wallet

This year for my niece’s birthday I decided to make her a wallet.
She is at that age where she is growing like a weed and I was scared if I made her clothing she would grow out of it before her birthday. Generally I get her measurements 4 to 6 weeks before her birthday so I have plenty of time to make something. I do try to gauge the amount she may grow and often go up a size so she can wear it all year, but this year I wasn’t even sure going up a size would work, she is growing that fast! And so began the process of trying to come up with something that was not a stuffed animal since that’s what I gave her last year.

I brainstormed with my sister and some friends, everyone had ideas; purses being one everyone suggested. However she already has a lot of purses so I wasn’t into that idea, but the wallet now that sounded like a good idea. Not only did she not have one, my niece is bad to shove her money in her purse and it gets waded up and mixed into everything else she has in there, causing long waits while she paid for her things. Purses are hard enough to keep organized she needed a wallet.

And so I began the task of trying to find a pattern. I browsed the internet for hours trying to find something. But everything I came across either was too bulky or too small. I knew from talking to her about wallets a while ago that she didn’t like clutch wallets, She told me she likes the folding wallets because they take up less room in a purse. So that took out most of the ones I found, And most of the folding were either not big enough to put a dollar without folding the money first, or they were too tall, which in America all of our paper money is the same size so the taller wallets tend to feel awkward. I also wanted something with card holders for her library card and in case she gets gift cards. Card holders were not on most of them. I also wanted the wallet to have a coin purse built in but that was only on one pattern I found. basically I wanted this wallet to have it all and I couldn’t find anything like that.

And so I decided to see if I could copy my wallet which has all those things. I thought I had a good chance of figuring it out as it’s all squares and rectangles and so I began measuring and studying.
Here is what I learned.
Wallets are not easy.
They’re a lot of tiny pieces and getting them put together in the correct order without instructions is hard. You need a slick interior for the card pockets or the cards stick.
The outer part of the wallet has to be slightly bigger then the interior so it can fold. Yeah I had to recut a few pieces to make it work.


I made me a pattern and began the cutting. Realizing as I sewed I had not figured the number of pieces exactly right and ended up having to cut out some more. Good thing I had extra fabric.
I had a really hard time figuring out how to put the coin purse into the wallet and truthfully I have no idea how I did it. It took a lot of tearing apart and putting it back till it worked. I still kinda wonder how I did it, not enough to try again though.
I tried to make the interior of the wallet have more of the outer fabric by making the card pockets out of the outer fabric, but that is how I figured out the cards would stick. I only made one part of the card pockets and was making sure a card would fit before I made the rest when I realized the fabric wouldn’t work. I am so glad I tried it before I made the entire wallet, because that would have made me cry.

I am not sure what type of fabric the lining fabric is. It’s kind of like a plastic-y cotton. It’s not an oil cloth or anything like that and I am not sure where I got it. I just had a misshapen chunk of it in my stash; I think someone gave it to me when I was asking the other seamstresses I know for small scraps for my hexagon quilt that I have been working on for years and am still working on.

It may be a piece of blackout lining but it doesn’t really feel like that either I just don’t know.
The outer fabric is obi fabric from Japan. This fabric was given to me by someone who was clearing out. The fabric was still wrapped in the paper and had the receipt from Japan in it. I thought it was absolutely beautiful fabric and there was about half a yard so not enough to make anything big, but plenty to make a wallet. I used a gold thread to sew most of it together I thought it would be pretty and I had some on hand. The amount of layers in a wallet though was more then I realized and the corners were a bit tough to get through, I managed though I had to use white thread on the thickest parts because the gold kept breaking. I also changed the zipper pull to a gold pull to bring it all together and I thought it looked snazzy.

I really like the way the wallet turned out. As hard as it was to make I am proud of it. The only thing I wish I had done better at was putting the snaps in, they ended up a bit crooked, but hey once they are in they are in and they work so it’s fine.

