mermaids

Blogland is brimming with posts about resolutions, turning over a new leaf, and setting goals. I tried to think of something profound, deep, or witty. Nothing. Then it occurred to me that my “new year” begins in August with the start of new school year. In August, my boys move to a new grade level, there is a new batch of students, and, often, new teachers in the building. January 1st is rather unremarkable in the ebb and flow of my life. So, I shall skip the resolutions and blog onward as usual.

There is one area of my life that is marked by the traditional calendar - my fabric stash. In an effort to keep my stash under control, I participate in the StashGame. Points are won for using stash fabric and points lost for buying fabric which is not used quickly. There are no prizes or awards, but there is great camaraderie. We set goals in January, then try to hold each other to those goals all year long. Every year, my goal is to have less fabric on December 31st than I did on January 1st. This is no small feat with Hubski gallivanting across the globe and buying fabric for me at each stop.

Winter break has allowed me to spend lots of time my sewing room…in between painting projects. I happy to report that my fabric stash is indeed smaller than it was one year ago. It is only a 1.75 yards smaller, but that is better than bigger. A last minute decision to make a hostess gift pushed me over the top.

Cloth napkins are so easy to make. They are also much better for the environment than paper napkins. We have stacks of them that we use every day. If my fabric is 45″ wide, I make the napkins just shy of 15″ square so I can get three across. Years of use in house has proven that this a very acceptable size. For more formal napkins, a larger size might be desired. The serger set up for a rolled edge hem finishes the edges of the napkins in a matter of minutes. As I serge, I leave the thread tails until the seam sealant is applied. There is a way to avoid the crunchy effect of seam sealant. After applying seam sealant, cover the area with a press cloth and press with a very hot iron. Once the seam sealant is dry, clip the thread tails.

In the next few days, I have lots more projects and photos to post. Stay tuned!

I know some of you were beginning to wonder if I even remembered how to sew. Fear not! Here are photos of an actual sewing project! This baby gift is long overdue. I was worried that the teacher would return from maternity leave before I got around to making the baby gift.Inspiration came the afternoon I worked with Ms V and the boys on the soft sculpture project. We had such fun designing all sorts of silly monsters. Those silly monsters just screamed out to be included on a baby outfit. Ottobre has tons of patterns that lend themselves nicely to embellishment. The little monster face was hand embroidered weeks ago during a kali silat class. Finding the time to make the garment was the stumbling block. Staying home with a sick boy this week provided the opportunity to bring this project to fruition.Imagine my pleasant surprise when the most recent issue of Ottobre featured very similar appliques! Would it be vain to say “great minds think alike”? I thought about using a pattern from that issue, but opted for #2 and #3 from the Spring 2006 issue. The contrasting panels allowed me to use a coordinating stripe and solid knits. The fabrics are incredibly soft knits purchased many years ago at a Chez Ami sale.The sewing was quick and simple. It felt good to see the project come together. When I embroidered the monster’s face, I was not sure what shape his body would eventually be. When it came time to put the applique onto theshirt, I decided to throw caution to the wind and free hand it. I did not draw out the shape - just started sewing. The original plan was to satin stitch around the edges. After trimming the excess fabric, I decided I liked it just the way it was. The unfinished edges reminded me of a child’s drawing.

Technorati Tags: Ottobre , sewing , soft sculpture , Chez Ami

While on vacation, I spotted a new doll shop called Friends 2B Made. The makers of Build-A-Bear have expanded the concept to include dolls. The shop is all pink, purple, and sparkle. You select your doll, have it stuffed, add a heart, and name it, just like at BAB. There are little salon chairs if you wish to style your doll’s hair and add ribbons or bows. Of course, there are lots and lots outfits for the dolls. The Hello Kitty themed outfits did not escape my eye.

The dolls are very sweet and innocent. The hair is made from yarn, framing a cartoon like face. The clothing is trendy, but not trashy. The dolls come in two different sizes, either 14″ or 17″. The sales clerk said that American Girl doll clothing would fit the larger dolls. Apparently many people have asked the same question. Though I do not recall seeing them in the store, there are also boy dolls. The smaller dolls are $12 and larger, $16. The outfits are roughly $10 to $12. There are a wide variety of skin tones and hair colors from which to choose. Just like BAB, they will host a party for you.

