Halloween shirt

Hi,hi.

It's been a long good while since I posted here. I've been busy with things beyond my control. I finally finished the shirt for my youngest boy for Halloween. There was a bit of a twist and turn with making the shirt; mainly the button holes. I've got to learn how to use the button hold tool for my sewing machine. Fun fun. All and all the shirt turned out marvelous. The only downside, my youngest didn't like it. I made for him as a surprise. So, I'm a bit disappointed. I've left it out in hopes that he will wear it. If not, I'll slip it away and maybe one day I'll have a grandchild that will wear it.

The one other snag I had, was the novelty buttons, they just didn't work out. I ended up digging through my old stash of buttons and found four orange ones and using them. I think it looks much better. Lesson learned, novelty buttons, save your money and just get buttons that match.

Without further ado the shirt. I'm quite proud of it even if my ten yr old doesn't like it or many not wear it.

Oh yeah HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Tracing and more

Howdy all. It's me again. I took a week from doing anything crafty related. Not because I wanted too but because I had other things such as getting the kids ready for back to school. Oh yeah, both my kids have a cold and so does my husband. Grand; I hope I don't get it. I don't want it or need it. Today I took the time maybe four hours to painstakingly trace out a shirt from a pattern. I tend to at times not want to cut the actual pattern out so I generally trace. I did so this time because the pattern itself goes from size 7 -14. I already have a size ten traced out and used numerous times. Now it was me tracing out size 12.

With two boys it is life saver being able to trace out the pattern. It allowed me to use the different sizes. What I use to trace out the pattern is basic gift tissue paper(white) It works great. Some may find this cumbersome in a lot ways to have to trace then cut out the pattern itself. I agree it is. The benefits however, far outweigh the draw backs of having to take that extra time. One I can reuse the different sizes and two, I have my own patterns in different sizes. Granted I'll never be able to say there were my own design because they are not. I'll get to that step one day...I hope.

So I traced and cut out the pattern and I laid it down on the fabric. I was right I didn't have enough fabric. Well no fear, I sat down and drew a picture of the front and back of the shirt to give me an idea of how I could work it with print and a solid color. The solid color will be Black. I think I have it worked out. I scanned the image for you to laugh at. :) but the idea is there and how it will look when it's completed. Now I just need to go get the solid fabric. That's for another day.

Here you go, what I was talking about for the design work. That's it for today. Another day who knows. Not sure what I'll do next. That's a good thing :D

Thread catch all

So here is my thread catch all. I made it so I could have the thread go in the top and in the bottom I can stuff my small scissors and ripper. More often then not my scissors and ripper end up in a container when not in use; I thought having a little sleeve for them when I'm working a way would be a good place for them. I am a little disappointed with the way the edging turned out. It is supposed to be black all around. I may go back later and try it again. For now it if functional and does what I want to do. Now I can move onto other projects. This I am happy about. :)

Sewing cover and thread catch all.

Ever wonder what a persons sewing area looks like? I have a little knick by the stairs and it is enough for my sewing table, machine and a small three drawer cabinet(plastic of course). The cabinet houses my thread and some notions. Now for cutting fabric I have a table that sits behind the couch and I just pull it out and set it up. So what your seeing below in this picture is the table set up and I'm well into my project.

Don't forget too that when you're working on a project you need to stop and iron as you go. I'm learning that if you do this your projects come out so much nicer. I never used to worry about the ironing until after the fact now, I now step by step iron. So here's my iron and board and as you can see I have my floor helper Tanis. :D

Now that you've got a little vision of what my sewing area is like (basically the whole living room and the kitchen where my iron is) I'll show you the project. I made a cover for my sewing machine. It oddly enough matches my walls. I had not even thought about it until I looked and laughed a bit because it was funny in my own way I guess. Anyway. It took me about 3 hours. I had to stop several times though to tend to hubby and or the youngest lad. Oh yeah lunch and let the dog outside. All those lovely things. Plus there were a couple of times I had to rethink on how I was doing the cover. I did use a pattern but after that I just sewed it up and away I went. The trick was basically having it so it could be reversed if I wanted it too. I probably won't however because I do love the side that is showing. Here is the cover where it just needs to be hemmed up and done.

As you can see the ability to reverse it is there. The underside of the cover is old fashion metal dress forms. I was able to get both fabric on sale for three dollars a yrd. Even more so they were discontinued fabric. I had it made. To give the cover a little bit of stability I used fusible interfacing. Then put it together. Yes, I know there's more to it but eh, I don't want to sit here and go step by step because it's not a tutorial. LOL I made a catch all caddy, or what I call a thread catcher that will sit under the sewing machine when I'm working away. I couldn't finish it today. One I ran out of time and two; even though I thought I had bias it was the wrong size. So tomorrow morning I will venture to the store and get the bias and get it finished. Then I'll take pics of it as well. Finished Sewing Cover on my sewing machine.

So it was a good day. I even got to take a bath and relax before getting supper in the oven. Who knows tomorrow I might actually get to the shirt - or one of them that I need for myself.

Resizing a pattern

My day today wasn't really and adventure at all. But I did resize a shirt pattern that I had. I liked the shirt but the length to me was a little too short. So I lengthened it. I also got some muslin as well and have cut one out to see about some other things I'm not sure about. So I'll have a shirt done in muslin. Also have to trace the pattern out as well so that I can give it to my mother. LOL I also finally bought the jean jacket pattern. Now to get the fabric for it. I want a jacket that describes me. So normal jean but I want some material that has designs on it. On the hunt I go for that. All in all, got most of everything I wanted done today. Tomorrow I'm taking a break.. then possibly right back to it on Sunday lol.

Pin cushion with a little buzz.

First off

The pattern was by The Button Bush Quilting company(I think) I made the busy bee pin cushion. I had a bit of no-how but to be honest I had no clue what a log cabin was. ( I'm still rather new to quilting.) So I decided with what was there to design a bit. I ended up with what I thought was a brick pattern or what some may say a mixed and matched pattern for the sides. The next adventure was the the little bumble bees. Now I had no prior knowledge of embroidery but no fear I think it turned out cute. The wings are laughable but still cute. All and all with have to stop several times I say about 2 hours or less to do this little cushion. Maybe next time I'll do the flower pot pin cushion.

Doesn't hurt to have more then one pin cushion anyway. That's another thought for another day. One old wore out pin cushion gone to pin cushion heaven and a new baby cushion set and ready to use. Next project; A cover for my sewing machine and some shirts. I'll blog about each one as I go. :P

All in all not a bad day for getting creative.

Happy is Happy

I finally cleared off my sewing table. Repairs some pants and now getting ready to be crafty.. or get ready to sew me some shirts that I really need. So I'll be heading into that shortly. For now? Well I'm working on a new pin cushion. It's cute. Next will come a new sewing machine cover for my sewing machine.. oh yeah also I'm going to make a thread catcher among other things. I'm just glad to be back up and creative in that way. I had forgotten what it felt like to sit there and try to figure things out and then knowing you got it right. I'm taking the step in the right direction which is very cool.

Now lets see, I have ceramics, and sewing and writing. Hmmm between the three think I can stay creative? LOL I hope so because I'm realizing that I felt good when I was being creative. It's time I started again.