Another good week, although the sun faded as the week went on. The only nasty surprise was that I needed to make a surprise trip to the dentist when a piece of my tooth fell out while I was flossing. Yes, flossing! I sometimes feel like my teeth are laughing at me.
My main project of the week was finishing the skirts that Bryn ordered back in February at my last skirt party. I got to make a gentle peplum for the second skirt - I really like these!
Bryn chose Circles in White on Black by Monaluna from Mingle for the top skirt (I love this fabric but it's almost impossible to find now) and Amy Butler's Lotus Wall Flower Lotus in Cherry for the second skirt. The blue band is fabric leftover from the contrast fabric on Jen's dress - nice to get to spread that around!
I now have about three large bags filled with upholstery scraps and swatches that I have gotten for free from interior decorators and furniture re-upholstery shops. The swatches seem to come in three sizes - large, medium, and small. I'm saving the large pieces for one of my handbag designs and the small ones are perfect for the wallet, so I've been wondering what to do with the medium pieces. Many of them have larger designs so I don't really want to cut them up for wallets. In the middle of last week it came to me and I had to try it out immediately.
So now I have the zippered upholstery clutch! This clutch uses up almost all of two medium sized swatches and keeps the print intact. I use a fancy swatch for the exterior and the wristlet and a plain swatch for the lining and the pocket. There's a magnetic snap on the outside to keep it folded when you are carrying it about. The interior pocket took some creative thinking to figure out. I didn't want to do a zippered pocket even though I like these a lot - I wanted something quicker. And I didn't want to use a magnetic snap because I imagine that most gals will use the interior pocket for a credit or ATM card so that they don't have to take their whole wallet out. Then I remembered the little pockets that are in my running shorts. They have a flap that keeps my keys from jumping out when I run. Like this:
The flap keeps money and cards in place should you accidentally turn your bag over of fling it about wildly on the dance floor. I was able to cut and sew two of these in about 2.5 hours, and I think I can do it faster with some practice.
I'll be selling these at the
Little Bits Workshop Urban Crafter's Trunk Show on Saturday, May 12th.
I have a bunch of sewing shows saved up to watch on our DVR. Devon sometimes hints that maybe I should delete some of them to make more room for things like hockey and Archer, but I'm going to hold out, at least until football season starts. My favorite show is
It's Sew Easy, a public television show. In one of the first episodes I watched, Tricia Waddell (founder and editor-in-chief of
Stitch magazine) demonstrated how to
add a peak seam to a skirt, and I've been wanting to try this ever since. About a month ago I bought a piece of fabric from Hancock's remnant bin (this black & white print is from their Top Drawer line), and I immediately knew that this was the fabric for my peak seam skirt. I bought the dark teal Petersham ribbon from
The Sewing Place - they have a good range of colors and decent prices.
As you know, I am a reformed wearer-of-all-things-black and I love color (this has rubbed off on Cora - if I suggest a neutral item of clothing she says, haughtily, "I only like clothes with color."). I think this technique is great for adding a flash of color to a more neutral print, or for bringing some stability to a print that might be a little too busy. I get to show off my racing stripes when I go out for the evening with my friends Candice and Kristen on Saturday; now I just need to figure out what top to wear!
That's if for the week. This week I want to get Marides' skirts ready for a fitting and a couple of MaiseyBelle bags made. Oh! And I'll likely post a tutorial on how to make a deeper cowl neck top, so come back for that at the end of the week. I haven't decided on my personal project for next weekend, but I might make myself a corsetted pencil skirt, and if I do that I'll take pictures for a tutorial.
Onward, Ho!
