Sewing Vloggers

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Wednesday Words

I do hope all who celebrated had a wonderful and happy Christmas, full of joy and family and friends! Now we move on to a New Year and all the unknown that it holds for us. This week's Wednesday Words, for the first time, are my own. Several years ago I had fun publishing this post right before New Year's Eve. At the moment my fabrics are in the same order but the rest of the room is chaos. My New Year's Resolution? Clean that room! I wish you all a healthy and happy New Year and humor me with this reposting. 
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Twas the day before New Year's, when all through the house
Machines were not humming or making a blouse.
The velvets were hung by the leathers with care
In hope that free time soon would be there.

Hubbie was nestled all snug in our bed
while visions of garments danced in my head.
I in my Jammies and Dad in his sweats decided
No party on New Years was as good as it gets.

When down in the basement their came such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to my bunker I flew like a flash
Tore open the closet and eyed my great stash.

The glow of my Ott lite on cleaned closet shelves
showed amazing order put forth by the elves.
And what to my wandering eyes would appear?
Visions of fabric so vast and so dear.

There were fleeces all rolled and labeled with care
in hopes that my fingers would make things I'd share.
There were boucles all begging for Chanel's nimble skills
and 100% linen was giving me thrills. 

When up on my shelves my eyes did alight
to find glass jars of fibers reflecting the light.
There were laces and ribbons and sequins galore
and sewing such beauties was surely in store. 

I found angelina and rovings
 all bundled with care,
 and splendiferous threads with no room to spare. 

Drawers were all perfect with scissors at rest
and tools made for marking ones marks at their best.
Buttonhole chisels, silk ribbons too, glass headed pins
asking "what do we do?"

 Polies and silk take up space by the knits. 
Their sparkly gleam giving shivering fits.
Then there were doilies and gingham so square.
With so much to sew there is no  time to spare.
Bottomweights share a really tight space, 
A perfect pants pattern will they ever grace?


 Why, here are my fingers on hands that are eager
to stitch and create, even projects quite meager. 
They'l move on the fabric with speed so unknown
Productivity will blossom with items I've sewn. 

It's time to get dreaming of what I will do 
with all I've been blessed with. How about you? 
Here's hoping your New Year will be one that's bright
 and loaded with sewing far into the night.
Happy New Year to all with more sewing in sight.....Bunny Pepin
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Wednesday Words are quotes gleaned from the internet, blogs, books, newspapers and more. They are notmy own words, other than today. They are not my opinions but merely comments written that made me go "hmmmmm,,,,,,,". Some may be provocative, some may not. Some may be my opinion, some may not. My goal is to start a conversation among followers of this blog and hopefully learn as we share our thoughts. I know you will do so respectfully and intelligently and  I thank you for that.    

      

  

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Wednesday Words


courtesy merrimentdesign.com

Today's Wednesday Words are my own. I wish you 
all the peace and joy of Christmas, loved ones close by  and a safe and happy holiday. May the delights of sewing sit under your tree along with a bounty of blessings. You are all truly appreciated. Have a safe and happy holiday. I will return next week. Merry Christmas!.......Bunny

photo courtesy hookedonneedles.com

Sunday, December 20, 2015

I've been making jewelry!


I have been making jewelry the past two weekends, that and wrapping a lot of gifts! I have just let my mind wander with all sorts of blingy little things  and fabrics I dyed years ago laid out in front of me. It's been kind of a "what can I do next?". , No rules, no copying something else, no instruction (yikes!) but a lot, lot of fun. While my skills are rudimentary, for the unknowing, I think they might like good.


The first piece is made with some wool I hand dyed some years back, sort of a tie dye effect and a wrapped stone.  I have just decided lately to cut into my hand dyeds. If you have ever dyed fabric you know the pleasure of just keeping them and reliving the serendipitous magic that sometimes happens in the dye bucket. I have decided their time has come and I will cut. This second one is made from rolled up jacquard ribbons . I really like this second one. It got lots of compliments when I wore it. 


This one is a piece of rayon velvet that was discharge dyed. It really revealed some amazing colors. It started out emerald green and because of the way it was bundled varying shades of the autumn color pallet emerged, great fun! Here it is wrapped with copper wire and assorted beads. 





