Vintage Goodies

A few weeks ago a surprise package landed on my doorstep.

It was full of the above amazing goodies.

All from my former 4-H instructor slash little sister's baby sitter.  She said she doesn't sew like she used to and thought maybe I could find a use for these things.

Um. . . yes!!

Needless to say, it made my day.

So thoughtful.

Right now I am still in the phase where I just want to touch and look at the pretty things, but no doubt they will pop up in some projects soon.

(That lace collar is killing me! It demands the perfect little project.)

And then, there would be the spoils from my annual President's Day "Momma's Gone Wild" thrifting spree.

President's Day is the one day a year that I don't work but my husband does and the Bug's daycare is open.

It's my favorite holiday ever.

Above you can see some of my loot.

1.   Vintage rose table cloth. . . too small for any table I own but too pretty to pass up.  I thought it might make for some pretty picnics this summer.

2.   "Home Sweet Home" cross stitch. . . this was on my "to find" list for the day and I found it in the first store! It needs cleaned up a bit and probably re-framed (although I kind of love that someone attempted to nail the cheap frame back together) but I love it.

3.   Some retro plaid yardage found at my favorite little thrift store (because they have a whole section devoted to fabric--though it was slim pickin's this time, I still found plenty).  I love the orange, navy and grey color scheme.  It will make a nice handbag lining or a school girl skirt for the Bug.

4.  Some home made bias tape, found at the same store as the plaid fabric. I have no real plans for it, but I've made bias tape. I know the time it takes and the burnt fingers that come inevitably when you press that much of it. It simply needed me to rescue it.

5.  A terrible copper plaque. And yes I did pay over $3 for it! Crazy? Perhaps. But that butterfly is resting on lilies of the valley and I adore lilies of the valley.  I have special plans for this in the Bug's room once I've given it a good cleaning and few coats of pink spray paint.

5.  Patches. . . Apples and mushrooms. Flashback to childhood. How adorable are they? This is only a couple of them. I bought six of each. I know, that's a lot but there were about 20 of each at the thrift store, so see, I was practicing restraint!

6. Rick rack. . . oh how I love you. . . especially in jumbo size. And oh how the Bug will love that sparkly gold!

7.  Old children's book, "The Happy Lion Roars". . . we need another book in our house like we need a hole in the head. But just look at that happy lion and the way Mrs. Happy Lion is looking at him adoringly and tell me you could have left this book lay?? 

I didn't think so.

8.  Chippy, rusty, green file box. . . . I simply cannot explain my attraction to this but I literally squealed out loud when I found it.  How delighted was I do find that the latch really worked and that there are monthly file dividers inside?  I'm thinking a Pinterest inspired project is in order.  Although rather than a perpetual memory calendar, I'm thinking a perpetual calendar of gratitude.  Wouldn't that be awesome?

Yes. It would.

9.  Little house fabric. . . I can't possibly play favorites, but if you threatened to take away my coffee for all eternity, I might feel cornered enough to tell you this was my favorite find of the day.  I love how graphic it is. And the colors are very "me".

Thoughts on what I should do with it?  There is some decent yardage there.

I think it is a good thing I only have one day a year like this, right?  There is a little piece of me that would love to be that lady that stops in to her favorite thrift stores weekly. . . that knows the cashiers by name, and the sale schedules. . . the lady the hold the "good stuff" back for. . .

I wonder if it would get old for me?

The carts with the squeaky wheels, that indescribable but distinctive musty smell, the weird film that covers everything?

Yes, I think for me absence makes the heart grow fonder.

And having this once a year chance makes the thrill of the hunt that much more exciting.

And so Goodwill and your thrifty friends, I bid you adieu for another year.  Thanks for the good time!  What say we do it again next February?

~Lindsay

Dewberry Quilt Finished!

Two years later and it's finally done!

Those people who finish a quilt in a weekend amaze me.

I want to be like that. But somehow life gets in the way and here I am dozens of weekends later, finally with a finished product.

