I'll gladly wash my mouth out with soap!

It should come as no surprise that I love fabric. I love touching it. I love folding it. I love looking at it.  But I absolutely HATE cutting it.  The worst part of any project for me is the prep work of cutting fabrics, linings, interfacings, etc. Tonight I cut out the pieces for four satin evening bags and one more beach bag. Every last piece I'll need. So I don't need to cut anything else until at least the weekend.  Joy!  I was finished too late to start sewing and too early to go to bed, so what to do but play on the internet?

Because I'm supposed to be on a diet I can only sit here and drool over the following:

Hold on a sec...I have to get something to wipe off my keyboard....  How delectable is all of that?  And here's the coolest part--it's soap!  I stumbled across an artisan on Artfire today--her entire shop is delicious soaps that look too good to eat (which is a good thing, because it's soap and is probably icky tasting).  She also packages them in nifty ways that make them perfect for gifting. I'm definitely going to keep her in mind when I need a unique present for someone.  To check her out, visit her studio here.

I'm going to go eat a rice cake now...no I'm not. I'm going to get an oreo.  Who am I kidding?

And tomorrow--a totally awesome giftie from my leetle seester.

Hot fun in the summertime...

OK, I'm aware it's not summer yet but my former sewing teacher told me you should always sew a season ahead.  Kind of like retail--where they set up for Christmas just after Easter.  Which means it's time for beach bags!  I'm still not feeling beachy yet, but I had some orders so here they are:

I absolutely adore this fabric--so bright and fun, with a sunshine yellow lining.

Apologies for the not-so-hot photo...

The lining is a pebbly watery turquoise...

The ladies who requested these didn't want any pockets, but they did want a nice sturdy zippered pouch out of matching fabric. This way they can take the essentials to the beach without bringing their handbags, but everything will be cozy in one spot. 

   

These measure about 6 inches by 9 inches, and are nice and squishy because I interlined them with fleece.

I have one more of these to make for my hairdresser, and the fabric is so fresh and relaxing you can almost feel the warm sand under your feet.  I'll post a pic when it's finished.

I must apologize for these photos.  The sun has gone down and I  promised delivery of these tomorrow so I had to make do.

Quote of the day...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be?"  

 –Marianne Williamson

All you need is "Love" (and aspirin)

The interesting thing about making anything is that people invariably want it when they see it, but not quite the same.  A lot of times I get "Can you make it the same but bigger/smaller?" or "Can you put in a zipper instead of a mag snap?" or "I want it just like that, but can you take out the pleats, make it more square, have it tie shut, and put in lots of pockets?" So it goes from being a small change to a complete redo.  This particular bag had 2 minor changes but implementing one of them felt like I had put in enough time to have designed the whole durn thing myself.  But projects like this intrigue me because I gather new skills along the way.  As mentioned in my previous post, I had to shorten this bag because this one was entirely too big for every-day use.  Easy-peasy.  The zipper tried to sass me as I tried a few different techniques, but I worked it out in the end.  And I now have this sweet little number to deliver next week:

Modified KwikSew pattern #3749 in Amy Butler's "Love."

The close-ups actually do more justice to the bag as you can't see too much of the detail due to the busy print.

There's that lovely rounded bottom and a side view of some pleated loveliness.

Open or closed this zipper is pretty nifty looking (pats self on back).

I invested in a purse zipper for this project. The longer pull lets you put pretty fabric through it and is easier to get ahold of.

It is definitely a lot of work to give the people what they want, but it's always better to have happy customers who are getting exactly what they want.  My favorite aspect of this little bag-making venture so far is that everyone likes something different. I get to try out different fabric combinations I wouldn't think of or actually get to make what I'm envisioning as it will have a home rather than hanging on the coat rack in the spare room.

And what about the aspirin?  I've gone and injured my neck.  Sometimes I get a kink in it if I've slept funny or did something not quite right in an exercise class. But this one takes the cake.  I pulled it while brushing my teeth.  Yes, by essentially standing still I've gone and gotten a stiff neck for a few days.  Oh, the glamour...

