Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of the sewing project I’m working on. It is a wedding gift for a friend, and I can only show you the fabrics I’m using at this point. I’d really love to show you more, but you’ll have to wait a few months.

I’m using Country Classic Cotton Solids in soft yellow and Calico Fabric (also cotton) in crackle brown, green vine, gravel tan, and burgundy small check. The yellow is my background color and I’m pairing the brown and green together and the tan and burgundy together. There will also be another solid, probably dark brown or blue, incorporated eventually. The colors are most accurate in the full color scheme shot.

She Sews: Sewing Machine Cover

I’ve been keeping my sewing things out on one edge of our longdining table because I’ve been working on a project. This is great, except that the machine gets dusty if a few days pass without me using it. This is not great because the thread gathers the dust and creates ‘knots’ of sorts.

There is a woman on YouTube who makes sewing (and cooking and other) videos, and she put up a tutorial a while ago for making a custom-fit sewing machine cover. A lightbulb went off! A cover would solve my dust problem and would look a little nicer. Her tutorial is for a quilted cover with batting to make it stiff. I didn’t do that, so mine is a little floppy, but fits and does the job I intended. I used an old pillow case, and had just the right amount of fabric. I had to piece the long section, but that’s OK.

Here are a couple of pictures. Sorry for the poor quality; the machine is on a table that is not near any windows.

She Sews: Shirt Pillow Cover

There’s this shirt Nate has had since I met him. In fact, it’s the shirt he was wearing when I met him for the first time. It’s 100% cotton with a brown and white plaid print on it. It’s super soft, and I’ve always loved that shirt on him.

Recently, he put it on when the weather got cold and realized it didn’t fit anymore. The sleeves were too short. He put it in the rags box.

Last night, I had a brilliant idea. I hate the thought of never seeing that shirt again, and because it’s so soft, I decided it’d make a wonderful pillow cover!

I kept the front pocket in tact and used the button bands to create a removable cushion/pillow cover. The best part is that I didn’t have to sew a single button-hole or attach any buttons! Yay for less work, right?!? It ended up fitting a 14″ square pillow form I bought at Wal-Mart. Well, it mostly fits. The button band bulges a little, but it still looks good.

To top it off, I embroidered a quick little design on the pocket hem to give it a personal touch. A wonky heart and my first initial. I think the heart looks like each half came from a different heart, but it’s cute in its crookedness.

Here are a few photos. As usual, you can click a photo to see a larger version.