my newest apron

my apologies for the very hasty blog entry, and the lame description of how i make these aprons. here's how it turned out. i used denim from worn out bluejeans to make a wide waistband, and then a very long tie from bias tape that goes all the way around and ties in the front (my hair has grown too long and gets stuck in the bow when it ties in the back). :-) yes, the kids took this picture, and they were fighting over my camera, hence the growly look on my face. hahahaha

new apron!

okay, so my husband had a stain on his shirt i couldn't manage to get out. oh dear! so now his old shirt is my new apron! this is one of my favorite sewing projects, ever. i have a few of these shirt-aprons, i really like them a lot. :-)

first, you cut off the collar and along the seam at the top of the shoulder.



turn the shirt inside out, and using a straight-edge, mark a line along the side-seams, leaving a gap where the sleeve is for pockets. stitch along that line, rounding out the sleeve for to make a better shape for the pocket. if you are real slick, you can topstitch that seam from the front of the pocket all the way down to the hem. but if the shirt being used was an old denim workshirt (they do make wonderful aprons!), don't bother with that step as it isn't really necessary.





other than the little strip of fabric trimmed off from straightening the side seams, this is all you will have left over. (most efficient recycling, isn't it?)

then you just gather the top edge and sew on a strip of coordinating or contrasting fabric for the tie. presto! instant apron!! :-)

and best of all, the hem is already done for you!! does anyone else have such a hard time with sewing hems as i do?

it's that time of year again

*sigh* No matter how many wonderful things are happening in my life right now, I feel like I'm drowning sometimes. And it looks like we'll have to use plastic to pay for the kids to have a nice Christmas. It goes against everything I believe in, but I don't want to disappoint the children. Our grocery bill has gotten simply outrageous lately! Hamburger, the cheap stuff, is up to $3 a pound. WHAT??! yeah, wasn't that long ago you could find it for less than $1/lb on sale. We gotta eat. And we can't eat just anything, it has to be gluten-free, so there's another added expense.

Think I'll give etsy another try. At least sewing will keep me busy, it's lots of fun for me, and that's one hobby I have plenty of supplies without going out and spending any money we don't have on it.

Tear Dress

So I was interested in perhaps making a tear dress, or something similar, anyway...

Found lots of neat information online. Doesn't seem so difficult, it fits with the way I sew already. But here's my problem. It's with this: "The Official Women’s Dress Of The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma" link There's a long list of rules!

Hope I don't upset too many people if I make my own version of these tear dresses, but don't follow all the rules. I mean, it never was authentic to begin with, fashions change, tastes change, and NOBODY tells me how to dress. I really love the style, it certainly looks easy enough, and most definitely comfortable! Plus, it would go nicely with my aprons.

Osprey

I would like to share with y'all this drawing of an osprey by my six-year-old daughter.



thank you

ponies and mice

Fun with polymer clay!

metal art by Paul

Check out these trophies Paul made for the Shawn Adams Memorial Spirit of the Game Ultimate tournament!
http://nakedpretzel.com/shawn.shtml



(click on either photo above for higher resolution image)

Paul has 20 years experience in metal fabrication and welding. He often repairs or creates custom parts for his friends' motorcycles. I have some garden ornaments he made that I need to photograph, too. Contact paylridr@bellsouth.net to discuss your custom metal fabrication or repair.

little froggies

Fun!


Here's what I've been making lately. Little frogs, lots of little frogs. I made a larger frog and filled it with rice. DH wants two bigger frogs to use as pillows on the sofa, that would be pretty cool. I don't know what we're going to do with all these froggies, but they sure are fun to make.

The story about the frogs goes way back... I was a little kid, probably four years old, I guess. We went to a craft fair, and a woman there had a barrel full of stuffed frogs. I just had to have one. This one time, begging acutally worked, and I chose a red and blue frog because it reminded me of Superman! Not long after, while riding in the car on the highway, I lost SuperFrog. He had been flying out the car window, like Superman, and for some reason, I thought if I let go he would continue to fly beside the car. He didn't. (Do any of you even remember when backseat car windows would actually roll all the way down?)

Many many years later, I saw some similar frogs out of leather that my friend Claudia had made. It turns out that she also grew up in Virginia, and had also gotten one of those stuffed frogs from a barrel at a craft show as a kid! Been wanting to make some for myself (uh, for my kids?) and just now finally getting around to doing it! :D

three new old purses

my apologies for just having the one photo, and it having been taken in a great hurry so I could post it this morning...
Mamaw, DH's grandmother, gave me this and two other similar bags yesterday. She gave the girls lots of porcelain toy dishes, like three shoeboxes full! We will be having a big fancy dancy tea party someday real soon. Been looking for an excuse to throw a party...
anyway, the purses. DH's other grandmother (whom I never met) made them. They are beautifully constructed. I've learned so much about sewing just by examining the craftsmanship of these bags. There are three of them, the purple being my favorite. And the orange paisley lining, oh my! :)

