Monthly Archives: December 2013

Handmade Holiday: Part 2

Whooops! Looks like I got so wrapped up in the holidays I forgot to post anything here. Sorry about that!

Now that Christmas is over and presents have been exchanged I can share a couple of the things I’ve been working on over the last few weeks. As I mentioned previously, this was my first year doing an entirely handmade Christmas and even without a job to get in the way of my sewing it was still a ton of work!

Inspired by a Christmas pj post over at Did You Make That? I decided to make four people on my Christmas shopping list a pair of pajama pants in fun flannel prints using this free Simplicity pattern.

You may recognize the fabric on the top of the pile from my Portland fabric shopping trip. The center two flannels were rescued from the remnant pile at Discount Fabrics in San Francisco and I found the goldfish flannel at Britex. The pattern was a breeze to sew, especially when making four in a row!

As per her request, I made my mom a set of plain navy oval-shaped placemats to match the double-sided napkins I made her earlier this year, but didn’t take a picture because, well, they’re just plain navy oval-shaped placemats.

I think my favorite thing that I sewed this year was the pair of oven mitts I made for my brother. I had found this fantastic science-themed fabric by Rebekah Ginda for Birch Organics from Fabricworm a while ago and knew I wanted to make something for the kitchen, I just wasn’t sure what.

I’m so pleased with how they turned out I think I’m going to use the extra fabric to make some more pairs for my Etsy shop!

The only project I didn’t finish was a cardigan for my nephew using some lovely Australian wool, but I should get that finished up and mailed off in the next week or so.

Phew! Finally done with the Christmas post! Next up…….2014 ReSEWlutions!!

Horror Kitsch

Stash Storage

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I’m lucky enough to have a designated sewing space in my apartment, but figuring storage for my fabric stash is definitely an ongoing process. I thought that today (while I’m hoarding Christmas project posts until after I’ve given the gifts) I would share what I’ve got going on so far for storage, and to ask what clever storage solutions you use.

I didn’t include the full sewing area in the pictures because it’s still a work in progress leaning toward disaster area at present. I’ve got the bulk of my fabric stash folded onto shelves above my sewing table.

On the far left of the bottom shelf I’ve got all my fabric >1/2 yard folded so I can easily see everything I’ve got. I used to keep it all packed away and while that’s visually neater I used to regularly forget what I had and made a mess of everything any time I tried to dig something out. The other thing I’ve done to for quick and easy stash assessment is written down the length of each on a little piece of paper and pinned it to the fabric. If I’m contemplating if I have the fabric I need for a project, I can just quickly see if I have enough length without having to unfold and measure things!

On the right side of the bottom shelf is all my “re-fashion” stuff. I haven’t actually done any refashions, but it’s nice to have those bits of old clothes for repairs or who knows? Maybe the refashion bug will hit me one day! (I’m looking for something cute to do with those duckies. I’ve got some blue and white striped jersey that, together with the duckies, would make an adorable quilt for a someone’s baby but my last t-shirt quilt was such a pain in the butt I’m not too eager to do another).

The top shelf is where I keep my Etsy store stuff for making felt embroidered baby onesies. I’ve got my full felt sheets easy to see under the basket on the left, with partial sheets and scraps stored in the basket.

The bin on the top shelf holds my finished and unfinished onesies, sorted by size. It makes it so easy to check to see if I’ve got the stock available to fill an order.

I’ve talked previously about how life-changing (No. That is not an overstatement) my craft caddie has been and it’s definitely helped me store some bits of fabric. I’ve got one drawer for larger scraps (<1/2 yard but still big enough to fold up).

Sorry again for the terrible lighting!

And I’ve got another drawer for those really mini scraps that I always think I’ll use but never do but just as I’m thinking I should get rid of them I see someone else’s blog post about cleverly using their little scraps and my conviction to save them is renewed!

This is what I’ve got going on right now, but it’s definitely not the final solution. I know many of you out there have way bigger stashes than I do, so how do you store your stash? Do you save scraps as compulsively as I do????

Handmade Holiday: Part 1

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I think I might have over-piled my holiday plate this year! I decided to make all the Christmas gifts I’m giving and we’re also hosting a big holiday party (I have no idea how much of everything to buy for a party of 45!!!). My poor Mathilde blouse is just sitting neglected on the corner of my sewing table, as is my Mood fabric and a couple other projects I’ve been keen on. In the meantime, I hope you’re not sick of holiday posts!

