Placemat Bags

I really wanted to share my beginning sewing students' (ages 7-9) latest accomplishment! We have been making these sweet bags for the last few weeks and they did such a beautiful job - I am "SEW PROUD" and they should be too!

:)

Would you like to learn to sew?

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REpurpose: SUNDRESS to SKIRT

I bought a sundress for my then-8-year-old daughter. She wore it and looked so cute in it.

She really was darling in it. Good color for her.

So when it got too short for her, I put it in my "Mending/ Projects" basket and planned to add a ruffle to lengthen it. Which would have been cute. But time went on and it sat neglected. Tell me I'm not the only one who forgets about timely projects like this and years later regrets it.

A few weeks ago, I was embarking on New Year's Resolution #1-of-Them ("Decreasing and Even Eliminating the Mending and Projects Piles"), and felt the sadness at my neglect of this one. Did I mention my daughter is now 13?

I was ready to toss it to charity, but then I got a brilliant idea all of a sudden!

This would make a CUTE SKIRT!

So I set to work. Ooops! Forgot to take BEFORE picture of the sundress. Got too eager to cut into it. So I smooshed it back to it's original state as best I could and took a funny BEFORE picture for you. You get the idea...

I decided the "smocked bodice" of the sundress could just act as a waistband. AL I had to do was cut off the "strappy" upper parts.

Following the upper line of the back bodice, I just cut off the top part of the front bodice to make it all level and even. My cut was just above that level line of smock-stitching.

The back straps simply got cut off at point of contact. The bias binding edge kept everything else intact.

Now it was no longer a sundress.

But my front edges were not finished.

I had to do something about that. To keep that top edge from unraveling and fraying in the wash and with wear.

So I did a simple zigzag stitch, overcasting the edge. Voila! My new waistband was finished! And the whole thing took me about 5-10 minutes tops!

Now she can wear it a little longer and Momma feels guilt no more!

Please don't go through the guilt I did - I actually forgave my self already ;). You can purchase a sundress (or other such item) that may be the not-quite-right size for someone you love, and with a little imagination, repurpose it into something just as great or better!

What can you RePurpose?




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PATTERN STORAGE

I love to collect patterns - for clothing mostly, some crafts, but really clothing.

When I was in college, studying Clothing & Textiles, I had an instructor ask us what things we liked and did not like and would maybe change about the pattern-making industry. We had a lengthy discussion about this. One of the main things was how compact and great it was that all the pattern pieces were folded perfectly and the instructions all fit into that pattern folder from the store. (One exception was the Vogue Pattern Company - their envelopes were always bigger - part of the price too). And how when we finish a project, we try to stuff and flatten those pattern pieces to get it all painfully back into that now-too-small envelope.

Usually ripping the side right out. Then we have to tape it or rubber band it and it's a big ugly mess.



And, how do you store them?

I have a beautiful solution. But this comes with a story (of course). After I graduated from university, I moved to Colorado and wanted to work doing something in my field of interest and expertise. I had already had baby #1 and needed to be able to work from home. I found a neat lady named Anita Larson in the Denver area who made custom clothing and did alterations just like I hoped to do eventually.
So - Anita* hired me to come out to her place once a week and take a bin of alterations to fix and bring back the following week. It was great. I learned a lot from doing this. One of the things I learned was how she organized her patterns and I was knocked out by how efficient and wonderful it was!

I teach this method to my sewing students on the first pattern we sew together.

SO here you go...a step-by-step process to make your patterns organized, and store them before AND after you use them!

Gather all the components of the pattern used: envelope, pattern pieces and instructions.

You will need a manila file folder (or whatever type of folder you would like to use for your filing system), a pair of paper scissors, clear tape, and a stapler.

Cut the pattern envelope across the bottom and up the left side.

Attach the cut pattern envelope to the file folder (cut off more of the edges if necessary to make it fit - but do not cut off pertinent information. If you have to cut off important stuff, just tape this info to the back of the folder). Tape at top and bottom center to the folder. Then staple the sides in at least three places, catching the envelope and both folder layers all together.

All stapled? Good.

Now take all your pieces and fold them up to approximately the size of your folder.

Add the instructions (which only have to be folded to HALF the size intended) and they will fit!

Stuff them all in their new home! They will love you for it!

Label your pattern so you can find it easily.

You may have different ways you want to categorize and file them. Anita had a sticker system - me too - it's easy - I just use circle dot stickers and star stickers. I assign a category to each sticker. (i.e. dresses, skirts, pants, tops, jackets, children, costumes, etc.) Then I categorize further by writing notes on the tab (Client names, dates, design details - type of sleeve etc, pattern groupings, etc)

I keep the "legend" taped to the side of my filing cabinet, where I store all my patterns.

(I do not have a picture of this because it was so bleached out by the sun from the window next to my filing cabinet that the colors don't even look right. I'll redo it one day and re-post...so just use your imagination :)

**UPDATE**: I found a laminated legend in a binder, so you can see if your imagination matches the real thing...

Here is an example of another pattern in my storage.

Yes, this is a massive four-drawer file cabinet where all I store is patterns. And I have two of them. Yup, it might be a sickness. But sooooo organized...

