Sophomore Style Update

Now that he's fifteen, D2 has become more style conscious.  Not a slave of fashion.  He's decided on his own thing, which I appreciate.  It's not necessarily the most convenient.  Non-blue jeans and V-neck shirts can be found.  And it was fun to sew him this overshirt from some of Grandma O's material.

But he wanted a new jacket, too.  And didn't like anything available on the department store websites.  Luckily, he did like the Forester Coat pattern from Twig + Tale.

He chose a tan suedecloth for the outside, and soft gray flannel for the lining.

And aren't these the most awesome buttons?  I used Extra-Strong thread to help them stay on.

He doesn't actually wear a jacket very often, but this will be ready for him whether he's going casual . . . 

or dresssing up.  And it was fun to sew!

Family Album Quilt

Grandma O loved family history, especially old family photos, at least as much as she loved quilting.  So it's no surprise that she wanted to put the two interests together.  She collected portraits of all fourteen members of this Swedish family, had them printed on fabric, and wanted to put them together with black-and-white prints to mimic an old photo album.  She told me about her plans, and seemed pretty excited about them.  But she didn't get to finish the project.  And she didn't leave a diagram behind.

Frankly, I was relieved when Grandpa O told me he'd passed this one on to a cousin.  But he brought it to me last Christmas.  Apparently the cousin's vision of the quilt was different than what he remembered of Grandma O's plan.  The cousin added blank frames between the photos to make a large quilt; he was pretty sure it was supposed to be a smaller wall-hanging.  And some of the siblings were not in correct age order.  So he asked me to fix it.

I labeled all the people, figured out where they should be, and started ripping seams.  At first I hoped to keep the black frames, but I found that they were not consistently sized, and sometimes not securely stitched.  I ended up replacing most of the frames.  I preferred the black-and-white sashing to the black-and-tan.  I sliced the black-and-white strips in half, and had just enough to surround each photo.  With the disassembly and my own mistakes, I think I used my seam ripper more than I ever have for a single project.

With fourteen pictures in a 4x4 layout, there were still a couple of spaces to fill.  But I felt like the blank frames gave an "empty chairs at the table" feel to the composition.  All twelve of these children lived to adulthood.  They are all accounted for.  So I made a title block, using the embroidery machine to stitch the family name and some Swedish-inspired floral designs.  I'm sure these designs were meant to be more colorful, but I stuck with grays and subdued colors, to match the quilt's color scheme.  I also embroidered the family members' names beneath their photos.  The girls had three given names each, like Grandpa O's musically named grandmother, Anna Wilhelmina Albertina.  The machine has a sufficiently small font, though, and every name fit.

As I recall, Grandma O wanted to try a pretty fancy method of quilting on this project.  I'm not ready for that, so I kept it simple with straight lines around the black frames.  Then I finished it up with binding and loops for hanging.  I hope Grandpa O enjoys seeing his ancestors on his wall.  And I'm glad I could help after all.

Christmas Quilt for Valentine's Day

A few years ago, Grandma O and I visited a local quilt shop.  A beautiful sample quilt caught her eye.  I admired it, too.  She made inquiries, and went back to the shop later to buy the lovely Christmas-themed fabric and the pattern.  She was already ill at that time, and I wondered if she would be able to make the quilt.

I have to admit this project was one of the things I hoped to find in her sewing room when she'd left it behind.  And I did, neatly bagged up.  The block pattern is basically a disappearing nine-patch.  Grandma O had sewn the nine-patch blocks together, and cut more squares for the border.  A year after I brought the fabric home (about a year ago, in fact--I guess I do quilts in January and February), I sliced the blocks up, rearranged them, and made new blocks.

I added sashing and borders.  I found some wide material for the back, and sandwiched it all up.  I used the walking foot to quilt along the sashing, then tried free-motion quilting inside the blocks.