I thought I’d share some great handmade touches that we’ve been enjoying this year (both from me and from others!). My original plan was to share the handmade gifts I made for my in-laws at our early Christmas celebration with my in-laws. But I totally forgot to take pictures of my projects before giving them away! Doy! So I’ll share the lovely things that other people did. My brother-in-law made everyone fantastic little chalkboards. To go along with it Pete’s sister-in-law made us a selection of pickled deliciousness, smoked salmon and beef jerky. Om nom nom. They were a hit!

Thanks Adam and Julie!!

My mother-in-law also arranged a fun little craft to keep us occupied while we were there. She had purchased a box of plain green, red and white ball ornaments and some silver and gold sharpies. We got to decorate the ornaments and bring them home!

Thanks Karen!!!

This handmade ornament goes along great with some of the other homemade touches to our Christmas decorating. Last year I got this cute little snowman ornament in a gift exchange and I think it adds a great personal touch to the tree.

Thanks Sara!

In an attempt to rein myself in a little and not go too cray cray with Christmas decorating (as is my initial instinct) I used some left over tree trimmings and bits of Cedar garland to make a wreath for our front door! I didn’t use a wreath form or anything, instead I just tied the tree trimmings together into roughly the size circle I wanted with twine. I’d add to it little by little evening it out and filling in the gaps. Finally, I broke out ye ol’ hot glue gun to attach bits of cedar garland and cover any messiness that my rough hash job left.

A liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle wonky, but not bad for my first try!

And to add a little mood lighting around the apartment I just took a few mason jars, tied some twine around the top, and added tea lights in the bottom.

Portlandia!

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Sorry I’ve been MIA this week, just taking a bit to get my feet back under me after Thanksgiving.

I have the good fortune of having in-laws in the Pacific Northwest, so we headed up to Portland for a few days to stay with my brother-in-law and his wife before heading up to Seattle for a big Thanksgiving feast. I’d been to Portland once before and had crossed a few must-see items off my tourist list, so this time I was excited to explore what this DIY haven had to offer in terms of fabric stores. Portland’s got a few big ones like JoAnn’s and the Mill End store, but I decided to explore a few more specialized gems.

First stop was The Knittn Kitten in the Montavilla neighborhood (just around the corner from where I was staying!). I wasn’t sure what to expect from this little shop, but I made a few great finds. The Knittn Kitten specializes in thrifted and vintage fabrics.

The shop had nicely laid out tables of quilting fabrics and vintage fabrics hanging on racks with yardage clearly labeled (and if you only want a bit, they’ll make cuts for you too!) at $3/yd for most fabrics. Seems like there are always boxes of fabric coming in and the Yelp reviews say the owner will dig things out of the back if you’ve got something in particular in mind. The store also had stacks of notions and yarns!

Buttons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish I’d had more time to sift through them but I’d already been there for an hour!

The store also had a little backroom with vintage linens and hand sewn items.

But the real attraction for a lot of sewists I think, is The Knittn Kitten’s huge selection of vintage patterns (many uncut!)! I wish I’d had more time to sort through them all!

This is definitely the kind of place you just drop in on once in a while and see what new stuff they’ve got hanging around. I made quite a few finds myself;

Uncut 1966 jumper dress pattern, buttons and quilting cotton

I haven’t tried to alter patterns before, so I’m excited to try my hand at increasing this pattern size. Perhaps I’ll finally sew a muslin!

Close-up of one of the painted wooden buttons

I might have gotten carried away with the plaids, but ’tis the season!

Thank you, Knittn Kitten!

Next stop: RCT (Rose City Textiles) in Portland’s Northwest neighborhood. This place is an absolute 100% MUST visit for any outdoorsy people with an interest in sewing. I’ve never seen somewhere with such an amazing assortment of technical fabrics at fabulous prices.

Sunbrela fabric selection.

Sporty flat folds at $5/yd

And I must say, this is the only fabric store I’ve ever been to that my husband LOVED. He went crazy for their selection of notions, from waterproof zips to shock cords (like stretchy shoe laces).

Can’t say as I’ve done much shock cord shopping in my life, but my husband has and he said these prices were lower than anything you’d ever find at an outdoors store like REI. He bought a ton of cords for $1.50-$3.00/yd and even found some really hard-to-find reflective shock cord. We also stocked up on reflective strips and piping just to keep around the house for sewing onto bags and jackets, etc.

Fabric shopping in my me-made scoop neck tee!

They had a huge selection of fabrics out front to sort through but also an amazing warehouse that you can see stretching out behind me. This place was like, twice the size of Discount Fabrics in San Francisco but entirely devoted to outdoor and technical fabrics! From swim wear to sports jerseys to lycra and microfleece, we were drooling over their selection.

And I gotta say, this was an absolute FIRST. My husband left the RCT Fabrics with a bigger haul than I did!!!! It’s even inspired him to learn to sew!!!