Sewing Room Collage

Sewing Room Collage

Originally uploaded by eklundjen

Christmas is 5 days away…maybe 4 days depending how you count.

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is really just a few days away.  I have less and less advent chocolate to eat with each passing day – yes, I know it is silly but I still enjoy the advent calendars – my mom gets one for me every year.

Looking back over the year it has been a crazy one, even if you just start counting from August it has been a roller coaster ride.  I became friends with a person I didn’t think I would ever become friends with, 6 people I know have had babies (a few twins too), 6 more people are expecting, I moved to a new school and unfortunately it has not been that easy of a transition, Molly has grown like a weed, my Great Grandma passed away, my other great Grandma just turned 99, Nate got his P. Eng, we purchased our first new car (Clement the Element – I can fit all my instruments into it), and I bought a sewing machine and haven’t looked back.

Goodness that honestly has all happened since August.  I remember well January – July too but we would be here forever.

It snowed again today, the light fluffy stuff and the snow flakes that landed on my jacket were so pretty.  Funny how I only seem to notice them around this time of year.  I guess for some people they only begin to act and feel a certain way around this time of year too – a shame really when I think about it.  As I write I’m wrapped up in a big blanket that my Grandpa and Grandma gave me, typing away in front of my Christmas tree and waiting for my lasagna to be finished – it smells wonderful, I might add.  I find it interesting how many, including myself seem to become reflective around this time of year.  Yes, there is the excitement about the presents that taunt you under your tree and about the amazing food that awaits you, but there is always that time when we look back and wish we did something different or remember something amazing, or wish we could forget something else.

What is the one reflection that you have?

The biggest one for me has only happened in the last week.  My friend’s husband is sick, very sick.  Early last week they said there would be no hope, that he would be listed in palliative care.  After much prayer, today they said they would look at treatment that there could be a chance to extend his chances and live with some comfort.  My reflection, after my backstory, is how amazing it is that when you think all hope is lost – a small shimmer of light (hope) appears in the distance.

I have MOVED

I’m moving to a different blog address.

www.sewcolorful.wordpress.com

Sorry for any problems that this may cause.

Sock Monkey

Since my studio is not finished I’ve been sewing in my kitchen.  There is a big wire basket on the stool, no one can eat in the 3rd or 4th chair, fabric pieces in another wire basket on the floor, and little thread bits on the chairs.  It was getting to be a bit of a scene and since we were having our friend Anne over for dinner I decided I better put my gear away so she could sit at the table with us.  So I moved it all downstairs, now it is sitting in the mess from the office to studio conversion.

I haven’t had as much time to sew as I’ve wanted to in the past week.  I’ve subbed for a friend, helped another friend with his school and tomorrow am subbing at the school I’ll be working at.  So I’ve been sewing sock and glove animals.  I found this great book called Sock and Glove and another one called Stray Sock Sewing and have tried my hand at making a couple of them.  There are parts that have caused me some frustration like once the sock is filled trying to put on the button eyes and hide the knot and it seems to me that more and more I seek perfection and symmetry with things  so when one of them comes out a bit off it makes me crazy.  But overall I’ve enjoyed making them and have my eye on a cute zebra to try.

Sewing Room…No STUDIO!

It has been decided, I am converting the office into a workroom, no wait a STUDIO!  Yes, that is what it will be called, a creative studio.  I hope I won’t have to try to fit all my music stuff in there too because it too is creative.  Anyways, since it is going to be converted it is getting a make over.  The other day I cleaned up the whole place.  Got rid of things I’ve never used, put the stuff I use on occasion in the hidden wall, and move the desk top computer to the closet.  It was a great start I thought.

I never liked the color in the room.  It doesn’t get very good light down there and the walls are a dark blue grey.  Nate said I could paint the room, so I hit the paint store, picked some possible colors and saw what they would look like.  I had it narrowed down to two subtle yellows.  I went back to the paint store and picked up sample colors to try.  On they wall they were practically the same.  So I picked the one with the better name…pale daffodil.

