Monday, January 9, 2012

Easing Back Under The Presser Foot



Slow start to sewing after Halloween. Yes, thaaaaaat far back - I haven't done any real sewing since then. Feels good to keep some distance from my sewing machine, frankly. And I'm thinking that if I feel this way, I must not actually have a sewing addiction. Is that a good thing?

But my sabbatical is over and I must meet the clothing needs of the various people who live in this house, and the gift needs of friends and everyone else. And I might actually be ready to make clothes. We shall see -three weeks till the end of January is not a long time, especially since the girls keep wanting me to play (and I keep wanting to indulge them) UNO and Go Fish and all their other fun Christmas-gift games.

Anyway, to ease myself back into things, I made sixteen balls. That's 96 curved seams and zero straight seams to warm up. Some of those seams met perfectly

and some of them lost their way.

And after stuffing them, I flexed my hand-stitching muscles and sewed up sixteen openings.

Then I did a sprint through a camera case for a friend.

He emailed me a sketch and dimensions and let me do whatever I wanted.

So I made it reversible (of course) and not pink (also of course).

The slowest part of it was trying to find some kind of drawstring cord that fit through the cordstop. Settled for this grosgrain binding tape eventually.

And now I think I should be ready for the marathon.


Remember the last time we went to Singapore and I sewed the kids' summer wardrobe in a week, plus one backpack? That was really dumb. But I think I need to set myself that kind of Really Dumb deadline or I will never get anything done. I do it for Halloween and it works, right?


Sigh. I miss my glue gun.



9 comments:

  1. Those little balls are so cute! And that's a nifty camera bag... out of cool fabric. :)

    Happy manic sewing!

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  2. Did you do the sixteen balls assembly line or one by one? You are amazing!

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  3. The camera bag is fantastic! I love the color combo. Where did you find the gray fabric?
    The balls you made are too cute as well.

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  4. Well done on those delightful balls! and cool stuff you sewed. I must admit I love my machine and sew nearly every day, I also love my knitting needles and crochet hook, and cardboard and paper and wire and beads... I need more time!

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  5. I think ... especially for ribbon balls ... that you should off load to some of your less frenzied blog followers. Some of us would love to give back to you a little bit! Thanks so much for all you give us!

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  6. HOORAY! I am about to start making the same balls but with cotton, I think I like your version better!

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  7. love the camera bag, what a fun project!

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  8. I have a love, hate relationship with my sewing machine too. Your cartoon that shows someone chained to their sewing machine echos my feelings exactly!

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  9. Is there a tutorial or pattern out there for those squishy lovely orbs? Love them!

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