For many days I was drowning in the Car Organizer (who knew a pattern could drown a person?).  But thanks to some lovely test sewers, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I’m excited to finish it now - only 3 months after I thought I would.

In the mean time, I finished a couple of diaper bags with one more almost done.  One is below.  This customer wanted laminated cotton on the exterior of her bag so it would be wipeable.  Sounds good, right?   I hadn’t worked with it before so I thought “No problem.” 

The problem is that laminated  cotton can’t be ironed and I press everything.  I went with regular cotton on the handles.  Then, if you are familiar with making bags, you understand the contortions that bags often go through in the turning process…contortions that wrinkle.  Wrinkles that don’t really show up in the picture.

While the bag turned out well, I really wished I could have de-wrinkled the outside somehow.  Fortunately, it was no problem for the customer, but I think I’ll save the rest of my laminated cotton for something that requires less contortionism.

Some great tips for sewing with laminated cotton can be found here.  I was able to sew it easily with a walking foot, but the tape method might work even better.  Fabric is Micheal Miller’s Feeling Groovy Laminated Cotton and Amy Butler’s Lotus Lime Dots purchased here.  I think I want some more of those dots!

In the wake of the demise of Timtex I’ve been doing a little stabilizer research.  I purchased a several online nd played around with some from JoAnn’s and I’m posting my findings here.  The contestants:

1) Peltex 70.  Available at JoAnn’s for under $5/ yard.  It comes in 22″ width.  This is a nice product, but thinner and more flexible than Timtex.  When I use this in the bottom of a bag, I’ll often sew 2 layers together for the stability that I want.  Peltex 71 is fusible on 1 side and Peltex 72 is fusible on 2 sides.  They get thicker and pricier as you add a layer of glue.

2) Stiffy.  This is not a comparable substitute for Timtex.  It is very similar to Peltex 70.  It is so very cheap at less than $2/yard but you’ll have to pay shipping if you can’t find it locally which brought my order to about $4/yard.  It comes on a roll and is about 20″ wide.  One drawback is when I ironed it, my sewing room started to smell like a barnyard. 

3) Fruedenberg.  I’ve only seen this product at JCarolineCreative.com for $4.75/yard.  It is similar to Peltex 70, but has a stiffer, more papery feel.  It isn’t a good substitute for Timtex but I can see some great uses for it, like drafting my pattern pieces on it.  It comes on a 57″ roll so expect the package at your door to be VERY tall. 

4) Fast2Fuse.  I haven’t actually touched or used this in person.  I haven’t been able to find it locally and having it shipped to me will cost me about $17/yard.  I have heard from reliable sources (a local quilt shop owner included) that it is VERY similar to Timtex, although it doesn’t seem to be made by the same mill.  I’ll update here when my very expensive order arrives.  Alright, my Fast2Fuse arrived and I was disappointed.  It’s hugely expensive for a stabilizer and is comparable to Peltex 70.  There are 2 thicknesses - regular and heavyweight and quite honestly, I can barely tell the difference.

6) HTCW’s  FlexiFirm single-sided fusible available at Expert Stitch.  This is great stuff!  Thanks to Quenna and Marcea for telling me about it!  It’s 30″ wide and is lightly glued one 1 side.  It has some extra umph that Peltex doesn’t have and is affordable.  At Expert Stitch you can get a 25% discount with a Tax ID.  It’s about $4.50/yard plus shipping.

And the winner in the Timtex look and act alike contest?

Number 6:  FLEXI FIRM! 

This is a great stabilizer by itself, or if you need stronger support, double it up.  This is my final solution for the Car Organizer and I couldn’t be happier.  Well, I guess I could be happier if Timtex came back, but for now, I’m at least feeling very relieved!

I first spotted this fabric in October at Quilt Market.  I liked it SO much - this was the print that first got me thinking about purchasing fabric by the bolt.  By the time I got around to ordering, it was out of stock and being reprinted.  I had to wait months for it to arrive.  I was a bit afraid that when I opened the package I wouldn’t like it anymore.  But I was so wrong!  It’s still very me.  So much so that I even thought for a moment of changing my name to Craft Pear.  (Okay, not really.  But ONLY because it wouldn’t make any sense.) 

