Make-a-List Monday 05-31-16

Tags

bags, Blanc Shirt, cats, clothing, Grange Park, Kennewick, Make-A-List Monday, Noodlehead Carkai Gatherer Bag, Professional Zip-Around Wallet

Roses at the Demonstration Garden at Grange Park, Kennewick, WA

Make-A-List Monday is an idea that I borrowed from Sarah Craig over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and I thank her for inspiring me to try it!

Skipped last week, but I’m back!  And I have lots to show you!

First, let’s see how I did on my 5/11 list.

• Make my new purse.

Done!

This is the Noodlehead Carkai Gatherer Bag and I love how it turned out!  Nothing purchased for this bag–fabric, piping, hardware, button were all from stash.

For the front closure, I had hoped to use one of the very cool glass beads my sister’s given me over the years, but I just didn’t like how they looked with the flap fabric, so I used a simple gold-colored shank button instead.

I modified the inside pocket a bit to use the very last of this black Laurel Burch fabric, and divided it with lines of stitching.

The pattern includes a 1/2″ strap; I kept that width for the loop on the bag, but widened the shoulder strap to accommodate my hardware.  I honestly have no idea where these hooks came from–taken off another bag, maybe?–but I like them!

The purse is a little bit smaller than I expected (it doesn’t have side panels, so the front and back pieces have to do that work), but that’s fine, as my new wallet should fit well in it.  Which leads me right into–

• Cut out my new wallet.

Done!  So many little pieces!

I’ve been working on it off and on and I’m coming down the home stretch.

You guys, this pattern is INSANE.  The designer calls it expert level, and she is TOTALLY CORRECT.  Don’t get me wrong–it’s a well-written pattern and has lots of pictures to help you out.  But the level of detail on this is just nuts.

• Finish the cat scratcher and get the class proposal ready to go.

Done!

And he loves it!

The fabric on the outside is very cute close up (looks like multi-colored confetti), but doesn’t show up very well against the carpeting.  I have lots more cardboard cut for the next one, and will use a brighter fabric.

• Do better on healthy eating and exercising.  

Doing better on this.  I still really need to get out and walk more, and it’s been hard to get myself out there, but I’ll continue to work on it.

But wait–there’s more!

I also made a muslin this past week.  This is the Blanc Shirt pattern from Blank Slate Patterns (available for free when you join their Facebook group).

It’s a simple tee pattern, sized for knits, with only two pattern pieces.  However, me being me (read: DIFFICULT), I made it with a soft, stretchy rayon that I got at Goodwill the other day for $ .99.

And, of course, OF COURSE, I was 1/3 of a yard short on fabric, so I hacked the back.

I cut the back pattern piece in half at the waist, cut the bottom part on the fold of the fabric, and cut two separate pieces for the top part.

I sewed the two top back pieces together, folded over to make a faux band, topstitched, and sewed buttons on it.

I also added side slits, as the fabric didn’t have quite enough stretch and the fit at the hips was a bit tight.

Result?  I’m very happy with this blouse and it will be SO nice when the weather gets hot, which will be this week–95F predicted!

So, plans for this coming week.

• Hack the Blanc again to make a colorblocked tee.  I’ve been pondering this for a while, but it’s time to just do it.  Here are my knit scraps that I want to use:

• Finish the wallet.
• Finish my black skirt.  I came across this tutorial for a shirred skirt and used it to re-cut the black fabric from my failed wrap skirt.

That ought to keep me busy.  I have some outdoorsy photos for you, but I think they may need their own post.  Have a great week, everybody!

STH

 

Sunlight on Flowering Trees

Tags

clothing, Saf-T-Pockets Shell Seeker, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing

 

A little bit chef-y, but that’s not a bad thing.

I’m not the poetic type–okay, I’m pretty much the opposite of the poetic type, if I’m honest about it–but this fabric, with its green and pink and brown, makes me think of sunlight filtering through trees covered in pink flowers.

I think I bought this fabric on my first trip to SCRAP when they opened a year ago.  I wasn’t too sure about the color combination, but the fabric was obviously a good-quality batik, and there were two yards of it, so I grabbed it.  Batik for $3 a yard is a no-brainer.  I picked up the pattern at SCRAP just recently when they were inundated with donated patterns and I volunteered to see if I could help with that problem.  😉

See the little stems on the flowers?

