Dance Party

Karsten and I took a break from steam cleaning the incredibly gross computer room carpet in order to have a Supergrass dance party. A good time was had by all:

After Supergrass was finished cycling through on RealPlayer, Led Zeppelin I came on. Karsten said, "I wike Zeppwin, Mom." Good boy.

Tired

Yesterday was a busy day... lots of running around and cleaning house. The wood floors had been screaming at me for the past two weeks for a scrubbing, so I finally caved and cleaned them. Sadly, I didn't get to finish, so guess what I'm doing today? That and two bathrooms. I did one bathroom yesterday.

Most of the time I am thankful that we have such a big house. Then there's the days when I look around and think, "I really need to clean this sty; which bathroom should I start with?" Four bedrooms, three baths. Acres of carpet that attracts dog hair like nobody's business. Bits of Lego and Bionicle strewn about and constantly underfoot. Argh. I feel beaten before I begin, most days.

Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. I haven't picked up the rest of the fabric or patterns from the two ladies I mentioned in earlier posts. Neither one of them has had a chance to get everything organized, so I am just going to wait for them to give me a call. It's exciting, though; like when you're a kid, knowing that Christmas is only a few days away.

All of the fabric that I have gotten over the past few days was piling up on my sewing table, so I picked up a new Tote to put the stuff in. As a result, my corner of the computer room looks like Tote Mountain. There's Totes big and small stacked up about four feet off the ground. There's no place for the fabric to go, though, so I don't really have a choice. I don't like to leave it sitting out because it just attracts dust. Or the dog steals it, thinking that a yard of panne velvet would make a divine sleeping area.

A couple of years ago I remember visiting someone's craft blog, and they had the most beautiful crafting space I have ever seen. The entire room had built in wood shelving on all four walls, floor to ceiling. The shelves were narrow in order to accomodate individual pieces of fabric. That's one way to sort it! She also had wooden drawers built in to the walls like filing cabinets for patterns and the like. For some reason I am thinking that it's Turkey Feathers, but I'll have to check.

I finished the Simplicity apron the other day and will post a pic later. Started on the smock pattern that I posted the other day using some of the vintage plaid I got from a garage sale, but haven't had a chance to sew much on it. Today I need to hem my babysitter's jeans... in between scrubbing floor and potties, of course. My life is both glamorous and exciting! Maybe I'll make a pie today, or shirr something. Yes, a little shirring to improve the home and mood, just like the brochure recommends. Ha.

Jackpot 2: Electric Boogaloo

Sophie and I had to run to the grocery store this afternoon to get appropriate dinner foods, and I decided to stop at a garage sale along the way. Today was my lucky day, folks. I asked the lady running the sale if she had any fabric, and she rummaged around in her garage for a minute and returned with a HUGE Rubbermaid container full of vintage fabric. Some of it she brought to the US from Italy when she got married even. I looked through the container and took some, mostly cotton. She told me to come back tomorrow so she could give me the rest, along with other boxes for FREE!

I haven't ever had such a satisfactory garage sale day ever. Between this lady and the lady from this morning, it can't get any better.

Isn't this poodle fabric hilarious? It's a bunch of circles with tongues and bows:

My favorite print from this batch is this one. I am really hoping that there's more of it, since this piece is very small:

Most of the fabric that I saw hadn't even been washed; a lot of it still had the original labels on it from when it was first cut and paid for.

Fred

Fred is my pincushion. I hand-sewed him from cotton scraps about a year and a half ago because it was driving me nuts trying to dig pins out of the tin I had them in. He was just off-handedly spliced together, which explains why he's a little wobbly. But he serves his purpose, and that's cool with me.

Also, the kids love him and often arrange my pins in elaborate featherlike creations for him. Today he's sporting a mohawk, courtesy of some little hands:

Jackpot

The new Singer C-550 is firmly ensconced in the place of honor normally reserved for the Merritt (sorry, Merritt). I sewed on it last night and this morning, finishing up the Halloween linens for my sister in law. Needless to say, it is a smooth operator. It's loud and heavy like the Merritt, which is a good thing (don't ask me why, I just like it that way), but it is so fast and smooth! It caught me off guard the first time, actually. But it was quite easy to get used to, and I think the new machine and I will soon be the best of friends.

