Category: Making

Caitlyn, Seasons, sewing

Old News

 

I’m late, I know. Halloween is so last month. We’re less than 10 days from Thanksgiving. Everyone else has already posted their Halloween Costume Posts and moved on. It’d be neat if I had some sort of reasonable excuse, but I don’t. And now, it sounds like Caitlyn’s Halloween costume was some amazing, intricate thing. She had been asking for a mermaid costume “with a real tail.” She was apparently fully aware that this would prevent walking, since requests for such a costume would move on to descriptions of locomoting in roughly the style of an elephant seal. How this …

quilts

No, really, I had to

 

I usually try to have at least some idea of what I’m going to do with a length of fabric before I buy it. It’s not like there’s a shortage of fabric in my sewing space. When Pacific Fabrics sent out an announcement that this fabric line, Catkin from In the Beginning Fabrics, had arrived in their stores, I sorta did a happy dance in my chair. How can you not love cats in paisleys? A week or so ago, when I was popping in for sewing machine needles (not an excuse, really!) I happened to notice something small (a …

quilts

Colorful Pinwheels

I’ve actually finished a quilt this year! I have a pile of Works in Progress teetering on the chest in my work space and I keep adding new fabric for additional projects to it (see the sidebar for details). Somehow, the size of the pile doesn’t seem to deter me from seeing some new project and rushing out for supplies for that, too. There’s probably some deep psychological statement to be extracted here: I’m afraid of running out of things to do? I’m afraid of the risk of starting something? Whatever. It’s time to celebrate something being finished. This quilt …

Caitlyn, sewing

Adding inches

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It seems Caitlyn’s pants are always too short. Sometimes this condition coincides with wear and tear, and then we call the pants “grubby” and she wears them for things that involve dirt and mud (p-patch work parties, walking in the woods, puddle stomping, etc). And sometimes the pants are in perfectly serviceable shape. They are just too short. I don’t know why it’s never occurred to me before to just make the pants longer.  I’ve had this blue floral fabric in the stash for ages.  I’ve also got a red and white print that makes me think of red bandanas …

quilts

Nothing like Last Minute

 

About seven years ago, I picked up what I think was my first fat quarter bundle. I was at In The Beginning (which has since closed it’s retail store and is a fabric design house) and there was just something magical about these bundles of coordinated fabrics. I had no idea what I was going to do with the fabrics but I bought them anyway. I washed them and ironed them and put them away.  They’ve come out a couple of times, most recently when I was thinking about a skirt for Caitlyn.  When I visit fabric stores now, I …

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Prewash for shrinkage

 

Despite my best intentions, it seems that as the seasons tip into fall, I start feeling generally dissatisfied with the contents of my closet. It’s not that there’s a shortage of clothes in there (although I’m wearing holes in nearly all my jeans). It’s not that I’ve grown out of anything (unlike Caitlyn). It’s not that I have new places to go or people to impress with an up-to-date wardrobe. It’s not like I need to be fabulous when I spend the day at home, banging away at the computer and stirring up messes in the kitchen. I mentioned this …