Tag Archives: sewing

Four boxes and two bins…part three

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Ah ha!  I see you can’t get enough of watching other people de-stash their fabric… well I have to admit, it’s much easier that working on your own …

This process has not been too too painful so far, so moving on to box three !

Again, apologizing for crummy blurry photo!

Again, apologizing for crummy blurry photo!

This seems to be my “fine fabric” box with all my woolen pieces …

Keeping

-Two pieces of Spanish Lace for Mantillas that my mother gave me…my father brought them back from his USMC maneuvers in Spain  one white, one black   *gorgeous*  no idea what I’m going to do with it.

-Beautiful linen cotton from Britex in SF  (2 1/8 yd / 60” wide) from a work trip where we managed an hour for fabric shopping… pulling this out to make a shirt this summer.

-2 yd 60”  wide red italian wool flannel…. card attached says 65 wo / 25 pa / 10 cashmere recycled….so soft and warm…have been saving to figure out the perfect thing to do with it !  and if anyone knows what “pa” is, let me know…I’m just assuming I’m going to be dry-cleaning the finished project anyway.

-5/12 yd 45” wide  black very fine worsted wool…  again, beautiful, can’t remember where I got it and not quite sure what to do with it…maybe a dress??  don’t wear dresses but there is enough for several things

-2 yd 65” wide grey wool flannel …. again, soft and warm…given to me by one of the gals I worked with at Hathaway in NYC many moons ago…she was cleaning out and knew I sewed and knew I would appreciate it.  Need to find just the right thing to make out of it.  (see my problem?!)

-2+ yards 60” wide black/grey wool suiting… I think this is from Britex as well….might have gone with the black worsted.  I think I was going to make a suit jacket out of this with pants and a skirt to match???  back when I worked in an office and people wore suits and pantyhose to work.

-2 yds taupe and 2 yds khaki worsted wool/blend bought at Fabric Place probably to make slacks…when I worked in an office…keep?  pitch??  hmmmmmm  will have to think about this one.

-lots of yards black satin backed flannel coat lining….I think I bought this to re-line a coat I don’t even have anymore (!) but I am going to keep it because it is really good fabric and I’m sure I”ll have to re-line something at some point so back in the box it goes.

The "keep" pile…will set this aside for winter sewing.

The “keep” pile…will set this aside for winter sewing.

Pitching

black “posh” fabric lining….I really can’t stand this stuff…I’ve lined lots of things with it and it’s hot and sweaty and heavy so I am not going to keep it.

That was almost too easy …

See the other posts in my 2014 Fabric de-stash series:  Box ONE  and Box TWO

What are you de-stashing these days??

 

 

Four boxes and two bins…part two

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Getting on a roll after a very successful purge of Box ONE (Here) so on to Box TWO!

Box2-before

sorry for the blur iPhone camera + night time + tiredness = blurry photos

Keeping:

Box2-smaller than 1 yd pieces

As it turns out, this is the box that has all my printed cottons/quilting cottons plus some “utility fabrics”.   There is a stack of cottons of 1 yd or less, some “fat quarters” some 10×10 pieces, will be good to merge these with the “fat quarter” collection that will eventually be housed in an Ikea dvd tower.

Box2-big cotton lengths

17 fabric lengths 1 yd or greater… all printed cotton, some 2+ yards or greater…can’t figure out how I ended up with quite so much maroon/dark red fabric.  Will have to think  on how I am going to use these up… could be summer pj’s / pj shorts, or maybe a top or two ??  Maybe a quilt/quilt back??  Glad I have photos to refer back to instead of digging through the box

Box2-utility fabrics

Utility Fabrics:  length of footie pajama “feet bottoms” that white nubby rubbery fabric that helps keep you from slipping… leftover blue jean pieces for patching… some small pieces of fabric from LR sofa pillows just in case??? … piece of orange fabric for Gwen’s lambie repairs.

Relocate

-The white sheet Charlie cut up for a “Charlie Brown” Halloween costume…need to move that upstairs to the costume box

Pitch

-a few small flannel scraps went in the trash, not enough to donate.

That was almost too easy …

 

 

Four boxes and two bins…part one

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Fiber fun, Handmade, Sew this by

Or, the fabric stash clean out… Continue reading →

Pajama Pant Party…

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Awhile back, I posted about the stacks of fabric needing to be magically transformed into projects.   I am happy to report that I managed to complete 9 pairs of PJ pants…plus one.  Yes, I am insane, 10 pairs of pj pants.  I suppose technically they were 3 pairs of fleecy/sweatpants and 7 pairs of pj bottoms…. but 10 none the less.

studio pix

yes, this is what it looks like “in process”

The girls had picked out 3 flannel fabrics and a fleece fabric each.  As I was going through my stash (another post for another day) I found a big piece of flannel so I could make pants for Charlie and a length of orange cotton fleece that I had bought on sale to make Gwen something.  Since the pants for the girls would all take the same pattern, and it’s the same assembly routine for all the pants, I decided to go for it and make them all up at once. I sewed in two batches, two of the fabrics were on the light side so I made those up with cream thread and the rest were in black, this saves me having to re-thread my serger for each color.

puzzle pants

When I have a number of the same things to make, I do all the operations in batches.  I cut and mark everything at once, stitch all of the inner legs at the same time, press and stitch all the hems at the same time…you get the picture.  It is far more efficient to work this way than to complete one pant then start on the next one.

Each pant gets a ribbon "tag" at the center back so everyone knows front from back!

Each pant gets a ribbon “tag” at the center back so everyone knows front from back!

The bonus to this process is that when you’re done, you’re DONE.  And, I won’t have to sew pajama pants for awhile.  Of course, you will note there are no pants for me ;-).

a stack of cozy goodness

9 pairs of “cozy pants” as we call them.  They are growing leaps and bounds, hopefully this will hold them for awhile.  One last pair of pants…

fred and the orange pants

Of course, they need to be approved by the studio assistant.   On to the next stack of fabric!

 

 

 

 

 

A sewing jumpstart…

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photo

 

I will say that sewing is my first (craft) love.  I’ve been sewing since I was in about 5th grade when my grandmother bought me a sewing basket and helped me make clothes for my barbie…and I’ve pretty much never stopped.  Sewing may take a backseat to other pursuits, but never for long.  Tonight I cut out something for *gasp* myself!  A super simple top that (theoretically) will be quick to make.  Sometimes you need a jump start to get back in the groove.  I think I burned out on 10 pairs of pajama pants, and I’ve got stacks of fabric that need to be transformed into things to wear and use and boy do I need to get on those projects!  So here’s to a jumpstart and a cute new top!  Oh and yes, I did finish the pj pants…post on that coming!

What projects do use as a jumpstart?!