Ironing Board Makeover. Among other things.

The last couple years, with all the moving and the pregnancy and the baby and the toddler and the homeschooling and so on and so on haven't left much room for sewing for me.

But, if I'm being realistic, it wasn't necessarily the insanity of it all that got me all stuck in the sewing category, but more the being bogged down with old projects that hadn't gotten finished, fabric that I had in my stash but didn't love anymore weighing over my head, and a craft/sewing space completely and utterly void of organization--that part mostly due to moving, but not entirely. 

So in this house I have a really great area to sew. Lots of natural light, lots of floor space, enough room for storage of supplies and room to cut and sew and work. It's taken me a bit with the all the organization it's needed, and the clearing out of the stash, and the lunatic toddler and unfinished projects and all, to get to a place where I can enjoy it, but I've slowly been checking organization and finishing old projects off the list, and this project was needed for some future projects I have coming up that are going to require a good, full surface area for pressing.

Let me preface this post with this picture, which was a ridiculously fun project of sewing and piecing approximately 40 gazillion scraps together to get these riotously happy placemats for my mom. The back of them is nice too--I also pieced that side together, with more muted shades and tones, and more uniform piecing. I call the backside "the preacher is visiting" side. Which is silly, because I'm pretty sure that my parents don't make a habit of having people they call "preachers" over, and what's more, if they did I don't think my mom would stress about having the more orderly side of her placemats up. She'd use a tablecloth. Haha. So, silly. But the backside is more orderly, and pretty, but less remarkable. Anyway, this project got me started on a piecing kick. Actually, I think my hexie piecing got me started on that, but we will save that for another day. Anyway, this was a super fun project, and exactly what I needed to both clean out some of my scraps (I bought some extra red scraps too, to flesh out my collection of fabrics), and give me a cheery kick in the pants at the end of a very long winter.  And, it got the idea for the ironing board cover stuck in my head.

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad before. The foam under the cover was holey and wrinkled and made pressing so frustrating and annoying. For the past 18 months or so, I'd been throwing a folded towel across the top, but that wasn't foolproof at all. Many wrinkles, didn't breathe properly, not long enough, edges askew, so annoying. 

I very rarely iron. I don't actually understand how anyone consistently fits that in their list of things to do, actually. Hat's off to ya if you are one of those ironing people. But, I am SUPER particular about pressing when I sew. My rule (not original to me, but to someone who I sewed with when I was a kid) is to "never pin what you can press." Everything you sew will look so much better if you follow this rule. True story. 

So, we commenced with the fixing of the situation.

I cut a lot of 2.5 inch squares. A LOT OF THEM, I tell you. 

 Laying them all out. Because I am not insane, (debatable) I did what I call "hack-piecing"--I would still be working on this if I'd chosen to individually sew each square to the next square, and then combine the rows. Madness, right? But instead I drew out a 2.5 inch grid on a super lightweight fusible interfacing and ironed them on. Then you just sew your 1/4 inch seam allowance down the interfacing, catching your squares in the seam allowance too.

Because this was on an ironing board, I was worried about the seams and seam allowances pressing into the things I was ironing and pressing. So while I wanted this to work, I also gave myself permission that if it didn't work I would cut the elastic casing off the edges and turn it into a quilt top, no regrets. After I was done making it I tested it on my entire fabric stash as I sorted through and organized, and a bunch of other stuff, and I haven't had a single seam or imprint or anything show up on anything I've ironed or pressed and you can't see the seam allowances at all through the cover either. Thank goodness! Because I love it.

But I did slice open the interfacing and press the seams open really well.

Not quite done yet--waiting for good weather for the final assembly. But meanwhile, trying it out, and pressing and organizing fabric scraps. Welches Fruit Snack boxes are perfect for small fabric scraps--this one got a makeover with yellow spray paint and I love it. 

Padding for the ironing board makes an awesome magic carpet!