Today I moved everything that was in the space out, and primed the wall, don’t know if I did a good job of the putting on the prime color, but I sure tried my best.

I’m going to try and sell the desk that use to be in there because unfortunately it doesn’t really work for what I’m hoping to do and it makes the room feel really little.

Tonight Nate and I are going shopping and looking at some possibilities for a sewing desk, cutting table and storage.  I have a table for my painting that I hope will work already so I don’t have to look for that.

If the primer is dry and I did a good job, maybe tomorrow I will start putting the yellow on.

Sewing Attempt #4: Tool Apron

After spending the morning looking around furniture stores for ideas for my workroom, I went home and was itching to get sewing.  I once again wasn’t sure what to start but it seemed like the red canvas and black and white cotton was calling me to finally make the tool apron.  It was one of the first patterns and projects I saw in Sew What! Bags.  I knew I wanted to make it, and when I dragged Nate to the fabric store I spent a lot of time picking just the right fabric to make the pockets and hunted every where for the perfect canvas.  I knew the apron had to be black, white and red – one of my favorite color combinations.

I got all my gear ready to go, even remembered to set up the iron ahead of time – and off I went.  Once again I read all the instructions, but this time decided to make the apron that would be the perfect fit for me and did some remeasuring.  I also decided that today would be another practice day with the rotary cutter, and I must say I had much more success than I have in the past.  Molly wasn’t really interested in what I was doing so she assumed her regular “Jen is sewing” position, yes she is on her back with legs everywhere.

I cut out all my pieces, pressed them and made sure that matching pieces actually matched.  I did make an adjustment to the original pattern though and made the apron a little longer and a littler wider – I am not one blessed with a hip that is 16″ from side to side.  The pattern calls for a heavier material to be used because you are storing scissors and tools, like a canvas or cotton twill.  But the version I made had pockets made out of cotton, only because I had difficulty finding a great patterned canvas – the one in the store was an awful floral pattern, a HUGE floral pattern in dusty rose and pea soup green.  So I decided to line the cotton pockets with the awesome red canvas I found, in the back of the shelf, to reinforce them.  It didn’t make things any more difficult at all.  I enjoyed the freedom I had with figuring out what items I wanted to store in my tool apron and measuring out the size of the pockets.   Overall it was a pretty easy, straight sew.  I really focussed on keeping my seams straight and the seam allowance.  I was much more successful this time and extremely pleased with the outcome.  The trickiest part was the strap, simply because it was so long and I had some trouble keeping it from getting tied up and twisted.  And just after a dinner of Pineapple Chicken Kabobs I finished my tool apron.  I like it a lot and think it turned out really well – if I do say so myself.

The model in the one picture is my husband Nate, I thought he had better legs than I did to showcase it.

So, yet again Sew What! Bags came through with another great little pattern.

Learned today:

When reading pattern instructions, remember to either flip to the front or back of the book to the authors tip section – it just might give you a better idea of what the strap is suppose to look like.

Sewing Room

I have some good news… I got a job!  I start in October for a lady who is taking a mat. leave.  Right now I don’t know if it is until the end of the school year or until sometime in March.  Either way, I’m excited about it.

To celebrate, my husband treated me to a wonderful gift.  A sewing book I’ve had my eye on a while, Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. It is a wonderful book, with so many projects and it includes patterns in the front and back of all the projects. I’ve read through the book and it has amazingly helpful information about setting up a place to sew at home, resources in the back, and an sewing basic chapter that has great information for the beginner sewer.  I found the fabric section very helpful.

Why am I talking about this book?  For one, I think it is a book everyone who sews should get.  The projects are designed to be completed in a day or over a couple of days.  The second reason I am talking about this book is because it got me thinking about my sewing space.

Nate and I were talking the other day of converting our home office into a workshop.  We haven’t used the space as a home office since… we probably moved in.  I tried not to bring a lot of homework home with me, so it gave me more time with Nate and Nate never brought work home because we didn’t have the right software for him.  Once the laptops came… I’m sure you can understand.