I haven’t gotten much of a chance to play with it, except to make this one little notebook cover.  Too much else on the brain these days - especially after watching King Corn (you gotta Netflix it).  I was on the brink of changing the meat we eat but after watching this movie, I’m through with corn-fed, feed-lot beef.  I’m such a city girl and had NO CLUE.  I’ve already found a local farm that will sell me grass-fed meat and I’m very excited!  I’m also through with high-fructose corn syrup, much to the dismay of my son’s soccer teammates.  When I was passing out snacks this week, several of them were disappointed with their high-fructose-corn-syrup-free juice. 

I’ve only ever gathered one or two times in my sewing life and both occasions were miserable.  The instructions I used said to sew 2 basting lines and pull the threads.  So that’s what I did.  But my thread kept breaking … and breaking … and breaking… and driving me nuts!  For the gathered chemise and corset purse, I remembered a gathering technique I learned when I got my new sewing machine.  It’s much more fun and here’s what you do:

1)  Take your fabric and sew a zig-zag stitch along the edge to be gathered using a 1/4″ seam.  I set the length as long as it can go and keep the width at default.

 2)  Thread an embroidery needle (dull tip, large eye) with thick thread (I’m using crochet thread).  Using the needle, thread the yarn under the stitches…

…all the way to the end of where you want the gathering to stop.  In this example, I’m gathering across the length of the fabric.  Tie a knot in the thread at the beginning.

3) Pull the yarn, gathering the fabric to desired width.  Tie off at the end to keep the gathers from coming out. 

 4)  Distribute the gathers evenly,

then stitch across the gathers with a 1/4″ seam to keep them in place (not shown).  Remove the thick thread if you desire.  If you want to remove the thread, then be careful to not sew through it when stitching across the gathers.  Now this piece of fabric is ready to be sewn into your project!

NOTE:  If you have a couching foot, steps 1 and 2 can be done in one step.  Neat, huh?  There is a hole in the presser foot that the yarn can thread through.  Below is Bernina foot #6. 

You can play around with the stitch length and width to see what suits your project best.  I’ve found that keeping either the stitch width or stitch length small helps the gathers stay in place when trying to evenly distribute the fabric.  Also, it shouldn’t matter if you put the thread through on the right or wrong side of the fabric because it should all be within the seam allowance, and therefore won’t show up after the project is done.

Here’s a peak at an unfinished purse. 

Last week I found myself opening up my order of Ginger Blossom and just loving it at first site.  Then looking for inspiration, I stumbled on some vintage clothing inspiration:  a gathered chemise worn under a corset.  Please understand, I’m not going for anything sexy here  (I hesitated to even use that word on my family-friendly blog.  I can see it now:  Junior reading over Mommy’s shoulder, “Mommy, what does ’sexy’ mean?”  Ahem.)  I really liked the feminine gathers and the curve of the top. 

And, I’ve found a way to gather that I really, really like.  Hopefully I’ll show you that technique in my next post.

A new mom at church asked me to make her a diaper bag.  “Bright colors on a dark background.” is what she said so I went with Michael Miller’s Boho Blossom in orchid.  What fun, springy fabric!  I can now safely say that this bag (pattern here) CAN be made with regular cotton fabric.

And before going off to be the workhorse that a diaper bag inevitably is, Blossom wanted to play in the nice spring weather we’ve been having.

Sunbathing on a casualty of winter…

Swinging in the cool spring breeze…. 

Dreaming of summer…

Playing soccer…

And letting her hair down to go down the slide…

Bye, Blossom!  Work hard and stay beautiful!

Has anyone noticed?  I have tag phobia.  Yep, a fear of being tagged spurred on by the fear of having to post the tags.  Maybe it’s a fear of revealing that besides sewing I don’t do a whole lot else?  But after putting off 3 tags from different people, I’ve been shamed into posting!  

Melanie tagged me for a name meme.  Shannon tagged me for 7 random facts.  My Sew Called Life tagged me for a meme of fours.  Whew!  Put your reading glasses on!  

