"D" is for...

I've broken my silence and made my first baby blanket in over a year!  In Singapore, it was impossible to find the soft minky plush fabric I use in my blankets so I couldn't make my signature blankets.  But, now that I'm back in Houston, I have access to my fabrics again.  I prefer to buy my minky fabric at Hobby Lobby.  Joann's has them too, but they're not nearly as soft as the brand that Hobby Lobby carries.  Much to my delight, I found that during my absence over the past couple of years, Hobby Lobby has increased the variety of colors they carry of the minky fabric.  Oh the possibilities!

I picked up the NYC fabric on one of my trips to the city and have been waiting for the right person to use it for.  Little Darya was born in Jersey, but just moved to TX.  So, this will be a little reminder of her East Coast roots.  I'm a little late with my gift as she is now a few months old, but it's better late than never right?

Meet Juno

A couple months ago, Andy and I got to talking about our upcoming birthdays and he asked me what I wanted for a present.  Since I started making clothing, I've been wanting to get a serger to add to my family of sewing machines.  For those of you who don't know what a serger is, it basically finishes off seams to prevent fabric from unraveling during wearing and washing.  So, if you look on the inside of your shirt, you'll see the seams are bound in a zig-zag like stitch.  That's the work of the serger.  Other great uses for sergers are for sewing a rolled hem and for sewing with stretchy knit fabrics.

Being a good and frugal wife, I've been monitoring craigslist for a reasonably priced serger in good condition. Lo and behold, this past Sunday I saw a promising posting, we went to check it out, and got me an early birthday present!

Introducing Juno - the serger:

Good thing the guy (yes it was a man) that sold it to me threaded it already because I think it'll take me awhile to figure out how to thread this thing.  

The best part - I only paid $75 bucks for this baby!  It retails at about $199, so I think I got a pretty good deal.  I told Andy he got off easy this year - I'm well under our "alotted" birthday gift maximum and he didn't even have to do any shopping....I did all the work for him!  Can't wait to put this baby to good use!

Pillowcase Tutorial

Remember those pillowcases I posted a little while ago?  Well I finally got around to writing up a tutorial on how I made them.  It's my very first tutorial, so don't judge me too harshly.  I do welcome any feedback on how to improve it.  If you'd like to download it in pdf form, you can click on this link. Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

For this, you will need:

A throw pillow
Fabric to cover it
Thread
Invisible zipper (it must be at least as long as one side of your pillow)

You will also need an invisible zipper foot for sewing the invisible zipper.  It will allow you to sew as close as possible to the invisible zipper so that it will not show when finished.

Your machine may come with a regular zipper foot, but you will need to purchase a separate foot for the invisible zipper.  I bought mine while in Singapore so it may be a little different from the one sold in the US. For more information about invisible zipper feet, you can check out this website.

1.    Measure the dimensions of your throw pillow.  Add 1/2” to your measurements of the length and width to provide room for seam allowances (1/4” on each side).  For example, my pillow measured 18” x 18” so I cut my fabric as 18.5” x 18.5”.

2.  Cut out 2 pieces based on your measurements.

3.    Unzip the zipper and using a warm iron, press open the invisible zipper.  This will help the zipper to lay flatter, which will then allow you to sew closer to the zipper teeth.

4.  Place one piece of fabric with the right side up and place the invisible zipper face down along the bottom edge.

5.  Align the bottom edge of the zipper with the bottom edge of your fabric and pin.  Make sure the zipper extends beyond the fabric on both sides and the zipper head is past the edge of the fabric.  This will make it easier to sew as you will not have to maneuver around the zipper pull while sewing.

6.  Switch out the standard foot on your machine for the invisible zipper foot.  For this, you must unscrew and remove the presser foot and shank.