Now, comes the hard part for me… trying to plan and design a space that I can use as a sewing centre and a place where I can also paint.  I know I want yellow walls – that is as far as i have gotten.  I found a great website that gives hints and tips to designing a sewing centre  http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_g/g-412.html.  I’ve looked online at sewing cabinets, craft centres, and a plethora of other things.  In the book, Weekend Sewing, the author shows this amazing computer armoire that was converted into a sewing armoire, and I fell in love with it.  So I’ve been hunting for one that would work.

But this leads me to a very important question.  Which way should a sewing machine go?  Should it sit on something and face a wall (which I have seen a lot of online)?  Or should it be almost L shaped and have it to that the fabric can flow over the table and on to the floor, if you have a big piece?  Is it personal opinion?

What is your sewing set up?  If you don’t mind my asking.

Sewing Attempt #3: Reversible Tote

Since I am WIDE awake at 3:45am, I thought to myself “what could I be doing?”, because the hour or so of reading didn’t help.  My answer was clear, blog about my latest project, the reversible tote.

Last night, Molly (our puppy) and I were home by ourselves with some time on our hands.  I knew I wanted to spend some time sewing, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to.  I had a few projects in mind, I could try one of the aprons from the book A is for Apron, or a sock animal from Sock and Glove, or another fun tote from Sew What! Bags. A sock sheep was going to be it – until I realized it was going to be mostly done by hand, and I was looking for something where I could use my machine.

The apron it was going to be… until I figured out that I needed the pattern that is in the back of the book to be blown up using a photocopier and after the day of driving around I had, I just wasn’t willing to go back out and copy it – besides missing a couple things I would need to get going.  The tote bag it is!  I had my practice fabric ready to go and remembered that my friend Anne and husband Nate asked me when I was going to stop practicing and dig into my “good” fabric.  New plan…GOOD FABRIC!  I picked out a great black, white, yellow combination – I think the set was called Mellow Yellow.   Anyways, I got all my supplies together, read the instructions once through, just so I knew where to start and didn’t intuitively go a step a head which in the end would cause me ten steps back… been there, done that, may trying making a t-shirt that says so.  Away I went.  I had to draw out all my “patterns” on the fabric using one of those fun pencils.  I have a neat pack with a choice of three colors – had to go with blue it showed up better on the back of the fabric.  This time for cutting I used my new shears, which went pretty well.  When people cut out their fabric is it perfectly cut and straight or is that something I also have to work on?  I mean mine wasn’t horrible, but there were some wobbles.

Once I had my pieces cut, I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue or stop for the evening, since Molly was busy doing laps through the house to the back yard I figured I could keep going, especially since I actually had sewn anything.  Pockets were first and I followed the instructions to the letter – or so I thought until I flipped back to the beginning section on page 43 about making proper pockets, but mine turned out pretty well I thought.  I then pressed them, pinned them to the bag fronts and finally sewed a stitch.  I worked really hard on making sure that my fabric stayed straight and that it followed the seam allowance.  Then onto the bags – which I again pinned and stitched around, again being careful with straight lines.

After cutting off the excess seam allowance and the corners it was time to place the totes inside of each other, which took a little shimmy work.  It was actually at this point starting to look like the picture, unlike the mini tote which looked at this point like a bit of a mess.  Handles were next on the to do list.  I was working really well at the point and pleased – too pleased because I wasn’t paying enough attention and pinned the pieces together wrong and then stitched a ridiculously croaked seam.  I was a bit put off but I wasn’t going to let this mishap stop me – I as almost there, so close.  Cut out and pressed another set of handles and gave it another try.  The handles were the most complicated part of the whole project I thought – but in the end turned out pretty well so I pinned them to the bag and got ready for the final step – attaching the handles and finishing the top.

Had to try and figure out how I was going to stitch the top of the bag on the machine, especially with long handles in my way.  I put the needle and foot up and practiced moving it around – once I had it needle and foot down and I was off to the races.  I really had to watch myself and make sure I didn’t get ahead of myself and rush just so I could see my finished project.  I slowed down my stitching speed just to be sure.  Some trimming here and there, an opps here, and the bag is complete and reversible.  I’m really pleased with how this turned out.  I really like it – maybe I’ll take it to the library tomorrow and pick up some magazines.