Finally, Finally FINALLY!!! Some good weather. Warm enough to spray paint. I unfortunately had a horrible cold on this day. Actually for the past um, forever, it feels like. Plus a sprained ankle. While training for a half marathon. Which is another side story. But anyway. I wasn't feeling top notch on this day, but spray painting had to get done. Because Minnesota doesn't like to let go of winter, and so the cold weather was coming back. So the spray painting had to happen on this day.  So I double-dosed on a pre-workout with excessive amounts of caffiene and amino acids and some cold medicine, and took my ailing self outside to spray. It was beautiful enough and warm enough to break through my self-pity, so it ended up being therapeutic. Of course, it's possible that I was hallucinating, but I'm going to just live in Happy Naomi-land, and go with therapeutic.  Besides, spray painting things always makes me happy.

I did half-inch foam stuck to the top with a spray on adhesive, and one layer of Insul-Brite to protect the melty foam from the heat of the iron. So far it has worked perfectly. I like my ironing board well padded, and this is the perfect thickness.

(Sorry about the terrible lighting. We are in the midst of a stretch of very gray days here) Lighting excuses don't make blog posts, so I took the picture anyway. 

 All Done! And what's more, the area behind and around it is all clean and organized and ready to use too! So happy to have a fun, usable space now.

*** Original Inspiration for the 2.5 inch squares comes from here. I didn't follow her tutorial, but she's who inspired me to go from a crazy all-sized patchwork to a more uniform 2.5 inch squares.

10 Tips for beginning sewing

Every time I do a blog post about anything sewing, my comment box and my FB message box tend to fill up with people asking questions about getting started sewing. And, I love this. It's great that so many people want to sew, and create, and fill their homes and gift friends with things they've made with love. However this week, I've been deeply buried in designing a huge project (since my mom and sister have both graduated from nursing school this summer, I've been designing nurses aprons, per my mom's design requests-see above picture for a tease), and haven't had time to respond as I'd like to all these comments and messages like I usually would. So, I thought that I would do a quick "tips" post for starters, and maybe if people like it, I could do more of them as time goes by. I guarantee you that I will think of at least 10 more tips after I hit publish on this post. :-) Also, if anyone has anything they'd really like a quick tutorial on, I'd be open to suggestions on that.

Ok, here goes:

1. Work with fabric you LOVE. Not just like. LOVE!!! It will keep you inspired. Many large fabric stores have unspeakably boring fabric (admittedly, some of it is great, just saying, a lot of it is really lame-oh and kinda homemade looking. Think about that when you buy, is this fabric going to look homemade-lame-ish, or homemade kick-you-in-the-mouth-awesome?!) You want the kick in the mouth. Shop designer's online, or visit your local small fabric/quilting shop. You won't regret it... a simple project with awesome fabric becomes an awesome project, every time.

2. Start easy. A one hour project for a beginner seamstress can take 3 or 4 hours, especially if you have little people that need food fed to them. You can still get it done in a day... and meanwhile, you're learning. The next time you make it, it will only take you half the time, the third time you make it, it will take you an hour. A few beginner projects I suggest PJ pants, simple skirts, aprons.If you start with a complicated dress, or huge quilt, you're going to get overwhelmed and frustrated. Wait until you are experienced enough to not be overwhelmed by a project like that. Also, I really suggest Indie Pattern Companies, and small home based designers. In my experience, their instructions tend to be more well written, and easily understood by beginners, because they are written by people who actually sew in their living room or whatever, like you and me! Also, a lot of times they have pictures instead of diagrams, which is preferable when you're learning.

3. Always clean and organize your sewing area at the end of a project. I usually make cutting out my next project part of that task. Nobody I've ever talked to likes cutting out. Make that part of your cleanup for one project, and next time you sit down to sew, you start out with the fun part---assembly, not the mind-numbing cut-out part.

4. Wear shoes. Flip-flops, slippers, tennies, whatever floats your boat. Just wear them. Stepping on pins will make you swear, and sewing&swearing is no good. :-)

5. Google. Sewing blogs. Sew Mama Sew Forum. You can find anything you need on the Internet. Use it. It will make you better, and encourage you. Blog about what you sew. Your friends love to see it, and it's always nice to get feedback on what you make.

