Stitching the pieces together
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Congratulations. Sewing can be a great creative outlet. I am more of a technician than an artist but sewing still fuinctions as a creative outlet for me. I can just get lost in the entire experience, well except for cutting, I am not a big fan of cutting. Probably because I am left handed and when I was a kid there were no left handed scissors as there are today!
I hope you enjoy. If you know how to post photos I know I'd love to see what you have made. Making a muslin or a sample of any process you intend to sew will save you countless headaches. You were really smart to do just that.
Laters Ginger
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Ginger - I will eventually figure out how to post pictures. I am so technically challenged!
I don't like the cutting part because I am always worried I will cut the pattern wrong and waste the material so I have to spend lots of time figuring it out. Then I always buy an extra yard for screw ups!
I found some great Island Batik rayon fabric at a local fabric store and I love this stuff! I spent $65 for the material to make a long summer dress which is why I did it out of muslim first. However, since we are going to the beach I can wear the muslim one over my bathing suit and it will just look like a cover up.
I am viewing a lot of tips on youtube. I don't always understand what the pattern is telling me to do such as understitching but youtube is great as I am more of a visual person than read the directions type person.
Of course my housework and laundry is suffering because I much rather be in front of my sewing machine!
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I love Rayon. I worked for a mission in Haiti and lived in Rayon.
As for thehousework, hang up one of those plaques that says something like, "A clean house is a sign of a deranged mind."
Enjoy
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Well, I have the perfect sewing/craft room....when we had this house built five years ago, it came with either a 4 car garage, or a 3 car garage plus a "Hobby Room" where the fourth bay was turned into a finished room.
Of course, after spending every single Michael's and Joanne's coupons on craft items for YEARS, I had to have the hobby room. And of course, I filled it up as soon as we moved in.
It's in the front of the house, and filled with north light. I had cabinets and drawers and shelves put in along one wall, and the other wall (it's a long, narrow room) has a daybed (good for naps or watching the flat-screen swivel TV), my sewing table, and my computer hutch.
Unfortunately, my interests changed to quilting three years ago. So out went the boxes of crafting supplies, and in came the fabrics. I still don't have much of a stash, because I can never seem to finish one quilt and move on to the next.
I have completed a few comfort quilts that were donated, and I have a small Stack-n-Whack that is complete. My very first sampler quilt - which is queen-sized - is still a bunch of blocks waiting to be stitched together.
Before my BMX last December, we had new carpeting put in throughout the whole house. All the excess crap got hauled out to the Tuff Shed or the garage. When the carpeting got put back in, I realized how much I liked the clean look of no clutter!!! So needless to say, I still have boxes and boxes of stuff to go through before I bring them in.
I do most of my cutting on my breakfast bar. It's the right height for me. Smaller pieces I do on my sewing table. What I really need is a good, ergonomic task chair for sewing. The kitchen chair I use isn't a great fit!
As for those Singer Featherweight 221 machines, all the ladies in my Older Adult quilting class use them for machine piecing. (Quilting "class" - ha - it's made up of VERY expert, older ladies who have made gorgeous, award-winning quilts for years. And then there's me....
) Those machines are collector's items, and because of their light weight and work-horse ability, are highly prized.
When I started the class, I had two choices of machines....an ugly, battered Sears Kenmore sewing machine I'd had since junior high (which weighed as much as a small car) or an old Singer of my mom's that I never really looked at.
Turns out it was a vintage 301 - just a tad bigger than the 221s, in excellent condition, and caused a lot of ooohs and ahhhhhs from the ladies when I took it to class. (Later, I bought a computerized Brother machine with all the bells and whistles.)
My latest project is a wall hanging of poppies that I got in a kit. Then I broke my right thumb, and haven't really worked on anything since. But once I get started again, there will be plenty for me to do!
Does anyone have a big design wall they use? I'm trying to figure out where I can find the space for one.