mazes

yeah, mazes. You know, those puzzles where you have to find a path from one place to another? Well, my oldest child is crazy for them, but the ones we were finding (like in her Ranger Rick magazine) were just too easy. So I've been drawing my own mazes for her. I was also guilty of making them too easy at first. It can be rather disappointing to spend 20 minutes drawing up a maze that my child can solve in two minutes flat! But I'm getting better at making them more difficult, but still not too hard where she would get discouraged and upset. anyway, that's what I've been up to lately. Was feeling a bit under the weather last weekend, and DH went out of town on a motorcycle camping trip, so that's what I did. After the first ten or so mazes, I started thinking I should probably try to print out some copies and make like a booklet or something.... (but that would involve getting a new scanner and a decent printer, or maybe taking the originals down to Kinko's or somewhere like that)

the spinniest skirt?

It remains to be seen how the recipient of said spinny skirt feels about it, or how she looks in it, but I'm quite pleased with the results.

The sun and moon fabric was originally intended to be curtains for the room originally intended to be a nursery (before I threw out the idea of my babies ever sleeping alone in there). I think the curtains hung there for all of three days before I had to do something different. The dark blue fabric was a babysling I never finished (sorry Elizabeth! I will get you one made by next week when you come visit, I promise!). My girls both helped sew some of the seams, sitting on my lap and guiding the fabric as I pressed the foot controller.

Sorry, Mom, you might have to make a petticoat or crenolin to go with the skirt if it doesn't hang properly...

a nursing dress?

I think I just figured it out! What if I made a simple dress with an overlapping slit running down the center of the front, then wore a pinafore/apron with it? I could make the skirt as wide and spinny as I want. I could make two aprons and three dresses and have six different outfits! Best of all, I don't see any reason this wouldn't work (except my lack of fabric yardage - might have to go patchwork on it). But... would it just look too strange, even for me? What if I made it of the funkiest brightly colored fabrics? :-D


edit - after a google image search for ideas, I feel a need to clarify that I am NOT talking about ruffles and little house on the prairie!!! More of a retro 60's mod look, combined with a 70's hippie style....

Finally, a shirt that fits!!

Not just a shirt that fits, but one that fits and is not made of spandex. It took me all day yesterday (okay, probably more like three hours, but when that is broken up into bits of five or ten minutes at a time, it takes longer to get anything done), and three attempts, but I figured out a pattern to make myself a top. I started out with a store-bought sundress pattern that I thought would make a good shirt (actually, I still want to make the dress, if I can figure out how to make it nursing accessible). So that was the first attempt. I moved the bust darts and shortened the shoulder straps (it's sleeveless tank-top style) and made a newspaper pattern. That was try #2. Unfortunately, I didn't move the bust darts quite far enough, and there was something not right about the armpit holes, so I had to change it again. Finally try #3 fits the way I want it to!! Still haven't figured out exactly how I am going to finish the hem and around the neckline and arm holes. Pattern calls for bias binding, which might be okay, but I'm just not sure. If they actually made patterns that fit me, I'd already have six of them sewn in the same amount of time it took me to make just the first decent one. But now I have a working pattern, and plan to use up lots of that cotton fabric that I have laying around. :-)

edit:
I finished it off with white bias tape, since that was the only color I had in the narrow width. It looks a bit too much like hospital scrubs, and there are a few more adjustments I need to make to the pattern before I sew another, but it turned out okay. Not fabulous, but not horrible, either. Definitely the best fitting shirt I've had in many, many years.
*sigh* oh to be fifteen again and able to wear clothes off the rack...

edit again:
after several test runs, I think perhaps a hand-rolled hem around the neckline and arm holes would be the best way to go. Either that, or make my own bias tape link.

create something!

today I must sew. I want to make another pocketbook, but am totally out of interfacing and quilt batting, so need to figure out how to do without. Perhaps using denim or another heavy fabric instead of my lovely cotton prints? Even with upholstery fabric, my most recent totes needed interfacing. Or maybe I could put to use some of those fleece receiving blankets that were too scratchy for my babies... hmmm.... that might just work! That is, IF I didn't already take them to the thrift store. *sigh*

single digit size jeans!!

woo hoo hooooo!!!! okay, not exactly single digit size, but yesterday I bought a pair of blue jean shorts in size 9/10, which I haven't worn in quite a long time (unless you count Gap jeans that run extremely large for what number they give them, or used to back before I had kids). I had to, I have nothing that fits me anymore. Keep in mind that I also last week made myself a pair of shorts, using a pattern that is size 16W, and those also fit me... with major alterations to the inseam (no, not inseam, rise?) length because I didn't feel like wearing my britches up around my ribcage, or having my crotch hang down to my knees. Nope, not gonna post pics of that monstrosity. They have to be the ugliest pants ever created! But they were my first attempt at ever sewing pants (unless you count Barbie clothes), and they *do* fit.

