Yo-Yo Give Away Winner

Drum roll please......

The picture of the drawing taking place didn't want to load correctly.

The winner is Ashley!  Send me an email so your new yo-yos can get to their new home.

Circle Tote Purse Design

 

A few weeks ago, I really wanted a new purse. Of course, all of you fellow sewists know that the first thing you do is head to your stash. Midway through my stash was some periwinkle blue cotton with an unusual texture. It had been floating around for about two years. I decided to put it to use. Now, which pattern will I use? I could not find any in my stash that I wanted to make using the periwinkle fabric. After pacing and thinking for a couple of days over how which design to go with, I made a decision. I would make my own purse pattern.

This process took me two days and another two days to cut and sew together. All the while, I was crossing my fingers that the pieces would go together the way they needed to. It worked for the most part. I still have some bugs to work out but I am happy with the results. The picture above is what I am calling my prototype bag. It was the test bag. Now all I need to do is find somewhere to print the pattern pieces so I can share the bag pattern with all of you.

The finished bag measures 23 1/2" wide x 15" tall x 4" deep. It featured an inside pocket, magnetic snap closure, pleated or pin tucked body (your choice which one), and hidden pockets behind the pleated sections. You are not stuck making just the tote. There will be a smaller shoulder bag option along with a clutch option included in the pattern. I am doing my best to write the instructions clearly, so that even a beginning sewist can make this bag!

The flower attachment I made with Janome's Tattered Flowers Tutorial. I used safety pins to attach the flowers. I like being able to change the flowers to different colors for added fun.

Yo-Yo Give Away

I'm fueling the madness.  This week I'm giving away 20 handmade yo-yos.  This will be a random drawing with random yo-yos as the prize.  Leave a comment at the bottom of the post to be entered in the drawing.  Entries will be taken until midnight (12 A.M.) on Thursday night, June 17, 2009.  I will announce the winner on Friday.

Yo-Yo Madness Continues

My yo-yo pile continues to grow. Some of them got put to use yesterday. I made a new pincushion for myself. My old pincushion was about 6 years old and had eaten numerous needles over the years. Once the yo-yo pincushion was finished I gutted the old one in search of my long lost needles. There were 25 needle floating around in there!

Both the yo-yo's and the pincushion were made with inspiration from tutorials I found online.
Heather Bailey has a great tutorial on making yo-yo's by hand. This is my new favorite hand stitching hobby.
The pincushion tutorial can be found at CraftyPod. This site is really worth checking out. She has lots of tutorials and inspirational ideas.

The yo-yo's were hand stitched to the pincushion base after the base was stuffed and closed up. All of my yo-yo's measured about 3" across. The yo-yo's on the side I stitched together side-by-side with a 1/4" seam on the machine to fit the circumference of the pincushion base. I folded the tops and bottoms down while pinning them in place to hand stitch. Hand stitching is something I enjoy but is hard for me to get started doing. The level of satisfaction I get from hand stitching is greater than that of sewing with a machine. My machine still gets good use though!


I will be accepting emails all summer showing your yo-yo projects. Get 'em down here so we can all see 'em. thefadedstitch@yahoo.com

Here is a sample pillow I made this week. It's made from a nature panel set Mrs. Patti sells at Common Threads Quilt Shoppe. Let me know what you think.

Pinwheel Plus

Pretty pinwheels with charm squares. There is a very helpful tutorial online to make pinwheels with a pack of charm squares. The completed table topper measures 28" x 28". It's very busy. I think the pinwheel applique I did down the center helps to pull the whole thing together. The buttons were found buttons from a yard sale last weekend.

Here's the link to the pinwheel tutorial.


The charm squares came from RJR fabrics. This was from their Charlotte fabric line. Unfortunately it seems to be an older line of fabric. I finished the back with a Robert Kaufman fabric. One and a half yards was more than enough to finish the table topper and binding. I used some of the scraps to make a new pincushion that you will see in an upcoming post.

As Promised

Eye Candy! This was one of my first quilting projects. It's a lap size that I squeezed out of some scraps around the house using a nine patch pattern. I didn't actually quilt this, I was too chicken at that point to try quilting anything, I tied it instead. It has a poly batting and is perfect for the couch on cool days. So sorry for the fuzzy pics, I'm planning on upgrading the camera by the fall to a digital slr to get clearer shots.




This is just a basic whip stitch, it's all I knew at the time. I've since learned how to make an invisible stitch. I've heard some call it a castle stitch but as of now it's the nameless invisible stitch for me.



It's Summer Yo-Yo Madness. I have no clue what I'll be doing with these yet but production goes on. I'm currently enrolled in an internet class and this is what I do in the mornings while sitting in the sun trying to not look like a ghost. Here's a challenge. Make a small project out of yo-yo's using scraps that you can display somewhere in your house to give it a more summery feel. Email me pictures and I'll post them here! I want to see what you are working on..

