~E Made This!

I saw this $20 version of the huge Pantone color deck on Sewing Divas today.  I’ve been hoping to find a cheaper version of their big deck for a while now.  I love love love love color and am always frustrated when colors don’t match just as much as I am much more peaceful when colors do match.  I think this will save me buckets of time selecting fabric and other such things.

In other news, I finished recording some violin for this project today.  I’m really happy with how I played and I’m excited to see the whole thing come together.  We seriously have so many talented people in our church.  It’s cool to see everyone come together for this.

I decided today too that I would like to have an mp3 player.  My students are constantly asking me why I don’t own one, and really I suppose it’s a lifelong vendetta that I have against Apple which began as many small irritations growing up working on Apples at school but was FOREVER cemented after learning Finale on an Apple in college.  At first I thought it was the program that was so darn hostile.  After buying Finale for my PC when I needed to write accompaniment tracks for my choir at school, I soon learned that no, it was the Apple that forced me to spend 3 times as long on each project as it should have taken…that much extra time in a very updated computer lab at a VERY good music school with MIDI keyboards and every other thing that should have made things faster.  I’m not computer-illiterate either which made the whole process even more aggravating.  So, even though I’m a music teacher, even though I listen to a lot of music here there and everywhere, even though toting around my CD collection is a bit of a hassle, I have stubbornly refused to buy an mp3 player because I was not going to buy an iPod and thereby support the very company that had caused me so much technology-related stress.  Silly me though–clearly there are other people who make such devices.  So my task for this week is to read some reviews and find a good deal on a non-Apple mp3 player.  I sincerely apologize if you are an Apple fan.  I shall never be.  I hope you can forgive me for my opinion and consider that I do not mean to offend.

With the baby only 5 weeks away from his or her debut, there’s so much to do.  As if I needed to start another yoyo quilt.  But the other day at JoAnn, what with the quilting fabrics being discounted and some of the solids marked down too, a palette for another quilt literally jumped out at me.  I reminded myself that yoyos are a low-committment big committment project.  They take up little space, I can work on them as I please and they only start to weigh on my mind as I get close to finishing a quilt…that’s a long time away at the beginning.  And those little gathered circles bring me so much joy texturally and colorwise too.  I must be crazy. 

7 yards and $17 later (I’m not sure how I managed to purchase that much fabric for that little), I have the start of what looks like it will be a study of primary colors with browns added in.  I love these colors together so far.  I’m excited to see what other fabrics I find along the way. 

Have you seen Anna Maria Horner’s Good Folks line? It’s so darn cool–funky, but pretty, and the colors are awesome.

So imagine my excitement when I read about this giveaway at Wondermommy:

I hope I win.  This fabric is great.

Why do fresh hems always feel so nice after you put them on?

I bought a pair of maternity capris today because it’s like 75 today, and I figured if this loveliness were going to continue, I should be prepared.  Since I am NOT 6 feet tall with skinny little legs, I decided the pants really needed to be long shorts so as to avoid chunky leg syndrome.  So I folded over the cuffs once and cut all around the legs plus 1/2.”  I then sewed the raw edge of the cuff to the inside of the new bottom edge, pressed it, flipped the cuff over and topstitched on the top already finished edge of the cuff.  The result?  A new pair of shorts that look like they’d always been meant to be that way.  And pants that were not originally made to be flattering on someone my height suddenly become very wearable through a tiny bit of customization that took about 20 minutes.  Yea!

“Mrs. George Sutton pinning the hem of her daughter Christies’ dress while her daughter Sally watches.” From Nov. 1956 Life

Materials:
1/2 yard cotton quilting fabric (fabric A)
1/2 yard coordinating cotton quilting fabric for reverse side (fabric B)
1 coordinating fat quarter for making bias binding and neck strap                                                                                                     1/8 yard of lightweight fusible interfacing
thread to match
4 jiffy buttons that look nice with your fabrics

Pattern making:
1. To make your pattern for the apron body, tape 2 sheets of typing paper together on the short side. Draw a line 6″ down and 4 1/4″ in.  Continue the line from the 4 1/4″ mark across for 3 1/4″ inches. Draw up 6″ parallel to the 6″ line you just drew. Cut out the space indicated (this will be the upper pocket).  Continue the 3 1/4″ line down the length of the pattern–cut all of this away.

You will need to cut:
Apron body: 1 from fabric A, 1 from fabric B
Bottom pocket: 2 from fabric A, 2 from fabric B, 2 from interfacing, measuring 15″ X 5″
Upper pocket: 2 from fabric A, 2 from fabric B, 2 from interfacing, measuring 8 1/2″X 6″                                                  Apron ties: 2 from fabric A, 2 from fabric B, measuring 20″ X  3″  

Directions:

1.  Cut an 18″ square from your fat quarter.  Save the extra for making your neck strap.  Make the square into bias binding (I used this tutorial–to make it into binding, either fold in half lengthwise and press or pass the tape through a bias tape maker).   Set aside your binding.

2.  Iron the interfacing bumpy side down onto the wrong side of 2 bottom pockets and 2 upper pockets (the other sections will be for the pocket lining).   You can decide if you want to have your pockets lined with the same fabric or if you want them to be lined with the opposite fabric.

3.  Bottom pockets:  Pin together 1 bottom pocket lining section and 1 interfaced bottom pocket section with the wrong sides facing.  Baste around the entire section with a 1/8″ seam.  Apply bias binding to the upper edge.  Baste the pocket with a 1/8″ seam to the bottom of 1 apron body around the 3 raw edges.  Repeat  with the other bottom pocket.

