70's fabrics

   I thought I'd share some of the fabrics my mom gave me recently when she found out I'd bought a sewing machine. They're pretty fabulous.
 
   The birds would work well with Girlonthrocks' home decor color palette. I fould a 70's era McCalls pattern for tank tops at the East Bay Depot, and I think I might try it with the yellow seersucker first.
 
   The safari print is my favorite, but I have sooo little of it. I'm going to have to think of something special to do with it.

Finally, my mom also turned up these stuffed animal patterns that are pretty damn cute. There's also a yellow duck. I'm in the process of scanning them to I can make them into iron-ons in the future. hmmmm. Perhaps I should do that with the safari print too.

Placemats sewn on the new machine

   Here is a picture of the first thing I sewed on my new sewing machine. Placemats! They are double-sided, with two layers of cotton and a layer of flannel on the inside. Using flannel instead of interfacing was a suggestion in the book "Bend-the-rules Sewing". Apparently it makes for a more fabric-like feel when its all done. Which I can attest to, though I've never used interfacing.

   All the pieces were sewn together and then I covered the edge in store-bought binding. They gave me a lot of practice on sewing binding and if you look closely you'll notice that the corners of the binding are different on each placemat. I think I like the last one I did best, which involves wrapping the binding around.

   Now if I ever clean the sewing stuff off my table I might be able to use them.

Cargo pants bag

At the Maker Faire swap over a year ago, I picked up a pair of boys cargo shorts with the idea of turning the pockets into a bag. Well I finally got around to it! I cut off the leg and ripped the hem to get a little extra material. This gave enough space to do a gusseted bottom. I lined it with red cotton duck, which is pretty stiff and helps keep the shape. The heavy duty zipper and belt/strap are both from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse (one zipper down, 231 to go). I've never made a bag like this before and I learned a lot about what not to do. For example, I sewed in the zipper before attaching the strap = difficult. I may make a tutorial for the second leg; that is, if that one goes significantly more smoothly.

The Snot Pocket

Today I finally did a project I've been meaning to get to for a long time, the snot pocket.  Handkerchiefs are cute, easier on your nose and less wasteful, but unfortunately you have to continue to carry them around after you've used them.  For these I sewed up a corner of the hanky so it will fold into its own pocket.  I can't wait to make more and with better hankies; these are cute and from Daiso, but have a gigantic weave.  I also kind of want a stamp or something to mark them as snot pockets.  

Snazzy iBook sleeve

Here's a great handmade christmas present I got from W. It is a flannel sleeve custom made for my iBook that replaces the old pillowcase.

East Bay Depot made me do it.

   So the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland has a gazillion little rectangles of necktie silk that they are selling for super-cheap. They are so nice and come in a ton of different patterns, I really had to be strict with myself about buying too much. I settled for three packages of eight rolls of ten rectangles for a total of 240 rectangles for $12. So what am I going to do with 240 rectangles of necktie silk??
   Well the first thing I needed to do was get a sewing machine. I asked my Aunt if she had one I could borrow and she pulled out this cute Singer Featherweight.


   I can't believe I told Abby it was about the same size as her's; when I got home it looked sooo tiny!















   So I made a little drawstring bag out of one rectangle (only 239 to go!)








   And today I made a tote bag out of two dishcloth using a pattern I found on What's that gonna be?. The only difference is that I joined the inner and outer dishcloths by sewing the gussets together instead of using fusing; and its still completely reversible. I like that the dishcloths are pre-hemmed, so you get to the fun sewing part right away. By contrast, the silk drawstring bag is really fiddly and probably took longer to sew than the tote bag.