Video: Craft Room Clean Up

 

My craft space got quite out of control over the past few months and it was finally time to tackle it. Come hang out with me as I put my newer purchases away and get a handle on the room to make it more functional! Click the video below to watch.

Video: Planning My *Perfect* Sewing Space - Tour My Room!

 

My stuff is moved, but I have yet to set up my new sewing space. Come with me on a tour of the new room where I talk about what furniture and organizational items I use in the room and plan where they are going to go. Click the video below to watch!

Planning Sewing: My Most Successful Method To Date

I have a love/hate relationship with planning my sewing. On one hand, I am a major planner when it comes to buying fabric. I at least have a general idea of what I want to make with each piece of fabric I purchase from a store ( I stipulate at a store because I am much less discerning at places like thrift stores, lol, just to be clear). The truly crazy thing is that no matter how bad my memory gets with age, I am still able to remember where I purchased each piece of fabric, a general idea of what I paid (if not the exact amount), as well as what I intended to make with it. My style may change over time, and therefor plans get shifted, but that plan was always there in the background. So clearly I love a plan and tend to stick with it if it's possible and realistic. On the other hand, I am absolutely not one to dictate what I will make when. Usually if I have any type of thing I feel I have to make, I shut down and avoid making it completely. Schedules just suck the joy out of sewing for me and make it feel like work. It's silly, I know, but there it is. 

With all the sewing blogs I read, I know I am not alone in this mindset. Some people can make lists and capsule wardrobes, others just can't stand any type of planning and just make exactly what they want in the moment. I consider myself somewhere between these two extremes. Anyway, earlier this year I noticed that I wasn't making much progress with my year end goals, and thereby I wasn't making much on my #2018makenine list either. I love the idea of the make nine, but each year I am lucky if I even made one item on the list (as shown here). In some ways I think it's my aversion to lists in general, but I also think it's partly that I just didn't have the list in the forefront of my mind when deciding what to sew at any given time. So I decided to try out an experiment to maybe get some of these things made up. I mean - I do want all of these items. I planned them and bought the fabric and all that myself because I wanted to sew them up! So I thought maybe a pretty visual aid would help but not stifle my creative flow - and it did!  

Now I'll tell you up front - I'm fairly well versed with using Photoshop, and while I'm sure there are other programs out there that would accomplish a similar product, I do not know what they are. So use this more as inspiration than actual advice if you're not a Photoshop user. I started out by making a square document and adding a grid of guidelines to separate the page into smaller squares. I then made a list of items I wanted to make up in the near future, pulling heavily from my sad and neglected Make Nine lists from the past few years. I themed one with Tops and one with Bottoms and Dresses. In each little section, I added a picture of the fabric I wanted to use along with a line drawing (if at all possible) of the pattern I wanted to make it in as well as a little title for the pattern name. At the end of the day, this was nothing difficult or fancy. The most time consuming thing is acquiring the fabric pictures (I have all my fabric up on Trello, so that part was done) as well as getting a line drawing and eliminating the background so it would tile nicely in my little plan.

With this method, I have already made 4 tops, 2 skirts, and a dress off my lists! Years of procrastination were wiped away with just this one pretty visual in my sewing room :) So far I've made:

• Disney Sorrel Top
• Green Banskia Top
• Blue Laurel Mimi Blouse
• Lotta Sailor Top

On my list I still have:

• Christine Haynes Marianne Top in a teal geometric rayon jersey remnant piece with white contrast
• Fancy Tiger Crafts Sailor Top in a Joel Dewberry print cotton
• Butterick 6217 in a Gertie rose print dotted Swiss
• Sewaholic Alma Top in a cute daisy print cotton with a cream collar
• Sassy Librarian Blouse in fruit print cotton

Some of these plans and fabrics are over 6 years old. Craziness! 