7.  With the edge of the fabric facing the right side, line up the zipper teeth with the left groove of the invisible zipper foot.  Sew the invisible zipper to the fabric.  (Tip:  Use your fingers as shown in the picture to hold the invisible zipper open as wide as possible to ensure that you are sewing as close as possible to the zipper teeth.  This will help minimize the amount of zipper that shows when you are finished.)


8.  Close the zipper and lay the piece sewn to the zipper with the right side facing up.  Take your second piece and lay it wrong side up on top of the first piece, lining up the edges and corners.  You may want to put a couple of pins on each side close to the zipper to help the piece stay in place.


9.  Lift the free edge of the zipper towards you and line it up with the edge of the top piece of fabric.  Make sure the right side of the top piece is facing the right side of the zipper.  Pin the bottom edge of the top layer to the free edge of the zipper.


10.  When you are done, open the zipper all the way.  This is so that when you are sewing, you won’t have to sew around the zipper pull.


11.  With the raw edge facing the right, line up the zipper teeth with the left groove on the invisible zipper foot.  Sew the zipper and fabric together, using the same technique as before.


12.    Zip the zipper halfway to two-thirds of the way, making sure to leave an opening (this is so that you will be able to unzip the zipper later to turn the pillowcase inside out.  If you leave it shut, it will be hard for you to reach the zipper pull since it will be sewn inside the pillowcase).


13.  Match up the sides and corners and pin the two pieces together around the edges.


14.  Switch out your invisible zipper foot for the standard foot.


15.  Pull the zipper back about 1” from the edge of the fabric (you may need to undo some of the stitching holding the zipper and the fabric together).

16.    When sewing, you will want to sew the three non-zippered sides of the pillowcase together first leaving a ¼” seam on all sides.  It is best to start sewing perpendicular to the zippered side, this way you can sew all three sides together in one shot.  To begin, make sure to pull the zipper away from the edge of the fabric and sew only the two pieces of fabric together.  

17.    To finish off the side with the zipper, you must sew closed the gap left between where the zipper starts and the corner.  While holding the zipper at a 90 degree angle from the fabric, sew from the corner to where the zipper starts, (about 1” in from the sides).   See picture below.

18.    When finished, the zipper should bend out away from the zippered side.


19.    Hand sew a few stitches at the end of the zipper to keep the zipper head from sliding off.  Then trim off the excess zipper.


20.  Trim the points off each of the corners.


21.  Reach into the opening and unzip the zipper.  Turn pillowcase inside out.  Push out corners with a thin pointed object so that the corners are pointed (I use a chopstick).


22.    Stuff your pillow in, zip it up, and there you have it! A brand new pillow to decorate your room with!

Patio Cushions and a Photobomb

I've spent the better part of the week sewing my sister-in-law's cushion covers and I can gladly say that I'm done! Unfortunately, she doesn't live nearby so all I have to show are some close-ups of the covers with one of my little throw pillows stuffed inside.  For this, I used an outdoor fabric (some synthetic material that I can't remember the name of), but it's supposed to be fade and dirt resistant.  I'm gonna mail these out to my sis and hopefully she'll send me some pics to share so you can all see how they look when filled.

This was my first time installing a lapped zipper.  The top half of the zipper has a flap that folds over to cover the zipper.  I mainly chose the lapped zipper because for the largest cushion, we couldn't find a zipper that matched in color and had to use a white zipper.  This way the zipper isn't showing so it really doesn't matter what color it is.

I made some velcro tabs to secure the cushions to the chairs.  We actually found some blue velcro too!

In other news, I've been working on writing up my first tutorial on how to make the pillowcases I posted on last week.  I've got a little more editing and hopefully can post that soon!

And, to celebrate the fact that it's quitting time on Friday, I thought you might enjoy a silly photo.  I totally photobombed this one, but in a good way!

Happy Friday everyone!  Hope you have a great weekend!

Oops! I did it again....

I went to the store, bought too much fabric

Oh baby, baby.

Oops I couldn't refrain

From getting more fabric

I've got to stay away...