I couldn’t find many reviews of this pattern, and none that said much about the fit of it, so I did a quick muslin of the just the top half of the blouse, as that part is more fitted and I’ve occasionally had problems with my back being a bit broad for blouses.  Using my measurements (no measurements of the finished blouse are given–HARRUMPH) produced a muslin that fit just fine, so I cut into my batik.

I was 1/2 a yard short on fabric, and not very optimistic I would have enough, but I was able to make it work.  After cutting the main pieces, the resulting scraps were so small that I had to piece the collar facing, but I did it!

Sorry about the focus–bleh.

Other than cutting off the sleeves at 3/4 length, cutting a few inches off the bottom, and omitting the pockets, I didn’t alter the pattern at all.

The instructions on the pattern were about standard for a Big 4 pattern, though there were relatively few illustrations and the ones that were there tended to show the easier steps, not the more complex ones.  So if you’re one of those visual folks who ignore instructions, this may not be a great pattern for you.  And I searched and searched the instructions, but couldn’t find any mention of what the seam allowance should be!  I crossed my fingers and used 5/8″ and it worked out fine.

I tend to like sexier buttons, but with all that sunlight-on-flowers business happening, I opted for plain tan ones on this.

I wore the blouse the other day to SCRAP’s first anniversary celebration and I really felt good in it.  This pattern would be really lovely in something like rayon challis–that would give you that nice drapey look shown on the pattern envelope–but it was also great in the batik.  My fabric is a little crisp, but not stiff, so it feels very comfortable to wear and doesn’t crease like crazy, as some batiks do.  I wore the blouse with tan capris and some gold and copper colored dangly earrings and I felt pretty.  Smartly dressed and comfy, but not overly dressed up–and I got a few compliments, too.  I like it.  😉

STH

Make-a-List Monday 05-11-16

Tags

bags, Make-A-List Monday, Multnomah Falls, Newberg, Oregon, Portland Women's Forum, Rowena Crest, ScraptasticTuesday, sewing, travel

Mossy trees near Multnomah Falls, Oregon.  Scroll down for more green.  😉

Make-A-List Monday is an idea that I borrowed from Sarah Craig over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and I thank her for inspiring me to try it!

Busy week with everything BUT sewing!  I didn’t even bother to make a list last week, but this week should be better.  Here are my plans:

• Make my new purse!  I’ve been wanting to make myself a new cross-body purse for a while now, and I finally settled on this one:

Photo from Noodlehead link above.

I’ve already got mine cut out–using fabric scraps from the stash, of course–and I’m using this super cool nylon jersey (stabilized with interfacing) for the front flap.

LOVE THIS FABRIC SO MUCH OMG

The outside will be this black textured fake suede and the lining a Laurel Burch fabric.

I suspect black piping and some nifty glass beads will be involved, as well.  😉

• Cut out my new wallet.  Also something I’ve been pondering for a while, as I’ve been wanting a way to grab all the essentials quickly when I want to go out for a walk.  This one is exactly what I had in mind–I can just stick my phone in the outside pocket, snap a strap onto the wallet, and go.  This could be quite the challenging pattern; it actually comes with a long list of warnings!

Photo from Craftsy link above.

• Finish the cat scratcher and get the class proposal ready to go.
• Do better on healthy eating and exercising.  As I’m hoping to be employed soon (should find out how my job interview went at the end of the week, by the way), I’ve been thinking about what I might need to sew to complete my work wardrobe.  Then I realized that I’d have a lot more work clothing to choose from if I could get rid of that extra 5 or 10 pounds I picked up over the winter.  Hmmm . . . .

 

And now on to the tree pr0n!

I spent the weekend in Newberg, OR, while my honey rode his bike for 600 kilometers.  We took the scenic highway home and took a few photos on the way.

The Columbia Gorge, taken from the Women’s Forum viewpoint.  All kinds of dramatic sky and cloud stuff happening.

We hiked up to the little bridge part way up Multnomah Falls; this is the top half of the Falls.  (So beautiful, but it’s in all the Oregon guidebooks, so the area’s always so crammed full of tourists that there’s no room to move.  We were there on a Monday morning, so it wasn’t too bad.)