The dolls and the shop are visually appealing. Hubski had to drag me out. I need to kidnap borrow someone’s little girl if a shop opens near me. Seriously, this would be a great gift for a young girl.

I need to make friends with more people of childbearing age because I so enjoy making baby clothes. The boys’ taekwondo instructor recently became a dad for the second time. The baby will often “observe” the class from her little bouncer seat. Most of the time, she naps, but if she gets the least bit fussy, I am more than happy to entertain her. Naturally, I had to make her a dress, and, naturally, it had to be Ottobre.

From the 03/07 issue, I chose dress #1 and the matching bloomers, #2. The gathered area in the front was a little perplexing initially. Once I played with it for a minute, it became crystal clear. That little seam in the front was just begging for embellishment. I backed some satin ribbon with stabilizer and used a decorative stitch from my sewing machine. The hardest part was sewing on the tiny bits of satin ribbon. I added the ribbon trim at the center front, on each sleeve, and even put a little flower where the ribbon tie is attached to the back panel.

The fabric is a basic cotton that has been in my stash for years.

Here is a close up of the center front ribbon. You can click on the photo to see a larger view.

Here is a close up of the sleeve detail. The pattern called for the hem to be gathered. I made an inverted pleat instead. I am not sure how I got such a clear close up photo. My photography skills are slowly improving.

For once, the airplane gods smiled upon Hubski. His flight from Hong Kong to NYC was actually early and he was able to get on the next available flight home. He was able to get home early enough to drop off his bags and head over to the middle school for C’s play. The boys were thrilled that dad was home earlier than expected for the first time ever. The play was fun and C did a great job. I will seriously reconsider before ever again agreeing to be back stage during a middle school play. The students were higher than kites and bouncing everywhere. At least they had fun.

Hubski had no time for fabric shopping during this trip to Taiwan. That’s okay….I have enough fabric for the next hundred years. The vast majority of his shopping was limited to the 7-Eleven stores which were on almost every street corner. He picked up a lovely assortment of Hello Kitty items that delighted me to no end and embarrassed the boys to the same extent. We are not sure what is in container with Hello Kitty holding a tennis racket. All of the wording is in Japanese and the graphic is ambiguous. Even it tastes gross, the container is adorable.

Apparently, the 7-Eleven’s in Taiwan are stocked with a wider assortment of items than here in the US. Hubski found paraphernalia for the boys’ favorite manga series. He also found some very cool t-shirts for them. At this point, the boys’ wardrobe of t-shirts is almost entirely imported from Hubski’s travels.

My belated birthday gift was not found at the 7-Eleven. Hubski said at the upscale department store, there were “attendants” standing about every fifteen feet. As you walked by, they bow and say a greeting in Chinese. In the US, one can search for an hour before finding a sales clerk. With their ample assistance, Hubski found this opal necklace for me. I love the changing colors of opals. I fear it is too delicate for me to wear on a regular basis. I destroy jewelry. I worked very hard to get a decent photo. My photography skills are still at the kindergarten level, but I am getting better. In real life, the pendant is about 1/2 inch long….very delicate and simple. I wish I could capture the gorgeous colors and the way they play in the light.

The necklace is beautiful and it was very sweet of Hubski to buy something nice for me. However, the really sad thing is I am most excited about my Hello Kitty coffee mug. Each morning, I can start the day with a smile on my face as I admire Her Royal Kittyness.

Hubski was in San Diego for my birthday. Before he left, he took the boys to store to order a cake for birthday. They made arrangements for a neighbor to drive them to store to pick up the cake on my birthday. It was a fairly quiet birthday, which was fine with me. The boys were so super sweet all day. I got a great card in the mail from a friend. I was very touched that she remembered. The neighbors came over for cake….because there was lots of it. Hubski remembered to call, which is big for him. He is oh so thoughtful in so many ways, but he loses track of specific dates. For a while, I would remind him of upcoming dates. Now, I just wait silently to see if he will remember…then I tease him to no end when he forgets.

Hubski and the boys asked about gifts. I requested nothing more than a clean house and no whining. They were busy little bees last Sunday. The trip to San Francisco and the sack full of fabric was more than enough. I am not big on the gifts. We tend buy things we want when we want them instead of waiting for a designated date on the calendar. Hubski is lucky. I have low expectations for my birthday. I never had a birthday party when I was a child. Gifts were always small and not plentiful. The only explanation I can come up with is having a birthday that falls at an inconvenient time. Mine was the last in a series of birthdays that started in February. My birthday is also near Mother’s Day. Perhaps everyone was simply tired of cake and celebrating by the time my day rolled around. Frequently, my birthday cake said “Happy Mother’s Day” because my parents did not want to buy two cakes.

