A Flannel Ending

I finally got around to making my flannel pj's.  Now I remember why I stopped sewing clothing.  It's so hard to fit properly.  I thought it would be easy to make a pajama top fit.  Nope.  I had no trouble with the sewing:  collar, interfacing, buttonholes -- No Problems.  I even made french seams so the flannel wouldn't fray.  But Fitting - ehh.  I got lucky with my tailoring on the pants.  They fit really well.  But something about the underarm seams got wonky on me.  It still fits, but I'm going to take in the pattern before I cut the fabric on the next one, and see how it goes.  Anyway, here are the results:

Comfy!

Now I'm ready for fall!
Happy Sewing.

Craft Book Month

I have been enjoying the blogs for Craft Book month, sponsored by Craft Buds.
I have already bought one book that was reviewed in this series, "Modern Patch Work" by Elizabeth Hartman.  It has inspired me to put a quilt on my soon to do list.  There are several other books that are now on my radar for future purchase.

I looked through my own books and found one at the end of the shelf.  It's called "Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Boxes" by Linda Johansen.  Linda has an interesting way of putting the boxes together.  She uses stiff interfacing, sandwiched between two fabric layers.  Then the sides are folded up, wrapped across each other, and finished with a satin stitch.  Here's my attempt at a recipe box for my niece, Jennifer.

This satin stitching around the edges was a little tricky, but not too hard.  I think the hardest part will be filling in the Recipe cards for Jennifer's bridal shower.  (I'm not a great cook.)

I love boxes of all kinds, and now I'm going to have to make one for myself.
Happy Sewing!

Digital Messenger bag

I've been trying to find the perfect bag for this fabulous fabric.  It's Flower Doodle by Kim Schaefer.  I love the bright colors and I wanted to make a bag I would use.  I bought the Media Frenzy pamphlet from Serendipity Studios and have been waiting to make one of the bags.  This weekend the fabric and pattern came together and I'm really pleased with the results:

There are many times I have to wait for my children at appointments, etc., and I might want to have my iPad with me, but not walk into the office with it.  This bag solves that problem.  The bag is divided into two sections; the back section for a reader, and the front for wallet, keys, etc.  This bag is for an advanced sewist, since the interfacing makes it a little stiff.

The pattern is available here.
The fabric is available here.

Have a great week.  Happy Sewing.

Catching Up with this 'n that

I've finished several projects recently that I wanted to share with you.  Although I don't have a picture of them, I finished a quick pair of the pajama bottoms in a practice flannel to check the fitting.  I'm happy with the way they came out, and now I'm ready to cut into the flannel that's just waiting to be pajamas.

I finally finished the September half-square triangle block of the month from In Color Order's sew along.  I'm caught up now and can't wait to finish.  I'm not as happy with this one; the inner pieces had that stripey look, which didn't line up very well.  Oh well.

I tried foundation paper piecing for the first time.  I watched You Tube tutorials, and read lots of blog entries.  I got an "Add-a-quarter" ruler from Amazon.com.  I really enjoyed it.  It's very tedious, but I think I love the challenge of small details.  (Some of my favorite projects so far have been the fussy-cut kaleidoscope quilt, and the purple stuffed dragon.)

Lastly, I needed to make lavender sachets for my relatives in Louisville, KY.  There is a wedding shower for my niece this weekend that I'm missing, but I'm sending along these sachets for the ladies.  Pssst, don't tell them they're on the way!

They smell wonderful, and I'm finding uses for all the lavender I harvested this year.  I made muslin linings to hold the rice and lavender, then used up some charm squares I had sitting around for the covers.

Have a great weekend, and Happy Sewing!

Upscaled 3-pocket bag

I recently made a bag I loved -- the 3-pocket bag from a pattern by NapkittenPattern.  It turned out smaller than I thought, so I decided to try upscaling the PDF file.  After several tries at different percentages, I printed out and used the pieces at 170%.  There are several issues that come up when changing the scale of something.  I had to calculate by hand some pieces that were dimensions only, such as the bottom piece.  I also had to change the handle design, because the smaller version didn't work at the larger size.

This picture shows the difference in the size of the pattern pieces:

Here's my final version.  The bag is large enough to be a weekender tote.  I Love It!

The difference in size:

The inside still has a huge zippered pocket and 2 large side pockets.

I covered the bottom piece with iron-on vinyl (my new favorite product).  The sewing of this larger bag was actually easier than the smaller one, especially the bias binding around the side pockets.  I like the handles on the smaller bag more, but I found some cool black buttons to accent the larger bag's handles.

This project definitely took more work, starting with having to piece the patterns together with tape, and adjust other measurements, but it was definitely "do-able" for an advanced sewist.

Do you have a favorite pattern that you would like larger or smaller?  Give this method a try.  You might surprise yourself.

Happy Sewing!

Festival of Hexagons Entry -- Too Late

I tried getting another project ready for the Festival of Hexagons over at a.squared.w.  I didn't quite make it, but here's my hexie version of Lisa Lam's Tri-Fold Wallet from her fantastic book, A Bag For All Reasons.

 The hexie fabric, all interfaced and ready to be cut.

 Lining and flap started.

 Card slots and coin pouch.

 The final product.

I like all the space on the inside.  There are 8 slots for cards, a small pouch for coins, and the slot is divided up into 2/3 for bills, and 1/3 for receipts or other small paper items.

Very nice result.

Happy Sewing!

Finally Finishing

While looking through my cabinets for fabric to use for the half-square triangle block of the month(s) that I've finally started, I found several half-finished projects.  These 3 christmas placemats are from several years ago.  I'm using them to practice my free-motion quilting.  (I have a very important quilt project coming up for the November 3 wedding of my nephew.)  It's been so long since I've used the darning foot on my Pfaff sewing machine that I had to find the manual and remember all the steps.  It didn't take long, though, and I was done with one.
This is how I found the placemats; pinned and ready to be quilted.

Ta Da!  The fabric is Figgy Pudding by moda.

Happy Sewing!

Too Soon Pumpkins

Last year, I planted pumpkins too late and they were almost not ready for Halloween.  This year I planted them too soon, and the hot dry weather killed the vines.  I harvested my 4 pumpkins.  One vine is holding out, and has 2 more smaller pumpkins on it.

I love the grey ghost pumpkins, and will plant more next year!
Have a great day!