Sewing; what’s that

It’s been SOOO long since I have sewn anything. I have a bad itching for it but don’t want to start until I’m fully organized at the apartment (was under major renovation). I bought a lot of fabric for only $35 about a month ago but I lost 5 pieces of the fabric that I was going to make a bedspread out of. Oh well. Maybe it will turn up but most likely it won’t. I think it was accidentally thrown out when I was cleaning up. Oops. I will be looking for other fabrics downtown sometime if I don’t find anything.

The other day I bought elastic thread. I had to go all the way out to porter ranch since it’s a popular item. This is another thing I want to play around with when I start getting back into sewing.

Wardrobe

This post has nothing to do with any sewing project that is in the works, but has something to do with the looks I am after.
Does anyone watch Private Practice? I love the wardrobe of Kate Walsh’s character Addison Forbes Montgomery. I’ve recently started to become an avid watcher of this show and have noticed her clothing. I love the colors, the style, etc of what she wears. Some of pieces as absolutely GORGEOUS!!!
I have been going through some of the patterns that I have bought and noticed many of them were similar. I’ve been doing some sketches of the outfits and altering them a bit to fit my personality a bit more.
I don’t know when I will ever get around to making something out of those patterns and or sketching. I don’t even know when I will really start up sewing again. I hope it is soon. I do miss it and when it’s the wee hours of the morning I have an itching to sew. Hopefully this weekend I will complete a top. My weekends are have freed up a bit. I don’t know…

new projects

I haven’t finished my holiday gifts!! EEK. I need to finish them up tomorrow. I got most of the cutting done. I just need to cute the fabric for 2 more bags. I am thinking og playing around with putting a zipper on one of the makeup bags to see how that works out. Will also be interesting to see how sewing throught vinyl will be as well.
I was just given a Nano as an early holiday gift. Today I searched around for a case and just picked up a small coin purse but I am thinking that I want to make another one since this one is a bit small when I have the earbuds plugged in. Of course my case will have to be pink just like my pod. so girly.
Another project that I want to work on is pajama’s for my friends little girl. She just turned 4 and I was given this really cute ballet themed fabric for little girls. Thought it will make a cute gift. If I have enough I can try to make a night gown and a pajama set or I can make a pajama set with shorts or pants for her to choose from. We will see. I will probably try to work on this with Leyli since this it’s for her God daughter.
Last night I pulled out sculpty clay that I have had for ever and started to make the pin toppers. I made a pin cushion, 2 swirled Lollipop and a banana. I was starting to make a cupcake when Little the terror came up and started to eat the bottom half. Oh well. I might try again tonight. I need to come up with some themes though. Also need to work faster with it since it warms up really quickly and then too soft to work with.

fabrics for current projects

just a peek of the fabrics I am using for my current projects. I hope to get them all done by the end of this week if not sooner. I have already made 2 baskets. Need to make one more and then make the little makeup bags. I am not sure about the fabric for the inside of the last bag. I might swap it with something else. Actually I am not feeling the whole combo right now. Will have to see.

holiday gifts & ideas

I went to Joann’s to pick up some fabric to make my friend her holiday gift. Picked out some cute fabrics in hues of blue. Since I am making those baskets into makeup bags I am eliminating the side handles. Maybe only but one and adding snaps. I might play around with putting a zipper. will have to play around. Also I bought plastic vinyle for super cheap 2.99 a yard which will go a long way since I don’t need that much.

As I was in line I saw some cute fabric left over bundles on sale. I picked those up along with a fat quarter to make a bag for my mom. I am having fun mixing up fabrics. From the bundle pin I picked up this really pretty butterfly print on a cream/tanish background and pairing it up with a muted limish green fabric w/ white polka dots. Inside I wil have a pink flowered fabric.

Later on in the day I was browsing the internet and saw a cute handmade pins. I am also a clay artist and thought “hey why not make those to to give to my sewing buddies”. Also I am interested in doing a sewing swap one of these days. Just need to find that site with swaps and everything. So with that in mind I went oackto Joann’s. Just a different location. I picked up some other snaps that I needed along and started to look for pins. I could find the ones I wanted until I went to quilting section and there they were. Whew I was getting ansy for a second.

I just had to look at the larger selection of fat quarters. So I picked up 6. Two of them are sewing themes. I will e giving my instructor Sha a little basket with a pin cushion and pins with handmade toppers. The other I will save for a swap whenever I get involved with one. The last set I picked up is for me. It matches my current makeup travel  case.  I have fabric at home to make one for my sewing buddy. She likes black red and white and likes the rocker punk theme. I thought that i would make some cute pins for her too and another pin cushion.

I spent last night cutting out the the fabric. I cut out too much of felt. Silly me. But it’s okay I can use still use it. Just need to sew it together. I was only to finish one basket but I did sew do most of the sewing for the other parts. Tonight I will sew the last one and then start playing around with making the makeup bags.

sew sew weekend

Went to Joann’s on Friday to just look around with Joey. I ended up getting some material to make a pillow for him. Very simpl project. He likes it when I make him pillows and I as I was browsing the pattern section he went off to look for fabric. He came back with a flame pattern. I sent him back to get a pillow while I went to pick out felt. I’ve been needing to get felt for my sewing accessories pattern that I picked up a few months back. Since I am on a pink kick i just had to get hot pink. I was in luck it was on sale for 1.99 a yard. WOO HOO.

