Finished Dresden Plate Quilt

Tags

finished project, quilts, sewing

I did it! I stitched the last stitch on my massive by-hand quilt yesterday. What a job.

I think I should call it my “Holland Plate Quilt.” Dresden Plates are the name of the circular-star pattern, but since I finished this in Holland… it makes sense.

This is so not perfect. I know it looks pretty good from these pictures over the interwebs, but this thing is just riddled with mismatching seams, things that don’t line up, places I didn’t measure well enough. And my poor hand-quilting skills make me sure this is just going to fall apart. But hey, whatever. It’s done.

This is a queen size quilt, with 30 blocks. I mostly followed the Dotty for Dresden pattern found in Material Obsession II, with some of my own tweaks (probably would have been better just to stick to the pattern…).

I checked back on my own blog and found out that I ordered the fabric last February–this took me almost an entire year to make! With breaks. I cut out all the fabric and sewed the blocks and plates together in Portland (with a machine, not by hand) then I shipped everything out to Amsterdam, which took a few months to receive. Once I got it, I started appliqueing the dresden plates to the quilt. Then I made the “quilt sandwich” and started the actual quilting. Finally, yesterday, I finished!

I put a few fun secrets in, like the tiny Christmas tree I stitched on Christmas Day. And when I ran out of fabric for the border, I threw in a swatch of Liberty of London I bought in London. My favorite part was an afterthought, actually. I stitched a row of Amsterdam-inspired canal houses on one edge, and I’m pretty much in love with how that turned out. I also added a “signature” to the back.

I finished this just in time, as we are currently experiencing a cold snap all across Europe–a frozen wind from Siberia has been sweeping down and turning everything to ice. Seriously, it is. That’s not even a metaphor. This quilt was perfect to cuddle under last night, making everything warm and toasty.

I’m so in love. And do dang proud of myself for finishing!

Lovely Object #5

Tags

quilts, sewing

What: Vintage Singer Sewing Machine

Where: On our side table, looking all vintage-y

How: Flea market find, at the Amsterdam Waterlooplein market

A few months ago Jesse came home and surprised me with a flea market treasure: a vintage Singer sewing machine that he scored for only €15. Neither of us had any idea if it worked or not, but it looked pretty cool, and that’s less than we’d spend on dinner! As far as my non-professional internet research could tell, the model is from somewhere around 1914-1920. I dusted it off and spun the wheel a few times, but was too intimidated to dig much deeper into fixing it. It’s sat on our side table looking pretty since then.

Now the new year has rolled around and I am this close to finishing my quilt. I thought if I could get the Singer working, it’d be cool to sew on the quilt binding with it (and save me some extra handwork). So the other afternoon we sat down and re-dusted the machine off. Between my general sewing knowledge, Jesse’s problem-solving, and a few Youtube videos we were able to wind the bobbin and get it sewing! That needle trundled along like nothing could stop it.

Such pretty filigree plates

Jesse figuring it out

The feeling of using a 100 year old machine… it’s a little crazy. How many hundreds of pieces of fabrics has it sewn through? This is a serious workhorse.

It’s hand-cranked, which is weird to grapple with. I can manage on smaller scraps, but when I did the binding for the quilt I had to rope Jesse into helping. He cranked and I steered: such teamwork!

Now if I could only stop my reflexes from reaching for the foot pedal and trying to turn the machine on and off every time I sit down… old habits die hard.

With a machine to help, even a hand-cranked one, the quilt will go much faster. Which means: I’m almost done…

A Few Things Homemade

Tags

clothes, finished project, sewing

January is the best time to be crafty. It’s cold outside, so I bundle up with a blanket and a mug of tea, put on a random movie or documentary, and sew to my heart’s content. I mentioned awhile ago that Jesse is now a knitter, and since he doesn’t have his own blog to brag on, I’m doing it for him. (Especially because I get good results out of his knitting.)

When we were in London I bought a length of Liberty of London fabric, and soon after managed to craft it into a lovely scarf. It was nothing fancy, I just hand-rolled and sewed the edges. I love it, and I love that I have leftover fabric! Here I am trying to model the many ways I can wear it, without laughing. I like it best as a long scarf/cowl, or as a fun turban for those bad hair days.

And below, a few of Jesse’s recent accomplishments.

