Ally gets featured and I won a gift certificate!

An online fabric store where I buy quite a bit of my fabric is called Above All Fabric. The owner, Melanie, has a flickr group, where she asked people to share pictures of things they've made with fabric purchased at her store. After people posted, Melanie chose some to write a blog post about on HER blog.

Well, not only did one of the first try pics of Ally in the Julia outfit make it onto Melanie's blog, but I won a $25 gift certificate! Talk about feeding someone's habit. Melanie also has a new feature at her shop where you earn points for all of the fabric you buy, that can be used, or saved and used towards future orders. Wowee!

I'll post what I buy with the certificate, but in the meantime, I'm making more upcycled napkins and some special order baby blankets for my Etsy shop.

Oh yeah, and check out my new banner in the shop...I'd love to know what you think?

Ally in Julia

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Originally uploaded by restitcherator

I am totally addicted to Twitter.

One afternoon as I was driving, I saw my phone light up with a Tweet from designer Patty Young. She was looking for new pattern testers for her new girls' clothing patterns that are coming out at the Fall Quilt Market.

Needless to say I jumped at the chance. It's a two layer skirt with a shirred drawstring that shows off the underlayer, and appliques put onto a purchased top.

I used fabrics from Patty's Mezzanine fabric line. Maybe it's because I'm a child of the '80s, but pink and green as a color combo just make me smile.

I got to use my new Pfaff overlocker on this pattern that I got for my birthday. And I got to use that great dark green large rick rack that I bought during my first Shop Hop.

The pattern went together like a breeze, and Patty's pattern was laid out beautifully. The fabrics from Michael Miller are a very nice quality. Over all, more fun than I think one sewer should get to have!

P.S. Fabric was purchased online at Above All Fabric.

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Originally uploaded by restitcherator

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Originally uploaded by restitcherator

Weekend project - cloth napkins upcycled from vintage tablecloths

So, it seems like forever that I've had this giant Rubbermaid tote full of vintage tablecloths that I've managed to accumulate over time. Lots and lots of them have small holes, or thin spots. Some of them have great patterns or images on them. Most of them have those gorgeous vintage color combinations that you just don't see anymore. Pretty much all of them had some stains. But I found one at a Goodwill store recently and it reminded me to pull them out. I made a huge batch of bleach and water to soak them in, and started cutting.

The first set had these great roosters, chickens, and farm houses. It also had lots of tiny pea-sized holes. But once I was done with them...





They are double sided, and not 100% perfectly square, but they are all intact, and what I did use is in wonderful condition. And who can beat that pattern?? Best of all, they are super Earth friendly, eliminating paper napkins, and re-using something that would have been in the landfill. They are absorbant as all get out, just to make them that much sweeter.

My favorite pattern and color combo of all time was in this cloth...the red white and blue (but more like teal). Best of all, these are 15 1/2" square, which is nice and big. Just the most gorgeous shabby chic looking napkins you'll ever want to see.






Both sets are now in my Etsy shop, with many more to come.

Thinking Fall...and Purses!

Wow. Can it be? Almost six weeks since I posted? Clearly I need to get a better routine going. I've made all kinds of stuff, but haven't had the foresight to take pictures, let alone post about them. I made a gorgeous Amy Butler halter top for myself, that's been worn and washed already. I'll definately post about that later.

Most of my very favorite projects are usually things that I sort of dream up, and wing as I go along. I find that with a pattern, I have this preconceived notion about what stuff will look like, and if it doesn't, I'm never quite as happy with it as I want to be. This project was one of those organic ones...it started with some great lucite handles I bought at Mood in January. They were really reasonable and I have another pair of light grey ones. Since this bag came out so well, I'm sure I'll be making another with those shortly!

The result was this...


I've seen these types of purses a lot of places, and wanted to make one with a simple shape, but as interesting a pattern as I could find. Something I might be able to use a lot. So, of course, it's black and white. It's made from an upcycled, felted Fair Isle cardigan, and some awesome Michael Miller Disco Dot for the lining.




It's not very big, only about 7" square, with about a 1 3/4" width. I've seen people with these really overstuffed, and the sweater just stretches out and the handles stress...so I thought if I made it small, it would be harder to overfill.





The handles are sewn on with the cuff edge of the sweater, so the color matches perfectly. I was so thrilled that it fit through the opening on the lucite handles, it seemed perfect. I did stitch the sides closed again, I wanted them to be as strong as possible.



I LOVE it...but I am promptly putting it in my Etsy shop. My first sale really got me motivated. It's already time to start thinking about the holidays and gifts...where does the time go???

You Are HERE

My kids never seem to have a shortage of great, new, creative ideas. This project was no exception.

My son, for some crazy reason, has been asking for a pillow with the state of Connecticut on it. He does love maps, and we do live in Connecticut...other than that, who knows why.

So I showed him some of the stuff from my ridiculously growing stash that I thought he might like for the back. He ended up choosing some very cool Echino that is black with pigs and cobwebs.



For the front, I used a grey base from a reclaimed men's wool sweater, and then I cut out the state freehand from a reclaimed men's black wool sweater. Thank GOD we live in a relatively easy state to cute out! Can you imagine if we lived in Virginia, or Alaska...EEEK. But here's the final result.



The whole project took me maybe an hour or so, and he LOVES it. He slept with it last night. I used a 12" x 16" pillow form and slip stitched the opening shut. I am thinking these might be a cool thing to offer in my Etsy shop? What do you think?

Amy Butler Placemats in Lotus

Wow...these made up super quickly and easily. The pattern is from Amy Butler's book "In Stitches". I bought the Lotus fabric from Above All Fabric, a wonderful online fabric store. The owner Melanie offers super quick shipping, an amazing selection and top notch customer service.





I love when I actually make the projects out of the MANY books I own.

All aprons, all the time

So, when I get into something, I really get into it. I started out making two more of Jona's "Apron in an Hour" from the free PDF on her blog/fabric website Fabritopia. I'm spreading the fabric love around though, because the fabric came from Close to Home in Glastonbury, CT (super nice staff) for the pink and green preppy one, and Lisa's Clover Hill Quilts in Berlin, CT for the mum and purple one.




I had gone to both shops to check out how close they are to me, because they're both participating in the 2009 CT Shop Hop (my first one!). I figured it would be good to scope places out before I had to visit all 18 in such a short time. I'm really looking forward to it!

The last one is for my dear friend/coworker Kari (you can follow her on Twitter at @KPlavcan13), for a belated birthday gift. She is a talented cupcaker extraordinaire, and I figured she needed a cup-cakey apron for when she's working her magical goodness. The pattern for this came from Bari J, an amazing and talented fabric designer. Her pattern has great tips, and I can assure you, I needed all of them! The fabric is a very cool mix of Joel Dewberry Aviary (pink) and some of Project Runway Season 1 winner Jay Carroll's Woodland Wonderland fabric line.





I'm getting much better with my new machine, and I'm looking forward to making some more actual garments. I made a skirt this week that came out just god-awful. So bad, there's no pictures!

Until next time...