Summer Sewing Camp

This summer I have enrolled again in summer sewing camp, for which I am the sole instructor and participant, which is fine with me. It's really about letting myself play with fabric and projects I've dreamed up without feeling like I should be doing something else. I do have to credit Amy Karol, the author of Bend The Rules Sewing, as instructor in absentia, since some of the projects I've wanted to make are in her book.
Such as this tote bag. Actually I've been using it as a purse, and I made two identical ones because I found this great organic cotton fabric piece at SCRAP that was big enough for two purses. Then, since the fabric is reversible, I did not make it with lining as Amy designed it but instead had to finish the inner seams with bias trim, which I made myself from beige gingham. And I made the straps two-tone so I could use a cool IKEA fabric sample. All the fabric was either from SCRAP, thrift stores, or a free sample.
But for some reason this darn project was really tough. I can't tell you how many seams I ripped out and had to do over. It's kind of embarrassing because the design is very simple--I'm not sure why I kept screwing it up. Maybe because the fabric is thick, and the seams with bias tape were quite bulky so I often went off course and found myself sewing crooked. Amy writes that sometimes sewing projects get "jinxed" and you just have to give up. It was nice to know that even a sewing goddess like her has failures. I did not give up and they turned out nice, but now I am wary of simple tote bags.
This tea cozy, on the other hand, I whipped up in an evening. I feel joy every morning when I put it on our teapot, since we have switched to drinking tea in the mornings. Before, we were wrapping dishtowels around our teapot to keep the tea warm and it did not look very elegant.
The fabric is screen-printed linen sample from SCRAP that I got a long time ago and was saving for something wonderful. The lining and piping are also from SCRAP, and the batting is from an old quilt of my son's. I found some excellent instructions online from a site called "The Rusty Bobbin." Amy also has a design for a tea cozy but Rusty Bobbin's incorporated batting and that's the kind I wanted. This kind of tea cozy makes me think of my mom since she went through a phase of making tea cozies for friends except hers had hand-batiked custom fabric on the outside. I remember the smell of the wax she used when she did the batik. I guess it's obvious where I get my crafting urges.

Right now I am engaged in hanging some textiles that necessitated purchase of a staple gun. This is a kind of scary thing. When this comes to fruition I will post about it.

New Apron

I just finished this apron and gave it to my friend June. I've been wanting to make it since January but didn't get around to it during school. I love the pattern design--very flattering and slightly retro. It is the "Mango Tango" pattern from A is for Apron, designed by Joan Hand Stroh. I think her apron designs are great. She also sells her aprons at her Etsy shop. I think I will make another one with this pattern but one thing I will alter is make the ties longer. They are not long enough to tie a bow in the back!

Mad Plaid

For the first time, I submitted an apron photo to one of Tie One On's apron themes, and all the submissions are now up for viewing. I love looking at all the ways people interpreted the theme (plaid). And I love getting all the compliments on my apron! Take a look at all the other variations--there are some amazing glamorous, retro, and nutty creations.
About the photo: When I was at SCRAP looking for plaid, I found all this cool plaids that I didn't end up using for the apron. It was as if I had never really looked at the plaids and suddenly I saw tons of them. While doing the apron, I realized that I really like the combination of plaid with flowers or plant-inspired designs. I realized I almost never wear plaid--why is that? In my closet I have one plaid shirt that I only wear camping. I think I need more plaid in my life.

My Latest Apron

Here's the apron I made for my niece. It appears on the most recent post to her blog! It was a little tricky to modify the apron to fit her, but I think it came out well.

New Apron!

Actually it's not all that new. I finished it right before we went up to the lake, and I brought it up to use there. It got some nice compliments. I'm working on one the same style, just a little smaller, for my niece who has her own cooking blog. You can check out her blog here.
Back to my apron, it's made from an old plaid tablecloth from Thrift Town and some other fabric from SCRAP. The pattern by Joan Hand Stroh is called "Lorelei" from A is for Apron by Nathalie Mornu. I really like the design because it's simple and flattering and easy to combine different fabrics and trims. If you want to see more adorable aprons (for sale!) by Joan Hand Stroh, here's her Etsy site.
I submitted my apron to the Tie One On apron theme--plaid--this month. Go see some of the other cool past apron themes!

