Projects and fabrics

While I haven't been especially fastidious in the blogging department, I have been quite busy at the sewing machine as of late.

I have knocked out a to do list stretching back MONTHS! And, in the spirit of feeling exceptionally productive, even purchased new fabric for some new quilts.

First, I finished putting some names on chefs hats and a baby blanket. These have been sitting in my to do pile for around 7 months. YIKES. It really is depressing when you finally do sit down to tackle projects you have put off for ever and ever, only to find they only took an hour or two at the most to complete. But, none the less, they are finished, and no longer occupying space in the back of my mind.

These headbands were a more recent addition to the to do pile, only a few weeks thankfully. I don't know which I think is better, the fact that a 7 year old girl picked out a furry leopard print, or that her mom said "Go for it!" I hope she likes them :)

And finally, brand spankin' new fabrics. I can't wait to show you what I am planning on for these amazing solids...

And of course, the more subdues earthy-toned prints. I love the stars, very sweet.

Stay tuned, now that I'm feeling more my self, my machines have been getting a work out. Bring on the baby things!

Publish Post

Happy sewing,

Janice

Bump! (Baby Under Manufacturing Process)

I'm back! Sorry for the temporary hiatus, but I have one of the best excuses :) Morning sickness and some serious fatigue drained all of my posting energy :( Yup, baby No. 2 is due Dec 9! Once we find out gender, you can bet I will be back at my sewing machine with a vengeance!

The past month has been filled with lots of nausea, and exhaustion, but I am slowly getting back to my old self, and ready to dust off my sewing machines. Right now I am deciding on my next project... I am thinking of doing an activity book for my little guy. Buttons, snaps and Velcro are his favorite things right now.

I'm thinking of making a book like this. But in a little boy version. I think all of the fasteners and closures will keep his itchy fingers busy, at least for a little while...

Hopefully I'm over the hump of the fatigue, and will be back soon with pics of my progress :)

Happy Sewing!

Janice

The Bees Knees

Today is the first post in little tour of the places now carrying my headbands! This shop is called The Bees Knees. If you live in Phoenix it is located on 16th street just south of Oak. You can't miss the mural that takes up one entire exterior wall of the complex.

Julia (the shop owner) is a former work mate, she was the librarian and the school I taught at. Now she has ventured into the world of the vintage clothing/handmade craft boutique. Her store is just beautiful! Everything in it, from the lighting, to the changing rooms, to the little nick knacks and conveniently placed baby toys, is just too cute. So cute in fact, words don't do it justice, so here are some photos...

Super cute, right?

Happy sewing,

Janice

How to hem your jeans

One thing that I find both convenient and frustrating about buying designer jeans is that many of them are sold without inseam sizes. The manufacturer makes them extra long, so when you buy them, unless you are supermodel tall, you have to have them hemmed.

This is great becuase it makes them easier to shop for since you are not dealing with inseam sizes as well as waist line sizes, but then leaves you with the pain in the butt of hemming (or paying to hem) your $100+ jeans.

UGH!

Well, for those out there who feel like they would like to tackle this task on their own, here is a tutorial on how I hem my jeans, and keep the original hem intact. I personally think this is very important. Especially considering how much money you paid for all of the washing and distressing that goes in to a nice pair of jeans, keeping the original hem really maintains the look of the jeans. So, here we go...

Step 1: Either try on the jeans to be hemmed and have a friend mark them at the spot you would like to hem them at. Or, if you are alone, find another pair of pants that fit you correctly. Lay them flat on top on one another on a ironing board. make sure the inseams match up, and mark the jeans where they need to be hemmed.

Step 2: Cut the jeans. If this is the first time you have done this, it is very scary. If you are afraid of messing up, give yourself a 1/4 in extra to work with. It won't effect the overall fit of the jean dramatically, and gives you the ability to cut off a boo boo and start over.

Here is a pic of a pair of jeans cut to the correct length. Make sure you have the hem lined up all the way around as you cut, or marked evenly all the way around. Otherwise, your jeans will end up shorter on one side and longer on another. I highly recommend both washing and ironing your jeans before doing this.

Step 3: Now you will need to trim the hem off of the bottom of the jeans. Make sure you leave at least a 1/4in on the edge of the hem, You will need this to fold in when you go to sew the hem back on to the jeans. In the pic below you can see how much I am leaving on the hem.

Step 4: Seam rip open the hem

Step 5: This is optional! Find the part of the hem that looks like this...

Turn it inside out like this...

And trim off a little of the serged hem like this...

