So I've added a few more dresses to my collection to send out. But right now, the sewing machine and I are fighting.
I love the machine (A 2263 Singer. Or "Singer. Simple."). But the one annoyance is that it is REALLY touchy about thread in the bobbin area. So, like, if I get off track somehow and, liiiiiike, sew off of the fabric 'cause I'm too close the edge and mess things up on the bobbin side (I'm new. This happens) I have to cut the bobbin thread out and that's all fine and dandy. But then, for reasons I don't understand, the machine gets confused after that. Then I will discover that there are tiny pieces of thread that I didn't notice the first time I cleaned the Bobbin Cave out. So I'll get out the ol' tweazers and clean out every little bit that I didn't see the first time. But THEN, apparently the last time, I still missed something, because I went to sew (finally on a scrap piece of fabric 'cause I was starting to ruin the arm hole of a dress) and the needle just gets stuck because it starts to collect a bazillion pieces of bobbin threads.
I know this is way boring for someone who doesn't sew. Sorry! And probably doesn't make sense even if you do.
Anyway, the point is, I'm fighting with the machine right now. I was this-close to being done with my sixth dress and dreaming of what to do for the seventh and that happened on Friday. So tomorrow, I'll get back on the horse and figure this out. I'm just afraid it is going to involve a tool.
Like... a screwdriver. I mean, I like using tools, but I'd rather be making something if I'm going to get the toolbox out than cleaning out the Bobbin Cave.
Alas, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing (thanks to the combination of Google and the Owner's Manual). So tomorrow, I will end the fight and fix things and continue with dresses.
But I'm also really eager to make a li'l somethin' for myself. I'm not sure what. I'm an avid user of Pinterest.com and have collected a lot of ideas on there, but I have a lot of ideas just formulating in the ol' noggin that I'd like to try out.
What I like about sewing, for me, is that I allow myself mistakes. For so many other things in many other aspects of life, I am uptight and afraid to make mistakes because they will effect other people. But when I sew, I just let it all go. Little mistakes can be fixed. And if a finished product doesn't work out (like my first attempt at a shirt for me... yikes!) it's just a lesson learned and doesn't hurt anyone. I love that feeling. Ommmmmm (<~ my relaxed sound)
In other news, I'm super DUPER excited that my camera's battery charger has emerged from its hiding place! I don't like posting without pictures. And I don't like posting fuzzy photos. The battery is currently charging, so I have no photos of great interest to post right now.
Can't wait til I do!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Random Reminiscence
I was just reading through some old posts and see that I have mentioned my issue with sleep. I have been trying so hard to overcome it, but tonight, I was just lying there and just got fed up. So, even though I know it's bad to stare at a lit up screen and expect your brain to settle down, I am here...
Certainly sharing some anecdote of some kind will inevitably bore me enough to crawl back to bed.
The weather is unseasonably warm these days, which I have no qualms about. But I haven't actually done anything to go out and enjoy the weather for several weeks. I was just reminiscing about the last time I did go outside and explore.
One of my most favorite things to do is grab my dog, hop in the car, and get lost outside of the city limits. Most times, I think I am heading for some state park that I'm vaguely aware of, and we end up at some little-known hiker's paradise where I just love to let myself bask in the beauty of nature, as cliche as that sounds. Each day goes by and I can get so caught up in work and the goings-on of people around me that I don't leave time to just stop and appreciate the small beauty around us like I used to. So at the risk of sounding cheesy, I admit that I do love to find wooded trails and walk slowly 'cause I want to be aware of the smallest beautiful detail that someone walking briskly by might not notice.
I think I learned this appreciation from Grampa. While he didn't live on farm, he owned farms and one in particular was a gorgeous tree farm that he liked to tromp on every Thursday. It had a cave, creek, ponds, oak and walnut trees, prairie fields, and wildlife if we sat quietly long enough to see them. I always missed the turkeys, but I saw lots of beautiful deer. He liked to stop his truck in the middle of a field, pop open Pepsis for the two of us and just sit in silence to take in the beauty around us. And every single time, he acted like it was the first time he was seeing it all.
