Sew Grateful Week, days 3 & 4

I’m lumping these together again– partially because I had to really think about the resources, and partially because I was a little more focused on having a solid sewing day yesterday– my birthday gift to myself! 🙂 (It was yesterday, and yes, I got spoiled– I got lots of lovely messages on various social media from friends and family, two gift cards to Joann’s that should cover notions for my fabric stashbusting endeavors for awhile, a set of pretty interchangeable knitting needles, and Doug gave me an appointment for a massage at a local spa. My shoulders are almost always tense, probably mostly due to my choice of musical instrument, so I’m really looking forward to that!)

Day 3: Sharing Resources Day

Since I don’t have any new tutorials or groundbreaking technique tips at the moment, I thought I’d share two resources I’ve found for places to get sewing supplies that you wouldn’t necessarily think of. I’m highly reliant on internet shopping for my crafty needs, so I’ve had to get creative sometimes!

#1: Dharma Trading Company. They’re probably most commonly known as a one-stop shop for all of your dye needs. So obviously, if you want to play with dyeing some fabric, this is a great place to get your colors! But they also have a really nice selection of natural fiber fabrics by the yard, including cotton, hemp blends, bamboo, and silk. Most of it is in a natural color, obviously, since it’s meant to be dyed. What I’ve most often bought from here is the silk, because the prices are really good compared to places like Fabric.com and Mood–all of my lining and underlining fabrics for my wedding dress were purchased from here, except the nude organza to underlay the lace on the sheer part of the bodice, and this is the first place I’d look to get silk organza for tailoring-type projects and interfacings.

#2: KnitPicks. Yes, the place I already linked to for those knitting needles. You might already know about this if you’re one of those sewcialists who also knits, but I was surprised to learn recently that they sell buttons! I shouldn’t be… I mean, cardigans. But I was recently looking for a larger quantity of buttons for my current project, Joann’s didn’t have enough of anything in stock, I did some poking around on Etsy, fell in love with a certain style of button that the seller only had one of, and then the Google rabbit hole led me to here. They’re not necessarily an inexpensive source, and the majority was a brand that’s pretty common at Joann’s, but it’s probably fairly comparable to paying full price at a fabric store. More importantly, I was able to get 16 buttons that matched. (I’m super-excited about the ones I found, but am going to wait for the finished project post to show those off.)

Day 4: Sewing Project Day
I’ll have to go with an in-progress post here. As you know from recent posts, my current project is the Sewaholic Robson Coat. I’m grateful to Tasia for coming up with such a cute jacket design, and to the Sewcialists for the #bluefebruary sewalong–even though it’s highly unlikely at this point that I’ll finish this one while it’s still February, given that it ends, um, tomorrow, it was great incentive to get this started at a time where I’m likely to be done by the time it actually gets to spring jacket weather!

I did some very minor tweaks to my muslin that worked out really nicely, so I got the whole thing cut out on Tuesday and started sewing the real thing yesterday. I don’t have a lot to show for it yet, mostly because I’m trying to take my time and do a really nice job.So this picture pretty much encompasses what I did get done so far, aside from already needing to iron that sewn piece again! I underlined the sleeve pieces with a silky print from my stash, leftover from this jacket, basting it together by hand. I already had the strips cut and sewn together, but I had to buy a bias tape maker and it didn’t come in until Tuesday, so I had to press about 12 yards of bias tape. I also spent some time fiddling with the idea of a bound buttonhole, and I’m glad I tested this first, because I don’t think it will work for this particular project. (The buttons are on the small side, so I don’t have much room to maneuver.) So I really only have one seam and two pocket flaps done, and the inside pocket pieces basted onto the front pieces.

A closer-up view of that seam. I’m basically having to sew all of these seams five times– once for the actual seam, twice more to enclose the edges with that bias binding, and twice more for topstitching. I think the double topstitching will look really nice, though. The reason I’m doing the two rows close together like that is because I probably should have bought a wider bias tape maker, because I’m just barely getting the raw edge caught with the edgestitching, and the topstitching row further from the seam will help to further secure the binding.

