The Hasty Quilter Blogs

You must all be wondering if I ever finish anything, considering that 2 out of my 3 most recent posts have been planned projects and works in progress.  Well, I’m here to tell you that yes, I do finish things from time to time.  And I’ll make this solemn vow, here and now, that this is the last Work In Progress (get it? WIP?) post that I’ll make until I have something finished to show you. 

You see, I’m trying to get myself together to have a “Grand Opening/Re-Opening” of my Etsy store.  I’m not the best at churning out several pieces that are all the same or even similar.  I get bored with them easily and need to move on to something else.  But I wanted to get together some stock that I could list in the shop all at one time and feel proud of the accomplishment.  So, the kaleidoscope pieces that you saw a few posts ago are for some throw pillows that I hope to have ready to sell.  And I’m working on some wonderous totes from a repurposed bedspread that I picked up on my Stash Enhancement eXpedition.  I just received an order of emery sand to make pin cushions for sale and have started cutting out strips to make flower brooches and barrettes/fascinators.  I’m working on writing up the pattern for my reversible crutch covers, and lastly, but not leastly, I even have a few small art quilts to list.  There. It’s out there now, so I have to make it a reality, right?

Now on to the important part of this post.  You see, I was working on those wonderous totes that I mentioned above and this happened:

I have said many times that sewing is a very dangerous activity.  No one seems to believe me, despite the burn scars on my arms from reaching around the iron and the millions of pin pricks on my fingers. It’s a wonder that I have all of my limbs and the house hasn’t burned down yet. So I’m here with this public service announcement.  Kids, do as I say, not as I do. Never pin your pieces on the back where you can’t see the pins. And don’t sew over your pins, even when they’re pinned on the front and you can see where they are relative to your stitching path. Just don’t do it. Also, don’t reach around a hot iron. And maybe wear a thimbles on each of your fingers when you are pinning.

Thank you and goodnight.

August 18th, 2010 | Tags: Etsy, pin, sale, Sewing, stash enhancement expedition, work in progress | Category: Etsy, Stash, WIP | Comments (2)

This weekend, in a fit of argh-I-can’t-find-the-pattern-for-the-skirt-I-want-to-make, I decided to embark upon another project entirely.  Each year we make a point of going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival several times during the season.  Usually, we dress up at least one of those times.  And usually, I make new costumes for the whole family.  Last year, we didn’t get to go at all, what with me and the Broken Leg Drama.  The Renn Faire is not exactly broken-leg-on-crutches friendly. So this year calls for something epic, and possibly season ticket-worthy.

I went through my patterns, of which there are many.  I pulled out a few for each of us to choose from and showed them to Bill & Caleb.  Caleb pointed at McCall’s 5500 and announced that he wanted to be, “A knight!”.  I showed the pattern to Bill and noted that I had it in both Caleb AND Bill size.  With some further probing, Caleb decreed that he would be a knight, like Captain America, with a sword and a shield.  Notice I said “probing” not “prompting”.  He came up with that all on his own.

We packed up and headed to the fabric store and picked out some royal blue cotton poplin for the tabard, blue, red & white felt for the design, white rayon for the sleeves and, my favorite and the most expensive, royal blue corduroy with red and white embroidered stars for the pants.  When I showed Caleb the corduroy he exclaimed, “That’s just like my Captain America!” Bill had decided to be be Captain America Knight’s nemesis, Red Skull Knight, in an army fatigue green ultasuede tabard with a red skull in felt.  And just because I’m a follower, and I loved the blue corduroy, I will have a red on red stripe cotton/poly blend upholstry dress with a bodice made from the royal blue (with embroidered stars) corduroy.  No official superheroine title, but we have a little time to figure that out.

Speaking of “figuring it out”, anyone have a clever title for my little Captain America Knight? Captain New World doesn’t have that special ring to it.  

