So what have I sewn over the summer? Not as many things as I originally planned (of course). Probably the biggest news was our local fabric warehouse — owned by Cottontail Originals — has decided to shut its doors and has been selling off its entire inventory all summer long. Needless to say I’ve bought plenty, mostly linens and cottons, but a fair amount of ribbon and other trim too. This dress of Asha’s I altered from a shirt pattern, and it matches a simple shirt & pants outfit I made for Niki. Getting them both to pose together with their matching outfits was no easy task, however…

I did make Asha another outfit, and this time let her pick out the fabric from Walmart. An…interesting choice, as usual for her; the texture is a funky sort of weave almost like a basket weave. All I know is that it frays like crazy, which was almost enough to force me to learn how to use the serger I borrowed from my mom.

I made this gentleman a month or so ago, when spring seemed far away. We’ve hopefully had our last freeze of the season (although, being Oklahoma, it could certainly surprise us again), and I can’t wait until I can plant some new flowers in the flowerbed. In the meantime, I need to make more elephants! I really like the shape, and it’s letting me experiment with embroidery.

So where have I been lately? Sewing! Well, mostly. First there were the allergies, which are still ongoing, but… I was asked to sew a sideless surcoat as a gift for the Queen before Gulf Wars. (Translation for non-SCA folks: for a lady in this medieval reenactment group I’m in.) Only I had no pattern. Or fabric. And had less than two weeks. At least I did have her measurements…

I got a pattern from a friend and ideas on what decorating bits to do. Normally I sew mostly in linen, but a sideless surcoat needs to be out of something stiffer so it won’t scrunch up weird in the front (due to not having any sides, see). Because of that and the time crunch, I went with a nice cotton twill. The only problem was that the local Wal-mart was out of the burgundy… I wound up driving 60 miles to the next city over to buy some. The yellow bits (and white bits) are linen, the yellow dyed that way from the white. It didn’t come out as deep a shade of yellow as I wanted, but it’ll do. All the bits (stars and suns and lion-dragons) are simply ironed on with Heat’n'Bond Ultra Hold. I sure hope it holds like it says it will…

While there are things I don’t like about it, they’re practically all things that I had to do because of the time issue. But since it went together so well and easily, now I’m back to thinking about making myself some new dresses, particularly since my “newest” dress is around five years old now!

Today was my friend’s baby shower, the event for which I’ve been frantically sewing for the last week and a half or so. I told her originally that I’d make a bag for her, then in discussion decided to make TWO — a large one for those big trips and all-day visits to Grandma’s and such, and a smaller one for quick trips around town and for when baby is older and doesn’t need as much stuff to haul around. She picked out the fabric, a cute alphabet print on dark red cotton for the lining, and black denim for the outer shell. We also picked up a cotton red-stars-on-cream print for pockets and contrast.

The “large” tote turned into a huge tote; I definitely over-achieved. You could fit a baby in there! The smaller bag is a messenger-style, with an adjustable strap. Both have bottle holders and numerous pockets. I embroidered a little firedog on the front of the large tote (daddy is a firefighter). I also made a changing pad using iron-on vinyl (first try using it — eeeee!) and a cute stuffed cube with satin ribbon loops all over it. Both bags were filled with bottles and teeny shoes (unworn) and baby clothes Asha’s outgrown and other odds and ends like that. (Lots more pictures on Flickr.)

I was pretty happy with the bags, especially the small one, but I got a bigger response out of the other ladies at the baby shower than I expected. I may have custom orders coming out of this! Now I need to figure out how much material I actually used so I can figure out what I should charge…

I’m not typically very sentimental on Valentine’s Day, unless I’m out of chocolate (and then I expect to get some…) But my daughter Niki is all about sentiments such as love and happiness and joy, and so I couldn’t resist whipping this little felt pillow up last night.

I found this neat tip on how to make a
felt wall by Amy at angry chicken via Hillary at wee wonderfuls. (Does that sentence make sense?) It sounds like a great way to play around with fabric scraps when designing something. Now if only I had a spare piece of blank wall in my crafting area…

Finally managed to kick the death plague. Nasty respiratory infections! Hates them…

I’ve got a Project planned to make a nifty diaper bag for a good friend of mine here in another week or two. But I decided to be smart this time, and make one for myself so all my mistakes will get worked out on my project, not hers. I’ve been toting around this nice Land’s End mini diaper bag for, well, years now (two kids’ worth, anyway), and while I like it, it’s still a bit too much for what I need now. Off I went to the fabric store…

Sorry for the unfocused picture. I found the stripey fabric first, then the floral was literally the only match! I always forget to go looking for solids, but I also had a vague idea for something heavier than quilting cotton in a solid color. Luckily for me, I had hanging in the closet a bunch of mint green linen fabric. Not a completely perfect match, but pretty darned close!

Here’s the finished product! It’s my first attempt at a messenger-style bag, with absolutely no pattern. You can’t see the bottom, but it’s also the green linen; having it and the sides and the straps in that fabric I think tones the stripes down, which is good. They’re pretty bright. I interfaced the crap out of the outside of the bag, and lightly interfaced the lining. I opted to not interface the straps (okay, I forgot), but being linen they’re all nice and soft and a bit springy too. I think next time I make linen straps I’ll deliberately leave out the interfacing.

There’s two outside pockets, each with a welt (woo! Thank you, master sewing book), and the inside has several pockets and a keyfob thingy. Oh, and the flap closes with a magnetic snap. I went all out! Unfortunately, the flap’s stripes don’t QUITE match up with the strips on the back of the bag, but eh… that’s about the biggest oops I made. More pictures of the inside and such are on my flickr account.

This was my first stab at making cute totebag purses, in this case for my kids. While not the first bags I’ve ever made, they’re probably the cutest! I used some fairly heavy interfacing on both the outer shell and the lining, so they practically stand up by themselves.

Asha’s is the pink and black polka dot one, with the turquoise interior — for her I made short handles, as she has a tendancy to put things around her neck like a goofball. She’s not quite 2 years old yet, so go figure. Niki’s is the black one (”black, mom, black!”) with the wacky lining print. She suggested putting a heart on it, and I think it came out a lot better than I expected. The interfacing made the flap waaay too stiff, and I made it waaay too short to stay down properly, so I added a snap. Next time I make one with a flap I’ll use much lighter interfacing, make it a lot longer, and plan on a fastening in advance. Unless I forget.

Niki’s does have a shoulder strap, and an interior pocket. I had to remove a few hundred kleenexes and scraps of paper in order to take a picture of the inside… Both bags were more or less based off of this fantastic tutorial I found on craftster.org, my new favorite website. It’s horribly addictive!