LateNightStitchery

Grateful.

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Kim

This morning, like we do every July 4th, we scrambled out of bed, had a quick breakfast and raced to get dressed. Breakfast dishes piled on the counter, beds unmade and we were out the door. It has become a July 4th tradition to meet up with friends a few towns away for one of the best parades around. Some years we are the first ones of the group to arrive. Some years we are the last. We live in a different town and don’t see these people all that often but we know our paths will cross on this holiday. Every year my daughter finds her place with the young girls, daughters of old friends. Excited this morning, she told us to ‘hurry’ when we were on our way. My son, this year, intimidated by so many girls, started out on my lap but then found his rhythm with the other kids.

My favorite parts of the parade are the Revolutionary soldiers and the women that follow them. I also love the old-fashioned big wheeled bikes. I think my kids love the candy the best! They don’t get a lot of candy at home so it’s quite a treat.

Today is a day that I feel grateful. Grateful that I live here in this country and for those that came long before me to make that possible. Grateful for my dear friends, the ones we see here and the others that are celebrating somewhere else. Grateful that today everyone in my family is healthy and happy. Happy 4th of July!

Posted in Home, Life | 1 Comment

Dad’s Day

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Kim

Happy Belated Father’s Day to the dads out there! If you are a Dad, I hope you know how valued and important you are. We are rich in fathers in this household. My husband is a wonderful father. He is the one who gets down and dirty on the floor and wrestles with the kids. He is also the one who is much better at teaching our kids how to ride a bicycle (my daughter loves to remind me whenever I take her out for a bike ride). He has a master gift with finding the best route to get somewhere on a road trip (I never owned a map until I met him) and when I am completely fried he steps in and corrals the wild small people. We are also blessed to live near my father in law, who is a wonderful Dad and ‘Pop’ as we call him. He is always up for babysitting with Grammy and has endless energy for the kids. He also sings ‘old fashioned’ songs and the kids love it. Last is my father, whom I have discovered, I am very much like. This man is gifted at antiquing and working with his hands. He is the same one that used to drive the car that my brother and I used to slink down in the back seat, afraid that someone would see us, as he stopped to look at something cool in someones trash. I have become that trash picker (fortunately, right now, my kids think its cool). He lives far away but is always a phone call away whenever I need him (which can sometimes be a lot).

Since dad’s day just happened I figured that my husband needed some handmade love. I made him a pair of lounge shorts a few years ago, and he has been asking for another pair ever since. This dad often gets neglected in the handmade department so I thought he was due.

Old pair of shorts.

Above are the old shorts I made him. The fabric is Kaufman Essex Linen Blend Yarn Dyed in the color olive. I used the selvedge as the drawstring and elasticized just the back of the shorts. I made the pattern myself by loosely tracing another pair of shorts but making this pair wider and more casual. I also sewed cargo pockets on the sides. Although he loves these and wears them all the time, for his next pair he requested regular pockets. I loved how the Essex linen blend softened up after a few washes so I made him a new pair with the same fabric in the color black.

Front.

Side.

Front drawstring.

Front with long drawstring.

Please excuse the wrinkles. Laundry gets done around here, but folding doesn’t seem to happen in a timely manner. Damn that housekeeper! 🙂

For these shorts, I also made a back elasticized waist and drawstring front. I think they fit him great and if he plays his cards right he might just get another pair. I love how these came out and I think he does too because he’s been wearing them around town. These shorts are in the que of pattern ideas I would like to make for the general public (you guys). Someday soon!

Posted in Men's Clothing, Sewing | 4 Comments

From head to toe

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Kim

Me Made May (see here) got me thinking a lot about my wardrobe. I have this habit of making something pretty amazing, like a top or a skirt, and then have nothing to match or go with it. This has been an on-going problem of mine. I remember going back-to-school shopping with my mom as a teen and her voice still rings in my head saying “That’s a nice top/skirt/pair of pants, but what goes with it?” She was, of course, right and it’s only taken me 40+ years to start thinking about it. Learning from the Me Made May challenge, I’ve realized that I need more tops but also garments that go well together. I had plans to make another Everyday Skirt and decided to make an actual OUTFIT with the skirt. 🙂

The Everyday Skirt by Liesl & Co.

I ordered this beautiful Yucca voile fabric (arbol voile in black is the color) by Leah Duncan and got to sewing. I decided to make a small this time; as the directions mention making a size smaller if you wear it on your waist, which is what I intend to do. The second time making this skirt was very quick. (To see my first Everyday Skirt, go here.) This is such a great pattern and it’s so very flattering on!

