Sewing Sunsets

Although I have had limited computer access for almost a week, and will continue to have limited computera access for several more days, I do check in online as often as possible. Today, I checked my friend Lisa’s blog (www.thedomesticdiva.wordpress.com ) and discovered that her beautiful 15 year old daughter, Marielle, finally got her new kidney!   They have both been waiting for a very long time and as I’ve kept up with Lisa and her daughter via her blog, I have continued to be amazed at their strength and their faith.  This past year hasn’t been easy for either one of them–or their entire family, so it was wonderful to see that Marielle finally received the most wonderful Christmas present–a brand new, healthy kidney!  They will still have some rough days ahead of them, but I know that they will both handle those rough days with grace and strengthy.

Also, even though I have never met Marielle, I know that she is going to be one of those people who will grow up truly knowing and understanding what is important in life.  All through the past difficult months, the one thing that both Lisa and Marielle held on to very tightly was hope.  I believe that hope is very important in life and as you know, I always encourage you to share hope in whatever way you can, even if it is in some small way.

Today I did something much less significant than donating a kidney.  I took my oldest granddaughter to the fabric store.  Right now, I hope to have the time to teach her to sew and help her with her first sewing project.   While I am spending time with her, I also hope to encourage her to use her skills to encourage others and help them in some way.  I truly believe that when we simply encourage others or donate our time or handcrafted items, we may be giving others hope in a way that we may never know. 

This past year has been difficult for many of us, so I’d like to think that we all have hope that this new year will bring us hope.

Happy New Year!

And Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I had intended to finish the tutorial on sewing men’s bathrobes, but as usual, real life has other plans for me.  Now, not only am I not able to do any sewing, it seems that real life has other plans for me when I even need to talk  about sewing!

Sew……I hope you all had a very Merry and safe Christmas!  And I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy New Year!

Currently, we are traveling and have stopped to spend some time with my oldest daughter and her family.  I have finally seen my youngst grandson who is now about 16 months old.  My youngest daughter is moving to the west coast for her last semester of college, but she is going to be in different state than her sister. 

I have enjoyed spending time with my family, but I have missed sewing.  However, my oldest granddaughter got a new sewing machine for Christmas so I have a good excuse to go to the fabric store with her in the next few days.  And helping her learn to use her new sewing machine has been fun, too.

I know that I stopped in the middle of talking about sewing men’s bathrobes, but I lost computer access when I got to my daughter’s house, so I will wait until I have consistent computer access to finish that tutorial.  It may be a few days before I get to post again so once again, I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

And of course, Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I’m not even sure how to begin this post because life is, and has been, very hectic for the past several weeks.  December is not really my favorite month for a number of reasons, and quite frankly, I’m ready for this particular December, and this year, to be behind me.  All I really want to do–make that all I want for Christmas–is to go into my sewing room and sew and sew and sew and sew—-probably for several months, until the weather gets warm the sun comes out.

In spite of not being able to sew myself, I still have a few gift ideas to tell you about.  When I have time, one thing I like to sew for the men on my gift list is a robe.  I like to sew these robes out of flannel because flannel is easy to sew and flannel feels so soft and cozy.  I have several robe sewing patterns, my favorite one being an old Simplicity pattern.  The last pattern that I used to sew a robe is a McCall’s and has patterns for men and boys.  I wasn’t completely happy with it, but it wasn’t difficult either.

When sewing a bathrobe, it’s quite easy because most patterns will instruct you to sew the shoulder seams first.  Depending on the pattern, sometimes I will serge finish the raw edges first and press the seams open, and other times, I will sew the seams and then serge the seams and press them to one side.   The sleeves are sewn in flat (www.sewseamless.com/Page28.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page29.html , and www.sewseamless.com/Page30.html ) and then the side seams and sleeve seams are sewn in one pass.

Because most bathrobes have no buttons or zippers, there is usually a tie belt to sew and there are also belt carriers or loops.  I sew these belt carriers the easy way.  In the picture above, the top flannel piece is the belt carrier/loop as it was cut from the pattern.  The pattern instructed me to sew this on the long edge and then turn it right side out, but that is difficult, so I chose to fold the belt carrier in the middle first, as you see above.  The second step is to fold the belt carrier/loop in half again, press and then edge stitch down each long side.

After the belt carrier has been edge stiched on each long side, and you have pressed well, the next step is to fold them in half and baste, then baste the belt loops/carriers to the front of the robe.

The particular sewing pattern that I used had a band that was sewn around the front and then neckline of the robe.  That’s easy and I hope to share that with you in my next post.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

My life is full of ironies.  I hate to travel.  I mean, I really hate to travel! And I especially hate to travel during the holiday season. For some strange reason, in the past several years, I’ve had to do far more traveling than I would have liked. Both of my daughters have made choices that required that I travel. A few years ago, my oldest daugter decided to marry on New Year’s Eve. She lived in another state, so right after Christmas we had to travel to attend the wedding.

