Mending My Ways

I have been a busy lady. A very busy lady. In 2 days we leave for a Mediterranean cruise plus several days in Rome. Naturally, that means sewing. Lots of sewing. I have altered two of Mike's trousers to fit him better, lengthened my own quintessential pair of white pants (the ones with buttons on the front that bring 'nautical' to mind) sewn a ridiculously gorgeous silk blouse (more to come) all while working on "the slip that won't die."

 I finally got around to doing a tiny bit of work on this amazing 1950's dress that my mother gave me for my birthday a few years ago. It was a size too small, and I vowed to loose 5 lbs and pull this "mad Men" beauty back out of the closet some day.
Well, I may have 5 lbs to lose but my rib cage is not getting any smaller. Ever. So today I let it out a bit, wiped off some dusty bits, and reattached some buttons.

Pin Cushions For The Fair

One of my very first sewing projects was a pincushion using left-over silk scraps and a decadent Rhinestone button with this free pattern PDF that I found online.

 My mistake was filling it with the wrong stuff. I chose old fabric scraps, a little leftover stuffing from a cannibalized footstool and to my misfortune I discovered that it was almost impossible to stick most parts of this pincushion with a pin. However, I was much too proud to admit failure and I proceeded to use the pincushion for the next four years cursing it every step of the way and strategically only sticking pins in certain loosely stuffed corners.
With the broken arm fiasco, I have limited myself to only small, instantly gratifying sewing projects for the next several weeks. A better place to stick my pins was the logical next step.

 These used very little fabric and came together quite quickly. The center of each is embellished with a lone vintage rhinestone earring missing its mate. It's was very easy to separate the earring from its backing, all you need is a good pair of  needle nosed pliers and wire cutter.

Happy Feet

 Happy New Year everyone! I thought that I would kick off the new year by showing you my first sewing project since I broke my arm. The other day, I decided to try putting my hair in a ponytail (something that I have been unable to do without help since I broke my arm) and I succeeded! So I thought,  if I can twist a ponytail in my hair,  I might have enough finger dexterity to attempt sewing something.
So I started with a simple project; one that has only taken me a couple of hours to complete previously.  The Mary Jane pattern from Ithinksew.com.

Ithinksew's version.

And though it took me nearly 6 hours this time instead of just a couple(Damn you, broken arm, you suck), the end results were perfect.

  World, meet the cutest slippers EVER!

 These sweet little babies are lined with Minky. The outer fabric is what is left from my old plaid robe dress project and the lining is some insanely thick fleece insulation that someone at a fabric store back in the states suggested I use to line potholders.  The Minky itself is rather warm and thick but to be sure that these were ridiculously warm slippers, the eighth of an inch thick insulation seemed like a logical addition.  Plus it made them super cushy on the bottom.

 This was my first time sewing with Minky and the fabric.com blog offered several helpful tips on dealing with this particularly unique fabric:

• "When cutting minky, be prepared for a cloud of fuzz!  Try cutting pieces with a rotary cutter then taking them outside to shake them off, putting them in the dryer on the air dry cycle (NO heat), or keep a vacuum handy to cut back on some of the mess."
• "DO NOT iron minky directly.  Instead, place minky face down on a towel and press gently on low heat or steam it.  Ironing and high heat will ruin the nap and any embossing in the fabric."
• "Don’t forget to clean your machine’s throat plate, feed dogs and bobbin case often.  All that fuzz can get messy and clog the works."

You can get several more useful fabric tips at fabric.com blog.

  Despite my broken arm, I will be doing sewing projects again but they will be fewer and farther between as I find I need to take breaks every hour or so to let my angry broken bone rest.
 If you are interested in this pattern or any others from Ithinksew, they are having a Christmas sale right now and this is a good time to snag the pattern you've been waiting for.

Let's give this a try shall we? I have just downloaded some very excellent dictation software designed for people much worse off than myself and I'm finding that this broken arm has its conveniences.  Well, not really, but let's face it, I'm not typing this I'm speaking it with my arm propped up on a pillow  so something went right.    But what is a girl to do with a broken useless arm and no sewing capability whatsoever?  Why, tell other people what to do, of course.

 I'm not even cooking.

  So, what to do with all that downtime?  I have no freaking clue.
The other day though,  I did manage to get some presents very poorly wrapped with one hand. I did make them look a lot better by employing a few helpful tips from, yes, you guessed it, Martha Stewart.com.
Here are some really great gift tags that you can print out from  her clip-art collection:

 You can also make your presents look really fantastic by topping them with some of these great ideas for ribbons, bows, and pom-poms.

   And did presents ever look so good?

 These beaded monogram embellishments make me wish I had the use of all of my fingers right now.
Wouldn't these make great Christmas tree ornaments?
 

Yummy Lingerie Project

This will be short because I'm slowly and clumsily typing with one hand (blast my broken arm) but I just had to pass on this incredibly gorgeous camisole tutorial by a lovely and talented fellow military wife, Casey of Casey's Elegant Musings. You all must know by now how I feel about lingerie by now and this design makes me swoon.

Photo from http://blog.caseybrowndesigns.com/

 

Casey, you're my new favorite blogger!
This project just made it to the top of my to do list once I get the use of my arm back. (This is going to be the longest bloody six weeks of my life.)

Photo from http://blog.caseybrowndesigns.com/2009/08/1920s-chemise-inspired-top/

It comes in a really user friendly pdf format so download, enjoy, impress your friends with your mad skills, and check out Casey's gorgeous blog!

Broken

I broke my damn arm. And I can only type using one hand. Talk about crappy timing , it was 30 minutes before I was supposed to leave for my first day back at work. So for the next couple of weeks or so, till I can move my other fingers again, no blogging for me. Boo.
I'm going to look into some software that lets you dictate and types for you. I seem to hurt myself enough to make it worth the investment.

http://www.casttoo.com/Casttoo.com/Design_Catagories/Entries/2007/10/14_Animals_of_Many_Colors.html

Bad Anna

I know, I haven't been blogging and I feel like a jerk, especially after I vowed to make this into a cool, successful sewing blog. But Dammit, my shoulder hurts and typing makes it worse so the blog will just have to wilt for a while in my absence.
Or I could just make a few quick comments and turn you guys onto the cool things I've been finding every time I hit the "stumble" button on my browser.
Since I mostly read in my sick leave time these days, here's something useful:

Image from Woman's Day Magazine, I wish my white couch was still this white.

DIY Pocket Throw Pillows. Click on the link for the super easy tutorial.