Ok enough of that, you're probably rolling your eyes.  Just to be clear, I'm not a fan of Britney, it's just the first thing that popped in my mind and out of my mouth when Andy came home and saw the new additions to my stash.  (I have noticed that if I put on my cutesy face and voice, he doesn't seem to get too angry when show him my purchases....haha).  But really, I'm thankful to have such a generous husband.

My new fabrics!  In my defense, I am planning on making a throw sized quilt as a wedding present for a friend.  However, there's no way that a throw needs oh....say 11 yards of fabric? hee hee.  The second point in my defense is that it was a store closing sale so I basically bought these fabrics at 50% off.  Now how often does that happen?!?  That's right girls, I just HAD to take advantage.

Oh, and I couldn't resist and picked up these places for 50 cents a pop!

On a totally unrelated tangent, I often drive by this patch of black-eyed susan's when I go out.  Every time I go by, I think to myself I should really pick some of these...they would look great in my apartment.  I once asked Andy to stop and he refused.  So, the other day, I was driving by myself and decided to stop and pick me some flowers!  I must've looked like the crazy lady running around grabbing flowers off the side of the road.  But, it was worth it - they look beautiful (or they did for 2 days before they wilted :-(...)

.

This past weekend was a relaxing weekend...sorta (if you call working from home relaxing).  Andy's been busy at work and had to put in some extra hours during the weekend.  I'm busy working on my sis-in-law's cushion covers.  So we both set up on my sewing table in the "study/sewing room" area and spent the day working while watching a few mindless movies (like Deathrace 2, From Paris with Love).

Getting ready to cut - one of the cushions is practically the size of twin mattress

Trying to work out the dimensions for making a lapped zipper.  After reading a few tutorials, I just decided to do it my own way....still came out pretty good :-)

A working Saturday = not so much fun for Andy, but lots of fun for me.  As usual, I took up 2/3 of the table and Andy got 1/3.  This applies to many things in our marriage - our queen bed, the blankets, the closet....you get the point.

Andy's engineering - sorry I can't show any real documents, they're confidential.

My engineering - don't mock, sewing involves lots of calculations!

Andy's computer screen.  I had to blur it out just to be safe, but he's got it open to microsoft outlook.

My computer screen - music inspires me to sew.  Everything is made better with a little music.  Lately, I've been on a Mat Kearney kick.

So that was a weekend.  Hope yours was more exciting than ours!  Alrighty, time for me to finish up these cushions.  1 down 2 to go....

Goodbye Mani, Goodbye Cockroach

Yesterday, I decided to paint my nails so I could look extra pretty for our date to see the Houston Symphony in the special dollar concert (yes, it only cost me $1 a ticket, but I had to pay a $5 service fee and $7 to park - go figure).  I rarely paint my finger nails because inevitably, 30 minutes after I'm done, I ruin it.  I don't know how some women can keep their manicures looking pristine past 1 hour...any tips? Maybe they just sit around home eating bon bons and watching Keeping up with the Kardashians (which I admit I occasionally watch as a guilty pleasure....I think their life is ridiculous, but it's inexplicably engrossing).  At least when I watch, I'm probably sewing.  Sewing = death for manicures.  I guess I just like to get my hands dirty...I don't know why I even bother with manicures.

Anyway, today I busted out my sewing machine after a 3 MONTH hiatus and traded my manicure in for sewing.  Making stuff is way more awesome!  It feels so nice to be in front of a sewing machine again, although my neck tension problems are creeping back.  I need to work on remembering to maintain good posture while sewing and take breaks in between.