The pattern for this quilt came out of the book, "Patchwork Comforters, Throws & Quilts".  It's the quilt on the cover and it caught my eye when it came in at the library. I picked it up right away, eager to flip through and get lots of great ideas. Unfortunately, this was the only quilt design in the whole book that I liked.  Thank goodness it was a library book and not one I purchased.  

The pattern in called Salad and it's a beginner level pattern.  It really is simple, even though it kind of looks complicated.

  The instructions in the book are impeccable.  Very organized and easy to follow.

It took 16 fat quarters and a little over a yard of that green border print to do the front.

The fabric is Joel Dewberry, Deer Valley.  It's an older, discontinued line but still available a few places here and there if you Google it.  This is the Tarragon color way.

This is what takes me so long.  

I adore hand quilting.

This time I used embroidery floss to stitch around each of the center blocks.  

I attempted French knots around the border. (some more successful than others)

I enjoy doing the hand quilting and I love the look of it.

I wish I was better at it.  More consistent stitching. . . faster. . .

But I don't know, I sort of like a quilt to look a little "home made" and imperfect.

In that way, the gift strongly resembles the giver.

And this quilt in particular was a gift for a special sister so the time spent quilting was also a time spent in quiet prayer and reflection.  It's so rare I slow down enough to pray like that.  I think that's part of why I enjoy sewing so much.

The quilt pattern says it measures 71" x 71".  I never did take a final measurement.

The back was pieced out of some of the remaining fat quarters and a bit of yardage.

It arrived at it's new home yesterday.  

A surprise.

One of the best kinds of surprises I think.  One accompanied by a great deal of love.

~Lindsay

Winner Winner!

First, apologies for the extended absence from blogging. It was unintentional but it seems a sewing slump collided with a period of extreme busyness and lack of creative inspiration ensued.

I blame post-Christmas shock.

At any rate, a few weeks ago I was having kind of a rotten day.  I don't even remember what exactly had gotten me down I just remember that I was feeling blah.  I checked my e-mail on my phone before heading in to work for the day and low and behold the subject line "You are a winner!".

I thought at first it might be fishy but my e-mail is pretty well locked down and I don't typically get spam in my inbox.  Then again, I don't typically WIN anything.

But, after a quick look at the sender's e-mail address I saw it was the author of a blog I follow and I decided I could trust it.

I opened the e-mail and sure enough it was Heidi from Honey Bear Lane informing me that I'd won a giveaway, sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop, on her blog.

My day suddenly looked up.

Funny how free fabric can do that.

Better yet, the jelly roll was actually a line of fabrics that I really, really like!  It's called Urban Cowgirl and is designed by the Urban Chiks for Moda.  The Urban Chiks are responsible for some of my favorite fabric collections of all time, including the fabric on the patchwork pillow pictured up there, Swell (Currently Out of Print, sigh. . .).  I used one jelly roll of Swell to make one of my favorite projects EVER, the Blue Bird Quilt and I have two more rolls and some yardage stashed for a quilt for the Bug's bed, "someday".

If you've been following for any length of time you've seen me sew with the fabric lines 1974 and Happy Daisy too. 

Here and here and here and here

Geesh, yeah I think I like those Chiks.

I'd love to get my hands on some of the vintagey goodness of Sweet and Dream On and how adorable would Hullabaloo be for a nursery?  But really, a girl has to draw the line somewhere and I'm trying not to spend money on fabric this year.  That's why this win was so much fun!  I got my new fabric "fix" without spending a dime!

Thank you Fat Quarter Shop and thank you Honey Bear Lane for absolutely making my day!

Now. . . what to do with this lovely stuff?  Thoughts?

~Lindsay

Simple, Handmade Gifts for Boys

You won't find a lot of sewing for boys ideas on this blog.

It's not that I don't love boys. I just don't have one of my own.

But I do have nephews. Seven year old twins with a baby brother on the way.

And a Momma who appreciates hand-made.

As such, I was so inclined as to make a few of their Christmas gifts this year.

 For baby boy, I made this sweet little vest and tie onesie.
I first spotted this idea on Pinterest, but I've seen it all over the web since.
I can't wait to see the little man in it!  Mostly, I just can't wait to meet the little man.

