Before and After: Living Room Drapes

I finished a work in progress this week- yea!! When we bought this house, the main level was painted beige and we had these lovely (also beige) linen-look drapes in the living room. Here's what the house looked like when we moved in.




Then we had that AWESOME water leak that basically destroyed our house a few months ago. And thanks to that water leak, we got all new wood floors and a new coat of paint through the whole main floor. We chose a grey color, Olympic Grey Ghost. But the beige drapes had to go. And they are LONG drapes, almost 100 inches each. Do you know how hard it is to find long drapes in a color you like for a price you can afford? And do you know how expensive drapery fabric is? So I went unconventional on this project and dyed the drapes myself in the washing machine. [Don't worry- I have experience. The first washing machine dye job I did was on part of my wedding dress. Way to start safe, huh?] So as of a few weeks ago we had grey walls and grey drapes.




Except now I had another problem- shrinkage. Major drape shrinkage. Look at how terrible that is! Dying them in hot water in the washing machine caused them to shrink to different lengths. High-water drapes are so not in our design scheme. So while at Ikea this weekend I purchased a dark grey curtain panel, cut it into sections, hemmed the sections, and then attached to the current drapes. Voila!




Not only do they look like fancy custom made drapes (because they are!), but this project was completed for a tiny price- many hours of work, some RIT dye, and one Ikea curtain panel. Even Husband (who is normally not so gung-ho about my 'happy hands at home' crafty projects) has said again and again how great these turned out.

I am on a drapery roll- next up 'custom' drapes for Baby Biscuit's room. Anyone have other ways to dress up, redesign, or repurpose old curtains?

Pillows

It has been a hectic, frenzied time at our house... Husband and I are making the leap into home ownership and when I say leap, I mean LEAP. One day of house hunting set the ball rolling for a super quick chain of events. We're still in the middle of it, but if everything works out, we'll be in our new house in early April! As stressful as it can be at times (especially because I tend to be the level-headed one around our house...), I just keep telling myself, "sewing room. sewing room. sewing room." I can't wait!

We have had a few nice additions to the current living room recently. First up is this gorgeous pillow (and it's mate) made by Amanda for the BTRS swap.

I don't know how she managed to cross an ocean, sneak into our house, record the exact Pantone numbers of our other couch pillows, and then create these beauties... but she did. And I am totally impressed and we LOVE THEM.

We saw some more great pillows at a wonderful little store called White Bench in Middleburg, VA. Although, I didn't necessarily love the price. I said what I always say, 'I could make that!', and this time, I actually did. The store version had a bit more going on, visually. I feel like this needs something on the right side. Any suggestions?

The pillow is unbleached cotton fabric, freezer paper stenciled bird, and sewn on branch (Amy Butler Midwest Modern 2, Ripple Stripe in Rust). I added the blue trim; it was purchased as part of a grab bag from a church garage sale two years ago and is 50 year old bias binding. (I am really getting my $1 worth for that purchase!) Yes, the insert needs to be stuffed a bit more, but I really like it and it emerged from the sewing machine just as I had pictured in my head.

Next up... angeling pillows for Becca from the BTRS Swap.

Matthew's Baptism Quilt

Yesterday I finished this quilt for a new little friend of ours. Matthew was born in December and baptized yesterday. I started this quilt before he was born and both finished and gifted it to the family yesterday. It is a stacked coin pattern of Moda Oddysea fabric. The back is blue snuggle flannel finished with an embroidered image of yesterday's date and the baptismal shell. The polka-dot-esque fabric is actually a print of little seashells.

With every quilt I complete, I learn more and more and the process gets easier. I ironed open EVERY SINGLE SEAM on this puppy. Each and every one. And guess what, the quilt came together much neater and "stitching in the ditch" to quilt it was very simple. This one also has the best binding yet... all those hours of hand stitching that beautiful blue edge really paid off.

The embroidery was done and then attached to the backing before it was all quilted. Backstitch for the numbers and the lines of the shell, stem stitch for around the outside of the shell, and satin stitch for the water droplets (which signify God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). I really need to do more embroidery; I love the process and with just a bit of work you can create something beautiful.