And in the skirts and dresses category, I recently won at Tic Tac Toe, lol. On this list I have made:

• Yaletown Dress
• Minty Floral Skirt
• Quill Peggy Skirt

And I still plan to make:

• Self pleated skirt in a feather print poly chiffon with yellow lining
• Anna Maria Horner Study Hall Skirt in scroll print cotton duck
• Simplicity 8220 (fabric tbd)
• Simplicity 8050 (fabric tbd)
• Butterick 5982 in Litte Kookla cotton to replicate the dress from Modcloth shown in the picture
• McCall's 6696 in a navy and white apple print cotton

This list has much more complicated items on it to be sure, which is the main reason I haven't finished more items off here. I'm also thinking of changing some things and combining the fabric I had planned for the Study Hall Skirt with Simplicity 8220 - part of this is laziness since I would have to grade the Study Hall Skirt up quite a bit to fit me, but part is that I really want to make that other pattern and I'm just not as inspired by the other contrasting fabric combos in my stash at the moment. And that's ok! These lists aren't meant to be the end all decision of my sewing - it's just a nice reminder to keep me motivated in a certain direction. 

Before I moved, I just had the lists sitting on the chair rail in my sewing room - always visible but never in the way. As I finish each item, I just put a big check mark (which just feels great to do, lol). I haven't found the perfect place for my lists in my new sewing room, but I'm working on it and hope to get them situated soon. 

It's really amazing what a simple visual like this can help accomplish, and I'm so thrilled with my progress. It feels like even though I haven't had a ton of sewing time, my time is always in the direction that I want. I've made other things that weren't on these lists over the past 6 months as well, which helps keep things feeling less structured and fun. And I will be making a new list soon that carries some of these over and adds some of my plans for newly purchased fabric (I have an outfit I am dying to make soon that definitely will be on the new list!). If you're at all like me, I definitely recommend giving this method a try. 

Do you have any other "soft planning" methods that work for you? I'd love to hear other suggestions as well!

My New Old Sewing Room

So I have big news - my house is under contract! This is a great thing in many ways, but the one bummer is that it means I will have to say goodbye to my lovely sewing room. I'll set up a new one wherever we move - don't worry about that - but this room is completely designed by me with the paint color and everything, so it really is my happy place. I've been planning on showing how I set it up ever since I moved back to my house in January, but I just hadn't taken the time to get pictures. The nice thing with moving back to a place you already had set up is that you technically know where everything goes. I posted a tour years ago, and it really changed a lot from that before I moved (mainly it was much more cluttered, lol). After having my Condo Sewing Room and changing a few things to accommodate that space, I made a few changes when I moved back to my original room - all for the better :) Now that I have to pack it all up again, I took pictures so we can all remember how cute and functional it was *sniff*, lol.

This is the main view of the room just after you walk in the door. The biggest and most obvious change I made from the previous set up was to put my cutting table in the middle of the room. When I first designed this room, I had the table against the wall where the ironing board is now, and it worked ok, but after having it the middle of the room at the condo I really enjoyed being able to walk completely around the table while cutting out a project. There are also new shelving units that previously weren't in this room. So let's spin around and see it all, shall we?

This is actually the view from the doorway. The plastic bag between the dresser and shelf is what I see immediately, lol. That's my scrap bag at the moment. I always have such a hard time storing scraps in a useful way (because I do use them) - any ideas there?

This angle is fairly similar to before. My étagère is in the same place and set up basically identically. I decided to move the dresser under the window instead of to the left of it like before.

This whole wall is a change and I really like it :) The only thing that was in the same place is that rack above the ironing board - which actually inspired this set up. When I moved out, I left that rack (it's an Ikea bar with hanging baskets for storage) because I never used it in my previous room. It was hard to reach since the table was there, so it mostly stayed empty or with superfluous things. Now it holds my pressing tools and it works perfectly for that. The book shelves are a carry over from my condo room and they are set up similarly.

This shelf has most of my sewing and knitting books, the rest being decoration here :) The bottom shelves have my elastics and some bins with other notions in them. I love having my little sheep and llama at easy viewing height along with some of my knitted animals. The tins and bags are all functional (the round tin by the sheep holds wonder clips, for example) and I keep some canned air to blow out my machine on occasion.

This shelf has my PDF patterns in file folders at easy reach. My sewing basket has things like bees wax and hand sewing needles - tiny things I may need to carry around. The lower shelves here hold bins with my zipper stash and bindings, etc.

And a closer look at my ironing station. I LOVE my gravity feed iron. My only niggle is that I wish I had a plug in the middle of the wall so the cord didn't drag the line down and get caught on my ironing board. Hopefully I will be changing my board soon, so maybe that won't be an issue later.

