knittedgems

Archive for the ‘Sewing’ Category

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A New Chair Cushion

In Home, Sewing on January 25, 2012 at 7:00 am

In addition to repainting all the kitchen cabinets a lovely shade of turquoie, I have started to sew a slip cover for this chair.

It came with the house. I didn’t pick that fabric out.

When removing the current cover on the seat cushion, I noticed the horrible yellow staining and massive deterioration. Thus, the first step was to make a new seat cushion.

Of course, Elly helped.

First, I cut out a new cushion from the giant roll of foam I ordered from Joann. (I used a coupon to cut the price way down). Next, we decorated the foam with markers.

Afterwards, I wrapped the foam in two layers of low loft batting and then whip stitched it closed.

The difference is amazing. This might be the most comfortable chair in our house now.

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Rag Quilt Story

In Quilts, Sewing on January 11, 2012 at 7:15 pm

The short and sweet story behind the rag quilt is embroidered on the label.


Hand-embroidered by Quilted Lovelies because I neither had the time nor the patience.

The long and detailed story can be found on my Elly Made blog.

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Missing Santa

In Sewing on January 9, 2012 at 12:20 am

Elly still talks about Santa and presents.

She was upset that we put away the Christmas decorations yesterday. She’s not the only one missing Santa.

I have an assembly line of stockings being made in my sewing room.
I found this fabric in my stash and it told me that it wanted to be a stocking.

When fabric talks, I try to listen.
Once I started cutting out the fabric for one stocking, I found more fabric that would look perfect hanging on a mantle.

Dan was surprised to learn that I was making stockings. We each have one. Elly has 2 stockings. My neighbor gave me 3 handknit stockings this year. What will I do with these stockings once they are complete? I don’t know. I refuse to worry about such trivial details.

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Permission to Root through Fabric is Granted

In Sewing on January 6, 2012 at 8:00 am

Elly’s rag quilt is in the dryer right now!

To celebrate, Elly and I are sitting in a mound of fabric.

Some of my favorites thus far:

A patchwork quilt just waiting for batting and backing fabric

This painted fabric

I’m thinking about making a tablecloth or two or better yet Roman shades

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Plan B abandoned

In Sewing on December 31, 2011 at 9:52 am

Piling fabric up on bookcase shelves is not a good idea. It’s hard to get the piece of fabric out from the middle of the stack without toppling the whole stack over. Besides, I couldn’t find the dark finish I wanted in the price range I was willing to pay.

Enter plan c.

Shuffling is still required. The books are being relocated to the end of the bed so the long wall can be dedicated to fabric storage and sewing notions.
The china cabinet remains too small for my needs. I have found what seems like the perfect fabric storage solution: cubes. Originally, these cubes were intended for closet storage so they should be great at storing fabric. Fabric is nothing more than unsewn clothes.

The best part about the cubes is that I can expand the storage by stacking more cubes on top when I run out of room, which of course will happen all too soon.

And no, that is not the new fabric. I am sticking to my rule of no new fabric until the rag quilt was finished. All this fabric came out of the china cabinet. A lot will likely have to go back in, but I am trying to put like fabrics together. The top left cube is material waiting to be sewn into aprons. First up is an apron just for me.

I am currently using the old Kenmore sewing machine because of Elly’s curiosity. My new sewing machine has WAY too many buttons for a little girl to press and cause trouble with. On the Kenmore, she can press the backward button as much as she likes and not cause any broken needles or frustration.

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Organizing Tons of Fabric

In Mother-in-law, Sewing on December 28, 2011 at 3:43 pm

Thanks to my mother-in-law’s generosity and amazing good luck, the guest bedroom/sewing room is in major need of an overhaul. This is the before shot:

The trash bags piled high on the bed are filled with fabric and notions. My MIL received the goldmine from a coworker who was moving to London. She didn’t want to pay the enormous shipping fees to send it overseas and would my MIL want it? “Heck yeah” answered my MIL as would any sane woman answer!

My current system of stacking the fabric in the china cabinet won’t work; there’s not enough room.

Enter plan b.

Plan b involves shuffling the bookcases, buying a new bookcase, and reorganizing my current stash of fabric and notions. It also involves finishing the rag quilt before I open the bags of fabric. I know me. If I open the bags first, Elly might have to wait another year before she sees her quilt.

Preserving Elly’s Baby Clothes

In Quilts, Sewing on August 22, 2011 at 2:29 pm

Unable to toss the clothes I handmade for Elly and even unwilling to donate them to another baby, including any 2nd child we might have, I had stored them in a rubbermade tote. It had been my intention to save them for the day when Elly decided to become a mother herself.

There were a few flaws with my plan.
1. Elly may choose not to have children of her own
2. Elly may bear only boys and frown against putting them in the dresses
3. I feel an incredible need to use the items we store in our house. If items are not used for a certain period of time, I donate them. Storing clothes – no matter how precious – for 30 years on the chance they might be wanted by Elly for her children goes against my policy. Not only could Elly very well not want them, unused items irritate me and I would have to hit myself over the head repeatedly to not throw them out in 5 years.

So, when I stumbled over the pattern for Audrey’s Keepsake Quilt on Etsy, I was thrilled. Here was the answer to my dilemma. I would use Elly’s handmade baby clothes to make an heirloom quilt. The clothes that took me so long to make for Elly would be preserved in a useful item. The quilt could be used by Elly now and could later be passed down to her children, which was part of my original hope. There is even enough room to preserve some of the receiving blankets we wrapped Elly in when she was an infant.

I am so excited to start cutting up the squares. My thanks to Sandra Saunders of Lullaby Lucy for such a great idea.

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Elly’s 1st Apron

In cooking, Sewing on July 10, 2011 at 2:15 pm

Elly loves to help me in the kitchen now. A step stool sits in front of the island so Elly can reach the countertop. Stirring is still difficult for her but she keeps trying.

Jake cleans up most of her spills. When she’s not stirring, she’s tasting. Often she ends up covering her face along with whatever she’s wearing in flour. Rather than change her clothes repeatedly and in turn have to do more laundry, I whipped her up an apron.

Full details about the pattern and fabric can be found on my Elly-Made blog.

Magnets and Hot Glue

In Sewing on May 25, 2011 at 8:00 am

I came across this tutorial on how to turn an ordinary dish into a needle nest.

What a great idea!

I searched my house until I came up with a dish that would work. Dan drove to Loews and then to Home Depot to buy me the magnets.

It took me 3 tries with my hot glue gun, but I got the magnets to stick.

Now I too have a pretty needle nest. Yay!

Updated Apron

In Sewing on May 20, 2011 at 8:00 am

I finished my 6th sewing project of the year and my 2nd Christmas gift (one can never start too early).

I cheated on this apron, since I bought the front side in a store. Full details can be viewed on my Elly Made blog.

I plan to take a break from sewing aprons even though I have 4 more ideas waiting in the wings and whip up some gadget cases. I just love quick and easy projects – at least they better be easy.

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