I tried a new technique for printing these shirts for the soon to be big brothers.

It involved Mod Podge and embroidery hoops and screen printing ink (which is ridiculously difficult to find in my neck of the woods).

You can find the tutorial I used here.

You can see it's a little bit rough, so this method is probably not best to use if you are going for something really clean or intricate. But for these shirts I kind of like that look.

I didn't sew a single thing for this gift but I think it's one of the favorite gifts we gave this year.

I found the idea (again) on Pinterest.

It's a big 5 gallon bucket from Lowes with a "bucket buddy" to hold art and craft supplies.

We hit up the dollar store and Target and Wal Mart and decked this puppy out.

I love that there are lots of pockets on the outside for the little things, glue sticks, tape, paint brushes, scissors, glitter glue. . . and then big things like coloring books, construction paper, and pipe cleaners can go inside the bucket.

Now the boys have everything they need for getting creative here in one spot. And they aren't limited on where they have to be creative, they can tote this bucket around with them anywhere.

Love it.

It was a lot of fun to challenge myself this year and try to come up with some handmade gifts for these special little guys.  And it was fun to see their faces when they opened everything up.

Thank you Pinterest and all you crafty people who pin these awesome things! That inspiration folder in my head was getting a bit unreliable.  

~Lindsay

Lunch Bag revisited

I tried my hand at the Executive Insulated Lunch Purse from the book, "Lunch Bags!" again.

My mom packs her lunch every single day so a lunch bag is always a great idea for a gift.

I've made her two others. One was when I was in college years before I had even HEARD the word "blog" much less wrote one. It was pretty cool though, pieced and appliquéd with hand dyed fabric. One of these days, I'd like to get back into dying my own fabric.

The other was one of my favorite projects a couple of years ago. . . (here)

Since that time, I have discovered thermal fleece interfacing--which is perfect for using in lunch bags to keep everything cool.

I used the same exterior fabric as the last time I made this particular bag because I love it. But I attempted to change the zipper.  The pattern in the book called for an extra long zipper that kind of hung off the sides of the bag and I didn't love the look of that. It was o.k., I just didn't love it.

So this time I tried a shorter zipper. I think it's almost right.  Zippers and I, we are learning to get along, but we still have a ways to go.

You'll note, I also added a 402 tag. 

This was a last minute Christmas gift and I totally forgot to tag it. Of course, my proud momma ask if I could add one.  You know, in case those other teachers in the lounge ask.

This bag is a bit bigger than the last one I made for my Mom so I think it will function a little better for her.

Since the sewing of this gift was so last minute, I had to ask my Mom to bring it with her for an after Christmas photo shoot. Yes, we still had green grass after Christmas. This has been one weird winter.

Believe it or not, this is not the end of my posts about Christmas presents. There are a few more yet to come. . . 

Which is good because I've sort of hit a sewing lull for the time being and don't have much to show for the last few weeks.

~Lindsay

Muslin Hanger Cover tutorial

These hanger covers are a nice way to dress up an ugly plastic or wire hanger.  They also would help hold those slinky fabric tops on the hanger as well.

The sky is the limit fabric wise. You could make it as simple or as funky as your heart desires.

So let's begin with the supplies:

 Your sewing machine, needles and coordinating thread.

Pattern

Scissors

Pins (if you're into that sort of thing)

an iron and ironing board

fabric--(6 yards of 45" wide fabric should make 25 covers)

For the Lily's Closet Project we have been asked to use unbleached muslin. Just in case you were curious, on the left is unbleached (and un-ironed, ha!) muslin, on the right is bleached muslin. See the difference?

The lovely folks at Lily's closet will take these simple blank slates and stamp them each with their logo for a consistent, sophisticated look through the whole store.

Your fabric for these does not need to be pre-washed.  Since I don't imagine these will be washed frequently you don't need to worry about them shrinking.  Also, if you don't pre-wash, you won't have to do as much ironing to get the fabric crisp enough for folding and cutting.  I am a big fan of ironing when it is necessary, but when it is not, I am not.