The closet (as always) holds my stash. This time around I housed my stash in Rubbermaid tubs. The idea was to go through all my fabric and only have 12 bins by the time we move again (plus the yarn bins - those are staying). We will see if that actually happens, lol. I just haven't had the gumption to go through all the fabric. I did enjoy having my fabric out on shelves better though - much easier to pull out random pieces and plan things. This way makes them much easier to move, but not so conducive for inspiration.

And a closer look at the étagère. I frequently have a movie playing in the background while working, so this little media section is essential. The boxes hold noisemakers for toys, my ~fancy~ patterns (printed/packaged Indie patterns, basically), and my watercolor supplies. I also always display some of my favorite toys I've made here :) The bottom cabinet has random things like my laminator and an old serger I've always planned on figuring out as well as my old sewing machine. The little shelf you can barely see holds a basket full of knitting needles (that I hardly ever use - maybe I will thin that out a bit) as well as printed out knitting patterns and notebooks with vintage patterns and whatnot.

The dresser holds my yarn winder, blocking pins, dpn sets, tape, ribbon and other trims, fold over elastic, animal eyes, bias tape maker machine, embroidery hoops, buttons, and much more. This thing helps lots of smaller boxes look tidy. The top drawer unit is one that I always plan on making more useful, but at the moment it mostly holds things I don't use except for hooks and eyes, lol. I've made it a goal to keep the top area neat since it always was covered with random piles before. I've kept to that pretty well in this sewing room. It does hold things like my cutting scraps and my pattern pieces while I'm in a project, but I make it a point to clean everything up after I finish each one. Much nicer :)

This area is another change that I love. This drawer unit holds so many small things: elastic, velcro, stay tape, turners, extra scissors, beads, snaps, Sizzix punches, and much much more. The teal tin on top is actually empty right now - I can't decide what to put in it! But it stabilizes the top of the drawers and keeps them from caving (they were old from a garage sale). I keep my dress form next to this area and I love that it's within easy access. Last time in this room it was in a corner and blocked by a chair, so this makes it much more useable.

The above area has turned into my planning display - which I plan on writing about later. It's been super useful and also cute to look at.

This is another new-to-this-room area. This wicker étagère has patterns at the bottom (and in boxes to the side) along with a few boxes of yarn, and bins with needle felting supplies and project bags. The flower hook is one I've had up for years but never figured out what to hang from it. It dawned on me to hang my rotary cutter and pattern weights and this was a fantastic idea. I love having them always easy to grab.

And my sewing desk - that poor little shelf is always filled with stuff, lol. But it's all useful stuff like my machine needles, magnetic pin plates, bobbin boxes, machine feet, and other things I need on hand while sewing. The cup on top holds all my friction pens, seam gauges, point turner, etc.

And my thread corner - the drawer unit is full of yarn. Also my trash can is nestled in there. I LOVE having my scissors at easy reach like this too - I will do that wherever I go for sure.

And back to my table. This magical table extends to double it's size. It's technically too short for me, but stacked on top of these two drawer units it becomes the perfect height for cutting. The drawers hold yarn, scales, and projects. My blocking mats and poster board for photos live between the units. And of course my rulers are on the sides.

So that's my room! It's very much a hodge-podge of things I've had forever or thrifted or customized, and I seriously love every bit of it. I love being in here. I spent a lot of time in the past week in my lovely room working because I knew it would be my last chance *sniff* and when my husband came in on Saturday, I was watching Some Like It Hot while sewing and he said, "This really is your happy place." And he was so right :) It's just the perfect hang out for me. The colors are my favorites, and I'm surrounded by things I made and love as well as all the implements for inspiration. It will really be hard to live up to this room again, but I certainly will try to get the same feel no matter where we go. Because I love being in here.

My Sewing Room - Banish the Beige!

 So, I moved last month (gasp!) which means I had to move my sewing room and start afresh. Before I delve into the big reveal though, let's all shed a quiet tear for the space I had to tear down: here. Man, I loved that room. I still love the wall color, but I digress. I'm renting my new space, so painting wasn't an option. I had to just stick with the awful beige and make the best of it. Here is what my new room looks like:

Not bad, eh? I can't help but feel happy when I go in here, and it's all mine :) I mean, I share with my dog and cat, but still. Personally I love stalking other people's sewing rooms to see how they organize things and all that, so I thought I'd do a detailed tour.

