From disfunctional to functional (aka, look at my new sewing space)

I have been sewing in the dining room for a year and a half now and the space has become unusable as my stash and project list has grown.  Just look at it!

 As we approach holiday season, I realized I need to do something about my dining room!  So, here is what I did!  First of all, our playroom had an extra wall with nothing on it. 

 And I organized my daughter's crafting area.  Her stuff is now all in the white three drawer bin you can see in bottom right corner of this picture.   

She will have plenty of space to craft and I can use the space now, too!

 

 I was lucky to have my mom give me her old sewing table.  She prefers the dining room table.  LOL!  So, here it is with the stool from our drum kit.  I am being creative.  I put notions and current projects in the drawers to the right, future projects on the shelves to the left, and the fabric stash in the bins on the far left.  As soon as I clean out the storage closet, they will move into it. 

 As you can see from picture below, I have a nice view of the front yard from our family room basement and I can talk to my cat, Pete, while I sew.

 Hi Pete!

 Here is the craft bar with serger at one end.  Plenty of room for everyone's crafts!

The dining room, all cleaned up!  

Finally, my grandmother's dining room set can be the focus, instead of the mess.

Crafty mama

I have been busy this summer, with camping and swimming and my serger was in the shop.  But, I did manage to get one big project done, my 3 year old's room.  Here are pictures of her room, finally decorated!

It started when cosleeping with me was no longer working and sharing a room with her sister was not an option.  So, we took a small guest room with a queen sized bed and turned it into a room for a three year old girl.  We kept the queen sized bed so we could still have guests come over and I could still cosleep if necessary.  Thus, the bedspread was a big part of the room, being on such a big bed in a small room.  I found this Pottery Barn Kids Quilt, called Betsy's Dolls, on deep discount, and we were off!   I could not find affordable Pottery Barn Kids bedding so I searched Ebay and found some white sheets with lavendar trim, new but very cheap.  After that, lavender became our complimentary color.  So, since yellow compliments it perfectly, the walls are pale yellow. I was lucky to find a cheap twin sheet set on Ebay of the same PBK lavender gingham and turned that into curtains and a bed skirt.

Isn't it adorable, with the dolls?

I could not find shams so I had these custom made on Etsy by Cute as a Button Designs.   

She is great to work with and made adorable shams. 

I found a picture of some wooden flowers on a child's bedroom wall and got Zzbob, on Etsy, to make these for me.  They cut them from MDF, per my measurements and design, and I painted them myself.  They are attached to the wall with this genius product by 3M Command. They make a whole line of products that are not supposed to wreck your walls.  These are attached with velcro that sticks to each side.  Genius!

I think I did a good job!  :)

My innocent crush

Well, my serger is still broken.  As of last word, the owner of the shop is back from vacation and has ordered the part it needs.  Should be another week, at least, before I get it back.  How did I ever sew without it!

In the meantime, Anna Maria Horner put out a sneak peak of her new line, coming this fall.  It is called Innocent Crush and I am love!  I love the mix of blueish pinks and blueish greens and blues.  And red!  Heavenly!  Cannot wait for this to come out in November!


On a side note, I want her chair! Oh Anna Maria, you are my fave!

A giveaway. For a whole Flower Sugar fat quarter bundle!

That's right!  One fat quarter of every piece of Flower Sugar 2 (that's 21 fat quarters in all).  We LOVE this collection.  It definitely ranks high on our favorite-ever fabric list.  Bright and cheerful!  This bundle is enough fabric to make an entire quilt top.  So...  check out the Long Ladies on their blog Marie-Madeline Studio to take part in this giveaway!  They have the most lovely fabric! 

Ringmaster!

Matilda Jane has a lovely little dress they call Ringmaster Ellie.  I decided to make a variation of this cute dress.  I used almost all the same fabrics, by Anna Griffon from her Riley line, and then found a piece of Feelin Groovy by Rosemarie Lavin for Windham.  So, for my dress, the bodice is Packed Flowers in green from Feelin Groovy and the ties, ruffle, and skirt are all from Riley.  I love this circus print so much I am trying to find more of it!   I bought what I have from Treasure Bay on Etsy.  (see side bar for link)

So, here it is!  My Ringmaster Eliza, for my little girl.  

Here are closeups of the pretty fabrics.

And, no, my serger is STILL not working.   So, all these seams had to be bound somehow.  Argh is the only word for that.  Serger goes to shop in about an hour.  

Just for kicks, here is my inspiration. the Ringmaster Ellie by Matilda Jane.  I did pretty good, huh?

A skirt for me!

I finally made something for me.  I have had this fabric for almost a year, having swooned over it at a local fabric shop.   The yellow and pale blue paisley is from Heather Bailey's Pop Garden collection.  I don't recall who made the red paisley.  The green at top is from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection.  I got that recently from Rosebudquilter, on Etsy.

The pattern is the Belle Skirt Pattern by Favorite Things and I am sorry to say that I do not like this pattern much.  Having just completed an apron from an Amy Butler pattern, this pattern does not compare well.  The directions are sorely lacking.  They are so simple as to almost be difficult!  If it were not for the fact that there are some similarities between the apron and the skirt, I would have been frustrated.

The instructions for the waist, for example, just said to attach it to the skirt!  Being as the waist section is double sided, I ended up sewing the inside first and then folding it over, ironing it nicely, and sewing it on the outside.  Then, the direction said to just insert the elastic.  Well, the waist section is roughly 6 inches.  A 3/8 inch piece of elastic would have been swimming in there!  So, I sewed a casing to keep the elastic in place.  (see close up of waist.)  The other thing I did is to make pleats at front and back instead of gathers. I felt they would look nicer because they would lay flat.

The other thing I don't like about this pattern is that the skirt is in four pieces, so there is a seam down the front.  I do like the skirt enough to make it again, but I will cut it in two large pieces, each on the fold, to avoid the line down the middle.

This is not a pattern for a total beginner.  It would be confusing to you to not have precise directions.  Here is a good review of the pattern and modifications one can make.

Casing for the elastic.  Nicey Jane fabric by  Heather Bailey.

Pleats instead of gathers.  Pop Garden fabric by Heather Bailey.

Finally! Well enough to sew.

For three weeks, I suffered through a flu which morphed into the worst sinus infection of all humanity.  Now, in week four, I am still recovering slowly but my head finally is not in too much pain to sew.

So, first up, I made the Pretty Knit fabric halter using a pattern from Monkesybug and Tiedyediva on Etsy. I love their patterns; they are fun and easy to use.  I used a small piece of jersey knit from Chez Ami.  Turned out great!

Then, I made an apron for a very nice friend of mine.  Being as she is a domestic goddess, it only made sense to make her The Domestic Goddess apron by Amy Butler, using her Midwest Modern Ohio Sky fabric.  Didn't it turn out pretty! Imagine it on a tall blonde. Gorgeous!

Closeup of fabric

Front and back view