Embroidery

So, do you guys embroider? I seem to love all things crafty, but embroidery was always something I snubbed my nose at. I'm not sure why. Maybe I considered it to old fashioned, maybe I had only seen embroidery in designs that I didn't feel were appealing.

My grandmother had lots of embroidered pillows on get couch, and I think I never liked them when I was little because they weren't comfortable for me to curl up with.

Well, I have a lazy day sewing project. (You know, a project that I can pick up and sew on for five minutes every couple of days and its easy to get out and put away.) It's a quilt that I am slowly making squares and just enjoying the process rather than racing trying to get a project done so I have something fun to wear.

I have made a few quilts before and since I am taking my time, I thought it would be nice to try some new things and expand my skills a little.

As I was perusing Lauren from Lladybird's blog I started seeing some embroidery that I loved. I got to thinking that it might be fun to as some embroidery on some of my quilt squares, plus it would be a good excuse to buy some new craft supplies learn something new.

So I started making a sampler. And I'm having so much fun! I never thought I would enjoy embroidery so much! (But then again, I never thought I would enjoy catch-stitching facings or hems, or inserting hand picked zippers either...)

So what about you? Do you enjoy embroidery? Do you have any crafts that you didn't think you liked and then found you secretly enjoy them?

Practice Heart that I embroidered.

No I didn't die.

Ok... you all deserve a large explanation.

Well, I got enaged.

And Then I got married.

And Then I moved.

Yay Salt Lake City, UT

So what have I sewn lately, you ask?

NOTHING!!

... And it's killing me!  But, I have moved into an apartment, and my husband and I set up an office space, which he calls my sewing room (love him).  I'm still settling in, trying to get used to a new job, figuring out the flow of our new life here together, but I'm really hoping to get to sewing again soon.  I probably don't have a single person that even checks this ol' blog of mine anymore, but if I do still have friends out there, I haven't died.  Promise.  Cross your fingers that I can get some things sewn up soon!

Miss you all!

xo

Trending and Tops

Hey friends,

Does your life go in trends?  I have totally lost my blogging mojo, but I will say that in it's brief absence I've gotten some good work done!  Lets start from the beginning.  Prior to going on my spring break vacation, I spent not much time sewing and much time getting ready a few posts to go up while I was gone, and then between work for a week, vacation for 10 days, and then work for another week, by the time I was finally home for a stretch I was craving (and I mean serious cravings... like black tie mouse cake when at olive garden cravings) sewing time!  I hadn't actually gotten to sew anything in weeks!!  So I've spent the subsequent two weeks working some more, and sewing!  Glorious, glorious sewing!

So what does this mean for you, my friends?  It means that I am attempting to re-start the blogging trend, and it also means that I have several fun new pieces to photograph and blog about for you!

The first piece that I have managed to get photographed that I want to show you, I lovingly refer to as my "anthro shirt".  I don't know how any of you feel about it, but anthropologie is one of those stores that when I walk into it, I get a rush of wanting to spend way too much money.  So when I get the chance to sew something that I think has the same feel, well, I get a little giddy!

My Anthro Top :)

Pretending like I have wings like the birds...

Sans Sweater

My Man's favorite photo

And without the belt

This is a pendrell blouse pattern with a modified neck shape, shortened waist, and some ease taken out.

The Luscious Feel of Fabric

Hello there friends!

I am working on a Pendrell blouse with some fabric that I bought at fabric depot in Portland, OR last time I was home visiting my parents.  The other afternoon while I was running the fabric through Elphaba (who was doing a marvelous job of seaming), I got to thinking about how luscious the fabric felt in my hands.  It was soft, with just enough thickness in it to tell me it wasn't quilting cotton, just enough stretch to tell me that it was going to feel marvelous on my body, and just enough texture to make my fingers hum with excitment!  Do you ever let yourself completely drown in the tactile experience of exploring your fabric?  Does just the feel of a certain fabric make you dream up particular garments or projects or memories?

The fabric that has me gushing about texture

When I pre-washed it, I debated whether or not to use fabric softener in the wash.  I ended up using the fabric softener, but it did get me to wondering if my online sewing cronies had any thoughts.  Softener?  No softener?  What do you do with yours?  I love using it to help my fabric become even softer right from the get-go, but I am curious to whether or not it is a bad idea, especially with a very first wash.

So what are your thoughts?  Recommendations?  Horror stories?  Please, do share.

xo

Sunday Style Set: Greener Grasses

Hello Friends!