My niece’s birthday was few months ago, and she was thrilled with her gift, I was hoping I would get to take her out shopping at some point, she is so busy during the school year I thought maybe during her spring break, but as anyone reading this knows that didn’t happen, spring break didn’t really happen. It was more like a spring hide away. I don’t even know when I will get to see my niece again and that makes me sad. She is at an age where she is changing so much and growing into herself that missing even a few months is heart breaking. I know eventually we will all get together again and she will probably be as tall as I am. It’s just hard to live only a few miles apart and feel so far away. Skype is just not the same. I hope though that even through all this we will stay close and keep up some of the traditions we have had over the year. One of my favorites is our annual Christmas photoshoot. We always make a day of it and go out to eat somewhere we have never eaten. Then her parents and all her grandparents get a card of the shoot. I wonder if things will be back by then. Writing this is making me tear up…

I don’t want to end this on a sad not though so I am going to share a cute story about going out with my niece last year.
We had gone out for a day of fun and I had to stick to a very strict budget bringing only what I could spend so ensure I wouldn’t go over budget (this is when my kitty was sick so there were lots of vet bills). We had been out all day and were still an hour from home and not really ready to go home because we were having fun just hanging out. But we were all hungry. I only had two dollars left, my sister had some change and my niece had maybe six dollars total in both wadded up bills and lose change. she dumped out every bit of her purse on the seat of the car to count what she had. I was just going to go home but my niece was like “we can put all our money together and get McDonalds its cheap!” I was unsure about using her money and told her I didn’t want to spend her money she is just a kid so it’s not up to her to feed me. But she told me that since I always buy her food she wanted to help me buy mine and she could definitely buy her own. . In the end we spent about eight dollars most of which she paid for. I thought it was so generous of her to spend her allowance on getting us food. She is so sweet. And we had a blast eating out and joking about her paying. Funny thing is I don’t even remember what we got. But that doesn’t matter what matters is we had a good time, and that really made me realize yeah the kid needed a wallet.



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Little mermaid Quilts

Summer before last I had my niece come stay with me for a few days so we could work on her getting some basic sewing skills. we opted to make semi matching quilts.
one of my sisters found a piece of Ariel fabric with four panels at goodwill. she only wanted one to make herself a quilt from, so she asked if I wanted the other three. I thought it would be so much fun for my niece, my two sisters and me to have matching theme quilts. so far its just my niece and I who have them finished, and one of my sisters is currently working on hers. it took a while for me to get them quilted we made the tops and then I had a friend with a quilting machine quilt them for us, she did a really nice job. but it took me a while to get them to her. every time I would see her I would forget the quilts. finally I remembered and she got them done faster then I thought.
my quilt is the one that's a bit more complicated, with the triangle blocks and sea shell and fish fabric. My niece's is the the one with the squares on top and bottom.
the quilt I made is an example of yes eventually I will get to a project even if its years and years later. the brightly colored seashell fabric I used is actually something I bought when I was a probably around 9 or 10.

I saved my allowance so I could purchase the most lovely brightest fabric I had ever seen. I was in love with this fabric and I was going to make myself a pair of pants. that is until my mother informed me I would not be making a pair of pants out that fabric it was entirely too see through. I was devastated, because I had already bought the fabric. a few years later someone gave us the fish fabric and I thought it went well with my seashells and decided to make a quilt. I started it, realized I was no longer in love with the fabric and that was it. it got stuck in a box somewhere to be hoarded for an eternity because I couldn’t bear to let go of something I had spent my very hard earned money on. and lets face it I was still a bit upset about not getting to have pants.
when my sister gave me the little mermaid fabric I dug out the old quilt I had started , which was only a few strips and immediately tore it apart. it was horrible.the “squares” I had cut were not squares at all but rather an attempt at something trying to be a square. but I figure for being a kid when I cut them out, and having no help, or guidance or even a ruler when I cut them out they were a pretty good attempt.


