Plethora of Fabric

Last weekend I went to my parents house for Easter weekend. My mom used to sew a lot when I was little and she has quite a sewing collection. We went through it and I acquired quite a bit of yardage.


There was also a few bags of scraps I collected, basically I took all the scraps we found. There were a bunch of squares that were already cut out, we don't know if they were from my grandmother or great grandmother but some of the fabric was definitely old. There are also some triangles and just lots of random scraps. Some of the scraps I recognized from clothes or Halloween costumes from as far back as I can remember. I hand washed most of it then needed to iron it all.


Check out this pattern...crazy.


Also among the haul was this neat pieced together square, I am thinking it might make a good pillow.


This piece is four squares that have pieces appliqued on them, not sure what I want to do with this one yet.


This is a strip of colorful smaller squares.


This is six squares in another pattern.


There there are these...


There is a small group of these, all hand sewn together.


They are very colorful, now I just need to figure out how to put them together, but I don't think I will be hand sewing them.

Yoga Bag

I used to do yoga at least once a week, but its been awhile since those days. Recently I have been thinking about going again. While going through this book I saw this simple looking yoga bag and thought "now that's a good idea". On my trip to the fabric store this week I found some tapestry fabric I though would work good, its bright and cheery. It looks a little dark because of such poor lighting at night here at home, the later pictures show it a little better.


The fabric is slightly heavier than recommended but I think it will still work. Since it is an upholstery fabric and the directions said to only spot clean it, I hand washed it then ironed it and it survived. There is no pattern for this project, three pieces are needed, a pocket, a strap and the main bag.


The pocket is the first piece to make then attach to the bag piece.


The strap was sewn, turned and pressed flat.


Here is the bag with the bottom and side seams sewn, next is to sew a casing into the top and attach the top of the strap.


Now it is time to put the cord in the top casing. This went good until the safety pin opened up and got caught, took a little time to fix it but it worked.



Here is the completed project, with my yoga mat in it. The pocket is there on the front and the pocket blends in nicely. I carried it around the apartment a little and found it to be quite comfortable.

Doorstop

Tonight I decided to make the doorstop from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter. I got some fabric from my Grandmother and there was some black fabric I thought would work good. I also picked up five pounds of soy beans this last weekend to fill it. The first step of course is to draw and cut out the fabric.


Here are the top, bottom and four sides, the handle also had to cut out.


The handle is the first thing to be sewn, sew the handle to the top, then I sewed the sides to the top. Next was to sew the sides together and the bottom to the sides leaving a space to put the beans in.


Here are the five pounds of soy beans that need to be put in. I used a piece of paper as a funnel to help get all the soy beans in, it took a little while.


I thought I would be able to sew the hole closed on my sewing machine but this proved to be very difficult, I had hand sew it shut. You can also see all the powder from the beans on the fabric.


And here is the finished product. A fairly simple doorstop that will now keep the door open even when its windy outside.

Lounge Pants

This weekends project was to make the Lounge Pants in Amy Butler's book In Stitches. There are the top of the two main pattern pieces in the book, then you need to use freezer paper to compete the pattern.


Once the pattern is done you can cut out the four main pieces then start sewing them together.


When the four are together you connect them.


Now they actually have the shape of pants, they need to have a drawstring top made with two button holes, so I drew them out.


Did you know I have a button hole foot for my sewing machine?? I sure didn't, I have never tried to make a button hole before and after consulting with my Mom and the manual for my machine I gave it a try...it worked! I can now officially make button holes.


Next it was time to hem the top and the two legs.


And add the trim to the bottom of the legs.


I made the drawstring and pulled it through the waist.


Here is the completed top.


The finished product which I then wore for the rest of the day, they are very comfortable and fit surprisingly well.

Disneyland

After living in Anaheim for almost a year I finally went to Disneyland. My Mom, Cousin and her two kids came to visit and we all went.


This was the girls first trip there.


The churros were yummy!


We met Merlin...


Here is Trininty and I waiting in line for the Nemo ride.


And Heaven and I, we were waiting in line for quite awhile.


The only bad part of the trip was they canceled the fireworks show, yes the show I can hear almost every night from my apartment and really wanted to finally see was canceled. Saturday we went over to the Disney Character Warehouse, highly recommended to get Disney gear for way cheaper than the Park.

Charming Handbag

I have recently gotten some new and exciting sewing books. One of those is this one. The author also has a blog here. There are many things I want to make out of this book but decided to try the Charming Handbag first. After many days of looking at fabric stores after work I picked some and got started.


There was a template in the back of the book so I began cutting out the lining, casing and outside fabric.


Next two layers are sewn together and a bit of fabric is put in for the handles on the lining.


Then the three layers are put together.


It beginning to look like something now...


Now with a handle in... a finished product


A view from the top


Thats all, it took two evenings to finish it and when I try it again I can correct a few things, overall it came out pretty nice I think.

February's Books

Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz
Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
Story of A Girl by Sara Zarr
How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles
Airman Eoin Colfer
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon

Three adult and three teen novels this month, sort of even for once. My return to Koontz after not reading for a while was disappointing even if the story had a dog as a main character. Story of a Girl and How to Ruin A Summer Vacation were basic teen books Girl was a lot more serious and had more depth, Vacation ended quickly and way to easily for the issues it brought up. Airman was a good adventure, I am always a fan of Colfer. And then Gabaldon, just about my favorite author and I was not disappointed.