Welcome Back

It's been a long time, Internet. I haven't blogged in almost 4 months to the day. Do I know why? Ehhh.... life got very busy in November/December and creativity seems to dry up in the winter. I've been keeping busy recently with different projects, I've been inspired by things I'm seeing others do online, my sewing table is actually clean enough to work. So, all these things have converged and here I am. Lots of posts in the near future, I hope.

Here's a little glance into what was happening while I was away for so long. I made this quilt back in December as a Christmas gift for Husband's mother. The pattern is from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing (I have made 3 of these quilts. Love the pattern. Made another quilt this month that is actually NOT this pattern! Gasp!). I love the colors of this quilt and it came together beautifully.

And as far as future posts are concerned, I, like everyone else in the blogosphere, have fallen in love with Wendy Mullin's new book, Built By Wendy Dresses. Hopefully I'll be back next week to share my own 'dirndl sloper' [read 'dress pattern']. (And don't google dirndl if you don't know what it is. You'll just get lady lederhosen. Dirndl is a dress shape that I suppose is popular at Oktoberfest. My dirndl will NOT be that sort of dirndl. Sorry.)

Corsage Shirt

What can you create with two knit shirts and half an hour?

This really is an easy cheater project; start with a shirt you like, buy another (the bigger the better... more fabric to work with), cut circles, and sew. See how easy that was?

I used two different sizes of circles, 2.5 in. and 3 in. I cut about 15 of each. Stack a small and a large circle, crimp/fold to give it a bit of texture (see below), and sew about 1/2 inch across the center (don't forget to reverse at the beginning and end!). Placement is totally up to you. Before I began attaching flowers I put on my keeper shirt and marked a nice start and end location with pins (you can see one below, too). Continue stacking circles, folding, and sewing until the corsage has reached your desired size and fullness.

I love the way this turned out and am thinking about other takes on this idea... how great would a grey shirt with a multi-hued grey corsage look for fall? Gah! Another project!

Felt iPod Touch Case

Last weekend I became the owner of a brand new iPod Touch. Husband bought a MacBook Pro, I received the iPod as part of the deal. Immediately I knew it would need a case. The metal back attracts fingerprints and the iPod slips right out of my hands; I am a klutz and would be needing some protection from myself! I spent a whooping $0.29 on some blue felt, pulled out my embroidery box, and went to work.


I love the way the 'free motion embroidery' on the medallion turned out. The case is held closed by a strip of elastic sewn onto the front panel. Headphones go in one side and iPod goes in the other. Simple enough. Did I mention the felt is reincarnated plastic soda bottles? Goodbye Diet Pepsi, hello Pedro the Lion.

Unrelated note... do you see my lack of album art? It was all lost when transferring music from one computer to another long ago. Makes Cover Flow pretty sad. One of the downfalls of not having internet at home, I suppose.

Merry Belated Christmas

Way back in the fall I decided to make my friend, Stephanie, a quilt for Christmas. When we lived in Chicago Stephanie would come over every week to watch LOST with us. Because the Husband is a polar bear, our house was always freezing and and TV viewing required a throw blanket (still does, even now in June because of the high speed usage of the ceiling fan). Steph and I would hunt out whatever blanket or quilt we could find, settle in, and try and decided whether or not Charlie was dead [!!!].

So back to this quilt; it didn't get done by Christmas. Not at all. Steph came out here to visit us in May; the quilt was done then, but wasn't bound. Steph's birthday was last week. The quilt was finally finished and shipped away to it's new home. Procrastination at it's finest, folks!

Brown to match Steph's couch and yellow to match her living room walls. The patterned fabric is Amy Butler, the brown and green are cotton solids, the bright yellow/orange is gingham fat quarters. I freezer paper stenciled the tag with her initials and mine... the paint bled a bit more than I'm comfortable with, but after 6 months I didn't have time to be picky.

So, what's the longest you've ever had a work-in progress? Can you beat my 6-8 month quilting endeavor?

Flirty Apron Swap- Sent

Another recent creation...

...sent to Frieda for the Flirty Apron Swap. The two parts are connected at the waist band and seperate down the sides. The overlay is a vintage table cloth. The underskirt is new fabric from JoAnns. I thought the curves on the new fabric mimicked the scallop and curves on the table cloth. The edge is done in bias tape. I have a new found LOVE for bias tape after this project. SO EASY!

Originally blogged about it here.

