Display peeks

Posted on October 26, 2011 by SewTara| 5 Comments

Oh hello. Sorry for not being here yesterday. I did this really silly thing, I was holding a door open for someone and once she went through I went to walk out and basically punched a pole with that automatic door opener button on it. I heard cracks and crunches. It wasn’t even my knuckle that connected, it was my finger. Anyhow, it wasn’t good. I taped 2 fingers together to minimize motion, but my right hand was pretty useless last night. So today I have a slightly less sore hand and a lame story to tell.

Last week I was at a rather classy event, I had a giant table and when I arrived I was worried about being able to fill it but once I got unpacking I learned I’ve been making a lot lately! NOTE *lighting in a banquet hall is pretty craptacular, I’ve done the best I could*

I had a load of coin purses.

A bunch of clutches and pouches.

My magnet sets did really well, which is great considering the cost of my button machine, and I had some SewTara magnets on hand to give out.

I also took along a bunch of the kid stuff I’ve had since I started my crafty endeavour. I have done some mom & baby type shows but then I fell into cup cozies and other things.

I’m pretty sure I was the brightest display there. And a bit eclectic.

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Please take a moment to take the tour

Posted on October 24, 2011 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Well, despite my lack of technical behind-the-scenes skills I have made some changes to my blog that I’m pretty darn proud of! I have to admit that maybe my computer programmer hubby may have helped . . . anyhow humour me and do some clicking will ya?

I decided to call my Friday ‘join to in crafting’ thingie a ‘Create Along’ since somewhere in the future I may pick something that doesn’t involve sewing. Over there on the left I added a button (an adventure in photoshop) if you click it you are whisked away to a list showing all the projects already featured. It’s only 3 right now but man are they awesome. If you have any ideas for a project, or your own tutorial or pattern you think I might enjoy trying send me an email!

I’m embarking on the great journey of sponsorship and had another adventure in photoshop to make the lovely little button on the right. If you’re interested in having your blog or shop advertised in my sidebar go ahead and click. November is going to be fun around here.

And lastly I changed things up under DIY on the navbar, it did weird things and just pulled up entire posts. Thanks to my hubby and the magic of html tables, or something, there’s now a lovely collection of my DIY posts. I’ve got almost all of them in there now, just beware some of the older ones are from my old blog format and before I learned the magic of taking photos in natural light.

If something doesn’t work let me know, I think I’ve done properly.

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Camera strap reveal.

Posted on October 21, 2011 by SewTara| 4 Comments

Finished my camera strap, once again my sew-a-long project was finished on a Thursday night. Photos taken today, yeah I live on the edge. I’m also a bit of a dork since I put the strap on my camera and it was all pretty then realized it was going to be tricky to take the photos. Yeah, I’m rocking the brain power lately folks.

If you’ve created along with me lbg also has a Flickr group for sharing things made from her tutorials and patterns. I promise her convertible tote will be in this feature some day soon.

I used my new dying of cuteness fabric, had a hard time cutting into it but hey what else is it for? I paired it with some scraps I have kicking around.

I didn’t have fusible fleece so I just used some scrap fleece i had lying around instead. It feels pretty puffy but I’m not sure that’s the way it should be.

Next challenge a boxy pouch! Perhaps you’ve made one of these, perhaps not. I haven’t and I’ve wanted to for a while. Now that I’ve got zippers and flat pouch making down I’m ready for this twist.

I found 2 tutorials that seem like they’ll work, these first two are lined and the first one will be seamless and the other will have seams on the inside (which means no tricky turning), this one isn’t lined at all and might be good for a thicker fabric. So choose your weapon and come play along!

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Posted in DIY, scraps, sewing

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Prepare to die from cuteness.

Posted on October 20, 2011 by SewTara| 8 Comments

I guess with that title I could use this spot to show off my new kitten. Instead I’ll talk about the fabric that arrived the other day. You may be thinking to yourself, “Sheesh Tara can’t possibly make a ton of money selling on Etsy since she spends so much buying on Etsy”. You would be correct.

But look closely at this cloud fabric, honestly, are you dying of cuteness yet?!

I also got this fun little bonus.

Gotta love generous Etsy sellers! In other new I think it’s time I start a support group and seek out others like me who are addicted to Japanese fabrics.

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Posted in fun finds, sewing

I’m over here, until Friday.

Posted on October 19, 2011 by SewTara| Leave a comment

You can win one of my scrappy cozies. I’ll make it special for you. Check out Janee’s blog.

I’ll also be over at My Girl Thursday taking part in her group giveaway post on . . . well what a coincidence, Thursday!

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The neglected ‘future posts’ folder. Plus a photography DIY.

Posted on October 18, 2011 by SewTara| 2 Comments

Ages ago, when I didn’t blog so regularly, I made this folder called future posts and stuck some images in it. Today I browsed it and found some things I can share on days like this when I’ve been so busy the crafting has been slim. This one is fitting though considering how much darkness is surrounding me now in my lovely moving-into-winter home of Canada. A trick for shooting photos.

Get a white piece of foam board. This is what I was using to shoot all my photos but here and there I want a different background so I picked up some contact paper.