Pockets.

Everyday Skirt in Yucca Voile.

I made a black tank top to go with it. The pattern I used is the Mission Maxi pattern by Jaime Christina. I think this may be my absolute favorite tank top pattern. The reason why I love it so is because I am a curvy girl up top. This tank has narrow straps (but you can wear a bra no problem), it fits the bust great and then narrows right down to accentuate your waist and flares out a bit at the bottom. The back of the tank is cut in a racer back style and shows off the shoulders too. Having a curvy top, I have often found that if things fit my bust then they are humongous at the shoulders and waist (another reason I DON’T like to buy things at the mall). I need something to fit up top and accentuate my waist. This tank top does both. The only modification I added to this pattern was to raise the neckline about 1/2″ as the top tends to run a little to low for me. This tank top is a very quick sew, very easy and simple and looks great on!

The Mission Maxi pattern.

Mission Maxi tank top by Jaime Christina.

I don’t know what the fabric is that I used for the tank. It was in my stash and quite honestly, I didn’t even know I had it. See, there are perks to being a fabric hoarder. Sometimes you get surprised when you go digging! It is a jersey-poly blend and one side has a faint herringbone pattern. I must have liked it a lot when I bought it because I have quite a bit of it. Lastly, I added a pair of red Saltwater Sandals to make the outfit complete because everyone needs a pair of red shoes, right?

A complete outfit.

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Me Made May 2016 Round Up

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Kim

Summer is starting to happen here! My son just finished his last day of preschool on Monday and my daughter has less than two weeks of school to go. I’m excited to spend more time with them and go on adventures. Around May, I get really sick of a schedule and look forward to the long days ahead. You know the kind of days I’m talking about; the ones when you’re at the beach all day with friends, your face is sticky from ice cream and you fall into bed, tired but blissed out. I’m also trying to lower my expectations of myself. This one is hard for me but I’ve come to realize that I can’t do it all and I don’t really want to do it all. The bar is being set low and my house isn’t going to be all that clean, dinners aren’t going to be fancy and I’m probably not going to get much sewing done while the littles are out of school. That’s ok with me. Fun is in our forecast! We are planning a few camping trips and lots of visits with friends. I’m also going to turn my phone off as much as possible.

Hello.

If you follow along on Instagram, you may have noticed me posting a lot of pictures of myself. This past month of May is also referred to as ‘Me Made May’ in the sewing world (on Instagram and various blogs). Me Made May is a challenge to create (sew, knit, weave, upcycle…etc.) and wear your creations for the month of May. It’s the first year I’ve taken some photos and I’ll show you below. It was also nice for me to look at my wardrobe and see what I wear the most and what I need (which I have discovered, is tops. More shirts/tanks/tee’s please.) My pictures are scratchy and rough, using an iPhone, young children as photographers (who did take great pics by the way!) and a few friends that just smiled when I thrust my phone in their faces. Apologies.

2. & 3.

2. & 3. Close up.

4. & 5.

Sneaking a kiss to the photographer.

10.

11.

12.

13.

Here’s a rundown of what every garment pattern is:

The Wiksten Tova Dress with pink velvet piping. Made with Anna Maria Horner fabric.
The dress is Cynthia Rowley for Simplicity Patterns #2584; I used Anna Maria Horner Little Folks voile.
The knitted cowl is the Honey Cowl pattern by Madeline Tosh (so is the yarn).
The Alabama Chanin fitted top pattern made with upcycled T-shirt. Blogged here.
The Make It Perfect shorts pattern with fabric by Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow Herringbone Lake.
The Beatrix top pattern by Made by Rae. The fabric is Morning Walk Voile by Leah Duncan.
The Mississippi Avenue Dress Pattern. Fabric is Kaufman Brussels Washer linen blend.
A self drafted tank top, cut on the bias. Fabric is by Anna Maria Horner; this is an oldie and it might be from the Little Folks collection.
The Wiksten tank in gray linen.
The Greenwood Tank Top pattern by Straight Stitch Designs. The fabric is Cloud 9 organic interlock stripe in citron.
The Everyday Skirt pattern by Liesl & Co. The fabric is Kaufman Chambray Union Slub Indigo.
The Mission maxi dress (tank) pattern by Jaime Christina Patterns. The fabric is a soft pink organic cotton terry.
The Chambray Dress pattern from HandMade Style book by Anna Graham. The fabric is Kaufman Rustica Chambray Linen in Indigo.