Simplicity 4111 Remix

Simplicity 4111 is a great pattern that I've enjoyed sewing before. My (uhh... and Husband's) one gripe was that the neckline was so low. I lept out of my comfort zone and decided to alter the pattern. I pinned the pattern onto muslin fabric. I raised the neckline center point a few inches and then drew in the curve. Then I traced this new neckline edge to make facings. You can see the height difference and the old/new pattern pieces below.

I love the way this came out! The height is just perfect.

I left the sleeves off and instead created bindings from the extra fabric. Never done that before, either! How do you start/stop your bindings?? Mine is a bit lumpy. Luckily it's hidden when worn. My favorite part is how the facing stripes became this beautiful little perpendicular trim when turned. I couldn't have planned for this to be so nice. Love it!

Swapped: Charming Handbag

Here it is... my finished Charming Handbag for the BTRSSwap.


For the most part, this was a breeze to put together. I put in a hidden magnet closure (not sure how it will work out. My swap partner will have to let me know). I used a vintage floral that my mom had given me awhile back. The ribbon trim was also from mom; whenever she sends fabric she ties them up in little ribbons. This was exactly enough to add to the bag. Lining is pale blue quilters cotton. Overall a great stash-busting swap.

I also sent 4 cards of vintage rick-rack that I had. I'm not really a rick-rack person and I bought this as part of a larger lot at a church sale. I'm happy to be able to pass it on to someone who will hopefully use it (since I won't).

Both this swap and the flirty apron swap have really gotten me thinking about sewing with vintage fabrics instead of purchasing new ones. Where does one find great vintage sheets, tableclothes, and linens? Ebay? Thrift stores?

Crafting 365

I've been a member of the Flickr Crafting 365 group for awhile now. Only a few days ago did I realize what that meant; members are trying to do a bit of crafting every day for 365 days and upload a photo of such daily. Whoops. I had been uploading at intermittent times and definitely not crafting everyday. Seeing as how the office is somewhat clean, Spring has awakened my creative spirit again, and I went to the fabric store yesterday and got a bunch of new fabric, I will now be actually attempting Craft 365. In the sort-of words of Ben Folds, "I've got one I finished yesterday and I've got three (sixty four) to go."

Here it is, a fabric box that I made to keep our house clutter free [can you tell I'm sick and tired of clutter?].

Amazing that last week I said 'we should put a box at the bottom of the stairs to collect things to go up' and this week it actually happened. The damask is navy blue from JoAnns, the natural fabric is unbleached cotton that I LOVE LOVE LOVE and would wrap everything in the house in, including the Husband and the cat, if I could.

My favorite part of this box is the way the edge turned out. I have been trying to slow down my sewing; focus less on speed and more on a beautiful finished piece. The slower speed has allowed me to stitch straighter and with smaller seams. Look at that!

I've also started writing all my sewing notes in this book. I usually pull out whatever scrap paper I can find (as you can tell by my first draft of notes in the background). Now I will not have to search the house for little scraps of paper, or worry that my project plans have gone out with the recycling.

I am all set to make another box; same natural fabric, but with a cream and grassy green damask. After that I will attempt to slipcover a chair [that fuzzy one in the first photo]. Any hints, tips, or tricks??

The End of Water Marks and Paper Clutter

Many crafty things have been happening at the Cultivated house (finally!). The onset of Spring has not only brought on the beginnings of new plants and an increase in temperatures, but it has awakened my desire to create and craft, too.

I've sewn 6 Crooked Coasters. Now Husband can stop freaking out about mug rings on the coffee table. The top one is finished and the one behind needs it's strings cut. I sewed all the lines without cutting the thread; I just backstitched at the end, lifted the foot, moved it, and continued with the next line.




I modified a pattern from the wonderful book Sew and Stow to make this organizer. Our filing cabinet lives in a closet downstairs and our shredder is upstairs. We have so many papers cluttering the kitchen counter that need to be either filed or shredded. I will be hanging this up and separating the papers into 'file' and 'shred' until they can be taken care of instead of throwing them all over the counter or piling them up around the house.

The green fabric is home dec from the stash and the print fabric is vintage that my mom found and then gave to me. I love it and have just enough left for another project. The trim is bias binding. I have never worked with store bought bb before, and will definitely do so in the future. This binding is also vintage; I purchased a huge bag of old rick rack and bindings at a church sale last year. $1 for nearly 20 packages. Very nice deal! I am so happy with how this turned out, very evenly sewn and neat. Too bad it will probably end up hanging in a closet (the whole point is to get the papers OUT of view...).