Foamboard is nice and light and I just stick it behind the buffet thingie in our kitchen and pull it out to wander over to the sliding glass doors to get the most light. I usually prop it on some chairs if I’m laying it flat to shoot, or lean it against the wall and a chair while I hold up a cup and cozy. Whatever works.

Then I just use one side.

Or the other.

I think I’ll have to make a new board with some of my vintage contact paper . . .ohhhh ideas, ideas.

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Posted in DIY

Selling and crashing.

Posted on October 17, 2011 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Well I’ve been totally exhausted lately. Lots of things due at work, not to mention the day to day planning and then 2 craft shows this month. I stayed up really late every night last week sewing, I worked a 14 hour day and then I had to get up early Saturday to get to the craft sale.

I spent the day sitting in Two Big Guys coffee shop in Toronto. It was a tight fit for all the crafters but it was a lovely day. Got to sit beside my friend Joanna and I crafted away while chatting to new people. Sold some clutches, magnets and of course cozies and even left some in the shop to be sold. Stupidly, I didn’t take any pictures. It’s like I have a blog and use pics all the time, oh and I was sitting beside a photographer. Silly me.

I met SewPetrina who makes new clothes from thrifted or previously loved clothing. She has some really lovely skirts made form thrifted sweaters. It’s such a neat idea and something I thought you would need a serger for but Petrina just sews squares and patches of things together to create new garments. Like I need another mission when I go to the thrift store, now I can’t pass anything over, it may have potential.

Sorry for the tiny pic, I stole it from her site.

Last night I crashed hard, I was ordered to go to bed at 8. But I asked the hubby, “Can I read until 8:30?” and he said “Yes, but I’m coming to take away all your iDevices at 8:30!” He did, well I hid my iPad so after he left I read until about 9 and then crashed out, I remember seeing 9:13 on the clock. I woke up shortly after 7.

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Posted in sewing

Done and next!

Posted on October 14, 2011 by SewTara| 7 Comments

So I finished my lovely little sewing kit thingie, thanks to Rashida’s tutorial.

Some things were confirmed with this little project.
1. I deviate from patterns, constantly
2. Taking photos in natural light is getting impossible this time of year.
3. Now that my work days have shifted, working all day Thursday is really cutting into this feature.
4. Me and snaps don’t get along.

I cheated and used my machine to sew up the sides, I was too tired and short on time to hand stitch it.
I also wish I’d used my cute Japanese fabric where the pink fabric is instead. That too tired thing got in the way of thinking clearly I think.

For my next trick I’m going to make this camera strap from lgb. Not only does it use up scraps and make your camera look fun it’s got a little pocket for your lens cap which I sooo need.

Join me if you like, your assignement is due next Friday. If you’re too busy, lazy, uncrafty, or tired to whip one up you can just click and order one here.

Sharing links if you’ve played along, or sewn on in the past, on Fridays is always welcome! Or you can add to the currently pretty empty Flickr group I created.

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Posted in DIY, scraps, sewing, tutorial-ish

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Need a magnet?

Posted on October 12, 2011 by SewTara| 5 Comments

I sure don’t, I’ve been making a few. Just a few.

I love you button making machine.

Now to iron out my packaging . . .

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Posted in other crafts, repurposing, scraps

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Flowers, hedgehogs and damask. Oh my!

Posted on October 11, 2011 by SewTara| 5 Comments

Totally meant to post this much earlier today but I got sleepy last night, you know at 12:30 am, and didn’t get to posting. Of course I remembered once I was cozy in bed doing the math that I had to wake up at 6:30. Long weekends are great but they sure do spoil me for waking up early.

Anyhow, here are some much better photos of my NapKitten wallet creation.

I picked a cute Japanese cotton print and a locally found red damask print. Due to all the pieces you have to cut for this pattern NapKitten has you cut as you go and I had a hard time with that. I’m a very visual person, and since I was working with a fabric where direction mattered I wasn’t sure I was going to have enough. The outside is one of the last pieces you cut and so I did some skimming through the pattern and some willy nilly cutting. I set aside the pieces and labelled them.

Making the bias tape was a fun experience, a little too finicky for my taste but I’m glad I know how to do it now.  I’m not a very good precision sewer/ironer and I think you need to be for bias tape making.  I found a video on YouTube on how to fold and cut fabric on the bias, while it seems confusing for me that was the easy part.  It was super tricky to have it nice and even and covering all the edges and previous stitching.

I made the inside pocket on the left there with the damask because I was worried I’d run out of hedgehogs, I think it was the right decision.

At the very bottom in this next photo you can sort of see the one place I’m not happy with my sewing job.  Right at the very bottom just left of the zipper is the seam of the outer binding and it’s a bit stuck out.  Also left of that in the very middle I had a hard time getting the binding up nice and close because of the middle card slot part and there’s some stitching and innards showing.  No one will ever see it since it’s inside my wallet but I plan on going back and hand stitching it a little with red embroidery floss just to hide it a bit.

Wonkiness aside I’m really happy with it and super proud to be using such a unique made by me item!

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Posted in fun finds, sewing

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