Cool Sewing trick

I'm not sure where I learned this trick. Have you ever tried using your zig zag movement while using a straight stitch? It is doable on newer models, and I'll explain thoroughly. Many times, when I am working on a tight edge, or a thicker one, it makes more sense to move the needle to where I need it than the presser foot. When the presser foot is placed in a more stable position, your stitch line will be more even.

Another really great result of using the lateral shift is that you can use the inside edge of your presser foot to guide your fabric, which is much more consistent than using the marks on the plate.

 

The zig zag feature set at center.

 

 

The zig zag feature shifted to the right. Depending on which direction I am most comfortable sewing, I either shift it to the right or left. The top photo has the needle shifted to the left.

 

Photo of the needle shifted to the right in position of 6.0. This is really handy for putting zippers in. I blocked out the shaft so you can see the needle better. Give this a try on a couple scraps. I guarantee you will use it from now on!

 

A Little Black Cape

This is from the pattern in my To-Do pile from an earlier blog.

Dowanne (middle daughter's nickname) fell in love with this.

The fabric is a 2Ply Supplex Polyester from Seattle Fabrics. The outer shell is rain proof, the inner shell is a micro polar fleece. I bought some seam sealer to make it waterproof, but it really didn't need it.

This fabric gave me fits with my own coat. It is not forgiving, and when I ripped out my first seam, I had to recut the pieces because the stitching laid open the waterproof membrane inside and also the top.

Dowanne's cape had one incident, but it really isn't in a critical spot.

This was an adult size cape, so I resized it using tracing pellon and taking careful measurements against her shoulders to get it right. She had me lengthen the cape to her fingertips, which I thought was a pretty good idea, and also had me enlarge the arm openings so her arms didn't hang up when she tried to put them in the front pockets- also an important consideration.

I'm now waiting on the waterproof fabric to make #1 a raincoat. I'll be using PLU. This is traditionally a diaper cover fabric, but when I bought PLU to make diaper covers for my sister-in-law, it was so nice, I looked for a color that would make a nice rain cape.

The girls really enjoy being able to tweak the patterns they find to get exactly what they want. My oldest has always been really good about telling me before I cut out the pattern. This cape makes them both think of Sherlock Holmes, and yet it is in style enough that they don't look like they are going around in costume.

The only problem I had in the pattern was my own- when doing the pockets, I wasn't sure which way to sew (wide at the top or narrow) because I don't really mark my fabric with all the dots *gasp*, so if you look at her pockets, they are wider than the cute little flap. But lucky for me, her hands are always in the pockets.

And He Loves Me Anyway

Don't worry, this really isn't a blog about love. It's about testing it. In my move to blog mostly with pictures, I have gone around the house and taken photos of all the projects I have in my docket. They are not really in any order, and I may have forgotten one or two (say, putting stone on our focus wall, which I don't have in the works yet). In the interest of full disclosure I admit I almost never craft this way. Just as I almost never read two books at a time, I almost never have more than two craft projects just sitting there. I do stack and sew an entire stack of projects in one sewing binge, which may be how I've gotten so behind. Because the top project in my docket is a quilt I've been working on since last February.

This project is a Nook Case for my Etsy shop. I have decided to sew on these everyday while my daughter practices piano. It's a modified Tiger Mother technique, since I've found she practices longer if I'm in the roome. It happened sort of serendipitously after I moved my sewing machine into the piano room.

My sewing corner: I cut out small projects on the piano (not recommended since I've scratched the top with a few pins). The tote is extra special: hand-knit by my sister-in-law, Melanie, then felted!

A little shirt for Mikey the Monkey, who you will meet later. This just needs snaps and buttons. Wouldn't take me one evening, and it's sitting on the front counter in the piano room, but I never think of it...

Did you see the cabochons in the first post? This is my stack of supplies on the kitchen counter for making them. I bought 5 bars of Sculpey, and I've gotten 6 cabochons out of half a bar of Sculpey, so this mess is going to be here a LOOOOONNNGGGG time.

This is the biggest problem. I think I'm half way done. It's ten feet long and in the very center of my living/diningroom. The cats love it.

My favorite: I love to take this little bag to piano lessons and I get 1/2 hour of uninterrupted crochet/knitting time!

Photo 2 of my knitting bag: it's sitting next to the kitchen on the floor. Did I mention I have a craft room?

The girls both want rain capes. I'm kind of excited about this project, but it's pretty far down on the list.

I love the Campy State pillows, but I was not paying $150 each for them! So I asked for the napkins for Christmas, and I'm going to embroider them myself. They will make a great Piano Time project.

My first crocheted flower for a scarf I'm making. I followed the directions, but I didn't count carefully. When my square came out as a (what's the five sided one?) I contacted the company that wrote the book. Then while I was waiting, I tried again. Ooops.  do you know they were actually contacting the author? So I emailed back very sheepish. NOW how do I turn this into a hat?

Meet Mikey. Charlie named him Mojo. I just need to tack his shoes on. Seriously. 4 tacks and he's still in my stack???

For my Etsy store, the main product was a doll that wears a sleeper. Everytime I list a doll, the person who buys it requests a different sleeper. So inside this tote I have about 10 little sleepers in different fabrics. I plan to sew them all up, list the doll and let them choose from what I have instead of running all over town trying to guess what they like. It turns out I'm getting old tastes.

In my craft room, several projects in bags on the floor which are shown below:

Wow! 5-6 projects right here in this little stack. Can't share what they are. It's a surprise.

A pillowcase to match the new quilt. I figure I have time!

A new project. I decided not to start this until after I have the quilt done. I'm going to card the giant bag of wool, spin it and dye it. I have to learn how to do all that, but the bit I tried is enormously fun and the feel of my hands after playing with the wool was amazing.

We had lunch with the family of a man Eric (my husband) mentored at work. His wife brought me this fabric from Burma. I think I'll make a skirt so that next time they invite us to a pig roast I can push harder to go. (I married a picky eater)

Wish me luck!