Idle Time

My mom came to stay with me at the beginning of November while Matt was out of town and she helped me create a bed skirt for Makenna's crib. I'll post those pictures and do a walk-through of that a bit later. She also helped me find a new sewing machine. My hubby told me I could get what I wanted as long as it didn't break the bank...so I'm now the proud owner of a Husqvarna Viking Emerald 203. And I'm in love! I didn't know what a walking foot was until this machine - totally worth it right then and there! Basically it's a presser foot that has feed dogs on it so that when you're sewing multiple layers, the feed dogs pull from the top and the bottom of the project at the same speed. It prevents puckering and uneven seams. The coolest thing ever!

Because of my blood pressure and early contractions, my OB took me out of work for the health of the baby and I figured I'd have lots of idle time. For a few days I was pretty laid back, watched a lot of TV and caught up on a lot of sleep. But soon I was fully rested and bored. What better way to fill your time than to craft! When I bought my sewing machine, I bought a cute little book called "Everyday Handmade: 22 practical projects for the modern sewist" by Cassie Barden and Adrienne Smitke. It has multiple cute projects ranging from stuffed animals to bags to i-pod pockets.

Which to make a short story long, my fabulous co-workers are throwing me a baby shower tomorrow (Dec 1st) and I wanted to make some gifts to say "thank you" to the girls that are most involved. My new book shows how to make a tote bag, so I figured it would be pretty cost effective and easy to make up some bags. I also decided to make thank you cards and coffee cozies. But let me warn you...allowing a heavily pregnant lady to stand in line for 3 hours at Joann Fabrics on Veteran's Day is not okay! Why don't they have places to sit other than at the pattern table??? Sheesh! Regardless, I trolled the Red Tag clearance fabric for quite a bit of the fabric and I think it was 50% off of the marked price. Not to brag, but I made it out of the fabric store with a brand new pair of Gingher scissors (thank you 60% off coupon!) and enough fabric and interfacing to make 6 totes, 6 coffee cozies, and a knitting needle case for just over $100. That's pretty decent! It'd probably cost me at least $30 to buy a tote bag at the store.

Because I didn't create these patterns, I'll give you links to where you can find more information on how to create them...except for the cards (I'll eventually get around to a tutorial for how I created those). To start, the coffee cozies! There a million different patterns and methods for making these, but this is the one I found on Pinterest and it stuck. The Reversible Coffee Cup Sleeves came from "Crafty Staci." The majority of the fabrics came from my scrap bucket. The hair ties came from my drawer (I promise they're unused!) and the buttons from my random button stash. I ended up buying InsulBrite for the interior as it was cheaper than ironing board fabric. And thus are my creations!

The "Collector's Item Tote Bag" comes from the afore mentioned book ("Everyday Handmade: 22 practical projects for the modern sewist" by Cassie Barden and Adrienne Smitke) with a little modification on my part. I decided that making 120 fabric covered buttons was going to be expensive and time consuming, so I Googled "applique" and found an example of a bag with a flower design. I Googled "flower petal pattern" to find a couple of different petal shapes with which to work. The petals were cut from scraps of fabric I already had and the rest was filled with newly bought fabric. I also had a yard or so of the red linen-like cloth in my possession so I figured I would make a couple of bags from that (I only ended up making one with it). Word to the wise - if you ever decide to make this bag, I didn't need as much fabric as recommended. But if you're unsure, always buy what is recommended. I utilized my fancy new sewing machine for the blanket stitch around the petals and the leaf stitch. And thus are my creations!

And lastly, but not leastly, the "Thanks a latte" cards I created. I found the initial inspiration on Pinterest and ran with it from there. I love my Cricut! Like I said, I'll go through a tutorial on these later since I did put them together. But here's what they all look like!

*Whew*

I still need to finish the knitting needle case I'm making for my mom, but until then I'm going to give Olga (yup, I named my sewing machine!) a little rest. Hopefully I'll complete it before the baby arrives.

I hope this inspires some creativity this Christmas season and encourages some hand-made gifts for your friends and family! I know that gadgets and gizmos are the bomb (believe me, I know...my husband is a tech junkie), but sometimes a nice gift made with love and intention is so much more fun and appreciated than a cold box from Amazon. Keep dreaming and creating!

<3 Sarah

Saddest Domestic Panda

My very talented mom is in town to stay with my for about a week or so while my hubby is out of town. I commandeered her fabulous sewing skills to help me with the bed skirt I want to make for the baby's crib. My usual machine, her old mid-1970's Kenmore, has been acting up, so she took a look at it and said, "This sounds terrible - like a coffee grinder!" So we called around and found a place that will take a look at it with a free estimate.

I also wanted to utilize the late 1980's serger I had inherited from a friend for this same project to show a couple of different methods for completing an edge. We had to set it up, look it over, read the directions, and thread the machine - all 3 needles. If you've never seen a serger, they work with multiple threads to finish an edge. If you look at your t-shirt hem, that fancy loopy stitch is an idea of what a serger produces on fabric. Anyways! We followed the directions, got all of the needles threaded and started to tinker with it. Fail. Somewhere, somehow, something isn't lining up right and the stitches aren't catching. We decide to take both machines in to get looked at.

Off to Center Vac & Sew we go with sewing machines in hand! We plopped them down on the countertop and the guy goes "Oh...those are old! Nobody even makes parts for either of those machines anymore." We did the best we could to describe what was happening with the serger, and he thinks that with how long the serger sat dormant, the timing is probably horrendously off which leads to no stitches being made. Apparently it's important for all three needles to work harmoniously to create a stitch...who knew!? (Insert sarcasm there) He said he would look into it, but if there's something actually wrong that he can't fix, it's "a boat anchor."

He then turned his eye on the Kenmore. He asks me what's going on with that machine, and I let him know that the machine has been dropping stitches. He asks a couple of questions and then says, "Well, it sounds like the upper tension has some problems. This model was only in production for a year or two and then this type of upper tension was replaced because they were having too many problems with it. If there's something wrong with it mechanically, the spring is probably shot, and you've got another boat anchor." He said he would look at the machine and clean it up and see what could be done. At this point I'm feeling pretty defeated. My "new" machine never worked and my old machine is a dinosaur, possibly without a fix!

But I wouldn't let the probable bad news get me down! I decided to continue with my project using my little Riccar machine. Which has little to no horse power. I'm talking about it can hardly sew through a couple of layers of selvage and would NOT go through 5 layers of fabric where two seams met. Basically, for my needs, that machine is useless.

In short, if the gentleman is unable to fix my Kenmore machine, I will need a new sewing machine. I will need something with decent horsepower that has more than just straight stitch and zigzag stitch. Brand new machines vary widely in durability, capability, price, and ease of use. My mom's new machine (a Husqvarna) was quite pricey and has way too many options for my needs. At this stage I'm quite a sad domestic panda going from 3 sewing machines to possibly none. Anyone have a favorite sewing machine or recommend something in particular? It can't break the bank since I've got Little Miss Makana on the way (and possibly running out of the ability to work due to high blood pressures). Any insight or recommendations would be appreciated!

<3 (your sad panda) Sarah