Me and sewing

Last summer for my birthday, I got a sewing machine. (Erin and Lauren tried to convince me I was getting a couch, those tricky devils!) I had learned to sew in 7th and 8th grade, but could really only do basic things. When I owned my first apartment in White Plains, one snowy winter I attempted to make drapes. It was a complicated pattern with swags, and I cursed my way through it, but it scared me away from sewing for a while.

Since I've become a stay at home mom, the sewing bug has gotten me again. So I requested the sewing machine. I really don't know what I'm doing, but I've managed to make a few things. The seam ripper and I are getting reaquainted.

I started by making purses for the girls, just to see if I could. Lauren's requirement was that a bunny could fit in. I'm happy to say that I met that requirement.

Erin's bag
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

First bag
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

First bag
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

inside of bag


Then I made a lovey blanket for baby Natalie, the newest cousin in the family. I made it a "taggy" blanket. It wasn't perfect, but Natalie seemed to like it. Disregard the imperfections, and it's kind of cute!

Lovey for baby Natalie
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

I made the girls these Heather Bailey headbands, which were easy.

Recently, I attempted to make baby bibs for my friend Abby's baby shower. They came out OK, but I wished I had used cotton and chenille instead of flannel and chenille, they kept moving a lot when I was sewing. I forgot to take a picture! Must take pictures of things I've sewn. I used the pattern and instructions from Happy Things for the easy chenille bib tutorial.

I've make a few other things I'll post about in the future.

This week was the first week of the "Sewcial" meeting of some moms who like to sew or want to learn how to sew. It is an offshoot of the Moms Club, not an official Moms Club meeting, which is good, as I am no longer a member. Jordan hosted, and had quite the array of cure and beautiful things to show. She showed a cute boo-boo baggie out of terry cloth, a lovely pillowcase dress, a tablecloth for her husband with military fabric (and demonstrated a mistake made good!), a crayon roll as well as some other things. Melissa showed everyone easy flannel wash cloths. Chantel showed us the design for a quilt she made, and gave us a frugal tip: use goodwill blankets instead of batting! My frugal tip was to use cut up fleece squares for swiffers! I'm glad to see that we're all pretty much on the same level, although it seems that Jordan has more knowledge to educate us all.

And all that is a longwinded way to reveal my secret timewaster. Sewing and craft blogs. I'm addicted to them! I don't really watch much TV (other than the occasional HGTV show). But the creations of so many talented people our there are inspiring! They make it look so easy. Having attempted some of these creations, I know that it's not as easy as it looks. Practice. Patience.

So now, in an effort to make sense of the many bookmarks I have saved of inspirational sewing posts, and as a way to share these with my new sewing group, I will list some sites and posts that have inspired me. Start clicking on these at your own risk. One blog leads to another. Could be addictive.

The Sew Mama Sew blog has a great roundup of many great projects. This handmade holidays link has a summary of many easy projects to make. I keep going back to this link to get ideas. It's here I found the baby bib tutorial.

A pillowcase dress tutorial I found.

Sunny day dress tutorial (shirred or smocked style).

Cute little smocket for girls with pattern here.

Little artists case
Notebook and pencil holder
Martha stewart roll up pencil kit tutorial

Tutorials, including easy chenille baby bib tutorial that I used.

Easy baby flannel blanket.

How to sew a zipper, ie Don't fear the zipper.

Put a zipper in your pillow tutorial.

And finally, amazing quilts! I learned that February is Quilting Month. Beautiful photos on Flickr. (And if you really want to waste some time, look around flickr. Search for random phrases "garden path" "oranges" "doll quilt" and you could be there for hours. If you have hours to spare, that is.)

Next I'll post some links to sites I like to visit on a regular basis.