London Calling!

I spent my holiday weekend lounging on the porch and reading, eating yummy everything, and doing a bit of sewing.  My leetle seester asked me for a few skirts for her birthday, and I didn't want to keep her waiting too long, so I worked on those.  Once they're hemmed I'll bend her thumb all the way back until she agrees to let me take pictures of her in them to post. 

I spent most of last week sick to my stomach...with excitement, because I was awaiting the arrival of this, direct from London:

Eyeglass case wristlet kit (from u-handbag--photos from their website).

And it arrived today.  With a big blue "Royal Mail" sticker slapped on the front. And a customs label.  Ooo-wee baby--an international shipment!  I have had my eye on this for ages--I love the cheery fabric, inside and out, and the entire kit comes with everything except the sewing supplies and the glue. I would order sooo many more of these kits, but the exchange rate between US and UK doesn't work in my favor, so I have to be picky.  I also bought a pattern for another type of frame clutch.  I'll invest in some frames once I see how this one goes.  This may be my weekend project. 

But first...I have to turn this:

 

Amy Butler's "Love" collection, Cypress print, in Paisley Mint

...into a bag.  I've made this bag before but now there are some modifications to make to it.  For one thing, it needs to be shorter.  That part was easier than I thought.  It also needs to have a zipper closure.  I think I've figured out in my head how I want to go about doing this, since it's not a standard application, so we'll see how it goes.  Fingers crossed...

Springtime Salutations

I went for a stroll around the yard on a sunny day off and was greeted by some springtime loveliness, just in time for Easter.

 

The snow melted away and left behind one lonely reindeer bell from a Christmas that seems long ago...

...a hydrangea bush that can't wait to bear its blooms...

 

...a happy purple rhododendron and a sunshine forsythia...

  

...and a lilac bush that's seen better days but still wants to join the dance.

 

Have a happy Easter and a happy spring!

 

Now that I know what I'm doing...

Background check!  I had my first sewing lesson a little over two years ago, and those days of clumsy fingers and sloppy seams seem a distant memory.  I remember trying to force things to happen because of gaps in my understanding of how things go together.  I remember sewing pieces together upside down or inside out, and on my first bag I sewed the handles in between the lining and the shell--that took a few tries to figure out.  But it all comes together with time and practice, just like everything else. Except the piano. I can only coax a tune in a mechanical sense--I know how to read the music, I know where the keys are, and I can play just like I can follow written directions. But as for having an ear for music and making it sound like music and not incessant pounding--no skills there.

But I digress...  One of the first things my mom asked me to make for her was a cover for her toaster.  Easy, I thought. So I drew it out, and I measured, and I added my seams, and it took me an entire evening and then some to make an extremely humble toaster cover. It was two different pieces of fabric (reversible!) with some bias binding around the bottom.  It fit, but was very plain:

Easy. But not so adorable (doesn't that sound like I just described a fast girl from high school or something?)

So now that it's two years later and I've made a gazillion different things and learned so much (thanks to many geniuses out there kind enough to share tips, tutorials, etc. with us newbies) she informed me that she wanted a new one, something pretty and nice looking (ooohh, burn!).  She asked me for this over the summer but one thing led to another and I never got around to it.  So last night, for want of a simple project, I made her a new one. She wanted it to be puffy, so there's fleece in there. She wanted it to be frilly, so there's lace trim.  And she didn't want something loud and obnoxious.  So a subtle print it was.  And here it is:

It reminds me a wee bit of a cake...

This time around I didn't try to force corners to fit where they didn't want to--I let them be gently rounded for a much softer look.  I used pins liberally so everything didn't get wonky.  And I think it came out pretty adorable.  It's still a toaster cover, nothing earth-shattering or wildly imaginative.  But it definitely shows that I've gotten a bit better.  And what did my mumsy say when she came downstairs this morning and saw it on her big old four slicer?  "I love it!  I'm going to take it off so I don't get anything on it."  Oy.