Threads Magazine Back Issues

One of my best and most inspiring sewing guides has been my collection of Threads magazines. It took a lot of work but I finally have the entire collection, as published and have gone through and read them several times. I learn something new every time I pick up a new or back issue of this wonderful and inspiring magazine. In my quest to get one issue each of the entire set, at times I had to buy magazine lots that had an issue that I already had. These spare issues are what I’m selling. They have all been used, many are ex-library and have stamps and markings and wear, there is a possibility of a missing page. However I believe them to all be complete. They are being sold AS IS for the great information contained in them. You can see which issues I have for sale here.

Breast Cancer Comfort Cushions

For those of you who would like to use your sewing and machine embroidery talents to help others, here is a project that is worthy of support. Started by a woman who herself faced breast cancer, she developed a sewing charity of making breast cancer comfort cushions, tote bags for x-rays, tote bags for drainage bags, and a small gift that has helped thousands of women. You can read her story here. Embroidery Library, one of my favoirte sites is also giving away a free machine embroidry design to use when making your own comfort cushion and has step by step instructions for embroidering and sewing it on their site which you can see here.

If you know someone recovering from breast cancer surgery, this would be a welcome gift. If this is not something you would want to make yourself, be sure to send the links on to someone who could benefit from this project.

Sew Craftful

Hey I think I finally figured out how to use Twitter for myself. Saw a post that looked interesting, clicked on it and found this interesting blog on sewing with vintage patterns, etc. If you are interested in sewing with vintage patterns and other tidbits of vintage sewing information you might want to take a look at Sew Craftful.

Project Linus Quilt 2010

Finally I have the picture of this years Project Linus quilt that I just turned in. It is all made with finished size 2" squares, 4" squares and 2 x 4" rectangles. This is my interpretation of a front cover quilt from McCall's Quilting December 1996. I have made quite a few quilts from this block as it is easy to make, but looks a bit complicated. It is also a great block for scraps as you can control the scrappy look by having one piece of the same fabric of the same size in the same location in each block. Whenever I finish a sewing project that uses quilting cotton, I cut my leftover pieces into 2 1/2" squares, 4 1/2" squares, and 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles. Do that for a while and when you need a quilt in a hurry it is all basically cut out, all you have to do is decide the location for each fabric and sew them together. In this particular quilt I decided to quilt a block at a time and then join them in the end. In the larger squares I machine embroidered a quilting motif and then stitched in the ditch with decorative stitches, then put the quilt together.

I do most of my piecing for my Project Linus quilts at my sewing machine that is just off of my kitchen. It is amazing how much sewing you can get done while waiting for water to boil or toast to pop and even during those breaks I have to take while doing dishes. Most of this quilt was made in those spare minutes that usually get wasted. I'm doing a different block for next year's quilt and already have 10 blocks finished. I am yet again using my "Two by Four" pieces so they were already cut out and these blocks are going together fast. Perhaps this year I can make two quilts. Having this project in a different location than my other sewing projects, keeps me remembering it (don't want my Project Linus quilts turning into UFO's) and also no need to put it away when I have other projects to work on in my sewing room.

I like making quilts for children to have when they are in need of comfort and I hope it also encourages the parents to know that someone loved their child from afar even before there was the need for the quilt. Because I have health problems that keep me from doing many of the things I would truly like to, I feel blessed to be able to do this for others and that I was also blessed with an extra sewing machine to have this project always in front of me when I am in the kitchen.

Clothes for 18" Dolls

I'm a mother to boys and they haven't yet presented me with grand-daughters so I haven't had much of a chance to sew doll clothes. I know I could make and dress dolls for charity but I prefer making quilts for my charitable sewing. So I have to pass on information about making doll clothes to my readers and let them get the use out of them. Heart N Sole has some great in the hoop machine embroidery doll clothes for 18" dolls. Even if you don't need to be making doll clothes, you might want to pop on over to the site to see what is possible. Machine embroidery has come such a long way since the first home embroidery/sewing machine came out in 1990.

If you want to make doll clothes the 'old-fashioned' way, you can visit our pattern store and see our selection including some patterns that include an outfit for your little girl and her doll. As always from us, fast shipping. Currently we have over 6000 new, uncut sewing patterns of all styles and sizes in our store. Shop with us any time!

In the Hoop Doll Clothes

The Purple Hat now has a set of designs to be made in the hoop of 11 1/2" fashion doll clothes consisting of a skirt, pants, top and vest. If you need to whip up some clothes for your child's fashion doll such as Barbie(R) you might want to check out this set.

Books and Knitting

Here is an interesting article that you may find interesting if you love both needlecraft and books. http://privatelibrary.typepad.com/the_private_library/2010/02/stitch-n-bitch-and-the-private-library.html

New Embroidery Site

Hatched In Africa has come out with a New site called Hatched Embroidery fun if you like machine embroidering redwork and quilting blocks they have some great designs. Although they don't have any freebies at this site currently, they have always had plenty at the regular Hatched in Africa. When visiting there, plan to spend some time as they have many beautiful machine embroidery designs and you will get lots of great ideas.

Nostalgic Designs

Madsen Originals has just released some great nostalgic children machine embroidery designs. Visit them here and take a peek at these lovely designs. They also have quite a few FREE sample designs that you can download to see examples of their work.

Fleece Top

Here is my finished fleece top using Butterick Pattern 4361. As noted in the previous blog I machine embroidered the design and the top itself was very easy to sew up. Wearing it was a treat the other day as it was warm and cozy and we are in the midst of WINTER here! I'm looking forward to making my next top and ideas are already percolating in my head.

Fleece Top

Well I have had some fun tracking down embroidery designs for the fleece top I was making. I wanted to have the design coordinate with the fabric of a skirt I have, trying to keep Sewing With A Plan in mind. I found a design off of one of Janome's memory cards Floral Design 2 #125 design #7 and some small daisies and a butterfly design from Embroidery Library . Then I tried to match the colors as closely as possible and sewed out the combined design on my Janome 300E. After inspecting it and with some advice from hubby, I dropped one extra color completely and changed a few others around. I then embroidered it out on the front of my top. It was all downhill from there. I couldn't believe how easy it was to sew out the top! I was finished in no time except for blanket stitching around the neckline with perle cotton that I did while watching a DVD with my son. I will post the picture of the top as soon as hubby has gotten the phicture on the computer for me but in the meantime, I'm posting the embroidery design and a swatch of the fabric. Not an exact match for the design, but close enough to go with the skirt and also with another skirt I have. I am looking forward to wearing it as it is nice and cuddly feeling. The only comment I have about the pattern, Butterick Pattern 4361 is that the sleeves seemed to be way to long and as I am tall and sleeves generally are too short on me, this is something you may want to be careful of if you make up the pattern. Now that I have made it once, I plan on making another top with the other chunk of fleece that I have. We still have many months of winter to look forward to and I want some warm tops.

I found Nancy Cornwell's Book More Polarfleece Adventures
to be a great resource and guide while making this top.

Resting Reading Sewing

While running some errands today, I stopped in at my library and discovered that they have a subscription to Quilter's World
Magazine and I was able to check out 3 back issues. Now I'm looking forward to taking a break to look through them. I can only have them for a week, but it is nice to know that I can see it at my library. When wondering if you should get a subscription for a magazine, don't forget that your library may have issues of it that you can preview. There are other craft magazines at my library and I will have to see if there are others I would like to bring home for ideas. I love looking through magazines when I'm not feeling well, so glad to remember that I have another source for them other than buying them.

Hoping today to cut out a long sleeve fleece top using Butterick 4361. Still trying to decide which neckline to use. I'm thinking of using some gray fleece I have. We still have copies of this pattern available in our store if you would like to get one or one of our many other patterns that we have for sale. Currently we have over 6400 new, uncut sewing patterns in stock.

