while they play... » sew

all wrapped up…

kalurah — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:43:00 +0000

all done with the wedding gift for my cousin….a “his” and “hers” apron set with two patchwork tea-towels.
I embroidered the aprons and there is a large front pocket I sewed using a striped remnant I had left over from the patchwork. I liked how they turned out. here’s hoping the “bride and groom” do, as well.
I saw over at shim+sons a really cool idea, of creating a photo tag and attaching it to the gift for the recipient to be able to see a full view of their gift. that Sally Shim is so ingenious! and I just marvel at her creativity, it’s just brimming.
for all of you who know me well, you would probably drop dead at the sight of an actual ‘store-bought’ card from me! that is just NOT my thing. I have to create it from my heart and with my loving hands. so here is my cousin’s wedding card….

well, with my previous two projects and this final gift completed I actually (just for the moment) have everything “all wrapped up”…….what a satisfying place to be!

it’s in the bag…

kalurah — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:46:00 +0000

yay!!! it’s finally done and I love it! I’m so glad I passed on the contrast stitching. don’t you agree? this even holds it’s head high up against my “real” leather coat! can barely tell this is faux leather. well,….I think so, anyway.
I did opt to make new straps though. by the time I would’ve trimmed the thread from the original strap, it just wouldn’t have been wide enough anymore. especially with a proper seam allowance. luckily, I had plenty of pleather and lining fabric left over.
I will definitely be using this bag alot on our vacation. it’s nice and roomy. I think I can even fit my camera in there….or maybe that’s another project all together. hmmmmmm………

change in plans…

kalurah — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:51:00 +0000

okay, so I slept on it and decided I didn’t like the contrast stitching after all. nor did I want the lining sewn in before I assemble the bag. thank goodness for rotary blades and self healing mats! it didn’t take too long to trim all my thread off, and the bag and lining went together quickly. so I lost about an inch off the overall dimensions, but that’s okay.

now, I just have to assemble it. when I sat down to my sewing machine last night, my son had apparently been playing with it, because as soon as I put down the peddle, my Singer sang! and she sang way off key! an hour later, after my husband took a closer look at it, he discovered all it was, is my son pulled out the thread and tried re-directing it. I just didn’t happen to notice that it was threaded wrong. one would think that would be the first thing I should’ve checked, but I am me….a bit scatter brained.
so, Ive yet to put the whole bag together. as soon as I’m done blogging here, I’ll sit down and finish it. I swear!

a third W.I.P…

kalurah — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:11:00 +0000

okay, so I haven’t yet finished either one of the afghans I started. (what? I didn’t mention I started a second afghan?) a sewing bug bit me the other day and I just had to act!
I’ve been wanting a messenger bag for a long time and I bought chocolate leatherette about a month ago for just that in mind. I picked up a couple yards of a brown/tan plaid at a local thrift store for 50 cents. I find it masculine but very chic at the same time. I instantly thought, “liner for my bag!”, when I saw it.
I can’t decide if I like this cream contrast thread, though. it’s not doing anything for me. I’ll sleep on it and take another look at it in the morning before I go ahead and stitch it all together.
speaking of sleep, now would probably be a good time to go rest my head on my pillow, since I only have maybe a good 5 hours of it to look forward………………. zzzzzzzzzzzzz…………………..

gift accomplished…

kalurah — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 01:28:00 +0000

finished, finally. I made four of these, each one has asian patchwork on one side with the geisha print on the reverse side. I decided to just do a 1/4 inch seam around the placemat to finish it. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.
decided to make a couple bar towels to go with them…

it is my best friend and her husbands’ 4th wedding anniversary. a placemat for each year they’ve been married. (tee hee) I hope they enjoy their gift…

eastern progression…

kalurah — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:44:00 +0000

w.i.p…

I picked up these cotton prints @ the local fabric store on Monday. love ‘em. I’ve been wanting to make either a table runner or place mats for my best friend, and finally spotted just the right fabric combo. perfection. I think I will piece the reds and the monochromes with others that I have and throw in some wide bands of solid black. the geisha print will be on the opposite side.
fast forward an hour and a half…

another hour and a half…

more pics to come, as the project comes together. ’till then, hope you all have a great day…

oh, bother…

kalurah — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 17:11:00 +0000

here is a pic of a “thinking of you” card I made for my aunte Jacqlin. I sewed camel colored felt to a heavy weight cardstock first. then fused the lace border to the back of the pooh image and sewed that to the felt. I stitched on a cute vintage tortoise shell button to the front and a large silver button on the back.
the inside of the card is a sheet of very light airmail paper that I sewed into the fold. it turned out very cute…

sorry, there are no pics of the back of card. I took these pics w/my father-in -laws Nikon and remember, it is a manual…and I am, after all, manually inept in all things non-digital. long story-short, I snapped a pic of the back and it appears in the photo as a very massive…brown…fuzz…thing. pretty much non-distinguishing of anything remotely related to what the back of the card actually looked like… oh, bother.

once again…inspired by my youth

kalurah — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 17:31:00 +0000

japanese inspiration…

my grandma Suzuki gave me this Japanese children’s book called “The Tale of the Shining Princess” when I was little. This lotus bag reminds me alot of the beautiful illustrations in that book. there’s something about them that’s both rugged and delicate at the same time. I love it!

when I found this asian-y (that IS a word, no?) fabric at a local craft store, I was instantly inspired.
on the rest of the bag, I used two shades of brown felt. the felt lotus petals are embroidered with a burnt orange floss and pearl white floss.

lotus detail…

the fabric for the handle tabs is absolutely adorable. an off white background with a stark-white “cheerio-like” print on top. it reminds me of the cherry blossoms in some of the Japanese paintings, only a monochromatic version. the tabs wrap over two black lacquered bamboo handles and the bag is tied shut with a satin gold ribbon I recycled from one of my daughter’s belts.

more detail…

the lining really sets off the burnt orange color of the floss in the lotus flower. I really liked the way the whole bag turned out. I definitely think this is one of my favorites! did I say that about my last bag???