Petty Vices

Re-architected T

Came across this fabu t-shirt designed by Compai (two sisters who together are a powerful design duo). They create it out of a plain large shirt and I think it's great! They offer a tutorial via SuperNaturale on how to make your own, which is from their book 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim and Tie your T-shirt into Something Special. They have a great story about their inspiration for the T design, which they call Chaos T-shirt Reconstruction.

Cityscape fabric

I think this fabric print Katve from Finnish company Fokus Fabrik is fantastic.

Iron Chef T-shirt Pillow

I've been collecting T-shirts I like for awhile now, with the idea of making pillow covers out of them. I came across a few Iron Chef T-shirts at Goodwill a few trips ago, washed them up and decided to use some Asian fabric scraps with a black muslin backing for my first T-shirt pillow foray.

I went with a flanged, envelope enclosure type pillow which I think turned out pretty cute, actually...though I must tell you that frankly, the fact that it "turned out" at all seems like a minor miracle considering the number of times I had to get my seam ripper out. =^) I should probably follow a pattern, or perhaps even follow along with some instructions, though I suppose I will now never make a few particular mistakes again. Maybe the "trial by fire" method has some merit after all. Or maybe I'm just confabulating (a wonderful term I learned in reading a recent New Scientist article about the little stories people make up for themselves that serve to justify their behavior -- often basically rewriting their own histories as they go -- ring any bells? I feel I've certainly run across a few too many "master" confabulators...but I digress...)

<pause for air> Now that I have the basic envelope enclosure pillow creation method down I'm excited about making some more! I have some cool seventies and eighties T's I want to "pillowcize."

Asian Themed Napkins

Made some 10" cocktail napkins out of Asian-themed fabric.

My favorite part about all of these little cocktail nap guys is that they can replace the need for paper party napkins and used for all kinds of occasions.

I think I'm going to make some sets next from some fabrics that I have featuring women on motorcycles, men wearing aprons cooking and the like. Sort of mod-girl sets, I guess.

Chocolate & Blue Cocktail Napkins

I finished up a couple of sets of cocoa and blue party napkins the other day for my friend Kathy.

I'm working on an Asian themed set now for another friend! I am planning on getting an Etsy.com site up soon and dip my toe into selling these things...I don't know what to expect, but I figure "why not?"

The Washington trivia book I've been co-authoring is on the editing table now so I'm going to be busy working on that next week, but maybe I can squeeze in some time for site-building. Fingers crossed!

M is taking me to Lummi Island for my BDay this weekend -- I'm really looking forward to it. Yay for me! No Internet though, so no posts...back Monday.

Barbie Coin Purse

Played with a new pattern for a coin purse and lined it with some Barbie fabric scraps I had leftover from a cocktail napkin. I like this design but sewing it on vinyl was a pain! Definitely not my best work; I'm going to try it next on some cotton fabric stiffened up with interfacing, I think. I adapted a template for a purse envelope from Mirkwood Designs -- who have a bunch of fun (free!) patterns for paper boxes, cards, match boxes, etc.

Pink Star Coin Purse

I've been teaching myself how to sew with vinyl, which is not the easiest thing in the world. For some reason, I thought it would be a snap...but instead I've had to scour the web for tips on how to make my machine quit sticking to the fabric. The best trick I've found is to cover the piece -- front and back -- in tissue paper and sew right throught it.

It keeps the feeddogs and the foot from sticking, and can just be torn right off once the stitching is finished. I (finally) managed to finish something that looks pretty cute (it's not absolutely perfect but at least it isn't crooked and full of holes like my first attempt).

"Hawaii 5-0" Messenger Bag

Today I completed a messenger bag with a pattern I've been messing around with; I made this with a thrift-store shirt find, an old belt for the strap, and a canvas lining. I still don't have the order of the steps down to a sequence that works perfectly -- but I'm getting there!

I also found a bunch of great sweaters out thrifting, and am going to play with those next I think. I want to incorporate a stripe into the messenger flap. Not sure how its going to work yet...we shall see.

The front of the bag uses the shirt's former pocket on the flap while the reverse side uses the former back of the shirt.

 

Cocktail Napkins

Today I sewed some cocktail napkins from coordinating fabric scraps -- they're 10" completed with mitered corners. I'm thinking they can replace paper party napkins and save some trees but still be fun!

Blankies for Baby

My latest sewing project was a couple of receiving blankets for my new newphew. I made one from a jersey knit and the other from a lively flannel; I now see why jersey is reputedly hard to work with!

I loved the fabric, but when they were done I thought they still needed a little something. M suggested I monogram them and that sounded cute, so that's what I've been doing with myself this morning. See the final product below -- not perfect -- but hopefully he won't mind (nephew, that is). Off to start another project!