Thursday, March 25, 2010

Sunday Brunch Jacket


Sunday Brunch Jacket
Originally uploaded by oversewn

Not very impressed by my first attempt. For the upper, I think it's a Kokka fabric, heavier weight. The lower red is from County Fair by Denyse Schmidt. The blue buttons are vintage.
Overall, it's just too stiff. It's a little big on my girl, which wouldn't be a big deal, but the stiffness makes the back of the jacket stick straight out. Sort of like a permanent superman cape. Not quite the look I was going for. I have another one almost finished. Same Kokka fabric on top, but the bottom is blue and the buttons are red vintage. We shall see if I can soften them up somehow.
So far, my attempts at being an Oliver & S boutique sewer are not where I want them. Practice and practice I guess.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Quilting on a Featherweight


Quilting on a Featherweight
Originally uploaded by oversewn

I've been getting busy around here, trying to get a bunch of quilts made for a craft fair, as well as some bags for another little bazaar. And I just loved that Saturday was National Quilting Day.....I soooo used that as an excuse to husband to spend a good chunk of the day sewing.

This is my first attempt at quilting on a FW. I put a walking foot on her, but I think the harp is just too small for me to enjoy quilting on it. When it comes to quilting, I am not a neat roller, I'm a shover.

So from now on, I'm quilting on a bigger machine!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Felt Colorforms and Talent Cooties

Soooo, I decided this morning that we were going to go to the toy store and buy Colorforms.  I remember totally loving these as a kid, and I thought they would be perfect for my boy.  But then, the girl went down for morning nap, and I knew we were home for a bit.  I remembered I had a big bag of felt that I had bought last year.  I was going to do Rae's heart garland, but do circles or squares.  Never got around to it........
And so the scissors came out and mama started cutting.


I remember Colorforms were basic shapes, but this was my set.  I wanted cloud shapes and tree tops,  moons, a sun, a tree trunk, two pieces of bread, and some basic shapes.  My boy had so much fun!  What was even better is he decided to "organize" them, first by shape and then by color.   It was so flippin' cute.  I know, I know, I'm his mom........


Anywhoo, the good thing is --I was going to go out and buy something that we didn't really need with money we really don't have on something made in a far away land, but didn't.  Very pleased with myself on this one.  I know I'm not the first person to do this and that these are for sale on etsy, but it's always cool to make one yourself.  I have to remind myself of that often. 

Okay......hmmmm.......now  if something you ordered last week shows up in the mail on your "I didn't spend money" day, do you lose your points?  I hope not, because I want the warm fuzzy feeling to stay when I actually get to sit down and look at these oh-so-fabulous books.  How, how, how has it taken me this long to discover this woman and her stichin'Heather Ross, Liesl, and Anna Maria Horner all did blog interviews/reviews.  Oh my, to be a fly.....     Cookie Mag did do a write up on her a few years ago when the Style book came out.  Liesl has a link to it in her blog post.  I totally re-remembered her now!   I love Natalie Chanin' hair sooooo much
FYI: This is the only spot in the house with clean floors.


And to keep it "quilty", this one has been in the works and on the wall for almost 3 4 weeks.  It started as a studio scrap bag that I ordered from Anna Maria Horner's shop.  I like the studio scrap thing because I'm a super fan of cooties.  Not the gross kind, the cool kind.  As in, if Anna Maria actually touched the piece of fabric herself before it was put in the bag, then there are some super cool and super talented cooties on my fabric bits. This is then transported onto myself when I open the package.  Of course, since I have become a hardcore pre-washer, I suppose the cooties don't stay for long.  Oh well, it is really the idea of the "talent" cooties, you know. 
Wow, terrible lighting in the pic.
I did add the two "square dance" squares, as well as some more flannel.  I really don't know what to do with it now.  I'm almost thinking an entire voile border, although trying to pick one might be the death of me.  I am so freaking in love with this fabric.  I think it's definitely a girl quilt, but I really want to add some more greens and blues........
Opinions??

Friday, March 5, 2010

Far, Far Away Baby Quilt and Another Featherweight


Far, Far Away Baby Quilt
Originally uploaded by oversewn


I swear, I sew with other fabrics besides Heather Ross, no, really, I do ........I've just been really slow at posting! This was an easy quilt, but I had the hardest time deciding on the binding. Just a bunch of 6" squares.  I tried to alternate 'solids' with 'whites' I couldn't decide which solid for binding, but I ended up choosing Kona Plum. It was really hard to find a nice mix between the front purples and the back purple. Soooo pleased with how this came out.




Also.....Side note...I am now up to 7 Featherweights. I know, I know. If it were drugs or alcohol, I would have been in rehab a loooooong time ago. But since it's sewing machines, everyone around me just thinks I'm a little kookoo. Not the case. This is bad people. First it was the fabric (not that it's ever stopped) but now the sewing machines.......aaaahhhhh. HELP ME!!!!!



Okay. Okay. That's over. I've collected myself and will now share one of said FW's with you. This is one of two white/barely green FW's that I own. This is the most perfect condition machine I have and probably one of the latest dates I have ever seen. And I have NEVER seen one stamped with a date(clearly done at the factory). Crazy!

    You can't tell in this picture, but there is the tiniest little chip in the foot pedal.  Nothing huge, but that is the machine's biggest flaw.  Unlike the older model FW's, this one is wired into the machine.  I think I like the old model better.

     The case needs to be wiped down with Armor All, but otherwise seems to be in superb condition.  The manual is almost like-new.  Crazy clean!!
 


So I really think one post a month is not cool!!  I'm hoping my rad new birthday(30!ugh) camera will get me a little more motivated.  I really want to take pics of my sewing shed, but without a wide angle lens........

GOAL: post about the sewing shed within 2 weeks!

Wish me luck!!
Happy day to all!