Sew Much Fun

Back in the beginning of May, I hosted a Singer Sewing Machine House Party.  This was an event that I signed up for online a few months ago.  I (along with lots of other people who signed up) got to rent a Singer Confidence Stylist sewing machine for two weeks.  As part of the deal, I hosted sewing party and demoed the machine for some of my friends.  Remember when I left you all hanging with this post?  Here's what was in that box...

They sent all that stuff just for the party!  I was super excited and I had fun filling up brown paper bags with coupons, patterns, thread, and all kinds of stuff to give to my guests.  I still have a few goody bags left so if you would like one, let me know.  A lot of the coupons are already expired but the rest of the stuff is still good.

I ended up having just the right amount of guests show up.  Any more people and we would have had to move the party to the front lawn (have I mentioned that I live in a tiny "hobbit hole" house- that's a topic for another blog entry though).  Here's the party in full swing.  Do we know how to have a good time or what?

There was sewing, sewing, and more sewing...

...but all crafts are welcome here.

We also had just enough time for everyone to complete their own projects.  Two of my guests managed to escape before I could get pictures of theirs but here are the ones I did get...

The House Party company had sent a suggested project along with some fabric (which I forgot to photograph) but I just wasn't thrilled with it so I found the business card/gift card holder project, which I thought better showcased the machine's awesomeness- especially the decorative stitches (there are 70 of them) and the button-sewing-on feature (not the technical name, I'm sure) which I was particularly overly excited about.  

I pre-cut all the fabric (hand-picked from my own stash) so everyone could choose their favorite combo and complete their own card holder.  I made a similar project a while back at the CHA Supershow and remembered how great it was to already have the fabric cut for me so I could get straight to the fun part- decorating it and stitching it all together.

I purposely cut plenty of extras so there would be lots of variety.  I ended up completing the rest of the projects before I had to return the machine.  It was lots of fun...

So yeah, I really did love the Singer Confidence Stylist sewing machine but even with the special discount I would have gotten if I had purchased it, I just couldn't justify buying something like this right now.  It's nice to have a good idea what I might be looking for in my next machine though.

I also feel like I should mention that I was completely enamored with All Brands Sewing and Vacuum in Garden Grove.  I was assigned to pick up my sewing machine there and when I showed up for my required demo I instantly loved the place.  It's an older shop with a mom and pop kind of feel and just about every inch of the front showroom area is filled with sewing machines of every size, shape, and era (there are vacuum cleaners too).  It was the kind of place where I just wanted to hang out for a while.  I definitely plan on going back there if and when I need my current sewing machine serviced and when I am finally ready to purchase a new machine, I plan on checking there first.  

I know this is starting to sound like a commercial so let me assure you, I have not been paid by anyone to say any of this.  I just enjoyed this whole experience that much!

More Coffee Cuffs

I made these coffee cuffs back in December during the flurry of Holiday activity and recently realized I forgot to share them here.  They are slightly different in design from the first coffee cuff and I think they work pretty well.  I also made a few that got given away without being photographed (doh!) but they were all pretty similar to these.

I've actually been using this one and I love it.  I carry it around in my purse so it's always ready for those impromptu Starbucks splurges.

 

This cuff required some improvisation.  Somehow it ended up about an inch shorter than it should have been, making it impossible to install a snap.  I decided to pound in some eyelets instead and lace it up corset style.  I'm not sure how practical it is but I like its sassy charm.

This is what the cuffs look like unsnapped and flattened out.

Oh yeah, and I used different fabric for the "inside" of each cuff so, if you don't mind the snap being backwards sometimes, they're reversible.

I think I will be making more of these in the future.  The curves of the pattern took some figuring out but once it was dialed in, these were pretty simple to make.  I think it would be fun to experiment with some unique embellishments and different types of fasteners.  So many ideas, so little time.

The Messenger Bag, A Year Later

About a year ago when I posted this, my sewing mania had officially gone into full swing.  The messenger bag that kept me up all night ended up becoming my regular purse and I've used it almost every day since.  I thought it would be fun and interesting to show a then and now side by side comparison in order to see how the bag is holding up.

Then

Now

Then

Now

Then

Now

Then

Now

Then

Now

The bag has obviously lost it's original crispness and hangs a little bit floppy now, but overall I think it's looking pretty good for having been carried all over the place for the past year.  The seams are all holding well and the fabric is only showing hints of wear on the bottom corners and the side cell phone pocket.  Not bad for what was originally my "test run."  I would still like to make more of these bags with the modifications I mentioned a year ago (larger size, heavier interfacing or fabric, no plastic clippy thing), I've just been waiting for a good opportunity to stay up all night sewing.

On A Roll

I've seen crayon rolls all over the internet and have often thought, I could do that.  So, I finally decided to "do that."  This tutorial was super helpful (it was nice to not have to reinvent the wheel...er roll).  Here's how it turned out.

This is a very fun and easy project if you know what you're doing.  It also doesn't require a ton of fabric so it's a great way to use up remnants and scraps.

More Fun With Tea Towels

Okay, so I know you were all wondering what was to become of the hand dyed tea towels from last week.  Well, believe it or not, I had a plan all along.  Here's how they turned out.

I used a self-adhesive, tear-away stabilizer to do the decorative machine stitching.  I attempted this same project a few months ago without the stabilizer and it was a big pain in the you-know-what.  The end results last time were okay but not great.  This time everything went way better.  Here's a close-up of the stitching.