6. Build a collection of printed solids in different colors. I can't emphasize that enough. You won't start out with a lot, but get fat quarters on sale, 1/2 yard here, 1/4 yard there from remnant bins, sales that you couldn't resist, etc. It seems like a really simple thing, but SO many projects I've done have felt just a little boring to me with great fabric even, until I've thrown in accent pieces, binding pieces, you name it from fabric I already had in my stash and as Kiki says quite often, it went from "This outfit was really boring, I added this *enter item here* and it became so ZAZOO!!!!"

7. Save your scraps. Don't throw any of them out. Your selvage ends can be used to stuff something (dog beds, bean bags, throw pillows, you name it, someday...) and even your smaller pieces might come in handy if you ever decide to piece together a quilt, or do tiny applique work. This might not work for you, but it works for me, and this is my 10 tips, so it stays. Thanks for sticking with me through my obstinence.

8. Don't ever hesitate to write on your patterns, instructions, etc. Changes you made, how you did it if you were altering the instructions, whether you liked how it turned out, etc. This is super important... not doing it would be like making the most fabulous epic meatballs ever, and then not writing down all the stuff you put in them.Not that I've ever done that. (Actually, I haven't done that. I did write them down, but I keep losing the piece of paper and having heart attacks over it, so it really is like I never wrote them down when I can't find it. Also, thank you for sticking with me through my neurosis.)

9. Change your needle. Change it often. At least every project, maybe every two small projects, maybe halfway through big projects. Use the correct needle for the fabric you are working with, always. That can be a pivotal point between success and failure-I know this, because I've had near failures due to incorrect needle usage. Right needle, and VOILA! Project was a go. Keep all types of needles on hand-because you know what?! You don't have a needle, you can't sew. You can usually buy them in variety packs. You will thank yourself for doing this, because you will not have jammed thread, broken thread, broken needles, fabric runs, and just plain old frustration that no one needs. Or be sewing at 2am and break your needle, and not have a back-up. Not that I've ever done that.

10. If your sewing machine jams constantly, breaks constantly, does something else annoying constantly, there is something wrong.Sewing machines are not (or should not be, anyway...) designed to be annoying and counter-productive. Is your tension wrong?! Are you using the correct needle for your project? Have you taken apart your machine and dusted it lately?! If you've verified that you've done everything you can to make it run properly and it still doesn't work, then it's time to get a tune-up. If the tune-up doesn't work, it's time for a new machine. Your sewing machine should always be your partner, not your enemy.

And, so we have some pictures in this post, some friends of ours are having a baby soon and a woodland themed nursery, and this is the gift I put together for them... I'm calling it the "Insane Woodland Posse." :-) The patterns are all my design, and I had so much fun. I'm envisioning so many things that could be done with variations of this...
And, of course, a rag quilt. :-)

So, go out, give it a try. It's fun! Pick a small fun project, and and have fun with it. Before you know it you'll be going clothing shopping, not to buy clothes, but to inspect the inside of them with plans to re-create them in your sewing room in your own fabric choices. Most importantly, remember that it is a learning process. Stuff I was so intimidated by in the first two years of sewing (like anything with binding for example) is actually easy now... and if I follow this same theory, stuff I'm still a little intimidated by will become easier in the next two years of sewing. It will be the same for you. And, if you ever are ready to throw in the towel forever, try to remember the (paraphrased) advice of the Dear (fictitious!) Mr. Stuart Smalley-- "You're good enough(to sew), you're smart enough(to sew), and Doggone it, people like you(this doesn't really apply, but it's gotta be said.)!!!"

Go forth and sew, my young Padawan Learners! (Sorry, I can't help it. Currently everyone is a Padawan Learner in this house, due to the fact that I have two children who are obsessed with Star Wars.)

The End.