"Isn't this just something?" he'd say in awe, everything single time.
And I'd look with him, at the different shades of blue in the sky, the different shapes of clouds. Then the way the blue met the sharp greens of the distant trees and how the various shades of green trees slowly became prairie grass. Then see how the breeze gently made the grass dance and notice how soothing the breeze was on my skin, 'cause we *usually* went on a humid summer day.
One time, we were sitting by a pond, closer to the timber on a fall day. It was that time of year when the oak trees look like cozy little bonfires with their oranges, yellows and reds and the air is so crisp on your nose and cheeks. I was taking in the reflection of the trees in the pond and Grampa showed me how there were slight ripples moving in one direction and then would suddenly change and go in the other direction. He told me it was caused by the movement of the biggest fish swimming in the pond.
We listened to all of the leaves brush against each other in the breeze, a soothing sound like a mother hushing her baby to lull it to sleep. We hoped a deer would glide out from the timber to enjoy a treat from a salt block that was sitting out for it, so we stayed pretty quiet while we took in our surroundings.
It was so relaxing and it's what I look for now when I take my dog for a trip to escape the city limits. And it's what I found the last time I attempted and came upon some trail that I've already forgotten the name of.
But I was looking at these pictures and remembered what a pretty day it was and how I could feel Grampa with me that day. :)
Certainly sharing some anecdote of some kind will inevitably bore me enough to crawl back to bed.
The weather is unseasonably warm these days, which I have no qualms about. But I haven't actually done anything to go out and enjoy the weather for several weeks. I was just reminiscing about the last time I did go outside and explore.
One of my most favorite things to do is grab my dog, hop in the car, and get lost outside of the city limits. Most times, I think I am heading for some state park that I'm vaguely aware of, and we end up at some little-known hiker's paradise where I just love to let myself bask in the beauty of nature, as cliche as that sounds. Each day goes by and I can get so caught up in work and the goings-on of people around me that I don't leave time to just stop and appreciate the small beauty around us like I used to. So at the risk of sounding cheesy, I admit that I do love to find wooded trails and walk slowly 'cause I want to be aware of the smallest beautiful detail that someone walking briskly by might not notice.
I think I learned this appreciation from Grampa. While he didn't live on farm, he owned farms and one in particular was a gorgeous tree farm that he liked to tromp on every Thursday. It had a cave, creek, ponds, oak and walnut trees, prairie fields, and wildlife if we sat quietly long enough to see them. I always missed the turkeys, but I saw lots of beautiful deer. He liked to stop his truck in the middle of a field, pop open Pepsis for the two of us and just sit in silence to take in the beauty around us. And every single time, he acted like it was the first time he was seeing it all.
"Isn't this just something?" he'd say in awe, everything single time.
And I'd look with him, at the different shades of blue in the sky, the different shapes of clouds. Then the way the blue met the sharp greens of the distant trees and how the various shades of green trees slowly became prairie grass. Then see how the breeze gently made the grass dance and notice how soothing the breeze was on my skin, 'cause we *usually* went on a humid summer day.
One time, we were sitting by a pond, closer to the timber on a fall day. It was that time of year when the oak trees look like cozy little bonfires with their oranges, yellows and reds and the air is so crisp on your nose and cheeks. I was taking in the reflection of the trees in the pond and Grampa showed me how there were slight ripples moving in one direction and then would suddenly change and go in the other direction. He told me it was caused by the movement of the biggest fish swimming in the pond.
We listened to all of the leaves brush against each other in the breeze, a soothing sound like a mother hushing her baby to lull it to sleep. We hoped a deer would glide out from the timber to enjoy a treat from a salt block that was sitting out for it, so we stayed pretty quiet while we took in our surroundings.
