Sewing for pets

Ok… you know I really need to get back on track for making items for myself. This past weekend, we introduced a new pet into our home. It wasn’t spur of the moment, since I knew this might be a possibility for a few months. Saturday, my daughter and I picked my brother and my nephew up from the airport. They had Bella. She’s a Bichon Friese/Poodle mix, otherwise known as a BichonPoo or a BichPoo.

Bella, has a dog bed, but I told my daughter she could make her a doggie pillow if she likes. Our Shih Tzu, Mr. Bentley, already has a nice, big and fluffy pillow. My daughter is also interested in making dog clothes for our newest addition, and so I’ve been taking measurements and creating patterns so my daughter can start sewing. Hopefully, sometime this week, ‘ll be able to hop on my machine and start sewing for me again! 😉

Dance dress and workout gear

Wow… it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. It’s been super busy and I have not had time to do anything that I enjoy like hand crafts. Yesterday, I was able to plug back in (briefly) to make a quick bag for my shower shoes that I wear to the gym.

Currently, I’m trying to decide if I really want to go through the demands of making a dress for my daughter’s dance on Friday, or just buying something. Yes… the dance is THIS FRIDAY! Ulp… Technically, I could do it, but I honestly don’t know if I want to even do it now. The dress would have been finished by now, but there is so much going on in the real world. I’ve been making myself available to a friend that’s hurting and when I’m not with my daughter, that has taken a ton of time, just to be the person they can come to and the shoulder they can lean on and cry.

Moving on to workout gear… I really need to make some for myself. I haven’t made workout gear before,  but I have made outfits out of knits and lycra, and I do have the machines (Serger and Coverstitch) that make the process much easier, so the only thing left to do is make those outfits.

Unitard_1
See the above outfit, I usually wear something like that when I work out. You know, I still workout in some of the same clothing I did in my twenties. I guess that’s sad, and impressive that I’m still wearing the same clothing.

Unitard_2

Looking online, I saw this. See, it’s the same as the first, but color blocking has been introduced. Oh, how I adore color blocking. I like that a lot. I’m hoping to start sewing a few gym outfits within the next few weeks. I’m petite, size 4. I workout several times weekly, so yeah…. it’s high time I upgrade my wardrobe, and I will. Next year, I will be competing in Figure competitions, and I think I’ll design my outfits for those events also.

Here’s hoping that things calm down for me, and more importantly my friend, if you’re the praying type, say a prayer for them, ok?

 

 

Sewing: Digital Downloads; My first PDF pattern

Well… I’m breaking my,”I don’t want to download any patterns,” to take advantage of the lovely pattern offered by Bryanna Johnson of Sweet Shop Sewing.

When I first stumbled upon Bryanna’s site, I read “Sweet” as “Sweat Shop Sewing”. I can’t blame it on pregnancy, perhaps middle age?

Sweet Shop Sewing Women's ruffled maxi skirt
Sweet Shop Sewing Women’s ruffled maxi skirt

 

Take a look at the above maxi skirt? Isn’t it adorable? You can purchase it on Etsy for $6.99, but you can also purchase it in on Craftsy for the same price. Craftsy is where I made my purchase. My daughter and I decided this would be a great pattern for her to sew. She loves the ruffle, but you can also make it without. My daughter has sewn other items before such as doll clothing, a few pillows, and she even helped me (a tiny bit) with the dress that she wore to the Christmas dance at her Lutheran school, but this will be the first time she will be doing most of the sewing on her own! I’ll be making one for myself also.

Of course, I’ll be there to give her pointers if she needs them. She’s hoping to start this weekend. It depends on her class workload. They give a lot of homework at her Lutheran school. If she does start her sewing project, she’ll be sure to post a writeup on her site and I’ll be sure to point you there.

I’ve already printed out the pattern. I’m planning on taping it together later today, and then transferring everything onto tracing paper. We’ll be going with the extra small. I still might need to make a few adjustments for it to fit my daughter, and that’s fine.

Do you want to know something? I STILL haven’t started on that dress for myself. I really hope I can get to it before the weekend.