Sew Beautiful #128

After weeks of being stuck in the house due to snow, snow and more snow, I finally got out the other day with my son helping me to get groceries. At one of the stores, I saw the front cover of Sew Beautiful
issue 128. It was gorgeous! The front cover featured a beautiful bouquet of flowers made out of ribbons. The whole issue in fact featured ribbons, how to make them into different types of flowers and how to use them to decorate and accessorize. While normally this magazine is full of smocking plates, heirloom embroidery, Christening gowns, etc., this issue encompassed all that while bringing us the basics of creating with ribbons. If you are interested in making ribbon roses and other types of flowers you will want to find a copy of this magazine as inspiration and reference source.

Lovely Butterfly Bag

The Purple Hat as just brought out a great new Made in the Hoop machine embroidery design. It has butterflies and flowers on the front of the handbag and also includes a coin/cosmetic bag and eyeglass case with matching designs. Currently this design set is on sale until January 22, 2010 but should be available after at it's regular price. Stop in and see this great design!

Hearts and Daisies Machine Embroidery Designs

Ready to embroider something that isn’t Christmas related? Madsen Originals has some lovely new Hearts and Daisies designs that are available for only a limited time, till December 31, 2009. They are lovely machine embroidery designs and bring a breath of fresh air to those of us in the snowy depths of winter.

Madsen Originals has many more lovely designs and a nice selection of Free designs so that you can try out their designs before you buy.

Happy to report that I got my Christmas dress done in time to wear to our Christmas Eve service at church. No pictures of it yet, but as I had to make it with short sleeves, hubby was kind enough to help me make a cozy cover up out of dark green fleece using the draping process. We had a lovely but quiet Christmas as my boys were home and we are looking forward to my one son's girlfriend coming in a few days. Christmas with all adults is so different than Christmas with little ones!

Free Machine Embroidery Christmas Ornament

Visit Snow Lady designs to get your FREE machine embroidery Christmas Ornament and to see all her great designs and other freebies. I don’t know how long this design will be available so get it now while you can!

Started sewing up my Christmas dress the other day and went to make the cut out sleeves and found them to be too small, so I'm stalled between trying to figure out what to do and am also having an arthritis flare-up which is keeping me out of the sewing room. Hopefully I'll get it figured out and have something to wear on Sunday or else I will have to wear my old Christmas clothes that are currently too big for me.

Need Some Last Minute Embroidery Designs?

Need some last minute machine embroidery designs? Check out The Secrets of Embroidery . They are a huge on line mall of many different machine embroidery designers with lots of great ideas and projects, Plus lots of FREEBIES!

Redwork Christmas Quilting Designs

Just visited Hatched In Africa's website and saw the most interesting redwork designs. Taking what would normally appear to be a simple design and combining them, they became lovely quilting squares that look very intricate until you look closely and see the face of Santa Claus or a Christmas candle, etc. If you are looking for some last minute Christmas sewing inspiration check this out.

Over 6000 Listings!

After a very rough year physically and by plugging away on my 'good' days, I'm very happy to say that we now have over 6000 listings in our ecrater store, Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts. Over 5000 of these listings are for sewing patterns in all types and sizes and we have many more to come.

I have also been able to finish two sewing projects recently, one major and one minor. The smaller one is a Christmas Stocking for the charming young lady my son brought home and introduced to us during Thanksgiving. She will be visiting again for part of the Christmas holiday and so of course needed her own stocking!



The larger project was a single sized quilt for my brother in law. I made it out of 8 1/2" orphaned blocks that I had made over the years. It was time to put them together! It was fun deciding the most logical arrangement to make with them. Many of the blocks use what I call 2 by 4 pieces. When I have leftover pieces of quilting fabric from a project I cut it into 2 1/2" square pieces, 4 1/2" square pieces, and 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle pieces. It is amazing how many quilt blocks use only those pieces in many different formations. This quilt is composed of leftover bits of sewing fabrics from 40 years of sewing. The hardest part was the machine quilting and I don't think I will be doing that again as it is just too hard physically and I made a royal mess of it! I used the Janome Moter Sports Series card to embroider the truck in the color of my BIL's rig.

Last Dress of Summer!

Now that summer is about over, I finally was able to finish the summer dress I have been working on. I used Simplicity Pattern 2615 yet again, as it is a comfortable dress and very easy to make. An easy to make garment allows me the time for some creativity that I might not have time for if the garment itself is a handful to make, especially as I am not an advanced sewer. Even though I have been sewing for the majority of my life, it has only been the last ten years or so that I have been trying hard to educate myself on sewing techniques and to be more careful in what I am making.

Although hard to see in the picture, this dress has a white background and small turquoise flowers and leaves. This fabric has been sitting in my stash for probably the last 15 years waiting for the right pattern as I realized that the project it was originally bought for wasn't going to work out after I made up the pattern the first time. I wanted the dress to be feminine, a little bit special but not over the top. I saw the lace insertion idea in a Sew Beautiful magazine from several years ago and thought that would dress it up a bit. Instead of the neck facings, I used double fold bias binding around the neckline. I like how it turned out, but I did have to refer to Claire Schaeffer Fabric Sewing Guide for information on the bias binding. I have dyslexia and that tends to get in the way of sewing at times especially when I have to do anything 'backwards'. Now the only thing to do is hope the weather is warm tomorrow and I'm feeling well enough to go to church and try out my new dress. annabelle, my dress model, needs to lose about 25# as I did and we don't have her readjusted yet. Yet another reason I like this dress. It can accomodate weight flucuations.

Great Embroidery Digitizer Has Died

On August 4, 2009, the world lost a great machine embroidery digitizer with the passing of Felix Zundt. You can read about this man and the plans for the future of Zundt Designs here. I remember the first time I ever saw one of their designs, I had to pick my chin up off the floor it was so beautiful. When you go to the site to see the biography of Mr. Zundt, you can also pick up a few free machine embroidery samples.

An 'Ouchy" Day

Yesterday had a problem while dusting and ended up sitting on the floor. With hubby's help after about 5 minutes, I was finally up off the floor and in a lot of pain that continues into today. It is amazing how little it takes to get the old arthritis flare up going! To me it is not only painful but frustrating as there were things I wanted to do such as finishing pinning down and then cutting out a dress. This is a summer dress I'm trying to make and at the rate I'm going it should be ready to wear just in time for Christmas!

I am happy with my little secondary sewing station downstairs though, as I was able to piece a few patches together. Not a lot of progress on this Project Linus quilt but at least I felt like I was doing something.

Except for that little bit of sewing, my sewing time has been involved with reading Kennth King's Cool Couture. This is a book that explains the process of techniques not projects. If you are a beginner sewer, you might want to read this book with an all round sewing book in hand as many things such as interlining, interfacing, etc. are not explained in any great detail. But, what he does explain in detail is very detailed. If you want to do piping, embellishing, pocket making in your sewing, he has some great techniques. He also explains how to sew on some of the more difficult fabrics and what types of fabrics he uses for interfacings and interlinings. There are a lot of line drawings and color photographs. What he does cover in the book is usually very thorough, but after my first look through several weeks ago and then reading through it again, I was left with a "Is that all there is?" feeling. I would have liked to have seen a whole look more techniques covered. Fortunately he also writes articles for Threads magazine so I know he has a lot more techniques up his sleeves that I have gotten to read about, but that doesn't help the reader who only can buy his book. This book definitely has some good ideas, but may not be what you are looking for.

Two by Four Quilts

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to focus in on with my sewing since I have realized that my To Do list will take me approximately 500 years and I doubt that I have more than 40 to go, tops! I don't want to waste my time working on projects that don't give me pleasure while ignoring the ones that do. Maybe I'm the only one that goes through this angst, but once you have chronic health problems, you find yourself being limited in many ways.

