December 2015 – Page 2

December 14, 2015

DIY Stocking

Good morning! True to my word, I did a lot of relaxing this weekend and tried to get most of the holiday errands out of the way. I have a little bit of wrapping left to do and I’m feeling pretty good about this season. I hope you had a lovely weekend as well!

So I sewed a bunch of little stockings as gifts last year and meant to post about it and plumb forgot, so here I am a whole twelve months later with a simple tutorial. These are quick and fun to make. At some point, I’d love to make a wool and faux fur version…the floral print, by the way, is Cloud 9 Grey Abbey in Pearl. I’m not sure about the gold polka dots, but both fabrics were from here.

Here’s a loosey-goosey overview of what I did — I even added some watercolor illos!

1. Create a template for the stocking shape out of cardboard or paper. Mine was approximately 12 inches high and about 5 inches wide. Using the template, cut 2 pieces each of the outer fabric and lining fabric (the lining fabric will be folded over and will show). Also cut one piece of ribbon. Mine was about 7 inches.

2. Determine where you want to fold the top of the stocking. Fold the ribbon in half, and sandwich the folded side of the ribbon between the outer fabrics (right sides together). Just in case it’s not obvious, the grey/grey stripes indicate the wrong side. Leaving the top open, sew along the edge of the outer stocking with a 3/8-inch seam allowance. Repeat with the lining fabric, but instead of sandwiching a piece of ribbon, leave about a 3-inch opening on one side of the lining.

3. Clip curved parts of the outer and lining stockings. Turn the outer stocking right side out, then slip the lining with the wrong side facing out on top (the two stocking pieces will be right sides together). Line up the side seams, and sew all around the top with a 3/8-inch seam allowance.

4. Turn the entire piece right side out, pulling from the opening in the lining. Slip stitch the opening closed, and tuck the lining inside of the outer stocking. Press, fold over the top, make sure to pull out the loop, and done! It’s ready to be filled with goodies.

December 11, 2015

Happy Friday + Randomness

Happy Friday! Thank you so much for all the comments from my last post!! I’m overwhelmed by the kindness! Slowly, slowly I’m decompressing after months of chasing deadlines. The upside is that the holidays are going to be a piece of cake – I’ve vowed to really (really!!) keep it simple this year and I’m not ashamed to admit that most people are receiving gift cards. Even kids. Maybe next year I’ll wow you all with an array of handmade presents, but not this year. Now that the Advent Calendar is in full swing (it’s sweet how K puts the flowers in a vase each day) I feel that my elf duties are done. Incidentally, the glitter washi didn’t hold up the flowers all that well, and we kept finding them strewn about the floor, so I had to re-tape them all with not-so-glamorous painters tape. Oh well.

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I’m not sure what the illustration is up there — I’ve been doing this funny thing lately: I take my art supplies with me to coffee shops and paint for a little while. I was sketching the top portion of a coffee grinder at one of the cafés, and then thought of gramophones, and added a few hearts. I like it.

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Have a cozy weekend, all! I’m making my holiday list, checking it off, and reading some books for the sheer pleasure of it. Can’t wait.

Are you making things
for this holiday season?
If yes, then good luck!

December 9, 2015

SEWING HAPPINESS!!

As I type this, my book is getting printed. For some reason I envision old-timey printing presses whirring out massive sheets of paper with folks racing hither and yon, wearing ink-splattered aprons and shouting things like, “Typesetter, tarry ye not!” — I bet, though, things are all slick and digitized and operated by androids these days.

My friends, I have completed another book. Me!!!! A sewing book!!! With projects and stories!! M tells me that when I am in utter disbelief, I become a bobble-headed doll. My head bounces all over the place while my body remains immobile. K has confirmed this, and apparently, I look ridiculous. I’ve been bobbling in full force for the past 20 months, which is how long the book took to complete — I thought it was 17 months, but nope, I was wrong. I am especially bobble-headed about the amazing blurbs my intrepid and fabulous editor garnered. Molly has been a long-time personal hero of mine, and I squealed when I saw her name on the cover. I think my editor may have secretly bribed her with mind-altering truffle oil from Saturn or something.

Wow. Wow. It’s called Sewing Happiness, and seems to be available for pre-order though it won’t be released until April 2016. It’s published through Sasquatch Books — they also published Little Kunoichi and everyone I’ve worked with is wonderful and I don’t have enough accolades. The cover was styled and shot by the inimitable team at Besotted; Tristan and Michelle have both become very dear friends (a little behind-the-scenes: I’m wearing Tristan’s linen shirt up there with a bulldog clip attached at the back to give me the illusion of a waist).

It hasn’t really hit me. I have a lot to say about this experience and I’m so grateful that so many of you stuck around during my poor showing in blogland, but right now, I’m just reveling in the unhurried pace and the fact that it’s DONE. Good things are afoot, I think.

December 7, 2015

The Puffy-Coat-To-Be

Good morning! As Christmas approaches, our weeks feel stuffed to the gills and as much as I’m enjoying the socializing, I keep punting sewing out of the to-do queue.

We’re diving headlong into winter, and alas, K somehow lost the Alpine coat I made her which would have lasted another season. I loved that coat, so it’s a bummer. Which means, I’m now trying to find my sew-jo for stitching another one up.

All this to say, this is a cheater of a post since I don’t have much to show you other than the fabrics I’d like to make the puffy coat out of (the black is water resistant and the aqua is a velour/minky type of soft loveliness for the lining), and I’d really like to add a zipper this time, but I need some hand-holding in the form of detailed illustrated instructions.

I’ve been doing a little research online and there seems to be a lack of kids’ hooded puffy coat patterns that are fully lined with a zip closure. I might Frankenstein the Alpine with Heidi’s Spring Showers Jacket, but wanted to see if anyone out there has other suggestions?

On an unrelated note, we got our Christmas tree this past weekend and we started trimming it last night. That little painting is by my mom, and I’ve carted it around with me for so many decades now…I don’t even know when she made it. We just got sad news that for the first time in 8 years, my mom won’t be coming to visit for Christmas due to some health issues. K is especially distraught by this news. There’s a chance she might be able to come up a little after New Year’s so we’re keeping our fingers crossed. Christmas without Ba-chan is hard to imagine.

Okay, back to looking for a puffy jacket pattern….

December 4, 2015

Happy Friday + Randomness

Happy Friday! The knitting is still going on, can you believe it? I try to knit a few rows every day, and I sometimes wonder if I’ll just keep at it until it’s the longest scarf ever. K would love to be able to say, “My mom knitted the longest scarf in the universe.”

An inadvertent ombre effect is happening since I don’t have enough of any one color.

That raised row was a mistake, but I like it.

It’s quite possible that I’ve finally caught the knitting bug…

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We went out for Indian food two nights ago, where some MMA competition was on TV. K watched for a while and sagely commented, “I guess you can’t be ticklish and be a wrestler. That’s a lot of armpit grabbing.”

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I am still coughing
But I’m feeling pretty good
Happy weekend, friends!

P.S. Furoku members! #9 is out, please let me know if you have any problems viewing/downloading (I added a lot of stuff this time).

P.P.S. Winners of the giveaway, Eleanor and Karissa, I’ll be shipping the books this weekend. Thanks for playing, everyone!