Tag Archives: sewing

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 …

 

 

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?!

exhibit a:

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…or how do I get myself into these predicaments ?

 

exhibit a 8x5

 

See these?? These are the piles that have taken up residence on my work table…no, now these piles have nothing to do with my 4 boxes and 2 bins of fabric that are already in residence in the studio (that were supposed to be cleverly sewn/stashed/gifted down to two bins by *sigh* the end of last year) no, these piles are the result of my children conning me into pj pants, my girlfriend finding a steal on fabric pieces and a “can’t resist” sale at the fabric store…

exhibit A:  a stack of too fabulous and super duper cheap to resist fabric pieces from our last foray into Zimman’s Fabrics… next to last on the pile is 3/4 yard of beautiful blue print cotton which is slated to be a cushion for the comb-back windsor chair in the front hall…

evidence:  super-cute snowman fabric for red-bench pillow, orange cotton fleece on clearance for pants for gwen, two pieces of cotton knit on sale to experiment and make tops for myself

exhibit B:  Lily’s stack of fabrics from last week’s raid on Jo-Ann fabrics.  Her pj pants are halfway up her legs so it’s definitely time for new cozy ones…but somehow “pick 2 pieces of flannel” turned into 3 pieces of flannel and one piece of fleece.

look here:  Gwen’s stack of fabrics, same particulars as exhibit B above.

Obviously, this week…it’s a sewing week… otherwise I won’t see the top of my table until spring.  (arrow stamps are from Splendid Fiins Evidence Arrow Stamp and Brush set #2)

Go!

What projects are stacked up on your table this week?