 I paired the towels with some hand knit dishcloths and gave them as a wedding gift to a friend whose kitchen is brown and tan themed.  To be honest, I wasn't completely thrilled with how all these shades of brown came together but it was too late to turn back by the time I realized I was pushing the limits of this color palette.  I do find comfort in the fact that when you separate the towels from the dishcloths, everything looks fine.

These towels were a very fun and simple project.  I would like to make more of them in the future.  My current sewing machine has over forty decorative stitches so there will be lots of room for experimentation.

Hemming and Hawing

A while back, when I bought my current sewing machine, one of the justifications for the purchase that I so cleverly offered to my husband was that this machine would allow me to easily hem all of his pants. My husband is about 5'5" and all of his shortness is in his legs so it's impossible for us to find a pair of pants that fit him off the rack. My previous sewing machine was a fifty-year-old Singer 404 with no free arm sewing capabilities and some very touchy tension issues- hemming pants on that thing was not fun.

Well, it turns out that hemming pants on the new machine wasn't really fun either. Sewing in general was fun but practical sewing always seemed to take a backseat to little crafty creations that required the picking out of exciting fabric and coordinating zippers, buttons, etc. When I did finally stop procrastinating and took a break from zippered pouches and play-doh bags to hem the pile of pants that needed my attention, I ran into some trouble. Attempting a double fold hem on jeans creates a giant lump of fabric around the side seams of the pants. It was so thick, it barely fit under the sewing machine foot. Nevertheless, I trudged on, taking my time, pushing my poor little sewing machine beyond where it was meant to go. I got through two pairs of jeans- just barely.

Due to my ignorance at the time and all that fighting and tugging against the machine, I managed to miss the folded under part of the fabric in some places which meant that after a few washes, the still-exposed edges of denim began to fray. This caused my husband to get a little cranky every time he had to trim the frayed edges of his pants as he muttered his frustrations over the situation to no one in particular. Seeing his dissatisfaction with my work would in turn cause me to get cranky and blurt out things like, "If you don't like the sloppy, lame way I do things, maybe you should learn to use the sewing machine and hem your own flippin' pants!" Well, we both knew that would never happen because I'm a crazy control freak and I don't want him touching the sewing machine anyway. I knew the day was coming when I would have to re-hem the flippin' pants.

I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you that what finally motivated me to fix my mistakes was something completely superficial and shallow. When my husband began wearing the badly-hemmed jeans with his new shoes, it became painfully obvious that I had hemmed both pairs of jeans at least an inch and a half too short- a detail that had been, until now, overlooked thanks to the fact that my husband usually wears flip-flops.



Something had to be done. I just couldn't let my husband leave the house looking like a goober expecting a flood. I had to get a little creative since I only had a limited amount of fabric left to work with. I ended up sewing bias tape around the raw edge of denim to prevent fraying. I know I probably could have just done a zig-zag stitch but I really wanted to avoid fraying of any kind ever again for obvious reasons- this decision may have saved my marriage. I then did a single fold hem so that I only had to sew over a large lump of fabric around the side seams instead of a gigantic one.



It took a little convincing to sell my husband on this whole concept since the inside of the pants looks kind of silly with all that bias tape.


I basically told him, "You're lucky I had blue bias tape on hand and not just hot pink. Oh, and if you don't like my ridiculous methods, maybe you should...well, never mind, we both know that's not going to happen."

But what has it got in its pocketses, eh?

Post 20 of 21 in the series, "Why I Haven't Blogged in Over Six Months"

Sometime this past summer, I got a call from a good friend of mine who needed help constructing some sort of pocket to cover up the damage her dog had done to a chair that belonged to her landlord. She managed to find some material that matched close enough and we got to work. Here's what we came up with...



This was actually a learning experience because when I started sewing on the fake leather we were using, the foot of the sewing machine kept sticking to it and making the stitches wonky. I remembered reading in one of my trusty sewing books that you could use cooking oil or non-stick cooking spray (like Pam) in this situation. I was pretty nervous about trying it because it just seemed wrong but we were getting desperate. To our amazement, as soon as we smeared some oil along the edge of the material where I was stitching, the machine pulled it right through without any problems. We actually screamed with excitement- a sewing victory! Yay!

Anyway, our end result wasn't perfect but it was adequate. The pattern was mostly improvised but partially inspired by a similar project on page 266 of Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z.

Baby Blocks

Post 18 of ? in the series, "Why I Haven't Blogged in Over Six Months"


These are super easy to make and small children love them. These ones actually have a cat toy inside that makes a jingly sound- bonus!

Again With the Zippered Pouches!

Post 17 of ? in the series, "Why I Haven't Blogged in Over Six Months"


I finally photographed these and decided to share them with y'all. I'm almost caught up. I'm going to have to make some more stuff so that I have more to blog about.

Coffee Cuff

Post 15 of ? in the series, "Why I Haven't Blogged in Over Six Months"



This project was really an excuse to try out a quilting technique that I've been curious about for a while. If you're interested in the gory, technical, quilty details you can see them here. My mom calls this method cheating, I call it quilting for dummies.

This went pretty well but I think when I make more of these I'll do a simpler version or use bigger than 1" squares. The stitching around the edges bothers me because it's not as neat as I would have liked it to be. I think by the time I was sewing it all together it was just too thick and lumpy for my machine. Anyway, next time I'll know better. Overall, I like it though. I feel like a hardcore coffee person every time I whip it out at Starbucks and say, "Oh, I don't need a cardboard cuff, I've got my own." The barista usually either says, "How cute!" or just looks at me like I'm weird. I can live with that.