There were a lot of repeats and I wore those shorts A LOT (see picture #4)! I also wore a few other things that I didn’t get to take a picture of like the denim Tova that I wear all the time. I’m proud that I have this many hand-made items of clothing. I can’t wait to sew more! 🙂

Posted in Sewing, upcycled, Women's Clothing | Leave a comment

A few days late and a couple of dollars short…

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Kim

Remember last week when I posted and mentioned that it was kids clothes week (here)? Well, kids clothes week ended and I’ve only just finished the two pairs of shorts I was working on. I meant to sew an hour every day for the kids, really, I did mean to. But I was also secretly working on a dress for myself as this past weekend was my 10th wedding anniversary and we were going away for the night. I often associate clothing with events and I remembered that 10 years ago, as we were honeymoon-bound, I had on a very cute striped shirt and I was trying to recreate that striped memory into a dress form. I started rushing this past week, trying to get it made and this isn’t a dress to rush. It is a beautiful dress and I couldn’t get the back of it right. I became like a mad scientist last week. Picture me with hair standing on end, eyes popping out, talking to the seam ripper as I ripped out the back once again…..you get the picture. The unfinished dress is in time out this week and no, I didn’t get to wear it on my night away. That’s ok! We still had a great time. And that’s why I didn’t get to finish the shorts until now.

Better late then never, right? Here are the adorable shorts for my kiddos:

Boys & Girls Shorts.

I made a size 5 for my boy, in the long racer shorts. The pattern is Kid Shorts by Made Everyday. The fabric is Premier Prints Whale Tales. I made homemade bias tape using Ladder lines in Yarrow by Carolyn Friedlander. I also added a little tag inside, using the bias tape. I know he is going to love these.

Homemade tag.

Long racer shorts.

For my girl, I made the City Gym Shorts by Purl Soho (on the Purl Bee page). I made a size 8/9. The blue fabric is Kaufman chambray in Union Worn Indigo. The coral fabric is called Arrows in Coral Metallic by Melody Miller. I made homemade bias tape with the Union Worn Indigo as well.

City Gym Shorts pattern.

Homemade Tag.

Have I introduced you to my new friend? This little guy (or gal) has been popping by a couple times a day to say Hi. He lands on my wreath and grooms himself. He’s becoming quite used to us and we can go right up to the window to say hi, without him flying off. The kids love him!

Posted in Children's Clothing, Sewing | 4 Comments

Kids Clothes Week

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Kim

Yesterday we had the sweetest morning. At 7am, when our alarms went off, my daughter came into the bedroom and asked if I would like to sleep in. (Yes please!?!) I said yes but that we had to get ready for school. She told me that she wanted to make breakfast for her brother and herself. Immediately I pictured milk all over the floor and a late-to-school morning. When asked what she had in mind, she just said “I can do this.” I’m trying to say yes a lot more than no, so I went with it. I slept with one eye open and only for about twenty minutes and then went downstairs. What I saw was sort of magical (if you see magic in two siblings getting along very calmly, as I do). Both children were dressed. Both children were sitting eating yogurt/cereal and milk/granola very peacefully. Both children had left their socks and shoes by the front door ready for school. Did I mention they had also brushed their teeth and hair? This, my friends, was pretty special. Yes, there was TV on (Aladdin, in fact) and although I wasn’t to thrilled about the TV being on in the morning I didn’t even mention it because I was so proud of my daughter who made her little brother’s breakfast. I was so proud of them for getting dressed and brushing their hair without being prompted. This was a very magical morning! More and more I see bits and pieces of independence and it is warming my heart. Looking back, I wouldn’t have minded milk all over the floor.

Thumbs up!

With children on my mind, Did you know it’s Kids Clothes Week in the sewing world? (See box to the right in the side bar). This is a week that you dedicate to sewing for your children. There is an optional theme which is ‘The Future’. As of right now, I’m not going with the theme but am committing to making two pairs of shorts, one for each child.

Pattern by Dana Willard of Made Everyday.

For my son, I’m making another pair of the long racer shorts like these green shorts. The fabric is Premier Prints Whale Tales. I am going to use a homemade bias tape but haven’t gotten that far yet.

City Gym Shorts by Purl Soho.

My daughter is getting another pair of City Gym Shorts, like these. The blue fabric is Kaufman chambray in Union Worn Indigo. The coral fabric is called Arrows in Coral Metallic by Melody Miller. I’ll post pictures soon!