When my first Mother’s Day was drawing near, I told Hubski, “I want two cakes. I don’t care if we go into a sugar coma. There. Will. Be. Two. Cakes. No combining of holidays. Two separate events. Two dinners. Two cakes.” Every year, we have two dinners, two celebrations, and two cakes. Depending on the calendar, we will sometimes push my birthday celebration to the next weekend, but we will never, ever combine them.

I had to take a photo of my birthday cake. It was almost too cute to eat. I avoided cutting into the kitty for as long as I could. She sure did taste good though.

It’s Mother’s Day so I get to do what I want, right?  I had every intention of writing about our trip to San Francisco and the wonderful fabric I bought.  However, I am tired and anxious to cut into the new fabric I bought.  The guys gave me my gift before we left - new cd’s.  They wanted me to be able to load them on my MP3 player so I could listen to them on the flight.  My gift today was lots of help getting the luggage unpacked and the laundry done…without complaining.  :)  I told them a clean house means more to me than flowers and candy.  Besides, we bought a great deal of candy in San Francisco.  (More about that later.)

The guys have banished me to the sewing room for the afternoon.  I know, what a “terrible” punishment.  :)  I have cut out a top from my new fabric.  Hopefully it will be finished this evening and I can wear it tomorrow.  Stay tuned for the results!

I was suppose to be working on costumes for the folk dance festival at the elementary school when I was hit with inspiration. Ok, it wasn’t a thunderbolt from the sky. It was more like I happen to notice a piece of fabric in my scrap basket and decided it would make a cute baby dress and pants. Frustrated that there wasn’t enough to make the dress and pants, I almost chucked the whole thing back into the scrap basket. Suddenly, I remembered another piece of knit. Could they possibly match? Why had I not noticed this before? Could it be I have so much fabric that it is impossible to commit each piece to memory? It was kismet….the purples matched exactly.

Ottobre seriously needs to design a baby wrap top because I love my hacked version. The mom who received my last hacked wrap top loves it. The wrap is stylish, yet easy to get over those big baby heads. The dress (or tunic top, if you prefer) started with design #1 from 01/05. I made it wrap, then I made it into an a-line dress. Since the quilted knit is perfect for cooler temps, the dress needed something to keep baby’s leg warm. I already had design #8 from 01/01 traced, but didn’t want all those seams lines with a striped fabric. I just eliminated all the seams for a quick pair of elastic waist pants. When I finished, it seemed to be lacking a little something. A small red satin rose added just the right amount of color.

Oh, and about those costumes? No worries. This little outfit only took about an hour to make. I am right on schedule with costumes.

The quarter yard of fabric left over from my top too big to throw away but too small to put back into Stash. The obvious solution was to sew a baby gift! I really liked the coral FOE with the lime jersey, but it needed something more. None of the three trillion embroidery designs I have on my hard drive seemed “just right.” Ribbons and buttons were not quite right either. It was late. I hoped inspiration would come to me in my sleep….and it did.

Decorative stitching in thread to match the coral FOE was just what I wanted. If I had planned ahead (which I seldom do with sewing), I would have done the decorative stitching before cutting out the bodice pieces. When one flies by the seat of their pants, turbulence is to be expected. Temporary adhesive was used to hold lightweight stabilizer in place. To get the sort of randomness of the curves, the key is to think about something other than the curves. Once the decorative stitching was done, the rest of the dress went to together in a snap.

The pattern is design #11 from Ottobre Spring ‘07. Such a simple pattern is the perfect blank canvas to let your creativity soar.

Since I am not sure who reads this, I cannot post what I have been sewing lately. Once gifts have been distributed, brace yourself for a flurry of photos. One particular project has been great fun. DH is a little worried about just how much I am having with it.

Yesterday, the boys noted how few days are left in 2006. They commented on how “it seems like just yesterday that it was 2005.” The fact they are experiencing that “time flies” sensation must mean that they are getting older. They have both grown so much this year, emotionally as well as physically. However, I can look in their eyes and still see my babies.