Saturday, February 23, 2013

One yard of Liberty Lawn

What can you make out of one yard of Liberty lawn?  Well, I have been working on that for the last couple of weeks and have 3 different answers.  I finished the last project today and will take pictures and post all 3 soon!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Last of the London Silk

I bought one last piece of silk in London in 2010.  It is an interesting swirling pattern in colors like an animal print would have, but it is not an animal print:

Looking a little shifty in this one. . .

Better 

You can see how the yolk extends to form the sleeves.

Again, I only bought 1.5 meters so I went with a very simple pattern to make a tunic to wear with leggings.  The pattern is Simplicity 2147 which is a Learn to Sew Pattern.  I thought the pattern instructions were super clear and the top very easy to fit and make.  Very appropriate for a beginner or, as in my case, an easy and fast make for an experienced seamstress.  I have worn this a couple of times now out for casually dressy occasions.  I love it.

You may also notice that I have cut all my hair off into a pixie cut.  I have done this transformation a couple of times in my life -- usually when I have lived with my hair long for awhile and remember but much effort it is to keep my fine, thick, curly hair under control when it is long.  We'll see how long it takes to me to forget that and start to grow it back.   

Sunday, February 3, 2013

My Sewing Room

Where do you live and create?  We often talk about what we create and the finished product without any mention of where we live, where we sew or other activities in our worlds.  I wanted to invite you into our home for a bit and let you see a bit more about where I live and where I sew.

When we were looking for a house back in 2009, we were specifically looking at the homes on the market for several things.  Enough space without being huge, affordable (well, duh), dog compatible and with space for both my husband's office (he works from home) and space for my sewing and other craft stuff to reside.  We both decided that trying to cram my stuff into a space where my husband would work was beyond impractical -- it would have been insane!

Here is the house we bought:


Our house is on a wooded lot that is just over an acre in size with 3 BR and an office.  The BR are on the second floor, the office is on the first floor.  Perfect!  David has the office, I have one of the spare bedrooms!  When we moved in the room was less than inspiring.


The color was a yellow so pale and creamy it was nearly beige and some of the storage stuff I brought with me was pretty impractical in this new space.  I organized and lived with it until this year.  This was a year of upheaval since we remodeled our two upstairs baths.  We decided since we had already gone that far, there was no reason to not go ahead and paint my room too.  So, here it is!


The overall arrangement has the machines near the window for light and the storage unit is new from Ikea.  It is four bin storage systems piled together to make one large storage unit.

My sewing machine with table.

You can see the positioning near the window

My cover stitch machine and serger.

 Ironing board
 
View from my window.


I just finished making these covers.  I just could not resist the cute fabric I saw on the Nancy's Notions web site.

Better view of the bins, they are from the Trofast collection from Ikea.


Elfa shelves from The Container Store for more storage. And you can see Lynntu hiding in her usual place.  The bins with the green lids contain all my jewelry making supplies and beads.  My sewing thread storage is also visible at the lower left of the selves.  The spools are kept in clear storage containers made for thread and arranged by color.

I am so very happy with the warm peachy wall color and the warm terracotta trim.  This is a much happier place to create and spend time now.  I know that a lot of you don't have the space to create a room all your own for sewing -- I was the in the same boat for most of my life -- and I feel very lucky to have this room now.
Oh, and how did the baths turn out?  They both started out with pink tile and beige walls.  Here is the final results:

Master Bath

Hall Bath