Monday, August 15, 2011

So THAT's how it works.

My mechanically-minded teammate, Crown Joules, sent me a neat link today:


I admit, without being able to see it move, I've had a tough time really getting how sewing machines get the thread to balance on both sides of the fabric. I love how this animation shows the movement of the bobbin and the needle.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Goodbye strep. Thank goodness.

I finally feel normal again. Granted, skating in the playoff bout while I was still pretty sick probably set me back to square one. While I was sick I mainly sat around on my butt doing not so much, which likely helped me heal, but was boring as hell. Thus no fun blogging about new clothes, as I wasn't making any.

I've made up for that over the past day or so. I completely rearranged my attic studio to accommodate a new cutting table. My folks offered me their old dining room table, a 55" x 36" Scandinavian thing that's in excellent condition and is thus way too nice to damage with my rotary cutters. I found this link on a DIY cutting table process and it inspired me to go get some homasote to create a pin-able, cheap surface on which to cut. Pics soon once I can find a decent angle, as the new arrangement is hard to capture.

One thing I did photograph was my little "man, it's dusty in here" solution - sewing machine covers. I have three machines now, and they kept getting covered in debris when I moved around the furniture and hammered nails into the walls. I made these rectangular placemat-looking things with little ties on the sides to protect them from future attic-mess, and they seem to be doing the job nicely.

Or rather, they will once I finish beading the hell out of them because I can never leave well enough alone. I'm slowly beading them as I watch episodes of Dr. Who, and my cat has taken to sleeping on them because they're exactly his size. I might actually use this same basic shape to make him a real cat bed out of fleece and a little batting in the middle to floof it up for him. However, he'll have to live without the beads, because he loves to chew on them and I don't want him to ingest any.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Still too sick to sew, but at least I can look at fabric.

My spoonflower samples came in the mail. Whee!

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/691535

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/691558

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/691576
The light colors came out really well. I may be way too sick to do anything with these, but I plan to order some soon so I can make a bizarre tooth fairy dress.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

More posts coming once I stop hallucinating (or, holy crap I'm sick)

I haven't been sewing much because I've been too busy curled up on the couch, trying to talk my husband into smothering me with a pillow. I have some kind of monster killer death flu, and even though my fun new fabric from Spoonflower is sitting on the table waiting to be sewn, it''s just not happening. He had to come and get me from the pharmacy that's only one block away from our house because I couldn't walk back by myself. When he found me there I was crying. I feel so pathetic.

Once I can function again I'll update with more tales of sewing stuff. Until then, more cough drops.