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Hi Blessings,
How fun your space sounds, and the projects too. I do have a design wall right now which is a large piece of batting pinned to the wall above my cutting table. I use it constantly and find it quite helpful. In the new studio area we are currently building I am designing a full design wall. I am using Homosote panels which will form a sliding wall the entire width of the building (20') and go from floor to ceiling. There will be either 3 or 4 doors and will move such that they will slide out of the way so I can get to the cubby hole shelving I'm putting behind them to store fabrics and bits and pieces. I'm like you and have found I like to view my stash but also have a calm/minimalized space to work in. I will cover the Homosote with cotton batting or flannel so it will hold fabric pieces with out pinning.
Hope these ideas help you out.0 -
Wow, those rooms sound great. I have worked a bit on getting my sewing room set up better. FDIL chose her wedding dress this past weekend but she is wanting some changes made. If I am going to fit it in my sewing room, I am going to have to get the boxes out of there! It has some appliques she really does not like, so I will be replacing all 50 of them, and I plan on making her a jacket to match the dress.
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I know that I have not posted to this group often, but with my continuing decline in my condition I have decided to try to declutter the craft room. If any one lives in the Dallas, Texas area and is interested in a couple of Singer sewing machines I have Singer 66, in a model 71 or 72 cabinet along with the manuals and the original receipt. from the mid50s. I also have a Singer 500 with the cams in a cabinet with manuals also. I believe this machine was new in 1959 or 1960. If anyone in the Dallas area is interested PM me and we can work out a pickup time and place. beccad
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I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this, beccad. ((((BECCAD)))) I remember my mother's Singer with the cams. As I recall they were a brownish sort of color. Thank you for bringing back that memory. Silly that just mentioning that could bring back a memory of my mother's sewing bench and the sound it made when it shut, and the lovely purple "c-shaped" swirl I had put on it's white vinyl with a marker when I was 2-3 years old. All that from the word "cams".
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Meece, I do hope that it was a happy memory. I know we had at least 3 of this style of machine in the. family, moms, and both gm's. My maternal gm used hers to make drapes and upholstered furniture. The other gm made quilt tops and ugly double n
knit toys for us kids. Mom made cute outfits that short round children couldn't find at Penney's or sears. Oh and she did Couture style sewing also. I have none of that talent or maybe I just want immediate gratification. My sewing usually was small craft objects or scrub tops for work.
beccad0 -
It was a good memory. That was the machine I learned to sew on when I was 6 or 7. Mother traded it in on her "Singer Diana" electronic machine many years later. Boy did she have something then!
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{{{{{ beccad }}}}} You are doing what I will do when the time comes. How gracious to pass on your machines! Maybe a post to an active Stage IV thread would get more attention? If/when my eyes and hands will no longer function as I want them, the sight of all my crafting would just break my heart. My prayers go out to you, sweetie.
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barbe1958. I don't know if I am ready to get rid of all of them or not, but if I can get the bigger things out of the house then DH (who is surprising me at howsensetive he can be), will not have to deal with them.
beccad0 -
Hi Beccad,
What a wonderful gift you have offered. I'm so sorry you're having to go thru this, and applaud your strength. Gentle Hugs to you.
I also have fond memories of my Singer with cams. It was my first "grown up" machine in the mid 60's and sewed untold numbers of work outfits, slip covers and miscellaneous. I finally replaced it in the late 80's with my first computerized machine. Wow, what a difference.
You know, here in Northern Ca we have a shop called the Legacy. It's an all volunteer run resale shop who's entire profits go to support the local senior center. Well, there actually is 1 paid manager position. We accept donations of anything craft related and sell it for pennies on the dollar. We sell fabric for $2 per pound. If you need something for a craft or sewing or knitting project, we probably have it. Or will get it donated to us soon. We now have people from all over the country come to visit us. My will states that all of my fiber/craft related items that no one in the family wants (and they won't) gets donated to them. You might look around and see if there's a place like that in Texas. I know it sure takes the pain out of dispersing a loved ones precious stash when you know it's going to be appreciated by yet another crafts person and support the local seniors.0 -
mostly sew,
thanks for that idea, I am still able to crochet and do hand work, but just setting up a sew in machine, other than the featherweight just does me in. I may end up taking the others to helping hands (a local charity shop that also has a separate store for other big items ). I think I have enough different friends who will take the other fabrics, yarn and canvases (needlepoint).
beccad0 -
The Cancer Society runs "The Discovery Shop" here which is a second hand shop with just about anthing in it.
