Sewing Room is Coming Together

It’s been pretty hot here the past week or so, and unfortunately our AC stopped working 7 days ago. The repairman is coming tomorrow – as you can imagine this is a very busy time of year for AC companies and we had to take what we could get! The upstairs is about 90 degrees right now, so needless to say I haven’t spent much time in the sewing room.

However, I have been hitting up the thrift stores to get out of the house and enjoy someone else’s AC for awhile. Good thing, I did! People are doing a lot of spring cleaning right now and so there are some great deals out there.

The first piece is a wonderful little sewing caddy that for any UFOs. It’s a perfect fit next to my sewing chair – just haven’t had a chance to sit down with it yet.

WhiteBookshelf — Bookshelf with Removable Shelves

Here is a cute little shelf I found at Goodwill. Each shelf can be removed and used as a tray. Also, the little “fences” around the shelves can be removed for a different look.

No sewing room is complete without a bunch of containers for all your sewing treasures! Who knows what will actually go in them, but they sure look cute. First is set of Mr. Peanut jars from 1980. My grandmother used to go through these peanuts like crazy! Who knew the jars would become collectibles!

Next is a set of wooden canisters with roosters on them. These were very popular in the 1950’s. I think there was probably a fourth canister (a larger one), so you had one each for flour, sugar, coffee, and tea.

I have such a good time seeking out these bargains and treasures – wish I could do it full time!

Keep it thimble!

Lunch Bags and Ballet Bags

Miraculously I finished both the ballet bags and lunch bags that I posted about last week! I was pretty pleased with how both projects turned out, but also glad I didn’t have the pressure of sewing deadlines! The next big deadline I have is getting ready for the Porch Sale in October (more details later).

Heather Bailey’s Jack and Jill pattern is very cute, but the bags were not as simple to make as I thought. And since I was making two bags at the same time, any missteps I made were multiplied by two! Laminated fabric was used for both the interior and exterior – this is a medium weight fabric that is lighter than oilcloth, but sturdier than cotton. It was very easy to work with – and I had no issues with cutting or sewing with it. I did have a teflon foot which made the fabric slide very easily through the feeddogs. If you don’t have a teflon foot you can also use the walking foot.

The pattern instructions were clear enough in most places, but I think she may have missed a minor step when you have to cut out the fabric for the side tabs. Easily remedied, but it slowed me down because I spent a few minutes looking for the missing step.

LunchBagAccessories — Lunch Bags with Accessories

The thing that is most confusing is keeping the top and bottom oriented correctly on the top flap. The finished flap works just like a brown paper lunch bag – you pinch in the sides and fold over the top twice. Velcro secures the flap, so precise placement of the hook and loop strips is important. You must also stay on your toes when sewing the lined flap to the bag body so you don’t sew it in upside down. This is very easy to do – take it from me :). I spent about 30 minutes ripping out stitches since I didn’t realize my mistake until three seams later! Thanks goodness I didn’t make the same mistakes on both bags.

Once finished, I added in a plastic sandwich holder and small soup-thermos (color coordinated, of course). The teachers loved them!

RedBalletBag — Ballet Bag for Pointe Shoes

The second project were the ballet bags from my friend April. I plan to post a tutorial about how to make them in the near future – so stay tuned! The cute thing about these bags was the monogram in the lower corner. You can use the iron-transfers for the craft store – there are many styles and colors to choose from.

Keep it thimble!

Works in Progress (aka WIPs)

May has turned out to be fairly busy work wise, which means a lot of my sewing projects have been put on hold or left until the last minute. There are two projects that I need to finish by Friday evening. So, I think I will be busy for the next few evenings – but at least it is a fun kind of busy!

The first project is a gifts for my son’s teachers. His last day of school is on Friday and I want to give them something special to thank them for all they’ve done this year. Every teacher needs a lunch bag, and Heather Bailey’s Jack and Jill pattern is the perfect one! I’m using laminated cotton fabrics for this project, which is something I’ve been looking forward to trying — I’ll let you know how it goes. One teacher gets a blue bag and the other gets a pink one!

