Happy 2016

Getting ready for 2016....I have been very industrious this last year. Orders for my screen printed bags went up to about 100 a month through the summer. For the Holidays I sold about 800 bags. That can be a little hard on the arms screen printing all those bags. This last year I also had the chance to sew more. I feel really lucky to have a decent sewing area, it's a little cold during the winter months, but we are working on that. I would like to get a dehumidifier the space since it's in the basement but really I have not had a problem since I have a small space heater that keeps the area at about 65. I also put up curtains and tapestry to keep the heat in the small area that I actually work the most. People who lived in large castles used tapestries on the walls to keep warm back in the day, though I do not have any large beautiful tapestries I do have some nice heavy fabric and curtains to close off my sewing area. 
Anyway for the Christmas I made my husband another Colette Negroni from some Pendleton wool that I bought a couple years ago at the outlet store in Pendleton Oregon.

 I was able to get about 12 yards of wool fabric for less than $100. I was very happy to score such a deal. In 2013 I made 2 shirts from some of the grey wool..one for my husband and one for my father-in-law.

There are several things that I made this year that I was was very proud of:

All the bags I made for Christmas from fabric I had collected over the years. The Red Fox quilt that is for some friends who are expecting their first baby in April of 2016, the Alabama Chanin Skirt that I printed and sewed while camping, the A line dress from Alabama Chanin...WITH POCKETS & the western shirt from a really lightweight gingham...it fits perfectly.
There are also a couple of other things such as all the pants I made for my husband this year. It was great to learn how to make pants and make something that he would wear everyday. Next I want to make myself a pair of jeans. My goal this year is to make me a comfortable pair of jeans and a few more pairs of leggings. Of course there will be several more quilts made as my husband bought me the couple of really cool quilt patterns from Oh Fransson…the sasquatch quilt pattern and the kitty pattern. 

A couple of dresses & a shirt

I have been hopelessly looking for the perfect dress for years now. Something that is comfortable, easy to wear during the summer and winter. Of course something with pockets. I want something very simple in the design, that will show off the fabric.  For a long time I drooled over these dresses at Tumbleweed in Portland. They are all very cute, simple lines and beautiful fabric. Looking at the dresses I always felt that I could make one that would be perfect for me. I even had a dress that was very close to what I wanted, I bought it at a garage sale and wore it till the fabric started to give out at the underarms. I called it the summer Christmas dress because of the colors. I should just take it apart and make a pattern from this dress, but for some reason I keep thinking that I will find a pattern that would be just perfect. 

When I first saw the Dottie Angle Dress Simplicity 1080, I thought this is it. But I had some problems when I made the first one, I might have made it too small. I believed the finished measurements thinking that I would make it a little more form fitting by making a medium. It does fit but I have a feeling I will rip out the seam under the arm the first time I wore it and was too active...like gardening. So I made another one this time I made a large. It was a little too big, the arms gaped and it felt like and looked like a potato sack. I had a friend over watching me make the dress and we decided to cut off the strange flap of the sleeve, thinking that a sleeveless dress would be nice, we also put in bust darts because it looked like it needed them when I tried the dress on. This did not improve the drape of the dress. The fabric was a quilting cotton so it did not drape as nice as I thought it would. Of course after a couple of washings it may loosen up. I like the fabric and I have not give up on this dress or the pattern. I just have to find the way this pattern will fit me. I may need to adjust the darts or try something different with the sleeves.

The next pattern I found that I thought would be great is from "A Verb for Keeping Warm" called Endless Summer Tunic. I really liked the simplicity of the dress and it had pockets. Well after the making two dresses that I felt were fails, at least for now, I decided to try the Endless Summer Tunic. It's a very simple layout and really the directions are very simple, thought I would like some illustrations as I'm a very visual learner. I used thrifted sheet to make a muslin. I liked the dress but when I was done I tried it on and Oh WOW it was short. I also think I need to make it one size larger. That seems to be a theme for me right now...one size larger. Maybe I will get someone to actually take my measurements so I can get this right. Interesting enough while I was looking for other images of the dress I found a blogger that made one of the Endless Summer Tunics in the Alabama Chanin Style.  I can't wait to try the pattern in a knit. 

Which brought me back to my favorite pieces of clothing...anything from Alabama Chanin. I had made one of the long sleeve shirt a year or so ago...that was a fail..I used some very strange jersey that had very little stretch. I decided to try it again as I really love loose long sleeve shirts in the winter. They are great under sweaters. I had bought what looked and felt like a tissue jersey at a resale store. I started to hand sew the shirt together but the thin material was almost impossible to work. The seams looked terrible all bunched up and very fragile looking.  So I took out what I had already sewn and used my serger to make the shirt. I used a rolled hem on the neck line and along the bottom of the shirt. It's very thin fabric and I will see how it lasts. I struggled the entire time with this material,  I believe the reason this 2 yards of material was at the resale shop was because the grain was off. But we shall see, for now I have a simple undershirt to wear this winter. I have a couple of things coming from Alabama Chanin that I bought at the Orange and Black sale last week, I can't wait to start another hand sew project. 

