Pretty Pretty Thing #1: I finally finished my shower curtain!
I’m rather proud of it. It took me much longer than I expected. It’s basically a quilt top, but with hems. It really adds to the feel of my bathroom.
Pretty Pretty Thing #2: Hexagons!
Deh Hi collection
random scraps
I’m obsessed.
I only bought a pack of 25 templates, and I’m all out. It’s time to buy more!
Yes, the only thread I own is crap thread. It was a gift, and I’m very grateful I have it. But it’s just so sad. I mean, look!
I also have hand-sewing needles, which are probably of the same quality as the thread. Again, I’m glad I have any needles at all, but I look forward to the day I upgrade these two things.
I recently got my bike fixed up nice and pretty. It’s an old Schwinn, probably from the 70’s. I’m in looove with this thing. When I first got it it looked like everything was original. Needless to say it needed some replacements. I took it in to a local bike shop and they worked some magic. Seriously, I am in awe of how great it looks and feels compared to when I first got it last fall. It’s so shiny!
So I’ve been riding it around, and today I rode it to the grocery store for the first time. This was kind of a big deal because I wasn’t sure how I would get my groceries home. Then I decided to patch up an old Jansport I took from my mom’s storage. It had a gnarly hole in the bottom, so I slapped some scraps together, stitched that hole up with my shit-thread, and rode to the store!
It held up nicely as far as I can tell. Too bad you can’t really see that cute camper fabric.
I’ve recently been spending more time at Suppose. Secret? The fabric is playing tricks on me: being really bright, being really intricate, being really soft, being all three of those things at once. Tricks I say! So, I have been pining for beautiful things to make. Skirts, pincushions, bags, shower curtains, pillowcases…it never ends! I am happy to say I am well on my way to becoming a creator of beautiful things. Behold! A sneak peak of my current project…
Next on the list is probably a pincushion, since that seems to be a sewing necessity. In fact…
It’s not finished yet. I need to fill it and finish it with buttons. But that’s basically what it’ll look like.
Then, one of my best friends is have a babay in January! I’m going to attempt my first for-real quilt for her little boy. We’re gonna pick out fabric on Saturday. Oh boy! So many tutorials in my future.
In Germany, they sleep on giant square down pillows. I quite enjoyed this experience when I visited that lovely country. So after five years, I finally bought one at Ikea. However, it needed a pillowcase! So I decided to invest in the infinite knowledge of my mother and sister and create something beautiful.
I made this thing. Yes, me. The fabric came from Suppose, the cutest darn fabric you ever did see.
I don’t sew that often. Or ever really. So I thought I’d document the process and share it. I kind of played the whole thing by ear. You can easily modify these directions if you want different stripes or a different size. The whole pillowcase measures 24″ x24″ (if it’s done accurately, which mine is not actually). This is for a 26″ x 26″ pillow. As for the fabric, you’ll need:
1 yard front print fabric(plenty for experimenting with front strips)
3/4 yard back solid
1/4 strip fabric
1. Cut your back pieces. These two pieces will overlap about 8″ when all is said and done. One is shorter than the other to leave room for a strip of print fabric added later.
24 1/2″ x 15 1/2″
24 1/2″ x 17 1/2″
2. Make the back! Cut a 2 1/4″ strip of the print fabric. Pin and sew this strip to the smaller back piece, fronts together. Press. Hem both back pieces along the 24 1/2″ side. Fold the end up 1/4″ twice, pressing as you fold. Sew along both edges.
(This picture actually shows the wrong fabric. That strip should be the front print fabric!)
3. Make the front! We aren’t going to cut the separate front pieces to size quite yet. We will sew the strip in first and then cut the whole piece afterward to make sure it is the right size (I did not do this, and my pillowcase ended up being too short on one side). So cut a strip, however wide you would prefer, of the front solid fabric making sure it is at least 24 1/2″ long. Now take your front print fabric and cut the whole thing in half where you want the strip to be (if you want multiple strips, cut up the fabric in more places!). Pin and sew the strip to one side of the front print, fronts together. Press open, and repeat for the other piece of the front print. Press open again. Remember, this whole piece you just put together will be larger than we need. That’s ok! Now you can cut it to be 24 1/2″ x 24 1/2″.
4. Now to sew all the pieces together! Take the back piece with the print strip and align it with the top of the front piece. Pin and sew them together with the fronts together. Repeat with the bottom back piece aligned to the botton of the front piece.
5. The last two seams will sew the pillowcase shut, with the two overlapping pieces leaving a hole for the pillow. Lay the whole piece with the back facing down (as shown above). Fold the top back piece down (the fronts should be facing each other) and pin the sides. Fold the bottom back piece on top of the back piece and pin. Make sure that the back piece with the strip is on bottom. If it’s on top, you won’t be able to see the strip when you turn it right side out. Sew down both sides, and don’t forget to backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam.
6. Clip the corners, fold inside out, and stuff the pillow in. Now go take a nap or something. I know I will!
Est. time: 4 hours (this includes time for mistakes)
Est. enjoyment: tenfold
Est. cuteness: 100%
More pictures at my Flickr. Some of the pictures are mistakes, so be careful!
1. My 2nd gen iPhone looks like this…
2. I’m pretty sure 2 years is the retirement age for iPhones.
3. I see silly/weird things every day that I need to take video of. And probably that video should be HD. And probably I should be able to edit it on the fly. Yeah.
4. Retina technology craziness + new Netflix app are gonna make watching 30 Rock the most enjoyable classroom distraction ever. And by distraction I mean from napping.
5. Have you even seen it??
Fairchild's Sleeping Army 