sharing

Just sharing the love.




And here's some recent sewing activity....

This isn't a great picture, but I made this pillow recently and wanted to share
(aka known as totally bragging, and showing off, but I'm not that vain--really). First of all, the fabric is some of Anna Maria's voile. And as everyone else in bloggidy land says, it's just too wonderful. It is so silky soft, and her designs are so so beautiful. I love the colors, I can't say enough. I am a huge fan on Anna Maria, in fact I am always commenting on her blog, and everytime I do, I think..."that was the lamest comment...I wonder if everyone can tell that I want to be her best friend ever...again, I just said the stupidest thing"...and so on...
But anyway, back to this post. I ordered a scrap bag from Anna Maria's Shop and these little pieces of voile were in there. It was so much fun getting a bag of scraps right from her own studio. I loved that. I based the pillow on this and it was the most fun thing to make. And I have to give a shout out to self healing mats and rotary cutters everywhere. I finally purchased the two things just this year, and it has been the best thing! OH and I can't forget the see through ruler, which you can't use the other two without. So I started it like SouleMama's pillow, with a square piece, then just added pieces all the way around. Measuring and cutting as I went. Now this is nothing new at all, but it is to me and I loved it!!

birdie sling

This is a pic of my first attempt at the birdie sling bag pattern by amy butler. Who knows when I would have ever made it on my own, but my sweet friend asked me to make one for her sister(oh so brave of her too)! Don't you LOVE the fabric she picked out?! The main part of the bag is from Amy Butler's love collection. It's the decorator weight. And the dots are Michael Miller's "ta-dot" which I wish I had a couple of yards of each color. So needless to say, the fabric alone made it fun to make (isn't that the only reason to sew?!). There is a lot of cutting to do when you get started. The entire bag needs interfacing, and the inner lining uses fusible fleece. I didn't even know that existed! I love that stuff. And about the interfacing, we went with something a little bit more, how do you say it, um thicker? (I hate it when I don't know the right word). So the pattern called for a certain kind and we picked out something more stabilizing. This was great for the bag part, but I think the suggested kind would have been better for the handle and the bands, to make them a little more fluid.. they were a little stiff. I also have never made pleats before, so that was some good learnin' too. I actually did them wrong...so surprised. ;) The entire bag was smaller that supposed to be because I didn't figure out what went wrong til I was almost done. Oh well, it still turned out fine, and I will make a better one next time. And there will be a next time, I love this bag. I think the design is so great, it's not your basic rectangle or square with handles. Not that those aren't great, those are the kind I always make! But this bag is so much more, and is great to make as a really nice handmade gift. So that is my very own pattern review! Just in case you wanted to know, and I am sure you all did.