$541.40

That's how much I spent on "crafting" this year alone...granted I didn't "craft" at all before February or March of this year.  But wow half a grand on fabrics and stuff.  I guess I should cut back, huh?  Dang Quicken!  Ignorance would have been bliss!

Sewing < Kdrama weekend

Kdramas won the battle for our time and we ended up watching more than sewing. But Erin did sew me this cute pillow from Target cloth napkins and I finally finished a hula skirt and an infinity scarfy thing.

Sew Deprived

I have not sewn a stitch in the month of August. But this weekend there will be SEWING! I packed all the essentials for a sewing party. We'll see how productive we are. Hopefully I'll bring back a few finished products instead of just fabric.

Bias binding - the edge of a blanket

Continuous bias binding

I am getting nearer to the point where I will finally finish the edge of the quilted blanket I've been working on.  So far, I've only made baby blankets where I sew them inside out, so I've never had to worry about finishing the edges. The bias binding will cover over the raw edges, like tape but sewn on instead.  It's amazing how many different ways there are to cut and fold and then sew super long thin pieces of fabric so that it will wrap around a blanket or quilt.

And apparently, it's not as easy as cutting long strips and sewing them together.  You want the strips to be cut and attached on the diagonal (bias) so that it "gives" nicely-er and it's sturdier.

So there are 2 main methods of cutting the strips: 

Method #1: Sewing strips  - together

Method #2: "Quick" Bias Binding - X cut - creating a "tube" of fabric, cutting strips (rings) with a rotary cutter, then rip out seams then restitch.

Alteration of #2: Creating the tube of fabric but drawing lines and cutting with shears so that you ultimately have 1 long strip with no unstiching necessary

I understood method #2 so I went that route since I hate cutting fabric with scissors more than I hate ripping out seams.  I practiced on a cheapy piece of fabric first and I'm glad I did since I have trouble following directions. 

And then there are different ways to fold and iron your strips:

#1: buy a machine that pulls, folds and irons your strips

#2: pull it through a metal inexpensive doo-hickey and iron it as it comes out the other end

#3: good old fashioned way: fold and iron

#4: shirley's-i'm-going-to-do-it-my-own-way - draw lines on a piece of fabric to show where the folds should be, spray the dickens out of it, and iron, pin and roll as you go.

Sometimes you only want it to be folded in half  with the raw edges showing and other times you want it to be folded in half with the edges fold in under it (3 folds) depending on what comes next.  I failed to understand the next step of sewing so I went the hard route and made mine with 3 folds.  But it's okay, cuz it'll still look nice.

Next up: actually sewing the binding to the quilted blanket and "miter"ing the corners.  omg. what the heck is a miter.

Oilcloth drawer organizer

It feels like I haven't sewn a quick, complete and satisfaction-inducing project in a while so I was kinda itching to just SEW something.  Anything! During M&L Fabric's 20% off sale, I bought some oilcloth (at $7.98/yard) so I've been thinking about projects to practice on.  Oilcloth has the consistency and rubbery-ness as duct-tape without the adhesive.  It's wipe-able and sturdy. I fortuitously came upon the Oilcloth Addict's blog, which is chock-ful of projects, tips and tricks, and inspiration.  She used the stuff to line her drawers and shelves.  Easy! and I have a drawer that needs lining! Excellent!

BEFORE: My mini-parsons desk drawer strewn with a clutter of sewing stuff.

Since my sewing drawer is very shallow (1" deep), typical drawer organizers would likely not fit or would be very difficult to find.  As in airplane overhead bins, items in the drawer tend to shift during the opening and closing of the drawer.  So instead of a simple flat liner, I decided to make a liner with "ridges" = drawer organizer. 


Items used for my little project



Items used:

-oilcloth (16" cut is the width of the drawer.  This roll of oilcloth is 29" (I just used the whole piece instead of trimming it off. I folded the top and bottom parts under the organizer.  The rubbery consistency actually helped the liner stay in place in the drawer)

-ruler and rotary cutter

-a general idea of the sizes of "ridges" that I wanted (I drew lines where I wanted to sew a line, and later learned that 1" is too much of a ridge so I shortened it to .5")

-pen (genioso that I am discovered that if I used the green pen then my lines wouldn't be as glaring as the red or black. And as I am still deficient in the area of sewing straight, the lines were a necessity)

-paperclips (instead of pins to hold my fold)

-allen wrench? used to run along and press the creases (oilcloth addict uses her fingers to press down the cloth)

-removeable putty to help keep the liner in place in the drawer

Tips from the Oilcloth addict's blog

-the painters tape and the xacto knife were used to cover and cut the bottom of the presser foot.  For some reason, the oilcloth moved easier under the "tricked out" presser foot.

-stitch length 4-5 (I used 4.5)

AFTER: organized, cute, removeable and cute! drawer

I simply sewed half-inch ridges an inch, 2 inches, 2.5 inches or 3 inches apart depending on my whim (I'm very whimmy) until the liner totaled the length of the drawer (so exact, I know).  I discovered that the 1 inch tall ridges were too deep so I switched to half inches. I had to crease each ridge on its left side and then on its right side so that the ridges would stand up straight.   The largest row was not large enough for my bobbin holder, but I could "adjust" the compartment by squashing down one of the ridges.  Great, huh?

