Friday, January 1, 2010

A Bucket for My Mom

Another Christmas present, this one for my mom. I think it's one of the nicest buckets I've made yet! It came out perfectly and it's one of my all time favourite fabrics. The blue and red with the lime green and brown are such an unusual and yet pleasing combination! The buttons are vintage shell I think. I like this photo because it is a snap shot of a chaotic corner of my sewing table - bobbin rings for 2 different machines, parachuting blue cats from Bali, recycled metal flower from Honduras, and a wedding photo - to remind me to quit sewing once in a while and go hang out with Forest!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Three Brother-in-Law Shirts


What I learned about making men's shirts... they are a LOT of work! I've made a few in the past and I've always wondered about making a bunch for the next trunk show or to sell since folks always comment on those I've made for my husband and good friend DH. Making 4 at once (3 brothers-in-law plus aforementioned good friend!) opened my eyes and you know what? I'm not making these to sell, nu-uh! Friends and family only. I really like them and the groovy retro shirting fabric I found (thanks to Habitual, see blog list on right) is exactly what I envision when making men's shirts. But when I was sewing them, I managed to sew the Japanese top #21 in between collars, plackets, pockets and snaps in what seemed like 10 seconds, compared to the hours the men's shirts took up! The snaps alone seemed to take a half hour each shirt - although I did get a bit faster after the first one. Cowboy shirt snaps, by the way, are from Cowgirl Snaps if you need some, and you just might as they are the coolest fastener and the colours are incredible! I'm looking around trying to figure out what else needs cool snaps! The pink shirt, for youngest brother, was my first cowboy style and it was fun - I tried it on and it makes a really nice women's shirt too if I do say so myself! Hmm... maybe I should make one for me... on the other hand, I could have 4 Japanese Top #21 in the time it would take...!

Another Japanese Top

This is my second Top #21. This time I took out the gathers across the bust for a cleaner look. This fabric was such a cute floral print, luckily I have more. Now that the presents have been given, I can start posting a bit more of what I was up to leading up to Christmas - since I was obviously not blogging! This was a gift for my good friend Lara - who spoiled me rotten, as usual with many one of a kind creations from her studio. She also gave me a stack of old dress patterns from the Sally Ann - what a great friend! Hopefully I'll post photos of them - there were some gems - including a cat suit that Lara needs in orange stretch terry!