I've been cranking out the presents. Are you sick of unselfish sewing yet? I know that I am ready to get back to selfish sewing.
In an effort to appear housebroken to dates, Bad Dad's nephew is learning how to cook. A 6'3" XL guy can't easily buy aprons that don't have a BBQ theme. I picked a manly black/gray abstract pattern for his XL apron. (I used
my size M pattern available free here, and graded it up two sizes.)
Bad Dad bought himself a new TV capable of showing 3D movies. I worried that the (expensive to replace!) glasses would get scratched up. I bought this spectacle print when Iris first started wearing glasses and felt self-conscious about them. (Yes, it's been marinating for 5 years because I never made her the spectacle dress.)
I lined the bags with recycled cotton jersey (lots of old t-shirts in my sewing room) and put the glasses in a handwoven basket we purchased from a women's weaving cooperative in Tanzania. (I've been meaning to blog about that for years. A very interesting lesson in both weaving/dyeing technique and global economics.) The poster behind the basket was another travel souvenir from a trip to Stockholm.
Iris' cousin got a flannel nightgown. Iris has a pair of PJ pants in the same fabric. I had to piece the back of the nightgown to use up all but a few scraps of the fabric.
I set the larger scraps for a friend who makes flannel quilts with 6.5" squares. I cut the smaller scraps into pieces that I keep in a basket to use instead of paper towels for messy cleanups. How do you use your scraps?
Our housecleaner asked me to make her a shirt. She selected this paisley from my collection. I've mentioned many times before that I purchase most of my fabric from odd-jobbers. The stuff is sold by an odd-jobber for a reason; it pays to check the fabric over carefully to make sure you it will suit your needs. This fabric was mis-printed near the edges.
I like the contrast side panels in
Kwik Sew 3567. Since she fell between sizes and the pattern envelope says this is "close-fitting", I cut the larger size. When I took her measurements, I found that she and my mom are similar in size. I'm going to have my mom try this on as a fit test before I gift it to the intended recipient. If it fits, I will have a second TNT pattern for my mom.
I used velvet scraps this very week to make little gift bags. One was for some very fancy silver Rolex souvenir spoons that Jim found in the silver he inherited from his mother. We've never used it, but since we're having a large group for dinner tonight, he decided to take it out and polish it. He found the two solid silver Rolex spoons and my mother in law's charm bracelet from when she was a girl. So we polished everything, and I made gift bags for the spoons and the bracelet. My daughter loves vintage things, and my son collects old vintage souvenir spoons. Plus I used up small velvet scraps which are too nice to just throw away.
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