sewing

You are currently browsing the archive for the sewing category.

Napkins!!

February 5, 2009 in creating, sewing | No comments

100_0504Here they are. I made 9 in all. I didn’t measure them, just divided the fabric as best I could so 9 worked out. Plus, just this week Eric noticed the garbage disposal made a funny sound, and pulled out a decimated wash cloth. I’m sure we’ll find a use for the extra one.

I’m grateful for the accountability of the blog, because the repetition got a little, well, repetitive. But, I persevered and finished them all. Promise. I also definitely noticed a marked improvement in my skills, by the time I got to sewing napkin number 9.

On the first one I sewed, I didn’t do fancy corners. I picked a poor thread choice, and used an old needle–it was not a happy combination. I fixed those mistakes and the corners were kind of fun to do. Here’s a shot of one.

100_0507

I love the colors in the cloth. It is yarn dyed. I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me at least 36 hours of brain-wracking to remember that term. Maybe I need a little refresher from my college textiles lab. The colors are quite vibrant and there are even a few metallic threads running through as well. I know the family is planning on coming over next weekend to christen Eric’s Christmas present–a new grill. So we’ll definitely try them out then.

Peace,

Katy

Cleaning, Cooking and Cloth Napkins

February 3, 2009 in cooking, food, sewing | 2 comments

Here’s the Cleaning Part

I must be becoming a little Martha Stewart. Here’s a new year’s resolution to mark off the list. I went through my undergarments. Which may sound racy, but tights with no stretch left and slips from when I was eight don’t really count as racy. For some reason I hoard these things. Probably because I wear tights/hose and use slips rarely. But I shove them all in this little plastic drawer thingie and it isn’t pretty. Here’s the after shot. Yay, I feel much better about what I have.

100_0495

Here’s the Cooking Part

My friend Tiffany came over and we made jam-filled, heart-shaped cookies. Yum. She is definitely a pro at the cookie cutting.

100_0499100_0502They taste as good as they look. I wrapped up all the hearts to sell at a bake sale benefitting the kitties I help care for on Tuesday nights. That leaves some bars for the person I borrowed the cookie cutters from, and some for us. Yum!

Here’s the Cloth Napkin Part

I’m working on a simple sewing project. The fabric is cool, because Eric picked it out when we first got married. He wanted me to teach him how to sew and was going to make me a skirt. Since it has been over four and a half years, he decided I could use the fabric in another way. I’m making some cloth napkins. I’ll post a photo when I finish. I found this site, and want to try this for the corners. Looks so simple, but we’ll see.

Peace,

Katy

I “Heart” This

January 25, 2009 in creating, patterns, sewing, Things I Love | 1 comment

I know I’m cheesy. I keep looking at the Improv comedy class listings, but there aren’t any classes in the foreseeable future. Bummer.

Here’s the heart I referred to in my previous post. It has a place on our mantle with other things that are special to us.  I LOVE having a mantle! This is our first place with a mantle. 100_0491

And because it looks like I’ve always been Type A. Here’s the back. Yep, I dated it. Looks like I’ve held on to this for the past 15 years! I’m not looking to give it up anytime soon.

100_0492

In other news, I’m working on my skirt draft from back in November. I’m going to do a simple dark denim skirt with a back slit. The preliminary pattern is finished in the back. I just have a few more things to do and then a preliminary mock-up (called a muslin, b/c of the material often used).

Here’s the sketch.

100_0493

It isn’t too dramatic, but I’m realizing that is my style. Simple.

Peace,

Katy

Sewing Date

December 31, 2008 in sewing | No comments

Yesterday, I had a sewing date with Eric’s aunt, and her “adopted” niece. I was named after an aunt and uncle that weren’t biological–so I’m hoping you all understand those types of aunts. They might as well be family they are so close.

While embroidering several motifs on a zip-up hoodie, I helped make “fuzzy men,” yes that is a technical term, for a jean jacket. They turned out super-cute.

Here’s the back. Essentially you sew on strips and make your own chenille. Below is the jacket front.

Here are the supplies before sewing.