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Meece, that sounds good too. Our shop only specializes in craft/fiber type things. Isn't it great to have a good place to donate and support a great cause?
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There are Freecycle goups on the internet in many many areas. It is a great way to give away things to people who will come pick them up, and who want them enough to contact you back through Freecycle. No one has your address until you decide which respondant to give your item to.
I wish you good luck in passing on your machines. One way of looking at it may be that you are paring down to just the projects you are interested in working on. That seems to be exactly what you are doing.
I have a three week visitor coming tomorrow night and I am hoping she helps me get the rest of my sewing room unpacked from two years ago. It isn't like, "If I haven't seen it, I don't need it!" I don't know where my scissors are, my Ginghers, sacred scissors! I had a family of them and find none so far. Keep your fingers crossed for me please, I really would like this all sorted out.
Have a safe 4th and sew on.
Love Ginger
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My Ginghers have been missing for 10 years. Figure someone must have taken them into the garage, or someone really messed them up and disposed of them so I wouldn't find out. I still have the blade cover to remind me of them...
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Oh Meece! That's just insult to injury to have the cover and not the scissors!!! I've found scissors (good ones!) wrapped up in a project I'd given up on. That's why I shake everything out before I dispose of it. I dont think I've EVER thrown out a piece of fabric that's bigger than 2" x 2". That ONE little piece might be the perfect eye for a loon or something in a future project!
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I am the same way, and I do have a couple projects in a halted state of construction. They are in boxes in te garage. I'll check it out, that is a good idea, Barbe. It's highly likely they are already gone.
FDIL is coming over tomorrow to help me clear out my sewing room so DH can build a couple of shelving units in there. Then we will put things back in some sort of organized fashion.
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Here's another great tip:
If you can wangle NEW pizza boxes (even if you have to pay for them) from your fav spot, they make EXCELLENT project boxes!! I used to get them for my store and put UFO (unfinished object) labels on them...ehehehhehehehe.
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That's cool.They would be perfect for quilt blocks! WOnder where I could get new ones...
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Meece, just go to a pizza joint & ask for unused boxes. I have a lot of my scrapbooking layouts in pizza boxes waiting to be worked on.
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Ooh Joni!! GREAT for scrapbooking, too!!
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They would be the perfect size for scrapbook pages.
Well I spent hours in the sewing room on Saturday and am very happy with the results. The boxes I have for organization are a hodge-podge bunch of containers colected over a several decades. Not gorgeous, but orgainzed. Now, whatever is on my new shelves is in the container it is supposed to be in.
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Meece,
Now, that must give you a feeling of accomplishment, and an incentive to create. Good job. I'm sitting here trying to work out the floor plan for my new sewing room. The carpet gets installed tommorow. Can't wait, sure hope it's the color I think it is. Now to tackle all this construction dust.....0 -
I bought 2 patterns and fabric for both but haven't started yet. The problem is that once I start - I don't stop and I will sew for 8 hours straight. Right now I have too much on my plate to lose a day to sewing.
I did manage to organize my sewing area today so that I am ready to start one dress next week after my horse show on Saturday.
Fun! I can't wait to start another project.
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I do the same thing. I can sew until 2 am and get up at 6 and start again. I need to get some projects in progress completer. That will make for more room in the closet!
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I started sewing, knitting and crocheting before I was a teen.
I organized yarn into projects in big ziplocs and they are now in 2 tubs. We wont talk about all my jewelry making stuff at least it is in a big cart.
I only have 5 yarn things going, but the 2 yr olds dress and 2 blankies need to be mailed next week. I think I need time off to do this or longer lunch breaks!
My friend retired so I know she use to sew, so I bought her a mini quilt book and plan to send her a sewing box with notions and some fabric.
The dress for the little one is done in tulip pattern yarn for the bodice and pink for the skirt. It is stretchy so it should fit. I am sure she will want a pink or purple hoodie for Christmas.
That is a great Avatar! I still have problems posting and I have a degree in Computer Science, but we were doing punch cards...ok I am telling my age!
Prays to all of you to have a Blessed Day. Anu
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Good to see you back, Anumacha. Sounds like you have things in order.
I have my sewing room in order, and no time to use it, Grrr.
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