The dress post

This one's for you Gina. Since you always ask for pictures. :-) I started out this summer pledging that I would make myself three dresses, at least, in an effort to build up my own handmade closet. I love wearing stuff that I make--it fits me perfectly, as if it were made for me, imagine that. Also, I get to personalize every little detail, and end up with something that no one else in the world has... how cool is that? So, this spring, I started off with this one... which I loved, and still love. I have to talk myself out of wearing it almost every single Sunday, except for when I'm talking myself out of wearing something else I've made. The original pattern was shorter, and I added the neck ruffle... I blogged about it here. EEEeeek! love the neck ruffle!

This is the one that I finished this past week. Vintage knit off Etsy that I fell in love with upon sight, and had to have. I'm loving how it drapes, and fits, and I didn't have to install a zipper. I have no problem with installing a zipper when needed, but that being said, it's always nice to be able to skip that step at the end of a project. I love sewing with knit. I have also made myself three shirts this year in a super simple knit pattern. I am a fan.

I hate hand sewing--slip stitching, namely. And, while I do it as needed, (meaning when I make stuff for other people) when I sew for myself I deliberately go out of my way to not hand sew. It's called top stitching then, and just happens to catch whatever is behind it and hold it in place. :-) This pattern actually wasn't originally lined. I had to line it because this knit is very see-through-able, and I don't generally feel that it's appropriate to share the goods. :-) So, it got lined, which complicated the pattern a bit. However, I cannot wait to work with this pattern some more, it was a pleasure.

This is a two yard cut of Heather Bailey (Pop Garden Pineapple Brocade-Celery) that I fell in love with. IN DEEP LOVE. So, I decided to re-upholster a chair in my living room with it. Frank had a bit of a cow. And, since it's a chair (that I thought) we wouldn't sit on very often, I'd just planned on interfacing the back of the cotton to give it some strength, and calling it good. But then I moved the chair into the living room in it's ugly upholstered state just to test it's use, and realized how very much we DO use it, even though it is currently hideous. Also, Frank's opinion of the fabric led me to decide that perhaps I should go with a different fabric in an upholstery weight. I am SUPER glad I changed my mind, because I got this dress out of the deal, and the chair is going to look way cool in the fabric I currently have draped over it. (It should be noted that thankfully Frank does like the fabric in dress form. :-))

Unlined, but binding on all the edges, and piping on most of the seams. I made this un-lined with the idea that it would be a great lightweight summer dress for the 100+ temperature days we have-the fabric is just thick enough that I can pull that off-I think. :-) I love this dress. It is SO comfortable and cool, and I can eat like a pig in it, and it's not horribly uncomfortable afterwards, haha! Perfect for Sunday Potlucks. I have to say, that every time I get ANY new fabric now that I don't have a specific plan for, I immediately envision this dress. Which is a little silly, because you can only have so many dresses of one style. Right?! Yeah, I was afraid of that. (Incidentally, I used the same pattern as the first dress in this post, that's why sewing is so great--one pattern, two completely different creations!)

I also added hidden side pockets... Do YOU like side pockets in your dresses?! Some love, some hate. I love them... especially since I wear an insulin pump. This was the first dress that I made with side pockets, with a little button-hole slot to pass the tubing through, so I can easily access my insulin pump. Whichever pocket I'm not using for my insulin pump also fits my Blackberry, and Burt's Bees lip goop. Happy girl here!! (please excuse the camera phone pic!)

This one I made as a short dress/tunic with leggings. I think I might need to find a thick belt to go around it too. It's comfortable, and I've actually worn it running errands a few times, which is great for hot weather. The fabric is one of my favorite designers, (Sis Boom , Dance with Me, Libby-Pink, and Sis Boom, Flower Power, Stephanie-Emerald) and I originally bought it to sew skirts for my girls. Then I realized they would grow out of them, and I decided I wasn't ready to part with the fabric that quickly, so I made this for myself instead.

Piping makes everything better.

And, I FINALLY got MY VERY OWN rag quilt sewn together. This fabric was a gift from The Sheriff, who pulled my name out of the hat for Christmas last year. I've had it cut out since January, and FINALLY got the time to sew it all together last week. I have my own handmade blankie to snuggle on the couch with, yay! I love everything about it. (Valori Wells, Urban Flannel)

Especially this orange/blue/green combination.