Make sure you are not cutting into the actual side hem, just taking a little of the fabric off the end. This will help make it less bulky for your sewing machine to go through later.

Step 6: Now comes the tricky part, attaching your hem to the jeans. Begin by locating this part of the hem...

Find the matching side seam on your jeans, and match them up. You will notice that the former inside of your hem will now be on the outside of your jeans.

Step 7: Fold the raw edges of your hem in towards the center...

Place the cut end of your jeans inside the hem, making sure that the former inside of the hem in now on the outside, and the former outside of the hem is now on the inside.

When you are ready to pin it should look something like this. The folded over edge of the hem on the inside of your jeans used to be the hem on the outside of your jeans.

Step 8: Pin every few inches, making sure to double pin on either side of the side seams where the material is thicker. This is where your sewing machine will have the most trouble. Make sure to go slow through the side seams and you may even need to turn the hand wheel a little to help your machine along. If you don't go slow, I guarantee you will break your needle. Not fun.

Step 9: Using whatever foot you feel most comfortable with, sew around the hem of the jeans, I sew on the outside so I can make sure it lines up well and looks nice. Who ever sees the inside of your jeans hem?

Step 10: Back stitch, trim your threads and VOILA! You have hemmed your jeans! Below is a pic of the finished product. All distressing and washes intact :) I'm not all that picky about what thread I use. They don't really ever match the side seam thread to the hem thread on the jeans to begin with. You can buy a jean weight thread, but I've used a regular all purpose weight thread with no issues.

I hope I've inspired you to take on the task of hemming your own jeans, or at least demystified it a bit :)

Happy sewing,

Janice

Hemming Jeans

The other day I went through my closet and took out every pair of jeans that were too long. Holding a stack of 5 or 6 jeans, I realized I had been wearing one pair of jeans over and over because they were hemmed, and all of these others were sitting in my closet, only occasionally getting worn when I felt like donning a very high heel.

After letting the stack of jeans stare me in the face on my ironing board for about a week, I finally plucked up the muster to sit down and hem them all.

3 hours later, and I now have a bevy of jeans in my closet that fit me!

A while ago I learned a tip from a seamstress on how to hem jeans so it doesn't look like you had them hemmed. Since I have one pair of jeans left to hem (not mine though!) I'll post a tutorial on jean hemming so they look like this!

Yes, that is the finished hem after the jeans have been shortened :)

Happy sewing!

Janice

Busy. busy. busy

This month has gone by so quickly! While I can look back and see quite a pile of things I've accomplished, none of which have made it on my blog :( For that I also lay part of the blame on a sick baby :(

I'm hoping April is a more successful posting month. In the mean time here are some photos of a blanket I made for a baby shower last weekend...

I used spray basting for the first time, and I LOVED it! Here is the quilt basted...

And here it is all quilted and bound...

Here is some of the stitching up close...

She loved it, and it matches her nursery theme perfectly! (Thanks to grandpa to be ;)

I am ALMOST done with Sentimental Me, the quilting is about 75% finished, and then I have the binding to do. Needless to say, this quilt has been a monumental effort. I didn't realize that quilts get exponentially more difficult as they increase in size!

Happy sewing,

Janice

Arizona Quilters Guild Show

I have been totally sidelined by headband making, but this week I'm hoping to get back on track.

Over the weekend me and my sis-in-law (who I kinda kidnapped) went to a quilt show. There were a lot of amazing quilts, and a bunch of vendors with some really inspirational ideas.

Here are a few of the neat things we checked out...

This quilt is 100% hand applique and made with felt, very cute! Also apparently a first place winner :)

While my photography is not great, in person the leaves really seamed liked they were sitting on the quilt top rather than stitched in it. Beautiful!

This little house was a combo of machine embroidery, quilting, and piecing. In person, very very impressive.

These geisha girls had heads made out of porcelain, they are supposed to look like paper dolls.

Next we toured the different vendors, one of them had these cute quilts and kits on display. I thought it was really neat how the squares are just stitched down on top of the quilt top, rather than pieces in. So much less work, and a very cute end result.

Here is a little boy version that has been washed, look how the edges of the circles fray up. I think it makes the quilt look comfy and fuzzy.

Here is a pretty little girl version (or big girl, I loved it!) My favorite part is the quilting in the background that looks like flowers. So pretty!

And another one with a swirly quilting pattern in the background an a different shaped flower. Very very cute!

That's all for now! My next post will be on my finished Sentimental Me quilt! YAY!!!!!

Happy sewing,

Janice