Wordless Work in Progress Wednesday: May 22, 2013

Stash Busting: Mother’s Day Gift Bags

 

With more and more awesome fabric being released all the time, it is imperative that I use up some of my long-neglected stash. It makes me a little sad to be so excited about a fabric, and then not use it for ages. Recently, I did a little stash busting and whipped up four gift bags for Mother’s Day presents. I started with Rainy Days and Mondays by Melimba & Beccabury for Riley Blake Designs as the focus fabric, and added fabrics from my stash until I had enough to make four coordinating but different bags. From the remnants, I cut out fabric for two more bags, which have now been added to my Work In Progress pile. Also growing is my pile of scraps. I might have to start a scrap quilt sooner rather than later, but at least I'm using up my stash!

 

 

 

 

Pattern: Lined Drawstring Bag by Jeni of In Color Order, in Artist and Project Sizes

Fabric: Bold and Beautiful by Michele D’Amore for Benartex, Frosty Friends by Michele D’Amore for Benartex, Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille for Moda, Pearl Bracelet by Lizzy House for Andover, Rainy Days and Mondays by Melimba & Beccabury for Riley Blake Designs and Simply Sweet by Barbara Jones of QuiltSoup for Henry Glass

Wordless WIP Wednesday: May 15, 2013

Happy Giveaway Day Winner!

Happy Mother’s Day, dear readers! Just wanted to stop by real quick to announce the winner of last week’s Giveaway Day: Taya of The Type B Crafter. She was commenter #69 of 161 and her favorite sewing or quilting book of all time is Modern Quilt Workshop. Congrats, Taya! Don’t forget to send me your mailing address.

Thank you to everyone who visited my humble blog last week. I knew Giveaway Day was a big event, but I was still shocked by the large response I received. May good things come your way soon!

Purple Polka Dot Wiksten Shirt

 

Photo by Marshall Pascual

 

Welcome to this week’s installment of Rachel Tries to Teach Herself Garment Sewing. For this shirt, I started with the ever popular Wiksten tank and added sleeves to it. My pattern library isn’t very large, so I used the sleeve pattern from Laurel by Colette Patterns and shortened it by 4”.

 

Photo by Marshall Pascual

 

 

While this shirt turned out much better than my first attempt at sleeves, there was still some unexpected (and unwelcome) tightness around the armholes. Too late, I realized that I sewed the sleeves on with a 5/8” seam allowance, when the original Wiksten pattern has a 3/8” facing. I should have added 1/4” to the armholes’ seam allowances. So the shirt ended up 1/2” too narrow and does funny things when I move my arms. Oops.

 

Photo by Marshall Pascual

Luckily, this fabric was one that I picked up for next to nothing in La Conner. (Fabric is Ella by Kathy Brown of The Teacher’s Pet for Red Rooster Fabrics.) In the fall, I’ll throw a cardigan on over this and be good to go. For now, I am plotting my next move in the never-ending battle of wits against garment sewing.

Wordless WIP Wednesday: May 8, 2013

Happy Giveaway Day!

Today is Giveaway Day over at Sew, Mama, Sew! I am giving away a copy of Patchwork, Please! by Ayumi Takahashi, along with a small charm pack of 5” squares to get you started on the projects in the book. I have been pouring over this book in anticipation of the Zakka 2.0 Sewalong, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Here are the giveaway details:

• To enter, please leave a comment on this post telling about your favorite sewing or quilting book of all time.

• The winner will be chosen at random from the comments posted between 6am PST on Monday, May 6, 2013 and 5pm PST on Friday, May 10, 2013.

• If you are a no-reply blogger (or don’t have a blog), please include your email in your comment. If I can’t reach you, I will pick another winner at random.

• Please be prepared to provide a US shipping address, as I won’t be shipping internationally.

Linking up with Sew, Mama, Sew!

 

 

Wordless WIP Wednesday: May 1, 2013