Creative Clutter

Since Aunt Betty dropped off al this fabric I have been a little stressed about my creative space. Too much fabric and not enough room for creativity. 

Bags of yarn, stacks of fabric everywhere!

This little bookshelf wasn't doing anything so I brought it upstairs and made room for it. 

I filled that little shelf rather quickly with fabrics I really like and think I will use. Other fabric was stacked up and put back into the trash bags in which it came. I can see when there is more fabric than I can possibly ever use. I really can. 

Now I just need to find a home for some of this fabric. 

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):

Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron 

Wardrobe Wednesday

Welcome to another Wardrobe Wednesday! Another wearable sewing project brought to you by Aunt Betty. 

 

My goal on Saturday was to make this pile of cut knit fabric into a finished garment. 

It seems I am limited when it comes to green thread. I often mix and match with the looper thread, considering the leading needle (left-most needle) as the most important when it comes to colors. 

Sadly, by the end of the day on Saturday this is how far I managed to get. Any time I have to switch my serger from overlock to coverstitch I slow down. It isn't a difficult task but I do have to get out the quick reference guide so I know all the steps. 

Sunday morning I finally got to that point so I could hem the back of the sweater. Then a switch back to overlock to finish the sweater. 

This sweater has a generous, lined hood. 

This was a fun sew, even with the cover stitching on the back bottom hem. 

Check out other Ellie & Mac patterns on their website. 

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):

Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron

Wardrobe Wednesday

There was supposed to be another fun garment sewing project here today. Sadly, there is only a partial post. 

The best part about buying pdf patterns is the instant gratification of getting that pattern in your inbox or downloading it. The not so great part of that is printing and assembling that pattern. This is another Ellie & Mac pattern. I love that designers now make patterns with layers so you can print only the size you need. Granted, this means if you want another size you have to print it again but that time is about the same as tracing it onto paper from a print with all the sizes. 

This is some of the brushed poly from Aunt Betty. I'm not sure how this fabric will drape but it sure feels nice. 

I wonder about the size of my cutting table when I do some of these projects. 

The only thing I have sewn so far are the cuffs. I expect this to be a sweater next week. 

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):

Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron

Wardrobe Wednesday

I may have an unnatural relationship with this raglan pattern (link below). This time paired a fun stripe with a navy solid. 

This time I added side seam pockets. Half the fun of making your own clothes is adding details you really like. I like pockets. Pockets big enough for my hands. Pockets big enough to hold my mobile phone. You know, appropriately sized pockets. If you don't know about pocket inequality, you should do some reading. This article from Medium is a good place to start. It just scratches the surface. I'm sure you could find more out there with a simple Google search. 

Here's my finish. Tip: spread your garment sewing across several days: read and prepare pattern on day one, press and cut fabric on day two, assemble and sew on day three, wear on day four. Doing it all in a single day can seem daunting. Take your time. You aren't just sewing to have a garment that fits, you're sewing to be part of the garment construction process. Slow down.  

The pattern is the Going Home Sweater by Ellie & Mac with a few modifications. Your mileage may vary. Read my full post about my experience with this pattern in my Going Home Sweater post. 

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):

Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron

Going Home Sweater

I stacked up some of my glorious loot from Aunt Betty so I could settle on something. 

I pulled this cute little print and a coordinating solid. 

The pattern is the Going Home Sweater by Ellie & Mac. 

I want to tell you I love this pattern but I don't. I love the quality of the pattern and the directions. What I don't love is that neckline. I'm not one to show off and I wear t-shirts with a crew neck almost every day. Yes, every day. For work. This neckline just didn't suit my comfort zone or style. What's a person to do? Well, Ellie & Mac also make the Straight Fit Raglan Top. That collar on that pattern totally suits me. So I did some simple mashing and now I can make the Going Home Sweater with a crew neck. 

The difference isn't that obvious in this photo but I can assure you I'm much more comfortable. 

Here is my finished Going Home Sweater with crew neck. The next hack will add pockets. Half the fun of making your own clothes is to put pockets in everything ready-to-wear leaves them out of. The color blocking on this one was fun, too. 

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):

Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron

Aunt Betty Strikes Again

In case you haven't heard of Aunt Betty, you should check out my tagged blog posts on the matter. If you want a quick primer, you should check out this Professor Pincushion video which explains it all. 

Over the last couple weeks a friend of mine has been cleaning up her sewing room. Partly to clear the clutter and partly to make room to work. Some of that decluttering went to the thrift store and some came to me. I am like an overzealous fosterer when it comes to fabric. I love it so much I can't say no. 

That's right, five trash bags full of fibery treasures. What's inside? Well, mostly a thing I don't really have much of: knits. 

Let's save some time and post a couple collages. Here we have each bag of fabric dumped out. 

Then, each fabric (not in the same order, surely) but folded and stacked neatly. There are some wovens in there, some fleece, some denim. A generally fun mix of fabrics. I see so much sewing ahead of me. I may have to reinstitute Wardrobe Wednesdays while I work through some of this fabric. Remember, if you sew your own clothes you get to add pockets to everything. 

Pattern designers I'm supporting in this endeavor:

Rad Patterns

Ellie & Mac Sewing Patterns

Patterns for Pirates PDF Sewing Patterns

Not a fan of printing on your home printer and assembling patterns yourself? I highly recommend PDF Plotting. They offer excellent service at a reasonable price. Save on shipping by sending several patterns at time. 

The Bird Dress

I follow Cal Patch on Instagram and her sewing adventures are always a pleasure. Last week she shared her version of the Bird Dress and I was intrigued.

I've been collecting worn t-shirts for a while so this was the perfect project because it is designed to use those tees to make a color-blocked garment. Sadly, I took only one progress shot, this one before I attached the pockets to the front.

I made this using two black, two blue, and one maroon tee.

One of those had some words on the front that are now on the back of this piece.

The pockets are really the star of this garment. This worked up in an afternoon.

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron

She's Back Scarf

My husband supported the Veronica Mars movie through Kickstarter and part of that meant he got a t-shirt.  He didn't want it, so he handed it over to me.

This will be a quick overview of how I made this t-shirt into a scarf.

I thought the fabric was very thin and just not a very good quality t-shirt.  I looked at the design and figured it would make a simple scarf. 

First I trimmed off the top of the shirt as close to the sleeve seams as possible.  I smoothed the shirt as best I could with the bottom hem lined up.  I lost a little of the screen print, but I don't mind.

I did a quick press on the cut edge and stitched it with a wide cover-stitch to match the existing hem.

Wear it as a single loop.

Wear it doubled up for a tighter scarf.

One cut and a pass through the serger and I've got a simple scarf with some interesting graphic details.