Maybe not a new idea, but new to me

I was cutting the small corner squares for the new wall quilt I’ve started, and I was concerned over the waste of the dog-ears that will be cut from the corner. I’d lay a 3″ color square right sides together with a 5 1/2″ white square, and sew from the color corner to corner, then cutting off a decent-sized piece of fabric. Not very big, to include in a stash busting quilt, but far too big to throw in the trash.

It hit me that I should make tiny half-square triangles from the dog-ears. I can’t be the first person to think of this.

I did a trial run. I sewed the first seam, then moved to the outer edge 1/4 inch to sew a second seam. I cut between the two seams and pressed toward the darker fabric. I can use the blocks for a different project altogether, or I can incorporate them into this wall quilt as a border or something.

DAY 28 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE

But you can only use one at a time…

I know it has been a few days since I’ve posted. I have been working in the sewing room, just nothing very exciting so I didn’t post about it. I hemmed some pants, designed a paper piecing block that represents a sewing machine, and made a mini wall quilt for myself. That wall quilt is now my Gravatar and it hangs over my sewing machine.

I have a new project to start with a short deadline, so I decided to do a little cutting for it today. I cut white cotton into squares, 5 1/2 inches per side. The person this is for (cannot say, it’s a surprise) likes different shades of blues and browns.

On two opposite corners I will sew a triangle and when it’s together, it will resemble a twisted star. You’ll just have to trust me on this if you don’t believe it. I managed to get 45 white blocks cut and I located all the reasonable fabrics from my scraps that I will use for the corner points.

I’ll be on a vacation trip, beginning this week, so I may not be posting unless from the trip.

And the reason for the post title: I counted all the sewing machines that I own. First, in my defense, let me say that it’s addicting to pay so little at an auction or garage sale for a machine that I value so highly. For many, I paid only $15 or less, and several in the $3-10 range. Okay, out with it, I have 15 sewing machines. Makes you wonder what my house looks like, doesn’t it? In my sewing room itself, I have a non-working Elgin in a cabinet that holds up my stereo so I can have music as I work. I recently put up for sale two of the Singers: a 401 Rocketeer in a cabinet, and a 1923 model 127 in an art deco cabinet. I have the Singer 306W built into a small table, the new electronic Singer Professional 2010, and the Brother small home embroidery/sewing machine.

Singer 401

Singer 127

On the upstairs landing I have two treadle machines, both Singer, but neither has a cabinet or table. I haven’t bothered to see if they work. I have two other treadle machines, one has been electrified with a pedal bolted to the treadle pedal, and I have a Wheeler and Wilson. I have Kenmores in the dining room (being side tables) and one in the guest bedroom (ditto). I have been in “purge” mode for a while now, so in addition to the ones I have listed for sale, I’ll see if I can give away (non-working) or sell more of the others.

DAY 27 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE

Tutorial: Sew a business card holder

If I can make something, I don’t see the sense in buying it. I needed a business card holder, and so I set about figuring out how to make one of fabric. The shape is like a folded strip, with a front lip that holds the cards in, a bottom edge that determines how many cards fit, a backrest for the cards to lean against, and a support leg to hold it upright.

First, I looked through my stash. I would need a fabric that says “quilt” to people, and I found this cute heart blocks fabric in really bright colors. I found a scrap of fusible stiff interfacing, and my ribbons.

Measure two pieces of fabric approximately 5 inches wide by at least 8 inches long.

Fuse each on the back side with interfacing.

I wanted the front lip of the business card holder to have the design facing upward, so the fabric for the back side of the item has the design upside down. You’ll understand why as we go, and if it doesn’t matter with your pattern, disregard this.

Place the two pieces of fabric with right sides together. Measure and mark your sewing lines on the back. You will basically sew a square with two openings. The shorter sides are 4 inches in this sample, and the longer sides are 7 3/4 inches. I determined this because I wanted the front lip and the bottom edge to each end up at 1 inch, and the backrest and support portions each should be 2 1/2 inches finished. I added 1/4 inch three times for topstitching.

Cut two lengths of ribbon to 2 inches, and two lengths of ribbon to 3 inches. These will help support the framework and keep the business cards from sliding off the side. Place them in the seam lines so the shorter lengths are on the left and right sides of the very front portion. Caution: Don’t sew them to the outside as shown! I did this and had to clip threads and do it correctly! You need to have them sandwiched between the right sides of the fabric. Use this photo as *placement* only. Place your longer ribbon lengths so they come out at the back edge, which is the support of the card holder.

Sew around the edges, leaving an opening on both sides where the section is next to the support section. (the second of the two larger sections)

Trim seams, clip corners, turn right side out.