Learned today: Need to reread the manual on the seam allowances, I have one idea and Nate has another.

Sewing Attempt #2: Mini Tote Bag

Did I mention that I am a school teacher?  No, well that is what my profession is.  I teach band – please no jokes I’ve heard them all.  I teach students in junior or senior high school, well until the end of the last school year anyway.  Currently, I do not have a full time teaching job, but if you need a band sub than I am your gal.  The reason I bring all this up is because today most of my friends, who are of course teachers, went back to school while I went to pick up groceries.  I was quite discouraged about the whole thing and was in quite a mood for the morning.  After getting home and putting a months worth of groceries away I decided to take a trip to the local fabric store to take in the colors and textures to see if that would make me feel any better.

So off I went.  The store I went to is in the process of moving.  SO EVERYTHING MUST GO!  They are having a good sale on things, almost everything is 60-70% off.  It is a bit of a mess in there and every time I go, it seems to get a bit worse.  But it did make me feel better.  Seeing all the colors and thinking about what would go with what put me immediately in better spirits – who would have thought.  I started to envision these wonderful things I could do with the fabric.  It was wonderful.

“Ferb, I know what we are going to do today,” popped right into my head (a quote from a silly kid’s tv show) and I rushed home to my remnant pile of practice fabric.  I decided that I would try to create the MINI TOTE that was featured in Lexi Barnes book Sew What! Bags which funny enough didn’t even cross my mind while creating the title of my blog – I hope I won’t get into trouble, honest didn’t put two and two together.

I read all the instructions, pressed my fabric so I could start properly and started to cut.  Is the rotary cutter always this hard?  I honestly would have thought that it, paired with the ruler would make cutting a whole lot easier.  Maybe I just don’t know the tricks to it.  My lines were not straight at all… what a nightmare.  But I decided I wasn’t going to let it stop me at all.  I got it all cut out, pressed again and was ready to start sewing up a storm.  Once again straight lines seem to give me trouble and I just have to figure out the best way to guide the fabric through the machine in a straight line and let it do the rest.  I was cruising along and then hit step 5.  And for the life of me couldn’t figure out how to add an edge seam to the inside out bag.  I tried a few different ways and finally resolved that I was going to have to ask Anne or Paula for help.

Nate came home at that point and I showed him my tote, with crocked lines and all and told him about my problem… ya’ know what?  He knew how to fix it and he showed me.  So I finished the bag and made us dinner.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll attempt a small tote?

Learned today:

Straight lines, cutting or sewing, are not my friends.  Back to more practice.

Sewing Attempt #1: Pincushion

Last night I attempted my very first sewing project – the PINCUSHION.  When my friend Anne took me to this great store to buy all my supplies the one thing I didn’t get was a pincushion.  I thought, sure I could spend the $0.79 and get the traditional tomato one, but I HATE tomatoes, so maybe I’ll try to make one, after all it was my first project in grade 7 how hard could it be?

So with that in mind I decided to find an easy pincushion pattern that I would be able to make on my first attempt.  There is an amazing amount of pincushion choices out there…many, in my opinion, UGLY!  Then I came across the funky chicken.  It seemed simple enough, 2 pieces of 4×4 fabric, stiff felt for the beak, tail and top thing.  Should be able to give that a go, especially if I didn’t try the log cabin quilting pattern.  I did however try to make a multicolored chicken, but had much difficulty with sewing a straight seam so when I cut the sewed pieces apart, like the pattern said to, it didn’t form a square anymore.  I didn’t think I could salvage it, so I started again.  Once again getting my trusty rotary cutter out – which by the way is tricky to use for a first timer some how it gets away from you and gone is your straight edge, which is the whole point.  After a little while, I managed to create my very own funky chicken pincushion.  I think it looks pretty good too.

Learned today:

I need way more work on the whole idea of sewing straight.  I’ll keep practicing on the cut up sheets Nate brought me.