Thursday, July 27, 2017

Boho shirt (and a bonus tip!)

A while back I shared with you the Scout Tees I made, using a pattern I picked up at the cute shop, Needle in a Fabric Stash in California. Well here's the cool thing! The owner of the shop (Sue) designed an add on pattern for the Scout Tee, called the Boho Shirt, and I bought that too! You can pick up your own (along with the Scout Tee pattern) here. Once I knew I had the sizing right for the Scout Tee, I couldn't wait to jump in and try this variation.
I made mine a little longer than Sue's pattern called for (I like my tunics a little long) and I love the way it turned out! The big pockets are a huge plus. If you lengthen or shorten the "skirt"  piece, don't forget to reposition the pockets  My Boho Shirt is made from two Cotton and Steel fabrics.

Then I thought, hmmm, this would make an adorable summer dress! And indeed it does...
This fabric is inexpensive cotton from Joanns and I rather like it! I'd love to make another from a drapier fabric, maybe an Art Gallery which is softer. But this one is totally wearable! Again, I lengthened the "skirt" pieces (these are cut at 27" X width of fabric). 

And here's your bonus tip of the day. I always cut my garment pieces with a rotary cutter. I seem to have more control over that than scissors. Probably because, despite being left handed, I scissors cut right handed. The rotary cutter I can use with my left hand. Anyways.... when I sew my garments I finish all possible seams with french seams. Every now & then, however, there's a seam that cannot easily be done this way.  When this happens, I dig out my pinking shears and trim the seam allowance to prevent fraying.

The other day I bought a pinking blade to put on one of my rotary cutters. (Ally & I were cutting bandanas for the dogs, haha, another story for another day). Anyways, I thought to myself, why not cut my garment pieces out with the rotary blade and save a step later on? Brilliant!

This worked perfectly! I'll be using this trick on all my future garments. Why didn't I think of that sooner???

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

inspiration day at the Dallas Museum of Art

Ally and her new buddy Malibu were home for a couple of days last weekend....
Malibu is Ally's new service dog. She is a beautiful, gentle dog & is so dedicated to our sweet Ally (and Ally is equally dedicated to her! It's a match made in heaven.) If you want to know more of Ally's story, she blogs over at Teaspoon of Sprinkles.

We decided to take a trip to the art museum while they were here. It was Mali's first museum trip and she did really well.
Ally tends to favor modern art. I enjoy it too!
This painting screamed "make me into a quilt" to me.
This looked like a giant drop cloth. Ha! pretty cool though.

It was a great day, and wore all of us (especially Malibu!) right out.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Luisa Crossbody Bag

Svetlana (sotak handmade) has done it again! Her newest bag pattern, the Luisa Crossbody Bag is my new favorite bag. (I know, I know, I say that EVERY time, but this time I mean it!
I always feel like I've hit the jackpot when I get to pattern test for Svetlana. Her patterns are so well written and easy to follow. Her bags have awesome details and always finish very professionally. This one is no exception!

I find I always learn something new when I make her bags. This one has an adjustable strap, which I assumed would be tricky to do. I shouldn't have worried! As always, the instructions were clear and simple and my strap worked perfectly the very first time.

You can see the bag has a hidden zipper pocket on the front
And two slip pockets on the back (perfect for cell phone and keys)
Open up the recessed zip top
And you'll find another zip pocket in the lining! So many great details
The pattern is available now in Svetlana's shop. She even has a discount deal today! It's a winner.... hop on over there and get yourself one!




Thursday, July 6, 2017

Tiny Plants Pattern

The pattern for my Tiny Plants mini quilt is now for sale on Craftsy! I hope to put some more of my patterns there for sale soon. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

ironing board cover

As I showed in my last post, my ironing board was seriously in need of a new cover. I bought 2 yards of this cute cotton fabric CHEAP at Joanns (because seriously, I'm just going to trash it, right?) and set right to work.
I'm mostly documenting this here for my own future reference (although I will undoubtedly forget it is here & recreate the wheel anyways. oh well). 

When hubby helped me create my ironing station, we staple gunned the batting & original cover to the top board. I planned to make removable covers down the road.

I cut a piece of fabric, 67" x 25" and rounded the corners (fold them all together & use a small plate)
press under 1/4" all the way around, then press under again, 1/2". 
Stitch it down all the way around, forming a casing for the elastic. Don't forget to leave an opening at one end!
Thread the elastic through (I used about 3 yards). You can stitch the ends together when you get the fit you want. I'll be honest, I just tied mine in a double knot! It goes under the board & you can't see it anyways.

Stretch the cover over your board, tighten up the elastic & poof! you're done.

I wonder how long I can keep this pretty cover clean and pretty. Any bets?
This is my first finish in the third quarter of the Finish-a-long.... took about an hour!






Sunday, July 2, 2017

finish-a-long Q3 goals

I love linking up with the finish-a-long each quarter! It really nudges me to get things done. This quarter I'm going to start off with something that has needed to happen for a while now. My ironing surface is a mess! I need to make a new cover for it...
I bought this bright & pretty fabric yesterday and this WILL get done pronto!
I have two baby quilts that need making. Here's my fabric pull for Fancy Fox, which has been in my pattern stack for ages...
And these charms cut from my stash for another baby quilt...
Every quarter I debate whether to add this next WIP to my list. Well I'm going for it! I've been working on the New Hexagon quilt for more than 2 years and I need motivation to get this done! Thanks to encouragement from my friend Chantal, I have all of the hexies made and the joining process is well under way...
Good thing I laid them all out today, seems I made a mistake on that last row I joined! I need to remove the triangles on the left end and add another hexie to the right. Easily fixed...
So that's it. Four projects for Q3. I think I can, I think I can.....

Linking up here