And of course, our favorite helpers!

Peace!

Katy ^_^

Sewing Space Re-Vamp

December 21, 2008 in creating, sewing, spending | No comments

I’ve been busy putting finishing touches and finishing Christmas gifts. They are already wrapped–I forgot to take photos. I promise I will get better at that.

Remember the photo jewelry from a while back? Well it was causing all sorts of fits last night. I managed to spill the goo all over my workspace and then had to wash my hands 800 times to get the feeling of them being super-glued to go away. This morning when I got up I was brushing my hair pre-shower. Opps! There was a chunk of hard plastic in my hair. Eric suggested I just use conditioner in the shower–he didn’t realize what was up right away. Thankfully, it wasn’t a big area and it was around my face, so I just have a few more layers. I’m most thankful the cats didn’t get covered in the goop. They like to be in the middle of EVERYTHING. Maybe I’ll have to start shutting them out of the studio…

I rotated the desk in my studio and now it works sooo much better. I have a dedicated area for the machine and a large area for cutting, layout, general putzing around. Here’s the new look.

I was working on the scarf from Stitch. It is not as cute as the photo–though they look exactly the same. I think the issue is I purchase polyester, not silk. Gotta love trying to help out the ole budget. Oye vey. I also made a tissue holder–but alas it was wrapped and is awaiting being shipped at the moment. Needless to say, I enjoyed many of the projects in Stitch. It also makes me realize how visual I am. I still have issues with the directions–i.e. they don’t make sense until the 20th time I read them. I guess diagrams are my friend. I look forward to the next issue.

In other news, I finally–just now–managed to link my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Thanks much to Lauren, aka Stellaloella for her help. And this blog for the visuals.

A week ago Tuesday, the third graders let me tag along on their field trip to Lawrence Hall of Science. They studied slime in relation to liquids, gases, and solids. It was my first trek to Berkley and I’m in love. Check out the view from the building.

Well, I’m off to see if I can salvage any of the photo goop mis-hap and then off to see an a cappella group caroling, lunch, and checking out Christmas lights tonight!

Peace,

Katy ^_^

Catching Up

November 9, 2008 in drafting, family, Musings, patterns, photos, sewing | 4 comments

It has been a bit of an “off week.” Lots of blah-ness going around. Friday afternoon Eric and I headed for Half Moon Bay and drove down Hwy 1 to Santa Cruz. The road trip took about an hour and a half. It was fun. The view was spectacular. We stopped at a historic lighthouse. At the lighthouse, everything North was dark and foggy, everything south was sunny and radiant. I didn’t think about taking photos until after that stop. Here’s Eric driving.

Here’s a photo looking over a cliff toward the ocean. In the middle is clouds/fog and then the sky starts. Amazing, but the photo didn’t do it justice.

Yesterday, was lazy and wonderful. Today, I caught up on some sewing. I have re-purposed thrift store graduation robes into Wise Men finery. Here’s a shot of one of them.

I switched purses. This is one I purchased the summer I worked in Paris. It looks like an old-fashioned doctor’s bag. It is dark green. It makes me have such happy memories!

Well Jill over at Inside My Sewing Box, and I are working on a project. We’d love to have you join along if you are interested. First step, that was supposed to be done a while back is to draft a skirt block. I think we’re hoping to complete that by this Friday, November 14. Next step is to create a skirt from our block. The deadline is Friday, November 28. Believe me, we’ve not been good at deadlines. Jill is preparing for a show, and well, I’m just being lazy. I created a cute icon in Illustrator. It looks quite dated (mid-80s) at least to me, but it is a start, right? I’m having difficulty saving it–so hopefully it’ll be up later.

Peace,

^_^ Katy

Doing, Doing, Done…

October 1, 2008 in food, self care, sewing | No comments

Here’s a sneak peak.

I promise Eric he could take the pictures of me modeling the outfit. By his reaction you’d think he had just won the lottery.