No new dress, but lots of fun watching my daughter serge

Well, my plans of having a knit dress started, has been dashed to bits. That is, of course, unless I whip up something within the next few hours!

It’s all good. I had fun over my three-day weekend. I mainly hung with my daughter, We played tons of board games, never even venturing into online games. She’s fond of World of Warcraft… I introduced her to that, and yesterday, I assisted her as she sewed serged a pillow! This girl loves, loves, loves pillows. You should see her bed. It’s covered with them! She’s thrilled that she knows how to sew, I have a feeling I’ll be seeing a whole lot more pillows gracing her bed.

Take a look below, it’s the Vicious Villian fabric we purchased on Saturday!

Sewing pillow_6 1.18.15
Proud of my daughter and her perfectly serged seams

 

She did this on my Serger. My daughter is 11 years old. If she can work a serger, I know you adults that are fearful of this machine can. My serger does 2000 stitches per minute.

Sewing pillow_2 1.18.15
Hand basting the seam closed

 

Here’s my daughter! She’s hand basting the open seam.

Sewing pillow_1 1.18.15
You’ve got to love that concentration!

 

I love the look of concentration she has while she is hand sewing the pillow closed.

Sewing pillow_3 1.18.15
Check out her pillow!

 

..and there you have it, one Disney themed pillow made by my daughter.

My knit dress will be started, and hopefully complete, sometime this week. No, I will not leave myself out of the equation. I’m working myself back into sewing items for myself.

Novelty fabric: Disney Vicious Villain Fabric

Maleificent

This weekend, I was able to go to Jo Ann Fabric. I purchased some of the novelty fabric I’d seen online. I wasn’t able to get a lot, since there wasn’t much left, but I have enough to make a few items for my daughter. My daughter loves Maleficent so that’s the Disney print she wanted. You know what? I purchased the movie for our Amazon Fire TV, and we’ve watched it a few times.

We also saw it the day after it was released in theaters.

But back to the fabric…

With the pictures I’ve included below, you’ll notice that I make sure to include the name and where it’s been purchased. The exception would be fabric that I’ve had for years or fabric that’s been gifted to me. I post the fabric info in case someone wants to purchase it for themselves. I know there’s plenty of fabric that others have posted, that I’d love to buy, but not everyone posts the name of the fabric? If you fall under the latter category, can you please, pretty please, start listing where you purchased it and what it’s called? I’m sure many fabric lovers would appreciate that!

 

Disney Vicious Villan Fabric
JoAnn Fabric: SRI Villians Spell Casting Gray,  sku #: 843747091128

 

I purchased 1.5 yards of the above fabric

 

JoAnn Fabric: SRI Villians Spell Casting Gray, sku #: 887816114585

 

and also 1.5 yards of this…

My daughter loves both prints, but thinks it needs to be injected with a bit more color. I agree, we both love color. I don’t have the colors she wants (light pink or lilac) in my fabric stash so we’ll purchase the appropriate fabric. The leftovers can be added to her growing fabric stash.

My daughter wants to make pillows, with the above fabric, and perhaps I’ll help her make storage containers if there’s any left over. My initial plans of turning the above fabrics into a quilt are dashed since there is simply not enough fabric to accomplish to that, unless I just adds parts to a themed Disney quilt? I could add embroidered Disney panels. Hmm… perhaps, I’ll do that with a block or two.

 

Fabric Shaz Butterfly Circle
JoAnn Fabric: Fabric Shaz Butterfly Circle, sku #: 400136216441

 

We also purchased this entire (unopened) bolt of fabric for my daughter’s fabric stash! It’s eight (8) yards and was 50% off! I only paid $27.92, plus tax.

All the fabric purchased is 100% cotton.

 

Of course, once the fabric arrived home, it went through my standard procedure; the raw edges were sewn with my Coverstitch machine, and all the fabric was tossed into the washer/dryer. Once finished the fabric was pressed, folded and tucked away into my daughter’s fabric stash bin.

She can’t wait to start sewing some fun projects for herself. I believe for her first project, she wants to make pajamas. I’ll be around to give her tips. I might set up my machine near hers, so I can be there to assist as she sews. Doing this will still give me the opportunity to sew maxi knit dress.