Contact me please....

...if you were the winner of the CSN Stores giveaway (youwannawhat). I have no means of contacting you so you'll have to have your people call my people. If I don't hear from you by tomorrow night (March 9th), I'll be picking a new winner on Thursday. Check out the winner post here.

In other random news:

~ I probably won't be posting much until nearer the weekend. I've got a dozen pillowcase dresses cut and ready to be sewn for the Dress a Girl Around the World sew-along. I'm assembly-lining them so I'm curious to see how long it will take me to whip these babies up. I made a nice dent in my stash, so I can restock with some new things almost guilt-free. Give it a whirl. Even if you can only make one--it makes a difference to that one person. (Didja ever hear the chicken-soupy story about the man walking along the beach, tossing beached starfish back into the ocean? They were as far as the eye could see. Someone came up to that guy and said "Why are you bothering? Look at them all! It's not going to make much difference." The man shrugged, tossed one back into the ocean and said "Makes a difference to that one." I'm going for the same principle here).

~ I'm mad at Joann's. They didn't have a fabric I needed for a custom order in the store, and to have it shipped from another store would cost $8 (SERIOUSLY??) because they didn't have it in the warehouse. And I wasn't driving 3 hours (round trip) to the nearest store that MIGHT have had it in stock. Shipping was cheaper online (and I only needed 1.5 yards). So I went home and ordered it, but I have to order whole yards. So between that and the shipping it was lose-lose. It gets better. It takes them a week to cut and ship, and it will be a day shy of two weeks to receive it. Compare this to the Moda layer cake I ordered last Tuesday afternoon from the Fat Quarter Shop....that was at my house by Thursday at lunchtime. I'm thinking a letter to Joann's might be happening... Please note that won't stop me from using the 157 million coupons I have for this week. I am an addict, after all.

~ The aforementioned layer cake is for my birthday. My mother has it in hiding. I hope I last until May. The anticipation might truly kill me. I dreamed in this fabric last week. True story. I also imagined the quilt I want to make during the relaxation part of my yoga class.

~ I just treated myself to a few charm packs that were ridiculously hard to track down. I already know the quilt I want to make so it wasn't frivolous. They will be my reward to myself when my custom orders are up to date.

~ I made a blog button. If you want to grab it it's in the left sidebar. If you don't, well...to tell you the truth...I'm happy enough that you stop by to visit :)

~ I had a donut for lunch. A soft, delicious, powdered creme donut. Happy Fat Tuesday!

clip credit

Dress Your Sewing Machine (Tutorial)

It's not a good idea to leave your sewing machine undressed for too long. Sure, we all do it sometimes--when we're in the midst of a project or getting back to it the next day. But leaving your machine uncovered for long periods of time can lead to dust-borne illnesses :)  You don't want dust getting in between your tension disks, or somehow squirming its way into your machinery. We want to keep our machines as gunk-free as possible, and one of the easiest ways to do this (other than giving it a good brush-out now and then) is to keep it covered when it's not being used. I've seen several covers that work as a blanket, essentially--you lay it over the top and tie it on the sides. This makes it much cuter than when it's nekkid, but it still leaves the sides open and exposed. So today I'm going to show you how I made the cover for my machine that covers it from all sides. The one on there was old and I had actually made it for my Singer, so I decided to get rid of the hand-me-down and make something new.

Last week during my fabric buying trip, I found two adorable fabrics that I couldn't decide between for this, so I made a reversible cover that I can flip-flop to suit my mood. I had a yard of each with a good bit left over. The first one is the one that I ended up tea-staining my trim for:

See? Regular white trim just wouldn't do with this fabric...

And I love this one for the pure noveltyishness of it (that's a new word I just created--look for it in the Oxford English Dictionary next year):

I am using a large white rick-rack for this side--trims make things more fun. True story.

  

First you'll need a few measurements. You're going to want to measure the machine at it's widest spot--don't forget to include the handwheel:

After I did this I measured the hand wheel for a total of 16 1/4 inches.

This is Lola, by the way. She's my BFF.

Then you need to measure from the table to the highest point (mine is the bobbin holder...thingeee):

Ignore my giant sweatshirt sleeve--I swear my forearm is not that large.

This ended up being 12 1/4 inches high.

Those are the measurements for my front and back pieces. I used quarter inch seam allowances, so I cut two pieces 16 3/4 inches wide by 12 3/4 inches high. I used a cup to gently round the top edges:

Doing this makes sewing in the gusset much easier than if the edges were square. That can be done too, but I'm all about easy and I like the gentle curve this gives.

The next measurement is from the table on one side, around the top, to the table in the other side. Try to include the high and wide points here (which I did but doesn't show in the picture):

I ended up with 37 inches from this measurement.

The last measurement needed is the depth of the machine (at the widest spot):

Seven inches exactly.