That was hard.  Even when sewing on the big dining room table, the weight of this queen-sized quilt was difficult to work with.  I tried to keep the quilting simple, but I didn't make my big loops very smooth.  I should have practiced more before diving into a big project, but I was excited to quilt this blanket.  After I quilted the blocks, though, I was tired.  I contemplated trying a holly leaf pattern on the border, but I had to think about it first.  I also had some cloth for the binding, but wasn't sure if I really liked it.  And then some other projects came up that were more urgent, important, or interesting.  I set the Christmas quilt aside, with the vague notion that I ought to finish it before the next Christmas.

That certainly didn't happen.  Last Saturday I pulled it out again.  I decided that straight lines in the ditches of the borders would be fine.  And that the fabric I already had would make a good binding.  And even though, to my dismay, I found that I'd missed quilting two of the blocks, I sat down and finished it all that day. 

Now it's ready to keep us warm next December.  Though it does look nice with my chicken-scratch heart pillowcases, doesn't it?

Skirting the Issue

Every July the lovely ladies at Simple Simon & Co encourage sewists around the world to sew and donate skirts for girls in foster care.

I've watched their success for a couple of years now, and thought I ought to participate, but didn't get around to it.  This year I finally managed to contribute, by starting in June.

I chose some purple-based fabric from Grandma O's stash, and sewed up a range of sizes.  I don't have any girls' patterns around here, so I consulted LiEr's handy Skirt Cheat Sheet and size charts from Crafterhours and Project Run and Play to get it right.  With this flowery material I made one skirt in size 6 and two in size 5.

These stripes begged to be horizontal, so I made them into one skirt in size 4 and two in size 3.

 I even inserted hand-embroidered size tags.

I used a ruffler foot for the first time, to sew up this glittery little skirt.  Isn't it perfect for size 2?

I left all seven at the local foster care closet today, and I'm sure I'll never see them again.  I hope they make some little girls feel pretty, whatever their circumstances.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee . . . naked, and clothed thee?
 . . . And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.                                                                                                                   Matthew 25:37-40 

Stash to Treasure: Peasant Top

I found this lovely print in Grandma O's stock, and thought it would make a nice top.  The only problem--it was pre-cut into six fat quarters.  I would need to do some piecing for the front and back.  So I decided to decorate the seams with some lace. 

I pressed an edge under, and used a simple hemstitch to create reinforced holes.  Then I used my smallest crochet hook to force the yarn (CoBaSi in Curacao, left over from this sweater) through the holes, and slip-stitched along the edge.  Switching to larger hooks, I single-crocheted in every other slip stitch, then crocheted some decorative lace.

I used two patterns from The Finer Edge, by Kristin Omdahl.  I've returned the book to the library, so I don't remember their names, but I used this big fan for the front, and the smaller pearls for the back and sleeve edges.

After I sewed the decorated edges to the plain cloth, I cut the pieces according to Simplicity 1162, more or less.  I raised the neckline, which is a little complicated with raglan sleeves and  gathers.  And I did some less decorative piecing, since parts of me are a bit wider than a fat quarter.  (What does that make me?  A broad?)  I didn't have a long strip for the neck binding, so I used white bias tape to make an elastic casing inside. 

When I was crocheting the lace, the Caterpillar asked what I was up to.  I explained my ideas, and he was impressed.  "Everything you do is an experiment," he said, or words to that effect.  "You teach yourself five new skills just to make one thing."  Well, maybe not every time.  But this was fun to figure out, and I like my new top!

Stash to Treasure: Little Gifts

D2 and I had a couple of parties to attend last Saturday.  I enjoy creating, and really don't like shopping, so I made gifts for both occasions.  I was invited to a baby shower, so I sewed up this little outfit.

I started with the Baby Suspender Shorts tutorial from Crafting Zuzzy.  The 0-3 month size was just right to cut out of a pair of navy blue size 8 boy's dress pants.  Luckily, there was only a hole in one knee.  The pants had four buttons, just like the pattern called for--except that one was bigger than the others.  I found some matching buttons in my jar, harvested from some other pair of pants, I guess.  Then I grabbed one of the Onesies from Grandma O's stash, and dressed it up with a necktie appliqué.  I knew those little straps would fall off without some help, so I added matching loops to the shoulders.  