Much thank you to my Moose Dinner Bell for holding my dresses for me so I could take pictures. :-) Someday I shall have to employ a model or a camera person for one of these tasks. Please image the dresses with a shapely (haha!) body inside of them, instead of sagging off a hanger. Thank you.

Sewing lessons

Last week Frank had to take a business trip at the end of the week, and so the girls and I immersed ourselves fully in "being girls" for a few days. One thing I've been really careful about is to try not to press them into sewing... if they're interested, I will teach them, but just because it is my hobby and interest doesn't mean they have to do it too. So while I don't necessarily bank on them always wanting to sew, for the past few months they've been nagging me to teach them, and I have been procrastinating because I wasn't sure what I should start with. I finally decided to have them make simple skirts, because the stitches are all straight, we wouldn't have to use a pattern, and most importantly, they could wear them and get compliments, therefore encouraging them to keep at it. :-) So, last week we were at craft warehouse, and they had a table of flat folds on sale. I let the girls pick out their own fabric, and while Daddy was gone it was a treat to sew it up.


They did really good. I deliberately didn't want anything that would need stitches ripped out, because that is so depressing, so while we probably should have ripped stitches in a few places, I decided that just gave their little skirts character, and kept the wobbly stitches in. :-) We learned to roll our bobbin, and to press...

They learned my mantra--Whenever possible press, don't pin. :-) I like to imagine that they will repeat this to their children someday. :-) Kiki did awesome with the sewing machine. Actually, they both did... but she really enjoyed it and made sure to do it properly. :-)

Debris took rather quickly to doing anything that required the boiling hot iron. I should have seen that coming. Stress me out!

Kiki serenaded us while we sewed Debris' skirt...

Debris also took great joy in using the scissors... anyone else see the pattern of possibly deadly tool usage here?! Very concerning.

And then we headed outside to take pictures...

They get the "clown in front of the camera" business from their father. I was really proud of them. They literally did every bit of stitching on these skirts, with the exception of the box stitch to secure the elastic waist, which I did for them. Otherwise these skirts were their creation from the fabric choice to the hem execution. Kiki has informed me she is going to make Jammie Pants next. :-) Yay! Proud momma here! The next day I had to run to the fabric store for something, and they wore their skirts... the compliments they got from all the ladies working there had the effect I was looking for because as of now, they just might be hooked on sewing.

Here is the basic simple pattern, in case you'd like to do one too, my girls are currently sizes 6 and 8, I would imagine that you could do this same pattern for kids a bit smaller or bigger--it is so easy, and even with teaching them/letting them do everything it took about 1 1/2 hours to make two skirts.

1/2 yard of fabric

1 inch elastic fit to waist

1. Stitch fabric selvages together to make one stitch down the back of the skirt. Press seam open.

2. Double fold 1/2 inch all around the bottom and press, then hem.

3. Fold top over 1/4 inch, then 1 1/2 inches again, and press. Sew closed, leaving a 3inch opening for the elastic to feed through.

4. Feed the elastic through, make sure it lays flat all the way around, and sew a box stitch over the two ends together to secure.

5. Sew the elastic opening closed, then feed the fabric evenly around the skirt. Sew vertical stitches back and forth a few times through the elastic to secure it in place so it doesn't twist in the laundry. I usually do this on the sides, and then again in the back.

Enjoy!

Speaking of compliments, thank you all for the sweet things you said about my previous post... it's always such a lovely thing to put something out there and have everyone say such nice things! Thank you friends!

Heading to New Zealand now...

So as most of my readers know, we've got another niece on the way... Yay! Anyway, this spring I sewed for the first niece we got this year, and then the past month I've been sewing for niece#2, by order of appearance. :-) Anyway, through a lot of conversation with her momma, this is all the stuff we came up with for her. I was gonna try to wait and post about it after her Momma&Daddy got the package tomorrow, but I'm just too excited, and they know pretty much everything that's in there anyway, so I decided to do it this morning instead.