From the front edge where the shorter ribbons are, fold up 1 inch and topstitch.

From the back edge where the longer ribbons are, fold back 2 1/2 inches, topstitch.

There is one more topstitching seam, 1 inch from the front topstitched seam, and 2 1/2 inches from the back topstitched seam. Fold up and topstitch.

You have the basic shape made. Tuck the ribbon ends into the opening and pin. Both the front ribbons and the back ribbons will go into the same opening.

I used quilting thread and a sharp needle, and stitched the opening closed on both sides, taking care to catch the ribbon for the full length.

Press to shape with your iron, and fill with business cards.

Busy day

With the heat reaching upper 90s and the heat index even higher, I knew I didn’t want to be in the sewing room in the afternoon. It’s upstairs and heat rises, and the upstairs a/c isn’t working at this time. Ugh. Anyway, I decided to get an early start on things.I had two pages of the mystery quilt to work on. Thank goodness there was no cutting this time! I have no idea if all the cutting is finished, or if it’s just a couple of simple steps in a row. One step had me sewing a rectangle to a sashing strip, and the other had me sewing a light/dark combo to a light/dark/sashing strip. I ended up with what looks like a 4-patch with a sashing strip.

Then I decided it was time to alter some clothes. I bought two pair of cotton pants at a thrift store. One was my size but too baggy, and the other was too big and needed more than a little alteration. I’m pleased with how they came out. They are both a gingham check, one is a mossy green and the other is purple, though I’m sure it doesn’t show as purple in the photo. Here are the after pictures, on a hanger.

Later, in the dreaded hot afternoon, I had the brilliant idea to make a business card holder. I wanted something to make it simple for my business cards to be displayed in the toe ring boutique, and if I sew it, it will reflect the kind of work I do. Tutorial follows, and I hope you enjoy!

DAY 23 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE

Thrift store score, and 2 more purses done

The exotic book purse was almost complete yesterday, and I decided I needed a much different strap for it. While my mind was on other things, it occurred to me that a gold chain would be the perfect strap. I could even weave a colorful ribbon through it. Among my errands for this morning would be a stop at the local thrift store to see what I could find.

I should have taken a photo of the store, it’s totally crammed with goods. I pawed through the belts hanging on 6 large nails on the wall, but knew it would be nearly impossible to find the location of the correct belt to pull it out of the mass. I considered taking every belt down so that I could take what I wanted and put the rest back, but I happened to glance downward. Under a rack of pants I saw a tub of belts. I pulled it to a spot out of traffic and pawed through that instead.

I like the webbing belts for straps, and the bonus of two D rings is very helpful. I scored these 4 belts for $2. The chain with the scarf woven through it was just what I imagined.

This is what I had when I quit working yesterday.

This photo shows how well the chain and scarf go with the book cover. I decided to use it as is, and not replace the scarf inside the chain.

In this case, I glued the ends of the scarf to the inside of the spine of the book, then I glued the rest of the book purse over it. After the glue dried, I tied a knot to the end link of the chain using each end of the scarf. I think it’s gorgeous!

Moving on, I wanted to get another book purse complete. I thought the lavender/teal paisly web belt would go great with this book cover:

I can see in my imagination that the purse part needs a great design on the fabric, such as burgers and shakes, or maybe something similar to Steak-N-Shake decor that patrons would immediately recognize. I set it aside to work on another time.

I pulled out the Labrador book. This has been a favorite of mine, and I am finally ready to work on it. I found a few belts that I thought would make great straps for this one, and I decided on the narrowest, tooled leather one. Looked like a leash or collar to me.

The chocolate brown fabric behind makes up the box portion of the purse, and I got so “into” the working of it, that I forgot to take a photo showing the inside cover fabric. It’s a great tan color, rescued from a man’s shirt. Here’s the book purse after concentrated work (and a little bit of sweat!).

Needless to say, these purses will both be listed on Etsy and also for sale at a boutique in Kansas City. I did a great day’s work today!

DAY 22 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE

Etsy success!

I just made my first sale on Etsy today. I love that I have to learn the whole process of acknowledging the sale, sending out the product, confirming payment, and all that. It’s a great feeling, and makes me want to make more and list it all.

Today I worked a bit on this book purse.

I chose a burgundy/gold upholstery fabric for the inside cover of the book, and a silky burgundy fabric for the box part of the purse. I edged the top of the purse in gold trim and lined it with white cotton. I added a magnet catch to the top of the inside cover and the very bottom of the purse, so it’ll stay closed. Sewing stalled when I wasn’t happy with any strap choices I had on hand, and could not easily come up with what I want to use. When I get back to working on it, all that is left to do is attach the strap and glue down the fabric to the covers.

