols are a collage of small squares of fabric tacked down with stitch witchery and then sewn down. I got the peace symbol pattern that I used for the two with the wider symbol from here. I like the frayed edge look of this for a peace symbol, it seems appropriate for something as scrappy to attain as peace.

Here are the 3 of them modeling in the back of my car. They are so cute I have named them, from left to right: Green peas pieced peace, Purple polka dot pieced peace, and Flower power pieced peace.

Each bag has a pocket on the back side, as seen on the back of the Green Peas bag.

So here's to peace and saving our planet in ways little and large.