Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Winding Twine



When my intangible work takes up most of my time, I really find myself craving the tangible.  So, this past year, when I didn't have much time to sew, I found a project that I could do a little bit at a time - while watching the kids or watching TV.  I had a couple of sheets that were the big kid's that had seen better days.  They were ripped and faded but I didn't want to throw them away.  In the condition they were in they were not suitable for giving away, nor were they suitable for making into clothes or quilts.  So, I decided to make twine.


Winding the twine is kind of meditative and satisfies my need to be doing something productive even if I don't have time to sit in front of the sewing machine.  And it is easy to do a little at a time.  I don't quite know what I will do with the twine when I finish - perhaps crochet it up into a basket, like this one?



This website had my favorite tutorial for making fabric twine, in case you want to make some too.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Kimono Slippers



 

Last week was Selfish Sewing Week and, while I didn't have much time to sew, I did manage to make myself a pair of slippers to keep my feet warm now that it is getting colder.

I followed the free pattern by Lauren E Fabrications, using a canvas fabric for the outer fabric, a fleece for the inner fabric, and a non-slip fabric for the sole.

 
Although the pattern was made for a size 9-9 1/2 and I wear a size 8-8 1/2, I was too lazy to modify it, so, after I was done, I just added a couple of pleats on the sides of each shoe near the heel to keep the slipper from falling off of my heel.


And now my feet are warm, cozy and comfortable!


Sunday, September 27, 2015

Lightning McQueen Letterman Jacket




I sewed my little guy a letterman jacket for fall using the pattern by Fairytale Pattern Designs (affiliate link).


The body is red and black sweatshirt fleece, with red ribbing for the cuffs, collar and bottom band.


The pattern doesn't call for a lining, but I wanted this jacket to be warm enough for fall, so I added a lining made out of gray jersey.


I appliqued Lightning McQueen's number on the back and a Lightning McQueen patch that I bought on Etsy on the front.


Unfortunately I did not notice the typo in the patch until after the jacket was complete.  Did you catch it?  I should fix it before the little guy learns how to read.


But, for now, he thinks his new jacket is perfect.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Toddler Play Purse



For my niece's 2nd birthday I decided to make her a play purse and phone with several different fasteners so she could practice her fine motor skills.  I was inspired by this one that I saw on Pinterest, but I decided to make mine with pockets and use what I had, which meant no buckles.


The front features one snap pocket and one button pocket as well as a velcro tab to close the top of the purse.


The back features a zipper pocket.


I made a toy iPhone to go with the purse.  It has clear vinyl on the front to mimic a screen and a single button.  I imagined the dots in the center of the screen would represent the icons on the screen.  Apparently it is all a little too abstract for my niece, though; my brother tells me she keeps trying to find a way to open it.


The interior has a pocket to hold the phone.

I hear that my niece has been carrying it around with her everywhere, so I guess it was a success!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

T-Shirt Quilt



Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt


I have been working on this t-shirt quilt for almost a year now, although I've probably been thinking about it at least twice that long.  I have been saving t-shirts for this project since the little guy started growing out of shirts -- about three years ago. I don't like to throw anything out that can be re-used in some way; in addition, t-shirts that the kids have worn are special because they have memories attached.  Many of the shirts in this quilt were worn by both boys.  Some were handmade by me and a couple were decorated by a cousin.

About a year ago I started cutting up these saved shirts and piecing them in to 12.5" blocks.  I didn't use any kind of interfacing, although I know you are supposed to to keep the shirts from stretching as your are piecing and cutting.  I wasn't really worried about wonkiness though.  Since many of the baby and toddler shirt fronts were less than 12.5" square I sewed pieces to the sides and/or top and bottom to get them to 12.5."  Up until a couple months ago I only had about a dozen of these blocks done since I haven't had much time for sewing since September.  But in the last couple months I have had more sewing time and have been working on this quilt whenever I get a chance.

I sewed the quilt together using a quilt-as-you-go method because I was worried that the lack of interfacing would make the whole thing too unstable if I tried to sew the blocks up into one big quilt top.  So, once I had my quilt blocks (I made 36), I layered each with a piece of fleece for the batting and a heather gray jersey knit (from a set of sheets) for the backing and trimmed them up together using a 12.5" ruler (affiliate link).  I found that when I smoothed the quilt block over the fleece that it needed trimming again to get it to 12.5" (that is obviously due to the lack of interfacing).  The t-shirt material tended to stick to the fleece a little bit which made the whole thing hold together pretty well, but I put four safety pins through all the layers in each block to make sure the sandwich stayed together and didn't shift too much.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - trimming the blocks

Once I had all my block sandwiches trimmed up I made binding tape out of solid flannel using my Clover 1-inch bias tape maker (affiliate link).  I used flannel because I wanted it to feel soft and warm, like the t-shirts, but not have the stretch.  I thought the feel of quilting cotton would be too much of a contrast with the t-shirts.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - making binding tape

I then aligned the raw edge of one strip of binding tape to the right edge of one of my blocks, with the right side of the binding tape to the front of the block.  I used another strip of binding tape on the back of the block with the right side of that strip facing the back of the block.  I held the whole thing together with Wonder clips (affiliate link).

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - joining the blocks

I then sewed the binding tape on right along the crease (1/2" from the edge).  I used long strips of the binding tape so that, as I got to the end of one block, I just slid another block in between the two strips of binding tape, making sure all the edges were aligned, and kept sewing.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - joining the blocks

After I finished sewing the binding tape to the right side of each block I cut the blocks apart and folded the binding tape from the back of the block out, so that the right side of that binding tape was now face down.  I then put that on top of the next block which was face down, so that the right side of the back binding was against the back of the next block. I sewed along the back binding along the crease.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - joining the blocks

Then I flipped the second block so that it was face up and folded the front binding tape over the second block's left side raw edges.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - joining the blocks

I topstitched along the right side of the front binding tape, making sure the stitching from the back binding was covered.  I used a bobbin thread that matched my backing fabric rather than my binding fabric because more often than not that stitching ended up on the backing fabric.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - joining the blocks

I continued piecing my blocks together this way until I had seven rows of blocks each.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - joining the rows

I then pieced the rows together the same way I pieced the blocks together, making sure that my binding strips were at least as long as the row.  At this point I realized I didn't have enough of the blue to complete the whole quilt, so I cut up some red and green to alternate with the blue for sewing the rows together.  I actually love the way this turned out.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt back


To complete the quilt I used a strip of binding tape made from navy blue flannel to bind the edges.  I sewed it to the back first and then folded it over to the front and machine stitched it down.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt - binding the edges

And then I was done!  A cozy soft quilt full of memories. The big kid has already claimed it as his own.

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt
The quilt finished up at about 62.5" by 87.5." With this method of quilting as you go, you don't lose anything in the seam allowances since the blocks butt up against eachother under the binding strip. It is a generous twin size quilt and should last us a while. Maybe one of the kids will even take it to college!

Tangible Pursuits: T-shirt Quilt

I have a lot of t-shirts left and have plans for more quilts to use them up. I think my next project will be a denim-backed t-shirt picnic blanket!
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