My Fave Spring Tops

I wish I could have found time to enter something into the Spring Top Sewalong, but I have my reasons. (Their names are Hendrix and Elsie and mastitis. Guess which one has overstayed its welcome.) But I looked through all of them and picked out my favorites, just for fun. I really want to start making more of my own clothes. Some of these aren't necessarily my style, but I still think they are really beautiful and inspiring. Well done ladies.


              

          

               

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What are you hoping to make for yourself this season?

Oh Brother

I love my new machine. I love it so much I'm going to tell you all about it, like one of those obnoxious girls who has a new boyfriend and actually thinks people want to hear about how funny and romantic he is and how he wrote her a song and played it for her in the middle of the park right before serving her a picnic he made of delicious wine and accompanying cheeses and olives. Gag. But for real, my new sewing machine is soooooo dreamy and I love him. (Also, sorry about the dark pictures, I promise he is even sexier when it isn't extra gray all day.)

First of all, it just runs like a dream. Smoother, quieter, prettier stitches. I've also highlighted some of my favorite features for you, thanks to random stickers from picnik. 

• First, draw your attention to the red arrow. That first button on the left is just the start/stop sewing button. This seems so simple, but you can actually use this to sew instead of the pedal if you need to. Of course, I prefer to use the petal, but Stephanie at Sewn pointed out that this would be great for teaching a kid to sew, since they don't really have the foot coordination thing down yet. 

• The button next to that one is just the reverse/backstitch button, which I think every machine has, but the one to the right of that is pretty cool. This machine ALWAYS stops with the needle in the down position, which in itself is revolutionary. (You know, because if you have to stop and adjust anything, the fabric can't slide around everywhere.) But if you press this button once, the needle goes up, and if you press it twice, it makes just one complete stitch. Awesome.

• The button next to that with the scissors on it is the automatic thread cutter. My old machine had a blade way over on the side you had to pull over to, but this just cuts it nice and neat for you right there, no long tails or anything. 

• Now you'll see a switch getting struck with some BA neon yellow lightning. That is the speed control. If you were doing some really intricate turning or detailed applique, you could set it on slow or medium so that the petal never goes any faster than that. This would also be good for teaching beginners and kids. 

• The green arrow to the left is pointing to the automatic needle threader, which you can't really see. It's just a lever you pull down, and ka-BLAM, the needle is threaded. My other machine had some device that was supposed to be an automatic threader, but it was so confusing I always just found it easier to do it myself. This one is truly easy and automatic, not a lie. All of the top threading and bobbin winding is easier too.

• Now you'll notice an area being landed on by a tiny blue spaceship. Well, that's because the LCD screen is bright and clear enough to be a nice landing pad for tiny extra-terrestrials. The machine has something like 300 stitches and it's all very easy and computerized. It can even embroider 3 different styles of letters. I haven't had much chance to play around with these fancy things yet, but adjusting the basic stitches I have used in width and length is very easy. There is also a little icon on the screen that tells you exactly which foot you should be using for the selected stitch, which is pretty cool. 

 

This little attachment on the right of the machine might be favorite thing though. You can just press it over with your knee to raise the presser foot. Today I was sewing the end of a piece of elastic into the casing, and it was easy using this, because I needed both of my hands to avoid losing the elastic down into the casing. Love it. 

Also, that picture on the right shows the little accessories tray stored right in the front. It came with something like 12 specialty feet, and there is a place for all of them (more room under the tray.) This is great, because I'm very unorganized, and I could never find the few accessories that went with my old machine. 

Ok, enough babbling about new love for now. I realize that there are going to be maybe 3 people who actually read this post, but hopefully this is helpful to someone in the market for a new machine. Here it is on Brother's site. 

WOW.

So I woke up this morning to the best news ever. I was lying in bed and heard Hendrix stirring. This is the time I usually grab my phone just for a few minutes so the electric light can cure my initial grogginess. Of course, on this morning, I checked PB first, since I had thought the winners of the sewing machine contest would be posted yesterday and they were not. I'll admit, although I wasn't holding out much hope any more (there were almost 900 entries!), I was anxious to see who had won. As I scrolled through the ten finalists, I was thinking, "Oh my word, these are all so gorgeous, I totally didn't win." Then I got to the bottom, and there was my little blackbird. 

I immediately leapt up on my knees and shouted, "I won a sewing machine!"

Nick was pulled out of a deep slumber and immediately yelled, "Holy Sh#%! *$@!!" with a very wide-eyed look of terror on his face. It took him about 4 full minutes to recover. 

I just wanted to tell you that story because it makes me laugh. I love him.

Anyway, I guess I am gettting a new Brother PC-420 PRW Limited Edition Project Runway Sewing Machine in the mail sometime. It looks really awesome, and definitely better than my Singer. 

Congrats to Vanessa, the winner of the other machine, as well as all of the other ten finalists. Seriously, go look at all of them because they are amazing. I don't know how the judges made their decision, but any one of them could have won. 

These double potholders were my other two entries. I love actually using these in the kitchen (no, the bird will not get used). So come back tomorrow and I will share my easy tutorial for how to make these 2-handers, modified from Prudent Baby's basic potholder of course.


I can't believe it- thank you so so much PB ladies!!!!

Second Potholder Entry

I ended up getting 4 entries done in time for the sewing machine contest! It was really fun, and if nothing else, I got lots of bias tape practice. 

Nick and I had a fun photo shoot with all of them this afternoon during H's nap, and I really think the pictures will help me with style points. He is really talented. (He dabbles in wedding photography with Nathan at Fyrefly Photography.) And on a side note about Nick, he was a little worried that I painted a picture of him as a tyrant husband when I said he was going to "let me sew" all day Tuesday. Of course, that's not the case and he would be happy for me to sew anytime I want to, and I just meant that he had kindly offered to be completely in charge of Hendrix all day so that I was freed up, but I'm sure you knew that. Anyway, geeez, get out of my personal bizness. 

Here's my second potholder-

The embroidered piece is one of these linens I got at an antique market. Then I freezer-paper stenciled the bird (Put a Bird On It!) and quilted all the layers together. I'm a big fan of this one.

And here's the money shot for my first entry-

Much better than a phone picture, don't you think?

I have two more to show you later in the week, and there may or may not be a tutorial to go along with them. No promises from me, I can't even commit to a brand of toothpaste. 

Potholder Contest- First Entry

Surely you have heard that Prudent Baby is giving a away 2 Brother sewing machines to 2 winners of their potholder contest. It's kind of a big deal, you know, if you like such things as really nice sewing machines.

For some reason, I didn't decide to enter this contest until the week of the deadline, which is Wednesday night. I'm hoping to get 3 different entries in, but this is my first potholder offering-

I made it out of an old burlap Blue Mountain coffee bag we got from a trip to Jamaica probably 7 or 8 years ago. (Being crafty now has made me such a hoarder of these miscellaneous items.) The funny thing is, it was also a potholder back then when we used it to sneak our ganga back into the country. Alright, that's a totally tasteless and unfunny lie, but I laughed at it in my head. Hmm, not even funny enough for an out loud laugh... It is true that Nick encountered an unfriendly and machete-wielding pot farmer on the side of a mountain on that trip, but that is a story for another time.

Nick has kindly offered to let me work on more entries for most of the day tomorrow, so maybe I'll squeeze in even more than 3 entries. I've never ever felt motivated to enter one of these sewing contests, but I'm quite excited about this one. Also, don't worry about this poorly presented iphone picture. Nick has also offered to take beautiful pictures of them to send in to the PB ladies. He's the bestest.


There is still time to enter. Do it. But don't make yours better than mine please.