Presenting My New Best Friend . . .

. . . Sharon Connolly.  She's an Image Consultant.  She's not about sewing or home dec, she's about looking great.  And of course I sew because I want to look great, and moveover -- feel  great -- in what I sew.

I found this wonderful woman on YouTube while looking for makeup tips.  Yesterday, I turned 51, and I have struggled all my life with finding some kind of makeup product or tip or combination of the two to make my eyes look the way I want.  After watching probably 5 or 6 YouTube videos regarding the subject, I was ready to give up.  But then, I happened on Sharon.

She has several videos, but I have to share this one with you.  It's all about fit; the way pants fit, the way tops fit -- and we sewers care a LOT about how things fit.

So have a look and check her out on YouTube --



Enjoy --

xoxox

Gotta Be Kidding Me

OK, just WHAT is this?

OK, there is a limit to what I would call fashion.  Is this what up-and-coming designers are doing these days?

Sorry, Andrea Katz Objects.  I think you can do a little better than this.  There is no way even the cutest, thinnest, most adorable young girl would be seen in this, let alone any of the rest of us.  The Laura Ashley version of this went out of style back in the 1990's.

Do you agree?  Have your say in a comment below.

xoxox

Have I Told You About . . .

Pattern Rescue -- a wonderful site where you can send old patterns, get vintage and old patterns, and it's all free (you pay for shipping, but it's really cheap!) --

Check it out here --

Pattern Rescue

xoxox

Finished Daybed

This only took about 6 hours total sewing time.  It was really easy.  Here's how I did it:

1.  Measure the bed and the pillows.  Buy fabric accordingly.  Use inches; it's easier to convert to yardage.  Remember to take into account the width of your fabric.  Buy zippers close to the length of the bottom edge of your pillows.  Buy piping if you like, or make your own from cording and/or bias tape or quilter's binding.  Both of these are packaged and can be unfolded and used.  I got double the yardage from one package of quilter's binding.

 2.  Cut out these pieces:  The top of the bed, the front piece of the bed, the two side pieces, and the back.  And then the fronts and backs of the pillows.  I used a piece of old sheet for the back piece because it doesn't show.  This saves on the fabric needed.

3.  Sew together the front piece, the side pieces, and the back pieces so you have a big circle.  Then add the piping to the top piece and sew the big circle piece to it. 

4.  Hem all the way around.

5.  Pillows, one at a time:  sew the zippers first.  Then sew the piping to one side, and then close them up by stitching all the way around.  Stitch from the side where you can see the line of stitching from the piping; that way you'll be sure to catch all the edges.  It also helps when you unzip it halfway before sewing around the edges -- it makes it much easier to turn right side out.

** The piping makes it look professionally done **

** The pleats are easy as well.  Email me if you'd like details on how to do those. **

That bolster pillow is just a bed pillow rolled up inside a circular casing. 

Here's the finished product:

Try a project like this.  It's easy sewing (lots of rectangles) and the payoff is great!

xoxox

Patterns on Sale!

I got this email yesterday from Sewing Patterns.com

They have a couple of great features -- downloadable patterns and "make any pattern your size" -- check them out!  Sale ends today, so hurry --




xoxox

Hi, I'm Jenny and I'm a Cheapskate.

Surely there is a group I can join.

Problem:

We need some kind of sofa/futon/thing-to-sit-on downstairs in the kids area.

Current situation:

Twin-sized metal trundle, twin-sized mattress on top, (turned sideways against the wall) salvaged king-sized headboard behind, sheet, some pillows. Generally a mess. Looks like a daybed gone wrong.

WHAT A MESS.

Slightly less of a mess.

So.  Possible solutions:

$100 futon at Target. It was too small.  Took it back.

$179 futon/sofabed at Target. Do I really want to spend $179?

Keep checking a currently fruitless search on Craigslist.  Uh, no.  Everything I can find is an hour away.

SO HERE'S WHAT I'M-A-GONNA DO:

$30 of fabric at WalMart.

2 small bookcases @ $15.00 each, also from Wal-Mart.  These will go on the ends to form arms, sort of.

2 European pillows @10.00/ea from Big Lots.

I already had the two green pillows.

Total: $80. Cover the bed, cover the pillows, add throw pillows (ones I already have with fabric I already have).  I will probably also add either a couple of king-sized bed pillows behind the square ones -- or hopefully I can find a big long body pillow --  because I think it will be necessary to bring the back of the seating forward just a bit.  You know, just so your feet can still touch the floor when you sit down.

Result:

Decorator daybed/sofa -- with storage!  I'll post photos later when it's done.

: )

xoxoxox

It's Done, Done, Done!

Time to sew!

I thought I'd give you a bit of a tour, so here you go -- you can also find this on YouTube on my channel, mwnjw.

Enjoy!

xoxox