Here's a peek in one of the drawers.

And now my newly organized and much more managable pattern goes into storage for another day. Happiness.

Are your patterns organized?




*Anita Larson is an incredibly talented lady and has since pursued other talents. She is a memory collage artist - you can see her work at ArtHonoringLife.com and a website designer at TheWebMuse.com.

Thanks for everything, Anita.


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Good Deals: IKEA & A Sewing Chair

So yesterday was a good day.

The older kids got to sleep in. The younger kids played and went to a birthday party. Hubby and I went chair comparison shopping. (Woohoo?) Yup, for us it was a Woohoo - at least me. I needed a new sewing chair. The one I have been using was great but just had no more life left. It's rollers were pretty busted and the seat had been fixed over and over and I just can't sit on that screw end poking up into the back of my thigh anymore.

But I have some pretty specific needs. I do a LOT of sewing and those hours add up. And a good chair can make or break your back.

*First, it cannot have arms - those get in the way.
*I need a chair with rollers to slide over my chair mat from sewing machine to serger to work table behind me. (Like a good "kitchen triangle" right?)
*I need a short seat so that my legs' circulation does not get cut off from reaching the foot pedals.
*I also need good back support because I lean over so much and that is not good posture, my friends.

So of course we looked in all the office stores and the big box stores. We had looked at IKEA a few weeks earlier and thought I saw the one I wanted - it was awesome! The seat AND the back were adjustable and when I leaned forward I got the support I need in my lower back - NO OTHER CHAIR had BOTH of these features) - but I just made the mental and written notes until I knew for sure, even though I had a hunch it would be IKEA. Hence the shopping yesterday. After which - I came to the conclusion that I could not find the chair I wanted anywhere else.

So we came home and watched Soul Surfer. Excellent movie. Highly recommend it.

Then we headed to IKEA. Now. IKEA had a deal going and this is why we waited until this particular weekend to go. The deal was if you ate at the IKEA restaurant this weekend, you could deduct the total on your restaurant receipt from your IKEA store purchase (minimum of $100 had to be spent in the store).

So we took the whole fam-damily and made a night of it. Everyone ate a lot of food. And it was yummy - have you tried their Chicken Strips and Fries - really to die for! And their famous Swedish Meatballs are so delicious! Of course there was cake and chocolate milk and soda and the kids were thrilled. (Not often do my kids have so many choices offered in one meal!) We even threw a few salads in ;). Between my husband and my teenagers and just BOYS in general, the 8 of us ate well.

Our food bill came to $99. My chair cost $139. So before tax, the chair only cost $40. Or I prefer to look at it as: my family ate for FREE - for a chair I was going to buy anyway! Win-Win for everyone! We love IKEA!

IKEA does this deal about five times a year. If you sign up for their IKEA Family card, which is also free, you get emails of special deals going on like that one AND you get even more deals at member prices. It is amazing because the prices are great anyway. We will be going back, because the mental and written notes have been taken, believe you me.

Another thing we like about IKEA is that you can go online and they actually have the same stuff as in the store (not what I found in the other office stores - I need to SIT ON THE CHAIR people! Not just "think it looks good online and order it and try it then send it back to the store". You can make a favorites list, print it and bring it with you. I recommend doing this unless you have all day. I promise it will save you so much time in that store if you already know what you want. Because it's hard to focus. You could spend all day there just looking at everything. Our trip to just eat and buy the chair took the 8 of us two hours!

So now we get to put it together and I can sew in comfort again!

Yay! Here it is - in it's new home - I LOVE it "sew" much! {wink}



Have you been to IKEA?



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BOYS' PILLOWCASES

Pillowcases are a great beginning sewing project. It may seem "cliche" but I love to start my sewing students with a basic pillowcase. It not only is a relatively quick project, but it teaches five very good, very essential skills: straight stitches, pivoting, zigzag overcast, pressing, hem.

In my home, I am always mixing and matching fabrics for one project. I had just finished three boys' Memory Quilts and had less whole pieces left over than I usually require for a whole pillowcase. My boys needed pillowcases to match go with (I don't believe things neeed to be matchy-matchy - they just need to go with) their quilts. Some of the prints I had large enough scraps of were these. (I had just found them at my local Wal*Mart)

I had enough of the middle one to do a front and a back, but only enough of the other two to do one front/back of each. (BTW, each front/ back is 22" x 36"). So I mixed em up and came up with this combination.

Not really rocket science but a fun way to combine the three prints into two pillowcases.

Then I needed to do one more. I had found one of those "panels" (also at Wal*Mart) that normally get made into a baby-blanket-sized quilt (it's one yard of 45" wide fabric or 36" x 45" - which is what I require for a folded standard-size pillowcase). Perfect size. It had TowMater next to Lightning McQueen.

Hopefully you can see that between the two sides is where the fold is. Where the center of the full panel would be if not folded. Make sense? You can see Lightning McQueen's nose rolling around to the other side...

They each took up half the panel so a "back-and-front" pillow was perfect!

We have three!

Now they are complete! They have a great time trading and switching them out!

He sure loves them! Also note the "Cars" socks - didn't even plan that!

What kind of pillowcases could you make?



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