I Dropped Off the Face of the Earth

No, kidding, I'm still here, thank the Maker. My sewing has taken a new turn since December and I've learned to quilt. Rather, I've learned to piece in it's most basic forms. My blog has been all but abandoned during this time, I apologize to you guys for that (gasp, I said it, "you guys" instead of "ya'll") School has taken a front seat to most everything else. This would include my sewing lessons that I've been taking at random as I scrape up the money for a class here and there. I have to say, I do catch on quick but I need to focus on becoming a master of one of my trades instead of a jack of all of them. I'm a bit ADD (attention deficit disorder) when it comes to the things I like to do, my sewing has remained the one constant in all of this. Like they say, it's cheaper than therapy. If I hadn't had my sewing machine some Psychologist would be a rich person by now.

We have finally settled in to our little corner of Erie here (it only took us 10 months to do it). I have found a few good places to attend the occasional sewing/quilting class and continue to watch the upcoming classes. Three of my favorite shops in the area are Yaple's, Super Stitch, and a new shop on 38th Street called Common Threads Quilting Shoppe. The owner of Common Threads is Mrs. Patti Wessler and she is wonderful as a teacher. I would suggest her to anyone in the area looking for a good shopping experience. She's still fairly new (she only opened in December) but, she is always getting new things in. She has helped fuel my quilting obsession. I'm posting her link here Common Threads.

Super Stitch in Northeast, PA is awesome! Rick and Anne go the extra mile for you. I went in originally looking for a Bernina but Anne steered me towards my Janome 6600P which I am in total love with. I've named her Camille.

There are still a lot of things that I have to learn but continue to plug away at it. I will get some pictures posted soon of some of my latest creations because I know how barren The Faded Stitch looks at the moment. It desperately needs a more personal touch. I invite everyone to comment on the projects I will be posting and would like to hear about what you have going lately. It seems you guys are shy, I've not gotten one email in response to the blog, hit me up! I wanna hear from you guys ( I did it again). Bring your friends over and drink some coffee and post away! Hope to hear from you guys soon!

School is Haites

I should be back very soon. These last few weeks at school have been very hectic. I completed a few projects before I fell off the face of the planet. I'll get them up as soon as possible. Finals are next week and things should settle down for a bit after that.

Flannel Update

This is Alexis's shirt made from the end of bolt flannel. It has several mistakes but otherwise turned out good. It gives her some room to grow into it. The applique was a lucky find on a clearance rack at Joann's a year ago. Gotta love the bargain shelf.

I'm still holding out for some of the other flannel to complete a shirt for myself. I'm crossing my fingers that someone out there has spotted some of the fabric on a shelf somewhere and it's wearing my name on it. If you've seen any of it, please email me.

Russell's Jacket

So, this is the Ottobre pattern I'm working on for Russell. There seems to be a certain lack of boy's patterns on the market. I invested in an Ottobre subscription for one year to try it out. I've never worked with patterns like this before. It should be an adventure to say the least. My eyes crossed when I pulled the pattern page out. Eventually, I ended up tracing around the pieces I needed for the jacket with a sharpie so I could see it better through the pattern fabric, that did the trick. I'm just hoping I have the sizing right. I WILL be making a muslin for this one, to make sure. I added 1/4" seam allowances to the pattern as I traced it. Converting the metric measurements over to inches should be fun when adding the zippers. The fabric saga continues though. Thinking I had found the perfect fabric for it, I buy it and bring it home only to hate what I had picked out. I'll find something to do with that fabric eventually but right back to the drawing board on what to make this out of. I've never worked with knits before so, a chance to gain new experience awaits me! Whoo-hoo! Let's hope this is not a total disaster, it very well could be.

More Flannel

Flannel, flannel everywhere! There's just something about flannel in fall weather. It's so snuggly and warm and perfect for shirts. I still have a shirt for myself cut out and waiting to be sewn up but I'm still lacking about 1/2 yd of the fabric to make the cuffs. If you look back a few posts, you'll see pics of it. If anyone knows where to find some of this PLEASE let me know, I'll be very appreciative and would be willing to throw a vintage pattern in on the side for the trouble. The flannel this tunic is made out of was end of bolt fabric. There was just enough to squeeze the tunic out of it WITHOUT matching. I've got to get better at that. I made view E without the ruffle for Alexis in this plaid fabric, she thinks ruffles make you look like you're from the 1700's. It's finished and in the dryer. I'm rather proud of it even though there are so many mistakes in it. She loves it, that's what counts. I'll post pics of the completed shirt in the next couple of days.

On a side note, I found a sewing guild chapter here in town! I'm going to sit in on a meeting in the next couple of weeks. I'm so excited. I've never had a group of people to sew with. I hope I'm not hyping myself up too much. I've been looking forward to something like this for a looooong time.

My New Book

Looking through the books in the craft section at the book store the other day I found this book. It was staring at me, calling my name. My boyfriend ended up getting it for me and paid around $25 for it. I'm so excited about some of the projects in this book, I've already made one of them for my son. I had just the right amount of fabric to make the small floor cushion for him. He's been dragging it all over the house since I finished. I was able to throw it together in just a couple of hours yesterday. This one will be tattered and well worn in a matter of time. Great book, practical patterns, easy to understand instructions.