Daily Productivity: Thursday/Friday

Our friends are visiting from Minnesota, so cut me some slack on the lack of posts over here. I had to clean up the sewing room so that it could magically transform into a guest room, but I managed to whip this up on Thursday before cleaning.

But first, let me open with a story: Last night while at a half-a**ed party thrown by some friends, Cash fell on the concrete and scraped his forehead and a little spot underneath his nostrils. Wes wasn't able to come to the party, so when the rest of us got home he said, "What happened to Cash's face?"

Me: "He fell on the cement."

Brilliant, accusatory response from husband, "How did he fall?"

Uh-oh. You really shouldn't have asked that: "How do you think he fell? He fell!"

Falling requires no explanation! He's a toddler! His day is one big series of falling! What sort of response were you looking for? Oh, well, I went next door to get drunk with some bum, but, don't worry, I told our 19 month-old not to do anything stupid. Turns out the brat didn't listen and he fell off the roof trying to fly. No big deal.

Oh my word, that husband of mine is crazy! Or am I the crazy one? Anyhow, I've been waiting for this Built By Wendy (2865) pattern to go on sale for a bit now, and I managed to restrain myself until Thursday, when they were $1.99 at Joann's. I decided to make my first shot out of this vintage knit I had thrifted earlier in the week.

First off, a few positives: This pattern was relatively easy and fun to sew, especially the neck and armhole bindings because you don't have to do all that folding and pressing. Hooray for laziness! I really like the look of the racerback, but I cannot figure out how to wear this sans tank top underneath (tank top = my substitute for a bra).

The negatives: Even though I made this one size larger than usual, the bust area was initially snug. I ended up letting out 1/8" below each armhole--which surprisingly helped.

I'm not sure if you can tell in the photo, but this pattern has sewn-in side panels that add some volume to the shirt. However, for some reason they make me feel like I'm wearing an ice skating uniform or something. I'm not sure what I mean by that, but it's the only thing that comes to mind when wearing it. If I am able arrange a photograph of me wearing this shirt, tights, and a pair of ice skates with those weird guards over the blades, I will. You'll see what I mean.

And, finally, while I like the look of the rounded hemline, I think it looks odd from the back. The pattern envelope almost makes it look like the hemline's straight across. Hmmm. . . maybe I should try that. Right after I practice my triple lutz.

Daily Productivity: Tuesday

Sorry you didn't hear from me yesterday, but I was so stuffed from dinner at Jean and Nick's that I couldn't remember words. Anyways, when Wes read my last post he said, "Are you taunting your readers?" Uhhhhmm. . .

That's right I'm taunting you. Keeps you on your toes. I decided that maybe you could use a day off from being insulted. Don't say I'm never kindhearted.

A month or so ago I made one of these reusable sandwich wraps that I saw on The Small Object. I use them for Cash's snacks while we're out and about, but it seems like he always decides he's in need of food while I'm driving. So I end up trying to drive, unfold the wrap, and hand cheddar bunnies back like there's no tomorrow. Then we run out and drama ensues. You think I'd just learn to pack more snacks.

So I had the idea to make more of a ziploc-style reusable snack container. That way I wouldn't have to mess with unfolding the flaps every time, and Cash could hold it by himself. I used some flannel-backed tablecloth material, but I'm so leery about PVC, so I'd like to try it with a more natural material (Can you sew stainless steel?). I just saw an edit on the original Small Object post saying that maybe canvas would be a good idea because it's durable and you could throw it in the washer. There you have it. Problem solved.

The opening to this bag is so tiny, I had a miserable time trying to sew the top hem. Anyone have any ideas on how to do that? It's ridiculous the amount of time it took me.

Well, you won't hear from me about Wednesday's productivity. It wasn't very productive. I basically swatched a bunch of knits, trying to find a good combination for a fall/winter hat for Cash. I've tried this about a hundred times, but, really, I just need to go buy a few new needles sizes. I'm so lazy! Until then. . .

Daily Productivity: Monday

You all thought I'd fallen off the bandwagon, didn't you? I post a bit later than usual in the day and suddenly you've lost all faith in me. You've probably been sitting at home thinking, "I always knew there was something fishy about that sarah jane. Something a bit off."

Well, I might be late, but I'm still going strong, suckas! Our bi-monthly game of Euchre with my grandparents went a bit late, that's all.

But now that I'm here I have no good stories for you. No wit. No humor. I'm tired, and I haven't had my nightly glass of red wine. Plus, I can't type funny things when someone's looking over my shoulder. Ahem, that'd be you, husband!

Speaking of my husband. . . last night at the amphitheater, my friends were all making jokes about Cash being a dweeb. But when I (obviously laughing hysterically at my own blog jokes) looked over at Wes , he just looked confused. What's that? You don't know what we're all talking about? Maybe you should read your wife's blog once in awhile. Busted!