It was so relaxing and it's what I look for now when I take my dog for a trip to escape the city limits. And it's what I found the last time I attempted and came upon some trail that I've already forgotten the name of.
But I was looking at these pictures and remembered what a pretty day it was and how I could feel Grampa with me that day. :)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Sew Cool!
::Edit 6/15/13: I discovered all of my photos for this entry were no longer up. :( So this entry may make less sense than it originally did. Sorry!::
I spent my afternoon making another dress for Little Dresses for Africa and had a much easier time with the pillow case dress.
I am the amateur of amateurs and combined the knowledge of several sites claiming to have "the easiest directions" for the pillow case dress, so I decided to put everything together that I learned and put it here for a One Stop Easy Shop on how to make this dress. If you are using a yard of fabric, not a pillowcase.
The biggest bulk of my instructions are from eHow.
However, for the length, I got my info from the Little Dresses site, that I link up in my first sentence.
So, from shoulder to hem, the size goes aaaaas follows:
I wanted today's dress to be for a large size, so I made sure it was 34 in final length.
Now, here is a secret I learned after last night's dress that you will not find in the tutorials. Everyone else says, if you aren't using a pillow cause, begin by sewing your sides together.
Not me.
As The Amateur of Amateurs, I found this waaaaaaaay easier by sewing the side of the dress up toward the end.
My first step was folding up the fabric and cutting out the arm holes.
Um... that is a little smaller than I intended. But it gets my point across. Fold in half once, and you have the width of your dress. Fold in half again and cut 2inches in and 4 inches down from the "raw" corner (not the beautifully folded one!). Make sure you cut through all four layers of fabric!
For toddlers, you should cut 1.5 inches in and 3 inches down.
I took the 2in/4in as a suggestion and since my dress in intended for grown girl, I cut 3 and 5. The beauty of this dress is that it's all easily adjustable by the girl when she ties the ribbon in the end ::sigh of relief::
Once that was cut, I didn't even use pins to sew it up. I just folded down as little fabric as I could and went to town.
My second step was the bottom hem. Because I knew I was making this for a tall girl, I made a small hem.
NOTE: When it comes to how much I sew at hems, I use measurements loosely. As long as it's straight, I'm happy.
Next was the part that I was SO not getting in the tutorials last night. Maybe I was sleepy. I don't know.
We are back at the neckline. First, you need to fold the edge down just a tad to it is nice and pretty. If you insist on a measurement, then sew 1/4". So do that on both sides.
Then, this is where I kept getting lost, because no one spoke Amateur Talk. Now you fold *again* and this is the "tunnel" where you will slide the ribbons through.
Do you realize how much searching it took for me to understand that?
Anyway, personally, my way of measurement for this was folding it over my thumb and making it super snug. The actual measurement it supposed to be 5/8 of an inch.
So this photo shows the "before" and "after" of that instruction. In front, you see how I have sewn the 1/4, but haven't pinned it, yet, for my ribbon's tunnel. In the back, you see that it is pinned and ready for me to sew the tunnel!
The ribbon.
I love the finished look, but I HATE threading the ribbon through!! And since I'm new to this, I'm lacking in tools, so I don't have a safety pin to attach to the ribbon to help thread it through.
So I got creative. I wrapped the ribbon around a pen and pushed the pen through my tunnel (why isn't it called a tunnel, really?")
And THEN....
The dress was done!!:::sigh:::
I'll be happy when I find my camera's charger.
PS I think it's only fair to plug a REAL talent, in case you happened upon my site in search of handmade clothes for little ones.
Take a look at Sweet Bug Designs for precious handmade clothing!
I spent my afternoon making another dress for Little Dresses for Africa and had a much easier time with the pillow case dress.
I am the amateur of amateurs and combined the knowledge of several sites claiming to have "the easiest directions" for the pillow case dress, so I decided to put everything together that I learned and put it here for a One Stop Easy Shop on how to make this dress. If you are using a yard of fabric, not a pillowcase.
