Look at my Buttonhole!

Yes, it is true.  I still have not finished the pink blouse.  I have been sissying out on that for months.  On Sunday I decided I was going to do something sewing-wise everyday this week.  Yesterday's goal was to finally master the buttonhole.

I had tried to create a button hole a while ago on regular fabric but it had ended...badly.  My zig-zag stitch was all puckered up, my fabric was bunchy and it just looked bad.  Not something I wanted to put on my blouse.

I figured I would try again and use a fabric combination which was as similar to my blouse button placket as possible.  So I fused some interfacing to my blouse fabric and doubled it over and away I went.  Hello internet instructions.

The right hand button is try number 1. I followed an example on "About.com" and was not very pleased.  It just looks messy although the interfacing and me fussing with the tension has helped with the zig zag stitch.

Not completely happy I searched the internet some more and came upon Sewing 101 's instruction using a button hole foot.

'Hey' I think. 'Don't I have something that looks like that in my sewing box?'

After much digging and grumbling and wondering if I had just imagined it, I came across this darling.

This lovely foot is my savior.  Suddenly buttonholes are all happy and straight and pretty (well mostly. I still have to practice).  The button hole foot created the button hole on the left. Not too bad.  It was really easy to use too.  

Even a button will fit through it.
So this weekend I WILL finish my blouse and I WILL wear it on Monday!

*Happy dance*

Sleeping can be cute

When I went home in August for my friend's wedding, I admit, I had ulterior motives.  Shopping.  Fabric shopping.

Recently I found myself dissapointed as I realized that the first pair of flannel sleep pants I made about 5 years ago had finally worn out.  I am talking distressing holes in the behind.  So I had a goal to find a new cute flannel print to sew a second pair.

The the first pair was made from this New Look pattern which I purchased a long time ago.  Originally it was bought for the cute chinese shirts but I have never made the shirt.

When I was thinking of making a pant though, I thought of this pattern once more.  It is a really basic wide leg pant and the best part is it only has two pattern pieces!  The waistband is just rolled to make a casing for the elastic so overall this pattern only take about 2 hours  this weekend to sew. 

Here is the final product:

The elastic I used for this pair was better than the last.  Much more comfortable.

 Here is a close-up of the easy waistband:
Nothing to it!  I would definitely recommend this pattern to anyone trying pants for the first time.  Pants can be a bit annoying and I have sewn the legs wrong before.  (When you do you end up with a skirt, not pants.  Argh!) It was nice to make something that did not involve a lot of detail work.  Instant gratification sewing.  Nice.

With the cold weather looming once more (Did it ever really leave?) I have been thinking about sewing some heavier dresses and more items which can be layered.  I did buy a great 20's style hat which I am hoping will be good in the fall.  Unfortunately I have to style my hair right (meaning a style which makes it look shorter) or it looks kind of silly.  I love the color of it though.

Random Rupert

There is a new Thrift shop in town called Paws and Claws.  It opened early this summer and the people who run it are simply marvelous. 

Prince Rupert and Port Edward have a big problem with feral cats.  Especially in Port Edward this has become a major problem as good hearted people feel the animals, feeling bad for them, but this has allowed the population to explode.  Sadly the cats are not healthy.  Most of them have ear mites, diseases and are many are in distress because of other health issues.

This thrift shop opened to raise money to spay and neuter these cats and get them medical attention.  The SPCA is already very busy and very underfunded and are really at a loss as to what to do about all these cats.


The owners are really great and will even deliver furniture for you which is a step up form the local Salvation Army Thrift store.  The Prince Rupert Salvation Army store philosophy is if you cannot take it with you at that moment, you can't have it.  Very uncool when your just dropping in on your lunch break and find the perfect table. :(  I have been very lucky getting vintage sewing patterns from them though.

Anyway, this is my newest discovery at the Paws and Claws thrift store.  As you can see it is a 1950's wall clock.  It is so cool and looks awesome in our kitchen.  I just love the eggshell blue colour which was so popular back then.

It makes this subtle purring sound as the second hand moves which is so much nicer than the tick that most clocks make.  Now I don't have to rely on the microwave for the time anymore.  Being a plug in clock it does not solve the problem of telling the time when the power goes out. 

Oh well, cant have everything.

Couch Happens

Earlier I mentioned in passing that Hugh and I met another couple in Prince Rupert.  Yay friends!  Anyway,  this inspired the need to be able to invite this couple over to our house for dinner sometime. This is when I started looking around at our place a realize how sad it really is.

Hugh and I are slowly accumulating a few nice pieces of furniture, but the majority of our apartment is still made up of rubbermaid containers and flatpack furniture.  Yes, we never really grew out of the student phase when it comes to home furnishings.  A lot of it is the fact that we still rent our home and have the potential to move a lot and collecting stuff means we will have to pack it or sell it when we move. Annoying.

But this means that the idea of having friends over to our apartment freaks me out.
 
One problem we have with our apartment in regards to future entertaining is a lack of seating in the kitchen area.  I have an old dining table which serves double duty as a sewing table, but we have no chairs.  I sit on a old rubbermaid type container when I need to use the sewing machine.

Here is what the empty wall in the kitchen looked like before we decided to do something about it.

So I decided I really wanted to get some seating organized for the kitchen area.  After looking around at sofas at the local furniture stores we quickly realized that there was no way we were spending $800 on a sofa so we decided that we would build one instead.

Unfortunately we did not really have much in the way of tools besides a hammer, a wrench and a few other odds and sods.  I decided I wanted a powerdrill.  After much discussion with my dad and research on the internet I finally found want I wanted and we were ready to go. (Buying a corded powerdrill in Prince Rupert is surprisingly difficult).

Our sofa bench had to be able to fit in our space and be high enough to to fit some of our other rubbermaid containers underneath. (Hidden storage rules.) It also had to be made with the fewest cuts as we we had to ask Home Hardware to cut the wood to length.

This is the base of the sofa put together. Well, most of it anyway. Note the cool powerdrill next to Hugh.  That was my anniversary gift.  I always ask for very nontraditional anniversary gifts.

And here it is all finished.

It was made out of 2X4's (which apparently are no longer 2"X4" anymore, thieving companies) and one sheet of 3/4" plywood.  In total to cost about $60.00 for the wood.

I also made the cushions out of mattress toppers from the local Fields store which was going out of business and old blankets.

Twin blanket sewn together waiting for some foam

And then I covered it with some fabric I had in my stash and it became the above picture. Out of leftover corduroy fabric from this jumper I made a cushion for the backrest and used the last of the fabric to edge the bottom of the sofa so the bins could not be seen anymore. 

I purchased a rug and with some reorganizing my ugly wall became this:

Did you scroll up to the top to see the original space?  Before and after!
Pretty neat huh?

I bought the pillows and plan to one day recover them with some pretty fabric.  The table in front came from the thrift store for $12 including delivery. The rug is a Home hardware find.

For reference here are a few more of the kitchen.

another angle

there's the sewing/dining table

yes there is carpet in the kitchen

It has worked out pretty well.  When we had guests over for dinner we moved the smaller table and moved the dining table up to the couch and Hugh and I sat on stools.  Yay seating for four!

Anyway, I am much happier with the kitchen not looking so horrible.  Amazing what the potential for guests will do for your initiative. :)  Now I don't have to be embarrassed if someone comes over to visit.