This year, my youngest daughter made the decision to apply for the opportunity to study in Los Angeles during her last semester in school. She got selected for this wonderful opporunity, but guess what I’m doing now–during this holiday season?! Yep–traveling! And just in case you’re wondering–I don’t fly. My theory is that if God had intended for me to fly, He would have given me wings. Of course, I suppose you could argue that the good Lord didn’t give me wheels either.

Of course, one of the worst things about traveling is that I don’t have my sewing machine with me. I really need to do some sewing these days! My stress level is high and sewing always calms me down. Maybe I’ll get to sneak in some sewing while on this trip–if I have to go into a sewing machine shop and test drive a few sewing machines.

In the meantime, I still do have a more gift ideas to post here. If you have a seamstress on your gift list this year, a wonderful gift would be a gift card to her favorite fabric store. Any seamstress is thrilled with the opportunity/excuse to go fabric shopping!

Also, you could buy an inexpensive basket and fill it with things like hand sewing needles, different sizes of sewing machine needles, seam rippers, point turners and other sewing tools.

If you would like to get a sewing enthusiast one nice gift for her sewing room, there are some other sewing tools that she might appreciate having. A seam roll is very useful for pressing seams.

A few other gift ideas for seamstresses are a tailor’s ham and a tailor’s clapper. All of the above mentioned sewing tools are great aids for pressing during sewing construction.

If the seamstress on your list loves to quilt, perhaps choose a yard of very special fabric and use it as a gift wrap for some fat quarters or a fat quarter bundle.

Seamstresses love fabric and anything that has to do with sewing or quilting, so finding just the right gift is quite easy. Who knows–you just might get a wonderful handmade gift in return!

(Pictures of more sewing tools: www.sewseamless.com/Page14.html )

Happy Sewing!
www.sewseamless.com

I had hoped to have time to include some newer gift sewing ideas in my posts, but I am getting ready to take a long journey soon, so there will be no sewing time for me for a while. And the way the past two weeks have gone, I haven’t had time to sew recently either.  When I return from my long journey, I will probably hide out in my sewing room and never be heard from again. Sometime tells me that I’m going to need lots and lots of fabric therapy and sewing therapy by then!

All of the sewing projects that I’ve mentioned in recent posts are very easy so they would be good projects for beginning sewing enthusiasts.  Also, these projects might be good for church groups or non profit groups to sew and either donate to worthy causes or perhaps sell the items at a holiday craft fair or bazaar fund raiser. 

These sewing projects are also good for using up some of the fabric in your fabric stash or using up some small fabric scraps.  Even if you don’t have fabric in your stash, these sewing projects use such a small amount of fabric that they are inexpensive to sew so purchasing some fabric won’t break the bank.

Here are some of the sew flurries projects in review: (You will find detailed sewing instructions, along with pictures, by clicking on the links.)

Pillowcases: www.sewseamless.com/Page41.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page42.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page43.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page44.html

Shorts/Pants (Pajama pants are sewn using the same sewing techniques): www.sewseamless.com/Page33.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page34.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page35.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page36.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page37.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page38.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page39.html

Round Pillows: www.sewseamless.com/Page22.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page23.html

Square Pillows: www.sewseamless.com/Page24.html

Blankets (reversible flannel blankets): www.sewseamless.com/Page46.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page47.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page48.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page49.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page50.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page51.html

Neck Pillows: www.sewseamless.com/Page52.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page53.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page54.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page55.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page56.html

Other gift sewing ideas include small tissue holders, gift bags, aprons, fleece blankets, robes.  (I had hoped to be able to show you an apron sewing project and I had also hoped to sew a man’s robe, but time just hasn’t allowed me to do that this month.  Maybe I can show you those sewing projects later.)

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

There is one more small gift item that I like to sew for gifts, and the gift “wrapping” also is part of the gift, so once again, there is no waste. There are some really cute fabric prints that you can use to sew these gift bags, so there is really no need to embellish them, but I have a lot of fun by sewing some machine embroidered designs on the fronts of these gift bags.

Gift bags can be any size you choose and can be used for any purpose.  You can choose your own seam allowances and basically custom design your own gift bag.  When I sewed some small gift bags recently, I chose to cut the length of the bag at approximately 12-1/2 inches or so and I think the width was about 9 or 10 inches, although I can’t quite remember.  Some of the bags were wider and some were narrower.  If you are making a gift bag for a bottle of wine or a sparkling cider, you might want to make a narrower bag.

Gift bags can be as casual or as fancy as you like, depending on the fabric you choose.  Some sewing enthusiasts enjoy sewing gift bags from velvet or satin; others enjoy sewing with 100% cotton fabric.  I prefer to sew with the cotton fabric.

