Sewing catch-up

Here are all the things I've been working on.....


Blueberry Jam:

Can jam be too sweet? Yes. Not sure how that happened but it might have had something to do with using organic sugar.





Burda Pattern 8155:

Finally finished the pencil skirt.








Amy Butler Barcelona Skirt

I can't get enough of this skirt pattern.








Experimenting with Vinyl:

I picked up this awesome oilcloth fabric while I was in Ireland. My latest love (thanks to Catherine) is the Avoca Store. It used to sell primarily traditional Irish items (Aran sweaters, shawls, pottery etc.) but has revamped it's image to show a more modern side to Irish clothing and home accessories. The food in their cafe is too die for. The store on the Naas Road is 20 minutes away from my Irish Home via the M50. Vinyl is very difficult to sew with so I decided to create an experimental lunch bag. Unless you purchase a special vinyl sewing foot, its virtually impossible to sew. It just gets stuck and does not move. Experts suggested sandwiching the fabric between two layers of tissue paper. That seem to work so I'm ready for a bigger project.

Experimenting with Embroidery:

I wanted to learn how to embroider but was not sure quite where to start. I came across Jenny Hart's baby bib embroidery kit and thought it would be a good place to start. Embroidery patterns have come a long way in recent years. Jenny Hart has created very simple patterns that anyone can do (even me). Here are some of my first attempts.

First things last....

I have no doubt that grandpa Michael and grandma Clair have shared their tales of woe about how we live in 1920's apartment. When nights were particularly cold I would not have survived with my trusty hot water bottle. They seem to have become more popular and now you can get a range of cozies. One of my first sewing projects was a cover for my very own hot water bottle.



Next up:
Owl toy (Doodle Stitching) and 0wl embroidery (Sublime Stitching Pattern):








AND


the following dress from Christine Haynes' book "Chic & Simple Sewing"

All-day Tote

This is my new favorite bag. It's the All-day Tote
from Lotta Jansdotter's book "Simple Sewing". I walk a mile and half to work each day and had been carrying my travel mug with my morning cuppa. It's embarrassing to admit but I got tired carrying it. We all know that those travel mugs leak a little so putting into my regular bag was not an option. Needless to say, I felt guilty when I would end up getting a paper cup at the coffee stand. What I needed was a bag that had an external pocket to hold my travel mug and so I set about making the all-day tote.

Upon closer inspection, you'll see the external pocket for my travel mug (which is awesome). You'll also see a book cover peeping out of a front vertical pocket. This is extremely handy. Not only does it allow quick access to my latest read (Tumbling by Diane Mckinney-whetstone), it unexpectedly solved another problem of mine -
which is I tend to trash books by putting them into the main compartment of my bag.

If I make this bag again, I am going to put another external pocket on the other side of the bag. This bag did not call for interfacing which means the bag easily looses shape. I plan to use some next time to give the bag more definition and structure.

Next project.... Pencil Skirt (Burda 8155).

Hoodie....

The hoodie for Michael is complete! As with everything I've sewn, it has not been easy. Attempting to sewing a pattern a week is really hard to do. I don't know how people do it but I'm in awe of anyone who can be that productive. Despite the time factor, it was a fun project. The project was inspired by the Craft Stylish tutorial on "How to make a men's fleece hoodie." I went one step further and included a zip. This was part particularly challenging, as was the positioning the pockets . Honestly, I think half the fun of doing these projects are the taking the pictures. I will also have photos of another bag I made (it was a particularly productive week). Here's another photo of the hoodie:

Finally Finished the Curtains!

Okay, so it took me a couple of months to finish the curtains. I've a good excuse - I was finishing my masters in public administration. Honestly, given a choice, I would have rather spent the time finishing the curtains. I am happy that I can now move onto more interesting things. I'm working on a hoodie for Michael. Since it is a wasteland when it comes to men's patterns, I've had to create my own hoodie pattern. So far so good! Although I'll have to see when I cut out the fabric. Things could go very, very wrong :-(

Curtains...almost.

The cafe curtains are still in progress. To show that I am not completely slacking off, I decided to post what I have done so far. Here is the before photo....



In progress after photo......



The fabric is a coverlet I picked up at Urban Outfitters. I cut it down to the size I needed.



I used clip rings to hang the curtains. Still to do: hem both sides, add tie backs, figure out what to do with the rest of the fabric. Many thanks to Michael who put up the window pole.

Still sort of behind....

I started back at school this week so I've been getting caught up on a bunch of reading. Sadly sewing has taken a back seat. I did make some more delicious jam this weekend. I used pectin this time which was a little nerve wrecking and I read the instructions wrong and added the sugar at the wrong time. However, it turned out quite nice and I'm beginning to understand that Jam is somewhat fool proof. It's fruit, sugar, and pectin....how bad can that taste?

Michael and I did manage to take some photos of the hobo bag (above) I mentioned in the last post and another bag I made a while bag. The hobo bag turned out ok. I struggled with the zipper. As I have mentioned before I have zipper issues. I managed to cover up the mistakes I made. Part of my issue was due to the fact that I had a zipper that was too long and I had to shorten it. Thankfully, unless someone gets really close they won't see my tardy zip insertion.



The second bag is one I made a while ago (about 9 months ago). I found this pattern on Craftzine.com and for the life of me cannot find the link to the original post. I will post that link as when I find. It was a tough bag to make, as the instructions were tricky for me to follow. I loved the end result. It holds quite a lot of stuff.

Tune in next week to see if Clair has finally made her curtains.......

I'm already behind....

My aim was to post at least once a week. Of course, I'm already behind. So what's new! I have, however, been a creative wee bunny but have not had the time to post. We finally painted our bedroom and it has transformed our lives. I think we put it off for so long because we assumed we were just one month away from being evicted from our lovely apartment. We finally bit the bullet and painted it a lovely blue color. We rearranged some furniture and its like we have a whole new room.

Our friend who lives in Vermont wowed us by making blueberry jam. Not to be out done, I made some strawberry jam using locally grown Bay Area/Central Valley strawberries that are sold weekly at the farmers market where I work. Since I did not want to make a mountain of strawberry jam, I used a small batch recipe that does not use pectin that I found on YouTube (which can be found here). It turned out pretty tasty. I am planning to make more and finally use the pectin that has been sitting in my kitchen cabinet for the past couple of years. According to my Vermont buddy, that makes the jam go further because you don't have to boil it so much. I am trying to figure out how to preserve heirloom tomatoes. I am thinking maybe a tomato sauce?

I did do some sewing but don't have time to take a photo and post. I made a hobo bag found in Diana Rupp's book (see post on foxy boxers). It was there and I had wanted to make a new bag. Will post more on that in a few days. I will venture beyond that book soon. The cafe curtains are still pending, might try to that this weekend.

Oh and I bought more Japanese sewing books. One was called "Made in Kyoto". The other had no English at all on the cover. Both have bag patterns.
Till next week.....