A baby carrying sling... I wish I'd sewed when I had babies!!! I wanted one of these when I had kids, but they're really expensive, and I just never bothered to pay money for one, although after playing with this, I'm pretty sure I would have used it a lot. Anyway, I'm really excited about this. We went through about 5 different online patterns and techniques for making these, and I gotta say, I'm pretty unimpressed with what's out there. Almost every pattern said something along the lines of "don't bother hemming the edges". Seriously?! So, we decided on the basic pattern, and then I set about making it more tailored. This really is more of an accessory for mom, as opposed to a thing for baby, so we decided to tailor it to mom's taste as opposed to making it a "HELLO! I HAVE A BABY GIRL HERE!" announcement. So, it's bound on the ends with coordinating fabric, has a few different clips for things like keys and Binky strings, one larger pocket and one credit card/drivers license sized pocket, and is long enough to double as a nursing cover if needed. Yes, that is fox-in-sox proudly sitting in the place of honor. Since I don't have a child small enough to practice with, I used various sized stuffed animals to fill in the blanks. :-) Auntie M, you will have to let me know what you like and don't like about this, I'm looking forward to getting feedback. And, since Auntie M is an artist as well, I had to make another art smock. :-) I've been eyeing this fabric for a long time, and just haven't found a project to use it with yet... so when I started thinking about the art smock, I knew this would be perfect.

I lined the front piece on this one, so it might be able to double as a bib as well. I've got to remember to get my hands on some oilcloth one of these days, I think it would be great with this pattern!

And, the rag quilt... This one is bright and cheerful, and I love it. :-) Well, I love all of them, so that might not be saying much, but it did turn out pretty cute, I think.

I love how these quilts just allow the fabric to shine. Also, adding just one color can completely change the look or feel of a quilt. The blue and green squares in this quilt just cause the whole thing to sing. :-) Also, I love that it coordinates with her room. It's not always possible or necessary for me to do that, and it can also be a lot of fun to choose colors that are way out there, but I like to try to get a little matchy, because that way if the parents want to hang the blanket over the edge of the crib or rocking chair, it looks stylish and coordinated instead of jarring the eye.

And, since little Miss KiwiGirl's nursery is done in mostly soft green/blue/tan/cream New Zealand theme with little lambies... we had to add some pops of aqua blues and pinks... so we made an organizer...

And filled it with fun baby supplies... :-)

And, my favorite part, the baby mobile. Because the nursery is New Zealand themed, Auntie M asked if the mobile could be Lambs and Kiwi birds. It sounded like fun to me, so I said, "Sure!" I found a lamb pattern, and those were pretty easy. But would you believe that there is only one Kiwi bird pattern in all of internet land?! (that I could find anyway...) And it was too big, and looked like it might not shrink down very well. So, I set about looking at every stuffed animal I could get my hands on... not hard, as my girls have a bajillion, including two kiwis from Auntie M and Auntie Dhasa and their spouse's trip to New Zealand last year. And I looked at about 40 pictures of real kiwis and watched every video of kiwi birds I could get my hands on, and then I started designing. :-) It was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad she asked for this, because I enjoyed the process a lot, and never would have done anything like that otherwise. I wish I'd started on it a little earlier, as it took me longer than I would have guessed, but there's nothing that can be done about that now. Anyway, may I present the mobile... !!!

We had to have a black (actually chocolate brown!) sheep. :-) I feel madly in love with this little guy! So cute! So did Debris, and she actually hid it in her bedroom when it came time to take it to daddy's work to ship it so I wouldn't send it away.

We're calling this an action shot, because it's blurred. I didn't realize that on my tiny camera screen, but it's a side shot, so it's included here. :-)

And, side shot of one of the kiwi's... eek! Cute! Wee Wee!

And now, as I felt compelled to say "Baaaa!" or "Wee Weeee!" like lambs and kiwis constantly throughout this whole process, it is safe to say that I have probably spoken sheep and kiwi more than any other person in the world and should not do it again ever.

Welcome sweet KiwiGirl! Can't wait to meet you!