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My Son’s of Anarchy Scooter

May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Yes, I’m obsessed with Son’s of Anarchy – I even made a Son’s of Anarchy Jacket!  I still haven’t figured out what the big allure is for me, but I’m still enjoying watching the episodes on Netflix.  I am in the middle of season 4 and have been ‘savoring’ the last few episodes.  (Have you ever done this?)

During the summer I like to ride my bike to the store, but I live 12 miles away and sometimes getting there is no problem, it’s the energy to ride all the way back.  Last summer I thought “I should get a Scooter!”  and then winter set in and I completely forgot about it until I found myself needing a second vehicle for my son who just started working out at Lake Minnetonka.  He’s saving his money to buy a car, but until then I do NOT want to drive out to Lake Minnetonka everyday to drop off/pick up.  So I bought myself this:

scooter

Isn’t she purty?  My favorite color and everything!!  She’s just my speed and SEW much fun to ride!  With my Son’s of Anarchy jacket and now my Scooter I’m that much closer to living the SAMCRO life!

It was one of those happy co-incidences that she came into my life.  I, for once, was ahead of schedule one day so decided to take the long way to work.  Heading down Lyndale I saw her sitting there with a For Sale sign on her.  I stopped and talked to the owner who said she only had 161 miles on her, but ran perfectly – it just wasn’t her cup of tea!  I wrote the check then and there!  After getting her registered I strapped on my helmut and rode her home!  OMG – SEW much fun!!

My son and I took her to the gas station near the house and spent a whole $5 to fill her up and that’s including the two sodas we bought!  I can’t wait for this horrible, horrible winter to break it’s grip on us so that I can ride her to work!  Till then, my son has been riding her to Trader Joe’s every night.  Amazing how he can think of things we need!  ;-)

 

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Zig-Zag Liverpool Dress

March 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I made this dress a couple of weeks ago when I was on a craze to sew shop samples.

The pattern is Amy Butlers Liverpool shirt/tunic/dress. I decided to make the dress length because according to the fashion magazines, shirt dresses will be in this Spring.

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The fabric is from Valori Wells’ Novella line, I saw a shirt dress in a magazine that was in this color way (one of my favorite color ways) about a week before the fabric showed up at the store. I took it as a sign that it was time to make this dress.

There were a few things about the pattern that made no sense to me (such as the seam down the back), but overall I would say it’s a great pattern for the intermediate sewist.

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The instructions for constructing and attaching the collar were nice and clear. It’s been a while since I did a collar so I appreciated the clear directions.

One of my favorite touches about the dress are these orange buttons!

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I added them up the front and on the sleeves (which you can make in three lengths). I think the buttons give the dress a nice ‘pop’! What do you think?

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Binding Tutorial: Part Deux

August 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Quite a while ago I did a tutorial on how I make my quilt binding you can check it out here. But once the binding is made, a lot of people don’t know how to sew it to their quilt! So I thought I would share with you how I sew on my binding.
First a Disclaimer: There are many ways of getting to the end, my way is just one of those ways. If you find a different path that is easier for you, then it becomes the ‘right’ way for you.
Okay, let’s get started.
After I make my binding I apply it to the back of my quilt – lining up the raw edges with the edge of the quilt. Traditionally people sew the binding to the front of the quilt and flip it to the back where they hand-stitch it down. I avoid hand-stitching at all cost so I choose to sew my binding to the back of my quilt and flip it to the front of my quilt where I use my machine to stitch it down.

Sewing the binding to the back.

I will keep the binding tails long where I start to sew it to the quilt. After I sew my binding way all around I will then keep the second tail long (8-12″) because I then need to sew the two tails together and the more fabric I have to work with the easier the next few steps will be.

After taking the quilt out of the machine, cut one of the tails so that it’s about 4-6″ long. Then lay the second tail on top of the first tail. I then measure 2 1/2″ (or whatever the width of my bias binding is) and cut the second tail so that it overlaps the first tail by this measurement (2 1/2″).


I then put these ends right sides together so that one cut edge lays across the other (imagine a cross.

Sew binding together on the bias.

and sew them together on the bias. (from one corner to the opposite corner)
Then though the magic of math, this section is the exact measurement I need it to be so that it lays flat on my quilt when I open it up.
I then finish sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. As I mentioned at the beginning, I then flip the binding to the front so that I can sew it down using the sewing machine.

Sew the binding to the back and flip it to the front to sew it down by machine.