I finally realized that when it comes to sewing, number one on the list is sewing patchwork pieces together, preferably using 'scraps'. Scraps to me can be leftovers from any 100% cotton sewing project, pre-made scraps from new fabric, and scraps and leftovers given to me from people who know I sew. One of the things I do when scraps enter my life is narrow them down into workable sizes for quick and easy projects. Most quilts can be ‘quick and easy’ if you do most of the work ahead of time, little by little. So all scraps go through this process. I cut them into 2 ½”, 2”, 1 ½” strips, then 4 ½” squares, 4 1/2” x 2 ½” rectangles, and 2 ½” squares. Odd pieces wider than an inch but maybe having an odd angle, etc. are thrown in my string piecing box which has produced several string pieced quilts. The other strips are carefully places in boxes according to their size. When I have a few spare minutes (or sometimes just a minute!) I use the 4 ½”, 2 ½” squares and/or the 4 ½” x 2 ½” rectangle and design a block then sew it together. I call these my 2 x 4 quilts. I will go through this process until I run low on any particular size block unit and then see what I can make with what is left. When I get to the point that nothing is making a good color match I stop, but at this point I have usually made enough 8 ½” quilt blocks to put together at least a lap quilt or a Project Linus baby quilt. Then I need to do the not as much fun for me part of layering, quilting and binding. I’m currently in the process of machine quilting an over large Twin sized quilt and decided that from now on the majority of my quilts are going to be quilt as you go so I’m not having such an awful time handling a big quilt in my machine.

Up until 2 years ago I lived in a one floor house that permitted me to pop into my sewing room and whip up a quilt block in a spare minute or two. Sometimes I would just lay out a block to let the colors percolate in my mind and maybe when I get back to it I’d swap the smaller squares for something that looks better, or maybe I’d still like it and just sew it up using chain piecing. I realize of late that I wasn’t getting as much sewing down as I used to even with a large, well equipped sewing room. I blamed it on ill health, but that still didn’t seem right. Then I put on my thinking cap and realized that with my sewing machine upstairs, whenever I had a free few minutes downstairs I didn’t have the sewing machine to run to for quick work on a project. This was easily solved with a secondary sewing station as I am blessed with two good sewing machines, a Janome 6500 upstairs and a Janome 9000 now downstairs. Since setting up, I have whipped out over 20 quilt blocks and have had to bring out my box of precut Project Linus quilt pieces to start sewing together. I have enough cut out for probably 4 baby quilts at least and with my new set up, I know I will be able to get more done. Sewing is relaxing for me so I love having a chance to do it while waiting for something to finished on the stove or for hubby to get off the computer and let me use it.

As to what will be going on in the upstairs sewing room, I’m still thinking that through but I’m very happy to be back in the piecing grove again!

My Favorite Sewing Books

This is an initial list of my favorite sewing books at the request of some of the readers on the Threads forum. Since it was a bit of work, I decided to post it here also.. I have a large sewing reference library and have found that some books are better than others. Not all of you may agree with me as to the worth of these books. I suppose part of that is just because of your own knowledge base and experience and some books are better just because of the author and the editing. These books are basically basic sewing and sewing reference books that I have on my own shelves in my sewing room. I have found though that the very best resource I have found for learning techniques in sewing is Threads magazine.

1. More Fabric Savvy: A Quick Resource Guide to Selecting and Sewing Fabric by Sandra Betzina ISBN 1561586625. This book sits right by my sewing machine for exactly what the subtitle says. Whenever I am about to sew a garment in fabric that is unfamiliar to me, I can usually find it in this book. There is a color picture of a garment made in the fabric and on the other page across from the picture a simple guide to how to preshrink, layout, mark, cut, interface the garment. What types of thread, needles, presser feet, stitch length, etc. are also given. Seam finishes, pressing, topstitching, closures and hemming for the fabric are also noted. Each fabric guide sheet is set up the same way, so you don’t get lost looking for the detail you need. I find it extremely handy for the needle size and type, presser foot and stitch length. Of course, this is general information and you might need to change settings depending on your fabric, garment style and sewing machine, but it is nice to have a quick guide handy to get you into the ballpark especially if this is a new fabric for you.
2. Fabric Sewing Guide by Claire Shaeffer ISBN 089689536x. This is a large, heavy book. I have only recently purchased it and so have not looked up much in it. It is cross referenced so that you can look up the information you need by fabric type, fabric structure, fiber content, sewing techniques you want or would like to use. Lots of color pictures and LOTS of detail, some of it repeating itself depending on what part of the book you are in, but that saves you flipping through the book to figure things out. In Claire’s usual thorough style you get check ff sheets for sewing the fabric and fabric characteristics so you can judge if the fabric is suitable for what you are wanting to make. As noted I have only recently purchased this book and haven’t used it much yet. The only detriment for me using the book is the weight of it and my arthritic hands. The content is excellent though. If you don’t have problems with heavy duty books and you sew with all types of fabrics and want a good guide for sewing with them, you will want a copy of this book.
3. Shirtmaking: Developing Skills for Fine Sewing by David Page Coffin ISBN 1561580155. When I first had this book in my hands, it was a library copy. I read the first couple of pages, shut the book and went and ordered in on line so I could read the book at my leisure and be able to refer back to it. Maybe it is just me, but I think more men should write sewing books. Too many books I come across the women writing them make these huge intuitive leaps and assume you know how to get from point A to point G without help. This book was very detailed. I learned things I had never know before about ironing cloth. I got an idea on how to set up my iron spot for more efficient use of my ironing space. I learned about luxury men’s shirts and walked into the closet to compare my husband’s shirts with what David was writing about. You may think that this is a book about making men’s shirts and so doesn’t apply to you. If you ever make tops or blouses or shirts for yourself or others, there are a lot of great ideas and techniques in this book. Very well written.
4. Sweatshirts with Style by Mary Mulari ISBN 0801983924. Is this the best sewing book on the market. NO way, but it is one of the first sewing books I ever purchased that I have used the information in it for years. I like making lightweight jackets out of sweatshirts and this book showed me how. I’m a disabled stay at home kind of person. I don’t need (nor do I like wearing) tailored jackets, but I do like having something lightweight to keep from getting drafts on my joints. I have made many little jackets following the ideas in this book. If you have a loved one in a nursing home type facility a sweatshirt cardigan makes a perfect gift as it can be made to be pretty and feminine and yet is washable and easy care. I’m hoping to have a good supply of these made for myself long before I can’t sew anymore.
5. Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire B. Shaeffer ISBN 1561584975. Many of us have never had any formal training in sewing other than a miserable home ec class way back in the dark ages. Mine in particular stands out due to how many times my teacher made me replace my zipper and redo my hem. Were these classes set up purposefully to get kids to hate sewing? Hearing about couture techniques is not the same as sewing them in action. I have never owned a couture garment and doubt that I ever will. My budget is on the Walmart side if I did shop for clothes so the only way to see couture techniques is to read about them in a book. I enjoyed this book as it not only gave historical information but gave the information in making these techniques ours. We see pictures of designer garments inside out with the special finishes noted, then we are shown how to do them. Obviously you aren’t going to want to use couture techniques on easy to make clothes for doing yard work, but when you are making something special, you want to make it the best it can be and this book tells you how. I love books that inspire me and this one certainly does.
6. Palmer/Pletsch Couture: The Art of Fine Sewing by Roberta Carr ISBN 0935278281. I was very happy to find this book at a library book sale. It also shows many couture techniques only without the background and pictures of designer garments as the previously mentioned book. Instead the author uses garments she has made to demonstrate her techniques and designs. Lots of color pictures and black and white diagrams. Many of the garments are a bit dated looking by you can still see the inspiration behind the designs. There are lots of techniques in this book that can help you finish off your garments in novel ways or just in nice ways so you don’t go around with that ‘dorky homemade look’. I think none of us want our sewing to devolve into looking like something we had whipped up the night before when we should have been in bed. I know I am constantly looking to improve my sewing habits and reading books like this one and taking notes of the ideas have been a big help. I don’t get nearly as many “did you make that?” questions as I used to.
7. All About Machine Arts: Decorative Techniques from A-Z from Sew News, Creative Machine Embroidery and C&T Publishing ISBN 1571202277. This is good basic guide for when you want to make your garment or project have a little more oomph. However, I must caution you, if you are a long time subscriber to Sew News and Creative Machine Embroidery you will find many of the articles have been taken directly from these magazines or books published by C&T Publishing. It is nice having all the information in one book, but if you have already seen most of the information, do you really want to buy the book? If you want to be sure, borrow it from the library first to decide if this is a reference book you want. I know I have referred back to it many times since it is much easier than trying to find the old articles, but I do remember thinking I was losing my mind when I first looked through the book since so much of it seemed familiar. That being said, this book is full of ideas and inspiration in an easy to read format, set up in alphabetical order so it is easy if you are looking for ideas on using entredeux to look it up under E.
8. Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Techniques by Nancy Bednar & JoAnn Pugh-Gannon ISBN 0806963654. First a note of caution, this book has been published with two different covers. Both have the exact same information. Don’t buy it again if you already have a copy of it—ask me how I know this! This is a great book for checking out how to do different sewing machine techniques. There are a lot of color step-by-step instructions and at the beginning of each section it tells you how to set up your machine, stitches, presser foot, needles, threads, tensions, etc. If you need to make your own entredeux, this book shows you how. If you want to make fake hand loomed embroidered insertions you can learn with this book. Want to learn how to use that ruffler that has been sitting in the box since you brought it home? Again this book shows you how. If you want a handy reference for machine techniques this is a good one. Even though they may not walk you through the entire project using each technique, plenty of pictures of the finished projects are shown so you can make your own version.
9. Fine Embellishment Techniques: Classic Details for Today’s Clothing by Jane Conlon ISBN 1561584967. If you are looking for some unique ways to use beads and braiding on your garments, this book tells you how and gives you the steps to accomplish it. Sometimes it is just one special technique that turns a so-so garment into a wow garment. Beads are all the rage these days and to make a fine bead detail on a special garment is a great idea and this book will give you the great ideas. If there is one thing I was disappointed in with this book is the lack of finished projects using the techniques that were written about. Most of the ‘finished’ garments were just rendered in a color drawing. I would have like to have seen many more full color photo illustrations which would have nudged this book from theoretical to practical. Nevertheless, I liked the great ideas and truly wish I had events in my life that necessitated a garment with this type of embellishing.
10. Sewing Companion Library: Easy Guide to Sewing Tops & T-Shirts ISBN 1561582395, Easy Guide to Sewing Skirts ISBN 1561580880 Easy Guide to Sewing Blouses ISBN 1561581089 Easy Guide to Sewing Linings ISBN 1561582255 the first two by Marcy Tilton and the next two by Connie Long. I’ve included them altogether as they are part of a series. There is also one on pants and recently three of the books have been republished in one volume. These books are all set up the same way and walk you step-by-step through making each kind of garment. No only will you learn the basics but you will learn how to alter the pattern to get the effect you want. You are shown how to adjust the patterns for correct fit. All the techniques are there for making a correct fitting and looking garment. Whenever I’ve about to make a garment, I pull one of these books down to check for techniques I can use to make my project turn out lovely instead of shabby.

