Josephine Sews

First I want to wish you a blessed and safe new year.  I prayed the Lord's blessings upon your life. My sewing goal for this past year 2015 was to start this blog to encourage myself to sew once a week.  Not only did I start 6 months late but I never even came close to sewing once a week - it was more like once a quarter. My new goal this year is to be a bit more realistic.  I am going for sewing at least one clothing item a month, enter at least one sewing contest, and attend at least one sewing class (either live or virtual).  I always do craft related sewing so there is no point in setting a goal for crafts. This month I truly stretched myself - I entered  Pattern Review 's "New To Me Pattern Co. Contest".  As I suspected I would do I stressed myself out really bad and almost did not complete the pattern. How I Did It The pattern I used was  Pearl & Opal  from The Sewing Workshop.  I chose to sew the Opal jacket. I immediately starting slicing an

I had the 24th and 25th off and had plans to sew - NOT.  All I did was relax and do a little cooking.  I didn't even visit with family and friends on Christmas day - I was enjoying my time relaxing and celebrating my Savior's birth. The real plan was to finish (start and finish) the jacket that has to be done by the 31st for a contest I entered - never touched it.  I did get a little sewing done.  At the 99th hour I decided to make one Christmas gift for a girlfriend.  I normally don't buy Christmas presents except for myself. I knew I want to make something but I dare not make another purse.  She has gotten a number of purses that I made for her and she has always appreciated them but I wanted to give her something different and something that was quick and fun to make.  I went to my project folder and found mug rugs.  I also decided to embroider a dish towel. How I Did It I found the  Mug Rug  project at one of my favorite sewing sites  Sew4Home .  I used this pro

I took a new job that cut my commute time more than half and offered more challenging work which translates to more sewing time and a happier me - WRONG.  Much much more stress, extremely frustrating work, mentally drained, and weekly sewing a distant memory. Lord why wasn't I born into wealth so I don't have to work?  Ok grip session over. I cut and started sewing another Lekala 4106 dress (see September 27, 2015 post).  I still have a little more work to do but no motivation.  Still no sewing motivation but I promised a few baby blankets and have ran out of time and have to get them done. I was able to complete one blanket this past weekend which is good because the baby shower is this coming weekend. How I Did It The quilt pattern was modeled after the "Sweet Baby Quilt" from the book  Sew Special Fat Quarter Gifts .  I have made several projects from this book.  I love the book because the instructions are easy to follow and the projects are pretty simpl

Whew - I finished the dress. Amazing what a difference a day and prayer makes (see September 12 post).  I started back on this dress again September 13, 2015 and because of other commitments I did not get to completed it until yesterday.  I re-read the instructions on the collar and yoke piece and realized I had missed a sentence and that made the difference. I still struggled with collar only because I just didn't think it would not fit properly but after basting it onto the dress it did indeed fit.  The dress was quite easy but I struggled with this one for some reason.  I did put the collar on the wrong side but I will live with this design feature. What's interesting is the fit.  It fits me but there is not a lot of design ease and I would prefer a bit more.  I made a skirt from a Lekala pattern and it fit perfectly with just the right amount of ease. I loved this pattern but debated on buying it because I did not think I had the right shape for it (I am overly hip

I have had so much going on lately that I have not been able to do my weekly sewing.  Instead of being my stress relief my sewing has become a huge source of frustration because I can't seem to complete my garments.  I must have "sewers block" right now. A month or so ago I started altering a shorts pattern to make for a trip that has come and gone.  There were 6 huge alterations that I needed to make and I made about 3 of them and quickly realized I would not finish the alterations.  The main problem was it was depressing to realize how many inches I needed to add so they would fit properly.  As frustrating as it is it has not compelled me to lose weight - eventually I will get there too. So I decided  Lekala  to the rescue.  I selected dress pattern 4106 which has a really cute collar design.  I entered my measurements, got the pattern that was made with my measurements, took it to Fedex Kinko's and had it printed for a whopping $18 ( I have to order my wide pri

I actually started this project on the 8th (Saturday) and finished on the 9th.  I woke up on Saturday and I didn't seem to have any energy.  As the day went on my energy level stayed the same - low.  I decided I needed a "pick me up" and knew sewing something would make me feel better. I still have the shorts I need to make but have not finished the pattern alterations.  I did not need frustration - I wanted to sew something quick and easy.  I went to my favorite project site and found a  beginner friendly back to school tote .  I know a teacher and decided to surprise her with a quick tote. How I Did It The boundary I set was for myself was I could not buy any thing to make this project - everything had to come from my current stock of supplies.  This is crazy I know but I made this boundary and got mad because I couldn't buy anything new for this project. The fabric I chose to use was a decorator weight denim that has a tri-color strip that runs thru one sid

The last few weeks have been trying.  My body decided that it wanted to show me who was really in charge.  Out of no where I started having pain but not your normal aches and pain.  This pain was disabling and the slightest movement in any direction caused excruciating pain. I don't know what triggered it and that is most frustrating.  I still have pain but I am able do most things now .  Still praying and asking the Lord for complete healing. I managed to get some sewing done but not for me.  I had one client that wanted to have a wedding gift personalize.  I monogrammed 2 face, 2 hand, and 2 bath towels.  I also monogrammed 2 pillow cases and a sheet. How I Did It It was straight forward.  The biggest problem I had was supporting the weight of the items that were being monogrammed.  The monogram technique I used is called "embossing".  This was the first time I tried it and it turned out really nice.  I used a tear away stabilizer on the bottom and a water soluble