Adventures in sewing: Shirt, birds, machine cover, scarf

Here are some projects that occurred during the parental invasion...

I turned a dress into a shirt. It was a t-shirt dress that used to go down to my knees. I wore it to the Kentucky Derby with a big hat that had a big purple flower and big purple feather on it (homemade of course). And it was cold and poured down rain, so I was also wearing spandex leggings and polka dot rain boots. What. A. Sight. But I'll get much more use out of this shirt now.

I started my bird creations. I only finished one and I have about nine more to go (or less if I decide I don't need that many). I have an idea of what I'm going to do with them when I'm done, but that could change at any moment. I only had one accident while figuring out how to sew these things...I sewed the head shut, but I knew I did it as soon as it happened! Sewing things you're going to stuff is slightly different from sewing flat pieces of material. I think I have the hang of it now, at least a little bit.

The sewing machine cover turned out better than I expected. My mom and I went shopping and bought half a yard of upholstery fabric. I knew there was going to be trouble when I started taking measurements and estimating the fabric. Mother dearest kept saying, "Just cut it! Don't worry about it! Just cut it!". Uh, no, sorry, that's not how I operate. I'm my father's daughter when it comes to that. Measure, measure, measure and measure again, then cut. If I would have "just cut" like she insisted we would have had to buy more fabric and the world may have come to an end. I wanted to line up the print, but I knew we wouldn't have enough fabric if we cut it that way. Thus, the print is not straight and does not match, but I think it turned out just fine and we didn't have to go back to the store.

And see the "chair" in the picture above? It's a storage ottoman that I bought at Meijer and pops and I put some casters on it to make it like my mom's sewing chair. My little sewing station is coming together!!!!!

Here's my collection of sewing books. I did lots of research and narrowed it down to these three.

I also made a no-sew scarf from an old tank top. I found the tutorial on Shwin & Shwin. It's super simple, super cute and super quick. (Pardon my t-shirt, I was in a hurry to take the picture before I forgot.) I'm not too keen on the pink, but it's the only thing I could find since I was in a hurry to make it because I was so excited.

I think Lizzy looks even better in the scarf!

2010 Feel-Good Manifesto

From Apartment Therapy:

Playing around with rosettes

I have developed a thing for rosettes. Oh dear. This is what I made last night.

I think it's kinda funky and fun. I made the rosettes out of ribbon, part of a zipper and an old shirt. I have some ideas for improving it the next time around, but a little off-the-cuff creativity is always good.

I would like a sewing machine…and to learn how to sew

I’m all about the handmade craze that’s taking over the country! And I always find fun projects that I would like to do, but I have to cross a lot of them off the would-like-to-do list because I don’t have a sewing machine and I don’t know how to sew. It makes me sad. On top of that, I’m forever hemming pants by hand (which takes hours because I’m really slow and get distracted easily), stitching up dog toys in the hopes of preserving their lives, fixing seams, etc. and I think all of that would be a lot easier — and look a lot better — if I had a sewing machine and knew how to sew. I know what I want for Christmas!

This leads to another thought I’ve been having (for probably almost a decade): very few people have handmade pieces to pass along to family and friends. Handmade goods were a dying art form and I’m beyond thrilled that they’re making a comeback! Now I just need to learn a few more crafty skills and become part of that comeback! I have a quilt that my Dad’s mom made and I use it on my bed every winter. My mom made me a flower girl dress, first communion dress, Easter dresses, parachute pants (thankfully I’ve out grown that phase of my life), Halloween costumes, dolls, etc. Yet somehow I managed to be sewing/knitting/crocheting/quilting challenged. As noted previously, I did have a little foray into knitting, but it stalled. And I was making jewelry for a while, but then I got a job — such is life.

I need to work on not getting overwhelmed by all the things I want to do! I don’t even have a sewing machine and I already have a list of projects (sewing and non-sewing) that I want to accomplish. I need to formulate a plan.

Step 1. Get a sewing machine (or at least start saving up for one)!

I’m now accepting donations. :)