Pre-Wash & Swap

You must ALWAYS pre-wash and dry your cotton fabric before making a garment. Sigh. Tell me why I don't just throw all my fabric in the washer when it arrives in the mail? I have no idea. For a while now I've had some fabric sitting, still in the box, in our spare room. Today I decided to pull it out and make Kaitlyn the dress from an ebook I bought a couple months ago at least. With everything laid out I was getting ready to cut out the bodice when I realized the error I was about to make. I hadn't washed my fabric yet. I was disappointed my project would have to wait. I grabbed up all the fabric I have for any intended project in the future and washed it all. I also stripped the ironing board and put the cover in the wash too. Neal has starched his uniform so much there is a nice browning coat of starch all over the ironing board cover. Now that I starch my fabric before sewing it I'm only adding to the problem.


So picture me with all my intended clothing fabric in the wash as well as the ironing board cover and I now have nothing to do. I decided to pull out the remaining fabric from the purse I made a week and a half ago.

Instead of the white panel I have some green and black fabric I'm thinking about using. I cut out the front strips (15" instead of 18") then had to stop. I'm not sure I like the green. I'm now debating using the white again or adding a splash of color with some blue or orange fabric I'm planning on making Kaitlyn a dress out of. I decided I wasn't in a rush to sew up the front panel seeing how even if I did I still couldn't finish the purse until the stinkin' ironing board cover comes out of the dryer. I'm back to square one with nothing to do.

On a totally different subject if anyone would like to do a swap for a cloth grocery bag hop on over to swap-bot. I'm doing a swap for a handmade or store bought grocery bag along with two small kitchen items. The kitchen items can be something like a frig magnet, dish towel, or even a recipe. You must be signed up by July 28th to participate.

Another swap I'm hosting is for children's travel toys. In this swap you buy 4 small toys, coloring book, crayons, or any other toy or activity item for a child 1-5 years old. The sign up deadline is July 31st for this swap. I'm excited to see the fun items Kaitlyn will get for our long flight back to the States in a couple months.

Swap #2 Done!

I mailed my second swap off yesterday. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of everything because I had to return two movies and was cutting it really short. I handed the movies to the cashier within minutes of them needing to be back. I made everything I listed below, except the notebook cover. Even though the swap had a long swap time I didn't want to drag it out. I gave myself until yesterday to send it off. The tissue holder came out looking great, but did have a couple kinks. I made the ends a bit different on the inside because I didn't want rare edges. Basically I sewed less then 1/8" on the outside of both ends then turned it inside out and sewed the ends almost 1/4". I know by almost 1/8" I made it shorter then the pattern and it did make it tight. However if it hadn't been tight then your tissues, or mine really, would have been floating. The width was to wide. Your supposed to leave the edge raw and put a ribbon over it. I easily could have put a little hem on both edges with all the extra fabric. It wasn't terribly big, but it was baggier on the sides then I would have liked. I didn't leave the seams raw, but used a wider ribbon on top and folded it around both raw edges. I most certainly don't want my tissue holder fraying while I'm desperately trying to get a tissue out. I figured the width issue my have to do with the kind of tissues I was using. At the end of the tutorial she says to use a certain kind of tissue. It might be a bit wider and shorter then the one I used.

Reusable Grocery Bag Swap

I never did post a picture of the grocery bag I made for the swap last week. The lady I was swapping with had in her profile that she is collecting coasters for stocking stuffers. I pulled out two different fabrics and decided to give reversible coaster making a try. Now tell me why I couldn't find a tutorial in time to make these?

The back coaster was my first attempt and the front my second. My first attempt was horrible!!!! Besides the fact I used burgundy thread which matches the other side I didn't fold it right. I cut out eight 5" squares with the intent of making 4" coasters. My mistake happened when I cut eight 4.5" of fusible fleece. I meant to cut the interfacing at 4" so it would give me a line to fold the fabric in and wouldn't cause bulk. It was tedious folding the sides under 1/4" (yes it took a while to notice my mistake). I sewed 1/8" all around the sides then sewed 1/4" spiral all the way to the center. I was very disappointed in the outcome. Here I had three more to go and didn't like the first one. I didn't want to scrap the whole idea, but wasn't sure what to do. It was when I started turning under and pinning #2 that I realized my mistake. I ripped off all the fleece, cut 1/2" off making it 4" and ironed it back on. Instead of folding the sides under I turned the right sides together and sewed around the edges of the fleece while leaving an opening to flip it. The results were so much better. For starters I had the 4" coaster I wanted instead of the crude 4.5" I got with #1. Another change I made was using burgundy bobbin and sky blue thread on top. I've never mixed my thread on a visible portion of a project, but it actually worked out great. I sewed 1/8" around my 4" coaster closing my opening as I went around. I then finished it like I did my first by sewing a spiral pattern 1/4" all the way to the center. I successfully made four coaster and sent them all off with the reusable grocery bag to their new home.

I'm now working on a handmade purse swap with extras.

• So far I have a mini make-up bag which Moki refers to as a pencil bag. If you notice in the pictures the two she shows are different sizes. The instructions make the smaller bag. You would need to make the 10x7 inch strip several inches longer if you want to put pencils in it. It does make a cute little bag. I think it will be a good size to put a compact, lipstick and/or other small items into. I hate digging for those things and even more hate reaching into my bag only to come out with lipstick on my hand because the top came off.
• I've also made a tampon bag for the swap. Heaven help me I can't sew in a circle. All I wanted was a barrel shaped bag with a zipper. Again I couldn't find a tutorial. I even searched for anything dealing with pencils (hence the make-up pouch). I cut out a 6x6.5 inch piece of fabric and attached a 7" zipper to the longer side. I really thought sewing a zipper into such a small barrel would be the hardest part. Boy was I wrong. I had to guess on how big of circles to cut for the end. I knew it would be a bit to much fabric, but I went ahead and cut out 3" circles knowing I would have to cut some off after sewing it on. Pinning it on was a nightmare and sewing it on was worse. I finally got it on, but in the end it wasn't round like I had hoped. Hehehe... I decided I really didn't care because it did the job.
• I still have a tissue cover by Craftapalooza and mini notepad cover by Knitting After Hours to make.

Of course I don't have to make any of it, but thought I would. There actually wasn't a limit to how much you add to the purse. The only rule is 50% of what's inside must be handmade. By the way the purse I'm sending is the black and white one two posts below.

Slacker!

I really need to get on the ball. Three evenings ago I bought the ebook by Sew Sensible for the All In One jumper. Don't ask me why since buying the cheap fabric I have been obsessing about getting the ebook for the jumper. Well now I have it, the fabric is washed and cut out yet there it sits.


I know it's random fabric, but Kaitlyn doesn't care. When I finally put it together she will prance through the BX with it on causing everyone to stop and give her plenty of "ooh" and "aah". Thanks Aimee' for making me look good. =)

My second project newly waiting on me to complete is a place mat purse. I wish we had better options on base, but the pickings are few. I really want to try it so this milk chocolate place mat will be my ginnie pig. I forgot to look through their handful of fabric options to see if anything would match or give a nice contrast. I just happened to be buying this brown and gold fabric anyway and thought it would work for the lining.

Project #3 is a cloth shopping bag for my first swap on Swap-bot.com. Have any of you done swaps on Swap Bot? I'm a bit nervous of people swapping junk. Does anyone know of a good group of people who swap handmade items like throw pillows and handbags? Is Swap Bot the way to go for such swaps?