patchwork

Wow.  Have any of you ever pre-washed your fabric before beginning a sewing project?  I clearly had not - until Sunday.  And let me tell you, it went horribly, horribly awry.  Turns out I have a friend who knows about 30 tricks to make this process easier, but I didn't know any of them at the time. 

I took a nice, long solo trip to Joanne Fabrics earlier that day to choose fabric for two new sewing ventures.  One, of course, is the ballet-themed messenger bag I'm constructing for the winner of my contest.  The other is a floor-length patchwork skirt for my stepdaughter, Chloe.  I'm still developing the concept for the ballet bag, so I selected 4 different fabrics I think I'll use.  For Chloe's skirt I needed a big array of fun, lively fabrics that would work well together.  Here's what I came up with:

Once I got home, I tossed all of the washable fabrics into the washer.  I don't normally pre-wash, but I did so in this case so that both items will be washable without the risk of color bleed or weird shrinking.

To my aggravated dismay, when I pulled the yardage from the washer, it was one big tangled, unravelling mess.  I spent at least 20 minutes unknotting twisted balls of fabric and snipping long, loose threads with scissors.  Lesson learned.

In the future I may try (1) cutting the edges of all pieces with pinking shears rather than straight blade shears, (2) tucking the fabric inside a pillowcase before washing, (3) enjoying a cocktail before opening the washer [after December, of course].

Once I iron the heck out of the wrinkly bits, I'll be on my way.

nectarine

Despite a recent inability to keep a single train of thought in my head for more than ten minutes, I've managed to spend some time considering how to go about constructing this "ballet" bag.  (I take that back; I've no problem thinking about keeping food in my stomach lately.)  I browsed through ballet and dance-related photographs on Flickr, following gut instinct and noting the images I was most drawn to.  I found that I'm drawn to the fluid lines of movement inherent in these still photos.  I also took notice of the variety of rich fabrics typically used in ballet costumes.

With that said, here are some of the images that captivated me and will likely serve as an inspiration jumping off point for this fun, new project!

photo by Gabriela Camerotti

photo by Liliumnero

photo by rayparnova

photo by tatuchi

photo by rayparnova

See, I forgot what I was going to say next.  Hmm.  Well, this weekend should hold a bit of much-needed sunshine which is sure to get my grand ambitions rolling.  I plan on shopping for a new wardrobe (since none of my pants fit comfortably anymore and my baby belly is starting to balloon), and browsing the fabric stores for materials for this bag.  Hopefully work will be underway this weekend!

le winner

And the winner of my first giveaway is commenter number 2 - Tim, who said "Inspiration: ballet."  I thought at first that his suggestion was in jest, but it turns out he intends on giving the finished product as a gift.  This theme should be a healthy challenge for me.  I plan on getting a few more details from Tim and hopefully commencing work next week.  Stay tuned for photos of the process!

summertime giveaway

Much to my chagrin, I won exactly ZERO of the Giveaway Day giveaways.  Can you believe it?! 

I must have used up all of my luck landing the little lime-sized baby that's in my belly!  Well, that's a contest I was happy to win.  That's right, I'm pregnant with my first little one.  This little boy or girl will join big sister Chloe, my exuberant 8-year old stepdaughter, who has been waiting for years for us to break this news to her!  Here's a pic of her bouncing wildly right after we shared the exciting announcement:

I'm due on December 9th and hopefully we'll find out the gender on July 7th - little more than a month away!  Fortunately, Chloe will be able to accompany us to that appointment and will learn the news when we do.  She has already chosen the names Jordan, for a boy, and Sally, for a girl.  :) 

So in celebration of this great development, and despite my utter lack of luck in the giveaways, I have decided to hold my own giveaway.  I've settled on giving away a cute and functional Summertime Messenger Bag.  The best part is that the prize will be specially crafted with the winner in mind!  So leave a comment with what you'd like the inspiration for this bag to be if you're the winner. 

I'll accept comments until Thursday, May 27th at 11:59pm PST.  On Friday I'll choose a winner using a random number generator - so be sure to include your email address so I can contact you!  I'll probably solicit some more of your ideas on what you'd like the bag to look like, then I'll get to work on it after our long Memorial Day weekend at the Oregon Coast.  (ps: I'll ship internationally!)

In the meantime, here's a photo of the one project I've found the energy to work on in these harrowing first months of pregnancy!  This sunglasses case was a birthday gift for my dear friend, Sarah.  Kudos to her on snapping a great pic. :)