I haven’t gotten to the point of all my sewn garments being wonderfully made and fitting clothes yet, but I’m sure past the point were I was 10-15 years ago where everything I made looked homemade. Now of course, since my clothes were made to last, you may still see me wearing the homemade looking clothes, but my newest garments that I have made are much better made that before. I credit these books as part of the reason that my sewing has really been improving. I have been educating myself once I realized that no magic was going to happen when I sat down at my sewing machine. You really do have to plan, measure, study, and take your time if you want a good looking garment. I hope you enjoy this list and that it is helpful to you.

Countdown to Christmas Machine Embroidery Club

Just got an email this morning from Embroidery Library one of my favorite machine embroidery sites. They are starting a new program to help us save money on Christmas designs. Depending on how much you spend with them over the next few months until Christmas, you will receive a gift certificate to spend at their site. On top of that they will be giving out free designs to members who have signed up for the program. Currently a lot of Christmas designs are deeply discounted too. I just picked up over $100 worth of designs for $13.50 including a 60+ design set of the North Pole Santa's Village and Train set. Normally over $70, for this week $12.25. Do I have any affiliation with Embroidery Library? Nope, I just try to urge sewers to check them out as they have been very generous to all of us over the years with MANY FREE designs.

When you see advertisments for new sewing/embroidery machines that have been released, do you get as confused as I do when it comes to comparing hoop size between different models? Some give their hoop size in metric and others in inches and it can be confusing. Embroidery Library to the rescue again. They have a page that lists all the top brands and even some older machines with the size of the biggest hoop the machine can use in both metric and inches. Click here to visit the page.

Bunnycup Embroidery: Designs From the Heart

I've been busy working on a quilt made from UFOs and it is turning out great, catching up on reading some inspirational sewing books I picked up from the library and last night went a little crazy buying books at JoAnn Fabrics as they were having a sale plus I had a 10% off coupon for the total purchase. I have also been really sick which stole a week of time. Anyhow, as usual I got behind on my blog. As soon as I get the time, I'll be posting pictures of the quilt in progress and a simple top I want to work on today. I'll also be posting some book reviews from this batch of books I currently have from the library and my new purchases. I love reading sewing and needlecraft books not only to learn but to be inspired by them. I really wish I could review them in exchange for free books but so far I haven't found anyone willing for me to do this for them so I have to buy or borrow needlecraft books. Hello publishers, send me your books and I'll be happy to share them with the sewing world!

In the meantime, for you out there that do machine embroidery for children and need designs for them, here is a great site: Bunnycup Embroidery. They have a lot of designs, most of which seem geared for children and also holiday themes that you can use in the kitchen and elsewhere. As they have advanced their digitizing skills, they have retired a lot of sets and instead of just taking them off the site, they are giving them away FREE. As of today they had 47 FREE sets! Take advantage of their generosity by trying out some of their designs and then purchasing them as you are able. Although I usually don't bother collecting children's designs, I downloaded a few that I thought I might be able to use in Project Linus quilts and also there were some really cute Gingerbread cookie designs that would be great for Christmas or for sewing them on kitchen towels for great hostess and impromptu gifts during the holidays.

My New Dress

I'm happy to report I finished a new dress and with very little tweaking of the pattern, it fits! Yahoo! Not only does it fit, it is a comfortable dress and it would be especially so if it were made in a non-staticy fabric. I purchased this fabric normally $10/yard when our local JoAnn Fabrics went out of business for $2/yard. There was something like 10 yards on the bolt and I have plenty leftover. I thought it was a beautiful color and looks great on me. My husband doesn't particularly like the color blue so I usually avoid it, but even he had to admit it is a lovely color as it is a crinkle silky polyester that changes shades as it moves. But, after years of sewing with mostly cottons, I wasn't prepared for the static this dress produced. With no Static Guard in the house, I took some tips from the ladies at Threads discussion forum to help control the static. What really worked for me was lightly moistening a fabric dryer sheet with water and gently patting the dress before I left the house and yet again when I got to church.

I made a couple of changes in making up this pattern. Since I am 5'10" and also starting to 'sag', I lowered the belt line about 2" and also remembered to lower the inseam pocket the same 2". Once I realized if I didn't I would have probably tied the pockets closed when tieing the belt. I also ditched the idea of the collar facings and made self bias binding and attached it to the neckline (the neckline area was stay stitched prior to this to help prevent stretching). Anyhow I love how the dress turned out and I still have about 5 yards of the fabric left. Many people say that with the price of fabric and notions there isn't much savings in sewing, but I beg to differ. This dress ended up costing me, including pattern, less than $15 and that includes the electricity for the sewing machine. I used Simplicity Pattern 2615. I think my next try with this pattern, I might take it in a bit more and have the ties coming from the side seam instead of the patch of fabric in the front. I really don't need anything to draw attention to my tummy!

New Scissors

I've been looking for a pair of applique or 'duck bill' scissors for several years now as they are always highly recommended in many quilting books for use in applique. Well on Mother's Day my son gave me a JoAnn Fabrics gift card and wouldn't you know I also got an email from them about a 30% off sale including Gingher scissors. Found the scissors and bought them (only had to add in a little S&H fee that the card ddin't cover). In the picture they looked flat like the ones I had seen in the store, but when I received them, they had the bent handles like embroidery scissors. I was happy about that as it seemed that the bend would make them more useful. Looking forward to trying them today I hope. I have an idea for doing some machine embroidery applique designs and want to see how the scissors will work for cutting out the fabric while still in the hoop.