Anyways, yesterday's project was this sweet little skirt with attached bloomers that I made for Wes's coworker who just had a little girl. You may recognize the knit skirt fabric from this dud, and the polka dot fabric from this and this. The sewing was going smoothly, perfectly, even, until I had to attach the waistband. Ahhhhh! Cursing and aggression followed, but we made it out alive. Here's a closeup of the cute little leg bands.

Daily Productivity: Sunday

Well, I broke the Sabbath to keep in line with my Daily Productivity challenge. What else could I do? Rest? You must be out your mind. Hopefully the deadbolt will hold back the Pharisees who are surely returning from the dead to sentence me to eternal damnation.

I spent Cash's naptime sewing these chicken-inspired baby items out of some cotton flannel I've had for ages. I bought it last year during my 5am Joann's run the morning after Thanksgiving. Let this be a lesson to you: If you think you're in your right mind to shop the sales at 5 am after you just spent a day gorging yourself with food, You're not. Look at me. I bought chicken flannel. Two whole yards of it.

I made the pants using my trusty tracing method, but they are so tiny. I'm just not sure they're going to fit a real live baby. And I finally tried out the scalloped blanket from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing, but I'm not that pleased with how it turned out. The scallops are a bit wonky. I think you need a practice round or two before you get this one right. Maybe if I enlarged the scallops so the curve was a bit wider they wouldn't get to choppy. Hmmm. . . Now I just need to find a chicken-loving baby.

In non-sewing news (yes, I have a life outside of my sewing room) we just found out our kid is a dweeb. He insisted on wearing this giant man-sized hat all yesterday morning at the zoo. This picture just has "dweeby kid" written all over it, doesn't it? And look at him surrounded by all of these baby goats. I usually hate the goat area, but Cash loved it. He just ran around brushing goat after goat after goat. He even tried to kiss one. He's like a little Swedish goat boy or something. Maybe it's all that Sound of Music we sing before bed every night. Nope, I'm not joking. . . but I really wish that I was.

Daily Productivity: Saturday

I bet you never saw the camo coming, did ya? Snuck right up on you.

I spent Cash's naptime yesterday sewing this oven mitt and matching potholder for my Dad's upcoming birthday. He's a die-hard outdoorsman, and what outdoorsman wouldn't lust after a matching set of camo cooking gear? You never know when you're going to need to maintain your cover. You can never be too careful out there. Not even at meal time.

I used the patttern pieces from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing again. I bought the cotton ripstop camo new and lined the oven mitt with a bright red cotton duck fabric. Hope he likes it. I'll keep you posted.

Daily Productivity: Thursday/Friday

I'm cheating and consolidating two days' work in one post because I'm the boss around here. And, really, I didn't have much to show you yesterday. Thursday I started working on this bag as a belated birthday gift for a friend, and I finished up the handles yesterday. I didn't use a pattern, although I did take the measurements from the garden bag in Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. I decided against interfacing because I hate the stiffness, but I also don't like the blobbish-ness. I'm undecided. Maybe a lighter interfacing will give me the best of both worlds.

The outer fabric is a thrifted woven that has a bit of a stiffness to it. I'm really not sure what it is. I just work here, okay? The lining is brown corduroy. For the handles, I was going for a look like this bag from an old Better Homes and Gardens books I frequently look at. The problem is the corduroy frayed too much to get it to cooperate as a middle strip on the handle. So, I decided to just use the main fabric. But, duh, it ended up blending in so much that you lose the effect of the long handle wrapped all the way around the bag. Grrrr.

Yes, I'm growling. . . . . at a bag.

Daily Productivity: Wednesday

Should I be worried that it's only day two of my challenge and I'm already running out of steam? I'm sure that's perfectly normal.

Yesterday I added 4 measly pieces to my spiderweb quilt. Oddly enough, this project also came about due to mouth-yapping. I told Lindsay (Lindsay, why is it seeming like you're the one who has to listen to me spout off?) at the start of last year that I wanted to work on a year-long quilt project. Nothing big. Nothing fancy. Nothing stressful. Just something I could pick up from time-to-time and eventually finish. Well, it's July, and I've barely got enough for a doll quilt. Go figure. But, maybe when I said year-long project I meant two-year-long project. Yeah, I'm sure that was it.

I got the pattern for this spiderweb quilt on the Quiltville website, and I've been having a lot of fun with the foundation piecing method. It's actually fairly fast, and I like that I don't have to keep measuring as I go along. The paper does everything for me. Thank you, paper. Until tomorrow. . .