The Grass is Always Greener by miss-mt featuring leather shoes

I don't know about you, but I can definitely relate with the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence".  I can be gloriously happy with the spring sunshine, cool breezes, and flowers popping up everywhere, and inevitably one day, I will catch myself thinking "gosh, I can't wait until fall!  The boots, the scarves, the sweaters!"  It's not that I'm wishing for cold weather... oh no!, I just love wearing boots and scarves.  So here is my, glad-it's-spring-but-wish-it-was-fall inspirational board.

What is your favorite season to dress for?

xo

Yellow Chalk, White Fabric: A little of what not to do, and how to fix it!

Hey Friends!

So, I had a dilemma.  I was using this pristine white fabric for a project that I am still working on, but when I was first tracing the pattern onto the fabric I couldn't see the white chalk, so I chose to use yellow chalk.  The fabric has a wonderful, intricate pattern on it, (white on white of course) and I tried to be really careful to mark only the "wrong side".  I was trying to squeeze a Pendrell blouse out of only one yard of fabric, and because I had to get tricksy with the cutting and folding and laying out of my pieces, I ended up marking the "right side" on two of my pieces.  (It probably didn't help that I was marking and cutting at two in the morning...) 

Anywho, I was stuck trying to figure out how to get yellow chalk out of my beautiful white fabric.  I had some scraps left over, so I decided to try a few different things, and luckily, I took pictures so I could share with you. 

So with much pride, and very little humbleness, I introduce... my first tutorial!

Working on a Pendrell Blouse

If you look closely, you can see the white pattern on the fabric.

My yellow Tailor's chalk.

Step One: Yellow chalk on white fabric.

Step Two:  I tried to use a toothbrush on the fabric, to try and brush out the chalk.
I saw this tip on the internet.  No such luck. 

Step Three: I even tried (on a different scrap) dipping the entire thing in non-diluted bleach.  Again, no dice.

Step Four:  I got my fabric wet and scrubbed on the chalk mark with the toothbrush.  Small progress.

Step Five:  I added a little Dawn Pure.  I happened to have this, because it is what I use for dishes, and in hind-sight, the pure (with no added coloring) is probably the best choice anyways.  Scrubbing with the toothbrush, Dawn, and a little moisture showed definite progress in getting the chalk out!

Step Six:  After seeing that I was able to get the yellow out (at least I thought so), I decided to see if ironing the scrap would a) not ruin the texture, and b) make sure that the stain was out and that it didn't set any color into the scrap.  I couldn't see the fabric well enough to tell if the stain was out while the fabric was wet.

Success!!!  The iron dried the scrap, there didn't appear to be
even a trace of the yellow, and the fabric texture was the same as when I began.

Suggestions that I would give...  Well, first I would obviously recommend that you not mark your white fabric, on the "right side" at two in the morning!  But, if you are as silly as I am, I would suggest trying a scrap first!  

When researching on the internet, prior to my little experiment, I found several fixes for several different types of chalk.  I am using the tailor's chalk triangles, and I don't think they are wax... I'm not really sure.  But either way, the other suggestions I found online didn't work (other than dry cleaning... I didn't try that one).  But this method seemed to work well!

Hope this helps at least someone out!  I know I learned something and had fun in the progress!

xo

Serging the Day Away!

Hello friends!

This week, I have felt like I've done hours of prep work and no sewing!  Does it ever feel that way to you?  The frustrating part is that I have so much more prep work to do!  I still have to cut my pattern for the truffle dress for Sew Colette, and I'm on a Pendrell blouse kick right now, and I'm trying to make a couple more, but add some fun design details so they aren't all the same!  Gah!  So much.  

But speaking of prep work... I recently started doing something that the pro's have probably been doing for a long time and I'm just late to the party.  I used to pre-wash my fabric straight from the store, just throw it in with the correct wash cycle and off we go!  It was very frustrating though, to pull out my pre-washed fabric and have so many strings and tangles from the cut edge.  Only very recently did I think... "huh!  why don't i serge (or zig-zag) the edge and then wash it."  Genius.  I felt pretty proud of myself.  I'm sure this is in many sewing books and it seems so common sense after doing it, but I thought I would share.  Just maybe I'm not the only newbie out there who hasn't quite thought of this simple idea yet!

Dorota doing what she does best

Hope your week is going well!  Are you stuck doing prep work right now?  Or are you sewing away, happily creating your next masterpiece?  

xo