My Yoga Mat Tote

I found a pattern for a yoga mat tote from Meream at http://boredandcrafty.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/yoga-mat-bag-tutorial/

I decided to use the log cabin block quilt pattern to make my cover. It was very simple and quick to make. See my review on http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=32604.

A Vintage kind of day, and other surprises

Remember the vintage patterns that my Mom gave me back in May. Well I finally did one of them. It is a Butterick 8213. I'm not sure when it was in-print, but the original cost of the pattern was only 50 cents. It was very simple. Sewing instructions back then were written very SPARSELY to say the least. But I love the fit of the dress.

I also got a chance to use some of my fabric stash for it, so that was really great. Sorry for the picture, maybe tomorrow when the sun is out, I'll have my husband take one outside. I find it very difficult to do self portraits.

This weekend I also got the first of the three more boxes of vintage patterns from my Mom, and a box of zippers!

I've signed up for the stash contest on sewing.patternreview.com, so on to the next project.

Organizing my Patterns

Well, I've been away for a while, but I can say I've been busy.

• My daughter decided on a college (she's decided to do pharmacy)
• traveled home to see my parents (actually went fabric/pattern shopping crazy with my Mom)
• found a store called "dirt cheap" on my trip home, yes that's right - for another post!
• started teaching part-time at a local college
• bought an adjustable height table for my sewing room to do cutting
• got a stash of vintage patterns from my Mom
  
• used some of my sewing stash (& bought replacement fabric - LOL)
• organized my patterns
  

First things first though, the pattern organization. I decided to make an album of all of my patterns with 5x8 index cards, so that I can use when I'm shopping. Here's a picture of my book:
For my newer patterns I have a word template that I use. Then I go to the pattern company's website and cut and past the information that I need, such as a picture, pattern description, yardages, front/back line drawing:
I've left areas to add notes such as fabrics used, alterations made, etc.

For my older patterns, I copy the pattern envelope (front and back) by reducing it to a 5x8 card without borders. (My 4 in 1 printer has a copy function that allows me to reduce).
When I go shopping I just take the card out of my notebook and place in my purse. When I pick out fabric for a particular pattern, I clip a piece of the fabric and pin to the card. It makes it easier to pick out notions etc. since I have the card with the fabric sample attached.

Well needless to say I have discovered that I have a LOT of patterns to say the least. We won't say how many though - SMILE! And they've just increased by another 100 or so because of my Mom's gift of some vintage patterns. I had to send those by UPS, since the planes won't let you carry baggage for free anymore. I'll take pix when they arrive.

Portland, BasketBall, & Sewing

As I've stated my daughter is a basketball player, and is planning to play ball in college. So we are all spending 4 days in Oregon to visit one of the universities in the area.

We flew into Portland OR on Wednesday morning. We got in at around 10:30 AM. And after getting our rental car headed to find something to eat at a restaurant called "TODAI" located in Pioneer Square in downtown Portland.

Then we headed to the hotel to spend our first night and try to get some overdue sleep (since we left home at 3:30 am that morning.) Well needless to say while my husband and daughter slept, I went off to Fabric Depot in Portland!

Can you believe when I got there, a 30% off of everything sale was going on! I wanted so badly to buy fabrics (but this whole airline thing is really playing havoc with my purchasing ability because I don't like to ship stuff back home, I want to carry it with me. I flew USAir and had to pay $15 for the first bag checked - can you believe it!). Besides, I'm trying to cut down on my stash - Hey at least I can dream. I did however purchase 3 books.

They had an outdoor sale, so off I went. I found quite a few notions, etc. ( 1/8" elastic for my heirloom sewing; bra extenders; self-cover belt kits - been looking for those to make matching belts for my vintage/retro patterns).

On Thursday we headed to the school. We'll be touring some of the campus and meeting with the team on Thurs. and Fri. In the meantime I spotted a little quilting shop I want to check out - picture me with a big SMILE. Maybe I'll get a chance to visit the Mill End store and Josephine's Dry Goods when we head back home on Saturday.

Fabric Stash & Butterick 5216

(I had to take my own pictures, my photographer decided to go to a Rockies game - SMILE).

Well, here's another one from my fabric stash. This was a border print that I purchased a couple of years ago for about 50 cents a yard. It took 4 yards, because the border was actually crosswise (printed like panels); so it only costs me $2 in fabric. You can't buy a top that cheaply from the store.

I just wanted a quick little top to wear with jeans, and it definitely was quick, took maybe 2 hours to make.

The neckline was plunging to say the least. More, than I needed to show, so I took one of the diamond motifs and placed in the opening.

I'll probably make it again in a solid print and use a piece of lace for the inset (no way am I wearing this top without an inset!)

Next blog, a vintage dress I made from a pattern given to me by my mom!

5 days in Chicago

Well, I just spent 5 days in Chi-town (Chicago). My daughter's basketball team played in the Nike Tournament there. They managed to place 3rd in their bracket, which was very good.

For those of you that are really into the Girl's basketball, they loss to a team out of Dallas, (that team went on to win the tournament), one of the nations top recruits for 2009 was on the team.

It was so amazing, and I felt truly in my element, nothing but young girls 6 feet tall and over (where were these girls when I was growing up!). BTW, I'm 6 ft, my daughter is 6'1", and my daughter has a teammate that is 6'6".

Here's a couple of pictures:

My daughter's team (in white) during a game

My daughter during a game (in red uniform)

While I was in Chicago, I had to go visit at least one fabric store ( I know I was supposed to be there to support my daughter, but hey I needed a side trip; besides I took my daughter to the Nike store after the tournament). I decided to go to the Vogue Fabrics flagship store in Evanston. Imagine my good luck to arrive right before the ASG (American Sewing Guild) bus tour did. I was lucky that I had my ASG card on me, so I was able to get the discounts that the Conference members got (Yes Sandy, there is a God!). Overwhelming, is an understatement. I wish they had something even close to this in the Colorado area. In talking with some of the women I found out that next years conference is scheduled for Albuquerque NM (my backyard & only a 6 hour drive), so I'm definitely making plans to attend.

Inside Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, IL and the women of ASG

I overheard one of the ladies coming into the store say "My God, I've died and gone to heaven", I knew exactly how she felt. One of the more interesting things that I saw was the dress forms available for rental:
Anyway, needless to say after about an hour of grazing thru the fabrics (I had to be back to meet my daughter for her next game - oh well). I did get to pick up some fabrics. It helps that you can't take a 2nd bag on the planes for free now - sort of helped me keep my spending down. I just couldn't accept the idea of sending my purchases back by mail. I ended up buying 5 pieces of fabric: 1 piece of lawn/voile fabric in a lime&brown with a border, a piece of chiffon, 2 pieces of silk dupionni (burgundy and sage), and 1 piece of cotton lycra in a soft lime green.
The colors don't show up too good in the picture.

Now I'm thinking of reasons to go and visit my sister who lives downtown Chicago, just so I can go to the fabric stores in the area. Next time I'll hit Fisherman.

Hey maybe I can convince my daughter to go to Northwestern for college next year! Oh well, after writing this, I really need to make a confession:

"Hi my name is Sandy, and I have an addiction to anything related to sewing!".

Butterick 5033 and my fabric stash

Well I went thru my stash, and found a nice piece of fabric to make Butterick 5033 vintage dress from.

It was a very easy dress and I am loving the flowiness of the skirt. The fabric I made it from was in my stash, so not really sure what the content is (purchased before I got wise enough to start recording the fabrics in my stash - SMILE). Its a very lightweight fabric, and the skirt hangs beautifully.