My Best Yet!

I just finished my best sewing project yet! It's a blue springy tunic, based on a top I brought back from India and an Amy Butler pattern. The fabric was a gift from Court, from Purl Soho. I'm SO happy with it! The fit is perfect, even though I altered the pattern big time. I skipped the lining, back darts and zipper, sleeves, and shortened it a bit. Did a lot of things by eye and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Forgive the sleepy look in the pics. I still have a cold!

_

The best part is it only took a few hours of sewing spread over 2 days!

listening to: Belle & Sebastian - Song for Sunshine

New Wedding Dress Blog

Courtney had the brilliant idea of starting a blog to track the design and creation process of my wedding dress! It'll remain pretty specific to dress planning, because who wants to know the nasty details of general wedding planning. Follow it here. We'll both be posting here and there. And many thanks to Andy for designing the header!

Knitting Comes to Jersey City

We're getting our very own knitting store and cafe! I was wondering when somebody was going to open up something like this.

The Stockinette
581 Jersey Ave @ 3rd St

They're in there working away stocking shelves, painting, decorating... due to open in September. VERY exciting news.

Is It Hot In Here?

So the firemen fabric from awhile back? It turned into an apron, only to be used for cooking the hottest of hot foods of course... It was a gift for Heidi's birthday. Here she is modeling it. In the subway. On a Saturday night. She wore it all night.


It's probably the most amusing thing I've ever made. Here's another close-up. Just because I can't get enough.




















Listening to: Marvin Gaye - Take Me To the River

Sound the Alarms

I imagine most people would do the same thing I did yesterday if they saw this fabric in the store.
1) Laugh
2) Look around and see if anyone sees you picking up the bolt of fabric
3) Think what you could make of it (this is a great question - it doesn't appear to appropriate for something for a boy, but it's almost like boys fabric... I'm at a loss what the creators of this were intending...)
4) Laugh again
5) Take it to the counter to be cut and wait for the woman to laugh too
6) When she doesn't laugh, come up with some lame story about a project for your little cousin who loves firetrucks (Hummer firetrucks??)
7) Laugh your way out of the store (and every time it catches your eye on the way home)

I can't tell you what I'm using it for yet, but it's perfect. I can't think of any real uses for it. Every project I can think of is complete mockery.

Lucy likes it anyway.

Listening to: Zero 7 - In Time

Back in business...

Whew! So I finally got to sit down tonight to work on some tiny projects that have been on the list. First up, the "Artsy Clutch" from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing. It's on the cover, and I think it was enough to catch my eye and make me buy the book. The clutch is really just a simple rectangular lined bag with an extra layer of inner fabric for more support, and a button/loop closure. Simple, cute, and very use-able. Good way to use up scraps that (may or may not) match!


Next up, I've been staring at this on my desk for too long:

It's a hideous plastic sewing machine cover. It was $1 I think. I've been wanting to get something a little prettier. It has only 2 pieces, a 15"x6.5" rectangle for the top, and then a 45"x10" rectangle that wraps around the top rectangle and is then stitched down the side. I picked a fabric, cut it out, and had it together in maybe 15 minutes.


If I do another, I'd line it with a nice contrasting fabric for some sturdier support, but this will definitely do the job, and it looks MUCH nicer on my desk.

There's still some green fine-wale corduroy to become a skirt, an apron for a friend's belated birthday present, and a new carry-all bag on the list. I also want to take the time to make a taped dress form of myself. I really think it'll be worth the hour or so it takes to make, and it'll allow me to try so many more dresses and tops on my own form. And since it'll be hanging in my room somewhere, I'll look for some duct tape in nicer colors than industrial silver...

Last up, some favorite pics from Colorado:




Listening to: Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No2

Warming Up

Life has suddenly gotten very crazy, at least for my mellow soul. Progress has been happening though. So some quick things before I vacate for the holidays!
Although I love the gray knitted neckwarmer/hoodie thing from a few weeks back (and I would still like to make it eventually), I've decided to use the blue yarn for a hat and neckwarmer combo, adding in some green yarn that my sister gave me for my birthday.


The hat is almost done, and the neckwarmer shouldn't take long. It will look like some combination of these...


And I think I'll do a big green button on the hat to match the ones I use on the neckwarmer. Cute, right?

Also, a lot of people have been asking about the progress on the plastic bag bag. It's minimal progress, but I'm still working on cutting the bags into strips so I can make the plastic yarn. I need a good snow day so I can sit and watch movies and cut up bags...

