Snowday Sewing Projects, Updated 12/28/14

I have been a little obsessed with looking at layered clothing on Pinterest....I should be obsessed with my Christmas knitting since Christmas is next week....but I used a coupon to get this amazing fabric from JoAnn's for 60% off, with free shipping!

I bought two yards and thought I would make a jacket but the back side is slightly ribbed and polyester.....eeeew, a winter full of sleeves getting stuck.  So I am going to fall to one old standby, a simple wrap poncho.  I have made a few of these out of medium weight knits and wear them a lot.  This fabric is soft and has a nice drape while being winter ready.  

There is my daughter wearing one of them.  Super comfy, and very much inspired by Alabama Chanin, I have three and they are wardrobe staples.

For the rest I am going to make a top I saw on Pinterest,  basically a long tube with armholes that can be worn a bunch of different ways....I am going to adapt it to an a-line asymmetrically hemmed dress.  

I have fabric, I have notes, needles, and thread.  Beads if I feel like it, not to mention all of the things I already own that I know will go....

But back to knitting.......until that elusive magical wonderful thing known as a Snowday!

A favorite dress, I used this to make the pattern. I laid it out on muslin and traced it out, leaving out the sleeves and extending the neck to make a modified funnel neck.

                                    "Are you sure you know what you are doing?"

Working so hard I broke a needle in half.....

Finished!  One lagenlook inspired, very warm, soft, and cozy

quilted tunic.

Thus was a super easy project. I sewed the side seams up from the bottom, used the x stitch on the front of the arm hole, continued sewing up to the neck, felled the seam on the outside going back down, x-stitched the back of the arm hole, continued with felled seam to the hem.  the side seams, the hem, and the hem on the neck are all a simple running stitch. I used heavy duty hand quilting thread.  This makes very strong seams that hold up well, felled seams add a nice sense of structure.

Learning to Sew

My best friend Robin recently moved to Hawaii, taking her family halfway around the world on a brand new adventure in paradise. When she left she handed over her Pfaff Hobby sewing machine. The intention was to keep it put away until July and give it to Nellie for her ninth birthday. Nellie's little brother couldn't hold on to the secret that long, in fact he only managed to keep it for about twelve hours.

Last week we went shopping for fabric and notions, today we finally got on with the sewing.


There aren't many things that make my mom heart happier than teaching my kids how to do something I love.

Little hands and big hands working together. Nellie caught on fast, halfway through the first seam she was flying solo. Very serious and seriously happy.

Here we are having the "foot" vs. the "pedal" conversation.
And trying to figure out where her hands need to be to keep her seams straight.

Stitching away. Maybe not perfect, definitely not perfect. But she is so proud of herself.

One hour later my little girl in a pillowcase style dress and matching headband, admiring her handiwork.
As impressed with her dress as she is with the fact that she made it on a real sewing machine.
Thanks to Robin, the best gift ever, and a Saturday spent at home.

"I feel so pretty" And she is.

the new school bag

the new school bag, originally uploaded by marcydebbie.

the new school bag made from her big brothers old shirt....and some ribbon. couldn't be easier, I just traced a shopping tote with soap (great for marking darks) cut out the front and back of the shirt, sewed them along the sides and bottom, took a strip from the bottom of the shirt and sewed it around the top on the inside to reinforce (folding it over would have cut off the design).
used screaming bright pink rock n roll gross grain ribbon around the top and for handles....added buttons for decoration and to give a bit more staying power to the handles.

When the Pumpkin Hatched There was a Bird Inside

One very old Old Navy Halloween Shirt complete with pumpkin.
A very comfy shirt to wear one or two days a year.



So the Pumpkin hatched and there was this bird inside...reverse applique for the body, applique for the wing.




When I wasn't looking another bird landed on the back...appliqued of course



The Bird on the back of the shirt is flying around to meet



The bird on the front.



The birds flew out of a bin of fabric and other supplies passed on to me by my friend Kim....so they could make some space in her basement. There may soon be a flock of these guys in my closet.

File this one under fun, easy, and as close to instant gratification as hand stitching can get.

Indigo Girl

My first ever indigo experience.
I bought the indigo in a dye kit from JoAnn Crafts
it was on clearence so why not?




I'm incapable of dying clothes without dying my arms and hands. There are no gloves that seem to cover enough. I'm glad to say that while indigo smells a lot worse than Rit dye, it washes off with soap and water.