Other projects made with oilcloth: diaper changing pad, make-up brush holder, purse pocket organizer, (no lunch/snack bags or baby bibs as the material contains phthalates)

Other oilcloth-type materials to consider: laminated cotton, heat'nbond laminate onto cotton fabric, waterproof outdoor canvas

Quilted chevron blanket: beginnings

Our future kid's room has a crib AND a twin bed in there for me.  Yes, I will be sleeping in there with him.  Apparently, our child may have sleep issues when he comes home as he will have been used to sleeping on a floor mat snuggled right next his foster mom.  In order to aid in attachment, to soothe him during his grieving and to help him with his sleeping issues, I'll likely sleep in the room with him for a few weeks? months?  So, for the next  few months in addition to learning about sleep issues, I'll be getting the bedding ready for the twin bed.  And since I have plenty of waiting, I'm DIY-ing it... =) 

The DIY bedding "plan" includes:

1. quilted chevron blanket
2. duvet covers for 2 mini-comforters
3. foam headboard cover
4. skirt or cover for the box spring (we'll remove the frame to bring the bed lower to the ground)
5. fun pillows
6. cute snuggies and lovies (for child. not me!)

For the main blanket of the bed, I wanted to combine a few of my favorite things in bedding #1 white, #2 chevron pattern, #3 quilted, #4 colors (yes, an oxymoron of #1 -white).  I wanted it to be boyish but also something I would enjoy too.  I wanted to combine these with Husband's #1 favorite things in bedding: inexpensive.  I agreed to this one, since I vetoed his idea of having bedding like he had in his childhood, which included batman, snoopy and gi-joe.  no thanks, man. sorry, charlie.

My idea of "inexpensive" was to repurpose fabric and stuff we already had.  This made me think of my hal-mun-ee (gramma) who repurposed all sorts of fabric from old shirts, jeans, bedding, towels, etc to make a super thick and heavy quilt when I was a kid.  I've become my hal-mun-ee!  Next thing you know, I'll be clipping newspaper articles about the benefits of tomatoes and about the nastiness of fish from Vietnam and saving them in a binder to give to my grown son.  Oh hal-mun-ee.

Anyway, I digress.  Right, REPURPOSING.  So I'm using an old white sheet from who knows where, an old flannel sheet from momma-in-law, an ikea king-sized white duvet, and  10-yr old polyester batting that my BFF-J lovingly gave to me since her quilt for her bf-now-husband never quite came together.  So far, all I had to buy was the "quilters pins" (which are "quilters" cuz they have a little crook in them for easier pinning" and the thread ---all of which was purchased 50% off. love you joann!

The "plan" (in quotes again, cuz with me, things NEVER go as planned) is to quilt lines in a chevron pattern, then add a bottom sheet to make it duvet-ish so that in the winter/california-colder months, we can add a comforter or so inside to make it warmer. and in the warmer months, it can be used by itself.  Tada! Repurposed and purposeful!

My non-tutorial:

Prepped the layers: after cutting fabric to their appropriate sizes (which was difficult for me and may have included a slight nick to our hardwood floors), taped top layer to the floor, layer on the batting, flannel then sheet.  Smoothed out.  Lesson learned: 50 pins is not enough to baste a twin--ish sized blanket.  Starting at the center and worked my way around to the edges.

Prep for quilting lines: too bad my geometry and math has deteriorated so severely that simple lines and calculations confound me.  I marked out lines every 10 inches which were to be the peak of each of my chevron zig zags and layed down 2inch strips of painters tape across the blanket.

I sewed out a few zig zags to get a taste a what the quilted goodness would start to look like.  Then I called Husband over to join me in marveling at the potential of cuteness that was forming.  Then I cursed Husband for discovering that my painters tape trick and lack of mental acuity resulted in severly deformed and uneven zig zags.

Since I was determined to go to bed on a happier note, instead of ripping out the stitches, I just started on the opposite end.

And, I should memorialize and celebrate the fact that I did learn how to install and use my walking foot (which came, of course, after fortuitously discovering that I actually had a walking foot in my possession...I wonder what else I have that I don't know?

Newby Sewer tips: The Curse (and delight) of the Roomba

As a beginning sewer, I am making all the mistakes as part of the learning process.  I'll make the mistakes and share them with you so you don't have to. =)  And since I have a bazillion mistakes catalogued, I'm sure I won't be running out of these posts in a while. Roomba is a lazy sewer's cleaner's best friend.  Sewing is suprisingly messy...loose threads, thread dust (seriously...the thread moving through the machine can create friction and disperse lots of thread particles), fabric clippings, edges and fray...all end up on the floor.  And if it were carpet underneathe my sewing machine, I wouldn't be the wiser.  Yet, our dark hardwood floors reveal everything. And yet, the roomba sucks it ALL up.  Love her to pieces!!  She is one of the most faithful and diligent inhabitants of our home (next to Husband, of course).

Lookit all that she picks up! Isn't Roomba so great?

However, it's important to remember that the Husband set the timer on Roomba to run on Mondays and Thursdays, so any fabric left out on the floor after a late night project to be admired and smoothed out  will unfortunately be swallowed in swirls by Roomba.  So if you don't want to spend an afternoon helping Roomba regurgitate your fabric then iron out said fabric, pick it up.  Lesson learned.

EDITED TO ADD: Unfortunately, there have been multiple ocassions where Roomba has devoured my projects. I guess it's not as easy of a lesson to learn. sheesh.