Glitter, glitter, everywhere..... {photo of the day}

I know I haven't posted this weeks project run and play outfit yet, that's because I only started making it last night. I was waffling about what I wanted to make for the theme (this week is special occasion) and I have been so busy with school I just didn't have the time (my other outfits so far were done while I was still on break in January.) Anyway, inspiration struck yesterday and I ran out and got my fabric, and started on the dress last night............ 

Serious case of craft herpes here.....

I am using a glitter fabric, and *ohmygosh* glitter is everywhere in the house now. The picture is one from the floor of my studio, can you see all the flashes of light mixed in with the granite flecks on my epoxied floor? (sorry about the mess.) 

Anyway, I am doing things a little differently this time, since I didn't have time to make the pattern I wanted, I used a commercial pattern as the basic starting point, and then I made adjustments (that I photographed the process of making.) So anyone should in theory be able to get the same/similar pattern and make the same adjustments. Hopefully that will sort of demystify some of the alterations that can be made in order to manipulate the fabric into doing what you want. The dress is done now, and completely unrecognizable when compared to the original pattern, which I think is a great example of being able to start with something basic for size, and change it around to your vision rather than being stuck with someone else's vision. I haven't finished a little jacket I am making for it, and I need to photograph the dress on miss Emmie, but I will have that all done before Friday morning, so I should be fine.    

Happy Monday, and the Needle Punch Set Winner!

Happy Monday all! I am pretty excited because I have all my little family home with me today since it's a student holiday and Paul took leave to hang out with all of us!

Anyway, I'll get down to the business I am most excited about, the winner of the needle punch giveaway! I even got one more entry then my "hey girl" fears, so thank you everyone who entered!!!

and the winning number is.......

Making this the winning comment, 

Congrats Ajaire!!! Please email me with your address info and I will get your prize in the mail to you!!!

Happy Monday to everyone out there!!!

Thrifting and Estate Sales

So on Saturdays Paul and I like to hit all the local estate sales, and today was killer! We went thrifting/estate sale-ing and picked up some crazy great things that we have been looking for/didn't even know we needed!

So remember that we are re-doing Isaac's furniture set up because he has outgrown all his current furniture? (pretend you remember) We are doing a combo of purchasing new and old along with making him some brand new things. A DIY we knew we wanted to tackle was his dresser, as I think you can get better quality for a more reasonable price going vintage. Looks wise I liked either this dresser,

(click on picture for origin link)

Or this one,

(dito with the link thing on the picture)

Now I know that these are vastly different from each other, but I was open to both looks in his room, and I didn't want to lock into a specific style so I was open to whatever we found that was the best candidate. Today we found an all hardwood dresser from the Salvation Army store near our house (for 50% off) that once I re-finish it is going to be awesome; and as we were leaving I spotted the matching side table so we got a set for 50% off on sale and under $100 for both (The style winner was the union jack dresser in case you were wondering! It even has the exact same feet as the union jack dresser.)

Next we went to an estate sale and got an early 1900s cast iron floor lamp, ($17.50) a vintage silk scarf with horses on it for Emmie, ($2) some vintage gnome fabric, ($2) a blue metal bistro chair we might use at Isaac's desk, ($9) and pressed glass bowl, ($3.) We have a killer project we are doing with the lamp and the bowl, that we have already almost completed, and as a hint I will give you a sneak peek of a picture I love from Pottery Barn........

(Hint, hint, we are turning the bowl into a shade for the lamp and making it look like mercury glass.....)

We have already re-wired the floor lamp so we don't burn the house down with the old cord, and the bowl already has a hole I cut in the bottom and the mercury glass finish, but I am only going to show pictures when I put up the step by step photos and it is all finished.

 At the last estate sale I got some great trim, a vintage pressing mit for ironing, and a great ruler all for $4.

Anyway, all in all a great day of hunting and finding some great treasures, and getting set up for some fantastic projects that I can't wait to share with you! When it is light out again, and I get ready to get started on the various makeovers I will take some pictures of the finds. 