I chose to sew gift bags by simply serging the seams, so I wasn’t overly concerned with seam allowances.  I sewed these bags in a similar fashion to the way I sew pillowcases (www.sewseamless.com/Page41.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page42.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page43.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page44.html )  It was very simple; I serged down the long side of the gift bag and then serged the bottom of the bag.  I also serge finished the top of the bag because I wanted a hem at the top of the gift bag. However, if you don’t own a serger, or are a beginner, these bags can also easily be sewn on a conventional sewing machine.  I would choose to use a 1/2 inch or 3/8 inch seam allowance, but that is entirely up to the designer of the gift bag.  In order to prevent fraying, I would also suggest slightly trimming the seams with pinking shears.

The other thing that I decided to do was to sew box corners at the bottom of the gift bag.  This isn’t completely necessary, but I thought it might help the bag sit upright better and it also gives the bag a nice look.

Sewing a box corner is very simple.  Flatten the corners of the bag, measure down about 3 inches  and then sew across this area.  In order to secure the stitches, I tied the threads at each end of the seam.

On some of the gift bags that I made, I turned down the hem about 2 inches and then machine hemmed, but on other bags, I left the serged edge as it was and didn’t sew a hem.

These gift bags could be used for bottles of wine or sparkling ciders, or if they are larger gift bags, you could place the small tissue holders, smaller reversible flannel blankets (www.sewseamless.com/Page46.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page47.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page48.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page49.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page50.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page51.html ) or other small gift items.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Can somebody please freeze time for me so I can get everything done before I have to go on yet another long journey?  Why is it that when I have nothing out of the ordinary to do, everything goes smoothly, and there is plenty of time to do everything that needs to be done, but when I am getting ready to do something out of the ordinary, everything goes wrong and there is a major time crunch in all areas of life?

And of course, sewing isn’t happening because of all the other stuff I have to do right now.  However, as I keep saying, at least I can talk about sewing here.

Sewing small gifts can be lots of fun.  I really do like sewing small tissue holders because they are very quick and easy to sew, and they also use up some of the smaller fabric scraps.  There are two bottom pieces and two top pieces.  The bottom pieces are placed wrong sides together, and the two top pieces are folded in half and placed on top of the bottoms, with the folded parts facing the middle.  The next step is to pin around the edges of the tissue holders.  Beginners might choose to baste at this point, but I find it just as easy to pin baste.

The seam allowance for the tissue holder is 3/8, and all you have to do is sew down one side and pivot at the corners until you’ve sewn all the way around.  I like to slightly overlap where I started sewing to secure the stitches.

After sewing, I like to press from this side first before turning the tissue holder right side out.  The corners should be clipped diagonally, and I also like to slightly trim the seams with pinking shears to reduce fraying, even though these will be enclosed seams.

Turn the tissue holder right side out and use a point turner to get nice sharp corners.  I also like to press well from both sides (front and back) of the tissue holder and then I also like to use a tailor’s clapper to get them nice and flat.

These tissue holders are very easy and quick to sew and they make great gifts.  Tissue holders can be put into purses or walker caddies.  A nice gift for an older person on your list might be a nice fleece blanket and a tissue holder. 

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

After talking about sewing pajama pants, I really wish I had the time to just go into my sewing room and whip up a few pairs of pj pants myself.  Actually, I wish I could go hide out in my sewing room and make the world go away for a while, but that’s not going to happen.  This past week has been extremely stressful for a lot of reasons and it would have been nice to just have some time to sew because that is what helps to relieve my stress more than anything else.  Of course, it has been nice to at least talk about sewing here.

There are lots of great gift ideas to sew that are quick and easy.  I like to sew small tissue holders because this is a great way to use up smaller fabric scraps.  I think that 100% cotton fabric works best for sewing these small tissue holders.

I am using a commercial sewing pattern, but it would be very easy to create your own pattern by simply tracing around a purse sized tissue package and then adding seam allowances.

My pattern instructs me to cut out four fabric pieces.  The bottom of the tissue holder is a little sturdier that way.  Even though the pattern instructions are to baste these pieces together, I have eliminated that step because I don’t think it is necessary, but beginners might be more comfortable basting. 

The pictures above show the two bottom pieces placed wrong sides together.

There are also two top fabric pieces and these are folded in half before being sewn to the bottom of the tissue holder.

The picture above shows the top pieces of the tissue holder before they are folded and pressed.  These fabric pieces are folded in half and pressed.

After the top pieces have been folded and pressed, they are then placed on the bottom piece and either basted or pinned.  I used to baste these, but found it was easier to just pin baste.

As you can see from the pictures above, the folded part of the tissue holder is placed toward the middle.  I learned that one the hard way.

