Sew Ho: Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Bloop, yet another Imaginary Friend...but this one's for sale!

2008-06-06T22:22:00.004-05:00

I decided to start an etsy account and here's my first item:

His name is Bloop, and he's pretty ferocious, when he wants to be.

He's got one big eye...

And one little eye...
And tiny little feet:

And lightning bolt horns!
I haven't actually listed him yet, I haven't decided how much to charge for him or if I should wait to make more (I have green, blue and black and purple striped fur) and list them all at the same time.

Your eyes aren't deceiving you, this IS actually a new post!

2008-05-01T01:33:00.004-05:00

School and trying to find an apartment and job for the summer has prevented me from doing much sewing, or at least taking pictures of things I've finished...but I have finally taken pictures (albeit with a webcam so they're not amazing) of things I've been working on.I crocheted this (test) hat with cheapo Red Heart yarn to test out the pattern Top Rankin in the book Hip Hats and Cool Caps by Afya Ibomu...I LOVE this book, and this pattern. I'm making it up for reals in a brown/gold/green colorway and it should be really cute.

And when Threadless had a T-shirt sale a while ago, I bought this shirt:

Called My Father Was a Sailor & My Mother, a Quilter, but I could only buy it in men's XL, which didn't fit me AT ALL. Not wanting to pass up a sale (especially since this particular shirt I had had my eye on since it came out) So I did some cutting and sewing and came up with this:
I love the back, mostly because it shows off my (amazing) tattoo, but I may have to add a little tie thing so that it stays in place. I may end up shortening it a bit, but I like that I can wear it as kind of a tunic thing or bunch it up so it will be shorter.
That's all for now, but hopefully after finals I will have time for more sewing!

We FINALLY finished it!!!

2008-03-30T23:23:00.004-05:00

Yep, we finally finished the pirate car!!! We worked on it the last few days of spring break, and got most of it done (in good enough shape to give to J's sister)...we can add brake lights and front part thing later....

Steering wheel (before we finished the top) with the key part and mirror part

We used shimmery silver fabric for the mirror.
She loves it! Sorry for the blur, she doesn't like to sit still! Here you can see the red crushed velvet on the seat.
The whole thing!
We put some more wood contact paper on the dash
Now that it's done, we both agreed that we are never undertaking a project like this ever ever EVER again.

Imaginary friend, hook roll

2008-03-16T21:00:00.006-05:00

This week I finished a few things, including an imaginary friend that I mailed off to my friend Cody on Tuesday:

He named him Walter!

I also finished a crochet hook roll, since my other zippered booklet pouch thing didn't hold much anymore:

I made a half circle skirt out of the same fabric as my hook roll, but I wasn't able to get a picture of it the day I wore it. I'll have to post pictures later

Works in Progress

2008-03-02T18:32:00.004-06:00

I started embroidering this t shirt with a drawing by Jason Sho Green, who has some really funny drawings and such.

J and I also worked on his sister's Cozy Coupe, which we are transforming into a pirate ship.

Here's J sticking on the wood contact paper, after we had spray painted the body black with special plastic spray paint.
Back view, we're planning on making a license plate or getting one of those bike ones.
Side without the door:
Side with the door:

One of the front supports for the top.
We still have to cover the top in canvas and cover the seat with some red crushed velvet ridiculousness. We're hoping we can get it all done over spring break.

Lots of projects this week!

2008-02-19T01:04:00.007-06:00

I was actually able to finish quite a few projects in the last week, including helping Laura finish her bag!
Obligatory silly picture!
She used "koto" by Alexander Henry for the outside and an orange print for the lining (below) Kelsey's hiding in the background but you can barely see her behind the popcorn bag.
I also finished the JJ pattern from burdastyle in a valentines print to wear on valentine's day. J and I went to Talk Sex with Dr. Sue on V-day, then the Vagina Monologues and out to eat on the weekend.

Sorry for the horrible photo booth picture, I wanted to take pictures soon so I wouldn't forget and ended up getting bad pictures.
I had to use storebought eyelet instead of fabric because I ran out (and it was last year's fabric, so impossible to find any more)
And I obviously didn't plan ahead too well--I didn't make the sleeves big enough to be able to button, so I'll have to remember that for next time. I really liked the way the pattern turned out, and it was relatively simple to make.

And finally my proudest achievement of the week, I drafted the pattern, cut out the fabric, and sewed this hoodie together in one night, and it actually looks like I wanted it to.

Purple hippo buttons!!!

Quilt block done!

2008-02-11T23:16:00.001-06:00

Glitter members are making a quilt for a glitterati whose house caught on fire and then was burglarized and I'm contributing a block. Here it is!

Here's a close-up of my decorative stitching with some quilting thread I forgot I had that matched the fabrics perfectly.

Finally some pictures of finished projects!

2008-02-07T19:15:00.000-06:00

The weather finally cleared up a bit today so that it wasn't raining or snowing, so J and I took some pictures of some of my recently finished projects.

I made this scarf out of some thrifted men's sport coats and pants and dark grey polar fleece for J. I made 2 in browns for two of my friends for the holidays. I got the idea from this scarf

I also made this messenger bag for him that he's been waiting for since the beginning of the school year...

It's made out of some home decorating fabric from Jo-ann's that our friend Wade made a bag out of in school last year

I also decided to make a bunch of little birds to hang above my bed to make me think of spring. Here's the first one!

Monopoly Addict

2008-02-06T00:45:00.000-06:00

So in addition to the million projects and ridiculous amounts of homework I need to do, I decided to take on another project. I want to make a monopoly game using streets found in Topeka. You may find this really weird, but it's really not surprising, considering my friends and I used to get together for monopoly nights almost every week senior year of high school and now whenever we venture home, we end up playing at least one game. And when I saw the Represent Your Hometown Challenge on craftster, I knew I had to do it.

Anyway, I had no idea how to accomplish this task, as it seemed quite an undertaking. Then, when I was googling the monopoly font, I came upon this blog, where the writer posted a photoshop template of monopoly! Although it's not complete, it's complete enough that I can fill in the other places. I almost died when I found it. He also included the fonts, the community chest and chance cards, and property trading cards.

Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime...

2008-02-02T22:14:00.000-06:00

So for a few of my friends' birthdays, I gave them a certificate good for sewing lessons. They each decided they want to make a purse, so I've been looking through craftster and some other sewing blogs for suggestions.

I really like the Bias Tape Tote, from the belle epoque blog

or maybe just a simple square bottomed tote...

At any rate, there will be a trip to the fabric store sometime this week, where I will probably spend waaay more than I should, but hey, I should be getting my tax return soon, right?

Hello World!

2008-02-02T16:09:00.000-06:00

Like my "About Me" section says, I inherited my love of crafting from my family. My aunt owns a fabric store (it's in the links section, if you want to check it out) where I worked while in high school. That's pretty much where I picked up a lot of my sewing skills. I'm not about to claim I'm an expert, but I'd say I'm pretty good. I sew on a Bernina Activa 135 that I love.

I started this blog to showcase finished projects (or some not-so-finished ones) and share them with the world. I mostly sew, but I crochet a bit and once in a great while I might do some hand embroidery. Although I love garment sewing best, I also like to quilt, although I've only made a few.

So until I get some pictures up here, this blog will probably be pretty boring. But I'm always making stuff, so pictures should be coming soon!

-The Sew Ho