Elastic Project

If you love pink, you're going to love our entries for this month's elastic project.  We don't tell each other what we're making until we send each other our photos.  Lo and behold, we both made pink girly items.

We didn't make the same thing, although that's one of our fears.  But...we each made something for a little girl.  A ruffled skirt with elastic waist for a 5 year old girl.  She'll be pretty in pink.  And then we have a floral headband for a baby girl.  Great minds almost think alike.

Pretty in pink skirt.  Love it!  Would it look good on someone my age??? We'll never know.

After I made this cute little headband, I wanted to try it on.  But it just wouldn't fit.  I guess you can call me bigheaded.

Since this is an elastic contest, I wanted to make sure you could see the elastic up close.  And not just the ruffles.  After all, last month was the ruffle contest.  And these are pre-made ruffles.

You will be able to see our June contest photos very soon.  We have entered the Umbrella Prints contest (it's a real contest, not a made up one like ours is).  And there are actual prizes.  You'll be able to vote for your favorites in the real contest in June.  You'll have to have a Pinterest account, so if you don't have one sign up now.  You can't vote unless you're on Pinterest.  And once you're on it, you'll be addicted for life.  Trust me.

For this cute little flower headband, I found the pattern in an apron pattern that I want to make.  The flower could go on the apron, but I thought it would look very pretty sitting on the head of a little baby girl.  Not my baby girl.  But someone else's.  

Be sure to vote for your favorite elastic project.  Don't worry.  Neither of us tried on these items.  They're only safe for small children.

I just want to remind you that the voting is anonymous.  We can't see who you vote for, so just vote!  Don't be shy!!!

And once again, we're not telling you which one of us made which item.  You just choose the one you like the best.  But I bet it will be pink.

April Sewing Competition

I wanted to let you know that Joy and I are still in a sewing competition.  For April, we were supposed to be creating a piece from fabric that we "inherited" when we cleaned out our parent's house a couple of years ago.  We found a bunch of vintage feedsack fabric.  Well, we moved that competition to a later date, because we have entered a "real" sewing competition.

The sewing challenge is sponsored by Umbrella Prints, which is a design company in Australia.  This is the 3rd year for their challenge.  Here's how the challenge works.  You order a packet of their fabric "scraps" and then make something using that fabric.  You can't pre-select the fabric.  You just take whatever they send to you.  And let me tell you, it's not much fabric.  Here's what the packet looked like when I got it.  Yeah, it's that small.

Here's the fabric all laid out real pretty.  I like the fabric; there's just not much there.

I've made my entry for the contest, but I can't show it to you yet.  Here's how the contest works.  We will add photos of our finished item to our blog by the end of May.  Then we will notify Umbrella Prints to check out our photos.  They'll upload them to their Pinterest board.  Then you....our fans....can go to Pinterest and vote for your favorite.  Just let me say this...my entry is a winner.  It is so cute.  You will love it.  I know I do.  I just wish I could show it to you now.  You'll have to wait a little while longer.

Joy is busy working on her entry.  I have no idea what she is making.  We are both afraid that we're making the same thing.  You know how twins minds work.  sometimes just alike without even trying.  It will be interesting to see what she makes.  She thinks hers could be the winner, but I know mine is.  How can I say it more clearly?  MY. ENTRY. IS. THE. WINNER.  THAT'S. ALL.

Stay tuned.

Oh, one more thing.  We will return to our regularly scheduled sewing contest for May.  The theme is ruffles.  What can we make with ruffles?  I have no idea.  I've been scouring the web for ideas.  Anyone have any ruffled ideas?  Please pass them along.

Oh, by the way, this is Jan....

Jan's Purses and Totes

Joy and I have entered a real sewing contest, and we aren't quite ready to reveal the info about it.  I have finished my entry, and it is sooo cute.  I can't wait for the world to see it.  Joy just got home from vacation and hasn't started working on her entry.  We will keep you informed of when the big reveal is.  I'm so excited about my entry.

I have been doing some sewing that I can share.  I recently made a couple of totes that I listed in our etsy shop.  My older sister saw one of them and asked me to make a purse for her.  I made it and mailed it to her last week.  I sent the package priority mail with a tracking number on it.  You never know when your special packages can get lost and need to be hunted down.  She called me this week and told me that her package  had been delivered...but to the wrong house.  Someone else had her purse.  Oh no! To make a long story short, she finally got her package the next day.  If she hadn't, we would have had to put out an APB for a lost purse in Southern Illinois.  Thank goodness, there are still honest people around.  My sister is now one happy owner of a new purse.  If you're in Southern Illinois and you see this bright bag, be sure to say hello.

She carried the purse to work on Friday, and of course, it got rave reviews.  I got a call from my sis that afternoon with an order from one of her coworkers for a little clutch.  I sent her photos of some cool fabric to choose from.  She made a really great selection.  I'll be sure to add pics once I get it all done.  I made a practice clutch this afternoon, because I had never made the pattern and wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be too difficult.  It's really cute, if I say so myself.  I need to add a big green button on the front of the flap to finish it off, and I'll do that as soon as I can find one.

We'll keep you posted on all our sewing competitions.  We'll start our own competition back up soon.  Stay tuned!

Peek A Boo at Jan's Project

Hi! This is Jan. Well, I've started working on my selvage project. I've never sewn with selvages before. I usually just cut them off and discard them. When I first got back into sewing a couple of years ago, I would throw them away. I had no idea people would actually make something out of selvages.

Like Joy, I'm not really sure what the right way is to sew with selvages. So, I just started sewing them together with no backing. And they seem really strong.

If I had known that I was going to sew with selvages, I would have cut them a little wider. I usually try to cut off only the selvage, which leaves them very thin when you're trying to sew with them. In the future, I'll have to remember to cut the selvages at least half an inch wider than I usually do. I need to cut of at least half an inch of the fabric with the selvage.

I'm not saying what I'm making, but here's a peek at what I've been working on.

A Peek at Joy's Project

Hi. This is Joy. I have started on my selvage project. It should be pretty fun, but I have a ton of selvages to go through. I usually just throw them in a pile and never think about them again. I have never made anything with selvages, but after seeing other finished projects, it's something I wanted to try. Now I'm wishing I had started with a plan when I started ripping or cutting off my selvages. Too late. First I have to iron the selvage strips and then sew them all together. Tedious, but interesting. Well, actually, first you need to choose which of the hundreds of selvages you want to work with. Are you going to use a certain color scheme or will it be random? Decisions, decisions. Since I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this selvage item for myself, I'm going random. Not using my absolute favorite fabric selvages, but not leaving them out on purpose. I'm including a picture of my selvage pile before I started choosing, and the second picture is of the selvages I'm going to be working with. I probably should research how to do this. Do I sew the selvages onto a piece of muslin or do I just sew them all to each other? Does it matter? Not sure. I'll just wing it and see how it goes.

Sewing Challenge

Hi. We're twin sisters (Jan and Joy) who love fabric. We learned to sew in high school. Somehow over the years, we stopped. Sewing, that is. Our sewing machines got old and dusty and just didn't work anymore.

A couple of years ago, the sewing bug hit us again. It all started when we found some old fabric and quilt squares as we were cleaning our parents house. We had just moved them to an assisted living apartment. We had no clue that our mom had inherited some old feedsack fabric from her mom. So we split up the fabric between the 2 of us and our older sister.

Joy made an apron for her daughter. Well, before she did that she had to buy a new sewing machine. Jan was newly unemployed and also had to buy a new sewing machine. Then we started buying cool modern fabric. We have now fallen so deeply in love with the modern fabric movement that we just can't stop buying fabric. That means we need to sew. It isn't very good to just sit and drool on your beautiful fabric. Don't ask me how I know that.

This is Jan writing this, by the way. 2 years ago, I was laid off from my job. I eventually found the best job ever. And now, 2 weeks ago, I was very unexpectedly laid off from the best job ever. It's very sad. But life goes on. I'm now on the hunt for the next best job. Wish me luck!

The first time I was laid off, I spent a week at Joy's house in Illinois. Then I came home to Ohio and bought my sewing machine. Now, 2 years later, I've just returned home from spending a week at Joy's. We thought we'd get alot of sewing done, but we were just too busy with life. Visiting our parents, meeting our brand new niece (Ainsley) who was born on Valentines Day, hosting a baby shower for a friend, going to a Big Ten basketball game. Things like that.

Joy discovered a sewing competition sponsored by Moda Bake Shop. It's too late for us to enter it, but it be a cool thing to do. So cool that we decided to have our own sewing competition. I wouldn't really call ours a competition, because there's no winner or loser. Each month, we'll have an item that we have to use to sew something. Here's the list of monthly challenges:

2012

March........... Selvage

April............. Our Mom's old fabric

May.............. Ruffles

June............. Elastic

July.............. Rickrack

August......... Garment (make one)

September.. Christmas

October....... Quilting

November... Pintucks

December... Create Spoonflower fabric design and make something with it

2013

January...... Old denim

February.... Zippers

March........ Jelly roll

Our items have to be completed by the 20th of each month. We will post pictures of them on the blog. We may even create a poll so you can vote for your favorite item. We aren't really competitive people, so we won't be jealous if the other person always wins. Well....unless it's Joy and then I may have to beat her up.