Monday Miscellany

I wanted to share a picture of the treasures I picked up at SOWA with June last week. I scored a Vera Neumann scarf & pillowcase and a yard of elephant ribbon.  I don't know what the pillowcase will be just yet but I couldn't resist.

It seems a bit early to be thinking about Christmas but the folks at Craft Hope have posted a new project  making Christmas stockings for families who were impacted by the tornadoes in Alabama. I have friends in Alabama (who thankfully survived the tornadoes without suffering any damage) and have some experience making Christmas stockings so I might have to make some time to participate. 

In non-crafting news, I've recently discovered and become obsessed with Drew Carey's Improv-a-ganza on the game show network.  I find Jeff Davis hilarious.  Check out one of my favorite clips below

Happy Monday!

Pixie hat

 

I made this pixie hat for a friend's new baby. It knit up quickly in an evening and I like that it's easy to personalize with stripes that can be customized to match dad's (or mom's) alma mater or favorite sports team.

The pattern was free on Ravelry and is a great stash buster as it uses only a bit of yarn. More details can be found my ravelry page.

Simplicity?



Still on a high from my last garment sewing success I picked up this Simplicity pattern for $1.50 thinking it would be a quick and easy project.  Apparently, I still have much to learn about apparel sewing. 

There are 4 pattern pieces and 13 (an omen?) steps.  Steps 1-6, a breeze.  Steps 7&8 might as well be written in ancient Greek and the diagrams look nothing like the fabric pieces on my table.  Thankfully I made a muslin first.  I sewed and unsewed it about 10 times before admitting defeat.  I feel like I must be missing something so obvious if I put it aside and come back to it later it will somehow all make sense.  At least that's what I'm hoping. 

Monday Miscellany

I spent a fun rainy Sunday with June shopping and catching up on Project Runway.  It's still too early for me to choose a favorite (I can barely remember everyone's name at this point) but a couple of my favorite past contestants have some interesting new projects. 

Season one winner Jay McCarroll is designing a fabric line for Free Spirit.  I particularly love this paint splatter print in plum from his Habitat Collection.  You can check out all his designs here.

And quirky nerd girl Diana Eng from Season 2 recently launched a beautiful line of laser cut t-shirts.  I love the combination of intricate details with such simple materials. Click here for more info.

In other news, I ran across this amazing birthday party via the Making in Lovely blog. Is it wrong that I would like someone to thow this party for me on my next birthday?  For the record, I'm just a little older than 7.

Head over the the Pure Joy Events blog for more photos and details.  Seriously, could this cake be more awesome?!  It's even got a Max look alike.  I'm smitten.

Summer Sewing

I finally sewed something that I would actually wear in public! I made this skirt using Anna Maria Horner's Flirting the Issue skirt pattern which you can find here for free.

I am still new to apparel sewing and hesitant to cut into good fabric so I opted for this floral print quilter's cotton. I picked up an entire bolt of it at the thrift store for $6 so there was plenty of room for error. The pattern calls for a lightweight cotton fabric, like a lawn or voile, but the quilter's cotton worked well enough. The pattern is fairly simple and basically requires the ability to measure your waistline, cut a rectangle based on that measurement and sew a few straight lines. It was a bit of a challenge threading the several rows of elastic through the casings (a beer helped) but overall it's a good project for beginning apparel sewists. I don't have a serger and I didn't want to spend the time on complicated seam finishes for this project so I just used a simple pinked seam. I'll see how it holds up after a few washings and decide if I want to to attempt a different technique on future projects.

The print would not have been my first choice but it's growing on me and paired with a tie front blouse, cardigan and my favorite bow necklace, I feel a bit like I'm channeling style icon Emma Pillsbury.

New Sweater

The knitting spree continues and I recently finished this cabled cardigan. It was a free pattern from Lion Brand and more information is available on Ravelry. It was a good challenge and I'm feeling much more confident with cables now. Of course, not confident enough to show you an extreme close-up of the many mistakes that you'll find if you look closely at this sweater.

Overall I like the cardigan, particularly the dramatic collar and the waist shaping. But I'm not sure I'm sold on the sleeves. I only have one coat that can accomodate them and if I were to make it again would probably attempt to modify the sleeves a bit.

The knitting continues but I'm starting to think about spring and there may be some sewing on the horizon. Stay tuned!

O Christmas Tree

My husband and I have a tradition of adding a personalized ornament to our tree every year. We take turns each year selecting our ornament and try to do something unique. Last year my husband added a lovely hand painted ornament featuring our cats Sophie & Max. This year it's my turn and I was inspired by this lovely print from Spanish artist Blanca Gomez to make our ornament.

I cut the basic shapes from inexpensive craft felt and attached them to a sheet of white felt using wonder under. I added detail using embroidery floss and then to add heft I fused it together with a piece of heavyweight interfacing and backed it with a second sheet of white felt. I cut around the figures and finished the edge with a blanket stitch.

I think this technique would also make great gift tags, sadly there are just not enough hours in the day. Maybe next year...