Yellow Silk

 Hello Readers. If you have been reading along this month you may have noticed all the yellow. Yellow seems like a happy color and I really wanted to try and be cheerful. I don't know if all the yellow is cheering anyone up, but it can't hurt. When I decided to focus on yellow I started looking around my stash of sewing stuff for yellow things. I found this yellow silk that my mother-in-law passed on to me and was determined to make something out of it.

Before and after.

I had 2 pieces of yellow silk. I really loved the floral print. I just did not have that much of it. It was very thick because it is actually a decorator fabric. It should probably be a seat cushion somewhere, but not today. Today it is going to be fun clothing. I had more of the plain yellow fabric. It had a pretty sheen and would be a good buddy fabric, if I needed it. 

 

 The floral fabric was a long narrow rectangle. It was going to be impossible to make anything big out of it. I knew it was a great piece to make a wrap skirt. Wrap skirts are usually just long narrow rectangles, so I was half-way done already. I went through this book and got out the wrap skirt pattern. This is not an ad. I just like this book of basic simple patterns.

You can see the fabric and the paper pattern here. They are both rectangles and they are already similar in size. This should be easy. The pattern shows where all the tucks need to go to make the waist fit well. All of those little triangles are important.

This is a view of the skirt. You can see a couple of the tucks I made at the waist. I followed the pattern directions and hemmed all the cut edges. But that waist needs a closure. (We all need closure don't we?)

I was running out of fabric. I almost made a waist tie from the plain yellow silk but then I saw this bias tape. It matched really well to the skirt and it was a lot easier since it was already made. 

I sewed the bias tape around the waistband and left some extra to tie it closed. The bias tape is great because it covers the waistband inside and out all in one step. 

 

Here is the finished skirt. It was thick enough that it didn't need any lining underneath. 

I added a little magnetic snap inside the skirt to keep the skirt layers in place inside the skirt. I sewed it on by hand.

This skirt was perfect for a charity concert in Washington D.C. You can see the Washington and Lincoln Monuments behind me.

 

 The concert was performed by the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. It was beautiful and supported refugees from the war in Ukraine.

My daughter took me. It was great.

 

 We did some snacking and tailgating in the parking garage before we went into the concert. Thanks for reading along, there will be more yellow silk next time. Now, go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- I love this silk skirt. I need to go somewhere so I can wear this again. I also still pack snacks when I go out.

The Fabric Sample Scarf

 Hello Readers. My mother-in-law gave me tons of fabric over the years. She worked at a fabric store that specialized in home decor fabrics. It is great for making curtains and sometimes I can find a way to make clothing too. She passed a lot of fabric samples on to me as well and today's project was made with one of those sample pieces.

 

Before and after. 

 

This orange and green fabric was wool or a wool blend. (It photographs a little red, but it is really a dark orange. It seemed perfect for fall. It was really small and a piece had been cut out of it. What could I make out of it? I had an idea. A scarf.

I cut the uneven side off so that I had an even square. Well, it was almost a square but not quite.

 

  Then I cut this edge off. This edge was to keep it from fraying at the fabric store but I want it to fray. That's right, I want fraying. I am actually going to make it fray.

I made a tight stitch all the way around the square. I wanted to stop the fraying at some point if it got out of control. I don't know if I needed to do this. It seemed later that it was not necessary.

I just started pulling the threads out so I had fringe. It took a long time but it wasn't difficult. 

 

After a while I had some nice fringe on all 4 sides of my scarf. 

 

It went with this great green dress really well. (It has pockets!) This dress is loose and that's OK. I just wanted a little more shape at the waist.

I marked a new side seam in soap. You can use chalk or whatever marking tool you like.

I used my serger to make these new side seams. 

You can see the new shape in the midsection and it looks great with the scarf. 

 

 

I added a jacket because it is fall. 

 

I was happy with the sample scarf and the new dress. I think I just found my Thanksgiving Day outfit. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Chickie's Year End Review-I love this dress more than I expected. The green was great for Christmas season. I still don't know if the scarf is orange or green. haha

A Summer Bag

 Hello Readers. I was in the mood to make a summer bag. I had a lot of purse straps and handles that my mother-in-law gave me. I thought I should use some of them. I also had some of the fabric samples she gave me. Let's put them together.

I am not very good at bags so this was going to be very simple. The fabric was the real star of the show. I loved this orange and yellow fabric. It was so summery. It was thick cotton and it would make a great bag. I had some round and oval bamboo handles. After I took this picture I decided to use oval handles. These kinds of purse handles are available at fabric stores and on Amazon.

I cut a strip of fabric off the side. I needed to get this grommet out of the way. 

I used the strip and another I cut to make small pieces that I could use to attach the handles. I basically made small tubes about 4 inches long. Stay with me, it's going to make more sense as we go.

I made some fabric and handle sandwiches. There are 2 rectangles of the fabric with the right side facing the other right side. The small tubes are folded in half and open ends are sticking out out the sandwich. The handles are in the loops and in the sandwich. 