Posted in Children's Clothing | 10 Comments

This skirt.

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Kim

It’s beginning to be a busy couple of weeks with the end of school approaching. By this time of year, I’m pretty burnt out with having a schedule and my children are too. We are counting the weeks until school is over and there are beach days, ice creams, friends playing (mom’s friends too) and sleeping in late. This past weekend a certain special girl had her dance recital. It was adorable and she was so proud of herself! I’m proud of her too. Afterwards, there was ice cream with friends and a lot of running around with a pack of kids. These are special times! We also tried something new. Rock climbing. Since I am very much a land-loving-kinda-lady, my feet were firmly planted on the ground. But oh, my kids climbed and climbed. What fun!

A proud little dancer.

I’m amazed at how high they climbed!!

Now let’s talk about the title of this blog post; this lovely skirt. I made the Everyday Skirt by Liesl + Co (of Oliver + S patterns).

Paper pattern.

I bought the paper pattern and not the PDF that you can print at home. I prefer the paper patterns as they come in an envelope and I can trace my size; although do buy PDF’s too. I’ve seen this skirt everywhere online and it looked to me like a staple for my wardrobe. I cut a size M. The back of the pattern mentions that this skirt is meant to be worn on a dropped waist, just above the hip bones, and suggests cutting a size smaller if you wear it on your waist. I am wearing it on my natural waist and I stayed with my regular size. I like the way it fits me. I really love this skirt! It shows off my waist and since I am ‘curvy’ up top sometimes it is hard to find something to accentuate my waist. The waistband is flat in front and gathered with an elastic casing in the back. There are also flat front pockets. The pattern is very easy to sew and as with all of Liesl + Co patterns, the directions are superb. The fabric I used is Chambray Union Slub Indigo by Robert Kaufman. This fabric is lightweight and perfect for summer with tiny flecks of yellow, green and red in it. I will be making more!

Front of skirt with gathers.

Flat front pockets.

Back gathers.

Have a wonderful week!

Posted in Life, Sewing, Women's Clothing | 2 Comments

For keeping your head warm…

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Kim

Some posts back I mentioned that I was making a hat. I have made a couple and wanted to show you. The pattern is from the book: The Modern Natural Dyer: A Comprehensive Guide to Dyeing Silk, Wool, Linen and Cotton at Home (see book here). The author, Kristine Vejar teaches you to dye using natural materials. It’s a beautiful book; the pictures are gorgeous and there are great basic crafting patterns in it to make with your newly dyed fibers. The hat that I made, the Northwoods Hat, is from this book. Although I didn’t dye my yarn, dying is on my list of crafts to try. This is a basic knitted hat, using bulky weight yarn, and it’s very simple to knit up. I like to have a simple quick knit lying around for when my hands are restless. I made the first one (see here) using Puffin yarn by Quince & Co in the Marsh color. I really like it and so I made another one in a bulky wool that I had in my stash. I can’t remember the type of yarn it was but I love the colors in it.

Yarn is Puffin by Quince & Co in Marsh color.

I made this hat longer than the green one so you can fold over the ribbing.

Unfolded.

These lovelies are going to be tucked away for cooler weather. I love to make things and then put them aside for another time. When that time comes it’s such a nice surprise to give away or use a handmade item.

Part of my house is being painted right now; our bedroom and living room and hallway. We have been in our house for a couple of years now but still don’t have curtains up in some rooms and I’m pretty excited to get to the decorating part. We still have some boxes that haven’t even been unpacked! I like to say it’s because I have young children that I don’t get everything done. Really, I think it’s because I’d rather sew. There I said it.

Voila!

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A quilt, a dress and fabric love

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Kim

Hello Sunshine! The sun was shining brightly here today after a long week of dreary rain and cold weather. On my knitting needles I’ve started a new Honey Cowl (free pattern on Ravelry) and I have been hunkering down under blankets knitting. But not today! Today was filled with outdoor activities and friends and a playground. It was only 55 degrees this morning but both children woke up and put shorts and t-shirts on. There may have been some whining (from me, not them) to PLEASE put on a jacket but after the hostile replies, I threw my hands in the air and hastily shoved a sweatshirt in one child’s backpack. We are all ready for the heat here.

