sew freakin' awesome

OK I admit it...

2009-05-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

I finished this quilt like a month ago -- pretty much a week or so after my post showing the quilt on my bed. But Lydia seized it and demanded its immediate presence on her bed. I was only able to (poorly -- sorry about the foreshortening) photograph it today because she reminded me that I had promised to sew a tag on it -- which I just did:

Of course I was harshly criticized and berated for doing this imperfectly and for not using my telepathic abilities to understand certain requests such as, "I want that one pattern with the two hearts but not just with the lines coming down" and also "I want the tag to be on the back of the purple farfalle fabric not off the lines of it like this!"

But somehow I have not yet been fired.

Look what a good job the longarm quilting ladies did in picking this little quilt pattern (my only specification was that it had to have hearts):

sew regal

2009-04-24T05:13:00.000-07:00

Check out Camellia's HOT new natural hair!

I have been telling her for years: Go Natural! You been swindled! You been bamboozled! Stop straightening your crown:

We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us!

(OK -- just kidding -- this really was her idea -- but doesn't it look HOT?)

sew over slings....

2009-04-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

and yet ... here is number THREE (with one more ordered) in less than a month!!! Ugh. How boring. I am only posting this one because I LOVE this fabric (and as you all know I am a fabric ho).

I used brown bias for the binding and contrast stitched it with some new teal thread I just got:

YOU look at it....

2009-04-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

... because I never want to see it again! This was the stupidest idea I ever had and it sucks. But here it is. And if you try to be positive and say that you think it looks nice, that's because you haven't seen me wearing it. Sew wah.

Oh and P.S. -- I'm still going to wear it anyway.

That's my new pact with myself. Even if something looks bad on me -- if I like the fabrics and think it would look good on a taller, usually thinner, person -- then I'll wear it anyway -- even if it makes me look frumpy.

We'll see how long this pact lasts.

another t-shirt...

2009-04-01T04:49:00.000-07:00

Isn't she seewwwwww cool?

yes, I made another sling...

2009-03-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

...and I'll probably have made 2 or 3 more before summer begins. It happens -- all these people reproducing and then looking at me sadly as if to say, "but you made so many for all those other people, and I'm your friend too.....".

This one is particularly special though. It's for Kathryn, and it is made from the double-sided dupioni sash that I wore as the maid of honor in her wedding. All I had to do was sew it around the rings and add a pocket (in this amazing hot pink silk that I could NOT resist.... it was like a beautiful slice of cake, sitting on that shelf in the fabric store...). Then I decided to go with black rings to bring out the shine of the silk:

and so I settled on a glass button (which is purely decorative, the pocket has a velcro closure).

I can't wait for the new baby to poop on the silk.

shirts

2009-03-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

I got this idea to make Lydia some cute t-shirts using up small pieces I had left of large-print fabrics from the Heather Bailey website. This first one happens to be a HB print, but I made another one from some Garden Party prints by Anna Maria. I'll post those when she wears them...

Finished!

2009-03-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

I got my strippy quilts back from the longarm ladies -- and they did an amazing job! I just finished binding mine, and now I am doing Lydia's (TBP = to be posted when done).

Check out the back:

they used a variegated blue thread and I backed it with a 600 thread count sateen so it can be used as a blanket, but also it could be reversed and have the white side facing up (though that would be hard for me, I admit).

For Stephen

2009-03-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

Okay -- after much frustration with the horribleness of this pattern -- it had about 2 whole sentences of so-called instructions with hand-drawn penscratch trying to pass for pattern illustration -- and after having ripped it out and re-sewn it not once, not twice, but THRICE: here is baby Stephen's hedgehog romper (his birthday is tomorrow :). But it turns out the pattern is actually very simple -- if only the instructions had not been written by a simpleTON. I am totally in love with this fabric -- it is a Japanese import --- look closely at the little mushrooms and creatures -- it's so cute. Also, this project gave me the excuse to buy a snap installer (or whatever you call it), and now I can use snaps on all manner of other items.

Enjoy.

sew distracted

2009-03-11T05:51:00.000-07:00

OK -- I have been off the radar lately -- but mostly because both my quilts were at the longarm place and now they have to be trimmed and bound before I can post pictures of them. BUT -- I got antsy in the midst of some longer projects (quilts, a coat and that freakin' degrade dress that is going to SUCK! but now I have to finish it) -- sewwwww.... I made a purse! it has one major problem, which is that the lining is too bunchy -- basically there is too much of the lining -- but I can't really fix that now and at least I can sort of hide it...

ruffle pants

2009-02-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

I just finished these for Princess Lydia -- I think this pattern is so cute. I used some Moda Fabric from American Jane -- I bought it almost a year ago because I knew I wanted to put it in some clothes for Lydia -- specifically as ruffles.

i finally did it

2009-02-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally cut into the degrade (sorry: I don't know what the accent grave key combo is; so it looks like I am writing the English verb "to degrade", rather than the French adjective). I serged the side-seams on the skirt and I am going to sew the tube and insert the elastic tonight after the kids are asleep. Then I think I have to hand sew the skirt to the t-shirt top, but I may be able to figure a way to machine stitch it. Open to suggestions on this one -- if you get em to me before I do something too drastic...

sew sorry....