But first I have to finish a dress I am making. I only have to hem it and do a neck binding. The neck is supposed to have facings which I always think looks sloppy and saw an article in Threads magazine on how to convert to a bias binding which I'm going to try.

Wanting to get this book to try out my new scissors!

Kate's Bag, My Version

I was able to pick up a copy of Handmade at my book store a couple of months ago and one of the projects captured me. I just had to make it. Since I rarely do anything but use magazines for my own inspiration, to follow the directions was a real change for me. This crazy patch purse was fun to make and I got to incorporate hand embroidery, patchwork, decorative stitching and regular sewing. I also got to figure out the pattern that was not quite correct and I misunderstood the directions in one spot too, but all in all I think it came out very nicely. It is roomier than it may first appear and it allowed me to carry my essentials plus I was able to fit a bottle of water and my Bible inside to go to church. As I am usually juggling, water bottle, Bible, purse and cane to be down to just purse and cane made things so much easier.

One of the things that I patted myself on the back for was not taking the 'easy way out' and using my embroidery machine to sew out the rose in the middle of the purse. I did it with my own two hand using a stem stitch and a large needle. I found that I can still do hand embroidery if I stick with a large needle and it is fun to have a craft back in my life that I had thought for a long time that I couldn't do any longer.

This project was featured in Handmade, Vol. 26, No. 5 and was called Kate's Bag on page 19. this is an Australian magazine in case you are wondering why you may have never seen it. I'm happy to see that Joann fabrics is carrying it currently.

Thimbleberries

I have seen Thimbleberries quilting books and items throughout the years and although they have wonderful designs, they always seemed a bit on the dark side for the types of quilting I like to do. However, after visiting their website, my mind is changing (a women's prerogative is it not?). I found some lovely quilt designs and also machine embroidery designs that I would be happy to sew out on their site. They even have several FREE floral designs in three sizes and in all the regular home embroidery machine formats for you to try out their machine embroidery designs.

Included in their free designs were two quilt labels also in three sizes and all the formats. You can of course, use these for your own quilts or use them in the charity quilting project that Thimbleberries is helping to support called Faith's Lodge. Faith's Lodge is a retreat for parents grieving for a serious ill child or one that has died. An effort is being made to provide a quilt of comfort for each family when they leave the retreat. If this sounds like something that you would be interested in helping with, just click here for more details.

As I have just about enough quilts that are needed for the beds in our home, and other than to replace them or to make decorative wall hangings, I realize that if I ever am to lower the level of my fabric stash it will be with making quilts for others. Perhaps you feel that way also. I know there are many charity quilting projects on the go, so please let me know if there are projects that I can post here to help get the word out. My obvious favorite, for myself, at this time is Project Linus as I enjoy making children's quilts since my boys are grown, yet I have no grandchildren to sew for at this point.

Project Linus Quilt

Well I am done with my Project Linus quilt for this year. It is about 40" x 40" square with slightly ripply edges--OOPS! I used yellow and white gingham that I had picked up one day at a yard sale for $2 for over 4 yards. The Iris design is from Janome Memory card 121 Floral designs, design #12. The swirling butterfly was purchased from Embroidery Library for $1. The threads were from my stash of Robison-anton and Sulky threads. I used a yellow and white varigated thread for the stippling.

After prewashing the fabric, I squared up the gingham by tearing it along crosswise grain. This left me with a square of fabric and great directional lines for placing the designs. I found it was much easier to get the machine embroidered iris designs just right when placing them in the hoop by following the fabric colored line and I didn't need to use fabric markers that I'm never sure will come off right. The butterflies, I just put randomly on the quilt top. If you have never attempted a machine embroidered whole cloth quilt before, I would suggest that you use a woven gingham fabric if at all possible as it really does add in placement. A printed design won't have the same effect especially if the fabric got printed off grain.

I enjoyed this project and hope the baby and parents that receive this quilt will enjoy it also. I don't generally get a chance to do much 'girly' sewing, so this was especially fun for me to do.

Cooper's Stitches

I ran into another machine embroidery site today. They have a small but growing site with a lot of sample projects, examples of how to combine designs to make a larger design or quilt block. They have some lovely floral designs (which I'm always a sucker for), animal and holiday designs. There is also a nice selection of FREE sample designs so you can do some stitch outs of their designs before you pay to buy one of their sets.

I think it is very important for machine embroidery design sites to have a good selection of freebies as money is too tight for some of us to buy something that isn't what we thought it would be. I have collected a massive amount of free designs and have also bought sets. I have never, however, bought a set from a digitizer that I haven't been able to do a sew out for free first. Probably one of the reasons I have been using and promoting Embroidery Library since it opened up. They give out free designs every month and they are very well stitched out. I also have bought many designs from them. Currently I'm just finishing up a Project Linus quilt that has a Butterfly in Flight design which was just perfect to go with the iris designs from one of my Janome memory cards. I'm almost done with the quilt and will be posting pictures as soon as possible.

Blog Update

It has been a long time since my last post as I have been BUSY. For the first time in years, I had enough physical energy to really do some significant Christmas sewing. I made my son and daughter in law matching winter scarves using the Funky Snow People from one of my favorite machine embroidery sites, Embroidery Library. These were free designs from last January and I knew as soon as I saw them I wanted to make something with them for my son and his wife. I did the embroidery on fabric and then appliquéd them onto fleece to make the scarves and then used decorative stitches to make snowflakes on them also. Someone had given me some beading supplies and so I used beads to decorate the snowflakes on my daughter-in-law’s scarf. I can see now why people can get ‘addicted’ to beading. It was fast and easy and in my case free. The only cost for these scarves was the fleece (bought as a remnant) and the thread.

As my younger son often uses our computer to check his checking account on line, I had noticed that he carried his check register separate from his checkbook and remembered that covers aren’t given out for free any more, I made him a checkbook cover with his monogram on it. My mother-in-law had mentioned earlier in the summer that she wanted an apron like mine that covered her whole front. I made her a butcher apron and matching potholder. I used a piece of lace insert that I had made earlier when making a top with a V-neckline to put in the V. Not being sure which color would look better, I had made two in different colors. The one I didn’t use I put on the top of her apron for a little bit of a girly look. The lace inserts were also Embroidery Library items although I think I actually paid for them. They were very reasonably priced as are all of their designs.

Knowing there was no way I could top the flashlight I gave hubby last year for Christmas (LOL) I decided that I would make him some throw pillows that would coordinate with the antique chairs he had recovered last year. I had great fun using decorative stitching, appliqué and machine embroidery to make him three pillows. They turned out very nice and he didn’t mind getting something that was really a present for the ‘house’. I also made him 2 pairs of pajama pants trying to use French seams to keep the fraying to a minimum. I discovered that trying to sew fabric with no right or wrong side in a solid color was an immense project for this dyslexic sewer. I didn’t tell him till later that actually the pants had been harder to make than the pillows.

What I did discover while making the pillows that my sewing machine is missing at least 4 of my favorite decorative stitches plus only has a minimal variety within the stitches that are there for when I’m in the ‘fancy sewing’ mode. So, I’ve been trying to find an older used Pfaff with lots of decorative stitches and the ability to create more on your own. I think I would like a Pfaff 1473CD, 1475CD or 7550. But haven’t had much luck with trying to find one to buy within my price range. The one I did buy, the box showed up at the house minus the sewing machine! So while the insurance company and seller battle it out I’ve been looking for another one and haven’t found it yet. If you have one in excellent condition that you would like to sell, please contact me!

Anyhow for me that was a lot of sewing for awhile and I have been very busy with getting our ecrater store up and going so we could leave ebay. Ebay has made so many changes in the last couple of years that it has become more and more seller unfriendly. Today we finally closed our ebay store. We have lots or inventory still to add to our ecrater store—conservatively 8000 more sewing patterns, so if you are looking for a pattern and can’t find it, please ask us if we have it as it could be sitting in a box waiting to be uploaded. Currently our entire New Look and Burda inventory is on line at ecrater and most of our Vogue Patterns. We just got in about 100 vintage Designer Original Vogue patterns that need to be researched and then listed and that should be a fun job. In the meantime, we have lots of McCall’s, Simplicity and Butterick patterns that are waiting to be uploaded.

