Happy new year! Hope your 2009 got off to a great start.
Just a quick story: My mom is an avid quilter, but occasionally some other creative outlet sparks her interest. Right now, it's felting woolen clothing and using the felt in projects. She bought a thrift-store shirt not too long ago that's too small, so she plans to felt it. And on the phone last night, she said, "And I just got a pretty red wool skirt at the Goodwill in town. It think it might fit, so I'm not even going to try it on." So dedicated is she to her new craft obsession.
If you're interested in crafting with wool sweaters and such, be sure to check out Warm Fuzzies by Betz White. The projects are absolutely adorable.
My sewing exploits have mainly consisted of hemming curtains—photos to come soon. What have you been working on?
Well, as to be expected, I didn't quite as much sewing done before the holidays as I'd hoped. In fact, I made only one gift bag (like this one that I made for a friend's baby shower gift) and ended up wrapping the rest of the gifts.
The holiday sewing time I did have was spent hand sewing my Christmas cards. I worked up a sketch for the tree (with the help of my boyfriend), transferred it to cardstock, poked holes into the sketch and used that as my template for all of the hards. Prepoking the holes for the embroidery made the sewing going very quickly (I used a paper piercer for the poking, but a pushpin from a bulletin board would work just fine, too). Instead of knotting the thread ends in the back, I taped them down, for a flatter finished piece.
Once the sewing was done, patterned paper from BasicGrey and cardstock from Bazzill helped me to complete the look.
Hope your holiday preparations are going well. Enjoy the season, and I'll be back next year with more thoughts on sewing!
Yesterday I had the priviledge to spend most of the day with Nancy Zieman and Deanna Springer, the Marketing Director of Nancy Zieman Productions. Nancy is the host of the long-running PBS TV series Sewing with Nancy and the author of several of our sewing books. (The TV series is full of solid sewing technique and inspiration, so if you've never checked it out, I encourage you to do so. You're sure to pick up some new trick.)
The focus of most of our discussions, though, was on our new venture with Nancy, a Create with Nancy book series. In these books, Nancy lends her know-how and insights to books authored by some of the best sewers and quilters around. The first one comes out in May, and I just can't wait.
Nancy is simply one of the most knowledgable, savvy and gracious people I've ever met. Working with her is truly a great part of my job.
Here are some of Nancy's books to check out for great sewing instruction.
I came upon this terrific how-to today for picking the right thread. Found at BurdaStyle, a fabulous source for sewing how-tos, projects and advice, this how-to explains the best thread to use on different fabrics. Since I primarily sew cotton fabrics, I thought that cotton thread was the only way to go. Turns out it is--for cotton fabrics. But once you venture into other fabric worlds, especially anything that stretches, you'll definitely want to consider other thread options.
Hi, there. Christine here. After spending the last month moving and then traveling, I am ready to nest. To get out my sewing machine, leisurely go through my fabric stash, and start making stuff. Although I have many windows that need new treatments, I think I'm going to start small. Just make something fun and fanciful to get myself back in the groove.