Sewing Projects

Last summer I created my own one woman sewing camp and made an apron from a retro pattern. Over the past year, I've kept sewing. The smock apron above is made from an old tablecloth and other scraps of material from SCRAP. I love going to SCRAP. They have a lot of fabric and you can't beat the prices. Using odd shapes of fabric tests my creativity, since I sometimes have to piece things together instead of using one whole piece of fabric. Or I make little things, like these purses (the lining fabrics were remnants):
Last summer I also got a great stash of fabric at the Alameda Flea Market. Someone was selling interior design samples; these were extremely expensive fabrics for $1 a piece! Here are some seat cushions and sofa cushions I made from two of these samples, which happened to go beautifully together:
I have two great fabrics from SCRAP for my next projects:
I think the yellow one will be placemats and the blue and white toile a fabric cover for a photo scrapbook. I'm also going to make at least one apron this summer. One-woman sewing camp, here I come!

My New Favorite Apron

Here's the final result of my apron project. I like how the two different fabrics turned out. It was a bit fussy to make with all that bias tape, but I think it was worth it. I feel like some kind of domestic royalty in it.
Tonight's dinner was Chicken Provençal, adapted from Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World. There's onion, chopped green pepper, garlic, anchovies, capers, tomatoes, white wine, saffron, and fresh marjoram and thyme. Basically just throw it all together, put in the chicken, and cook it till it's done.
My son who bakes made brownies with pecans, from scratch. He doesn't realize what a good cook he is.

My One-Person Sewing Camp

I am in the process of making a vintage apron, Simplicity #3544. I believe this is a rerelease of a vintage pattern, due to heavy interest in vintage aprons (more on that in a sec). The one I'm making is the one on the far right with the scalloped hem, except I'm using two contrasting fabrics, shown in the photo. How did I get into this?
Well, after hassling my son to choose a summer camp (which he didn't) I realized that I was the one who wanted to go to summer camp. A trip to Kennolyn Camp (a camp I wanted to go to as a kid but never did) was not a realistic option for me, however. I scaled down my options to a workshop or class, and searched for a sewing class at Stitch Lounge, a groovy urban sewing place, but none of them tickled my fancy or were at the right time. So...I decided to indulge my urge to sew on my own. Heck, I know how to put in a zipper and sew a buttonhole! While reading Stitch Lounge's blog, I clicked on some other sites with beautiful fabrics and unusual patterns, like Sew Mama Sew and Sew Liberated, and from there it was a short jump to The Apronista, where seamstresses post photos of their own home-made aprons, vintage or not, from commercial patterns or their own patterns. And for the real experts, there's Tie One On, a blog with a monthly apron-creation theme (check out the Havana Nights gallery). For your dose of over-the-top apron silliness, visit Confessions of an Apron Queen (scroll down to see a pattern cover with a dead ringer for Burt Reynolds wearing apron chaps that can be tied around one's pant legs). I felt I was journeying through an alternate universe devoted to cute, nostalgic, sex-pot, outrageous, and eccentric aprons. I wanted in.
After looking at the gorgeous aprons all these (I assume) ladies had created, I was instantly dissatisfied with the grubby, denim Williams-Sonoma one that I had given to my husband and ended up wearing myself. The others I have aren't even worth describing, except for another man-sized one given to us by my husband's sister and made from a Hawaiian rice sack. I do wear that one to bake, sometimes. I began to crave a beautiful apron that would express my domestic-goddess role in the household. I needed a feminine, sexy apron worthy of my hours spent cooking and generally making the kitchen my temple.
But which one to choose? Not willing to wait for mail order, I cruised down to Beverly's, the closest sewing place to me (not terribly creative, but the ingredients for creativity are there) and bought Simplicity #3544 (which I had discovered on the Simplicity website). Also at Beverly's I found the fabric, Trailing Cherry, by Amy Butler Midwest Modern, which went really well with a tiny pink gingham on sale. (I fell in love with Amy Butler's Midwest Modern, and am now scheming about what else I can make with her fabrics, which are inspired by nature in her native Ohio, with an Asian and Edwardian and Mod influence all at the same time.) The pattern is not all that difficult although using two different fabrics caused me to do a bit more thinking about which pieces should be each different fabric. I am a slow sewer but so far so good. I'll post a photo of the completed apron when it's done. For a preview, I did find a photo of an apron someone else had made with my same pattern on Apronista. She used a 50s Mel's Diner fabric. Hers looks great!
To fulfill my summer camp longing, I also signed up for a half-day workshop on writing haiku with Gary Gach. Unfortunately I was the only one who signed up, so they cancelled the class. Seems like the one-person summer camp is this summer's motif. I was reading haiku in preparation for the class--although not writing much. Guess I'll have to create my own inspiration to write more.