CogKnition » Sewing

Pillow-y Goodness

CogKnition — Sun, 09 May 2010 04:12:51 +0000

Fabric: The patchwork pillows used cotton scraps raided from carrollb‘s stash. The bigger pillows used a heavyweight cotton bought at Yuzawaya.

Pattern: Winged it, with an assist from The Sewing Bible

My success at piecing inspired me to start (and complete) a project that has been on my to-do list for well over a year: make new cushion covers for the living room.

You guys have seen my futon in the background of many photos on this blog. It has this not-very-attractive, slightly Christmas-meets-faux-Southwestern pattern on it. It clashed with my husband’s not-quite-as-ugly but extremely dilapidated couch that he literally found on the street during his poor grad student days. When we moved in together and did the ritual Merging of the Furniture, we bought matching covers for both to hide the ugly and bring a semblance of coordination into our living room. You see the new futon cover in the background above.

But there were no matching covers for the cushions. So we still had this fun pop of Christmas-meets-faux-Southwestern in the living room that still did not remotely coordinate with my papasan.

“I’ll just make some new cushion covers,” I told my husband. Last March. Six months later, we went to Japan and I bought fabric. “For the cushion covers,” I told my husband.

Seven months later, I actually started.

I did the patchwork for the smaller pillows first, since I was now relatively confident I wouldn’t screw that up horribly.

It became clear (somewhat literally) at this point that I would need some kind of interfacing to keep the ugly cushion pattern from showing through the lightweight cotton. I found some lightweight black fusible interfacing at Joann’s, ironed it on without incident, and then cut out the pieces for the bigger cushions. I was still afraid of installing zippers, see, and planned to put that part off as long as possible.

And this is when The Sewing Bible led me to the light.

Continue reading Pillow-y Goodness (367 words) »

| Permalink | No Comments | Leave a Comment |

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Knittin’, and Sewin’, and Thinkin’: Crochetin’?

CogKnition — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:30:10 +0000

I’m suffering from a case of multicraftual startitis. This is what happens when you commit to too many knitting projects in advance and then…oooh, shiny!

Since finishing the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, I’ve started another sweater. Behold:

It’s the Vintage Pink Cardigan that I first blogged about 2.5 years ago. I figured I’d get a jump start on it and try to finish it by January. Which is when it gets “cold” here.

I’ve also started some things destined to be gifts:

It’s Which Came First? from Mochimochi Land, because every child needs a little existential angst. Also, I can’t read. For some reason I thought this toy would be actual egg-sized. And it is, if you mostly hang around ostriches.

And finally, I had to scratch the sewing itch. I’ve wanted to learn how to do patchwork and quilting for so long, but was frankly procrastinating out of fear. Fear that, try as I might, I would never be able to achieve the precision required to make beautiful pieces. But the fabric stash wasn’t getting any smaller (which wouldn’t be a problem except our apartment isn’t getting any bigger either), so last night I decided to bite the bullet.

Continue reading Knittin’, and Sewin’, and Thinkin’: Crochetin’? (211 words) »

| Permalink | 3 Comments | Leave a Comment |

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Pencil Bag

CogKnition — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:26:38 +0000

Fabric: Two fat quarters
Pattern: Pencil Bag

When we last left off with the Pencil Bag, I was having issues installing the zipper.

Is it also called frogging if you’re ripping with a seam ripper? Anyways, after lots of that, and re-sewing, I wound up with this:

Acceptably-straight topstitching. Woohoo! I trimmed off the excess at the top and bottom of the zipper, overlocked the edges, and then turned my attention to the binding.

I had started with two fat quarters and so had plenty of fabric left over. I decided to make a single-fold binding out of the lining fabric. After several stages of FAIL:

I had two strips of binding that were the right length. Although the pattern suggests 13″ of binding, I needed nearly 14″ to have enough to fold over the edges.

I tried for a long time to topstitch the binding on, but the corners were too thick to feed easily through my machine. So I used a hand finish instead.

There’s a little puckering, but it’ll do. The other end looks a bit better. Also, note the perils of sewing with flimsy fabric.

I’m supposed to show you the inside too, so:

Ta-da! From this angle it looks like a tissue-paper holder. With a zipper. For a very strange size of tissue paper.

This will probably be my last sewing post for the month. Next week I’ll be heading out to visit my dad, whose health has taken a downturn. For a while we thought he might actually beat this thing against all odds—Tarceva is a wonderful drug—but now things are a bit uncertain.

And after that, my husband and I are moving apartments. I should have a much better workspace in our new place, but I’ll have to pack up the sewing stuff before I go so he can more efficiently clean and pack while I’m away.

