One Project Finished!

I haven't posted in awhile, but I have been busy trying to finish up a bunch of PIGS (Projects in Grocery Sacks).

This shirt I made Katie had been on my sewing table, cut out and ready to sew for over a month. Once I sat down to work on it, it took no time at all. The knotted buttons were the hardest part of the pattern. :-) The only alteration I had to make for Katie was to take some width out of the body of the shirt. I used a Simplicity "It's So Easy" pattern, and honestly, it was very easy.

Whenever I sew for one of my girls I am always afraid that they won't be pleased with the end result. Katie gave me no reason to fear, however; she was thrilled with the way her top came out and the way it fit. The shirt has already been worn on more than one occasion and it really does look nice on Katie.

On to the next pigs...
Ruth

Felt Ornaments

Inspired by Jessica's coasters, my mother and I made felt ornaments while she was visiting us for Thanksgiving. Mom, creative as she is, sketched out simple patterns for our use. We made two of each design, 1/2 for her and 1/2 for me. I also made several ornaments with the 4-H clover to include in gift baskets for our wonderful 4-H leaders.

We are quite the messy crafters, don't you agree?

Making the ornaments with my mother was a lot of fun. I cherish the memories that I have of going to fabric and craft stores with Mom. We used to do so much together when we lived back in Colorado, and I do miss those times! I think my love of sewing and crafting was inherited from Mom. She is so creative! Thanks, Mom. I love you!

Ruth

Felt Coasters for Christmas

Here are some pictures of the felt coasters I made last week. I enjoyed making and using my autumn leaf coasters so much that I went ahead and made a set for Christmas. I used the same size circles as before and just created 6 different Christmas designs for the centers. This was a really easy project that went pretty fast.

Mom is making some some beautiful felt ornaments...and I can't wait for her to share them!

Enjoy this season!

Jessica

The Perfect Pear Pincushion

We like pincushions here and I just came across a cute pear pattern by Stacy that would be perfect for a pincushion. It would also be appropriate for Christmas ornaments or decorations. What fun!

Jessica

Ear Flap Hat for Emmy

Yesterday I knit a hat for Emily, and yes, she even kept it on long enough for me to take a few pictures of her. I enjoyed this quick project---being able to work on something and actually finish it was quite satisfying to me. Isn't Emmy adorable, dirty face and all? It was hilarious how Emmy went from crying to smiling in less than a minute while the pictures were being snapped.
Ruth




***Edit***
For this hat I adapted a pattern from www.cidermoon.com. The pattern is not sized for toddlers, so I experimented as I knit, making it smaller. For Emmy's hat I started with a cast-on of 63 stitches. I think I should have made it slightly bigger.

Chic Purses from Threads Magazine

In this month's eLetter from Threads Magazine a link for free instructions for 3 Chic Purses was given. I particularly like the Pleated Pouch Bag, pictured below. I don't dare add this project to my already overgrown list, but I surely do like it! Perhaps one day in the future I'll just sew up all the handbags that I've been collecting links and patterns for. As much as I am drawn to handmade bags you would think that I owned a whole collection of them. The truth is, lately I've been carrying an ordinary, non-descript brown leather purse. Hmmm.... maybe I should make one of these cute purses and add some zip to my life....
Ruth

Knit Maternity Top

I discovered again last night that I love to sew clothes. Clothing construction is so much more fun then all the home-dec stuff and craft stuff I've been doing. No long boring seams, no troublesome quilting issues, not rotery cutters and mats, and all the acessories, no projects that take weeks to finish and then have the "homemade" look. Just fun stuff like fitting and pressing, bindings and edgestitching, hemming, and then having an end product that looks like something I could buy in a store. It's so satisfying...

The pattern is McCalls 4880. It calls for woven fabrics, but seemed to work fine with my knit. The knit fabric I used below is a super cheap, thin knit that will probably pill and look horrible after a few washings, but I wanted to experiment with the fit and the look, and it was only $1 per yard. I have some nicer, light blue knit that I plan to use now that I know the pattern fits and works on my pregnany body!

The pattern doesn't actually have gathers across the front like my shirt does....I got the idea from the review of this pattern on Pattern Review. Basically I just added some extra inches to the center front along the fold of the lower piece, and then gathered the excess to fit between the notches when I sewed the lower front to the upper front pieces. The gathers are sort of different and trendy looking...and they certainly show off my tummy! I'm still trying to decide how much I like them.

The only issue I had was with some skipped stitches. I used a ball point needle, but I think it was the wrong size for such a lightweight knit because I didn't have any problems when the material was tripled (like on the binding). Also going slow and using a 2.5 stitch length seemed to help. I wish there were magic answers for all the tension and stitch issues I've been having lately. If anyone has experience sewing with knit fabrics, I'd love to hear any hints and tips!