If I can keep the topstitching this neat, and get the wrinkles pressed out a little better–I have a feeling my bottle of Best Press is going to be my best friend here–I think this will look really nice when it’s all together!

One more Sew Grateful note– there’s still plenty of time to enter the fabric giveaway! 

Crafty Christmas goodies

Hello, and happy New Year’s Eve! I figured I’d end the year with updating this with the newest toys I’ve gotten recently.

One thing I posted on Instagram, but not here, was that back around Thanksgiving, my Grandma (on my dad’s side) was in the process of cleaning some things out of her house. She decided that she wasn’t going to do any more yarncrafting. So she let my sis-in-law and I take her entire stash of knitting and crochet needles. Since sis crochets and they were mostly knitting needles, I did get the bulk of it, but she did get a couple of things, too! Grandma also let me look through her old craft books, and I did take a few booklets of some cute 60s-ish vintage knitting patterns. Thanks, Grandma! So I should be good for awhile on double-pointed needles and circular needles….but I might need to sew new cases for them, because mine are stuffed!

As usual, my mom gave me some fabric for Christmas! In particular, she gave me about 4 yards of a funky knit print, 3 yards of this oh-so-cool Japanese teacup fabric, and a couple of yards of a lightweight denim. I don’t have quite 4 yards of the knit anymore, since it shrank a bit in the wash, but that’s why we pre-wash, right?  I’m thinking a Tiramisu maxi-dress (a la Cation Designs) for the knit, a “real” Cambie for the teacup print, and maybe some wider-legged jeans with the denim–since it’s thinner and non-stretch, I think that would put less strain on the fabric. Plus a looser leg would be more comfortable for warmer weather here.

But what? you say. There’s four fabrics in this picture! Well, Doug completely spoiled me this year. Not only did he get me a new computer– and a Kindle Fire, which I’m still completely in shock over since I already knew about the computer–he also bought me fabric! With TARDISes on it! He got it off of Spoonflower, with the disclaimer that since there were a ton of TARDIS fabrics on there, he basically got the one he liked best. Love that guy. It’s a quilter-weight cotton, so I’m thinking this would make an excellent lining for the Colette Cooper bag, which I recently acquired the pattern for. The best part is that, although I’d have to buy contrast, I do have a blue canvas-type fabric in the stash already that should work quite nicely for part of the bag!

Mom made a couple of things for my sis-in-law and I, too. She made each of us a new beach bag with some meshy fabric (hers was in a different color scheme, but same idea). And she also made each of us a TARDIS wristlet–so cool! (And this would be perfect to throw into that Cooper bag that already exists in my head!)

The best part, other than the fact that it’s a TARDIS, is that she lined it with Van Gogh fabric. If you watch Doctor Who, you understand why this is great. My mom rocks. 

My mom also put a few fun new sewing toys in my stocking. I now have a buttonhole gauge, a Chaco pen, and a double-wheel tracing…thingy. She also got me this amazing wooden pressing tool, which I saw on A Fashionable Stitch and promptly put on my wish list. This will be so handy when I make that new winter coat!

I even got something for the scrapbook–my mother-in-law spotted a Project Life kit on my Amazon wishlist and got that for me. I think this one will be fun, because it’s so colorful! I love those constellation cards in particular.

So that’s a wrap on 2013, and I need to get back to trying to figure out the 3-D puzzle that is currently trying to get my craft room optimized to actually use this stuff!

a crafty Christmas haul

Like I said in yesterday’s post, I was totally spoiled this year. So here’s the latest additions to my various supplies and stashes! Besides, this is just a thinly-veiled excuse to play with the new camera.

I got some knithing things– two skeins of recycled denim yarn, these two books (one from my mom and one from my fiance), and two bamboo circular knitting needles that I found in my stocking.