 L:  L is for little.  Not only am I the youngest in my family, but I was always the shortest. Then just a couple years ago my chiropractor discovered that I’m missing a vertebra.  And not one of the little ones near the top - one of the big ones - T12, to be exact.  I blame my shortness on my missing vertebra.

 I:  I is for indoor soccer.  Hubby has been playing for years.  And after watching the kids play for a few seasons I finally joined a beginner’s co-ed team a couple of weeks ago.  Wow - after that first game I was in incredible pain.  Who knew that 6 years of being relatively sedentary would hurt that much?  Now I know when people say, “Oh you’re active chasing those kids around!” it’s really not true.

N:  N is for NPR.  We download This American Life and Radio Lab and if I’m ever driving around by myself that’s what I listen to.

D: D is for dairy-free.  I don’t drink milk  eat dairy anymore and I feel SO MUCH better.

A:  A is for allergies.  In the last few years I’ve gone from being relatively normal to being unable to wear makeup or use hair products.  If I’m outside for any length of time, I’ll need to shower to wash the pollen out.

My name has 5 letters, so I’m adding two more because 5+2=7 and then I’ll be set for the 7 random things meme, too.  Clever, eh?

6:  I like playing piano.  I’m not any good.  In fact, it takes me months to learn a song, but once I get it it’s nice to be able to just sit down and play.  My latest song is Sleeper’s Awake by Bach.  Very pretty and relaxing.

7:  I sleep on my back.  But not just on my back, I sleep without a pillow under my head.  Then, to keep my head from rolling to one side or the other, which results in a headache, I have a neck pillow on each side of my head.  Yep, my head is wedged in between two flat-sided pillows.  It’s taken me years to figure out how to sleep and now I’m a happy sleeper but hubby says I look funny. 

Four jobs I have had ~

1.  Gymnastics coach to expats living in Taiwan.  50% of my students were Japanese and I was able to teach gymnastics not only in English and Chinese, but also Japanese.  Just for the record, I wasn’t speaking in whole sentences. 

2.  Waitress in a Korean restaurant.  Bi Bim Bop in a hot stone bowl is my favorite Korean dish.

3. School-based Occuational Therapist for kids preschool to highschool.

4. Admissions assistant for the OT department when I was in school.

Four places I’ve lived

1.  Taipei, Taiwan (age 0-17)

2.  Grand Rapids, Michigan

3. Ann Arbor, Michigan

4. Fort Worth, Texas

Four Shows I watch

Not much of a TV girl…  When I need to iron my fabric I can usually find something I don’t mind watching.  As long as it isn’t too scary, racy, or violent.

Four places I have been

1.  The Vatican.  I saw Pope John Paul II when my parents took our family through Europe in the 80s.  He was a tiny little dot of white in front of a sea of people.

2. The Areopagus. This was the place where Paul preached to the Greecian philosophers about the “unknown god”.  Same trip as above.

3.  Singapore.  I took my gymnastics team there for a competition and had a great time.  I was struck by the diversity of cultures that lived so close together.  Singapore would be a neat place to live.

4. Hong Kong.  I haven’t been there since it was turned back over to the PRC.  I wonder if it’s still the same.  I loved walking everywhere because things were so close and realizing when I came home that I’d lost weight without even knowing it.

Favorite things to eat

1.  BiBimBop (see above)

2. Hokkaido Soft Milk Candies I haven’t had these in years.

3. NaiSu bread.  I haven’t had this in years either.  When I was pregnant I would dream about eating this stuff.  It’s like a French pastry that has a rich dry filling.  Can you hear me drooling?

4. Dutch almond banket.  Does it get any bettern than almond paste?  Yum Yum.

Four places I would rather be

I’m pretty happy with my life, but one day it might be nice to live in Asia again.  I really miss it.

Four things I look forward to this year

1. Putting out another pattern or two.

2.  Starting my youngest in Kindergarten.

3. Visiting my sister this summer.

4. Planning a family vacation for later in the year.

 That took a lot of thought.  But it was nice to take a trip down memory lane.  Thanks for tagging me, ladies!  Is there anyone who wants to play along?  Then you’re it!  Let me know if you play so I can come and read!

