Great quote on sewing

I was just reading Marcy Tilton's newsletter and really like this quote:

"This I know: the act of getting my hands, heart and soul into making & inventing something brings great pleasure. Where there was once a neatly folded flat piece of cloth, suddenly there is a dimensional garment. In spite of setbacks (buttonholes gone bad, unintended puckers, 2 left sleeves.......), I return to the studio with passion and hope. Some days the act of stitching something together, smoothing out wrinkles, shaping an edge, tweaking a pattern, screening in a bit of color, all add together to make a feeling of joy that is almost beyond words. "

I often try to describe to someone what I get out of sewing, this sums it up so well. I am not at the designer level as Marcy is, but do very much identify with the intent and effect of the creative process that she describes.

Here's to "joy beyond words" in sewing adventures.

Christmas makings

Now that Christmas is over and the gifts have been given I can share some of the hand made gifts I gave this year.

For my son and daughter in law I wanted to make a tree ornament that said something special about 2008. So what better than to remember the campaign and election of Barak Obama? I snagged a photo of the Obama symbol from the campaign web site and proceeded to copy the shape for a round ornament. It was fun to do and turned out pretty nice. Andrew and Sarah really enjoyed receiving it and agreed that it will be a good remembrance of 2008.

For my each of my two sons I wanted to make a boxy shaped bag with a zipper. I followed the tutorial here, well I tried to anyway. The first time I got the width and length of the body transposed and ended up with a rectangle instead of a box.
It was amazing to me that I got almost all the way done before I realized that this object was not short and wide but long and narrow. Oh well. Andrew liked it and does feel he has a use for it. It actually is a good size for tools.











For my musician son I wanted to make a boxy bag that would hold CD's. This time I carefully thought out what the dimensions needed to be and actually measured a CD case. (how clever) I used a piece of fabric that Nathan had given me quite awhile ago, something that spoke to him while visiting JoAnn's with a girlfriend. I did not get a sewing room photo, so here you can see Nathan with it on our sunny Christmas afternoon.












Last but not least, the big ta da. I decided about 2 weeks before Christmas to make a quilt for Andrew and Sarah. My husband is making them a very nice blanket chest/coffee table and it occurred to me that a lap size quilt for the inside would be very useful. I selected a pattern with very large pieces and enlarged the lap size so that it is basically almost twin size. I went with a black and white colorway so that it will not show the dog hair of their black dog too badly. Needless to say I did not finish this before Christmas. It is pieced and pinned together, and that's how it was wrapped and given to them. They really liked it, here they are holding it up for a work in process photo. Since I knew they would not be going home with the quilt, I did whip up a set of 6 cloth coasters out of the black and white fabrics. No photo of those, sorry.









One more item to share. While Andrew and Sarah were visiting Sarah mentioned that she wanted to make a dog bed for their dog out of an old egg shell mattress pad, folded to a 36 x 46ish size. So, we went to Joann and found a really nice piece of purplish fur on sale. Sarah also wanted to line the bed with mylar insulated batting so that it would feel nice and warm to the dog. Sarah and I worked on this yesterday. We had to add a strip of black duck so that the piece was wide enough, since the edge of the fur had a very loosely woven selvedge. Here you can see Sirius quite contented with the results.

Getting ready

Just a quick post to show one more wristlet, on its way now to a certain little girl who likes pink.

Also, some gifts for David under the tree, wrapped in fabric gift bags.


That's all I can share now. A surprise is in the making...

Early Solstice gifts

I made up this bag to share at the gift exchange of my circle sisters. I "stole" the design inspiration from the Pink Lemonade Boutique web site. She has made some really nice bags with colorful fabric combos. What inspired me were the circles connected by lines and the use of rick rack. I made a basic fabric bag to wrap the gift in.
After making the bag I decided to make a wristlet to match it and then to make a wristlet for each of the other women in the circle.

Actually the bottom one, the spider fabric, is for me. Aren't they sweet? I loved making these and imagining who would get each one. Here's how it came down. Barbara got the circle rick rack bag with it's matching wristlet. (note the witch accessory fabric used for the lining and the and wristelt) Margaret and Merrill each got a dragonfly one. Molly got the greenish one with peace doves. Cathy got the one made out of the Japanese fabric that I made a blouse out of. Judi got the one made out of the Chinese girl fabric. Emily will be getting the blue fern one via the mail. Very fun work, and I am proud to say that every zipper was a thrifted or hand me down one. Some of these old zippers have waited a long time to be put to use.


Here's to making something to give away, I hope you find time to share your creativity with those you love.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm off to my sister's house for a family Thanksgiving. My contribution is seen here. Pies: apple, pecan and cherry. The apple is very large, deep dish and made with Granny Smith apples. The cherry pie was made with Splenda, for those who much watch sugar. This is my first sugar free pie, hope is tastes good.

The red dish is the classic fresh cranberry-orange relish.

I always make pumpkin pies, and will make those on Sunday when we will have company here at our home. It seems odd not to have pumpkin today.

Thanksgiving

The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.'
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.
Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway~
Thanksgiving comes again!

—Unknown

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Happy Halloween!

If it's Halloween then it must be time to celebrate spiders! I love spiders and have been known to look for spider motifs in home decoration and fabric. I found this fabric when our local Hancock went out of business a couple of years ago. It's a Michael Miller print called "Webmaster". Perfect.



I thought that the Butterick 5223 jacket pattern would suit this fabric well. The hanging ties on the sleeves and back seem very spider web like.















And then, I found a perfect button at Joann's. These big black buttons look very web like.

So, I go off into the world today feeling very festive and ready to celebrate everything spidery! Hope you have a Happy Halloween too.








More on spiders...

Native American Spider Woman mythology here and here. Spiders, good for the garden here. And spiders in the home here. As the last site says: "Next time you see a spider just repeat this sentence: Spiders are good guys. Spiders are good guys."

Sewing with Bamboo

I purchased some textured bamboo fabric at the sewing expo. This is the print. I washed it in cool water and dried it on a low setting. It came out very soft and with a very nice drape. I wanted a shell with sleeves that I could were tucked in or out. I am pleased to say I found that New Look 6483 is perfect. I did make one change to the pattern, I wanted a more open neckline, so I make View A top with the neckline of view E. The pattern has a short slit at the center back and a button closure. With the wider neckline I can get the top on without opening the button, but I do like the detail of the button closure.

Sewing with the bamboo was a pleasure. It had such a soft hand, but still has nice body. The edges did fray quite easily, so I serged every single seam.

I am sure I will use this pattern again, it has a good fit for me. I like the versatility of this top.