So for the gusset I cut a piece 37 1/2 inches by 7 1/2 inches. You may have realized something here--I didn't account for ease. I didn't realize this until halfway through, but it ended up fitting perfectly. Doing this again I would add a half inch to my measurements for ease. You can do that now, or you can go with my snugger way of measuring that I did. Also, some people like to make their gusset extra long and trim off any extra later. If you're newish to gussets I would definitely do that if your fabric allows.

So at this point you should have 2 rectangles for the front and back, and 1 loooong rectangle  for the gusset, out of each fabric. If you're using a trim, I would baste it down to the front/back pieces--makes life easier. 

See how the curved corner makes that trim go on easy peasy?

Next, take your gusset and pin it all the way around. Again you'll see how that curved corner makes it a bit easier and neater. I use a lot of pins in the corners just to keep everything neat:

Start sewing. I like to have the gusset on top--there's a bit of extra fabric at the corner and it's easier to manipulate if you can actually see it. Take your time when you get to the corners. Stop and adjust your fabric if you need to.

Sorry for the terrible photo but it shows the necessary part well enough. To the left of the presser foot all that extra fabric is the gusset. If you keep it straight and out of the way you should have no problem with unintentional pleats as we're using a small seam allowance.

When you've finished, check that you don't have anything wonky. If you do, unpick and restitch. Then, do the other piece. At this point you should have an idea of what this will look like:

If your gusset is too long trim those extra bits now.

Then do it again. It goes much easier the second time. You should now have a second piece that looks like the first:

My rick-rack skills could use some work, but that's another day...

Now put one inside the other, right sides facing, and pin all around the bottom. Match up your seams as you go. Since we're going to turn it right side out here, leave a gap of a few inches.

We're almost done. Promise.

Sew using a quarter inch seam allowance all the way around. Don't forget to leave the turning gap open! Now, stick your hand in through that hole and gently coax the whole thing out through it, trying not to rip any stitches.

Some call this birthing. I think you can figure out why :)

Now it looks like this:

Kind of like non-identical conjoined twins...which would be interesting if it wasn't impossible. Except when you're sewing :)

Now push one inside the other. Some people might press the edges here. And then there's me. Lazy. So I traveled around the bottom edge, pinning everything nice and neat, including the gap we left.

I do apologize for the awful photos. The lighting in my dining room is iffy sometimes.

Top-stitch an eighth of an inch from the edge. And that's that. Slap that baby on your machine and consider her dressed!

 Two looks--one easy project!

Here are a few extra tips:

~ If you want something much more structured you can interface your fabric or even use some fleece. I used neither for this. I used the same process for a toaster cover and used fleece--it does look quite nice.

~ This could be wicked adorable with patchwork.

~ Slap a few handles on and turn it the other way and you've also got a bag.

~ If you don't want to make it reversible use something plain for the lining and don't include trim on that side.

As ever, if you have any questions please let me know. Ta!

I'm link-a-dink-a-doo-ing here this week:

CSN Giveaway Winner!

How many of you have been waiting up all. night. for this?  Be honest. Well, the moment you've been waiting for has arrived. It is time to announce the winner of the $35 CSN stores giveaway!

Drum roll please!

And the winner is: youwannawhat who said "I'm dying to play again in the backyard on a swingset!" You didn't leave an email, and your profile is private, so I'm hoping you read this and can shoot me an email at sweetbeebuzzingsATgmailDOTcom so I can forward the necessary information to you. IF I DON'T HEAR FROM THE WINNER BY WEDNESDAY MARCH 9TH I WILL HAVE TO PICK A NEW WINNER! Sorry to be all yelly, but discount codes don't last forever, folks.

Thanks for playing along, gang! See you soon!

What are YOU lookin' at?

So I've got this picture of the Chuckster on my desktop and it makes me laugh every time I see it. There are so many things I think he could be saying...

...like the ever-popular "You talkin' to me?" or how about "Funny like what? Like a clown? Like I'm here to amuse you?" or "Come over here and say that to my face." He's got such a bad-ass sneer on his face, I love it! Add your own one-liner in the comments if'n you're feeling like it.

I've got a tutorial coming up this weekend if I can get my act together. And you've got until tomorrow to enter the CSN giveaway (check the right sidebar for the link)! Winner will be announced Saturday. Have a good one!

Fling Into Spring with Oodles of Giveaways!

Soooo....do you like to win stuff? Or are you one of those people who walk around saying "BAH!! I hate winning things!! Stuff for free. CRAZY!"? Welllllll....coming up later this month you are going to have a butt-ton of chances to win some nifty stuff (a butt-ton is about 28, give or take). April, from Wildflowers and Whimsy has put together a giveaway extravaganza called Spring Fling that will be going down March 20-April 2. That's fourteen days of giveaways! I'm taking part, along with a gaggle of other bloggers. So there will be another giveaway here on the old blog (I'm not sure exactly WHEN though), plus I'll have little teaser posts here each day about the other giveaways going on. That way you can stop here to get the buzz, and then visit the giveaways you're interested in. Visit the Spring Fling page for more info. Stay tuned! It should be good times :)