But adult me wanted something a bit more even so I re-cut all the squares to the same size and came up with a pattern I wanted to do. a pattern that I almost got right. I got a few of the blocks facing the wrong way, but decided I was okay with that I’m not entering it into a contest or anything and it shows how I am not used to working with highly distracting children around. which really makes me appreciate parents. seriously parents all of you are awesome. and no she was not misbehaving in the least it was just trying to help her and do my own thing at the same time that got me distracted. we had the best time working on the quilts. my niece listened to directions and asked for help when needed and we talked about stuff sewing and non sewing related we listened to music, and listened to a book By: Matthew J. Kirby. who is an awesome author by the way.
we spent two full days on our creations and we ate really well. I made sure I had her favorite foods like Mac and cheese.(one of my faves too), pancake poufs.
I let her go through my stash and chose the fabric she liked from my cottons and guided her in lets make yours fairly basic since this is a first quilt. and also introduced her to using a rotary cutter so as to spare her from the jagged edges scissors tend to make. we had so much fun.

it was right around last Christmas when they where completely done I didn’t tell her I just told her I had a surprise for her that wasn't a Christmas gift, just a surprise than handed her, her quilt. she was giddy with excitement to see it all quilted, with a fish pattern to match the under the sea vibe.


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bluejeans and blue floral shirt

I made this and took the pictures over a month ago, I've gotten very slow at posting things, but I thought it would be nice to post something to get my mind off everything going on in the world right now. so here is to sewing and dragon trees. actually I don't really talk about the tree, I just think it looks like a dragon.

I needed some new pants so I decided to give making blue jeans a try. I have made pants before and put in plenty of zippers so I was worried about it, plus I had some nice denim fabric just sitting around in my stash.

I used butterick pattern # #B5682 for the jeans. I had used this pattern previously to make some yellow plaid pants that I never blogged about, they were made out a very stretchy fabric, what I used for these jeans is an a hundred percent cotton with no stretch so they were very different. I wasn’t sure what size to make because of the fact they were non stretch and decided to go up one size just to be safe. this as it turns out was not a good idea. I had to take up every bit of the extra size. Which means this pattern is sized for non-stretch denim this is something good to know for future pairs.

The pattern was fairly straight forward but it seems like most of them are. I did read the directions which I am trying to do better at. I am so bad to simply cut out the pattern and get right to sewing. for the most part I can do this but I have decided maybe a quick overview of the pattern instructions is a good idea.

I did run into problems with the denim being too thick, which I was somewhat anticipating. my machine went through two layers with no problem and probably would have gone through three layers but it balked at four. I had trouble getting the waist band on with all those layers and decided to try lining the waistband with a light weight cotton rather than the denim. I had previously chosen a a brown with little flowers cotton to line the pockets with and went with that for lining the waistband as well. this worked like a charm and looks cute too.

for sewing the pants together I used regular thread but for the top stitching I used a heavy duty jean thread. my machine takes it well; I do have to adjust the top tension just a bit, and just to be safe I use regular thread on the bobbin. I am sure I could adjust the bobbin to work with the heavy thread but it’s not as easy to re adjust back as the top tension so I played it safe.
now putting on the belt loops on the other hand turned out to be impossible by machine. I did try it, broke a needle right away and thought no way I am ruining my machine by forcing it to do this. And put those on by hand which was not exactly easy but I managed.

the only issue I have with the finished product is they turned out a bit shorter then I would have liked. they look fine standing still but when I move they draw up a bit I just wish I would have made them an inch longer. But they’re still wearable and I do like them. They have become a staple to my wardrobe.



the blue shirt with the lace at the top is Simplicity pattern #8215
I did make a few changes on this pattern. I don’t much care for fold over collars so I ditched that idea and did just a small bias around the neck. I also added a band to the bottom of the sleeve because I thought that would look pretty. Other than that I followed the pattern . it was very easy and making the change to the collar made it all the easier to make. I do have to admit thought sewing with the light weight lace and the lining was a bit like sewing spider webs together. it took a lot of pins and sewing a bit slower than normal but it turned out so cute it was worth it.

both of these patterns where things I can wear for everyday wear and can be mixed and matched with other pieces I have. I really need to concentrate more on everyday wear so I wear what make to places like work. I love to wear dresses but they are not my friend at work (wheels and having to sit on the floor at times doesn’t bode well with dresses) so I need to wear more practical things like pants which means of course I really should make them.