So, here's what you see when you stand in the doorway. My cutting table is in the middle of the room, and the walls are lined with shelves and other storage.

My cutting table is one of my favorite things in the space. This was my first kitchen table year ago, but when we got a bigger space we also got a bigger table, so I was quick to stake my claim on this one :) We bought this at Ikea preassembled in the As Is section (it was the display model). I haven't seen the table since so sadly I believe it may not be available anymore and I have no idea what it was called. The table is right at 1 yard square on the top, and the best part is that there are 2 hidden wings that you can pull out to extend the table on each side and double its length. This works fantastically for cutting things out and gives me all the space I need. I added some rod holders on one side to keep my medical exam paper within easy access for tracing. A friend of mine gave me 3 of these white closet organizer drawer units when she moved and they are the perfect height for me to raise up my table. I just have the table sitting on top of the units now, but it makes the table nice and tall (I'm 5'7") so it doesn't hurt my back to cut fabric anymore. The other side of the drawer units has all my rulers. I attached some mini Command hooks to the sides so all the rulers are an easy grab away. I also keep my blocking boards for knitting and my small cutting board in the space between the drawer units under the table. The drawers are also very useful - one holds my tracing paper and tacking tools, another has WIPs in bags, and another is full or crocheted stuffed animals I made a long time ago but don't have space to display while the other 3 drawers all hold yarn. The table really does so much more than a table needs to, and I love it for that.

Storage wide, the first thing you see when you come in is my big étagère in the corner. This was a big painting project of mine years back (see post here) for my other sewing room, and it fits really well in my new space as well - yay! This holds some of my favorite knitting books as well as some of my favorite knitted and crocheted animals. I love how the animals add fun pops of color. This also always holds my tv and bluray player (eventually it will hold the cable box, but my cord isn't quite long enough at the moment). The bottom cabinet holds my old sewing machine and other random tools and such. Also, you can see my yarn swift on the floor - it usually lives in the corner but I hadn't noticed that it fell over before the picture, Oops.

To the right I have a little drawer unit stack filled with tools. I got these drawers at a yard sale for $5 and they're a great size. The drawers are organized as: glues and magnets; stay tapes and fusible notions; snaps, grommets, setting tools, etc; shoulder pads, pocket lining, velcro, elastic, belting, etc; extra scissors and seam rippers; my Sizzix Paddle Punch set. My tower fan is an absolute must since I'm always hot, and the stand up lamp is just the $10 one from Ikea with 2 lights.

My dresser was another piece I painted (posted here) and it holds more notions and tools. The drawers are: knitting needle sets, crochet hook sets, clear tape, and washi tape; yarn winder, post its, ric rac, etc; button stash (shown in above photo); decorative trims and elastics, extra pins; fold over elastic, animal eyes, sewing machine feet; bias tape maker machine and tips, embroidery hoops, heat set crystals and tool. There are other random things mixed in, but that's the gist of it.

The wall above is pretty fun too :) I have my neutral colored threads, a shelf with hanging bins (that I still haven't put anything in, lol), a bulletin board, some paper flowers, a faux milk glass dish, and art work. I also hang my rotary cutter on the shelf because it's really convenient. The little art work is all meaningful to me - the pin cushion one at the top is actually a card my husband gave me, and the kitty with the diamond ring is a postcard I bought at Epcot in Japan when I was a teenager (and I still had it!). The canvas is a photo I took with my Holga back when I was obsessed with weird film photography and then I did an inkjet transfer onto this canvas. I still haven't decided where to hang it, so it's just sitting on the dresser right now. I also splurged a few months ago on a Capri Blue Volcano candle so now my sewing room smells like Anthropologie on command :) The cup on the desk holds my pencils and colored pens for tracing as well as a loop turner, chop stick, and bodkin.

The cork board was given to me by a friend and most of my pins are actual lapel pine or costume jewelry earrings I thought were neat but can't wear. The clock one is actually a button cover, but I hot glued a pin to the back :) And you can see the magnetic Crazy Cat Lady on the desk in this photo. She's fun to stack with her little cats when I want a change, lol.

This is the other side of my sewing room. My dress form hangs out in front of my book shelves, but she rolls easily. Usually my ironing board is set up in front of the book shelves as well (I put it up to look fancy, lol).