2009-02-16T16:40:00.001-08:00

.... but I just couldn't help it. I had to post this even though it has nothing to do with sewing. (Well, I could have called it "Sew crabby")

sew random (random stuff)

2009-02-15T03:56:00.000-08:00

OK -- just because I haven't been posting, NEVER means I haven't been sewing -- of course. It usually means I have been sewing more so that I can have something interesting to take a picture of and post about. I am trying to figure out how to finish a dress I planned out like 6 months ago. I saw this Marc Jacobs dress which was jersey tee on the top (empire waist) and cream colored charmeuse for the skirt. I thought -- $950 for that? I'll make it. But now I am too chicken to attach this amazing charmeuse (it is a purple blue and cream degrade) to my $8 H&M black t-shirt....

But I think I am just going to do it -- and if I end up wishing the top had been different, I'll just make another one. I am only using 1.5 yards of the charmeuse anyway -- and obviously I can afford to get another top.

Also, now that my one quilt is off at the longarm place (yay!), I had to get to work on the other one. Lydia picked out these 1930s repro fabrics in jellyrolls, and said she wanted her bed quilt out of them. They are fabrics I literally would never have chosen in a thousand years -- BUT -- that has made it very nice to work with them. I wanted something that wouldn't require a lot of extra work, and that would let her examine all the different prints as often as she liked. I chose this pattern from purlbee, and just added more strips (since I was using 2.5 in strips). Instead of white fabric (I really hate solids -- I need to deal with that), I chose this:

So, now I have pieced all the strips, and I am sewing them up and watching it all come together! Here's a sample of what I have so far:

2009-02-06T16:34:00.001-08:00

In the end, Tulip seemed pleased with the result.

a valentine for Tulip

2009-02-06T16:25:00.001-08:00

Lydia -- our resident designer -- designed this "Valentimes Bag" for Miss Tulip.

Since I am merely the humble seamstress, and must obey my mistress, my only part in this was to piece the item precisely as directed (and to withstand all sorts of bossiness and underhanded insults directed at my abilities and my person).

the longarm of the law...

2009-02-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

OK -- bad pun. BUT: I am going to get this quilt longarm quilted -- which will be the first time I have ever allowed someone else to "help" with the completion of a quilt. I was sort of nervous, but I am just excited now (especially since now I don't have to quilt a freakin' 88 x 93 surface by hand/machine!)

I picked this design. It reminds me of a tattoo sleeve I saw on this girl who used to cut my hair in London. But, I left the final say up to the woman who is doing the quilting, since she probably knows better than I do how it will come out.

2009-02-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

Here it is! It's finished. :D

sew stripped

2009-02-03T08:26:00.001-08:00

Almost finished with my strippy quilt top. This is going to go -- ostensibly -- on my own bed. Can you believe it? A quilt that I will actually use? That will be weird. But that's what I always fantasize about: someone seeing my bedspread and saying "That is so cool! Where did you get it?" And then I can casually say "Oh, I made it." But that never really happens. Like I made these awesome pants out of some amazing fabric that I have never seen the likes of before in just this same vein of hope -- and NO ONE has ever asked me where I got them (or even complimented me on them) when I have worn them. Maybe they're actually ugly and I just don't know it. Ha!

2009-02-03T05:31:00.000-08:00

This is the skirt I made Princess Lydia for Christmas this year. I cheated and used a Park Slope charm square roll -- but I did all the trims myself.

sew busted

2009-02-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

Seeeeeewwww, here's what my little devils have been up to for the last 2 days. And Saul (my 15-month-old) is the ringleader (leading a 5-year-old). I am trying really hard to care, but having trouble summoning up some parental outrage. Life is too short ...

sew sweet

2009-02-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

Here are the sweet little valentine's day coasters I just finished for our awesome neighbors. They always look after us and send little presents to our delinquent children. So I made them some cute little felt coasters to tell them that they are "sew freakin' awesome."

2 minutes later...

2009-02-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ok so we just changed the name to one that uses way more awesomeness.

Sewwwww grossed out

2009-02-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

Just spent an hour with Neal and Robbie arguing over the name of this blog. jury is really still out. "you old sew and sew" and also "say it ain't sew" were good contenders.