Fabric Overload

I have admitted before that I have a little issue with hoarding fabric. It's a teeny issue really. I mean just because some nights we can't use the dining room table because I have fabric strewn on top isn't that big a deal. Right? Or the baskets of fabric under said table that prevent the kids from fully pulling up to it, isn't anything to worry about. I mean they have little legs, they don't need that much room anyway. Really, those pieces of potential could make us money once I get around to actually making something out of them. Really.

I was doing well. Truly. I was keeping my fabric purchases to a bare minimum getting just what I needed to finish a certain project. Until a few weeks ago. Oh, that fateful day! When my absolute favorite quilting store got flooded and sent an emergency message to all on their emailing list. The entire fabric collection in the entire store was forty. percent. off.

They needed help. They were asking me to help them out of this horrible situation. What was I to do?

But they closed at five and Rob didn't get home until almost six. I was twitchy sitting here, telling myself it didn't matter. I didn't need the fabric that I would never ever find at such a deep discount anywhere ever again. I didn't need Alexander Henry or Amy Butler's perfectly coordinating threads that would go with the current project I was working on. Oooh! And what about all those other projects I could make with everything else I could finally afford? It didn't help that I had gone so long without designer fabric purchases. It didn't help that we had just gotten paid, either. But Max was asleep and it was already 3:30. I couldn't wake him up to shuck three kids around a teeny fabric store that was sure to be jam packed with other fabric enthusiasts. Could I? Maybe.... No. No, that's not gonna happen.

The providence stepped in. Rob got off early and waltzed through the door not even five minutes after I overrode my internal hoarder. If that wasn't a sign I was supposed to go then I don't know how else to interpret that. So, I went. And I fell off the wagon. Hard.

I admit defeat at the hands of an amazing sale. I actually did better (read: less worse) than I thought I was going to. But the floodgates have opened and last night I spent an hour refolding and rearranging the fabric stash. It's funny how I look at something, even bought years before, and remember what I wanted to do with it. Which project whatever fabric was destined for. So, I'm working hard to actually get those projects completed. Heck, I've already sold one quilt and have a few things listed in my etsy store.

Today, I work on finishing another project that's been sitting around. Today, I'll use more of my stash. Today, I'll try to minimize my fabric overload. It's the best I can do.

Easy add-on Pockets (or how to make a 5 year old deliriously happy)

You might remember this dress from our beach side photo shoot a few weeks ago.

It's a cute plain knit dress that cost under $10 new. I usually don't go for matchy stuff for the kids (since it's just about impossible to find five things in all their sizes that go together) but for the sake of nice pictures I do my best. My issue with matchy-matchy clothes is that it really boggs down the individual personalities of each kid and makes it a pain to get them dressed since 9 out of 10 someone's something that goes with it is lost/dirty/stained. (This is purely my opinion and yes, I do think matched outfits are cute).

So, Cordelia donned her plain yellow dress and I frowned. Uhmph, I thought, she needs more oopmh. So, we went down to the sewing area and picked out some fabric to make pockets. Every little kid needs pockets to hold their "stuff".

She chose mermaids with honey comb insides. I actually already had these cut for a quilt so it knocked time off preping the fabric.

Cut 4 squares 1/2' larger than the desired finished size. They can be all the same but Cordi wanted the honey combs too. I think it's cute.

Pin them right sides together and sew a 1/4" around THREE SIDES leaving a 1/4" space from the end of the unsewn end.

Snip off the edges and turn inside out, use a pencil to poke out the edges to make sharp corners.

It's nice to have a little help too.

We also embellished them a bit with some blue large ricrac to make it look like waves. Cordelia was really excited about this little addition. (sorry for the crummy lighting).

Fold in the tops using a ruler to make sure they come out the same size. Pin in place and sew across the open top (and across the ricrac of you add it).

Since we're dealing with a knit, we had to really make sure to pin these down well so the fabric didn't shift or pucker when we sewn the cotton pockets on.

Sew around three sides making sure to reinforce where the top of the pocket meets the dress. These will get a lot of wear and you want to make sure it doesn't rip.

What a difference some easy 15 minute pockets make! Cordelia -who liked the dress well enough to begin with - LOVES her "new" mermaid pocket dress. And no one else will have one like it.

Lead Foot

It seems my hiatus from sewing has come to an end. Over the past two days I've been a quilting fiend. I've cranked out twenty 8.5" mod lincoln block squares and started piecing them together this morning.