With this move, I’m anticipating a bit more sewing and writing time as I’m also feeling much better than I have been. All apparently due to a change in the method of administering one of my arthritis medicines. Not completely well, but well enough that I feel like a person most of the time instead of a ball of pain

The Shack

Two days ago my husband came home with a book from the library for me. I didn't remember ever requesting it until hours later as it had taken awhile for my turn for the book to come. As I first held the book in my hands wondering how and why the library had sent it to me, I saw the author's name and as it seemed familiar, I flipped the book over and saw the brief biography for the author. Then I knew why the name sounded familiar! I had gone to college with this man (back in the dark ages).

The Shack is a New York times Bestseller and currently #2 ranking bestseller on Amazon. Of course, if a college mate of mine had managed to write a best seller, I wanted to read it and read it I did. It touched my heart and hope it will also touch yours.

This fictionalized account of a man meeting God is a fascinating story and if read with an open heart will help you understand the type of relationship God wants people to have with Him. I highly reccommend this book, which is why I'm talking about it in my sewing blog as if even one heart is touched by the reading of this book, then the time will be worth it.

Where did the summer go?

Where did the summer go? Suddenly it seems everything is colored orange, pumpkins are all over the place and the trees are changing color. I have been busy trying to make my hubby a pair of pajama pants. Should be an easy enough project right? Hardly when the pants are being made out of a solid color with no discernible right or wrong side and then throw in a dyslexic seamstress trying out a new technique. I never realized how many ways there were to sew something together wrong! Finally, I was done and I had certainly learned a few things--the most important being mark your right and wrong sizes before ever moving the pattern tissue!



Lingerie Secrets is a great book and certainly not the reason for my problems with sewing those pajamas. In fact I recommend it as I learned a lot from it. It has just enough text and photos to guide you along in trying some simple basic techniques. If you are looking for ideas on sewing lingerie, then this is the book for you as it covers camisloes, panties, slips, nighties, and boxers. It even goes so far as to remember the pregnant or nursing mothers with guidelines for them. The disabled with dressing problems even are shown some projects that give them more independence in dressing with a wrap half slip and a button/snap front full slip or nightie. As someone who has trouble getting her arms over her head, I was happy to see these ideas. I got my copy of the book from my local library and have a copy on my Amazon wish list as I do have a birthday and Christmas coming up. This book I would consider one of my personal top 10 general sewing books.

Apron Magic

I’ve never been the type of woman that thrilled to be doing housework. You kniw, the dusting, vacuuming and dishes. I always preferred reading a book or sewing. The one night I couldn’t sleep and at 3 in the morning found myself sewing a pink apron with white eyelet ruffles on the pockets. It was a butcher style apron that covered my whole front in case of splashes.

The first time I put that apron on something strange happened. I became Betty Crocker, June cleaver and the happy homemaker all rolled into one. I found myself cooking up a storm, thinking nutritious thoughts, cleaning and sweeping. I couldn’t stop myself. Every day that apron got more and more splashes and splats and I knew it was time to throw it in the laundry.

Now what? The old me started creeping back. What to do until laundry day? I went up to my sewing room and made another apron. This one had a white background with blue roses print. A pocket with lace and a blue rose embroidered from Janome’s Victorian Rose collection. I put that apron on and the magic returned.

I realize now that if I make a couple more pretty aprons I’m going to have a clean, neat house and lots of savory smells emanating from the kitchen. There’s just something magic about wearing aprons.

4-Hobby Machine Embroidery

I’ve found another interesting machine embroidery site called 4-Hobby. This sites has an eclectic selection of designs including Christmas, snowflakes, butterflies and flowers. It also has a Hebrew alphabet in two sizes, Hamsa designs, and other Judaica embroidery designs including Star of David and Chanukkah designs. I haven’t ever seen this type of collection of Jewish embroidery designs in one spot as it seems Jewish designs are fairly rare. They also have a nice selection of Freebies to so that you may try out their designs. This site would be worth your while to stop on in for a visit and a purchase.

Laura's Sewing Studio

Just found a terrific machine embroidery site, Laura’s Sewing Studio. I haven’t had the chance to check out all her designs, but I’m very impressed with the machine embroidered quilting designs. One is a Broken Star design that when put together looks very much like a Texas Star. The way the embroidery fills have been designed, they resemble fabric. She also has Grandma’s Garden, Double Wedding Ring, New York beauty and many more. If you are a quilter and a machine embroiderer, you have got to check out this site!

This weeks sewing

Little by little I've been working on them and this week I finally got finished with the large curtain panels for our 'sunroom' sitting area upstairs. They are made out of heavy decorator cotton and are lined. It is rather difficult to pin and sew something precisely when it is bigger than your cutting table, but one pair matched and were completely even at the bottom. The other set is off by about a 1/4". I would have agonized about that until I remember the curtains that we bought for our living room downstairs. Some of the pairs are off by over an inch or so at the bottom.

I still have to make the valances and tie-backs. The main curtains are a floral print and the valances are going to use a coordinating plaid/stripe fabric. Thankfully my brain got in gear just in time before I starting cutting that fabric and remembered that I had to cut them so that the repeats matched! Good thing that I remembered because when I was done cutting them, there wasn't an inch of fabric leftover!

I can hardly wait to get the curtains done as I have a stack of patterns that I want to try out and a closet begging for some new clothes!

We are also busy starting up our new store at ecrater. After many years at ebay we have decided that they are not the right place for us. It will take some time but eventually we want all our stock transferred over to ecrater where we be able to do things like have coupons for repeat customers. We love our repeat customers but have not had any way to show it prior to this move. In the meantime, visit us at both our sites for 1000's of New uncut sewing patterns!

Threads Magazine Back Issues

For a limited time only, Threads Magazine has many of it's back issues on sale. Threads is a fantastic magazine for learning how to sew, improving your sewing techniques and becoming a master of your craft. This is a great time to catch up on the issues you may be missing -- they just might have the answer to your latest sewing dilemma.

I have found sick days a perfect time to look through my back issues of magazines and have found even when my brain isn't functioning on all cylinders, that many or the articles and pictures penetrate and I learn something new that I didn't pick up the first time I read the magazine.

Gosia Designs

I just visited Gosia Designs and found that currently they have ALL their designs up for sale on one CD for $49.00. That is for over 2000+ designs! This company is great about regularly sending us notices that new FREE designs have been posted. I have used several of their monograms to embroider towels and they are gorgeous designs that sew out well. You can get their designs in all the standard home sewing machine formats, so this is a huge bargain. Even if you don't want to purchase the CD, sign up for the newsletter so you will know when you can pick up a free design.

I finished the top I have been working on and loved the fit and how it looks. The pattern has lots of optional ways to make the top, so I will probably be making this one again many times. It even has 3/4 length sleeves which I have found necessary even in the summer as my medications and sunshine don't agree with each other. I have to try my best not to expose too much and not to be roasting in my clothes.

I'm back to making curtains for one of our upstairs rooms. It gets most of the sunlight in the summer, so we need something up to help block the sun. I finished the lacey sheers and they make a big difference even without the main lined curtains that will be going up!

Butterick Sewing Pattern 5173

An FYI for anyone that has purchased Butterick Sewing Pattern 5173 in the past little while. Apparently there was a major problem with the pattern itself and it has been recalled. Please visit http://www.butterick.com/ for details of the recall. Our store Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts has never had this particular pattern in stock, so I don't know what the problem is. Just letting you know in case I can help one person keep from making a major mess of their sewing project.

Winter is rough for me. Arthritis loves this time of year but I don't. Even though it is now spring, as I type this snow is falling. I have been doing some sewing in 10-20 minute increments of time and am almost finished with a challis top. Compared to winter type fabrics, just trying the top on for fit felt like I was putting on a silk summer top it felt so cool and light-weight. When I finish this top, it will be the third one I have made since I started trying to follow the spirit of SWAP sewing even though I can't actually participate. I also have made 2 corduroy skirts from fabric that has been mellowing for a long time in my stash. I like the pattern I made them with so will be using it a lot. The best part was getting to make them 2 sizes smaller than the last time I made a skirt. That is always a happy day.