Here's a sneak peek at my new sewing area:

I forgot to take a pic after I actually brought out the sewing machine

My manicure isn't the only thing I've said goodbye to lately.  The other day, I lived through what I call "The Great Cockroach Standoff".  I was unpacking and organizing the bathroom linen closet when I spotted a gigantic cockroach in an open bag of toilet paper.  There were little black turds in there too so I suspect the cockroach had been there awhile....I'm hoping that it came from our temporary apartment since there was a roach problem back there (this is what I tell myself to overcome the gross thought that I'm living in a roach infested apartment).  Anyway, I tried to kill the roach in the bag, but it got out and then proceeded to crawl all over my stuff, up the wall, and onto the ceiling.  Now the ceilings here are about 9 ft high and the cockroach just parked itself up there.  In the process of trying to kill it, I pretty much pulled everything of the closet and created a gigantic mess.

My big mess

Now, how to kill this little bugger? I thought about using my swiffer to squash it against the ceiling, but what if I missed and the bug fell on me?  There wasn't really much room to get into the closet and the roach was too close to the door, making it impossible to see it unless you stuck your head in the closet and looked up (with your mouth closed of course).  It was getting close to dinner time, but I couldn't leave the room without the roach being dead.  So....I sent Andy a distress call, told him to get his butt home pronto and pick up some roach spray on the way (it helps that I literally live next door to Home Depot).  Then I pulled up a chair and began "The Great Cockroach Standoff".

About half an hour later, Andy came to the rescue.  He reached his hand into the closet, pointed the nozzle of the roach spray towards the ceiling, gave a blind spray, causing the roach to fall to the floor, and I creamed it with my swiffer.  Victory is mine! So:

Cockroach: 0
Sliks: 1

I took a pic of the dead roach on my phone, but I figured you probably would rather not see it.  Hopefully I'm on my way to living roach free....

Sneak Peek

Tomorrow morning I'll be on my way for a long-awaited trip to the states!  It's been about a year and a half since I've been on US soil and I can't wait! I'm gonna be spending 7 weeks touring the country.  Gonna start in Jersey, then Dallas and Houston, and finally Chicago!  Can't wait to eat some good pizza, bagels, bbq, Mexican, and salami.  I know it sounds weird, but those are things that are hard to find or ridiculously expensive here.

Of course, I've got a whole bunch of last minute errands and packing to do, but I am proud to say that I managed to finish a new dress for my trip!  The main reason we're going back is for a wedding, so I decided to make my dress for the event.  I didn't have time to take a picture of myself in the dress, but I'm sure I'll get lots of opportunities later.

So, here's a little peek:

Alrighty, I'm signing out for awhile now.  Gotta finish my packing!  I'll try to update while I'm in the states, but no guarantees as I'm probably leaving my laptop behind.  See you later!

A New Dress (and a Date to Match)

Recently, I made a new dress, so of course I needed Andy to plan a date worthy of my new dress.

He did not disappoint.  He took me to see Ballet Revolucion at Esplanade Theater (that's the one that looks like a giant durian).  It was a great show that blended together traditional ballet with latin, hip hop, and modern dance.  It was like an episode of So You Think You Can Dance, without any comments or screeches from a certain annoying high-pitch-voiced judge.

After our show, we walked around Marina Bay over to the Marina Bay Sands Mall where we had dinner reservations at db bistro.  On the way over, I handed my camera over to Andy and had a little photo shoot so I could show off my new dress.

I was probably in the middle of telling Andy he's taking the picture crooked....

This is a great dress for twirling because of the full pleated skirt - love it!

This dress was based off one I found on modcloth.com

I learned quite a bit in making this dress, especially about bias and fabric stretching.  Basically, when fabric is cut on the bias (diagonal), it tends to stretch, so you need to take measures to prevent the stretching and modify the cut of your pattern to account for any stretching.  The dress doesn't quite lie flat in some places, but really, I don't think anyone is looking close enough to notice.  I'm pretty happy with the dress and will wear it proudly!

Anyway, to top off the night, we had a nice dinner at db bistro, which is famous for this burger:

The db original burger.  Ground sirloin stuffed with foie gras and short rib meat.  Delicious!

I also had a seafood casserole....so yummy!

All in all a great opportunity to wear my dress (and have some yummy food)!