I’m still plugging along at my ‘Half Square Triangle (Scrappy Strings Style)’ quilt (from Blooming Poppies Blog). It is slow going and I’m ok with that. For some reason, I had the thought that I needed to focus all of my sewing time on getting the quilt made and that seemed very overwhelming. Especially since I am making a queen or king size quilt (not sure which yet) and I’m a quilting newbie. After talking with some experienced quilting ladies, I realized that I have been looking at the quilting experience all wrong! My action plan is to work on a few blocks a week. Since I have started thinking about it in ‘parts’ and taking it much slower (while still having time to do some garment sewing), I feel excited about it again. And inspired. Here are some photos:

These squares will eventually become….

…these squares.

Eventually I will have enough for a quilt top.

I’ve also recently finished my Fitted Top from the Alabama Studio Sewing + Design book (see here). This top was my muslin and I used two mens XL navy blue T-shirts, thrifted, to see how I liked the pattern. I didn’t follow the directions precisely as again it was a muslin and I wasn’t sure I wanted to fully commit to hand sewing. The book called for hand sewing all of the seams with button craft thread. I didn’t have this and just used my sewing machine to sew the pattern pieces together. I used embroidery floss (as called for) to embellish the neckline and seams but didn’t have a lot of different colors on hand so I used purple. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked hand sewing this top! I worked on it some evenings when I was catching up on Outlander (Do you watch this show? Oh, the delicious clothes!!!). Needless to say, my muslin is in full rotation in my closet and I love it! The pattern is great, in fact I would like to make every pattern in this book. I do love the fit and the calming feeling of sitting still and hand sewing. I love this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try hand sewing or just to look at the gorgeous works of art, being the clothing, that Natalie Chanin has designed.

In navy blue.

Taken with a funny filter so you can see the stitches.

Since the muslin was a success, I have started making this top in the dress size, using Alison Glass knit fabric. Before I ordered all the supplies I needed, I did a lot of searching online to find a review or two about this fabric but couldn’t find any. I’m going to give a quick review right now for anyone searching. 🙂 I was looking for a jersey that was not paper thin, something with a little substance that doesn’t show every lump and bump. This is that fabric. It is lovely and I would describe it as a medium weight jersey. It doesn’t have any stretch in it, just 100% cotton. It is extremely wide so you may not need as much as you think you do for what you are sewing. I chose the Cyprus color. Although the cyprus is a bit dark, it is a very rich color and I’d like to think I will be able to wear this dress all year round (with sleeves and leggings underneath in the winter). I thought this fabric would be great for another Alabama Chanin garment. I’ll keep you posted on how it turns out!

Alison Glass Knit fabric in Cyprus. Pardon the wrinkles.

A picture of Me for MeMadeMay2016!

Posted in Quilting, Sewing, upcycled, Women's Clothing | Leave a comment

A woolly weekend..

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Kim

Hello!

This past weekend my family and I went to a Sheepshearing Festival. We had such a great time! I haven’t been to any of the larger ones in the area but this was the perfect size to explore with the littles. The yarn was….so very lovely….and it was hard not to go nuts!! I’m proud of my restraint and only walked away with one skein. (What?? Only one skein??) Yes, only one skein as I am trying to be mindful when purchasing fiber of any sort right now. I had one project in mind and found the perfect wool for it. Too many times I have gone a little nuts and stored something and then decided to purge later on. That’s a story for another time, let’s look at all the fun below!

Freshly sheered sheep and an alpaca.

A demonstration of hand sheering.

It’s amazing to me how relaxed the sheep are when they are getting a haircut.

We watched demonstrations of hand sheering and got to feed some alpaca. There were herding dog demonstrations which were quite interesting. My daughter tried her hand at weaving and we browsed many crafters peddling their wares. The kids were fascinated with the re-enactors, soldiers and historic crafters (basket weavers, lots of spinners, and the blacksmith). It was so very nice to sit and talk about history and discuss our lives now to what life used to be. We had many great conversations.

And then there was the yarn, oooohhhh the yarn…….

From Iceland.

More Icelandic wool. Do you see the big fat cords of it? For rug making? Must.Stay.Away.

Roving.

Mothers Day Bouquets?

Yes, please!

Getting a little squirrelly!

I love to go on adventures with my family, such as these. It’s nice to be unplugged (except for photos-ha! 🙂 ) and to see beauty in the natural talents of others. I love to expose them to art of any sort and feel strongly that it’s so essential in our world today when so much of our lives are rush, rush, rush. Although we were at a festival, I have truly noticed a pattern that happens when my clan head out to be in nature or art or crafts or any part of the natural world. We decompress. We laugh and are silly and our bonding happens. I love that. Tell me, how do you decompress? What do you do with your clan? I’d love to hear!

One last yummy picture.

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