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gray teddy bear

for my sisters birthday last year I made her a teddy bear as she seemed to really like the ones I made for myself and my niece. I used the same pattern as the others but her fur was much fluffier.
I originally wanted to make her a bear in a golden color but the fabric store was sorely lacking in anything of that nature. which I think is sad as it is such an iconic teddy bear color especially if you are going for the old fashioned pooh bear look.
the fur I ended up getting though is extremely soft and plush, because if I couldn’t get the color I wanted I could get the best feeling fur out there. this pattern only takes a 1/4 yard of fabric so the fact it cost 3 times as much as the other furs didn’t matter much. and gray is a nice color too. I am not exactly fond of making these bears as fur is nasty to sew with it gets everywhere, clings with all its might to anything it touches and makes me sneeze, even though its faux fur and not real at all it still sheds like crazy. but they sure do turn out cute so I keep making them.
at some point we are all going to get together and have us a teddy bear tea picnic,and get some better pictures, but we have to wait till the weather cooperates with our scheduling and that can be very hard, very hard indeed.


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

a little goodbye

last year was tough. it wasn’t the sewing that was tough it was other things, but through it I tried to keep on keeping on. one thing that was very hard was losing my childhood pet in late October; after a year of her battling congestive heart failure and a few other things that go along with aging. she took a lot of care in the last days and months of her life but I don't regret the time spent with her at all. she was happy content and demanding till the end.

for 21 years she liked to help me sew, (well it was closer 17 years as I wasn’t really into sewing till then, but whatever. she was 21 1/2. half years totally count when your a cat) I used to make her clothes and dress her up like Victorian and Edwardian times. I am sure I got the idea from paintings and photographs of children dressing up cats, toting them around in baby carriages and having tea. the dresses really weren’t good but I thought they were, and she tolerated it well, and we had fun. yes I started sewing making doll clothes which then translated into kitty clothes.

when I started using patterns to make myself things she would help me out by chewing on the pattern paper while I lay out the pattern on the floor to cut out. I would turn around and chunks of my pattern would be slimy melted sludge. I would than try to flatten out and rework them, usually they weren‘t a total loss. After a few years she finally got her fill and stopped doing it, letting me cut out the patterns without fear of the slime.

She then went on to helping me sew by laying on every project I ever did. which meant lint rollers were always used on a finished project. I never cared that she lay on them, she never clawed them or anything she was just “helping” me out. even when her arthritis got to where she could no longer get onto the sewing table, she would let me know she needed to get up there and I would accommodate by helping her up, and then helping her down when she was done. she was tiny bit spoiled.
she spent hours watching me sew, probably wondering why exactly I was doing, till I was done, and she had a new thing to get hair all over.

she tagged along with me outside all over the forest just outside our door. the photo shoots for my Blog very often turned into her photo shoots. I have a lot of great pictures of her, I’m going to stick to the sewing related ones here though.

our last project together was a quilt. one that I was not able to finish before she passed. I knew I wouldn’t as I am sewing it all by hand, I did however finish all the squares, and was able to take her picture with each of them. I will post them when the quilt is complete, which won‘t be for a while. I need to get back to working on it. The entire time I worked on it I told her the quilt was for her, so when I do finally finish it, I will call it her memorial quilt. I got frustrated with it the last time I worked on it though so I set it aside. I will go back to it eventually. I will finish it one day. sometimes though things have to be set aside before they ever be completed.