BalletBags — Fabric for Ballet Shoe Bags

The next project is ballet shoe bags for my friend who runs the dance studio Graceful Expressions. Each year at her recital, the graduating girls receive a beautifully handcrafted bag (by me) for their ballet shoes. Apparently, this is a tradition the girls look forward to, so I have to make sure they are not disappointed this year. There are two different types of ballet fabric – the pink is for the younger girls and the red for the older ones (it looks more chic).

I’ll post finished projects later. Keep it thimble!

Home Decor

It’s been a busy few weeks for me with work and travel (and prepping for potential travel) and it’s really cut into my sewing time! Thankfully it looks like summer is going to slow down and I will have plenty of time to hang out in the sewing room!

charlevoix — Charlevoix – Minnick and Simpson – Moda Fabrics

Speaking of sewing room, I am finally getting ready to re-decorate it. This has been one of the last rooms in the house to get any attention and now it’s time! The color scheme is going to be around the fabric above – it is from Minnick and Simpson’s Charlevoix collection. This fabric will be used for valances and then other fabric from the line will be used to make chair covers. The walls will be painted a light blue (exact color TBD).

Finally, for the downstairs bathroom I am going to make a shower curtain. I found a great pattern for making a shower curtain out of layer cakes on the Moda Bakeshop website. I am using the same fabric in the picture above (Clermont Farms – Minnick and Simpson). In addition to the shower curtain I am going to make some hand towels by making ruffles, prairie points and other embellishments from the left over fabric. Should be a lot of fun!

Keep it thimble!

Happy Mother’s Day!

4generations — Four Generations - Mom, Grandma, My Son, Me

Happy Mother’s Day! This is a great day to thank your Mom for all that they do for you! I am 40 years old, and my mom still worries about me as much as she did when I was a baby :). Thanks for everything Mom!

MomSleep — Five Years Later...Still on Grandma's Lap

Now that I’m a mom myself I finally get what she means when she says “you won’t understand until you have children of your own.” My little guy is only five, but already I am thinking about how sad I am going to be when he moves away from home! It’s so silly, but I am going to enjoy him as much as I can while I still have him all to myself :).

Enjoy your day. Keep it thimble!

Thrift Store Finds!

It’s time for another edition of Thrift Store Finds. For awhile there, I was getting disappointed because there didn’t seem to be much out there for a few weeks. One weekend I visited all my usual thrift stores and a few garage sales and I couldn’t find one thing! However, that all changed last weekend – I hit the jackpot!

The first stop was a local thrift store that’s open only on weekends. For about $10, I walked out with several pieces of vintage fabric, some vintage hand embroidered table linens, a spice rack, and two super cute vintage aprons!

Embroidered Springtime Topper — Embroidered Springtime Table Topper

These embroidered toppers need some TLC, but after I wash and starch them, they should look pretty good.

Black checkered Apron — Vintage Black Checkered Apron

Grandma Red Checkered Apron — Grandma's Red Checkered Apron

I was especially pleased with the red apron. When I was little, my grandma’s main form of discipline when she was watching my brother and me was to say, “Don’t do that, or I will have to put on my red-checkered apron.” To this day, I have no idea what would happen if she actually put it on – but in my mind I envisioned her chasing me around the house with a rolling pin and swatting my bottom with it. Needless to say, my brother and I were always concerned when she said this and usually stopped whatever we were doing and snapped to attention. Of course, when I was little, I never actually saw this apron (although I certainly tried to find it). I remember asking my grandma one time where she kept it and she said it was hidden in the kitchen. Well, guess what? I found it!

One other treasure I also was excited about was a hand-pieced quilt top. The piecing is almost complete, it just needs a few more diamonds added to the outside border. I plan to finish this and use it on my kitchen table. You can’t see it very well in the picture, but the fabrics are vintage and quite lovely. Luckily, the fabric scraps were also included, so I can finish it up with the original fabric.

The next stop was a local yard sale. The owners were cleaning out the attic of all their children’s toys. They had tons of vintage board games and toys from the 60’s and 70’s for dirt cheap! She even had an Easy Bake oven (with box!) – which I thought would look cute displayed in my kitchen.

The last deal of the day was this Kenmore Sewing machine. It’s about 10 years old, but hardly ever used. You can always use another basic sewing machine. Also, I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing offering sewing lessons and this would be great for teaching beginners.

Keep it thimble!