The Arg… Yippee!!! lists are filling up. I’m not sure it is super-productive, but am not yet ready to bail out. I generally quit things very prematurely.. Hrm.. :)

Eric and I have been enjoying homemade lemonade lately. Sparkling water, powdered sugar, lemon juice and ice cubes. Feels like summer is just starting.

The photo of the Eiffel Tower is one of my aunt’s.

Peace,

^_^

More Doing, Less Talking

September 30, 2008 in sewing | 1 comment

Afternoon plans involve this beauty here and some lovely silk butterfly fabric.

Project Updates

September 28, 2008 in sewing | No comments

Here’s the skirt. I finished it last week!

I am a bit larger than Maud (the dressform) so it is sagging a bit. It is cut in three pieces on the bias and has an elastic waist. The back has a little extra fabric, fish-tail like. It looks better with a little booty in it. Super-easy to sew. Looks super-cute on. I’ll show you when I get the top finished!

Here’s my plan for the top.

I like the middle drawing. But with sleeves. Stripes will be added down the front and back to avoid the coffin clothes look. I bought some serger thread to finish the edges–silk frays something awful. I’m not sure why I bought three spools, when I’ll probably do a two-thread rolled hem. Maybe so I have three in the future? I get a little crazy when spending gift-card money. Can you blame me?

Eric has ADHD. This ADD blog posting made me laugh. A very typical exchange between the two of us.

Peace,

Katy ^_^

Forced U-Turns

September 16, 2008 in how i pass my days, patterns, sewing | No comments

I always seem to have these grand plans and when one tiny detail doesn’t work out I tend to just stop and walk away. I’m learning to go with the flow and even enjoy these little hiccups that are always coming at me, at people in general.

While in the city my mom and I shopped at Britex. It was quite fun and reminded me of NYC. I did find the sales people on the sale floor quite helpful, and they seemed to get snootier each floor down. I found a gorgeous cotton/linen mix and a pretty silk print that had colors so similar it was like they were made for each other. I figured I’d make pants or a skirt with the cotton/linen and a top like one I’ve made already.

Here’s a close up of the print. It has butterflies on it!

Before starting the sewing project, I thought I should finish my scrapbooking because it was sprawled out all over my workspace. The problem was I ran out of large 12″ by 12″ paper and with my mom here it didn’t look like we’d be heading to a store to get that. I tried to deal without the paper, then I bought a pack a Target with way more paper than I needed and more cost too.

Yesterday after taking mom to the airport I stopped at JoAnn’s. One day after my coupons had expired. I wasn’t feeling so well and wanted to hit the library too so I left just after I had spotted they had their paper on sale and thought about getting some, but decided I didn’t know when I’d get back to Target so I didn’t. We ended up at Target last night because or tv converter box coupon arrived in the mail. If you don’t have cable or satellite, I highly recommend getting the coupon/box. It is amazing. Every channel comes in crystal clear! I messed with the album a bit last night and just packed it all up because I wasn’t feeling it.

After that, I went through my pattern stash to see if I could work with anything I had. Well, my shirt pattern was gone. I “donated” it with an unfinished shirt to Goodwill. And I wasn’t too sure about a skirt pattern I had. So today, I went back to JoAnn’s. They didn’t have any of their patterns on sale and I looked through all of the books but nothing seemed to work with what I had in mind. The print is very sheer so I needed something I could wear a camisole under.

Here’s the shirt I was going to copy.

I thought the ruffle (which I am holding up in the photo) would help camouflage the butterflies a bit so it was a little less juvenile. So I settled on the skirt pattern and plan to draft a pattern using the shirt I have as a guide. I cut the skirt out without too much “help” from the cats and pulled my machine out. I haven’t used it since we moved.

This means I had the foot, but no cord to provide power to the machine. Oops! I think it is with Eric’s stuff in our back room, but we only have one key and it is with Eric. He has a meeting until 9 or so tonight. Looks like I can start drafting the shirt and maybe cutting it out then I can get to sewing tomorrow.

At least I can share a post with pretty and colorful photos, right? Lastly, here’s my new computer desk. I LOVE it!

Peace,

Katy ^_^

« Older entries § Newer entries »