The biggest bulk of my instructions are from eHow.
However, for the length, I got my info from the Little Dresses site, that I link up in my first sentence.
So, from shoulder to hem, the size goes aaaaas follows:
Small = 2, 3, and 4 (16-22 inches long)
Medium = 5, 6, and 7 (24-28 inches long)
Large = 8,9, and 10 (30-34 inches long)
X-Large - size 11 and above (anything over 35 inches long)
I wanted today's dress to be for a large size, so I made sure it was 34 in final length.
Now, here is a secret I learned after last night's dress that you will not find in the tutorials. Everyone else says, if you aren't using a pillow cause, begin by sewing your sides together.
Not me.
As The Amateur of Amateurs, I found this waaaaaaaay easier by sewing the side of the dress up toward the end.
My first step was folding up the fabric and cutting out the arm holes.
Um... that is a little smaller than I intended. But it gets my point across. Fold in half once, and you have the width of your dress. Fold in half again and cut 2inches in and 4 inches down from the "raw" corner (not the beautifully folded one!). Make sure you cut through all four layers of fabric!
For toddlers, you should cut 1.5 inches in and 3 inches down.
I took the 2in/4in as a suggestion and since my dress in intended for grown girl, I cut 3 and 5. The beauty of this dress is that it's all easily adjustable by the girl when she ties the ribbon in the end ::sigh of relief::
Once that was cut, I didn't even use pins to sew it up. I just folded down as little fabric as I could and went to town.
My second step was the bottom hem. Because I knew I was making this for a tall girl, I made a small hem.
NOTE: When it comes to how much I sew at hems, I use measurements loosely. As long as it's straight, I'm happy.
Next was the part that I was SO not getting in the tutorials last night. Maybe I was sleepy. I don't know.
We are back at the neckline. First, you need to fold the edge down just a tad to it is nice and pretty. If you insist on a measurement, then sew 1/4". So do that on both sides.
Then, this is where I kept getting lost, because no one spoke Amateur Talk. Now you fold *again* and this is the "tunnel" where you will slide the ribbons through.
Do you realize how much searching it took for me to understand that?
Anyway, personally, my way of measurement for this was folding it over my thumb and making it super snug. The actual measurement it supposed to be 5/8 of an inch.
So this photo shows the "before" and "after" of that instruction. In front, you see how I have sewn the 1/4, but haven't pinned it, yet, for my ribbon's tunnel. In the back, you see that it is pinned and ready for me to sew the tunnel!
The ribbon.
I love the finished look, but I HATE threading the ribbon through!! And since I'm new to this, I'm lacking in tools, so I don't have a safety pin to attach to the ribbon to help thread it through.
So I got creative. I wrapped the ribbon around a pen and pushed the pen through my tunnel (why isn't it called a tunnel, really?")
And THEN....
The dress was done!!:::sigh:::
I'll be happy when I find my camera's charger.
PS I think it's only fair to plug a REAL talent, in case you happened upon my site in search of handmade clothes for little ones.
Take a look at Sweet Bug Designs for precious handmade clothing!
Sew Much Better
::edit 6/15/13 I discovered my photographs were no longer displaying, so this may not make as much sense...::
I'm going to use "sew" in place of "so" until everyone is sick and tired of it.
I just had the Grandma-est New Year. I totes mcgotes spent it sewing. The night was all mine, free to do absolutely anything I wanted... go to a party, find friends who were out, have dinner with my bestie, stay in all night and do everything that I love doing when I'm alone-- listen to 90s pop, make up silly dances (not gonna lie, it's what I do when no one is watching), read, play Wii, watch
cheesey movies, watch my new Britney Spears concert on blu ray...
... Britney made it into my blu ray player. But I stayed in my office and sewed.