Other entries about the Pencil Bag:

Project Problems

Discount Offer from Fabric.com

CogKnition — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:13:15 +0000

Remember when I mentioned I had an order coming from Fabric.com? Well Fabric.com e-mailed me after I made that post and is offering all CogKnition readers a $5 discount on their next order.

There’s no minimum purchase required; all you have to do is enter coupon code blogcog at checkout. Details are also in the sidebar.

And if you were wondering what was in my haul from Fabric.com, it was some selections from Amy Butler’s Lotus Collection and a few cute Asian-inspired prints that were on mega sale. And my rotary cutter! I plan to make a couple of the patchwork totes from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. If I ever finish the pencil bag, that is.

Project Problems

CogKnition — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:36:21 +0000

Behold my latest Saturday Sewing, the pencil bag from Craftlog:

Saturday Erranding did wind up taking precedence over Saturday Sewing, but do not be deceived: what you see here is something like four hours of work. My seam ripper and I are the best of friends now; I attempted that topstitching three times before it came out straight. And now the zipper isn’t laying flat. I think I know what went wrong; I’m trying to decide if I should rip the whole thing out and just start over because I am Super Anal Retentive like that. Update: ripped and re-sewn. Much better now.

Lesson learned: when installing zippers, baste early, baste often. Marking a straight line on the fabric would probably help too, at least until I figure out how exactly I’m supposed to use my bizarro zipper foot. Update: I just needed to move the needle to the center position to get sewing in the right places.

On the knitting front, I’ve been working on a Sleepy Snake. It has a head now, which will hopefully make people realize that I when I say I’m knitting “a snake”, I mean a literal snake.

Why is this under Project Problems? The problem is not with the pattern. The pattern is wonderful and well-written. But you know how knitting projects sort of develop personalities? Well, my Sleepy Snake didn’t really like being toothless, and uh…

I hope they give him indigestion.

(But seriously, are you as amazed as I am by how realistic the head shaping is?)

Japanese Knot Bag

CogKnition — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:08:38 +0000

Fabric: Two fat quarters
Pattern: Japanese Knot Bag

Success! The finished bag is about 5″ in diameter and 7″ high, excluding the handles. It’s the perfect size for two cakes of Cascade 220.

I chose a couple of basic cotton prints that I like, but didn’t love. This was so I wouldn’t cry if I royally screwed it up.

Cutting and pinning went smoothly.

And then I successfully wound a bobbin in not-quite-matching thread.

As I started sewing for real, two things happened:

I got so absorbed in it that I forgot to take more progress photos
It seemed…easier…than I remembered

At some point I realized that this was my first time sewing on a machine with modern accoutrements. Quite possibly my first time sewing on a machine not older than me, actually. I don’t know if things like quick-set bobbins and speed control really make that much of a difference in the ease of sewing or if I’m just Older and Wiser, but straight seams came with very little effort. Unlike my previous sewing projects, which all are covered with meandering top-stitching.

I did hit a few snags due to seams that didn’t line up properly, but I made the seam ripper my friend and it all came out ok. It won’t win any construction awards, but it’s presentable on both sides!

Saturdays are for Sewing

CogKnition — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:08:22 +0000

I used to sew back in 7th and 8th grade, if “finished all assigned projects in home ec and nothing more” counts as “used to sew”. I made a tote and a duffel with moderately-straight seams and great pride. I used the duffel as a gym bag until the zipper broke a few months ago and still use the tote as a knitting bag. There was also a sweatshirt that disappeared into the sands of time.

I didn’t feel the urge to sit at the sewing machine again for years, until I wanted linings for the Eggplant Bag and Quinn times two. And until Grumperina started showing off her sewing projects. And then I subscribed to the Purl Bee and it was all over. Unless I learned how to sew, really sew, my life would not be complete.

Last Christmas (that would be 2007), I got a copy of Last-Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts and this:

And then both sat idle except for a few longing glances as I planned a wedding, proposed a dissertation, and moved my butt across the country.

When my birthday rolled around a couple weeks ago, my husband asked me what I wanted. Sewing tools! Fabric stash! A rotary cutter, mat, rulers, and assorted other items are winging their way here from Joann.com and Fabric.com, but in the meantime I picked up enough fat quarters to start a stash:

I’m kind of mesmerized by all the pretty colors, almost to the point where I don’t want to use it up.

But I am determined. Today I will sit down and sew the Japanese Knot Bag. Photos of the results (hopefully) tomorrow!

CogKnition » Sewing

Pillow-y Goodness

Knittin’, and Sewin’, and Thinkin’: Crochetin’?

Pencil Bag

Similar Posts:

Discount Offer from Fabric.com

Similar Posts:

Project Problems

Similar Posts:

Japanese Knot Bag

Similar Posts:

Saturdays are for Sewing

Similar Posts: