Sew Buttons

It has been quite awhile since I updated, hasn't it? Christmas has come and gone--quietly, thankfully--as has New Year's. Saba is continuing to get better slowly, all but for her eyes, which are in some danger.  We shall see.


As for me, I have spent the break between semesters doing some sewing. I bought a new machine, a Janome 2212--not a fancy computerized model, but a mechanical workhorse. I then went out and spent way too much money on fabric, thread, the nicest pair of scissors I've ever owned (dressmakers shears made in Italy), and a bunch of other stuff.

The first thing I sewed was a collar for Saba that fits over her feeding tube and protects it from being bumped. (One of our not-happy surprises around Christmas was her feeding tube catching on something and getting pulled out completely, which meant that she had to go to the vet and have it put back in.) The collar folds the dangling end of the feeding tube over and holds it in place with velcro. The first one I sewed was too wide, so I made a second one, narrower.

After that, I sewed a few things off the cuff, so to speak, from tutorials I found on youtube. I sewed a large, zippered, cosmetic bag with Day of the Dead fabric lined in red polka dots. (I've never sewn in a zipper before.) I sewed a couple of pocket tissue holders out of a fat quarter of Wonder Woman-themed fabric lined with zebra stripes.

Then I made Dave go to the fabric store with me. There, he picked out some flannel for a couple of pairs of pajama pants. From the "nursery" section, he choose two patterns, one of cartoony insects  on a navy background and another of cartoony sloths on a pale blue background. I sewed the insects first and they were huge. Huge is generally fine for pajama pants, but these were a bit out of control so before sewing the sloths up, I watched a video on how to adjust the crotch to make them less baggy. After he wore the sloth ones awhile, he asked for me to add pockets, so I added patch pockets pieced out of the scraps. (I'll add pockets to the insect ones soon, too.)

Whenever I wasn't sewing, I was watching youtube sewing tutorials and reading sewing blogs. One of the blogs led me to a Vogue pattern--yes, Vogue sells patterns--that caught my imagination. It's a long, tiered skirt (which I am not in the habit of wearing, but I just loved it). It's hard to explain, so let me see if I can find a picture.

The tiers at the bottom are just perfect, I think. They can be tied up or let down. I want to make a version in black linen, but I settled this time for a practice run of dark plum-colored broadcloth. It will probably not drape very well, but it was a third of the price of the linen. (Once I have a successful version of it under my belt, I'll invest in the linen.)

In addition to the broadcloth, I loaded up on more flannel (purple and blue) to make myself a robe. I also picked up some green patterned canvas from clearance section that I'm going to use to make a messenger bag. Then I bought some actual muslin because I want to try to either paint or print on it.

Okay, that's a lot of fabric!