Keep going to the right and you see the other big shelf unit. There shelves were in my office at my house before I moved, but since my new place only has 2 rooms these needed a new occupation. And who doesn't need move shelving in a sewing room, I ask you?! The pink bins on the bottom of the shelf hold bins with embroidery/cross stitch supplies and thrifted sweaters I plan to unravel. The shelf above those with all the boxes have elastic, ribbon, old wooden thread spools, fat quarters, and my bead box from my pre-teen days (my friend and I used to sell beaded bracelet and I still have a fancy sticker on the box with our prices #entrepreneur). The bottom of the other shelf has by clear bag full of yarn for when I want to work on crochet or knitted animals that take multiple colors as well as my distilled water for my iron. The shelf above that holds my tatting bag (maybe I'll actually figure that out one day, lol, I had high hopes at one time) as well as some knitting projects in bags.

The top shelves I used more for decorative purposes :) I do have various craft books (sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc) as well as my Eucalan and Soak washes, a darning tool, my clothing shaver, and little bits and bobs, but I love being able to see my fox, tree, and Well Dressed Pig as I iron, lol. The two sheep are some thrift store finds that I couldn't resist. I am a knitter, after all.

The other shelf has some white baskets I use to hold small knitting WIPs. Below that is a shelf with my PDF patterns (which I keep in file folders) as well as a yarn holder and my basket of pressing tools (the hams are in there, you just can't see them). Below that is my sewing basket with all my little tools and hand sewing needles (typical basket stuff) and my iron and spray starch. And on top of the shelves I have some pretty sewing baskets I just really like and a fancy wig box - because. And my letter M that I spray painted years ago sits here too. It used to hang on the wall, but that thing is a beast to hang (there are 2 holes on the back, but they are not level plus it's really heavy so it needs anchors, ugh). It's cute up there though, so I'm not worried about it :)

Next is my desk area. I deliberately put the desk here because I found I was a little paranoid with my back to the door all the time in my old sewing room. At least now I can greet Gordo and Daisy as they come to visit (my dog and cat). The desk used to be a boring computer desk, and was actually my first custom painting project - I even stenciled it (posted here). The desktop itself holds my sewing machine (a Singer Quantum Stylist 9960) and my Ott Lite (because I'm getting old). The little shelf in the corner keeps my bobbins (in plastic cases), extra machine needles, and manuals at easy access. On the shelf I keep a mug with pens, seam rippers, chop sticks, seam gauges, and more. My magnetic pen plate and wrist pin cushion also live here near my note pad so I can quickly take notes as I'm sewing or weighing out yarn. The milk glass lamp is the real deal and it still works! I was given a matching set and I just love them in my sewing space. Above the desk I have a magnetic strip from Ikea to hold my scissors (clearly organized by type so I don't accidentally grab my sewing scissors for paper).

And now is a good time to show some art work :) Back over by the TV is this awesome electric sewing machine ad from a ladies' magazine from 1919 I picked up at an estate sale. The frame was thrifted and I painted it white. The Simplicity posted came from Simplicity a few years ago and I just really love the design. Back over by my desk I have my Pretty Little Paris cross stitch that my sister gave me for my birthday last year. Aren't the colors fun?! And above the desk itself are my colored threads and serger threads as well as these really cool Marie Antoinette postcards from Versailles that I picked up on Yerdle (posted here) and the frame they are in is one I've had for over 10 years that I just spray painted the same coral as my desk. I also spray painted those thread racks.

Back over to the other side of the room, there's another little storage area. The shelf holds my dtraight knitting needles and circulars (inside the basket) plus my sewing machine bank (it's a bank!) and some animals. The shelves hold a basket with project bags in it (what can I say, I really like project bags, lol) and folders and magazine holders filled with knitting patterns, craftsy patterns and class materials, etc. The drawer unit is the same as the ones under my table and it is full of yarn. The mini drawer unit has things like buckles, snaps, and other random little items (I really need to go through this again and get rid of things. One drawer has feathers in it?) My other milk glass lamp is on top of these to spread the light evenly since this room has no ceiling light fixture.