I'll be in and out until New Years, so Happy Holidays!! Here's a cute shot of father and son carrying their Christmas trees home in the city.



Listening to: Feist - I Feel It All

apron success!

Fabric: 1 yd each of two fabrics
Pattern: reversible apron, from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing
Time: ~2 hrs including cutting pattern pieces, sewing, pressing, and finishing
Skill Level: Easy, there were no special stitches, nothing tricky about aligning pieces.
Extras: You can add pockets, applique, other fun stuff. I kept it basic since I love the prints so much.


I was going to crop the picture so you could see more of the apron, but look how nice the swatch portraits look on the wall! The one up on the top in the middle is even the same fabric!


Detail of the topstitching with a perfect teal thread I found buried. It was one that came in those sewing kits you get at the grocery store. All of them are such weird colors like teal, bright pink and yellow... You never know what will work.

Sewing has been so fulfilling lately! Quick projects like aprons, totebags and computer cases are so much easier and quicker than clothing, I've really gotten to practice some basic skills and get better with my machine. I might be ready to finally take on a patterned dress again. If you've been scared of sewing, I can recommend some of these basic and fun patterns I've done lately to get you started. It allows so much freedom in choosing fabrics and details that inspire you. I just love looking around my apartment and seeing lots of little things that I've made!

listening to: Veruca Salt - Twinstar

quiet night

I feel the beginnings of a nasty cold coming on and have decided to stay home from orchestra rehearsal to take care of myself, that and start working on this reversible apron that's been cut out for a month. It's the same fabric from the totebag I made last month.


I'm going to need it this weekend. I'm hosting ~20 people for an early Thanksgiving dinner. I'm only making the turkey, stuffing, and pies, and everyone else is bring drinks or a dish from their family's traditional dinner. It was one of those things that just kept growing and growing. I love hosting people for dinner, but from now on I'll have to keep it to smaller groups! My poor apartment can barely hold 20 people standing, this is going to be very interesting. More details on the menu and seating issue resolution as the week unfolds...

listening to: The Beatles - Long Long Long

in love with google reader

Courtney's visit was successful on many levels, but primarily because she has now hooked me on google reader. In my trend report it tells me, "From your 33 subscriptions, in the last 2 weeks you read 515 items and starred 14 items." 515 Items! That I CARE about! Instead of just catching a glimpse of 3 worthless news items shoved in my face by some worthless news agency. I love the control, the ownership, i feel when reading a design blog entry, a new recipe, a relevant snippet of news... just brilliant!

Here are some of the best of the best:

• smitten kitchen's pumpkin black bean soup recipe


• craft's apron contest (i'm entering 1950's frilly apron i made a year or 2 ago)


• via feministing: feminism is...

In other news, the swatch portraits are done, sorry about the picture, but you get the idea!


listening to: Feist - One Evening

cool down and round up

It's cooling down - quickly - in these parts. It's time to start thinking about the warm bulky colorful sweaters and scarves of the season. My good friend Courtney is visiting this weekend, and she happens to know my style very well, proof = this design she sent me.

See? Right up my alley. Chunky, neutral, face-framing, cozy. LOVE it. It's from pip-squeak chapeau who designs and knits made-to-order beauties like this. Unfortunately, it's $100+, which is NOT up my alley. But it looks relatively simple once I figure out that back decrease (with Stephanie's help... hi Stephanie!), and a similar yarn can't be more than $25.

In other news, I've renewed my library card(!) and have loaded up on some various books to read. After my exam next week, I'll be free to do some reading on my own, not that air pollution and injustice health disparities and superfund case studies aren't enjoyable reading...

Also, I've been listening to a lot of new music thanks to the looong plane rides last week. The airline had all kinds of ethnic traditional and pop, classical and western music that I don't typically find easily here or just haven't noticed yet. I highly recommend these:

• Monade - A Few Steps More (French mellow alternative)

• Scissor Sisters - Ta Dah (awesome American dance pop)

• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand (duet of Led Zeppelin and country origins, perfect)

• Astrud Gilberto - any album (smooth Brazilian bossa nova style)

• Fairuz - Legend (traditional Lebanese singer)

• Balkan Beat Box - any album (Balkan and Middle-Eastern themes with hip-hop beats and political undertones that you won't understand anyway)

listening to: Nouvelle Vague - This is Not a Love Song

camping + sewing = awesome

This company, Thru-Hiker, is so brilliant. People that like camping and hiking tend to be a little more all-natural and do-it-yourself right? And they might also be quite crafty right? Some might sew, or at least be willing to right? Right! So, voila, they supply you with kits to make your own hiking gear including down vests and coats, sleeping bags!, tent tarps... amazing. You can also by goods from them too.
I'm eyeing this vest kit, 1) because it's easy (no sleeves), 2) i'd learn to work with outdoor fabrics and filling, and 3) it comes in pretty colors. They supply the fabric, filling, pattern and instructions, and you can even call them for help.