4.  Upper pockets:  Pin together 1 upper pocket lining section and 1 interfaced upper pocket section with the right sides facing.  Sew around 3 sides, leaving one of the upper edges unsewn.  Clip the corners and turn the pocket right sides out.  Press.  Apply bias binding to the upper raw edge.  Position the pocket on 1 apron body about 1 1/2″ below the neckline base.  Pin.  Topstitch around the bottom and sides.  Repeat with the other upper pocket.  

5.  Lay one apron body on top of the other, right sides facing in.  Using a 1/8″ seam, baste the entire apron together leaving this part open:

6. Apron ties:  Pin together 1 tie each of fabric A and B, wrong sides facing.  Using a 1/4″ seam, stich around the two long sides and one short side.  Clip corners and turn the tube inside out.  Press and topstitch around the bottom and sides.  Pin the raw edge of each tie 4″ up from the upper edge of the bottom pocket and so that the edge of the tie is flush with the edge of the apron.  Baste the ties to the apron with a 1/8″ seam.

7.  Bottom pocket sections:  Make two vertical lines on one of the bottom pockets at 5″ and at 10.”  Stitch through all layers down those lines to create smaller pockets on both sides of your apron.

8.  Binding: Apply bias binding along the edge of your apron, still leaving that small section open at the top of the arm.  Stitch the apron ties to the edge of the binding so that they lie flat.

9.  Neck strap:  On the leftover piece of your fat quarter, fold in half on the short side and stitch down the raw side and bottom with a 3/8″ seam.  Clip the corners and turn the tube inside out and press.  Topstitch around the bottom and sides.  Turn the raw edge of the apron section you’ve left open in 1/2.”  Slip the raw edge of your strap into this opening and pin.  Stitch across this opening to enclose the raw seams.  You can add some more bias tape here to decorate if you wish.  On the opposite end of your neck strap, create 3 vertical buttonholes that will accomodate the buttons you’ve selected, leaving a 1/2″ between each buttonhole–this will allow your child to adjust the strap to fit.

10.  Buttons:  Sew on your buttons at the top of the arm on both sides.  Ta da!  You’re done!

In addition to finishing the duvet cover, I decided to take on a dress too.  Hobby Lobby has McCall’s patterns on sale for 99 cents, so I thought I’d see what they had.  There was a lovely little dress that looked simple and would require just enough from a remnant of blue knit fabric I had bought a while back at Denver Fabrics.  I was glad because I was very sad to cut out a pattern only to realize that this lovely knit was short on yardage by literally 1/8 yard.

This whole thing looks rather beachy–I’ll probably wear it in North Carolina when we visit in June for Nathan’s Grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary.  For now, I can put a t-shirt under it and wear it to school with some boots–my favorite way to teach.

It is trimmed with fabric from Anna Maria Horner’s Good Folks line that I bought here.  I made some hem facing with one of the fat quarters that I got from the Sew Mama Sew fat quarter swap.  It helped make the edge on the knit nice and neat and the bonus was I didn’t have to pin the hem (which I hate, especially with knit fabric).

Next week the ladies at work are throwing a shower for me and for the school psychologist who is due about 2 weeks before me.  I figured it was a good time for me to draft a diaper bag pattern.

I’ve been using Amy Butler’s Nappy Bag pattern, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE–but in reality, it uses a TON of fabric and I end up with weird pieces of leftover fabric after the pattern has been cut.  In an attempt to economize the amount of fabric I end up using for a project, I drafted a pattern that is a slightly different shape, a little smaller, with more functional pockets, and a handle that is not cut with the main bag body, which I discovered is where all of the extra fabric is required in the Amy Butler version.  I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I hope Nicole likes it.  The fabric is definitely her style. 

In addition to the diaper bag, I made a portable changing pad to go with it per Amy Butler’s pattern as well as a nursing wrap whose pattern I figured out from a wrap that I was given a couple months ago.

This weekend I went away to the mountains with my women’s Bible study.  It was a nice time of relaxation and prayer with some of my favorite ladies.  Saturday night, we put together these magnetic fabric boards, which were inspired by the ones in Anna Maria Horner’s book Seams to Me (gorgeous book).  It was so fun for me to go to the fabric store and find fabrics that fit each girl’s personality.  I began to realize that we are all VERY different.  Nathan very generously cut all of the galvanized steel to fit the Goodwill frames that I had painted with black and white acrylic.

We made yoyo’s that we glued magnets in and little fabric covered buttons with magnets attached on the backside.  It was nice to do a quick, simple project with other people.  Here are some of the resulting boards:

Right when we first got married, I turned my husband’s bachelor bed that currently resides in our computer/sewing room into a crazy if-it-were-only-pink-it’d-be-about-the-girliest-bed-ever with a duvet made from a green sheet and this fabric.

 I decided just like duvets. They give a bed loft that you can’t get from just a comforter.  They are also so simple to make that you can make a bunch to rotate out to change your bedding on a as it suits you basis.  They can mask a rather ugly old bachelor comforter too. 

The fabric that I won in my decor8 box a while back has been destined to be made into another duvet to be rotated out with this one occasionally. I think Nathan will be much less weirded out by this pattern. And the bright blue of the sheet was really what I had in mind when I sewed the first one–I just couldn’t find it. Nathan’s brother is coming to visit next week to go skiing with Nathan while I’m at a retreat with my women’s group, so I figured now was the time to get cracking on the whole project. So a sheet set from Target and a few French seams later, a whole new bedding ensemble.