Book Covers

I really need book covers to protect my books when going places and at home. Since I belong to paperbackswap.com it is very useful to keep books in great condition for trading.

I have looked online for patterns or ideals for making mine own covers out of fabric I have. I have a few promising web sites. Now I just need to get my other projects done.

Sewing.com
Craftzine
Thriftyfun

Skirts

I am still working the the skirts but hope to complete them and the crinolines by this week. As you can see that they are a rainbow of colors. I am hoping to complete them in a day or two since I only need to finish the pink one and sew the black one which is already cut out.


Handy Needle Tomato

Below is a picture of my needle tomato. Sorry about the picture being too fuzzy. I have each section marked to hold the different sizes of machine needles. This makes it easy to find the right size needle while keeping them dry so they do not get rusty. When I am finished with the project I just put the needle in the proper spot.

Three Broken Sewing Machine Needles Later

This beaded trim I was given to make a one of the skirts with has really became a challenge. I tried zigzagged sticking and straight on the side but ended up breaking three of my sewing needles on the machine (it has metal beads) and tearing it out two times because I did not like the bunching I got. I ended up finishing by hand stitching but still not happy with the results.



I like to have a finished edge and this is one way I do so when I am not using a French seam or some other technique. I sew any seams that are going to be pressed out or any stay stitching with my serger. This creates a clean, nice, professional look edge to prevent any raw edges from fraying. It is also more durable than just serging the seam.

Circle Skirts

Ah, I am finally feeling better and have enough energy to work on these skirts. I got two completed and one poodle skirt about 1/4 done. Sewing on the Holographic Soutache was a little more of a task than I expected it to be. I first tried to sew it on with a straight stitch but it would not sew on it so I ended up using a zigzag stitch with Embroidery thread. The poodle was an iron on Appliqué while the flower was an Appliqué I pieced together and used a zigzag stitch to sew it onto the skirt. There is no appliqué on the polka dot skirt.

Poodle Skirts

Call me crazy and maybe I am since I volunteered to make some 50's style skirts for a friend whose family just opened a new 50's diner style restaurant. I figured the skirts would be very simple. They used to make them by cutting out a circle but fabric in those days was usually wider so now they tend to have seams unless you luck out on finding wide fabric. The pattern I purchased has only three pieces plus other patterns such as a crinoline. They wanted crinolines too which I had not planned on. I am hoping to get the skirts done in a week or so but it may take a little longer.

Blanket and Pillow

I finished the blanket and pillow to night. Now I need to get it boxed up to ship. I will go to a little girl who is moving from a crib to a BIG girls crib this week. It took forever to find a color I liked to make this. I wanted something that could be used by someone of any age and not too childish. I do hope she likes butterflies.

New Fleece Blanket

I made another blanket. She requested a purple color and it took me a long time to find a nice looking fleece in a pretty pattern and color. I like these butterflies but I am not too sure about the light violet solid for the back. I might end up changing it and using it for another project.

I really want to get some cute pants but having a hard time finding anything that will fit my body the way I like to. I really need about one inch longer in the inseam than normal clothing so I was looking at Burda today and I am thinking about getting a subscription to it again. There March edition has some cute stuff.