This morning I went to a couple of garage sales. The first one was a bust, but I bought something anyway (a stoneware bowl in the shape of a heart) because the old dude who was running it was so cool. I had Ian (6) and Karsten (3) with me, and I think the old gentleman got a kick out of them. He gave them both a dollar (!) because they were so good. They *were* being good kids, but that guy just raised the bar high for mom and dad. I can see it now: "Sorry, Mom, we won't be good for anything less than a buck."

The next garage sale was a bust AT FIRST, until I started talking to the older lady running it about sewing. Turns out she was an incredible seamstress for 50 years, and so was her aunt. She was so excited to meet a young sewer that she whipped out three huge boxes of vintage fabric that belonged to her aunt, as well as a huge box of patterns. She didn't have time this morning for me to see everything, but she let me go through one box of fabric. I gleaned this immediately for a grand total of $3:

The smallest piece in this lot is 1 yd., and the largest is nearly 5 yds (the cream and white circles)! She is selling the fabric for 50 cents a piece, no matter what the size of the cut! On Monday I am going back to her house to look through everything, and I can't wait. From what I saw in the box I looked through, it's mostly 1950s-1970s fabric. The patterns should be really awesome, too.

The lady was so sweet, and she kept saying how happy it made her that she had found someone who would use and appreciate it all. She had lived with her aunt as a child, and ended up caring for her the last year of her life, so I can only imagine how much sentimental value there is in the fabric and patterns, especially since it was a passion they shared together. I am happy that I will be able to use her things to create many, many new things for years to come.

Smocktacular

The new Singer is a go! I pick her up today. I am so excited!

I was on Burdastyle last night, and I was going through the latest submissions in the user creations category (dang there's some talented people on that site) and recognized Simplicity 4589, beautifully rendered in a bunch of cool fabrics, all by the same gal.

Here's the pattern; it's smocktacular:

This was one of the first patterns I ever tried, and I hated it. I just couldn't figure out how to fit the sleeves properly given the square neckline I was working with and how the seams intersected. But that was many moons ago in my sewing career (heh), and she inspired me to try again.

Head over to Burdastyle and check out the lovely work of Littleladyluxe right quick. The plaid one is my fave. Now I think I know what to do with that tartan fabric I picked up at a garage sale last weekend!

Traitor

Singer Merritt 1872, I'm afraid your time has come.


I got this lovely machine years ago from my sister, who got it from a coworker. It came with no manual, and I didn't know what to do with it. It sat in my basement for a few years until one day I dragged it out, determined to figure out how to use it. It's been almost two years that I have been sewing with it now, but I've come to realize it's got issues. I have been spending a small fortune on tension control repairs, and it just doesn't pay to keep fixing it every few months for $80 a pop. But I love that it is heavy and all metal. Such a solid workhorse, it is. They truly don't make them like this anymore.

Gosh, I feel like a traitor. I've formed a senitmental attachment to this machine and even though it has been sewing like poo, it is so hard for me to give it up! If I want to continue to make money from sewing, though, I need one that sews well. You know, nice straight, even stitches; not ones with bits of bobbin thread poking up through the needle holes. Sigh.

I've been looking in earnest for a new machine for the past couple of days, mostly via Freecycle and Craigslist. I can't bring myself to spend a fortune on a machine. There's plenty of ladies out there who buy $1000 machines in the blink of an eye, but I can't do it.

On a lark I visited the Singer shop today and chatted with a nice young bloke who showed me some newer models. The commerical-grade line caught my eye, this one in particular:

Ooh. Shiny. This is the C-550, and I believe it is one of the only mechanical models still being manufactured by any company. All of the commercials are mechanical, but the regular homesewing line doesn't offer any, I don't think. Hey, look! It's metal and it's heavy! There's a lady on craigslist selling hers for $150 and she only used it once. Please let her get back to me soon! I've got projects piling up and it's kinda crazy round these parts.

Even if I were to get a new machine, I'd still keep the Merritt around. It would make a good paperweight.