I'm pretty proud of my little mini curtain above the window too. Since the place has vertical blinds, there is a matching "valance" at the top, but those are just so unbearably boring. I had this cute coral eyelet that I salvaged from an old bed skirt that a friend gave me a long time ago and it's a great match to bring the coral color to this side of the room. I just measured it out and cut it, then folded the edges over twice and top stitched around the edges. I made a little dart for the corners et voilà! I know it's a crappy picture, but it's just enough to make me happy :)

The other wall has a huge closet, but that can be kind of boring just left on its own. I had collected quite a few vintage doilies from thrift stores just because I liked them, but I ever did anything with them. They are really perfect to go above the closet! Now I can enjoy these old pieces of crochet every day. The mirror is kind of a funny story. I knew I needed a full length mirror in the room, so I deliberately left this space next to the closet empty and planned to buy a mirror when I could spare the $8 later on. That same night I was walking my dog around the complex and what did I find in the trash alcove? A perfectly fine full length mirror! It's like a little gift from the sewing gods to reward my hanging everything up that night, ha ha. 

The closet itself holds ... my fabric stash! You knew it was hiding around in here somewhere, right? A good friend of mine gave me two huge Ikea shelf units she used as a desk like a year and a half ago, and they fit perfectly in a standard closet, but this closet is more like a 1.5 length closet than a double even though it has 2 sets of doors. This measn one of the doors cuts the shelf unit in half, which can be pretty annoying. When I want to search through that side, I ususally take the doors off. Also these shelves fill the entire area, which means these shelves have another layer behind what you see (don't judge). I try to keep the shelves organized by fabric type, and I must confess I heavily neatened things up before taking this photo, lol. On top of the fabric I have buckets with yarn (I organize by type and size) as well as ... more fabric! I use the shelf in the top of the closet to hols my buckets of zippers and interfacing as well as some Craftsy boxes with yarn and fabric in them. The other side of the closet has boxes of thrifted clothing to refashion and a little more fabric, lol. It's everywhere! At least it can be nicely tucked into the closet and close the door. 

The only area that is not really "maximized" is the space between the étagère and the drawer unit under the window. I used to keep my patterns in a large filing cabinet at my house, but even there I couldn't fit it into my actual sewing room. So when I moved and couldn't fit it in the new room either, I wasn't too broken up about it. At the moment, my patterns are all just in paper shopping bags as they wait for a solution. There are also two boxes of yarn and a serger I need to get a part for. I'm hoping to figure out some type of shelf unit or something that they will all fit in. We shall see.

So that's my sewing room :) It's always a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with the current iteration. If you have any questions, please leave a comment!

Catching Up

I've felt so remiss in my lack of blogging lately - it's certainly not because I don't want to! I've had the unfortunate experience of my laptop deciding to not work, so it's off being fixed - thankfully I have my phone for internet or I'd go insane, but it's not great for blog writing. So, I've been quite active on Instagram the last few weeks. I figured I'd use my IG pics to report on what I've been doing, so prepare to be inundated!

I've had a serious lack of knitting time of late because I've been doing so many home improvements. They really are addictive :) The most time consuming "improvement" for the past few months has been painting my kitchen cabinet doors.

As we speak, these 9 doors are all that is left to paint - I'm crossing my fingers that they are done on the back and that I can flip them and do the final coat on the front this weekend. Then they would be done! I'm honestly curious as to how it will feel when I can officially break all this down and not have a painting station in my living room. It's been so long!

The nastiest part has been this final cabinet base. We always thought we would have to just replace the cabinet since it was so disgusting from water damage. Obviously the previous owners had to do some plumbing work in that hole they so beautifully cut out. I have to get a piece of wood to cover it, so technically I will have to paint that as well. The picture on the right is what the cabinet looked like "cleaned" and the left is after I painted it with Kilz Oil Based Primer to cover over the old mold (gross). Since this pic was taken, I have painted it with one coat of XLM primer and 1 coat of paint  and it is AMAZING how much better it looks. I mean, it's still not perfect because of all the crap from the sink and what not in there (plus the big hole), but Oh My Gosh what a difference! I will be painting the final coat tonight and I seriously can't wait!

The doors and this cabinet are all that remains to getting my kitchen "finished" for now. I call it a Phase 1 Remodel because I definitely have further plans, but things like counter tops and appliances get a whole lot more expensive than a few gallons of paint, so at least I will have the basics covered (like finally having doors on my cabinets after 2 years of living without them, lol).