It's a Space Robots theme and I'm in love with it.

So in love, in fact, that I think I might have to make Max one. The colors match the boy's room and it's a lot larger than the seven quilts he has now in rotation.

I actually do have enough fabric for another. Which is a temptation and excuse to go ahead and do it. The back will be blue raised dot minky a dark color like some of the solid blue blocks. The background is an orangy-yellow kinda between the dark orange and yellow spectrum. I was going to do an orange binding but I think I'm going to piece together an edge using all the different fabrics.

I'm giving this one away to a friend that has a friend that has a baby boy. I'm trying to spread word of mouth on my products and gain some much needed practice. I need to have a couple quilt tops done to take this two hour private lesson at the local quilt shop so I can get better at binding. I really need to master those corners before I set up quilts in a shop asking on the other side of fifty dollars a piece (depending on size, cost of fabric and difficulty, I do try and be reasonable). This Space Robots is closer to a toddler size. I'd probably ask about $85 for it completed.

This is the other quilt top I have ready to go to the class.

It's a simple stacked coins pattern using a single charm pack and cream colored flannel as the background. This one will have a dark chocolate minky background and pink or blue binding, haven't decided which yet.

I used a meandering machine quilting technique for attaching the top to the 100% natural cotton batting. It too is going to be given away as soon as someone claims it. In my store this one would probably go for $55. It's closer to a crib size.

I have another friend that had posted her want of some reusable snack bags (to replace ziplocks) but the price was too high for her (yeah, $8 a piece is a little silly). So, I talked her into letting me make her some. So I'm sketching out ideas for a grown-up washable lunch kit for her too.

After so long away I forgot what it's like to sit down and create something from nothing. It's satisfying to complete projects and see my ideas come together. Plus, I got to go to the fabric store last night. I think I might go to a different one today. Oh, I can feel the fabric monkey slowly easing his weight on my back already.

Rag Rug-along week 3

Howdy! So this is week three of the Rag Rug-along. If you're new to the game you haven't missed much so jump right in! Last weeks assignment (and the week before that) was to gather materials for your rug. It can be anything as long as it's not strechy and the fabric weights are similar. Shirts, pants, sheets, curtains. Whatever.

Here's my stash...

It consists of various sized flat sheets for various sized beds (one size I don't even have anymore) plus some lonely pillow cases that have no mates. I stayed away from fitted as they'd become odd shaped when I cut off the elastic. I'm going for easy here.

The picture isn't very good but they're greens, browns and blues. The striped is a king size so I have the most of that. I think the smattering of other colors throughout are going to look really good. I have these colors through most of my downstairs.

Here's week three's assignment wash your fabrics and if you're feeling really fiesty, go ahead and iron them too. If they're new wash on hot and try and get them shrunk just incase.

We're taking it nice and slow. Feel free to join up and learn how to make yourself a Rag Rug. I'd love to see photos of your stash if you're following along.

Recovering my vintage chair

I have this kick ass wheelie chair that we've had for oh, ten years or so. I love it. We got it at a thift store uber cheap, like ten bucks or something ridiculous. It's solid, heavy as heck aluminum. It had arms but we took them off long ago. One was broken, I believe.

This chair will be getting covered for the third time today. A make over for an old dame. I got some heavy-ish material from IKEA that matches the homeschool room and the honkin' huge vintage metal secretary desk I work from. If you haven't noticed, I like color. Maybe it's because I am virtually blind without contacts or glasses. The world is reduced to blobs of color. I want to drink in the spectrum. I might be really blind one day. If my double digit negative optomitrist prescriptions don't stop going even higher, it's possible.

Back to the chair. Here's the before. It's in a sad state.

Here are the two old layers of material I had used before to recessitate the beast.

Here is the new material. Only $7.99 a yard. I also pulled out my bolt of Warm and Natural batting and added a few layers. The original foam was literally crumbling.

For grown up eyes only -a naked chair. Drool over that, baby. Chairs ain't made like this no more.

And here is our vamped out sitting vixen.

The other absolutely wonderful thing about this chair? It was also made for recovering. I burned my finger twice on hot glue but damn if it wasn't worth it.

My name is Crystal and I'm addicted to fabric.

There's the first step for you. I know I have a problem. I'm addressing the problem. I have no desire to really rectify the problem though. Which is a problem.

