Sewing machines.

Just thought I'd share my sewing machine I got this spring from a friend. I'm so grateful to have a machine that works well!!
I grew up sewing on a simple white machine (I don't know the brand). It had tension problems and seemed to just give up one day even though my dad is usually good at fixing things and I'm sure he looked at it several times.
Then we adopted my grandmother's brown Singer Slant-o-Matic. My mother still has that one. It is true that they don't make things like they used to. It is a great machine, I have sewn several quilts and dresses with it. Probably most of my projects for about the last 10 years.
I also have a very heavy black/dark gray machine (I also can't remember the brand, sorry, it may be a White) that my uncle gave me as a Christmas present. It has never had the correct cords, though I assume I could find them online. For how heavy it is, I'm not sure how practical it is unless it was put in a table.
I also have a white New Home machine my dad found for me at a yard sale a few years back. I'm sure it just needs someone professional to get it running better. I used it a little, but the tension and other issues just made it a hassle.
And just in the summer, I got a gray vintage machine (I believe it is a Kenmore) from my father in law. I have yet to clean it and try it out. It did come with a box of presser feet and extra goodies.

It's amazing how many machines one can collect and hopefully I will get more of them up and running, even if I pass them along. It would be nice to keep one of the vintage ones perhaps if they work well.

Growing up the sewing machine was always something we had to set up and clean up once done (or once my mom was tired of it taking up the dining room table). I'm so grateful to have the space to leave my machine up.

Now I just need to make a cover for it!

2014

Amazingly it is 2014 already!
Last year I got married, moved across town and gained a sewing machine and some sewing stuff from a friend. With moving, I moved Most of my crafty stuff, and months later I am still trying to get things figured out in my (possibly temporary) awesome sewing studio!! I have been doing a little bit of knitting, and am hoping to do more sewing! It has been hard for me to carve out time to come in and work on things but it's a new year and I am feeling good about it.

So, I know it has been forever since I have blogged. And maybe no one reads it much anyway, but I feel like it helps me keep organized a little bit.

This year I'm hoping to finish some projects already in the works and to choose specific clothing items I hope to sew and try to gain some skills!  My fabric collection (much like my yarn collection) is full of odds and ends from previous projects. I'm hoping to go through my stash and find a way to label/keep in mind how many yards I have of my fabric.

Winter/Spring:
-I have made two Sorbettos by Colette Patterns and I am hoping to make more! They are a great stashbusting project. A simple, but awesome top that you can make too since the pattern is a free download!

-I bought couch pillows with the intent to make envelope covers for them. I have yet to buy fabric or look at my stash to see if I have enough fabric that I like to make covers.

-PJ pants. I have made a few pairs but they have been in weird prints like cats or crazy stripes. Maybe a solid color or small floral design.

-Quilts. Oh my, I'm in the midst of many quilts, not really working much on them, but I hope to start figuring it out.

I'm forever making lists and then putting things off to make other spur of the moment things. I know I may not stick to my goals... but I will just throw these ideas out and hope it will help guide my sewing.

Some skills I want to work on:
-Invisible zippers (I wonder where my presser foot went and if it will fit my new machine?)
-Buttonholes (we'll see, I'm so afraid).
-Making patterns fit me better, by sewing more muslins and hopefully not getting upset right away.
-Finishing the insides of garments better.
-Etc.

Long Time No See

So, it has been ages since I did a post. October...hmm. It's now nearing the end of March. A lot has been happening to keep me away. I'm getting married in May! Besides that, just work and i guess being lazy about posting. with christmas i had several gifts i couldn't share about until i gave them. even now, I know 4 babies arriving this spring/summer and i cannot yet share  all those photos. I have been trying to complete a few things for the new apartment like curtains and finish up some things. i know after im married i will have less time to work on big projects.  im really excited though because a friend gave me a sewing machine, and i lucked out on some studio space which is amazing because i would not have much room for it at our apartment.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hey and that I'm still making stuff. hope to share some soon, but my only internet may be my phone in a month or so... we'll see!