The pillow I bought was larger than the first one so I had to make some adjustment to the pattern. Also had do it by memory a bit. It was easy and took me about a half hour or less. Wasn’t looking at the time. Joey loved it so much he used it that night. Now he has two pillows and the first one I ever made now lives in the living room and our bed houses the flame one and the skulls one. SOOO does not go with my duvet cover but whatever.

So Leyli wasn’t able to come by on Friday sand we made plans for Saturday. I woke up early and didn’t want to go back to bed so I looked through my cloth collection and unfinished projects. I found fabric that was bought about 5 years ago that would match the living room decor. I have enough to make 3 pillows. One for the large pillow that is micro suede and for 2 others that I will need to buy pillows for. I desperately need to make a cover for the larger pillow so that the micro suede would not get messed up.

I spent the saturdat morning watching the rest of project runway Australia while cutting out the rest of the sewing accessories pattern. I decided to make the larger pillow while waiting for Leyli to come by. I could have made another but decided to just organize my things a bit more. Below are pics of the pillow made.

new pillow cases

Since I cut out all the little patterns for the sewing accessories and I had felt, I wanted to make a little basket that would match my sewing bag. It took me about an hour and a half to finish the whole thing. I’m happy with it. It’s cute. I might add some snaps so that I will be able to keep it closed so the kitties won’t try to steal pins from the pin cushion. adding the snaps will be a good addition. I can then make a few more and give them out as holiday gifts.

sewing basket to match my sewing machine cover and sewing bag

I have a shirt pattern cut out already so I will be laying it out and cutting the fabric tonight. I decided to start cutting patterns out when I am watching tv. That way I am not wasting time later on.

thankful for – thanksgiving :: sewing/creative plans

this year is almost over. I am thankful for all the wonderful things that have been going on in my life along with the not so wonderful. I am thankful for sewing, an outlet that I desperately wanted to try out. Just thankful that I am alive, healthier and happier this year than in previous years.

on another happy note, I will be starting up sewing again. I started up and almost finished a top but then was side tracked. My friend Leyli and will be meeting up on Friday for some fun sewing projects. We are trying to get back our creative nights again.

ceramics classes will be ending in about a month and there will be about a month of limited studio access so I will be able to take time on Saturdays and dedicate it to sewing. YAY. I miss it. I started to cut out the pattern for my next project. I have been losing weight so I am able to cut them to a smaller size. WOO HOO.

no telling when I will get photos up. I am borrowing my parents computer since mine has crashed. BOO. But I did get a copy of the full Adobe suite so I will be able to store it on there when I get my computer back.

have a great turkey day!!

sewing again

I started to sew again last night. It has been well over a month since the last time I touched my sewing machine. I decided to finish up my white top. I still need to add buttons and elastic. Cut bias tape and add to the sleeves. I think I did something wrong but whatever. It still works and it’s super cute. I tried it one last night and loved it. It will look so good with dark jeans. OH, i also have to tact the inner collar piece. I hate those things. I know they are needed but they are just a big pain in the ass.

I don’t know when i will ever post images of the finished items. I know I am such a slacker. haha. Work and my other creative outlet of creating ceramic vessels have gotten in the way.

Tonight I will be cutting out another pattern to start. Not sure what I will make this time. Probably another top.

On another not. I found Mood, the fabric store that the designers go to in project runway. This one is in L.A. I wasn’t even looking for it. Joey and I went to a hugge art store called PEARL on La Cienega. As we were walking to the car, I saw the familiar logo. I said to Joey ” we are going there (pointing to the store) now” It was just across the way from us. Unfortunately, it was sunday and they were closed. BOO. I will have to go some other time.

Will try to update again soon.

freaking buttonhole foot

I bought a set of different feet for my machine since mine only came with two (zig zag and zipper/cord foot). I was excited to try out the buttonhole foot but I don’t know how to use it. It’s not the automatic one where you just put the button on it and it automatically makes does it in one step. I have the one that you use for 4 steps but I don’t know where the hell the thing is for doing steps 1-4. I am assuming it is inside since there is a lever that says 1 -4. I don’t know. I am so disappointed. I wanted to play around with it.

I did however play with the other feet. Need more practice though. Think that I will take another 4 sessions with Sha next month and bring my machine with me or just take one session for a foot tutorial. I am thinking of just buying the automatic buttonhole foot online. Boo.

Random update

Full version of banner. Was so glad that the photographer let me use the image. will also be used on my new widget.

Haven’t sewn since I got back from Atlantic City. Going on 2 weeks. Need to get back into the swing of things.

Just purchased foot pressers for my machine (11 total including a button hot attachment) and cloth that matches my sewing box. I want to make little baskets and things with this. Bought 1 yard at a ridiculously high price. Kinda dumb but oh well. I will use it sparingly.

Not much else.