Emmie aka George Washington {photo of the day}

So Miss Em had a school presentation on George Washington today, which she decided to do in first person format aka she decided to BE George Washington. We just recycled Isaac's Burgess costume from last spring, and I curled and sprayed her hair white. She was very excited because a little boy who didn't recognize her told her off for going into the girl's bathroom, so her transformation into man was obviously complete.  

Emmie George Washington

Needle Punch Embroidery Tutorial and a GIVEAWAY!!!!

*GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED*

So remember my Little Letterman's Jacket? If not you can go look here to get caught up, don't worry I'll wait for you to get back......

Okay, so one of the pieces that I needed in order to make a proper Letterman's Jacket was the letter of course! I wanted to make an authentic looking chenille loop pile letter, and the only way I knew how to do that was through needle punch embroidery. (I became aware of needle punch embroidery about 10 years ago through a little quilt shop near my house when my family was assigned with the Air Force in Utah.) The needles used to be really hard to find, but as crafting has grown they are becoming more common; I was able to find a needle punch embroidery set at Hobby Lobby, but I have seen them other places as well.

I wasn't entirely sure what the best way to do the embroidery was since I needed felt for the base, (that's what the real letters have,) but I also didn't think the felt would work for holding the loops or even it's shape while doing the embroidery. (I tried it to see, and I was right, there was no way it was going to work.) I came up with the idea of sewing felt to a thicker fabric base, and then embroidering through both layers, which turned out perfectly I think.  

For my sample I used regular craft felt, and for the jacket's "I" I used 100% wool felt, and I found that both of them work equally well when properly backed. 

Sorry about how rubbish these pictures are, I took them with the camera in one hand, and the work in my other hand, (at night too because I like to spit into the wind of good picture taking practice.) 

I started off by sewing a straight stitch around my shape. Sorry this looks terrible, it's actually a fairly small "I" that I did without drawing it first (I did draw the actual jacket "I" before sewing it.) I then satin stitched around the edge to give it a finished look. (I apparently didn't take my time when I was making my test sample, so it doesn't look that straight.) I used a black thread so that the edge was visible through the whole sample, but on the Letterman's jacket I used a matching green thread so it would blend in. 

Next I placed my fabric felt side down in an embroidery hoop, (this embroidery is worked from the back.) The satin stitching provided a nice border to work inside of and was very easy to see. The backing fabric I used was a medium weight cotton twill fabric that I just happened to have a scrap of.

I used the 1.26mm needle punch tool for this project, with 3 strands of embroidery floss. The set comes with a needle threader and instructions, so go ahead and follow those to get threaded up.

With about 1.5" of thread as a tail, I went ahead and punched into my fabric along the inside edge of the satin stitching. 

The tool should penetrate fairly easily, so if it's not going into your fabric very well, your base fabric might be to dense.  

When I'm working I never have the needle stop touching the fabric, I drag the point down only a few threads at a time when it is up top, and then I punch back in again, with as short a stitches as I can manage. (It goes fast as soon as you find a rhythm.) 

Here's what the front looked like on the right side of the piece, as the little loops were starting to form.

Basically I just kept punching stitches in lines, closely filling in the whole back by building up rows. I tend to do it in color blocks so I am achieving small goals throughout the process.

From the front again, with only a little bit left to go.

Here's the back completely filled in, I used exactly one skein of DMC floss to do this small I (I believe I used 4 for the "I" on my Letterman's Jacket) I would have liked this "I" to be slightly more dense on the front, but as this was a sample, I didn't feel the need to get another skein just for this.   

This is the front at this stage, do you see a couple of bald spots that I should have filled in? If this happens to you it is really easy to go back and add more loops, but as I said I didn't for the sample. Anyway, there are a couple of long threads punched through to the front, and possibly even some mutant loops, but it's okay don't panic.