Handwarmers for himself:

A hat for me (which I love so much! The soft color! The cabling! The lacy holes!):

And an orange cowl, expertly modeled by the man himself:

And, because I am so very lucky, he’s starting on a new hat for me tonight. I am repaying him by (still) working on our quilt. One day it will keep us warm…

A Visit to Liberty

Tags

fabric, London, sewing

It’s Christmastime! All the streets of Amsterdam have sprung lights, and olliebollen carts are selling their fried treats on every corner. London was decorated in Christmas finery as well. Without Thanksgiving to get in the way, European cities start the festivities much earlier, and with none of the guilt that Americans have!

Christmastime means shopping, of course, and London has plenty of options. While we didn’t buy much, we did wander around the posh districts and the smaller neighborhoods. Jesse, my dapper fellow, had the time of his life finding shop after shop with shaving accoutrements, pipes, bespoke suits, leather shoes and bags, and fine tweed caps. I swear that man has more expensive taste than I do.

We visited Harrods, which was completely over the top and way too much for me. Next time I’m in the market for Vera Wang, a diamond encrusted watch, a sushi bar, and a Louis Vuitton bag I’ll know where to go, though.  We also found Twinings Tea shop, tucked into a little corner on Fleet Street. Bedecked in Christmas finery, it was such a cozy store.

By far my favorite shopping experience, though, was finding Liberty of London. An old department store dating from the late 1800s, it’s been on Regent Street since it opened, and such is a beautiful building, especially at Christmas!

Liberty is known for it’s fabric, specifically it’s Cotton Tana lawn, a soft and silky cotton fabric with intricate flowery designs. A tiny spark of the bright patterns in a sewing project makes it special. I’ve bought small cuts of it at stores in Portland, and it’s some of my favorite, but to be confronted with an entire wall showing the whole collection of designs was a bit magical for me. I made small happy squeaks the entire time, walking down the aisles and touching everything.

I finally (finally) came away with this choice:

I splurged and got an entire meter of it, and I’m planning to make a lightweight scarf for myself. According to the sign beside the shelf, the design used to be very popular in the 1920s and 30s, and was chosen from the Liberty archives by Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine). Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I love the peacocks and the tiny jumping deer.

I know, my first Christmastime purchase was for myself–Sinterklaas/Santa would not be impressed. But one glimpse and a touch of this fabric, and I think he’d understand.

Evening on Mt. Tabor

Tags

art, clothes, finished project, Portland, sewing

I know, you Portlanders are thinking, “But Mt. Tabor is here, and you’re there…”

It’s true, these photos were taken over a month ago in Portland, but they turned out so good that I wanted to share anyway. One of our friends, Bonnie, had asked me if I wanted to do a little photo shoot with her, as she is always looking for more faces to photograph. You can see her lovely project, “30 Faces in 30 Days,” over at her blog, Mosslandia Creative.

And since I am always looking for better photographs of the clothes I make it was an easy “yes”! I took the Scandinavian Folk Skirt that I recently finished sewing up to Mt. Tabor with her, and we tried a few different things. When I put that shirt with the skirt I feel like I should carry a milk-pail around, and lead a cow to market.

Everything I know about modeling I’ve learned from America’s Next Top Model, so blame Tyra if these aren’t supermodel quality. And be sure to check out the rest of Bonnie’s portfolio here (her travel photos are spectacular!). She also does weddings, events, portraits and more!

Scandinavian Folk Skirt

Tags

clothes, finished project, Scandinavian Love, sewing

I finished one last project before I have to pack up my sewing machine, and I love it! My finished results keep getting better and better–I’m a little sad I have to take such a long break from sewing. Will I forget everything I’ve learned?

I call this my Scandinavian Folk Skirt, because of the colors and the lovely berry pattern. I found the fabric at Bolt Fabrics up in NE Portland and immediately fell in love. With the way the lines are set, a skirt seemed so perfect for the pattern, and it turned out just right. It hits below my knees and is pretty full, so I feel a little like a milkmaid. I need to get some blond braids–can I order those anywhere?

I know, another Instagram picture, after I just promised that I wouldn’t go crazy. On Monday night I went out with a friend for a fun photo shoot on Mt. Tabor and I can’t wait to show off those pictures, but until then this is all you get.