I also gave myself a decent little splurge of sewing time over the past month. Not only did I tackle the Peggy Skirt, I also made a cute pair of PJ pants (which I still have to photograph and blog about), and went straight into making a new dress pattern. I chose Simplicity 1419. I made a muslin of the bodice first and boy, did I have a hard time. I knew basic alterations I needed to the front pieces from the fitting work I did on Simplicity 2444, but I still have gaping at the back neckline of that dress that kind of drives me nuts, so I decided to buckle down and figure it out. Turns out I have a dowager's hump (lovely to know, isn't it?), so after an hour or so of pinching out darts and what not to no avail I pulled out Fit For Real People and consulted the experts. When I read the instructions, it didn't make any sense as to how that would fix a gaping back neck, but I tried it anyway and (amazingly) it worked! Who knew the experts would be right? lol I know, I'm ridiculous.

Once I got the bodice fit sorted, I picked a nice springy fabric to make up my dress :) I have it all cut out and marked, but have yet to sew it together. I kind of hope I can get this done for Easter, but I won't be devastated if I can't finish it. We'll see.

I also got experimental in the kitchen and made these s'mores (which were delicious!). I just used Aldi brand graham crackers, marshmallows and milk chocolate (their Chocheur brand with hazelnut paste in it - oh my gosh). I set the grahams on a tin foil covered cookie sheet, plopped a marshmallow on top and put them in the oven at 350F for a few minutes until they puffed up and started to get just a tinge of brown. I took them out and pressed the marshmallow down with a fork (so it covered more of the cracker). Once they were cooled off, I melted the chocolate in a double boiler and spooned/spread it across the tops. Oh man, these were so good and very easy to make, if a bit time consuming. So worth it though!

This past Thursday, I decided to finally try dying a few items of clothing I'd accumulated. It was an interesting experience, but not completely awful, lol. I'll report more on that later.

Later that day, I decided to tackle a big reorganization project. My good friend Leigh gave me an awesome Ikea shelf unit thing she had used with a tabletop on it, but no longer had space for and it had been sitting in my living room for a day. Originally I hadn't planned on tackling it yet, but I had some time and wanted that stuff out of the living room (it took up a lot of space). So ... I dug out my whole closet in my sewing room and situated the cabinets - I kid you not, they fit exactly - like, if they were even 1/2" wider, they wouldn't fit in there. The two piece together are 60" wide and 24" deep, so the tabletop Leigh had wouldn't fit (it's cut to overhang them), so I have to get a top piece cut and painted for it, but check out what I did in the meantime...

HOLY FREAKING GOODNESS! I guess I have just a little bit of fabric, huh? Those shelves are stacked two rows deep, so there is even more you can't see. I unloaded 5 Rubbermaid tubs and 1 large box (it was bigger than the tubs) full of fabric onto this baby. I still have one file box that I couldn't fit (sigh), so I will be weeding through my stash and eBay-ing some of my less-loved pieces. In my defense, I did not purchase all of this myself. I got quite a bit of this when others destashed and just gave me a whole box of fabric. Anyway, it's AMAZING to see all of my fabric like this! Some of these fabrics I haven't looked at in at least a year. I organized each shelf by type of fabric, so I will be able to "shop" my stash for my projects instead of ignoring my buckets and going to the store. I used to have to literally unload my entire closet to get to my tubs, and then pull everything out each tub to find what I needed, so this will be kind of life changing. I'm hoping it increases my productivity :) Since taking this photo, I have also cleared all that junk from in front of the closet and tidied up about 2/3rds of the rest of the room. Once I get it all cleaned up and have a topper on this, I am planning on a new tour of my sewing room post!

And why not round off this post with a gratuitous sexy shoe photo? I'm a total convert to Swedish Hasbeens, folks. I have a black pair and this pair, which I figure should serve me well until I find more on super-duper sale like these were, lol. Wooden shoes FOR EVER!

So, if you've made it this far, thanks :) I know it's just a bunch of random-ness shoved into a post, but I just really wanted to update my goings-on. Once I get my house projects finished, I will be doing some before and after posts of epic proportions (no joke, my house looks SO different than it did just 2 months ago), so check back for that soon. Now I'd better get back to cleaning ... or painting ... or knitting ... you know, the essentials.