Daily Productivity: Tuesday

Some of you who know me might be aware that occasionally I spout my mouth off. I get worked up, annoyed, bored, reckless--whatever it is, I let my trap get carried away. And then I get home and my husband says, "I can't believe you said ___________ to ________." (Use your imagination. . . like a grown-up Mad Libs or something).

I'm not talking personal confrontations, just dumb stuff like, "What! You like Dave Eggers? He's so full of himself. I can't even get through one of his books without gagging." Years ago we were at dinner with a bunch of people, and at one point we were talking about Indianapolis (who knows). I was saying how lame that city is, how it always seems so boring and run-down. A few minutes later, someone asks the "new guy" in the group if he's always lived in Fort Wayne. His response: "No, I'm actually from Indianapolis."

That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. So, imagine my surprise when at coffee yesterday I yapped my mouth off about crafting. I seem to remember telling Lindsay something like, "Yeah, I think I'm just going to make a pact to finish or work on a craft project every day." I said that! Out loud! Then I pulled into the driveway and thought, "I can't believe you said that."

And since I'm such a woman of my word, I have to go through with it. D@&#! So, as promised, here's Tuesday's project: the $1 salsa dress, turned skirt. I bought this Gadzooks see-through tube dress-thing for $1, chopped it off at the waistline, sewed in an elastic waistband, and there you have it. A brand new skirt! Check my flickr for the rest of the photos.

I'm not sure how long this self-inflicted daily productivity challenge will last. Maybe two weeks? My plan is to post photos each day from the previous day's work. Stay tuned.


P.S. I hope I haven't offended any Dave Eggers fans or Indianapolis natives. Wait, I don't care if I've offended any Eggers fans. He stinks. True fact.

fourth of july, boysenberry pie

We spent the holiday weekend in Michigan at my in-law's house--a very quiet, relaxing place. I read the second-half of Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, and I'd highly recommend it. We took a break from our lounging, suited up, coated ourselves in mosquito spray, and wandered down into the meadow behind the house to pick (what we believe to be) wild boysenberries. My mother-in-law baked them into a pie just like she did this time last year. I think we've found ourselves a new summer tradition.

Woman of my word

"Do I or do I not deliver?" That's what I'm asking in that first photograph. Because last week when I said I had plans to retrace Vogue 8495, I meant it. I wasn't just throwing that around like, "Yeah, we should get together sometime. I'll call you." I was saying, "Mark my words, we WILL do lunch next Wednesday." Wouldn't that be so intense if you really said that to someone?

Anyways, I worked up the nerve to retrace this pattern in the next size down, and it turned out much better than my Sound of Music-esque curtain attempt. This time I used some thrifted shirting fabric. Here's what it looks like up close. Unfortunately it's already acquired a few snags, so I don't think this shirt will last past this Summer. Overall, the fit is much nicer. It's comfortable and relatively easy to sew. I really like the look of the smaller front yoke and the center pleat.

What? No complaints? Oh, yes. There are some concerns about this pattern. First off, both times I sewed this pattern the yokes didn't completely line up--with each other or with the main body of the garment. I had to do a lot of hand-maneuvering, but up close it still looks a bit janky. That's frustrating. Also, something about the back yoke is just awkward. I'm not sure if it's too big or too round. It just doesn't look right. If I made this again, I'd probably ditch the back yoke. The neckline's a bit wide too.

It's really starting to sound like I don't like this shirt, but I do. I swear. I'm not leading you on. I just wish there needn't be so many alterations.

So, now you know. I keep my promises. A woman of my word. Oh, and did you notice? The teeny sleeves showed up this time. Pretty nice.

Going through my photos. . .

I've been so dud-engrossed lately, I've been neglecting all the other photos piling up on my computer. Just to prove to you that I do more than create sewing disasters, here are a few things that we've been up to:


Last weekend about 25 of us camped at a state park about an hour North of us. Cash was a trooper and slept through the entire night--heavy rains and all. Though, he did cause a bit of an uproar with his incessant nudity.

The weekend before that we spent Saturday night at some friends' for our monthly book club. Doesn't this food-filled picnic table, complete with globe lights hanging from the tree, just make you want to sing?

Shhhh. Don't make any sudden movements. This blog post has been compromised. . . by a dud. The untrained eye might miss this, but if you look right above you you'll see what's known as an fps dud--a freezer paper stencil dud. For someone used to seeing sewing duds, this might not be as easy to spot in the wild, but--take notice--they're out there.

Oh, I crack myself up. But, seriously, apes might be in right now, but this ape is going in the trash. In my freezer paper stencil-frenzy a few weeks ago, I attempted this gorilla face stencil for my nephew, and it's awful. I can't even begin to describe what this looks like. Not an ape, that's for d*%# sure. All right, it's getting heated in here. My sailor-mouth is coming out. Until then. . . a few more photos on my flickr.