And that’s how I sew my binding to my quilt.

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I’m Back!

April 9, 2012 by 2 Comments

A couple of months ago I lost access to my blog!  I was so bumbed because one of my goals this year was to blog more.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise,  because even though WordPress came out with a ‘fix’ I had already given the ‘go’ on re-doing my whole website – something that I wanted to do long before the bug.  If you’re here – chances are you’ve seen the new improvements!!  Don’t you love them?  Everything in one handy spot!  There are still a few kinks to iron out, but we’ll get there!  I’m just so happy with the new look of the website, I feel it better reflects what Sewtropolis is:  a fun, creative sewing studio and fabric store!

You may also have heard that we’ve physically moved to a new location!  I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am with our new home!  The building is right on the corner of 48th & Chicago in South Minneapolis.  If you know where Pepito’s & the Parkway Theater are then you know where we are at!   Right now the old yellow awnings of the last tenant (Amazon Books) are still up, but within the next couple of weeks our blue awnings will be up and then it will really feel like home!   (If you’re thinking I might have a thing for old book stores you’re right.  Watch out Barnes & Noble).

When I look back to when I first opened up Sewtropolis 2 1/2 years ago, it’s hard to believe it’s grown from a one-girl shop to what it is today!  There is no way I could have done it without all of you and your love and support of my store!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I also want to give a HUGE special thank you to everyone who helped me with painting, sanding and most importantly the move!

It was done in record time and there is no way I could have done it without all your help!  I also want to thank Rachel Greenhouse for tipping me off about the vacancy.  Rachel has been a God send in so many ways – when I think of all my guardian angels, Rachel is at the top of the list  (getting all the other guardian angels together so that they can network with one another)  and I am SO grateful for her!   Thanks also to Jamie and her team at Propel Business Works and Tim at Mission: Communicate for their hard work on my website!  True professionals!

And now, let’s get sewing!

 

 

 

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Crafting Goddesses – or not!

November 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

About once a month I get together with some friends to ‘stitch & bitch’.  We usually work on crochet or knitted projects, but the other night we we decided to each bring a craft and share it.

Being a fabricaholic I decided to bring some fabric strips, jewlery clamps and clasps and have everyone make fabric bracelets.  Pretty Fabric Bracelets

My friend Jennifer brought 4″ tiles and scrapbooking paper so we could all make coasters.

Pretty Coasters I was a little late to the party, so my tiles didn’t quite dry before I wrapped them in tissue paper….

Tile Whoops Looks like I’ll be picking off some tissue paper.

Jennifer’s sister Harriette brought buttons, wire and ribbons and we made button wreath tree ornaments.

Super cute wreath

Finally, there’s Jayne.  Let me just state up front that any girl that has a blow torch and knows how to use it is A-O-K in my book!

Blowtorch Jayne

Jayne had us make fabric roses.  Unfortunately Jayne didn’t have a sample of her craft made up so we could just look at it and replicate.  (cause that’s how we roll).  No, Jayne started on her project after we all had at least one beer –  (safety announcement: do not mix beer, rotary cutters and blow torches).  However, we cut Jayne some slack since she did host the S&B this month – and because we love her.

We first put in a running stitch on one edge of the fabric strip.   Roll it up, blowtorch or melt the frayed edges (being careful not to melt the thread used to create the running stitch – ah hem) , glue a small piece of felt to the back

(It totally helps is the glue gun is pink), and sew (not glue) a pin to the back and voila – a fabric rose.

Beautiful when done, unfortunately none of us finished our flowers, but these are what they WILL look like – right girls???

Thanks for hosting (and taking one for the team), Jayne!!  ;-)

 

 

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More Prince Charming in the Bathroom

November 9, 2011 by 2 Comments

I have been on a roll with this Prince Charming line of fabric from Tula Pink!  I just love it.  I made the Crepe Dress from it this past summer, a shower curtain a couple of weeks ago and now I have a bathmat to match!

I was on Pinterest and saw some unique ways to finish the edges of quilts, including tying knots into strips of fabric and then sewing them into the edges.

You can see that some of the strips of fabric were sewn before tying and then I realized sewing the strips was just an extra step, so I just folded them and tied.  The hardest part was pinning them in place so that they would stay put while I sewed over them.   I love the effect of the knots and though I might not use the technique in a quilt, I’ll definitely be using it in a another (smaller) project.

 My bathroom is really coming together, but wait till you see what else I made with this line…..

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