Granted, I do have a purpose this month. When I first mentioned on Facebook that I have a sewing machine, one of my former coworkers told me about a cause for which I can sew clothing for children. Easy dresses for little girls and shorts for little boys. It's called Little Dresses for Africa. The dresses and shorts have been donated to 31 countries in Africa as well as Honduras, Cambodia, Philippines, Mexico and Haiti. AND they are currently being sent here in the states to places in the Appalachian Mountains and South Dakota. Now that I think of it, South Dakota could use warmer clothes than dresses...
Anyway, the point is that my resolution has been to be a part of big causes each month this year. A couple of years ago, I started to become more active in a few causes and it felt amazing. At that point, it was just on my Life List to be a part of something much bigger than me. Welp, I'm addicted. It's true that the little things, like a dollar donated to St. Jude's while you're shopping, help. But it feels soooo good to really spend time helping someone in need. Whether it's doing something silly and fun, like raising money through the Polar Plunge, or making these dresses. Those little people are facing hardships that I've never known and when I was making the one dress this evening, it felt cool to think that something I was creating was going to travel and provide smiles to a little girl somewhere. Something as simple as a dress.
I'm getting rambly. Obviously, it is late.
But I wanted to share what I made. Be gentle. It's my first attempt at a dress! I imagine it'll fit a small 6-ish year old.
Again, the photo quality is horrendous... it'll be a beautiful day when my camera charger emerges. ::sigh::
This is what the fabric looks like (except more vibrant and not so orangey)
And this is the dress :)
Okay. It's true. I'm proud of it. And have a really cute fabric for the next one, which I'll probably size for a girl who is closer to age 9.
Happy 2012! I hope your NYE was less Grandma-y than mine, but equally enjoyable!
I'm going to use "sew" in place of "so" until everyone is sick and tired of it.
I just had the Grandma-est New Year. I totes mcgotes spent it sewing. The night was all mine, free to do absolutely anything I wanted... go to a party, find friends who were out, have dinner with my bestie, stay in all night and do everything that I love doing when I'm alone-- listen to 90s pop, make up silly dances (not gonna lie, it's what I do when no one is watching), read, play Wii, watch
cheesey movies, watch my new Britney Spears concert on blu ray...... Britney made it into my blu ray player. But I stayed in my office and sewed.
Granted, I do have a purpose this month. When I first mentioned on Facebook that I have a sewing machine, one of my former coworkers told me about a cause for which I can sew clothing for children. Easy dresses for little girls and shorts for little boys. It's called Little Dresses for Africa. The dresses and shorts have been donated to 31 countries in Africa as well as Honduras, Cambodia, Philippines, Mexico and Haiti. AND they are currently being sent here in the states to places in the Appalachian Mountains and South Dakota. Now that I think of it, South Dakota could use warmer clothes than dresses...
Anyway, the point is that my resolution has been to be a part of big causes each month this year. A couple of years ago, I started to become more active in a few causes and it felt amazing. At that point, it was just on my Life List to be a part of something much bigger than me. Welp, I'm addicted. It's true that the little things, like a dollar donated to St. Jude's while you're shopping, help. But it feels soooo good to really spend time helping someone in need. Whether it's doing something silly and fun, like raising money through the Polar Plunge, or making these dresses. Those little people are facing hardships that I've never known and when I was making the one dress this evening, it felt cool to think that something I was creating was going to travel and provide smiles to a little girl somewhere. Something as simple as a dress.
I'm getting rambly. Obviously, it is late.
But I wanted to share what I made. Be gentle. It's my first attempt at a dress! I imagine it'll fit a small 6-ish year old.
Again, the photo quality is horrendous... it'll be a beautiful day when my camera charger emerges. ::sigh::
This is what the fabric looks like (except more vibrant and not so orangey)
And this is the dress :)
Okay. It's true. I'm proud of it. And have a really cute fabric for the next one, which I'll probably size for a girl who is closer to age 9.
Happy 2012! I hope your NYE was less Grandma-y than mine, but equally enjoyable!
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