All you need to do is take a pair of snips (preferably not your kid's crappy glue covered paper scissors) and trim everything flush with the surface. 

The needle punch embroidery instruction sheet also says to trim the back threads flush. At this stage I also carefully cut away the cotton twill fabric, without cutting the felt.

Next I trimmed the felt a little closer to the edge of the stitching. I actually trimmed the felt a little too closely on this sample, I think it looks better a little wider, which is what I did on the Jacket "I"

Now this next step is not in the punch needle embroidery instructions, but I did it to make myself feel better. It seems to me that a little tug at the front could possibly pull out a bunch of the loops, so I needed to do something to secure them from the back. (Kind of like those annoying pulls you get in your towels within 10 seconds of buying them.) I used a fabric glue to coat the back of the patch on all the embroidered bits. (I have also done this with fusible interfacing in the past, but ironing onto felt can burn it if you aren't careful.)   

Here's what it looks like with the wet glue on it. At this point you can either put the patch on your garment and have the glue work to help hold your layers together, or you can just let the glue dry and sew the patch onto whatever you want later.

I chose to glue mine on right away, because my fabric was thick and the glue wouldn't bleed through to the other side. Next I took the patch/fabric combo to my machine and sewed it down with matching cream thread around the felt edge.

It's a bit wonky, but I think you still get the idea what it all looks like.

So there you go, hopefully I was able to make the process clear enough, but if you need me to clarify anything let me know.

Now we are down to the exciting bit! A GIVEAWAY!!! I got an extra Punch Needle Embroidery set with 4 skeins of floss to give away to one lucky follower! (I am so excited to send one of you this fun set, it comes with 3 different sized needles, a threader, and a pattern for you to practice with.)

So what do you need to do to be entered to win? Just go ahead and follow me and then leave me a comment here saying that you do (and if you want to, you can tell me whatever cool idea you have for the punch needle embroidery tool in your comment too!) Since this is my first giveaway I'm sorry to say I am going to have to limit entry for this one to US residents only since I want to figure out the whole process first! (If I get to over 100 followers I am going to celebrate with a really awesome second surprise giveaway, so don't hold back!)

I saw this picture last night here and my husband and I thought it was very funny,

Ha, ha, that's my fear, but if that's the case, then you will have a one in 12 chance of winning I guess!!!

The giveaway will close in a week, (January 30th) so I will announce the winner then! Thanks for reading!

 C.R.A.F.T  


  Sew Woodsy  

Blog Maintenance

So I've added a new page to my links bar called "Sewing Projects" I'm trying to get easier to navigate, we'll see if this helps!

Week Four Project Run and Play "Outerwear"

Edit: here is a link to my letter tutorial, and a GIVEAWAY that closes this next Monday (30th of January)

so please come on over and learn how to make your own letter!

So how fun was last week in Project Run and Play? I loved seeing all the great historically inspired clothes! This week's theme is "Outerwear" and as a confession, I actually started this piece *as* my "sewing through the decades" entry, but decided to use it for outerwear instead, and so I have had this one finished for almost 2 weeks. (Which is good since I am back at school again!) I really loved the challenge of making outerwear, since my goal was to make a really good and REAL looking coat. I think making coats is deceptively difficult, as you end up working with a lot of bulk, and we all know what a coat looks like, so if it is scrunchy and bunchy or lumpy and bumpy, we can all tell it looks wrong! I was inspired by 50's style Letterman's Jackets, (although they have honestly changed very little through the decades so it's also fairly modern too,) like the one seen here on the left.......

I feel like the most distinctive features of a Letterman's Jacket are the wool body, the leather/pleather sleeves and pocket welts, the snaps down the front, the striped ribbing, and the "chenille" loop pile letters with a felt border as seen in the picture bellow,

I love being able to make things that "look right" and I hope you think I was able to manage it!

Anyway, without further ado I present my  "Little Letterman" 

This Jacket has a soft wool body, with buttery soft pebbled pleather sleeves and custom made striped ribbing.