The tissue holders are almost finished at this point; it’s simply a matter of pinning and sewing them together and then just another step or two and they’re finished.  I’ll share that with you in my next post.

Sometimes the older generation likes gifts like tissue holders and neck pillows.  Tissue holders can be placed in a purse or in a walker caddy.  A nice gift for a senior on your list might be a tissue holder, a neck pillow, and a fleece blanket or even a reversible flannel blanket, which could also serve as the gift wrap.

Instructions (and pictures) for sewing a neck pillow: www.sewseamless.com/Page52.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page53.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page54.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page55.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page56.html

Instructions (and pictures) for sewing reversible flannel blankets: www.sewseamless.com/Page46.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page47.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page48.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page49.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page50.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page51.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I really enjoy sewing pajama pants because they’re fun and quick and easy to sew.  There are only two pattern pieces to cut out, which is my least favorite part of the whole sewing process anyway.  Also, all the sewing is done on the sewing machine with no hand sewing required.  I enjoy hand sewing, but in this case, sewing by machine makes the whole process faster and easier. 

After sewing the crotch seam of the pajama pants, the rest is really quite easy.  Make sure that the raw edges of the waist and the bottom of the pants legs are finished in some way.  I like to serge finish those areas.  Also, because it is difficult to tell which is the back and which is the front, I usually sew a ribbon on the back of the pajama pants.

The next step is to measure the casing with a seam gauge, turn it down and press it, and then sew, making sure to leave a space for inserting the elastic.  When the elastic has been inserted, the casing can be sewn and finished by machine.  I like to place my needle all the way to the left and let the presser foot ride on the finished edge of the casing.  That way, I am fairly sure that I’m sewing straight.

The pajama pants legs are very easy to hem because they are measured in the same way and then all you have to do is sew around the hem on the sewing machine.  Although it’s not completely necessary, I like to use the free arm on the sewing machine to sew the pajama pants leg hems.

The instructions provided in the following links are instructions for sewing shorts, but the sewing construction and techniques are basically the same; pajama pants are just longer than shorts.

Instructions (complete tutorial and pictures) for sewing shorts: www.sewseamless.com/Page33.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page34.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page35.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page36.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page37.html  , www.sewseamless.com/Page38.html , and www.sewseamless.com/Page39.html

Pajama pants are always a fun and quick and easy gift to sew.  And you could make pajama shorts/boxer shorts as well and have a complete gift set.  Include a cozy fleece blanket, flannel pillowcase (www.sewseamless.com/Page41.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page42.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page43.html , and www.sewseamless.com/Page44.html ) or a reversible flannel blanket (www.sewseamless.com/Page46.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page47.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page48.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page49.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page50.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page51.html ) and you will have a nice gift set.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

This month, I am not going to have very much opportunity to sew, but at least I can talk about sewing here.  Right now, all I really want to do is hide out in my sewing room until it is summer and nice, warm and sunny outside and maybe in the meantime, the world will just go away and real life will give me some peace. Of course, that won’t happen, but it’s a nice thought.

We’ve been talking about sewing pajama pants and I think that this is one of the last pictures that I posted:

I wanted to show you pajama pants with one leg turned right side out and one leg turned wrong side out.  When I sew pj pants, I sew the inner leg seam and the outer leg/side seam and create two separate pants legs, which need to be sewn together at the crotch.  This is really very easy to do, although at first it can seem intimidating.

In order to sew the crotch seam, you need to place one pj pant leg inside the other, with right sides of the fabric together.

When you have inserted one pajama pants leg inside the other, you will have a “U” shaped seam.  This is the crotch seam, and all you have to do is sew around this “U”shaped seam.  Most of the time, I choose to sew this seam and then serge off the the seam, but there are other choices to finish the raw edges as well.  You could choose to serge finish the raw edges before sewing the pajama pants, but make sure that you have some method for remembering which is the front and which is the back.  One easy way to finish this seam is to trim it with pinking shears.

When you have sewn the crotch seam, you have a pair of complete pajama pants, which is what you see in the pictures below.

The next steps in sewing the pajama pants are quite easy; finish the raw edges on both the waist and the bottom of each leg of the pants.  A casing needs to be sewn so that elastic can be inserted and the pants legs need to be hemmed.

Although the following links provide a tutorial for sewing shorts, the sewing techniques are the same–pajama pants are just longer than shorts.

How to sew pants/shorts: www.sewseamless.com/Page33.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page34.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page35.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page36.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page37.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page38.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page39.html

A fun and creative way to gift wrap a pair of pajama pants might be to place them inside a pillowcase (www.sewseamless.com/Page41.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page42.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page43.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page44.html )  The fabrics could match or be coordinating fabrics.  Just think, with this kind of gift, there is no waste and nothing to clean up on Christmas morning.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com