A couple of bandannas and a sweatshirt in need of a new life.



and a shirt/fabric remnant re-do that I've been working on...




my new blue top, I love the way the dye re-acted with the different fabrics.



with my "new" sweatshirt



Nellie and I are already wearing the bandannas....
Love love love indigo, was very easy to use, even easier to clean up,
and the dye vat will last for several days...
Not to mention how much the kids loved the rather magical way the fabric
changed from and awful yellow-green to a beautiful blue as they hit the air.

St Patrick's Day necklace how-to

Yarn necklace how-to just in time for St. Patrick's Day.
Because I'm sure I'm not the only one who hangs on to scraps of yarn/fabric/ribbon...
that is just to pretty to throw away.



Cut yarn, t-shirt strips, ribbon, what have you, into strips 14"-16" long



Cut two shorter strips - around 10"



Make a braid out of matching yarn/ribbon 20" long



Gather longer strips of yarn/fabric on the left end with one of the shorter strips.

add the braid to the gather leading away from the other strips.
(this will become the part that goes around the back of your neck - soft yarn or
t-shirt material works best and is least itchy)
Pull the knot really tight, then sew, being careful to catch all of the strips with the stitches.



add a button or two for decoration and added stability



on the other end of the braid make a loop for a button hole. sew securely, add a button for strength and prettiness.



on the right hand side gather the longer strips together, tie with the other short strip of fabric, and sew, adding a larger decorative button. This button will be functional, buttons with a shank work best. Also don't use a very heavy button or your necklace will go lopsided as you wear it.



There you go, one ready to wear necklace, a great way to use up those little bitty ends of yarn and bits of fabric leftovers.





This is the same method I used for the Van Gogh bracelets, easily adaptable to any occasion. Enjoy.

Frida is finally finished

I had to redo the hem and the side seams (including cutting some off) but after letting it sit for a couple of weeks I finally finished.
The green spirals are from and old t-shirt
the red is scrap fabric
the black is sweatshirt material from the remnant bin.
So a bit of old and new mixed together.

The Front


The back


Paired with a sweatshirt from Old Navy that I have had for years.
I'm trying to decide if I want to put strips of the red fabric around the bottom.
?


It's very warm and comfy, but hand sewing sweatshirt fabric is a pain in the butt.
Next time I'll have to break out the machine.

November Projects

What I've made this month so far.....

Bracelets made from wool, buttons, bits and scraps of yarn, etc....



they are toasty warm and can double as coffee cup cozies



one of several scarves made of flannel and doilies



mitts, mitts, and more mitts.

October = Busy Busy Busy

Craft sales, church bazaars, harvest festivals...busy month of sewing and selling and no time blog, more of the same this month. Sales have been going really well so I can't complain. Nellie has been at my side at most events, she has a tin of buttons and some waxed linen string, for one dollar she will teach you how to make a bracelet. She's been doing pretty well in the sales department herself. Here are some of the highlights.

two old t-shirts mitts..
this is the first pair, I've also made some in blue/white, purple/apple green, and red/apple green.



they are very comfortable and just right for inside, and unlike a lot of woolen ones they don't get in the way of sewing or knitting.....



bracelet - t-shirt scraps, curtain scraps, scraps of scraps...



A kerchief for Nellie



and Nellie and Joe in their Halloween finery, Joe was a pirate skeleton, Nellie was Lucy from the chronicles of Narnia. Joe's costume was from the costume box, Nellie's is made up of the cloak she helped make, and a women's velvet dress and fleece jumper from a thrift shop. They were very proud of their creations and made out like bandits Trick or Treating.

Interconnected Wardrobe Refashion

First I used some curtains and dinner napkins to do this to my favorite defunct pair of pants.





Then I used the bottom front half of a denim barn jacket to make this many pocketed apron, every patch is a pocket, it's my craft show money, pen, notepad holder. The tapestry panel is from a trip I took to Paris in my pre-mommy life, just after I bought my first sewing machine. It spent the better part of the last decade in the same box as the dinner napkins and curtains.



What to do with the rest of the napkins and the top of the barn jacket, well make a new fancier barn jacket that can stand up to yard work. Because pretty matters.




I wonder what else is lurking in the corners of the attic?

New Sewing Machine JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Used my new sewing machine to finally finish an old project. This pants to skirt redo has been sitting in my basket since July when my sewing machine gave up the ghost. Thanks to my mom and my kids and my birthday I'm sewing by machine again....

The Front, the pants are a decade old and from the sale rack at Old Navy, I think I paid about five dollars for them. The insert is an old kitchen curtain.



The insert on the back is one of the coordinating dinner napkins.
My favorite part of the whole project might be that I didn't have to hem anything.
I think I may embellish them further, have to check my stash.



I'm going to wear it with my polished up Cowboy Boots.....