The pattern is from a Burda magazine, my first attempt at that kind, and it consists of about 9 pleats in front and three bigger ones in back, with a side zipper. Really simple, actually, and it came together so easily. It was a perfect project to end on!

Now, if I could figure out a way to get myself to Sweden and wear this skirt while picking plump strawberries in a sunhat, my life would be close to complete. Blond braids optional.

 

UPDATE: Check out pictures of the skirt in action here!

Creative Plans in Amsterdam

Tags

Amsterdam Blogs, embroidery, sewing

Since sewing is a huge part of this blog, and my life, you might be wondering what the heck I plan to do when we make the move across the world. Sadly, the focus of the next year isn’t going to sewing for me. I can’t bring my sewing machine and boxes of fabric, I can’t afford to buy fabric (they don’t give out student loans for that), and we probably won’t have room in whatever 50sf apartment we live in anyway.

So, my crafting plans are existent, but scaled down in size. I’ll mostly be concentrating on things I can do by hand, without the need for a machine. This might change the moment I google “used sewing machine Amsterdam,” but I’m sticking to it so far.

1) Embroidery. I’m going to bring my Embroidery Companion book and work on a few more projects from that. I’m still plugging away on a table runner, and have a few other pages earmarked. Maybe I’ll find some Dutch inspiration while I’m there as well. Christmas presents, perhaps?

2) Crewel work.  Alicia Paulson’s Crewel Sampler kit has already arrived in my mailbox, and is waiting to be packed. I plan on tackling it while I’m lonely. Those bright flowers will cheer me up for sure!

Daisychain ABCs Crewelwork Sampler. Click to link through!

3) Paper dolls. I might bring The Black Apple’s Paper Doll book, and make a stop-motion movie. I’ve been toying with the idea for awhile, and being alone in a room for 8 hours is a good motivation for it.

4) A quilt. A few months ago I hatched a plan to make myself a Dresden Plate Quilt. I carefully selected the fabric, ordered it, and have been cutting all those little plate petals. It breaks my heart to have all this lovely fabric sit in a box and wait for me for over a year, so here’s my plan:

• Finish the back
• Sew all the Dresden Plates together, and cut out all the circles

Then I’ll bring all that over to Amsterdam with me, and over there I’ll do the rest by hand:

• Sew Dresden Plates onto quilt blocks, with middle circle
• Buy batting somewhere and hand-quilt the entire thing.
• Bind it. By hand. Or find a friend with a sewing machine.

Whew, that’s a big job, I know. I think I can do it? At the very least, it’ll keep me busy for awhile.

I’ve started counting. 16 days. Oh, my.

Summer Scrap Quilt

Tags

finished project, gifts, quilts, sewing

Summer is a time of spending hours on a blanket in a grassy park, with this drink in hand. In my mind, at least, that’s what I’m doing every sunny day.

 My friend Tayler, who writes at The Awkward Olive and keeps a wicked garden, happens to have a birthday on the Summer Solstice itself, lucky girl. So I thought, what better summer gift than a lovely summer quilt? It helped that I had a lot of colorful scraps to use up, and wanted to try making a line quilt with them.

I didn’t use much of a pattern, I just cut the fabric into strips of varying sizes, from 1.5″ up to 4″, then sewed them together into long strips. The hard part was figuring out what colors should be next to each other–I could have kept shuffling things around for days! If I moved a yellow scrap to be away from another yellow scrap, suddenly that messed up the blues, and then there were too many whites next to each other, and then… it never ended. I finally gave up. I think it turned out nice and random, though when I look at it I still find things I should have moved. 

The back is a big leftover Ikea sheet (I LOVE that bright orange!). I’d like to say that the green square is part of the design, but really the sheet was oddly shaped due to a previous project, and I needed to fill in a corner. Awesome, I know. It’s not even trying to match or blend in. Hey, that’s homemade for you–I do what I want!

I’m really happy with this one. It’s a nice little size–big enough to warm your legs during a movie, and just small enough to get really close to a picnic date. Take someone who wants to cuddle, Tayler!

 

It’s so nice to finish projects like this, and feel the satisfaction of giving it away. Quilts are way too easy to plan, with all those colors and shapes, but actually churning them out is a bit harder. It’s always a relief when I realize I actually pulled it off.

I’m winding down my sewing, getting ready for our move, so this is one of my last big projects. I’m not planning on being bored in Amsterdam, though; I have craft plans. But that’s another post!

