JemJam

My Sewing Table

This past fall, I made arrangements to move into a studio outside of our home to sew.  I have two desks with shelves on the sides in our "get crafty" room, but I wanted to leave one, and I still needed another.   I had no desire to buy one at Pottery Barn, but considered it.   I looked on-line to find a comparable desk and remembered bookmarking these plans by Ana White a while back.   I sent the link to my husband and asked if he could make this desk.  The directions looked so good, I thought that I could do it after learning how to use the table saw!   Alas, this was an opportunity for husband to play, I was not allowed to mess with his toys, just as he is not allowed to touch my scissors.  Well, he busted this out in 2-3 days after work and I love it!

 

Ready for paint

Jimmy said that the instructions are written well, so, I looked at her blog a little more and saw that she had a book being released, YES, I bought it.  Yay, more projects for "us."

 

She is amazed at his work.

I only took pictures unfinished with my phone, it's painted and full of shit now, I'll take a few pictures of it in use soon. I also only captured one photo without daddy's helper in it, but, I really wanted to show his achievement.

 

I love all of the shelves and the big top, it has been a great addition to my atelier and everyone is impressed that my husband made it, so am I.  

Jimmy made a few picture frames from the book and I want to make stuff together, but, what?  I think I want to make a coffee table.  What would you want to make?

 

 

Spring Top

I am going to post some of my clothes that I've made individually--with me actually wearing them.  Yeah, it's a challenge for me.  Isn't it nice to see how we look in the garments that we took the time to sew?

 

Yeah, my head is down, this was the best pic, I'm not sure that I had even washed my face yet.

 

This is the Washi Dress pattern, made into a top.  I followed the instructions to topstitch the front and back facings on the outside of the blouse, I used a hera marker to outline the facings so I knew where to stitch, I like the look of it.

Yes, I bought these pants to go with this blouse.  I have fabric for another top to also match my blue pants. I feel like Martha and shit.  Don't you think that she would make something to match her clothes?  I do. Also, I don't know other people, so Martha is my fallback reference for most things creative.  Am I a pioneer woman?  I did gather sticks for a fire this weekend...

 

I am adding this shirt to the Spring Top Sewalong, look for one more from me!

 

 

WIP- String-Pieced Blocks

I'm working on a quilt that I've put off for a while...  

After cutting forty-nine 11x11 paper foundations and hundreds of fabric strips, I grew tired of it.  This will be a quilt for my 13 year-old sister's double bed, to coordinate with her room.  Well, now that I've put together so many blocks, I really like this project!  

 

24 blocks down, 25 more to go. 

 

I went away for the weekend to a small sewing retreat with my husband's mom and friends, before leaving, I made a small ironing table using this tutorial, it really came in handy for this particular quilt block as you need to press it after sewing on each strip.

 

Highly recommended at sew days and retreats!  

 

Kids Clothes Week is almost here!  Are you participating?  I might.

 

 

Washi What?

Last summer, I bought Rae's Washi Dress pattern, printed it, and never thought about it much.  I adored every one that I saw on Instagram and after six months (and leaving QuiltCon ready to sew), I declared that Wednesdays in March would be "Washi Wednesday."  As I prepped the PDF pattern, I thought that I could not handle waiting that long (over four weeks) to make dresses.  My next thought was "Washi Week" and that is what I did, all week, I made Washi dresses.  

 

 

 

I could get to almost an entire dress in the time I was allowed each day, the hem was always unfinished and some days, the arms were incomplete.  At the end of 5 days, I finished 3 Washi dresses and 1 Washi top!  

The next week was spring break and I did not do a damn thing.  

I was able to squeeze in one more dress (cream w/blue trees) at the end of the week 3, it was a busy time as I volunteered half days to 6 elementary students who learned to sew.  

After that, I made a matching dress for my little.  And maybe you didn't know this about me, but, I could not stop making these dresses, so I challenged myself to crank out 2 more before the month ended.  I was able to finish them with a day to spare!  Luckily, it was Cesar Chavez Day, so I didn't have time to sew anymore.

I really love this pattern, most of them are made differently--some have pockets, some do not, one has sleeves, 2 are tops, one has a full bodice lining, and one has neck/back facings machine stitched in place.  Yes, I am making more tops (waiting for Tsuru) to coordinate with some pants that I recently purchased.  

You can purchase the Washi Dress pattern on Rae's site.  

Fabrics used:

Alexander Henry print

Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander

Washi by Rashida Coleman-Hale

Ruby Star Spring/Vinyl by Melody Miller

Indie by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics

Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt

Mecca for Moderns by Alexander Henry

 

Sewing Machine Talk

I bought a new machine and I want tips/advice.

What should I know about the Juki TL-2010Q? ...besides the fact the the model name sounds like a droid from Star Wars or something. I'm going to try the knee lift, I never used it on my old machine.

I'm currently winding bobbins and finishing blocks this weekend, but I'm happy to get to know this machine. I was primarily using my Pfaff Quilt Expression, it's sold and I have a Babylock Ellure that I will use at home and travel.

One more thing, I want a small machine (less than $400) for teaching new students, please recommend something that you've used and liked. I'm thinking about a Janome, either a Magnolia, Jem Platinum, or something similar.

Thanks in advance!

WIP- Scrappy Dresden

A year ago, I made this dresden plate. I really love it & I wanted to just make a few more, I thought about it for a few weeks/months. I finally came to my senses that I do not have time for all of that business. There's about 25 other projects that I would like to start and not finish.

 

 

So, here's my wall hanging! I'm hand-quilting this with a Presencia #8 thread. I will work on this during daughter's dance, which is once a week, so, I should be done with it in 14 months....

My scrappy dresden mini quilt lives in this sweet-ass project bag. Thank you, Form&Fabric and QuiltCon!

 

 

I want to blog more, so, that means I will just take some pictures with my phone. I really feel like blogging is dropping off, maybe I am just telling myself that because I am in love with Instagram.