August 2nd, 2010 | Tags: 5500, captain america, corduroy, costume, cotton, knight, mccall's, rayon, red skull, Renaissance Festival, royal blue, shopping, tabard, ultrasuede, upholstry | Category: Clothes, Pattern | Comments (6)

Simplicity Pattern #2907
Toddler Separates: Toddler Pants, Shorts, Dress, Shirt or Vest (pictured: Shirt, style D)
Sizes: 1/2 – 4 (pictured: size 4)
Material used: 45″ Commercial Cotton Print (7/8 yd)
Other Materials: 6 snaps or buttons, fusible interfacing, hook & loop (optional)

Doesn’t he make an adorable fashion model? OK, I know, he’s my son, so of course I think he is cute.

This pattern went together like a dream. It is so rare that commercial pattern pieces fit together so perfectly. All of the markers lined up and the seams matched and the points turned; wonderful.  It yeilded very clean, professional, and of course, adorable results.  Because it was such a busy print, I didn’t feel it was necessary to line up the print in the front or on the pockets – I don’t think it made a difference in the end results.  I used snaps on the pockets and shirt fronts – I’m having some trouble with the buttonholer on my sewing machine and the snaps were an easy fix until I have time to get the machine serviced.  I think in the end they added a nice touch, too.

On the downside…the lap instructions were a bit over-complicated, as were the instructions for adding flaps to the pockets (making sure the two snap halves were lined up for the pokets was quite a pain).  The sizing seems way off.  The shirt looks a little small, no?  Caleb takes a 3T/4T in most clothing now, sometimes even a 2T still (40lbs, 40″).  I would say this shirt is a 2T, not a 4, which is the size I made.  Already, he can’t snap that top snap (not that you would on a bowling-style shirt anyway).  It’s a little disappointing, after having spent so much time on the shirt, that he will only be able to wear it for a short time.  On the other hand, I like the pattern enough, I am going to see if I can get it in a larger size. 

So, in conclusion, excellent pattern, but watch the sizing on this one.

[EDIT 7/14/2010: Added my review to Pattern Review right here.]

July 13th, 2010 | Tags: 2907, bowling shirt, button, Caleb, clothing, cotton, fusible interfacing, hawaiian shirt, hook and loop, lap, pattern, pocket, Simplicity, snap, toddler separates | Category: Clothes, Pattern, Review | Comments (2)

Finally, something new and totally without strings attached! It’s not often that I have time to make something purely for the joy of making it. A while back (well over a year), I took a class at our local fabric store, G-street Fabrics, in something I’d been wanting to learn about for a long time: Kaleidoscope quilts.  Most quilt designs I can look at and deconstruct and understand basically how it was done.  But there are tricks to creating a kaleidoscope design that I just did not know.  I was lucky enough to take a class taught by a master of this type of quilt design, Nancy Fève. 

I started on a quilt during the class with this wild Asian style crysanthymums print and it’s still not done.  I think it intimidates me a little because it is SO LARGE.  So I decided to start on a smaller one.  I’ve been buying fabrics for this type of quilt since taking the class and I have quite the stockpile.  You need at least 8 repeats of the pattern on the fabric and that can add up to a lot of yardage!  I decided to start with a smaller, closer print of robins and cherry blossoms on a light blue background.  I got several octagons put together between yesterday and today and I am pleased to report that I remember most of the tricks.

The smaller, closer print gives you instant impact as opposed to the Asian design I was originally working with.  In the larger print with a 24 inch repeat the variation happens a lot more slowy – it will give you amazing impact when the whole (very large) quilt is done, but until then, you’re sort of left in the dark (be sure the check out Nancy’s quilts in the link above to see what I’m talking about).  The smaller print I’m working with now and smaller octogons I’m creating provide instant impact and are much more suited to me and my sewing style. 

I think this one will make a perfect large throw pillow for a couch or a bed once I have it all put together!

July 11th, 2010 | Tags: Asian, calico, cherry blossom, cotton, crysanthymum, kaleidoscope, large print, light blue, Nancy Feve, octagon, pillow, print, Quilt, quilter, robin | Category: Project, Quilt | Comments (2)