I hoard fabric. I can't go to the thrift store without pouring over their old lady smelling remnants looking for that one perfect find. I can't go to the chain fabric store either without making a serious dent in my checking account. Even Etsy.com is a trap for my addiction taunting me with hard to find prints. Currently, I have a closet bursting with fabrics egging me on to make them something special.

I think the reason I lust over fabric is the potential. Turning that eye catching print into something even if, the majority of the time, I have no idea what that might be. Not all fabrics are alike. There are many prints out there I look at and say "Dear god." wondering what on Earth someone would do with such a hideous pattern. But to each their own and in fabric there are always some for all.

This past year I've been on a quilting kick. Having a machine that is designed for it helps but isn't necessary though it was the catalyst to get me interested. Those quilts used to look daunting. Sitting in the quilting store laughing at me and my feeble attempt to figure out how they put the darned thing together. I started out simple and like to think I've gotten quite good even if the binding is digging in its heels and refusing to let me figure out how to make it perfect.

I like the ability in quilting to join together even the teeniest fabric scraps into a creation that amuses the eyes and cuddles the soul. It's my new joy. I still find small snippets of time to give to my first passion, sewing clothes but quilting has trumped it for now.

I yearn for the day I have a studio and my future dress form, Susan (yes, I've already named her) would greet me and encourage me. I already have my workstation and fabric storage picked out from IKEA. How's that for fueling the addiction?

Finally got this quilt done!!!

I've been sitting on (not literally) two practically completed quilt tops. One has the backing already sewn on, the second, the one I finished yesterday, had to have it done. I figured after about six months of looking at it, moving it, putting it back and looking at it some more, I might as well finish them.

I added a chocolate brown raised dot minky to the back and hand sewn the handmade coordinating binding. I didn't go with a pattern, just figured out what I wanted it to look like. I dubbed this "Window Shoppers" basically because of the fabric. The quilt measures approx 42" x 50", nice and large. Shameless link to etsy.com listing.

I have to hand sew the binding on the other quilt which went through the wash and I started a new top but can't top stitch because I have no more batting!!! My goal here is to move some of this fabric out of the house and make a little money for the holidays but apparently that's now side tracked as I ended up buying a BOLT of 45" Warm and Natural batting...at least I won't have an excuse not to finish these quilts! Well, unless I run out of backing...

I have a plethora of girl colored fabrics, probably because I enjoy making stuff for my girls more than the boys. I can only make so many elastic waisted pj pants before it gets boring. But I'm going  to try and get some of the limited boy fabrics I do have out of here in the form of quilts and maybe more elastic waisted pants. I'd like to find a nice easy overall pattern (if you have suggestions let me know!) or jumper for boys for the baby.

I should probably go to the fabric store but I really, really don't want to. I can't believe I just said that.

No Pattern, No Problem.

So I had this totally cute jungle fabric that I love. I have a half yard because that's all I could afford at the time. I have been lacking the inspiration to know what to do with it and not wanting to cut it up until I figure it out. It's been a few months now but I had an idea after unconsciously laying it on top of an Amy Butler print. So, today after church I set about to make a dress that I had no pattern for!

I have a basic understanding of how to make a dress. I have made many similar dresses before and have made another no-pattern dress awhile back that's similar for my oldest daughter, again just having fabric that I wanted to use and not knowing what to do with it. this is a photo of that dress. On this one i messed up and put the button hole on the underneath fabric and then had to go back and put another button on the other side which actually worked out ok other than it buttoning inside and out because the overlap was a lot .


I didn't size it either which is ok because it fits my 3year old instead of my 16 month old but the baby will grow into it! Or I could actually measure her and hem it up. I still have to get some large red buttons for the mock shoulder straps and am debating putting a trim between the bodice and the skirt and/or pockets on the front but otherwise the dress is finished!


I picked up a great snap setter from Keep Me In Stitches for about $9 which made banging in the snaps a breeze. I also pretty much didn't measure after the initial bodice cutting. The arm holes are a little small and I think that's because I decided half way through sewing the cut bodice together that I was going to make the top connect differently and overlapped the front and back at the shoulders about 1/4 inch after sewing them right sides together. Next time I think I'll add an additional 1/2" to my measurements to make sure I have enough arm hole space.


Well, I hope my fuddling through sewing a dress has helped to quell any fears you have about starting up that project that seems too daunting to consider. Thanks for letting me blog.