Print out your paper pattern.

You can find the PDF here . . .(edit: It seems the PDF is printing out small, if you go this route, add about 1/4" all around when you are cutting) or, e-mail me and I'll be happy to e-mail the PDF, or even snail mail a copy.

It will print on two sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper.  Make sure the box in the corner prints to the right scale and then cut out your pattern. You will have to piece the pattern together and tape it. It will need to overlap a bit. It should be easy enough if you match up the lines and the letters.

After you assembled the pattern, place it on your fabric.  I like to fold my fabric selvedge to selvedge in half and then in half once again.  This gives you four layers of fabric to cut through and will be about 11" wide if you are using 45" wide fabric. Place the long straight side of the pattern on the side of the fabric that has both folds.

I like to trace out lots of hanger covers on my muslin and cut them all at the same time. I use my disappearing ink marker, but you could use a pencil or even a sharpie.  These lines will be inside and won't be seen.

Cut around the pattern or on the lines you traced.  If you folded your fabric in quarters like I did, you will have two shapes like this one above once you open things up.

On the bottom of the hanger cover, turn under about 1/4 of an inch and press.  If you iron well, you won't need to pin this and that saves a ton of time.

Turn another 1/4" up to encase that raw fabric edge. Press that well and your bottom hem is ready to sew!

But wait!! Don't sew yet!

While your iron is hot and you are standing at the ironing board go ahead and iron down 1/4" on the top of the hanger cover.

. . . and another 1/4" to encase that raw edge.

Repeat the ironing of the bottom and top hems for the second piece of fabric.  If I am making a lot of these, I like to put one on top of another and iron two of them at once.  The folds aren't quite as crisp that way, but they are sufficient.

Now, you are ready to sew.

Start with your bottom hem.  Take a straight stitch along the top part of the hem.  This should be around 1/4" from the very bottom of your hem.

Once you've gotten to the end of the first one, grab the second.

I don't even waste time cutting my thread. I just keep my machine a humming and continue sewing the second hem.  It's a little trick I've learned from quilters who are sewing lots and lots of little pieces together at a time.  They call it chain piecing.

It may not seem like much, but if you are making, say one thousand hanger covers, these little time savers add up.

When you get to the end of that second hem you can clip your threads, including the line of thread in between them if you used my little time saving method above.

And move on to that top hem.  You can chain piece here too. Sew 'em both up.

You should now have two hanger cover halves that are nicely hemmed on top and bottom.  If your hems need it, you can iron them now, it's up to you.

Lay out your two pieces, right sides together. You are getting ready to sew around the curved portion, so if it helps you, you might want to pin these now.  I don't pin. I just live on the edge like that.

You want to sew around the edges of the hanger cover now, leaving the hemmed top and bottom edges open.  I use about a 1/4" seam allowance here.  That means your stitches should be about 1/4" from the edge of your fabric. Don't stress this, just find a line on your sewing machine to line the fabric up with and go for it.

This is what your seam should look like. One on the right from top to bottom and one on the left from top to bottom.  

You can see my stitching isn't perfectly 1/4" from the edge all around. No biggie. Just so you are close.

Again, the areas you hemmed (top and bottom) should not be sewn together. They are the opening to put the hanger in to. 

With your hanger cover still inside out, take your scissors and clip your curves. Be careful not to cut through your stitches here!

Clipping the extra fabric around the curves like this helps the finished product to lie flat and not wrinkle or bunch up.

There are four curves to be clipped, two at the "neck" and two at the "shoulder".

Once the curves are clipped, turn your cover right side out and press.

You're finished!

Only 999 more to go!

Again, if you are willing and able to help with the Lily's Closet hanger cover project, please e-mail me ASAP and let me know how many of these you think you can make and mail by the end of the month!

402CenterStreet at gmail dot com

Thanks!

~Lindsay

Can you help? Will you help?

Several months ago I saw a logo for a place called "Lily's Closet" on a friend's face book page.

I clicked on it. I don't really know why, other than the name caught my attention.