 Here is a peek inside the sandwich. you can see the handles in there. I stitched around the sides and the top where the little straps are sticking out. Then I flipped it right-side out. 

 This is what I made, these 2 identical pieces. Each one looks the same from front and back. I wanted to use this fabric everywhere for this bag.  The bottom of each piece is not sewn closed yet but that is OK. We will do that next. I stitched these 2 pieces to each other on the sides and the bottom and flipped them right-side out again.

Here is a peak inside. I connected the 2 pieces you saw above and flipped it inside out again. I did this so the fabric would be visible at the top of the bag. Doing this also made clean seams inside the bag.

This is a great little summer bag, I am loving the orange and yellow. 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Chickie's Year End Review-Oh man! I love this yellow bag. I think it was one of my most popular post this year as well.

Using Small Pieces of Fabric

 Hello Readers. If you sew at all you know fabric scraps tend to multiply quickly. Before you know it you have lots and lots of fabric scraps. (They are like rabbits!) What can you do with them? You can make so many beautiful things by piecing them together in a patchwork style. If they are a bit larger you can make throw pillows. I made Christmas stockings for my family out of sample pieces from the fabric store. Samples are usually 2' by 2'. At least all the ones I have are that size. I decided to use a couple pieces to change up 2 chairs at my house.

  These chairs have been around for a while. They were both items I have scavenged from a yard sale and the side of the street. I wanted to put the floral chair in my school room but it doesn't match. The room is blue and the chair is yellow floral print. 

The little stool was blue and white but it has been used so much it looks a little dingy. I want it in my room at my little desk. The stool is small and the desk is small, they will be perfect. My bedroom is yellow and red so it would be nice if I could find a piece of fabric to match. 

 

I went digging around my fabric closet.......

Most of this fabric came from my mother-in-law. She doesn't sew as much as she used to and after working at a fabric store for 20 years, she had stashed away a lot of fabric. She (And her coworkers.) always took the fabric samples that were going to the trash when the fabric was discontinued. Some of the fabric was extremely expensive and way out of my budget. I love working with the pieces.

I unscrewed the chair seat and used a staple gun to attach the "new" fabric on top of the old fabric. I like these kind of chairs because it is easy to recover them yourself at home. Goodbye floral print! Hello muted blues and greens.

 

The final result looks great and only took about 15 minutes per chair. (Not counting the amount of time it took me to reload the staple gun when it ran out of staples. It took much longer than it should have. I have been using the same staple gun for 20 years and I can never load it correctly the first time.)

 I love this rosy shade of red. And darker colors seem to hold up to kids and real life better than white ever does.

 

 The stool is perfect in my sewing room/office that is also my bedroom. It is a small corner office area and the stool doesn't take up too much room. This little desk is actually a sewing table that belonged to my Grandmom. There is a removable piece in the top and you can set a sewing machine in perfectly. I keep the piece in so I can use it as a desk. This is where I write these blog posts.

 

 

And one more idea for using small fabric pieces. Frame them. I loved this garden scene but only had a tiny scrap of this fabric. It is now at my desk.

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

 

Using Fabric Samples

Hello Readers. I have a very nice mother-in-law. She recently cleaned out her sewing room and sent a pile of sewing stuff to my house. She worked at a fabric store for years and had access to a lot of fabrics and trimmings. One thing she has given me a lot of is fabric sample squares.

 They are perfect squares with finished edges, 25 1/2 inches by 251/2 inches. I always thought they were too small for clothing but then I had an idea... shorts. It is hot, hot, hot where I live. I refuse to wear long pants in this heat if I don't have to.

 

They all have a cardboard tag on them with information about the fabric. The tag is stapled on so I removed it and I had some nice linen to work with.

I used my favorite shorts pattern and cut out my shorts. It was a tight fit.

 They were easy to put together. I made sure to finish the inside seams because linen will fray like crazy. I added elastic to the waist. The edge of the waistband was finished at the factory so I left it as it was.

The shorts fit and I am hoping linen will keep me cool in this heat. 

I said I had a lot of fabric samples right. I liked this striped canvas a lot. It looked very summery. It was too heavy for clothes so I made it into a summer tote. I have a 4 year so I often carry my things and his toys, drinks, snacks....

I cut the original square into 4 smaller squares. 

 I put all 4 squares on top of each other and sewed some bias tape around 3 sides connecting them all.

 The top edges were all finished at the factory so I left them as they were. They won't fray.

My bag has 3 sections. (It will probably be 1 for me and 2 for the little guy.)

I turned the bag right-side out.  Now the bias tape is inside and will keep the bag from fraying inside and looking messy.

 My bag needs a handle. I found this burlap ribbon in a bin from my sweet mother-in-law. It matched the gray stripe in the fabric. And it was just long enough for to make a shoulder strap. 

 I am hoping the 3 sections will keep me organized. I don't make any guarantees, but it can't hurt to try right?

The bag and shorts were great for going to the auto repair center to pick up my car. It wasn't very exciting but everyone does boring errands.

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 ***Year End update-I used this bag all summer. It was light and roomy. The shorts were fabulous too. They are both favorites for sure.