etsy shop closing!!

link seriously, I am not renewing any of my items that have or recently will expire. I have not sold one single thing through Etsy. If you wish to make a purchase, do it today (J's dread beads actually expired yesterday, but right now are still there. The rest expires in the next few days. For some reason, I thought I got six months, not just four?). If anyone makes just one purchase, I will have enough $$ in paypal to renew my listings. BIG HUGE discount and free shipping to anyone who enters the coupon code "crap" in the comments, just wait for me to send you an invoice. Otherwise, I'm done with it. Chalk another one up to a learning experience. I just don't have the time or inclination to spend half my day online promoting my etsy shop at various message forums (see the addiction post for more on that) or making hundreds of little things with which to fill my shop. Everything is still available for sale, anything I ever had listed at etsy or in this blog post here. One more week and my kids can have them, seeing as how they've wanted to keep everything I make all along.

a knitting tote?

So, I have two days to make Mother's Day gifts for my mom and mother-in-law. MIL is a knitter, and I think I'll make her a tote for her knitting projects. Problem is, I don't knit, and have no idea what size bag would be best for this purpose? Please leave a comment by midday tomorrow (Saturday) if you don't mind, explain to me what is it that you would like in a knitting tote, pockets?, how long should the handles be, etc... Otherwise, I'll just get my kids to make them cards and be done with it. Well, I'm really hoping the girls will do that anyway... or I'll just make her what size seems best in my uneducated opinion.


edit - never mind. I just finished totes for both mom and mil. will post pics later.

edit again - DH borrowed the digital camera and I'm not sure where he left it. The girls actually made the straps for both totes, and helped sew some of the other seams as well. I sat them on my lap (one at a time) and mashed my foot down on the controller thingy foot pedal while they guided the fabric through the machine! Hey, whatever it takes to not be constantly interrupted. Plus, we can call it "homeschooling" as I believe learning a trade or craft to be much more important in the long run than memorizing times tables... Littlest one asked me why she doesn't have her own sewing machine! I think she's been eyeing that little Featherweight, it is just her size. :D

and another edit - I made the inside pocket for MIL's tote big enough for her knitting needles, then just built the tote around the pocket. I guess it's big enough for three balls of yarn plus the project in progress. My mom's tote is huge. She mentioned to me that she'd like me to make her a really big tote, like for groceries, but I'm not sure she meant quite this large. I was a bit taken aback at first, but now I really like it. If I had any interfacing left (or the money to buy more), I'd make myself one like it for picnics, shopping at the produce stand, and things of that nature.

nobody told me

that the needle inserts backwards on those old Singer Featherweight machines. Also, since the needle goes in backwards, you thread it backwards as well. (well, backwards from any other machine I've ever used anyway.) So I got that straightened out, finally. I never could disassemble the bobbin shuttle, but I did manage to get the thread and gunk cleaned out of it regardless. The top thread tension adjuster knob still seems a bit sticky, but I didn't have any waxed dental floss to clean it with. I removed all the old thread (four different colors!) from the one bobbin I have that fits that particular machine, spooled some new thread on it, and gave her a test drive. And was rewarded with the most beautiful, perfectly straight, even stitches. Absolutely amazing! Seems even more amazing when you consider this sewing machine is 70 years old, and saw lots and lots of regular use in her time. I can see myself using it for any topstitching I might have to do, or any other time the stitches would show. And she's such a small machine, it won't be any trouble to drag her out and set her up whenever and wherever I need to.

another sewing machine

What a beauty! She was the first sewing machine I ever bought. I paid $40 for her in the 90's at my friend's mother's estate sale. And then put her in a closet and never thought about it again...until yesterday. I took her out, cleaned her up and oiled her really well, then cleaned her some more. The insides of this machine were gunked up with old lint and cat hair and who knows what else, at least a couple decades' worth. Kids were complaining that I spent all day long working on it, but I got her up and running again.

She is a Singer Featherweight from 1939 (according to Singer, based upon her serial number). Only sews a straight stitch, but supposedly does that really well (I have yet to test it out on some fabric). She's old, and really shows her age. The original decals are all but gone from the front side, and there's a small crack near the handwheel where the bobbin winder is attached. But she runs! I thought my Kenmore was quiet, but this machine, practically all you hear is the sound of the needle moving up and down (and with some more oil, I might be able to get rid of that sound too). I think she will make a great machine for my girls to learn to sew on. My littlest one is fascinated with sewing machines, watches my every move, and seems to be soaking it all up.

my puppets and dolls

are no longer up on my etsy shop. I guess it's been six months and the listings have ended. :( HUGE discount and free shipping now available to anyone who would like one (or two):







I do have others similar to these, and can always make more (different colors, whatever) upon request.