Mothman Capelet

A fun, artsy Halloween project!

Swimalong Crossbody Bag

Another day, another fish bag... what can I say, it's addictive, baby fish mouth is sweeping the nation, and this whimsical fishy crafting is a good distraction from the daily horrors. 

Inspired by the #FishGirlFallMAL, I dug out a fish-themed sewing pattern I've had for a while, but haven't gotten to sewing yet!

Scrapbusting Chambray Goderich Quilt

I'm a quilter now! 

Scrappy Floor Pouf, Part 2

I did some scrapbusting sewing this past month!

Closet Case Patterns Scrapbusting Floor Pouf

I've been meaning to make one of these scrap-busting heros for a while now... This is the Closet Case Patterns floor pouf, which you can both make with scraps and stuff with scraps... a dream scrap busting project!

Scrapbusting: Geodesic Sweatshirt in Ponte

I'm pretty jazzed to share my scrapbuster Geodesic sweatshirt with you!

Scraptember: Figgy's Stellar Tunic

Hurrah!  I've finally gotten my act in gear to actually participate in a Sewcialists theme: Scraptember!!

Fabric Leaves

I started this fabric leaves project months and months ago, but then my sewing machine ceased functioning in the zig-zag fashion...  it still did straight stitching, so I wasn't too worried about it and clearly got along fine.  But last week something else went wonky and the machine ceased to function at all.  Sigh.

The good thing is, services like sewing machine repair are ridiculously convenient and cheap here in Indonesia.  $20 for a 1-hour home visit from a repairman who not only fixes the machine, but makes it run like buttah?  Don't mind if I do.

Anyway... fabric leaves.  Pretty good use of random fabric scraps you have laying around.  Makes a cute arrangement.  Based on this Amy Butler tutorial.

Lincoln likes it:

Baby Pillowcase Top

I'm having my own little scrap-busting party here this week... first the pillow made from quilt scraps and now this project made from scrap fabric leftover from this bag I made for Jamie a few years ago (complete with bunny lining to irk Mikey).  I decided that, like mother, like daughter, Baby Zoe might appreciate this combination of fabrics.

I wanted to find an easy pattern that A) didn't require much fabric and B) didn't involve printing out a pattern.  My internets/Google quest resulted in me choosing to make a "pillowcase" top based on this tutorial (the tutorial is for a dress, but my scraps only afforded me so much length).  Turned out pretty cute!  Definitely a good way for me to practice my sewing skills.  Hopefully I can find a way to get this thing around the world to Zoe before she outgrows it like she did her booties (tears...).

For those interested, here's how I modified the pattern...

• Rather than cut eight 6x18" strips, I cut eight 6x12" strips
• For the hem, I only cut strips that were 6x22" rather than 7x22"
• I made the size 2T (meaning I cut off 1.5" of the end of the pieces as suggested by the tutorial)
• When piecing the front and back together, I pressed the seam open and top-stitched on either side of it so that it matched the decorative top-stitching used on the other seams.  Plus, it provided me some back-up strength on those side seams!
• Rather than make or use bias tape (not enough fabric!), I just cut two long, thin strips (1.5" wide), folded them in on themselves and did two rows of top-stitching to make my own ribbon for the shoulders

Close up of my masterful (haaaaaa!) top stitching.

Patchy, Scrappy Pillow

This was a fun project... no measuring, no cutting, just piecing and patching together random tiny scraps of fabric leftover from other projects (such as this long dormant quilt project from a few years ago.  I promise it shall return!).  I just sewed the little pieces together in strips and then sewed the strips together until I had a pretty big piece of fabric, trimmed the edges to a rectangle, and sewed it to a backing.  Turned it right-side-out, stuffed it (hence its slight lumpiness) and then did a terrible job making an invisible seam.  Boom.  Pillow.

The Real Martha will probably shudder as she reads that I didn't measure and she comprehends the imprecision of it all, but she'll get over it.