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Bathing suit

I was invited to spend the day at a lake with some friend with short notice, and realized I didn’t really have a bathing suit. the one I had was a vintage suit with very little to no stretch to it. and even though I love it its hard to put on. so I went shopping, and well I am not shaped for what they sell in the stores. probably if I’d had more time and could have gone to more places I might have found something.
my trip the store was not a pleasant one, Everything that offered any coverage at all was too big, and the rest were so tiny that I may as well not even bother. so I totally scraped the idea of a new suit and wore a rash guard and shorts that day.
I also had a camping trip to another lake planned for later on in the year which I thought I may have time to look for another suit

a month later I was glancing at the fabric section of the store, not intending to purchase any just kinda checking it out in case there was something I had to have. and low and behold there was! it was a pre-cut two yard piece of stretch fabric, navy with orange flowers. it was beautiful.

I had picked up simplicity pattern #8139 on a whim months before, because the fabric store was having one of those irresistible sales of 99 cent patterns that rarely happen and always leave me buying too many patterns I actually have no intention of using. yes I am one of those people who hoards patterns. but at that price its hard to say no.
now the actual pattern calls for using a stretch fabric for the interior part of the suit only and a non stretch fabric, and a zipper for the exterior. I wanted something that was easy to put on and would dry fast, so I liked the idea of the stretch I bought for both the interior and exterior parts of the suit.

however using a stretch fabric on a non stretch pattern causes it own issues. one of which is the fit. I knew I had to make it smaller since with stretch I didn’t want any ease like I might want with cotton. but at the same time the inner part of the suit needed to be made on my normal size and then all of this needed to fit exactly together. but of course that isn’t exactly how it happened.
I made the outer part of the suit two sizes smaller then the inner which seemed like a good idea but when I went to try it on I had to still take it up quite a bit. but that shouldn’t have surprised me because I also had to take up the interior part a bit. I don’t know if its because I was attaching it to a stretch fabric or if I would have had to take up the inner part even with a non stretch., it doesn’t really matter I finally got it right, and it does seem that I make a lot of things twice to get the fit right.

I worked on this suit every evening after work for two weeks trying to make sure I finished it before my camping trip which was coming up fast.
while working on the bathing suit I cam across another problem. adding the elastic to the straps was not going so well. I cut the elastic significantly less then what I needed knowing it would stretch out as I sewed it in; it still turned out wonky. the straps sticking out all weird and the front gaping. I pulled out all the stitching which was not easy as I had put it in with a three point zigzag, a huge mistake if ever there was one. I’d been told that the three point zigzag was a good stitch to use on stretch as it allows the fabric to stretch without popping stitches. however it also stretches the fabric so badly out of shape it wasn’t worth it. then I tried using a double needle. again something that allow stretch . the pattern calls for tunneling in the elastic which wasn’t working, it looked horrible. so I again tore out the stitching and started over. this time I serged the elastic in, then folded it over to stitch it down. and that worked well, though the straps ended up a bit more narrow then the pattern called for, at least it looks good and that is what mattered. I ran into the same issue adding elastic to the legs I fudged it a little in the legs because I ran out of the 1/2” elastic. but it still turned out okay. I also added a liner to the inner suit bottom just for my own comfort and the fact the suits in the store have them it makes me think they are needed. I also added a built in bra, which I could have done better with if I’d had more time. it was basically just a thin padding and elastic which is how they do it in a lot of the of the store bought ones.
I finished the suit with a few days to spare before my camping trip, which I think is awesome.
I like the way it turned out. I think its really cute, and will hopefully wear it for years to come.
I had a fun playing in the lake with friends, I'm not much of a swimmer but I had a enjoyable time bobbing on my noodle. however it was so incredibly hot it was hard to >enjoy the rest of the camping. although we did have some good food and went in a canoe which was pretty fun.


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*