An Art Show, some more bags and a book

My neighbor is very talented. She has a show up in the gallery at Powell's Bookstore. She does some amazing detailed drawings. Her theme often has cats in what looks like underground environments. The show is called Curious Nature and is up till the end of April. Check out her cute tote bags, the cat is wearing a backpack and carrying a map. She details the bags with puff paint on the cat's eyes and the map. They are very cute and only $15, which is quite inexpensive for an original piece of art.   

 Yes, I'm hooked on making these bags. I made 3 bags using Violet Craft's fabric line called Waterfront Park.  One of the fabrics is line drawings of Portland Bridges. I really loved the fabric and because my husband & his best friend like to climb bridges I bought several yards of the bridges. I made a shirt for my husband but he thought it was too uptight...so he gave it to his best friend John Law who is a bridge tender down in San Francisco. Since I have scrap of the fabric I made several of these cute little triangle pouches. I added a Portland Oregon specific crushed penny to the zipper. Now that's a cute souvenir of your trip to Portland. 

Last week I received my copy of the latest Alabama Chanin book "Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns". This book includes all of the previous patterns published in Natalie Chanin's books as well as 4 more garments. The thing I like about this book is all the patterns are on a CD, I can take it to my local printer and have the patterns printed out. There are also great suggestions for variations on her patterns. Things like adding pockets, adding pipping, altering waist lines & busts, adding a color strips to hem lines as well as several other great tips. There are also new stencil patterns, one of my favorite is called New Leaves. I can't wait to get that stencil made so I can make a skirt or dress made for the summer. 

One of my favorite craft thrift store is Scrap. They recently moved from my neighborhood to the other side of the river. The good thing is they have expanded.  Last week I finally went to see the new store. It's a lot larger then the old space and it looks like it's more organized, thought that may be because they just moved...so it's still clean and new looking. The fabric area is well kept there is room to walk around the shelves and there is a nice area for you to sort through all the things you have picked up, you know when you get excited at all the cool things and pick up a lot more then you need..then you need to filter it all..because you really don't need all the stuff..but you might!. I bought some really nice Hawaiian fabric, though it was printed in China. I also found some large interesting wool scraps with ice skaters and trees, some nice checkered fabric and a cute little wash board. I came home with about 6 yards of fabric and a few knick knacks all for less then $30. 

My lilac tree is in bloom, I have 4 lilac trees in the yard. This is the only purple one, all the rest are white. This purple lilac has some really large blooms and it smells wonderful. SPRING IS HERE!!!!

Leggings

 I made another pair of leggings, It makes me sooooo happy because I have also found the perfect stitch on my server to make these leggings. It stretches nicely and holds the seam. It takes me about 1 hour from start to finish to make these leggings.

I have come to love this way of installing a waist band. You stitch the elastic down on the top of the band, the roll it down and stitch it again along the bottom. I added the blue piece of material so I tell at a glance which was the back. I think I will go back to the non-rolling elastic. The elastic I used on this pair was too stretchy & it may not provide the same staying power of the non-roll elastic. It's alway a test when sewing with materials that you get a thrift stores and estate sales. Though I love this pattern and would suggest it to anyone that asks. I want to try screen printing on the bottom of the next pair of leggings..oh yea there are more of these in my future. 

I bought a scooter a couple of years ago, we were going to make it into a rolling cupcake. It proved to be a little too large. It was about 5 ft long which would make the cupcake too large to store and we would need a trailer to move it. So my husband took about 18 inches out of the middle of the thing and then welded it back together there is a very study metal bar running down the center of the scooter). It's a little hard to ride if you have long legs but it's a work in progress. We are thinking of making a costume type of cover so the base can be interchangeable with different costumes. 

Making a shirt for someone for christmas. The burgundy fabric is from Pendleton Woolen Mills, it was a nice large piece in the scrap bin, it looks like a linen wool blend...but I'm not sure so I'm treating it like wool. That means I will have to wash it in cold and line dry the shirt. I'm in the process of putting it all together, I have the cuffs left. I should have it done in the next day or so. I will more then likely use snaps for the front closure as the recipient really likes snaps instead of buttons. I like to use a fun matching novelty fabric to add hidden details in the shirt. I have made about 5 of the Negroni Shirts so far, mostly for my husband...a couple for my father-in-law. They are always a hit and once you have made one...it's easier the next time. 

Out cat Sid sitting on the fence waiting for something to move in the night.