I managed to snag a couple Austalian Stitches magazines off of eBay and they were so much fun to read and look at. They have great articles and usually for more casual clothes which is what I need. I'll be looking for more of them as I can find them.

Planning a New Wardrobe

We are finally settled into our house enough that I can start thinking about other things than cleaning and unpacking boxes, although there is plenty of cleaning and boxes to unpack yet. I’ve been losing weight, my clothes are getting old and baggy and it is time for some new ones. While my sewing machine and supplies were packed away, I'd done lots of reading about wardrobes and wardrobe planning and decided it is time to put that knowledge into practice, with Sewing With A Plan (SWAP) as mentioned in Timmel Fabrics website.


Today I set a goal of what I wanted to accomplish. I need an easy-to-make, comfortable wardrobe of casual clothes. I can't have back zippers, no buttons, no excess stuff that makes wearing or caring for the clothes difficult. My life is complicated enough by arthritis that I don't want to make something that I can't get on or off by myself. According to the SWAP rules, I needed 6 tops, 4 bottoms, and a jacket. With those pieces, if made in coordinating fabrics, I should be able to have many outfits to wear. Well, we are on a budget and so I have to use the fabric in my stash so that will put some limits on the coordinating factor. However, as some stuff in my closet still fits me and I have nothing that works with it, I need to be solving that problem also.

My life is very casual. A big day out is going to church, the grocery store, a doctor appointment (way too many of those) or an occasional dinner out with hubby. When my uncle died about a month ago, though, I realized I didn't have a decent outfit to wear to a funeral and had to wear a heavy black winter skirt on a very hot day. I've had a bad habit of just making something whenever it catches my fancy so poor planning has been a problem when trying to get outfits together for those non-routine things.

I went through my own pattern stash, remarkably small considering how many patterns we have up for sale, but I try to leave some Plus sized patterns for our customers. So many patterns at first glance looked like good prospects, but I managed to narrow them down. Then I made a scan of the technical drawings from the pattern instructions. Here's where my lovely hubby came in handy. I showed him the technical drawings (no distracting model or colors) and discussed them with him. He has better taste than me and also is the one who gets stuck seeing me, so I value his input. After discussing with him the various patterns, I clipped out the different garments I wanted to sew and attached them to my storyboard. I then made notes about yardage and whether or not the garment used knit or woven fabrics.

This has been fun thinking about what I want and planning so that I have a nice variety of outfits. Now the fun part: picking out the fabrics to go with each pattern. To be continued...

Yard Sale Bonanza!

Do you ever dream of the perfect yard sale? It has all those sorts of things you have been looking for. Well I got to go to one last week. The lady, due to health reasons, was selling off many of her machine embroidery magazines, quilting books, and Burda World of Fashion magazines. Well I went a bit crazy and bought two boxfuls. I had a wonderful weekend going through the things I bought. I ended up with quite a few magazines to round out my own personal collection and those that were duplicates, I now have up for auction, so here is your chance to fill in the gaps of your own machine embroidery project collection. I even have some spare Jenny Haskins magazines up for sale. Check out the auctions at my store.

The Burda World of Fashion magazines, I'm still having fun going through and the thought of selling them kind of wrenches at my heart, so I may just keep those in my sewing room. I have heard of these magazines, but had never seen any in person before. Boy am I impressed. It is like looking through a fashion magazine, seeing all these great outfits on models, and knowing with the right attitude you can make everything in the magazine! There are even instructions on knitting the sweaters and fashion accessories that are shown. Each pattern in the magazine comes in at least 5 sizes, with a nice collection of Plus size patterns, men's and children's patterns also. You have to trace off your pattern pieces which seems to be the only difficult thing to do. My question is, does anyone have any handy dandy hints for tracing off the patterns pieces? Comments greatly appreciated.

I even got a large stack of quilting books, but haven't had time to even look through them yet. That will be for another day.

Vintage Butterick Patterns for Sale

Great news! We have new items up for auction on EBay. We have been listing some great vintage Butterick sewing patterns and thought you might be interested in checking them out. We have listed the appropriate measurements on each listing, so you don't have to be scared about what a size 12 in 1950 meant.

By the way, from what I can figure by comparing current standard measurements with those from the 50's and 60's, a size 14 now would have been a size 16 then. Even though the artwork on some of the pattern envelopes looks like the model only has a ten inch waist, the pattern will sew up to the listed measurement.

Factory folded in the listing means that the pattern has never been unfolded or used. The only way they could have been opened would have been by an expert map folder. Remember how when you used to open those old maps and could never again get them right, well pattern tissues are the same way, once they are open, they never can be folded to look the same.

Enjoy the auctions or purchasing vintage patterns straight from our store. We will be listing more vintage patterns as time allows, as vintage patterns take much more time to list due to researching their age and checking thoroughly into their condition.

Shop with us any time! Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts

The Joy of Sewing!

What a fun afternoon I spent in my air-conditioned tree house sewing room! I dug through my box of UFOs (unfinished objects) and found 4 quilt blocks in similar, though not matching colors to make some throw pillows. They will go with some older valances I made years ago that just went up in our entry room. And since I made them, I also have more fabric as I need to make one more valance. Only someone who sews can really understand being able to move into a new house, use older curtains, etc. and still have fabric to coordinate to make more things as the need arises.

I also plan on making a cushion to go over a storage box that will be nice for sitting on to put on shoes and dare I say it? -- Winter boots! It is horribly hot out now, but we have had so little summer, I hate to jinx things and have winter roaring in again.

I missed getting to sew for many months, but spent my time profitably reading many sewing books and magazines, so that now when it is time to sew, I can whip out projects without really having to think them through as I have been filing ideas away in my head for a long time.

Well back to the ironing board and sewing machine for me.

Finally!

After many months delay, we have finally moved as of the 1st of July. I love having all the room in our new house, but still have many boxes to unpack and put away (mostly books). I had to focus in on getting the bathrooms, kitchen and office in working order and then was finally able to start setting up my new sewing room. It is twice the size of my old one with a nice large closet. My cutting table is made from an old square grand piano circa the Civil War with the piano 'guts' taken out. My hubby the piano restorer (this one wasn't good enough to fix), set it up for me with a cut out space that my thread cart slides in and out. My sewing machine looks out over and past a huge walnut tree and into my in-law's back yard and woods. Since I'm on the second floor of the house, it feels like I'm in a treehouse.

Somehow prior to the actual move, I collected several more boxes and bags of fabric and quilting items, some donated and some purchased. Things are stashed neatly on the shelves for now, but some day I really will need to root through all the various boxes and get them organized and pull things that will never be used.

I have started my first sewing project, a simple crinkle cotton skirt. The fabric was $1/yard at Walmart and it survived prewashing, so I have high hopes for it. It is also in line with the SWAP sewing I have been planning to do. It is an olive green color which I normally wouldn't pick, but the green picks up the leaf colors in some of the tops I have. Even though it is a simple project, I of course, got side-lined by an arthritis flare-up brought on by way too much scrubbing of the old house to put it up for sale. And I definetly need some new clothes as I've been dropping over 5 pounds a month for awhile and things are loose!!!

Now that the move is done I'm hoping to start getting our ebay store restocked with a lot more patterns and sewing books. Visit us any time at Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts.

Aquamarine Ambience with Jenny Haskins

On my way to a doctor's appointment today, I picked up Creative Expressions #14. As I was looking through it this evening I was inspired to visit her website. I found the following message, that anyone who has purchased the book Aquamarine Ambience with Jenny Haskins by Simon Haskins would need to know:

"Stop Press: We apologise, it has come to our attention that design aa14, from Aquamarine Ambience is missing from the CD in the following formats; JEF, HUS, VIP and XXX.
Please download this file for the missing design" Click Here to go directly to the site.