And they even have a (free) easy sewing pattern for fleece mittens. Really, just brilliant.


The vest and mittens could be perfect for some autumn hikes in the area (or some cider-donut trips to Hacklebarney...).

listening to: The Greyboy Allstars - How Glad I Am

i'm useful...

so says Etan. We went to a sample sale this weekend and he got a couple pants. While trying them on, he was so happy to find out that I could indeed hem every pair for him. It's so nice to feel useful...
And to fulfill some of my own needs, I have made myself a pretty totebag!

I'm excited about this for a few reasons. One, I'm trying a couple patterns from a new sewing book called Simple Sewing. I want to do nearly all of the patterns in the book, and this was the first one. It was, indeed, simple. Her instructions and diagrams are easy to follow, and she throws in simple techniques that make the project come together much quicker. Two, I got a bunch of really awesome fabrics from purl patchwork (see some others poking out of the book in the pic below) to make all these different patterns, and I'm really happy with the colors and contrasting patterns. I'm using the two prints from the bag to make a reversible apron too (on the front of the book cover), so I'm glad I can see how they'll look together. Finally, it was my first attempt at details. Normally I just slap the fabric together to make something semi-presentable. On the bag, I actually wanted it to look great upclose to really play up the fabrics. So I added some zigzag on the trims, and even some applique (a first)!


ps - I made the applesauce again, but this time with peaches and apricots added in. SO delicious! If anyone makes it with anything else, let me know. This stuff is GOOD. I'm never buying store-bought applesauce again.

listening to: Stanton Moore - Nalgas

laptop case... check

Ironically, having a blog has increased my productivity. I'm getting things done! Just because I posted about it for the 2 loyal readers, I feel like I need to follow up and actually complete things.
I made the case for my laptop today. It was a little tricky to figure out the layout since I was lining it, but it came out great. I didn't quilt any of it like I had wanted too, but I was too nervous to mess it up, it was looking so pretty.

So here it is:


Lucy: 'Hmm, what's this?'


Lucy: 'Hey, stop taking pictures of this thing and play with ME.'


Lucy: 'Fine, FINE. I'll just lay here and be cute until you're done.'


Have I mentioned I'm obsessed with my dog yet?

listening to: Jeff Buckley - Satisfied Mind

Plastic bag hell...

A few months ago, I asked friends to save me their plastic shopping bags because I had found a way to send them to plastic bag heaven, a little retirement community for the bags instead of just tossing them into our already filthy environment. I can cut the bags into strips, loop them together to create a plastic 'yarn', and crochet/knit the bags into other durable shopping totes. Well, a number of people saved a lot of bags, and they apparently do a LOT of shopping too. I have now found myself in plastic bag hell.

You can see the ball of plastic yarn I've finished so far in the front. And those bags of bags of bags makes up only about 1/3 of all the bags I received. The trunk of my car is also full of them. I'm guessing I have somewhere around 400-500 bags. I'll be cutting bags into strips for another couple of days, I hope to finish this week so I can actually start making the totes soon, that will be the fun part!
If you're interested in checking it out or yourself, here is the pattern that inspired the project. And here are some other crafty plastic bag ideas.

I also found this guy who makes 3D art and creatures from old newspapers. Very useful in NY where newspapers are discarded even more readily than plastic bags! A little creepy, but very cool.


listening to: Rasputina - You Don't Own Me

packing

We're off to the Dominican Republic tomorrow! 4 days of sun, beach, and pure relaxation with good friends, it's much-needed. Lucy gets nervous when she sees me packing (she's very attached).

I picked up some perfect fabrics for the laptop case. 2 are Amy Butlers, the other is a similar brand called Free Spirit (they tend to match their styles and colors to Amy's stuff). The multi-color will be the outside, the blue/brown will be the lining, and i'll do a pocket or flap or something with the green. I got some batting too, so it'll be my first attempt at quilting too.


I loved the green one so much, and I've been in need of a simple case for my ipod. So i put together in literally less than 5 minutes a perfect little case with velcro closure. Just in time for vacation so it doesn't get dirty with sand, I love it!


Listening to: Food Will Win the War - Traveling