DAY 21 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE

Free for a limited time!

A tutorial for my book purses (my own design) has been requested, and those of you waiting for it have been rewarded. For a limited time, you can download a FREE copy of the pattern for my top-opening, box-style book purses. Click the link below to open a window and you can then save to your computer or print yourself a copy. Please note that the pattern gives you permission to create these purses for yourself or to give as gifts, but not to sell.

Book Purses

If the link no longer works, you may go here to purchase the pattern in my Etsy store.

When the room gets messy…

When the sewing room becomes a mess, it means I have been working hard. It also means I’m not paying attention to my environment. I know that organization makes the sewing go so much faster. Take, for example, my search for a zipper for the pillow I made last week. I knew I had a small box with several zippers in it, hoping to find one long enough to use for the pillow cover. I ended up making it a fold-over instead of a zipper closure. Sure enough, the next thing I did was to come across the zipper collection.

I spent about an hour to begin with today, moving, sorting and putting supplies away. I have a great start to fantastic organization, but somehow I just don’t keep up with it by putting everything away between projects. Not cool.

Afterward, I got the urge to complete the seashell evening bag I started yesterday. I had glued the side gussets to the book cover, and needed to figure out what I was going to do about the handles. I finally came up with three holes in the book cover. I threaded gold-covered thread through the hole twice, and dangled a gold-tone teardrop bead at each site. The thread then looped over the wooden handle and tied near the hole in the back, to be covered by the final fabric part of the purse. With all the wet glue that needs to set, I found an appropriate sized book to insert in the purse, closed the cover, and laid heavy books on top. Now set, here is how it looks, for sale in my Etsy store.

Seaside Date Evening Bag

I wanted to start another book purse, and got this lovely specimen out.

I adore the patterns and colors on the cover. I started cutting away the pages and I lost all interest in continuing. I will, another day, but today I was already done for.

I have an appointment with a boutique owner in a little over a week, and I hope to have plenty of lovely book purses for her to stock her shelves with. Can you imagine coming across the collection in a retail center? I have about 12 purses at this time, and hope to have at least 4 more by then.

DAY 20 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE

The Pledge to Refashion

The Pledge

I, Quilt in Progress (Donna), pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of “new” manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed Quilt in Progress (Donna)

This will not be difficult, I’ve shopped thrift stores for quite a long time. I did recently purchase some new items (shorts and capris), but only because I couldn’t find adequate things in the thrift stores, and this is not something I want to sew for myself. Since then, of course, I found items in a larger size that I can cut down and use quite satisfactorily. My thrift store shopping began when I was gaining weight and didn’t want to commit to a larger size for myself. I figured if I spent an average of $2 per item, I could have “new” clothing in my “temporary” size. I always intended to lose weight. That “temporary” size has only increased since I’ve been thinking this way, and I lately found out medications had a lot to do with it.

Now, I ‘m on different medications, and as a teacher with the summer off and time on my hands, I have no excuse not to exercise, workout, and lose a bit of this weight. I’m handy with a sewing machine, and I think I can make bigger items of clothing into smaller ones,  no problem.

Shopping means more fabric

It always does, I can’t help it. Well, of course I can help it, but when it’s so darn cheap at the thrift stores, I don’t want to stop myself.

Yesterday, Monday, I had plenty of errands to run for the camping trailer. I was able to squeeze in visits to two thrift stores that are favorites of mine. Here’s part of the haul:

This was the contents of a bag for $1.99. There are scraps of corduroy in 5 different colors, a bit of velour, and a heavy fabric print, all of which can go to make great book purses.

I found two Halloween prints (one is Debbie Mumm, though I don’t pay much attention to the names in the selvages), one tiny gingerbread men print, a crackle paint texture print, and a great floral. All were $1/yard and I’m sure at that price I can find plenty of uses for them.

Shopping also means books! These are the books I picked up to make purses out of.  The two in the foreground were irresistible! The exotic print was what I found after taking off the dust cover, and the ideas for the purse are already swimming in my head. the small photo album with shells on the cover will make a great evening bag, and I’ve already started working on it. I added a length of chain with seaside charms, and started choosing fabrics.

It was my intention to take enough photos of the process to do a tutorial here on book purses, but I ran into some difficulty with the materials I chose. Hence, no tutorial today. I will soon, though. I love the concept of sharing my abilities with others that appreciate and want to do their own.

DAY 19 of the 50-Day Challenge