I've also been working on this. More photos and explanation to come later. As you can see, much has been acomplished recently. Now to begin on my BTRS Swap project.

PS... I am not nearly as angry or fanatical as that last post might have made me seem.... Just someone who's examining their own life through the scope of society. I am still ruminating on the idea of consumption and am constantly evaluating my own successes and failures in this aspect of my life.

Super Embroidery

Check out the new header. It was hand embroidered (by me, duh) on Sunday while Husband yelled nasty things at the Steelers. I checked this book out of the library a few weeks ago and used it for both learning new stitches and inspiration. I think this is a hobby I should do more of, considering it is much easier to embroider on the couch than it would be to sew with the machine. But, now that I've shown off my most recent project, what's next? What do you embroider?

Also, that fabulous crafty announcement is coming in about a week or so! Stay tuned!

Winter Is Here

Northern Virginia had its first real snowfall yesterday, followed by an ice storm last night. Winter is finally here! I've so enjoyed the beauty of the snow, the brightness at night with the moon reflecting off the snow, the still in the air. These are things that should have been happening months ago! But, I guess I will appreciate the fact that this snow will only be around for a bit. It will not wear out its welcome like it did in Chicago.

My life has been hectic; my weekends have been busy. I am SO looking forward to some time of my own this weekend. One major project to finish (finally....) and then this one to start.

Also, hopefully soon I'll have a nice crafty announcement to make... stay tuned for details.

Life in VA: Update #1

Apologies for the scarcity in blogging. Double apologies for the boring nature of my most recent postings.

Life in our new state is going well. Although I am busy with work, I see Husband more than I did in IL. I have more free time than I did in IL. I am in proximity to way more Starbucks than I was in IL (that one could be either positive or negative, depending on how you look at it). On the flip side, I have not been crafting as much as I did in IL.

Unfortunately, our new craft/office/music room is a complete mess. This is what happens when you mush the contents of two rooms together into one smaller space. The room currently contains a computer desk, my sewing table with two machines, four bookcases, about 5 guitars, and a keyboard. Not to mention two boxes of stuff that have no home (Thursday I do not have to work and MUST get this room clean). All this did not stop me from a bit of Christmas crafting.

I made some fabric chargers for the table a few weeks ago. No photos today. Maybe tomorrow. Red and white ticking on the front and solid red on the back. They look great with a crisp white runner, white and red dishes, and some lovely votive holders that I received for Christmas from a co-worker.

I've also started on some crafty Christmas gifts that have become New Years gifts that will most likely be "Happy January 15!" presents. Anyone know of an obscure holiday that falls in the middle of January?

And, just to appease the 'must always post a photo when blogging' gods, here's a shot of our new living room. Ignore the couch and the ottoman, as we purchased a new couch a few weeks ago (impulse buy of sorts; we had been looking for a new couch for a month and although we knew we wanted to buy one, we walked out of Arhaus that day bewildered; "Did we just buy a couch?") and a new table on Sunday (courtesy of several Christmas checks, memo field was 'coffee table' as we told people that's what we were saving to buy).

Fall Placemats and More Thoughts on Moving

Well, seeing as how the little tree in our front yard has suddenly become a glorious orange, I will officially deem it fall. Yes, I know that fall started awhile ago, but with 70 degree weather and green trees it hasn't really felt like fall yet. One thing I wanted to make before autumn and before we move is done! Yes! My fall placemats came out beautifully.

[edges are not as wonky as they appear;
I'm blaming camera angles for this one.]

Materials used; Amy Butler Garden Maze in Mustard, kona quilting cotton, and grosgrain ribbon. I used two fat quarters for the panels. One I had from the FQs I got way back in July and the other I bought from ruralFABRIC. The back is kona cotton. Using just a bit of AB fabric and a lot of kona (bought with a 40% coup at JoAnns for sure) saved a lot of money. Plus, the chargers cover most of the placemat anyway, why use expensive fabric for that? I love the way these turned out and love the design... I can see a whole rainbow of placemats in my future. Now I just need a rolled hem foot for my serger and I could whip out the cloth napkins to match.