Dresser Finished

 Yay. I finished my dresser a few weeks ago. So shiny.

 Wood. I also learned that it was my dad's dresser when he was growing up (crazy.)

I had to remove my indie-pop upsidedown cat doodle I drew on the side of it probably in 2005ish.

Swim Swim

A few years ago (was it last summer, or the summer before?) I started sewing a swimsuit.

It is a vintage sewing pattern: Simplicity 5696  Really it's a swim dress, and could easily be a tennis dress in different fabric. The suit is not super form fitting though it is fully lined. Fabric was found at Mill End in their flatfolds.

I got part way through, took a break and then this summer decided I needed to get it finished. What was left was shortening the shoulder straps, hemming it, and making the shorts. I bought a second pattern to make shorts that I thought I would like better. (See figure B). The shorts fit well with no alterations, I just added elastic at the waist and legs. I bought a strapless bra type of thing you can sew into a dress/swimsuit. This summer I decided instead to sew an old bra into the suit. I think it will work much better and be more comfortable.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the result, and I'm pretty sure I will be wearing the suit tomorrow on my vacation! I don't swim much, and I have not had a real swimsuit for like at least 6 years. (sad but true).

Overall, the fabric was not to hard to sew. The machine did not like it if I tried to use zigzag stitch, but straight stitch worked pretty well. It is sort of a heavy suit because it is fully lined and it is a dress, so there is a lot of fabric. Anyway, I am really pleased with it, and I would recommend these patterns to intermediate sewers who are interested in trying out something new.

I researched off and on for shapes I liked and I think that if I did another suit some day I might make the back not so high necked. Yes it does have a zipper. I know, right?!! Just makes me think of the vintage suits we tried on at my grandma's house when we were kids.

a few links:
Glamoursplash a cool blog about vintage swimwear, etc.
Popina buy vintage inspired swimwear in Portland.
Retronaut Vintage Jantzen ads  Jantzen is super cool, with its history in Portland, and there are lots of vintage suits for sale if you want to spend the money.
I also spent a while on Etsy looking at vintage suits, and also just looking at vintage photographs.
Etsy link 1, Etsy link 2, Etsy link 3

Summer Projects

 Today I finished stripping the last 3 drawers of my dresser. I started last summer, and it feels so good to be making progress. I love real wood, and hopefully next week or so I can tackle the rest of it. I think I will stain it maybe a medium tone, or maybe even a red of some sort.

This is the first of my Afterthought Heel socks. I'm very pleased with them, and the whole process was much faster than usually when I make socks. I will start the next one soon. The yarn is Heritage Paints sock yarn by Cascade.

Tonight I also finished up knitting the felted red slippers I am making. I just need to seam together the soul and felt them. Today I also cut out triangles for a black and white quilt I have been planning for some time. The last time I tried to lay out the quilt I got overwhelmed by the pattern. There's supposed to be darks, whites, and then like a dark "gray" and light "gray" of values. Each piece's value is relative to those around it, so I kept moving pieces around and then gave up after a while. I have a few more fabrics added now, and I'm also contemplating making the quilt smaller, like a twin perhaps just to help make it less overwhelming, and also to have room to lay it out on the livingroom floor.

Vacation time!

 I went on vacation over the weekend and finally got to meet Oscar! He is a very fine (yet a little wild) cat.

 While there, I did not get much knitting done. It was soo nice to have a break and just relax. I did finish hiding ends in one of my red slippers from this pattern everyone has done. I still have to do the second one and then felt them. I also started an Afterthought Heel sock from the pattern by Laura Linneman. I'm pretty excited about it, it was a perfect project for movie watching and driving. I just got past the first heel placement marking and I will be driving a lot tomorrow, so I will try to keep working on it.

(Ignore the dirty windshield.)