D2 was invited to a birthday party for a girl in his class.  I always ask, "What do they like?"  And the answer is always "I don't know."  But there was a clue--the invitation to the roller-skating party was decorated with a dolphin photo.  I've never seen a dolphin roller skating, but I decided to send one to the party, anyway.

I used the Playful Dolphin pattern.  Unlike in most amigurumi patterns, the pieces are crocheted flat, then stitched together.  I was a little confused about the directions before I figured that out, but things went well after that.

The dolphin is actually a nice medium blue and white, and the turquoise ball has a fluffy pink stripe.  D2 chose the colors from yarn I had on hand.  I enjoyed making these gifts--I hope the recipients enjoy them, too!

Makeover

Shortly before Christmas, 2013, I sewed myself a skirt.  It was very simple: rectangles of lace and fabric, with an elastic technique I hadn't tried before.  I wore it to church, but I didn't like it.  The elastic idea was not suitable for this project.  I added a casing later, but I still wasn't happy with the skirt.

The experience was not wasted.  One reason I sewed the skirt that way was was that a friend had asked me to sew her daughter a tulle skirt along the same lines.  I learned some things, and the tulle skirt turned out much better.  It also looked much cuter on a 15-year-old than this did on me.  The red skirt languished in my closet until this week.

It was time for a makeover.  I decided to use a favorite old skirt pattern, Simplicity 9696.  (It's just a classic pencil skirt.  Why do these patterns go out of print?)  I updated the fit (using techniques I learned from this book), and cut it out of the old skirt, lining first.  I basted the lining, and had Dandelionslayer mark a hem line.  Then I removed the basting stitches, and used the markings to line up the pattern pieces on the lace.  I still wanted to use the border of the lace for the lower hem.  This resulted in the lace layer flaring a little more than the lining, but I like it this way. 

I found just the right zipper from Grandma O's stash, and finished it off.  This time I am happy with my new old skirt!

Christmas Crafted

I hope you had a merry, relaxing Christmas.  We did.  I had a hard time getting ready this year.  I didn't have much in the way of plans early on.  Once I had ideas, I also got distracted with a quite different project.  But I did craft a few gifts.

On the phone one day, my sister Vae said, out of the blue, "I need to get a door snake."  Once I oriented my mind to what she had said (Door?  Snake?), I thought I could do that.  So here's her snake, demonstrating its usefulness.

Thinking LaBeq's apartment could do with some draft prevention as well, I sewed her another snake.  They proved difficult to wrap, so I whipped up some bags with these Christmasy panels I'd found in Grandma O's stash.

I took breaks to crochet gifts for a baby shower (I used this pattern for the flower and this pattern for the booties) . . .

and a birthday party for a Pokemon fan.  I mostly used this pattern, but modified it for the chunky yarn I had on hand.

I machine-embroidered these towels for my mother,

and these washcloths to go to some friends with this jam.  I admit that I actually did think way ahead on the jam, but I did the cloths on the spur of the moment.

This, however, was my big project:  Knight Hoodies for all four boys.

Since I ordered the main fabric on a Black Friday sale, this endeavor included planning, waiting, and last-minute sewing.

This is the first time I've downloaded a PDF pattern.  Taping and tracing were just as tedious as I'd expected.  Of course, I would have traced a paper pattern, too, to make the different sizes. 

Other frustrations were more my fault.  I bought just enough fabric, and had to get creative to get all the pieces in.  The ancient laptop that displayed the instructions kept switching off, until I thought to remove the battery.  And there was too much time between measuring the boys and tracing and cutting--I started doubting that any of the jackets would fit.

But they all do.  And the boys love them!  So it doesn't matter that I didn't get the pajamas made, and hopefully no one minds that I didn't bake quite so many cookies this year.

My Christmas crafting was a success!