In the meantime, Tayler, may the quilt bring you many summer days of good books, lemonade, friends, and grassy parks, and may it remind you of the sun when you’re curled up on your couch in the cold months!

Happy summer solstice birthday!

Colette Sorbetto Top

Tags

clothes, finished project, sewing

I finished a quick project last night, and I’m so happy with it!

This is the Sorbetto tank top pattern from Colette, which is FREE! Go now and enjoy! Easily finished in a few hours, the best part is that it doesn’t have any zippers, buttons, plackets, or anything tricky. Just pulls over your head. Perfect.

The fabric is my favorite part of this, honestly. I stole it from my friend, who used a big piece of it as a backdrop to her wedding pictures, which was brilliant and gorgeous. Since then it’s been sitting in her tupperware container of fabric for 2 years. When she mentioned she’d like to use it up I jumped to make this. And I love it. (Thanks, A!)

I’m already thinking of making another version in a dotted gauze I have, maybe with pintucks? There are some great examples on the Colette Flickr group. Here’s a close up of the pleat in the regular version.

I love the ease and simplicity, and the fact that this style can go to work with me, or just hang out around town with jeans. Also, the color and pattern makes me feel like I’m in a tropical jungle. Just a little bit.

I have a few other things I’m working on, but not much now that we’re packing up and storing things. I have to weed through everything and make some tough decisions soon! Luckily this shirt’s an easy one. Keep. Wear. Love.

Me Made May Reflections

Tags

Me Made May, sewing

Well, I’m settled back into the routine from vacation, I finished Me Made May fairly successfully, and it’s about time to reflect on the month. As a little recap, I spent the entire month of May wearing at least one article of handmade clothing every day. Below are some thoughts on the experience, and a few of my favorite days from the month.

Favorite, Day 1. Nani Iro Dress

Was I successful?

I think so. I didn’t push myself to the brink on this challenge–if I wore a handmade dress to work, I didn’t make myself wear something else handmade when I changed at home. So I didn’t fulfill the challenge every hour of the day. But I did try to always wear something “Me Made” if I was going out, and I managed to do that fairly successfully.

Did I enjoy the challenge?

Yes! Mostly. I did get tired of it by the end, and I wished I didn’t have to repeat so many items, but I did enjoy mixing it up and pulling out rarely worn items.

Favorite, Day 8. Summer Stripe Ceylon.

Would I do it again?

I would, but not anytime soon. I think this month gave me a good sense of what I like to wear, when, why, and what my common annoyances in homesewn things are. I’d like to use that to tweak my sewing skills in the future, and make more things I’ll actually wear and love. I don’t think I’ll be ready for another challenge until I’ve built up a bigger homesewn wardrobe! (Plus, can I admit that I’m a little sick of all my Me Made clothes? I need a break from them. I’m wearing my favorite Anthropologie dress today, and am just basking in it.)

Best part?

Well, the bragging rights are pretty nice! Also, I liked pulling out things I don’t normally wear and realizing that I actually loved them. And it was great to have incentive to make the small fixes that some items needed.

Favorite, Day 13. New Liberty Blouse.

Worst part?

Taking pictures every single day. Reason #187 why modeling is not for me–it just takes so much effort to be photogenic, and I couldn’t put that in every day!

Did I learn anything?

• I have a tendency to make blouses too short and too small in the armholes. Uncomfortable.
• I am much better when I use a real pattern instead of making something up myself. As much as I like the creativity, the end result is never something I like as much as when I use a real pattern.
• My refashioned clothing is never super successful for the reason mentioned above. Something to work on.
• I’m a fan of making a lot of cute, casual dresses–the item I have the least opportunity to wear. More work clothes are needed.
• I think I could easily refashion more t-shirts, like my Bird Shirt, and like all those cute shirts you see at J. Crew and Anthropologie. I might need to get some options and experiment!
• There are a few homesewn items that I need to retire. They are not comfortable, not flattering, and I don’t feel good in them. I’ve learned to give myself a break: it’s okay for me to get rid of them!

And that’s it! The end of May and the end of the challenge. Thanks for sticking with me! I did my challenge a month early, but Zoe  is hosting Me Made June ’11, and I am enjoying looking at everyone else’s outfits. If you want more, head over to their Flickr pool and check it out!