I'm still separated from my sewing machine, but there is a project in this latest Creative Expressions that will make a wonderful project for getting reacquainted with my machine called: Jenny's Essence, Jenny Haskins Cheating Crazy Patchwork. It is an 18" little crazy stitch quilt using mostly decorative stitches and Jenny's Brand of stitch building. It would make a great practice piece for anyone who wants to get to know the decorative stitches on their sewing machines. Each stitch is diagrammed so that you can find it or a similar stitch on your sewing machine. Although it does use one machine embroidered design, it could be skipped quit easily with an applique in it's place.

New Free Embroidery Designs

Embroidery Library, has just released their new March Free embroidery designs plus a nice lot of Spring designs that you pay for (but they don't charge much!). Two of these new freebies are perfect for me. One is "So many scraps, so little time" for the quilter in me, and the other is "So many books, so little time" for the reader that I am. They also have a clover applique design with Celtic style embroidery on top. All in all a great bunch of designs and in two different sizes also. Don't forget that Embroidery Library's free designs are only good for that month and then you will have to buy them.

Fitting Book

Among the pile of sewing books that I got the other day, was The Busy Woman’s Fitting Book by Nancy Zieman with Robbie Fanning. I had seen Nancy demonstrate this fitting technique on television years ago, but didn’t have a written copy to refer to. As I have several body areas on my patterns that need altered when sewing, I have been reading up and trying to find a method that would work for me. I like Nancy’s approach that once you have fine-tuned this technique with classic style patterns, you will be able to add the same alterations to all patterns. I’m looking forward to trying out this technique as it doesn’t leave your pattern in multiple pieces and lots of tape attached to it and seems fairly simple and straight forward.

SewingBooks

Yesterday was sunny and an almost balmy 30 degrees. Time to get out of the house and to my delight a local town was having a Friends of the Library (FOL) used book sale. Hubby and I drove to it to see if we could find some good books to resupply our store. Unfortunately when we arrived, we found lots of books, but not many that would be an asset to our store.

We did come home with three boxes of books because I found quite a few books on sewing. Not really valuable books money wise, but valuable to me for reference when I'm sewing. I also found lots of those fun little mystery paperback books that can be read in an evening and provide more entertainment than a TV show. I even found a signed Tess Gerritsen hardcover book that will go into my own collection as she is one of my favorite authors.

My favorite find of all though, was The Complete Book of Sewing Short Cuts by Claire B. Shaeffer. I have one of her other books and was very impressed with it and have read many of her columns in Threads magazine, and so was happy to find another one of her books. The title is a bit of a misnomer as I didn't see many so called short cuts for sewing. What I did see was a sewing book author who thoroughly knows her stuff and presented it in a simple, easy-to-understand manner. The copy I bought is only illustrated by black and white diagrams, but perhaps a later edition may have colored illustrations. This book will definitely be referred to many times to help know the best way to sew an item.

Bought more fabrics today

Just because I don’t have my sewing machine handy, doesn’t mean I can’t plan and purchase stuff for sewing. I’ve really been thinking about the Sewing With A Purpose plan and have started planning some colors, picking out patterns and buying fabric. Of course, with the numbers of patterns I have to choose from in our store, I have to be careful not to try and hoard them all! I live a very casual lifestyle and so don’t need a lot of ‘dress-up’ clothes. Mostly I need clothes for around the house, grocery shopping, occasional nights out with hubby (dinner and a visit to Barnes & Noble) and church.

If a pattern has back zippers or buttons it didn’t even make the first cut. Formals and extremely complicated patterns also got the thumbs down. And while every article on wardrobe planning tells you that you need a tailored jacket, I don’t wear them and am not going to start now. I do like wearing my sweatshirts converted to a lightweight jackets as a cover-up although I only decorate them, I’ve never sewed one from scratch. Perhaps if I have success with the pink knit that I bought yesterday, maybe I will try.

Anyhow, I have narrowed my patterns choices down currently to 5. I want to make at least one dress, 3-4 skirts, maybe one pair of pants, 4-5 easy tops and a better blouse. Very ambitious plan for me. I do remember the summer before I started nursing school and needed something more than the ‘mommy’ rags I had been wearing, I made 11 items in 9 days and was watching 4-5 kids all at the same time so surely if I give myself some time I can get the above plan made.

My great hope is eventually get rid of the worn out, non-fitting, misfit items in my closet and instead have clothes that coordinate with each other at least to the point that each top or bottom has 3-4 matches. Currently I have some tops that only have one bottom that matches them and skirts with minimal tops to match.

At this point I am planning on using black and purple as focal colors with cream, pink, rose, light green as accents. I have some nice things already in the closet that would work already with those colors and my mother gave me a huge bag of fabric with some of those colors as solids also. Today I bought some purple crinkle Charmeuse, a cream cotton fabric, and a light color sheer with purple flowers on it. There is enough of the purple for a top. I was hoping the cream would be enough for at least a tank top but I’m about ¼ yard shy now that I have checked my patterns, but I will see how I can make it work. The light sheer I thought would be nice as a scarf, or accent fabric perhaps as godets in the dress I want to make. Anyways I feel like I am making progress at least in the planning of what I want to do and I think when things melt enough, my sewing machine is coming back home for awhile.

New Fabric!

I woke up today to blue skies, the temperature was a bit above 20 degrees, AND I felt great, PLUS Joann Fabrics was having a sale. I had a coupon for an additional 10% off of my whole purchase which was great on top of the sale stuff I bought. I bought two 3' x 5' cutting mats. One for me and one for hubby in his piano work. I'm going to try and learn to cut out garment patterns with a rotary cutter. I've used them for years for my quilting, but never for cutting out garments. Hopefully, the bigger mat will allow me to cut the larger pieces (I'm a big girl) without them falling off the mat or me having to shift the fabric in mid-cut. A friend gave me a new small rotary cutter which I hear is good for going around curves. All I know is that if I can't learn to cut out patterns this way, my future of making my own clothes will be ending soon. Trying to cut things out with scissors hurts my hands too much.

I found some pretty silky type fabric that I thought would make a nice skirt and was in the colors I've been thinking of using in my own personal SWAP--black, purple, rose. I thought there was only enough on the bolt for a skirt, but it ended up being almost 4 yards so I think I will have my choice of skirt or dress. I also found some pink knit 40% off and got 5 yards. I haven't sewn with knits much but I wear them a lot so this will be a project of learning to sew with them. I figure I have enough fabric for a wearable 'muslin' or a second project. Since pink is one of my very favorite colors I wouldn't mind having two finished items in the same fabric. Now to get my sewing room set up and be able to use my sewing machine again!

Too Cold, Too much Snow, Too many flare-ups!

It has been a strange couple of months for me and unfortunately not really good ones. My arthritis has been flaring up big time with periods of relief barely long enough to get the dishes caught back up. The cold and snow we have been having here in Pennsylvania hasn't really helped either as my artificial knees can't handle cold weather below 20 degrees. So week after week I have been sitting at home feeling miserable.

To make things worse, we are having permit problems with our new house and can't move in yet. This, of course, we found out after I had moved all my sewing things over to the new house. So I haven't even been able to do little projects.

The one thing I have been able to do is surf the internet for which I am very thankful. I have found some interesting sites including one that has a lot of information on Sewing With A Plan or SWAP. All about making some basic pieces for your wardrobe in coordinating colors for tops and bottoms and with eleven pieces you will have wonderful opportunities for mixing and matching clothes for all occasions. This is an area that I having been thinking much about as my clothes are all getting to be on their last legs so to speak. I want to have an organized approached to my sewing for maximine effectiveness. At the same time I also have to cater to physical problems which makes back zippers or buttons impossible for me anymore, tighter fitting pullover clothes are harder now to pull off. I also want to take into account clothes my hubby would like to see me in and clothes I would like to wear and find comfortable. I'm having a hard time explaining to him just exactly why jumpers are so comfy to wear.

SWAP is a fantastic idea for planning your sewing. Click on the links and read more about it. Timmel Fabrics actually is sponsoring a SWAP contest and even if you don't want to participate in the actual contest, there are lots of great ideas and photos to see what other sewists are making and will give you ideas for your own wardrobe planning.