Sew Much Fun!

I've unpacked most a lot of things for the sewing room, and the sewing bug has bitten me again!

Here are a few more things I've made in the past few days:

"At Liberty" tote, made with sheer purple silk, white twill (interior) and Liberty of London tana lawn print.






A couple of makeup bags; one for me, one for my friend Debbie!

For moi:




For Debbie:




And a kids' apron, reversible, for Debbie's son Corey:





This post is short on words and long on pictures because I need to get my bags packed...Leith and I are going to visit Debbie in San Diego and we leave in an hour!

k

cute little sun hat

Little being the operative word!



Made with coordinating Heidi Grace fabrics from JoAnns. It's been curing in my stash for a couple of years....pattern was Mamu Elin. Cute pattern, and I like that it's got several styles and each has multiple sizes, but the directions are pretty much non-existent. A confident beginner could probably figure it out.

Here's the reverse:



Definitely cute, and I'll make more (there's an AG doll clothing swap going on at Sewing Mamas), at least doll size. Probably won't make another adult hat. Actually, I probably will....

k

miPhone4 case

So, I have an iPhone4. I hate it. But it will stay in my life for a little while longer, so I have learned to deal with it (not with much grace or charm, but I haven't tossed it out a moving vehicle. Yet.)

Anyway. Due to the dropped calls issue, I purchased a case for the phone. It had a purple plaid fabric back, which was really the main reason for getting it. I told people it was because, although I hadn't made it, I *might* have....

Which leads to today's post. I didn't make the case, but I did make it mine! A little Liberty of London, a little Mod Podge, a bit of painstaking snipping later, and here is the best thing about my iPhone:



All I did was peel out the old fabric from the case and use it as a pattern for the new fabric. Then a little bit of Mod Podge to hold it down and a little more to seal it...the bumps are from the original glue, and yes, I did trim off a little too much from the bottom corners. It's much more obvious in the pic than the actual case.

Like it?

k

Pirate Pumpkin Tote Bag

Fun seasonal bag I "whipped up" one evening -- after having thought about it for, oh, six months or so!



He's adult-sized, so let's hope I get a lot of candy while I'm out trick-or-treating....erm, out taking Leith trick-or-treating!

The little gussets flaps were brought up and stitched with cute little vintage buttons.



Made with orange, fine-wale corduroy (cut cross-grain, so the wales run horizontal), black silky fun fur, and some black vinyl for the face shapes. Lining is a turquoise/lime squiggle cotton fabric.

k

You think Halloween is Scary?!

How about the fact that "I'm Back!" after five months of no posts?! Now *that* is scary!

Just because there have been no posts doesn't mean there's nothing post-worthy to report. It's more of a moving-house-summer-time-gotta-make-another-life-changing-decision situation that kept me from posting. Or maybe it was just laziness. Nah. Couldn't be just laziness. ;-)

But now there are things to do, places to go, and people to see....some of it's even worth posting about!

First up: an autumn dress with an interesting trim feature.



Made with Onion pattern number 20026. This pattern is *fantastic*! I've made it several times in wovens, but this was my first try with a knit. It's as good in knit as it is in woven! The pattern also has a terrific shrug (one piece plus trim) and harem-type pants (haven't attempted them, they're not quite my style...).

My initial thought was to use the orange the 'normal' way and bind/trim the neckline and sleeves and do a folded hem, but the jersey has lots of curl. I didn't want to either waste a bunch of fabric trying to cut from areas that weren't already curled, and I wanted to avoid the hassle of trying to keep the fabric un-curled. That's when the lightbulb went on! Why fight it at all? Knit doesn't (un)ravel, so raw edges would be all right. Especially since this is an obviously seasonal dress (i.e. it didn't have to survive several years and several wearers).

So I played with the curl. Twin stitching holds the trim to the base fabric. Doing the hem band was the hardest part. I learned that adding after the dress sides are sewn would make for a much nicer finish. (I really do hate that the hem trim is stitched into the seam on one side.)

But the curling trim is super cute! There will definitely be more like this.


Detail from the neckline.


Detail from the sleeve.

Done in a size 110 with extra length added.

k

Triskaidekaphobia meets ambulosubscalaphobia

There are 13 stairs up to my sewing room....good thing I'm more of a Triskaideka*phile* than phobe!



The drywall dudes needed a ladder to patch the walls....ambulosubscalaphobia is the unofficial latin for fear of walking under ladders. I really do fear that, so I made John take the picture!

k

Books, Books and More Books!

We have a library in our now-old house. Well, a pass-through bedroom that we made into a library. Filled with book cases and added shelving. There are also more than a few book cases throughout the now-old house.



Lucky for me, John's in charge of moving all things Library-ish (and Kitchen-ish!) to the new house. You can see he's been pretty busy.

Saturday we'll dismantle the *huge* book case and take it to the new house. It'll be installed in the formal living room and carefully re-filled. Well, not totally. John's been pruning. He has set aside about 25% of the books we own. He says for "further review" -- meaning that he will double-check to be sure we don't "need" them. I think he's hoping I'll take notes for when it comes time to move the little bit of fabric stash that I have.

k