I got some fabric, of course– though mostly not for clothes this time. The fat quarters are the exception, since those are for things like waistband facings and pockets for all of those pants and jeans  that I need to make. The big mostly-blue and green floral print on the right is for curtains in my future sewing room, the sunflowery thing is one of those panel apron kits, the cheery print on the left is so I can make myself a tailor’s ham/sleeve roll/ironing mat cover/other pressing aids.
Which, of course, brings me to more pressing aids! My mom said she specifically wanted to find some things to stock my future craft room that other people might not think to get for me. So she got me this ironing mat for when I don’t want to haul out an entire ironing board, this lovely-smelling starch alternative spray, and the iron off of my registry. She got this one awhile back and it works very nicely–and I’m glad that she went ahead and got it, because she’s one of the only people I know who would understand that me asking for a pricier iron is because I actually do need one that will hold up while getting more-than-average household use!

Other sewing goodies: A long clear quilter’s ruler and brand-new scissors, both of which I’ve already opened to use in cutting out The One Dress, a tube turner set similar to one that I’ve been constantly borrowing from her since I was a teenager, a buttonhole cutter, sewing machine needles (one pack of which is the extra-sharp fine needles and so I will most certainly be using those soon), and a little frame/bag thing to sit around a serger and catch the messy stringy bits. And Gertie’s book!
And finally, my very own glue gun, and another book from my Amazon wishlist. You know, just in case I do ever decide to try the Etsy thing or anything like that ever again. If nothing else, it looks like it has some good information on photos and blogging. They’re not pictured here, but I also got some glue sticks for that gun, and a Joann’s gift card from my future in-laws, which I’ll probably just hang onto for awhile until I have a better idea of things I might need for my craft room, or home dec-type stuff.

What about you? Anything fun and crafty under your tree this year?

I caved.

Went to Joann’s after work today to get some fabric glue, and some of those post-bound scrapbook conversion things. Hanging out with Cassie tonight and the plan is, as usual, to watch stuff (tonight, it’s Twilight) and craft. So I’m going to cover some scrapbooks with fabric. And fix the ones where the posts are busted. While there, I saw that they were having basically a 2-for-1 special on those DCWV stacks that are so horrendously tempting for me. And I caved, because of this. It’s cute, it’s recycled, it’s practically perfect for my abundance of outing club-related layouts…. and then for the second one I got this because it was fun and colorful and glittered and screamed summer at me. Bad Becky.

On the plus side, at least I’ll get some of those scrapbook covers knocked off today. Hopefully.

No Friday Favorites today. Since I went back to the garden center and lost a big chunk of my day, and I have a bunch of cleaning to do, no time for a post longer than this. Will try to catch up next week.

Friday Favorites, Episode 30

Happy day-after Thanksgiving!! Appropriately, most of my links this week are for Christmas stuff.

First off, even though I’m not buying anything today, I have a list of eco-friendly craft supplies, courtesy of Crafting a Green World. I’m kind of drooling over the bead collection. And wondering how my crochet friends would feel about yarn hand-spun from the seller’s wedding dress…

Some fun decorations at Dollar Store Crafts. The first is Christmas ornaments made from those little metal wrappers that tea lights come in, and the second is a recycled cd decorated to look like peppermint candy. Yum.

Ok, so this one’s not exactly Christmas-y. But I loved these “fairy lights” made from Christmas lights and recycled egg cartons at Whip Up. I’ll have to find an excuse to make those sometime…a party, perhaps? I also had to take note of their list of tutorials for baby crafts–I think I have a couple of years until the next wave of babies, since it seemed like half of the women I know and their sister had a baby this past year, but I’m always scrounging for ideas (and ways to avoid the headache that is Babies R’ Us!) so this should help.

Moving away from the holiday stuff– I really liked this Dresden petal handbag tutorial at Quality Time. Not only cute, but a great way to use up those pesky scraps. And, well, this one really isn’t crafty at all. But I also had to bookmark this list of music of interest at Angry Chicken. Because music feeds creativity, and I’m always looking for ideas of bands to hunt down at eMusic. Mmmmm, indie bands.

And with that, I am off for a night of movies and craftiness of the Christmas ornament variety with some of my friends. Ciao!