This one I love and really is prettier IRL. It looks perfect with a pink chiffon blouse I have. It is made with vintage ribbons from a dear friend and assorted beads. I showed a friend at work how to make the ribbon beads and she has just caught fire with the technique. We are getting together after the holidays for an afternoon of bead making. We both can't wait. If I can't find sewing friends, a beading friend will do just fine! 


This piece is made with washed and dryed in the machine silk velvet. Love the magic that happens to velvet when you do that. More silverplate wire and wrapped stone. 



I am wearing thest to work tomorrow. I usually don't wear dangles or very "strong" earrings but I will make these work. We will see what happens. Again, tiny pieces of hand dyed rayon velvet and copper wrapping and various tiny beads. 

This HDed bit of wool is left raw on the sides. It just seemed to work. It sits on a simple wire necklace. Nothin' shy about this one. 


More wrapping fun! I like the shape of these pieces, the slight curve. 


Here is a very similar necklace to the one above but this time I wrapped it with the silver wire I think it is so pretty with the gold velvet.





And last but not least, more wrapped ribbons, albeit much narrower, with beads and silver spacers. The necklace is tied to ribbons a close friend brought back to me from the Laura Ashley store in England. I talked to her just today and miss her lots. I am glad I found a place for the ribbons to be seen by more than just me. This necklace has a real summery vibe and I will probably save it until then. 
All of the pictures in this post were taken with my new camera. I spent nearly the entire day today learning its features and know I haven't even scratched the surface.  Please don't be too judgemental. I used their editing software and am not used to it at all yet. But it's the first day and there will be many others. I am looking forward to getting back to sewing after the holidays and sharing it all with you. I need to focus on using the macro mode to get better closeups. Be patient with me and we will get there. I've had one of these before and for a long time, but this camera is far more advanced and just newer. It has the wireless remote, the one thing I insisted on as well as wifi. It should be a great time of discovery and creativity. More to come......................Bunny


Friday, December 18, 2015

The Happy Dance!




I've completed about five more jewelry pieces and hope to do more this weekend, particularly the ones made with some velvet I hand dyed. First I have to make friends with my new Nikon camera. I've also started on my "Great Courses" in photography. It is taught by a world class National Geographic photographer and so far I am really impressed with the class. It is college level but starts from nothing and builds at a wonderful achievable pace. There are four DVDs and a book.  This is an investment camera for me so I hope to learn all I can about it. I've also found some adult ed classes at our local community college that will start in the spring so I am hoping to take those as well. Life is good!...........Bunny

ETA: I just want to thank BaMA for suggesting the Great Courses. This is the basic course but there are quite a few more advanced than this as well. Thanks, BaMA...Bunny

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Wednesday Words




"Jeggings cannot replace a well-cut pair of pants, but 

on rack after rack, lycra has triumphed over 

tailoring."............La Duchesse on Passage du Perles



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Wednesday Words are quotes gleaned from the internet, blogs, books, newspapers and more. They are never my own words. They are not my opinions but merely comments written that made me go "hmmmmm,,,,,,,". Some may be provocative, some may not. Some may be my opinion, some may not. My goal is to start a conversation among followers of this blog and hopefully learn as we share our thoughts. I know you will do so respectfully and intelligently and  I thank you for that. 

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Flash, Update!


I haven't forgotten blogging, people, just have not been able to take any pics with my cheap little dead WalMart Camera. That puppy has always been meant as a short term replacement until I could do some research and decide on a new DSLR. My old DSLR got injured in a fall and was never the same and unable to be repaired. .  I've been juggling Christmas duties with looking for a new pic-taker. It had to be a DSLR as I desperately miss the one I had for a long time. I am happy to report my  new Nikon is on it's way. Santa and his Prime friends at Amazon are going to deliver my gift early in a couple days. He knows how important it will be to take pics over the holidays. Yippee!!!Then it will be back in business as usual with the blog.

Here's what I have been up to:

My bag has been put aside while I finish making  Christmas gifts for loved ones. I left undone one of the inset corners so I can show you how I did that when I get my new Nikon . Can't wait! It is a BIG bag. I like big bags but it is even an inch or two bigger than my ideal. It is still looking good, however.