Our new rental has all white walls, and I don't think we have plans to paint any time soon. The white will be a welcomed change from the intensity of this kitchen; white throughout the house will also allow us to focus on beautiful things and not walls.

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We're getting close to the big move; Monday is pack day (I am so happy I don't have to do this), Tuesday is load the truck day, Wednesday we depart, and Thursday we arrive in VA. We still have a lot to do, and I should probably be folding clothes or packing a suitcase instead of blogging, but I so wanted to share my new creation.

We were lucky enough to have some great friends over last night. I stayed up way later than I have in a long time; talking and watching the guys Guitar Hero like fools. We have crammed in as many lunches, dinners, and get-together as possible this last week. I am desperately trying to overdose on other people before we go.

These last few days at home have been hard. Not hard with all the stuff we must do before we go and in preparation for the move, but hard as we say 'See you later' (not 'Goodbye') to friends. I have known my closest friends here in Chicago for about 6 years; we have friendships that go beyond mutual interests and a shared location.

I'm not interested in replacing these friends, but I am worried about connecting with people of similar belief and mindset. DC is a big place and there have got to be a few like-minded folks out there, right?

BTRS Lap Quilt Is Done!

My quilt swap has been done for some time now, and according to the post office, Mary Ann received it this week. So it's now fair game to post. Here it is in all it's BTRS glory.


This was the first quilt I've ever sewn, and I'm sure it will not be the last. I'm hoping to make some again for Christmas; we'll see how busy November/December is. I really love the way it came out. The fabric choice was fabulous, and it really went together quickly. It is also much larger than the size listed in the book. I assume that's a good thing! I love the look of this quilt; it seems broken in and worn even though it's new. That's not to say that I didn't have a few issues.

1. One of my fabrics was a stretch cord. Oh how I wanted to give that corduroy to the cat! Sewing the cord to the other woven fabrics left it all stretched out and some strips way longer than others. After washing the cord had pulled away from the other fabric in two spots. I topstitched these holes and then doused them with Fray Check. Crisis averted.
   
2. If you remember, my machine died during this project. I wonder who was at fault; did the quilt kill the machine or did the machine kill the quilt? Not that the quilt is bad, just that the back is way wonkier than I'd like.
   
3. The binding looks great when sewn by hand, but I hated how the two ends came together. Unable to send it to Mary Ann in that condition, I created a tag out of unbleached cotton and a quick freezer paper stencil. I sewed it right over the nasty binding spot, and am very happy with how that turned out. Before and after photos below. You can also spot the tag in the photo of the back.

What do you think?

SKERJEWIOU!!!!!

My sewing machine is rebelling against the crazy amount of work I have forced upon it recently. It is grabbing as much thread as it can get it's grubby little hooks on. This is frustrating to no end, and last night I was lucky enough to have Husband stop me before I did something drastic like throw it out the window. The damn thing has been cleaned, oiled, taken apart, put together, taken apart again, swore at, and then left in the dark. I think it's time for a tune-up and some couples therapy. It can't hold out on me like this!

BTRS Lap Quilt WIP 1

After last night's place mat debacle I decided to start on something else. I have really incredible fabrics to work with; bamboo, corduroy, linen, hemp, cotton. The texture of this quilt will be amazing.The show piece is definitely this hand printed hemp. Can you see the bird's nests? Explains why the backing fabric is robin's egg blue. Mary Ann got it in Australia, so you bet I'll be babying this one!I've cut all my pieces for the lap quilt and am trying to decide on a lay-out. These photos were all taken at various stage of sunrise, so excuse the crazy exposure, please.

Place Mat Setback

Well, I locked myself in the office tonight to sew place mats. I will finish them before fall ends. Really, I will.

Ironed all my fabric, figured out measurements that worked with my one beautiful AB Mustard Garden Maze fat quarter as trim, cut, and then decided that these place mats were going to be way too small! Guess they'll have to wait until I can get my hands on another fat quarter. At least I started some good by which music to sew (Husband's 'Indie Rock Mix' + Fleet Foxes). Playlist below. There is still a lot of time in October to complete these projects, right?



After writing this post I have decided that 'the Fat Quarters' would be an interesting band name; real meaning only understood by quilters and seamstresses. 18 x 22, baby!