Lined Roman Shade and Tabbed Panel

I chose to do a lined shade in this window for two reasons. First, I wanted to piece the front of the shade, and a lining in the back works well to encase unfinished edges. Second, this west window gets a lot of sunshine, and I thought these light-colored fabrics could use some help blocking it out when necessary.



Finally, another tabbed panel I made to match in the guest bedroom.



Both patterns are from Quick & Easy Window Treatments by Gail Abbott and Cate Burren.

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Unlined Roman Shade

Matchy-match! The brown microsuede I used for this Roman shade is the same as the top fabric detail of my tabbed panel, below. All of these curtain patterns, by the way, are from Quick & Easy Window Treatments by Gail Abbott and Cate Burren.



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Bedroom Curtains

Here's the latest: a simple tabbed panel for our north-facing bedroom window.



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Next up: a Roman shade for the west window.

Functional Decor

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Bathroom Update

Everything is held together by pins at the moment.
It's tempting to leave it that way.



I just need to make a buttoned pocket for tampons, which will go in the upper left-hand corner.

Top loops will be ready for attachment when the time is right.



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Hardware First

My next project will combine decoration and function in a bathroom wall hanger. As I learned with last fall's curtain project, it's important to get the hardware (rods, rings, header boards) squared away before the sewing begins. Here are four pretty knobs I installed in the bathroom this morning.



And here's a bonus knob I added to the medicine cabinet.



More to come as this project progresses!
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Making Old Clothes Better

The photos below are before-and-after shots of two shirts I'm in the process of taking in. The shirt on the left (purple) has quite a flare at the waist, which has always made me feel uncomfortable. I've addressed the problem by only wearing these blouses under a sweater or jacket of some kind, but warm weather is just around the corner and that's not going to cut it for much longer.

I began by extending the darts to the bottom hem, as you can see on the right-hand (green) shirt. That didn't do the trick entirely, so I ripped out the hem at each side seam and extended the side seams straight down from their narrowest place. This makes the shirt fit much better around my belly.



I re-stitched the hem along the side seams and now I have short-sleeved blouses for spring and summer!



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Making Old Clothes New

Summer is coming and I’m getting that old itch to stock up on skirts for warm weather. However, a peek through my skirt collection reveals several great pieces I haven’t worn for a long time because they don’t fit properly or are out of the style I prefer. Inspired New Dress a Day, a blog I’ve been enjoying, I broke out the scissors and set about making the most of what I already have in the closet.

(You, too, can enjoy http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/)

I’ve been thinking I need something neutral and inconspicuous to cover my bum on leggings-and-tee-shirt days this summer. Denim fits the bill, but knee-length styles in denim are très outré and I haven’t worn this skirt comfortably in years. My sis recently taught me a stunning technique for shortening jeans, so I put it to work on my skirt.

The approach is to cut the skirt (or trouser leg) to the exact length you desire. Then, rip the stitching from the hem and make it into a length of seam-binding for application to your new bottom edge. Here’s a photo of my new mini, and the extra fabric I removed. I’m just about done with pin-basting, and I’ll use gold thread to attach the hem so it matches the rest of the garment.



Ta-da! Mini Me :)



You can click either of these photos to see a larger image.

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Those of you who have known me for a while may remember my chubby phase(s). Whatever. Through it all, I retained my sense of pattern and, at some point, purchased this darling cotton skirt. While I’m glad Mother Nature eventually returned my waist to me, I’ve spent far too long either (a) safety-pinning this skirt to fit when I really, really want to wear it, or (b) gazing longingly at it hanging in my closet.



The side zipper makes this one hard to take in at the seams, but my mother suggested I add darts at four places around the waist. I measured the amount of fabric I wanted to lose, divided it by four, and stitched those babies up!



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Mother & Daughter Aprons

My latest project is a set of matching aprons for my sister-in-law and niece.

I chose a pattern for a reversible apron and used cut-outs from the large print fabric to appliqué detail onto the side with smaller print for interest.

I included pockets on each side and bound them with bias tape cut from the large print fabric as well. The pockets on the fruity side are pieced with green from the border of the large print fabric.





This was a really fun project to personalize and make my own.

The pattern for the mother's apron is from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter.
The smaller apron is my own design, with thanks of course to AnneMarie, Hannah, and little Lou. ;-)

You can click either of these photos to see a larger image.

More Appliqué

Here is a second appliqué I made for the same project. Since the entire piece is attached to the pocket, I was able to machine stitch the whole thing.



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Fun with Appliqué!

This is my first attempt at appliqué. It is part of an apron project and I will post complete photos here very soon.



Drawing on instructions from several books, I applied interfacing to stiffen the (pear) fabric and trimmed the image, leaving about half an inch all the way around.

I pinned the piece securely to the background (green) fabric. I machine stitched in a straight line around the shapes, then re-stitched with a tight zig-zag. I hand-stitched the stem and right leaf to avoid closing off part of the pocket.

Once all the stitching was done, I carefully snipped away the extra fabric with a small pair of scissors.

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Fleece Imp Hat & Mittens

I made hat and mittens for my niece for Christmas. The hat pattern is very easy and requires no machine stitching. It's entirely constructed with the yarn whip stitching you can see. The mittens (which I made without thumbs - kind of like hand socks) require a little machine sewing to attach elastic inside the wrists.



This pattern is from Simple Gifts to Stitch by Jocelyn Worral.
You can click this photo to see a larger image.

Wrap-Around Skirt

I made this skirt for a friend for Christmas. As with the purse (below), I loved the fabric for her style and knew I needed to find a good pattern for it. This was my first experiment with darts - I'm learning something new with each project!





This pattern is from Simple Gifts to Stitch by Jocelyn Worral.
You can click either of these photos to see a larger image.

Ventilator Purse

I made this purse for a friend for her birthday. I was inspired by the fabric and set out to find something fun and useful I could make with it. By the way, this purse is fully lined.



The pattern is from Simple Gifts to Stitch by Jocelyn Worral. You can click this photo to see a larger image.