Pictures from the last few days

 Veggie Pad Thai - Friday

 Brownies! -Friday

 Estate sale games -Saturday

 I sewed PJ pants. Not super flattering on the hanger, but i think they are pretty cute. I love the stripes, and they are capris. - Monday

 Today I bought sock yarn. I'm hoping to use an afterthought heel pattern, i think i will have a higher finishing rate, if i do the heels last. I'm not sure which color i'll start with. I'm trying to finish the baby sweater and red slippers i am knitting first. (Which i still need to get pictures of!) - Wednesday

I am going on vacation on the weekend, so hopefully i will have lots of photos.

Blue and Purple

 At my grandma's house on the 4th of July

 On my walk today

 In the backyard Super Blue

 Purpley

 Green

Purple blue

August.

I guess it is August.
I'm realizing that I just am not taking many pictures any more in life. So I will try to change that! After all, I have a decent camera, and I love documenting things.

I don't really know that I could commit to taking (and posting) 1 photo a day. But, I might be able to at least take a photo a day. (And post once a week, or a few times a week?)

Knitting. I have been listening a lot to the Knitmoregirls podcast. I love starting at the beginning of podcasts (like I started listening to the 2008 podcasts and am working my way to the future - currently in spring 2009.) Also with Knitting Pipeline, I started at the beginning and now have caught up (and now I have to wait for the new show to come out every other week).

I have been working on a baby sweater out of baby yarn. It's navy blue and after the 3rd time starting it I'm finally making progress!

Meanwhile. I took apart a ribbon "sweater set" that my grandma gave me. I love my grandma, but it is something i would never wear. It was made of white ribbon yarn, along with rainbowy novelty yarn that looks like this except imagine it in rainbow.

The sweater was knitted and put together in a way where the pieces were individual pieces sewn together. So, I was able to unravel it all, and get pretty big balls of wound up yarn. Then, I searched and searched on ravelry for the perfect shrug/cardigan pattern (I even considered some top patterns- though i don't wear too much white, so i figured white as a cardigan would be better). I finally today decided that maybe i should just go with the baby sweater pattern (the yarn is bigger, and so are the needles). The baby sweater design is just a top-down raglan, so I cast on with the ribbon yarn and I have done about 2 inches today. The unfortunate thing with ribbon yarn is that i'm not sure if i love the texture. It is cool, which is good for summer, as I'm trying to make a good summer cardigan. I have no idea if i will have enough yarn. so far I am using the yarn double stranded. I assume since the original sweater was a cardigan and a tank, that I will have enough to make a short-ish cardigan (that will go okay with dresses, etc) with possibly short or 3/4 sleeves or something.

I sort of doubt that I can make this cardigan in a little over a week. I'm going on vacation then, and I think it will be very hot, so it might be nice if it was done, we'll see. I'm not totally making up the pattern, but since i'm going off the baby pattern, i will have to try it on as i go, and make sure i know when to separate the sleeves, etc. we'll see. I may hate the texture, or it may just not work at all. But, I have to try, Right?

Sewing:


I had made a Sorbetto top (by Colette patterns) that was black and white gingham. I did bias tape binding on the neck, but hadn't done it on the sleeves. For some reason I just hemmed the sleeves without the binding. That was a few weeks ago. Last week I made another Sorbetto in a crazy yellow fabric that I'm not sure if i love (also it turned out a little big). While making that top, I learned how to sew the bias tape on better. So last night, I ripped out the hem on the sleeves of the black and white top, and finished the bias tape. It is an awesome hot pink.

Also, I bought a shirt a month or more ago. Shirts are all so long these days. I had tried to hem it by hand, but then the hem seemed heavy, and it was flipping up, so you could see the handsewing. Today I just zigzaged it, and then trimmed off the previous hem. So... The hem still rolls a little, but I think it will be okay. it is a raw edge beyond the zig zag, but I hope it won't fray/I can try to figure out what to do about it later.

Okay I guess that it is it for now. I suppose I should take my August 1st photo..! (the sweater photos up above!)