Near the base of the Falls.

Columbia Gorge, taken at Rowena Crest.

Another angle of the view from Rowena.  Not shown:  the gale-force winds trying to knock me over as I took the picture.  They were kind enough to blow away the clouds, though.

(I am linking this post up to Scraptastic Tuesday over at She Can Quilt.)

Have a great week, everybody!

STH

 

 

 

Make-a-List Monday 05-03-16

Tags

bags, cats, Columbia Park, Kennewick, Make-A-List Monday, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, Washington

Columbia Park–fishing pond is behind me, Blue Bridge to Pasco just visible on the right.

Make-A-List Monday is an idea that I borrowed from Sarah Craig over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and I thank her for inspiring me to try it!

The week has been something of a mixed bag, productivity-wise.  Let’s see how I did on last week’s list.

• Make a tote bag for SCRAP.

Done!  Took much longer than anticipated, though.

Here’s what I started with, a Fabric Pack consisting of a focal piece (an embroidery sampler, in this case) and some coordinating fabric scraps:  some dark brown wool suiting, green polyester felt, yellow and white striped cotton, gold synthetic drapery-type fabric, blue stretchy nylon (yuck), pink cotton knit, green and white striped cotton with animals on it, some yellow and white fabric ribbon, two blue flannel quilt blocks, and about half a yard of pink cotton with lighter pink stripes.  My goal was to use at least a little of everything, but what a motley assortment of stuff!

And here’s what I came up with.

I washed everything first–I never make bags that aren’t washable, so all the components had to be–then cut the sampler in half and trimmed the halves to be even.  The gold drapery fabric was already cut in strips, so the wider one became the bottom and sides, and the thinner one became the handles.  The pink stripe was the only big piece I had, so that became the lining, and I set the pink knit aside for the bottle holder.  All the other scraps were cut into 1″ strips and pieced together.

The quilt blocks–just two layers of flannel sewn together–became the pockets and were bound with leftover strips of the pink stripe.  (The colors are a bit wonky here; the pink is more accurate in the other photos.)

The bottle holder came out so cute!  This is two layers of cotton knit, with the ribbon used to cinch it tight.  The stretch in the fabric is side to side so it won’t droop.  I am definitely going to use this idea again!

The only supplies I used from the stash were thread and a little bit of white cotton that I cut into strips and used to stabilize the blue nylon and make it opaque.

This was a fun project!  It was an interesting challenge, trying to get all those different fabrics to work together, some of them fabrics I’d never normally use.  I think in some ways I chose the safest possible project for these materials, partly because I am planning to use this as advertising, so I wanted it to be appealing to lots of different people; I’d be very interested to see what somebody with a different crafting background than mine could come up with to combine them.

• Make the skirt. 

Hmmm, well, yeah, about that . . . .

This is a bit of a mystery, but it appears the skirt is too small.  The pattern is meant for woven fabrics, but I used a knit, and cut the size that corresponded to my hip measurement.  And somehow it’s too small?  What?  A Big 4 pattern cut to your measurements and it’s too small–when does that ever happen?

Given the style–it’s basically a big rectangle of fabric that you wrap around and button–I could probably just sew a strip onto it to make it long enough.  At this point, I’m not sure I want to expend the effort.  I’m going to ponder that, but I’m onto my next obsession at this point (more on that later!)

• Finish the cat scratcher.

Sigh.  Nope, haven’t had time to work on it.

I think I’m going to skip making a list for this week.  Partner and I are headed to Oregon again this weekend (600k bike ride for him, exploration of those amazing Oregon parks for me!) and won’t be back until Monday afternoon.  And there won’t be much time for crafting before then; if I do find some, it will be spent on the scratcher.

Hopefully, I’ll be back next week with some fantastically GREEN park pictures for you, but until then, here’s a pic of Shelby with her new friend.  This gray cat has been coming by in the evenings, and the two of them sit together for a while until she goes home.  Every once in a while, one of them will hiss at the other in the laziest, least-threatening manner possible, the other one will ignore it, and then they’ll go back to sitting quietly together.

This picture is from a few days ago.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get one this evening when Shelby was rolling around on her back with her friend there.  It seems that the friendship is progressing.  😉

Have a great week, everybody!

STH