While my bag parts have been resting, I have been on a bit of a creative jewelry binge. I took pics with my tablet but truthfully, they suck. So I will patiently wait and take them again when the cam comes in. I've really been enjoying mixing fibers into wearable jewelry. I've used vintage ribbons, big and little beads (love the matte finish), velvet I dyed, colorful cottons, colored wires, and more. I know they are not the best made things you'll ever see but they are  artsy enough to make up for that and are wearable and unique. Today I came up with the velvet idea when I saw a plastic hose in my basement! That's a tease, I know. I can't wait to wear one of the velvet necklaces tomorrow to work. I made two today and they came out way better than I thought. More to come!

Yesterday was time to make some small food gifts as well. I love Biscoff cookies, you know, the airplane cookies, and have found a really good recipe for them. The recipes all call for 5-7 spices  to make that unique flavor. At King Arthur Flour they had jars of ""speculaas spice"  to make the Biscoff cookies but I didn't indulge. I had a feeling there would also  be a recipe or two for that mixture on the internet and there were. I went and bought a big bunch of cinnamon, had all the other spices on hand and made a huge amount of "speculaas spice". I jarred them up in little glass bottles and will supply a pretty copy of the cookie recipe along with the bottle of spice as little gifts to some I know who love . to cook.

Another food gift I made was Oreo Peanut Butter and it is addictively awesome! Basically, it's a blend of honey roasted peanut butter and oreo cookies, all put in the food processor for 4 minutes to become smooth spoonfuls of heaven.  Chocolate and peanut butter? Can't beat it! Made a big batch of that and jarred it up in nice glass jars for more gift giving. It's REALLY good. Put it on crackers, ice cream, or just scoff it up from a soupspoon.  Here's the link if you would like the recipe, courtesy Crazy for Crust:    Oreo Peanut Butter from Crazy for Crust


photo courtesy crazyforcrust.com

I know many of you make garments, dolls, and quilts for holiday gift giving but do you make other things as well, any food gifts?

So it has been productive here lately, but this little elf is about done. All that remains is wrapping, but not much so it shouldn't be too bad. Then it will be packing time and travelling to NH, MA and more specifically  Cape Cod. Can't wait to get some pics taken to share my projects with you..................Bunny

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Designing for Modesty...Wednesday words


photo courtesy stylesbyshaheeda.com



"For some it’s a lifestyle, for others it’s a trend. In the past few months we’ve heard about “Modest Fashion” (dressing with modesty).............. An understated style that doesn’t leave much skin uncovered, does not necessarily mean being unfashionable. It can be very powerful, due to the accurate research behind it that requires a very strong inner awareness. The secrets to this look? A skirt, midi or maxi. Those who love shorter skirts can wear them over pants: it’s a super cool solution that we often saw on the catwalks."....................Gregorio Tosetti on the Blonde Salad, a fashion lifestyle blog

photo courtesy  justicepirate.com

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Back to sewing!



I have been down with a bronchial type flu for more than a week now. Yesterday I finally felt better and well enough to get back in the cave and sewing. A big blogpost was planned about sewing the inset corners of my bag and my camera died. It's the cheap replacement camera I purchased upon the death of my treasured and relatively old DSLR.  I will be shopping today and maybe will see how generous Santa wants to be. I have tried to be a good girl!

In the meantime I have also been making beads. I stopped my bagmaking at the inset corner point so I could do some pics for the blogpost with a new camera and switched gears to jewelry. I got a cute necklace completed. I've been having fun making more ribbon beads, paper beads and some fabric Pandora type beads. Today will be Christmas shopping in the big city fifty miles away but hopefully we will get an early start and back in time to churn out a few more beads or put another necklace or bracelet together. Pics coming, promise. Just a matter of time!
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My brother found a picture of my Mom and me at birth that I have never seen. I thought I would share. I love that she put on her makeup for the photo.


Happy Sewing!...................Bunny

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Wednesday Words




"My disposable income is extremely limited, which 

means I think long and hard about which fabric and

 patterns I buy. The result is that I buy very few 

patterns. I tend to buy wardrobe basics and modify

them for different styles, getting the most out of my

 money. I am a firm believer that I only need one

 t-shirt pattern" .....Carolyn on Baste and Gather


What's your pattern buying strategy?


photo courtesy Lekala.com


Had to Refurbish This One!

    About  6 or 7 years ago , during the dawn of the Zipper Trend,  I bought one of my rare retail items. It was a blush pink and black bord...