I made a couple of Patchfolios.  One’s for Melanie at Above All Fabric.  Fabric is Amy Butler’s Nigella with Michael Miller’s Apple Garden Pindot.

I liked setting up this little photo shoot.  The little spools are from a trip that Cindy and I took to First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas last year.  I had told Cindy that I wanted to find some old wooden spools of thread.  When she spotted some in a booth, she came and told me that they were a $1 each.  Eventually I found my way to the booth and asked how much they were and was told “50 cents.”  Well  now, I think I’ve stumbled onto a bargaining technique that I will use in my future flea market trips!  Take a friend, my friends.

This was such a memorable trip for so many reasons.  Let’s see - it was a girl’s day out which happens so rarely.  Then, since it was the end of the summer it was incredibly hot.  I spent as much moolah on heat-survival gear as I did on my little purchases.  There was the 32- ounce lemonade that I had to buy because I was dying of thirst and my water just wasn’t cutting it.  Then there was the diaper gel-filled neck wrap in John Deere fabric - not so pretty, but an incredible life saver until I started finding gel all over my neck.  By the end of the day a migraine had started.  I came home, kissed my boys that I hadn’t seen all day, took some drugs and a shower and went to bed.  This flea market was featured in Country Living.  And while it was a lot of fun digging through old stuff, I couldn’t help wondering where the cool Country Living booths were!  I, of course, forgot my camera, but Cindy took some nice pictures that give you a feel for the place here.

I also made a car organizer that is now in the product testing phase.  Huge thanks to my friend Lizzie for driving around with it in her car!  I’m going to send one more out for some testing.  Then in a couple of weeks I’ll need some test-sewers.  I think I’ll need 2 experienced sewers to tackle it for the first round and then I’d like a couple of newbie sewers to give it a try after the first round of revisions is done.  Let me know if you’re interested!  Thanks for your generous test-sewing offers!  I’ll be emailing you soon!

I have this sweater.  It’s not particularly beautiful, but it’s so cozy and has warm pockets.  It looked great when I bought it, but after the first wear it started to pill up and it only got worse until I was embarrased to be wearing it.  But I still did, ‘cuz it was SO COZY!  I tried everything - a DFuzzIt, a Sweater Stone…they all failed me even after hours of defuzzing or rubbing with the stone.

Did you know that fuzzies are really hard to capture in a picture?   After some brainstorming, I decided what I needed was clippers like what I buzz the boy’s heads with.  And then it hit me - I HAVE clippers that I buzz the boy’s heads with!  I got it out, took off the guard and started buzzing.  And buzzing.  And buzzing.  Carefully.  Can you see the difference? 

It was really fun.  And addicting.  It was WAY  past time to start school when I looked at the clock, but we managed to finish our school for the day anyway.  And now I get to wear my cozy sweater - fuzz-free!

Disclaimer:  This worked really well for me, BUT you have to be careful because although I didn’t tear my sweater, I could see it happening if I were careless.

Ah, this fabric!  When I ordered it, I had no idea what “cotton dobby” was, but I am really pleased with it.  Good thing, too *whew* since I bought a whole bolt.  It’s from Kokka and is about the weight of Amy Butler’s decorator-weight Nigella fabric.  Perfect for a diaper bag or two.  I learned from the trunk show at my local quilt shop that bags look much better if they’re hanging.  And a wreathe hanger like this one from Target is perfect for this bag.  And necessary if you visit your quilt shop and find that your shop sample is looking all deflated after weeks of just sitting on a table.

Since I started wholesaling patterns, 90% of my sewing feels like it is taken up making shop samples.  Sorta fun, but doesn’t leave a whole lot of new stuff to blog about.  On my list now, are 2 shop patchfolios.

I’ve also heard from a reliable source that Timtex is no longer being manufactured!  Can you hear me sobbing, “How can this b-e-e-e!”  The car organizer is built around Timtex.  So I’m off to find a substitute and hoping in the meantime that the Timtex people change their mind.  Please, oh please, change your mind!!!