It's fully lined in a soft plaid cotton flannel.

I closed the front using bronze colored snaps, and the pockets are double welted  in the olive pleather. I made the striped ribbing by dyeing tan colored ribbing olive, and then stitching strips of cream colored ribbing down to the olive fabric.  I'm sure it's possible to find ribbing that is already striped, but my color palette was a little specific, and I couldn't even find the right olive green let alone a stripe!

I used top stitching on the body, and machine embroidery on cream wool felt to add more authentic Letterman's Jacket style detailing.  Working with the pleather is particularly challenging since it really doesn't ease, is sticky when being sewn to itself and slick when being sewn to anything else. Presser feet don't really like to slide over the top of pleather either so a quick tip for someone who doesn't have a Teflon presser foot (which I don't have) is to put a piece of sticky tape on the bottom of your presser foot (with a little hole where your needle comes down so you don't gum up your needle by going through tape,) and your pleather should slide more easily. Also, you want to increase your stitch length a little so you aren't perforating the pleather so many times you weaken it. 

I am still trying to decide if/what decoration to add to the back - usually there would be a basketball or  football on the back under the name, but my son is sort of more of a "Math-lete" then an Athlete! He thought a piece of Lego would be cool, (since he loves Lego NXT robots) but I am still on the fence about that one!  I thought about a 4 leaf clover since it would go with all the green, and we are part Irish, but I don't know, maybe it should be something more fun?

I added my son's name to the front, but that is only because he is an older child, and wouldn't go with a stranger just because they knew his name (We have actually had a family password since they were little, so he actually wouldn't even go with someone he knew unless they could tell him the password since many people are kidnapped by people they know - sorry, didn't mean to get heavy, I just thought I would put that safety tip out there!) The embroidered crown was just one I added because I thought it was a cute vintage-esque little extra detail.

The "I" is actually one of the bits I am most proud of! I made this chenille "I" using needle punch embroidery and  regular cotton embroidery floss. I actually found discovering the exact right technique for this quite challenging,  but once I did it came out just perfectly I think! (I am actually going to be doing a tutorial on this, and giving away a punch needle tool kit and some floss to one lucky follower this week! I'm so excited for my first giveaway, so don't forget to follow me! )

The jacket pattern is my own, and was mostly made on the fly as I needed pieces, the body is made off of an upper body sloper I have for Isaac. (A sloper is essentially a pattern blank you make from a person's measurements or from a scrap fabric fitting you do directly to their body.) I just added the ease I wanted, seam allowances, etc. When it came time to add extra bits like the wool rectangles on the hem closure by the ribbing, I just sort of eyeballed them to fit.

He's wearing his favorite hat that his dad brought him back from deployment, because there is seriously no sports memorabilia in this child's life! (There really isn't a piece of green missing from the hem, I just didn't notice it was tucked up when I took the picture!)

Isaac Pretty much loves this jacket, he was soooo excited that I made HIM something new for the challenge rather than making another thing for Emmie (Poor child feels like the red headed step child sometimes when it comes to sewing since girl clothes can be more fun to make.) He wants to wear it everywhere now, and he is the first person to tell people his mom MADE it! (My husband has also told me that this is his favorite thing I have ever made because it is just so cool and real looking. I might actually end up making one for my Hunny, because he LOVES all things vintage, and even has letters from high school that he never got a jacket for!) 

 As a side note, Isaac has also worn his jeans every time they have come out of the laundry. He has even worn them to school two days in a row, and was apparently asked "Aren't those the jeans you wore yesterday?" to which he casually replied "Yup." A teenager already! He doesn't mind people knowing he's in dirty clothes!

Anyway, tune in tomorrow to see my needle punch embroidered letter tutorial, and for a chance to win your own needle punch embroidery tool set with embroidery floss so you can make your own Letterman's Jacket! (Or whatever you want to make!) (Open now for entry!)


 C.R.A.F.T.  

 Sew Woodsy