As I read through their "info" section I knew this was a ministry I wanted to support.

About	Our purpose is to reach out to broken, hurting girls with God's amazing, healing love, and to give them eternal hope.
Company Overview	Who we are: Lily's Closet is a ministry designed to reach out to middle and high school girls from Goshen living in difficult life circumstances. It is a store where these girls will be able to come and shop for clothes- for free! Each girl is paired with a staff member who serves as a "shopping buddy" for the day. When the girls finish shopping, the staff will have the opportunity to pray with each girl and talk with her about how much God loves her. We believe that in meeting a physical need of clothes that these girls have, we are able to meet the much greater spiritual need these girls may have. God has a huge heart for these girls and absolutely moves mountains for them! This is a huge opportunity we have to reach out to broken, hurting girls in our very own community! Follow us on Twitter :) Lilys_Closet
Mission	Our mission is to tear down walls of pain and hopeless with God's love by building relationships and providing clothes for girls in need. (via Lily's Closet facebook)

 I e-mailed Madison, the contact person listed there, and offered the services of our Crafting Hope group.  I thought maybe we could sew some cute spring scarves or simple skirts for them.

She e-mailed me back with a different request. . . hanger covers.

Hanger covers???

A quick internet search turned up a few things better suited to Grandma's Closet than anything else so I asked what exactly she had in mind.

(photo via: Taylors Closet)

She sent me a few photos and I set to work thinking through some very simple pattern making.

Once I had a pattern, I made a special request of our sewing group.

Lily's closet needed 250 of these simple little things by the first of November!

Seemed manageable to me at the time. . . that's 10 people making 25 covers, right?

Well, obviously I wasn't thinking.

People were sewing Christmas gifts in October. (I wasn't thinking Christmas until late November. . . ahem)

By November 1st we had about 65 of them.

I put out my plea again. . . extended my deadline to the end of November. . . but still, with the holidays it was just too much.

So I told Madison I would revisit the project after the first of the year.

And here we are. . . after the first of the year.

And this little Lily's Closet vision has grown a bit I think.

The request has changed.

250 hanger covers would be great, but they could really use 1,000.

And this is why I need your help.

On Thursday, January 26th at 6:30 pm the Crafting Hope group will be meeting at the Nappanee Public Library.  We are inviting out anyone who can iron, cut or sew to help us make as many of these in a two hour time period as we possibly can.

We will form an assembly line, so if you can't sew, don't worry! We'll let the non-sewers iron or cut fabric.  Working together we can do exceedingly more than we could on our own.

For more information, including a supply list, please go to the Nappanee Public Library website (or e-mail me,  402CenterStreet at gmail dot com).

If you can't make it that night or you just simply live too far away, would you please consider making a few of these for us on your own?

You don't need to be local. I'd love nothing more than to see this project become bigger than our little corner of Indiana. I'd love to see God's grace and love for these girls grow all over the country (perhaps, dare I say, the world?).

  

I will be posting a tutorial soon.  They truly are a simple and inexpensive little project.  Very little sewing skill is required. I promise. 

I am looking for 40 people who will commit to make 25 hanger covers.

I am praying specifically for this and I am believing that the God who multiplied the loaves and fish will multiply our faithfulness.  This job is too big for me. It is too big for the small group of seamstresses I know. But it isn't too big for the God we serve.

If you need further convincing, please take a minute and watch this local news channels coverage of what Madison is doing with Lily's Closet.

That's right folks, she is 17 years old. She had the first inklings of this idea "a few years ago" at a youth conference.  That would make her, what, 15 when she had this vision?

So what say you? Will you help us?

E-mail me if you will commit to making 25 (or more!) of these hanger covers.

402CenterStreet at gmail dot com

I will send you an address to mail the completed covers to as well as be available for any help you might need along the way.

And please friends, PRAY.

Lily's Closet opens on February 2nd.  

I'd love nothing more than for every hanger in that building to be covered in unbleached muslin and the prayers of the saints who sewed a bit of hope into the lives of the hopeless.

Thank you Friends.

Stay tuned for the tutorial.

~Lindsay