Why exactly? Because you can, of course.
I was intrigued by a tutorial by Anneliese at Aesthetic Nest. It looked so cool to turn flannel into something so different and dimensional. Lots of steps but nothing too complicated. Would it turn out like hers?
Well I'm here to tell you that it did! Soft and raggedy, multicolored 3-D chenille! But I am also here to tell you that it was a ridiculous amount of work for a 40X40 baby blanket. And expensive, to boot. Three yards of flannel and another yard of quilting cotton.
Then there was the quilting. That is a lot of diagonal lines, people. And each and every one has to be cut, but regular sewing scissors do not fit down that skinny channel. Enter the less-sharp scissors from my knitting bag, requiring each channel to be cut TWICE. That's right, twice.
This one is a baby blanket for some graduate school friends expecting their first. I wish I had used a more monochromatic group of flannels. I hadn't really anticipated how they would look cut and frayed. But I think it turned out looking cute and lively. And I couldn't have realized how fun the blanket would feel when it was done--not just the nubby-ness of the the chenille, but the combination of the weight of the heavier strips of flannel and all that quilting to the quilting cotton gave it kind of a wiggly, rubbery feeling--very hard to explain but Frances knew what I was talking about right away.
She immediately wanted one for herself--but all that work was for a baby size! A lap size?! No way! So I decided to make her a pillow--the perfect little showcase for that fluffy chenille goodness.
I got everyone out of the house to work and school.
Now there's this.
And this.
But first, this.
I checked another project off my list of things to try! This is a tote bag I made for my friend Shelley for her birthday. I used another pattern from Anna at Noodlehead--her Madras Tote. I had this combination of fabrics bought on a whim from the clearance area at M&L (and previously seen in a couch pillow and a flouncy apron).
Because my fabrics were pretty light I added medium-weight fusible interfacing to both the main bag and the pocket. I also added a line of stitching right down where the side ends and the bottom of the bag begins. That way things in the pocket can't slip down to the very bottom. If I make it again I think I'll make the pocket taller also. What I really think I would do is to use some of the features of this pattern to alter my basic tote bag pattern. I do like the outside pockets!
I was supposed to be working on this.
But instead I decided to make this. I scooped up a bunch of blouse patterns the last time Joann's had a 99-cent pattern sale and yesterday I found a remnant of this silky animal print.
This is Simplicity 1915 and I think it turned out pretty well. It was quite a lot of gathering--good thing I don't mind that. The serger sure made hemming that ruffle easier, and the inside looks beautiful! (I have been borrowing a serger from a friend. Whoever told me that once I used one I'd never go without again was dead right.)
I think this will be cute with a black or maybe a pale blue cardigan (the background is actually a light bluish/gray--hard to see) and some dark jeans or the black pencil skirt I scored at Target for $6.44!
Ok, back to the dance dresses... (Right after I cut the string hanging from that sleeve!)
I just finished a multi-generational collaboration. My cousin Lynetta sent me these basket blocks that were hand-pieced by my Great Great Grandmother Harriet Woodcock Emiley. She died in 1925, so they must have been made before that. I wonder if these were leftovers from a larger quilt, or these were all the blocks she finished for this project.
I decided to put them together into a small display quilt--I know from an antiques point of view, I probably shouldn't have trimmed and sewn them, but hey, who enjoys them if they are sitting in a drawer somewhere, right? Now I am talking about my Great Great Grandma Harriet and showing off her work.
I sashed the top with Kona coffee and bound with some Kona red. (Still don't know which one, sorry.) I wasn't sure how to quilt it, and in the end I decided on diagonals along the edges of the triangles in the baskets. Those diagonals weren't exactly straight, but I decided to follow them anyway, resulting in a little bit of a wonky look.
Ten blocks seemed awkward until I decided to use one on the back. I was so happy when I found this backing fabric. It was pretty and old-fashioned looking, and perfectly matched the red and brown I had already picked out. I bordered this block in the red and brown, and added both my own label and this hand-written label that tells what I know about the blocks.
Thank you so much to Lynetta for sharing these beautiful blocks!
I was enchanted with the faux furs when I went fabric shopping in the L.A. garment district with my best sewing friend Tana--they were so soft and came in so many pretty colors and textures, some natural-looking, some more fanciful. (Pink mohawk, anyone?) The very next day I read this tutorial over at another of my favorite blogs, Aesthetic Nest. Now Anneliese lives in a cold and snowy place, while my home is mostly warm and sunny, but little faux fur scarves could be just right for our faux southern California winter. Throw one on with a jean jacket and you're ready for almost anything Mother Nature dishes out down here. (Anyone who read my New Years letter--remember the teenagers and their blanket outerwear?)
Of course I was already done in the garment district when I got this inspiration, so I ended up buying my fur at my local JoAnn Fabric, at what I'm sure was a decent mark-up. But, hey, a quarter yard made two scarves AND I had a coupon. (And thanks to Bill for agreeing to stop at the fabric store on the way home from the Indian restaurant on Saturday night.)
I followed the tutorial as written for this first one--the white poodly fur is so soft! The satin lining is left over from Frances's Glinda dress from seventh-grade Halloween. One end of the scarf has what is essentially a big buttonhole that you pull the other end of the scarf through. It might be cute to add a pin also.
For this one I shortened and widened the scarf--it looks like a miniature fur stole. I love the swirly pattern in the sable-colored fur. Like a bed-head guinea pig. No idea why I had this scrap of charcoal satin but I liked them together.
Now I have some cute winter accessories for the approximately 15 minutes of winter we have left!
Just a disclaimer--I am vehemently anti-real-fur. I think real fur belongs on animals. But as long as fake fur is an end in itself and doesn't make people want animal fur, I'm all for it! Go ahead and wear it--we'll make more!
Whew! I have gotten through Frances's birthday and the end of basketball season with the cheer team. Time to catch up on the blog! Here's another late Christmas present. We stayed at a cool hotel in Palm Springs over Thanksgiving break. In the rooms there were robes to borrow. Some were traditional wrap-around style with a tie belt, like the one Bill had at home. But they also had some that were pull-overs with a button placket. When Bill modeled one down by the pool, I decided what kind of new robe to make him for Christmas.
I wanted him to help pick out the fabric, so all he actually got for Christmas was a pattern envelope. I decided to use a traditional men's nightshirt pattern, with the addition of some on-seam pockets. We hit a little snag with fabric selection--I thought flannel would be the right weight and very robe-appropriate, but Bill was adamant that he didn't want flannel. Quilting cotton didn't seem to have enough body. We looked through some twills and canvas, but nothing struck us just right. We headed to the clearance room in the back of M&L and found this great printed chambray! For $2.50 per yard! It's the perfect weight, and I think the printed pattern makes it more interesting--a little Japanese-inspired, maybe.
It's a great fit and seems to have been accepted as a replacement for the old Washington, D.C. model (which was just plain worn out). No belt to fall on the floor when you hang it up. And it reminds us of the Ace Hotel, which was a lot of fun!
