Kimono Silk Sakura Applique

I had this old Kimono silk for long time. I wanted to make mats for covering the surface of the shelves on our bed head board. I found this faded maroon Kimono silk in my stash bin and thought it would look nice on the shelves. I love the rustic look of the outworn Kimono. But there were a couple of little holes. I was going to cover only those two holes with Sakura (Cherry blossom) petal shaped applique. As I worked on it, I felt like making more petals as embellishment. The fabric I used for applique is also silk from another Kimono.

I don't need to worry that my favorite vintage Heywood Wakefield furniture get damaged anymore. And my bed looks a bit more beautiful.

Valentine Mini Heart Pouch Tutorial

St. Valentine's day is right there. I see so many heart shapes, red and pink in the world now. So I thought of making something in red and heart shape just for fun. I liked to play with cozy felt in warm color. And I loved the result of a couple hours of fun handwork. So I want to share this project with all of you. I wrote the tutorial for making this lovely Mini heart pouch here in my Flickr set. There is also the downloadable and printable actual sized heart pattern here.

The heart is only 3-1/4" wide. This could be a coin purse, a jewelry pouch or a gift package for your Valentine.

It is all hand sewn.

You can reach the heart pattern for the sides of the pouch by clicking this image below.

 

I hope you will enjoy the project!

Have a great week, and Happy hand sewing!

Gum Drop Mobile Sculpture

Ascend to December, my husband and daughter built some pyramids and other shaped sculptures with gum drop candies and toothpicks. It was for Nina to learn Math and Geometry. (My husband had worked as a math education specialist for long time. It was always his dream to tutor his own child someday. And his dream has come true after many many years!)  Those sculptures were sitting on the kitchen table for a while because I loved the colors and shapes so I didn't want to throw away. 

One day in the last week, I happened to think of making a mobile with them. Then I made it right away. And it worked! I hanged it from the ceiling in our family room with fishing lines.

If you had some left over gum drops from a project of ginger bread house, you should try this. It is so easy and a fun project to do with your kids.

Happy crafting with kids!

Serger Cover Finished!

I couldn't do any sewing on the past weekend as I expected. But I eventually finished it yesterday and here it is!

The quilted body was done last week. So I started with making two gussets. I layered tops, fleece and backing together. I didn't quilt these parts. The fleece was fusible so I just stuck them together by ironing.

Cut some strips in 1-3/4" for piping edges. They are not bias because there is no curvy spots on the hem.

Nicely covered hem!

All the parts are ready to be assembled!

I attached the gussets to the quilted body and piped the raw edges with coordinated fabric. And Ta-Da! My first cover for serger is finished!

I like it. This project was unexpectedly (because I felt it is my duty to spend or dump my scraps) so fun to me. I am in the middle of organizing my studio in the basement. And I found lots more scraps to make something fun like this. There are already some ideas of use-up-scrap projects in my mind.

I hope you liked to see the progress of this project and it inspired someone who wants to find a good use for their pile of treasures. Happy sewing!

Scrap Quilt / Serger Cover

If you love sewing and fabric, you must have lots of tiny pieces of scrap fabric in your stash. Just like I do. I kept thinking I would use them up somehow for something soon. And the time just went by months and months. The pile of scraps got bigger and bigger.

At last, I thought of making a cover for my new serger and it could be a good chance of using those scraps. Then I just started to sew without thinking too much. (Once I started thinking, it could take forever. I have had that kind of experiences a lot.)

I picked light colored scraps for this project. Many different prints and some solid cottons sorted by color.

I picked out some long strips from the pile. Lined them up to see how it looks together. Then just sewed them up together. It can be a bit wonky. It makes the piece looks more fun.

Pressed the piece and cut them in three 3" wide strings.

Connected them in one string until the piece got desired length.

I made three strings.

Added some solid strings in between the pieced strings. Those solid strings are from Kona Cotton Jelly Roll I purchased online long long time ago.

I machine quilted it "Stitch in the ditch".

How the stitch looks on the top.

On the back.

I still need to attach gussets to the sides. But let's just take a look how it would look on my machine! Pretty good, don't you think?

On weekends, I usually don't have much time to work in my studio because of the people I have to take care of are at home. And this is a long weekend. I will try to update this project as soon as I can. I hope my girl gets a play date or two! So I can finish this and start a new project.

Have a happy weekend and please stay warm if you were in the cold climate!

Easy sewing / Apron

Today I sewed an apron. I have made the almost same ones before and I wanted to improve the pattern and think about making it in other sizes.

 

 

I made buttons with the fabric I used for the pocket.

 

 There is another project going on. I am making a serger cover like I said before. I am trying to use up my tiny scraps. It is going to be a piece of scrap quilt. I hope I can write about it in the next post.

Yeppie! My dream has come true!

I have been wanted to have a serger for years. And at last, I got my wish! Now I have a baby lock Lauren in my studio! Lauren is their entry level machine and it works just right for me. This will make my work much faster and let me discover the new world of sewing.  I am so excited! This morning I just started to play around and learn how it works.

Looks good!

Look what I finished with my new serger this morning! My new PJ pants!  It only took a couple hours to finish. I am so happy to make certain my new machine works well. And happy to have a new pair of PJ pants as well!

The material is cotton flannel. It feels warm and cozy.

I can't wait to move on to the next project. There are so many things on my TO SEW list. I probably should make a cover for my new machine for the next.

I hope you all started a good week. And HAPPY SERGING!