My, Oh My!

Several years ago M went to San Francisco for work and stumbled upon the Britex Fabric store. Suspecting a gift for me might be housed inside, he went in. The Liberty of London fabric he selected is among the best fabric I have in my stash. I have used bits and pieces, but derive the most pleasure from planning to use the lovely fabric this way and that without ever actually cutting it.
Now I've visited the store myself. It is four floors of wool, decorator and cotton fabric of every description along with (they say) 40,000 buttons and scads of notions. Though no bargain store, it was fabulous entertainment to stroll the floors and stroke the fabric. The other customers were big-city types planning high-end projects, which was interesting in itself. If money were no object, this is what a fabric store would be like. I bought Japanese cotton-linen "princess and the frog" fabric along with a piece of "the emperor's new clothes" fabric to make some very appealing pouches.

Custom

My friend G is an elementary school social worker. She is off to a state-wide conference for school social workers next month, and aims to fundraise for a professional social workers group by selling pouches. She choose fabrics and composed a pithy message for me to silk screen--"School social workers make change." I whipped up a bunch. I think they turned out well, and should appeal as a purse-organizing token of the meeting.

By-Product

I have been making fabric baskets lately, mostly of a size to hold mail or desk supplies or the things that gather on a bedside table. One of the basket construction steps calls for trimming off corners. The waste fabric, eight pieces in all, look to my kids like hats for stuffed animals. Go ahead, kids, and haul out all your stuffed animals. Fit them in party hats and enjoy yourselves for a few minutes. Maybe I'll squeeze in a little sewing.

Wash and Go

I am occasionally asked at the farmer's market whether the things I'm selling will wash. Though I do try to avoid too many lighter fabrics so dirt will show more slowly, I often can't resist. The washing question is a relevant one.
Here are the two pouches I use most often after they have been washed. To me, they look and feel the same. I threw them in with my family's laundry, washed them in cold water, and set them on my drying rack to dry. I, for one, will not hesitate in the future to choose a pouch for my personal use that is lighter in color. Then again, I can always make another one. Wait a minute...people at the farmer's market can always buy another one.

One of Everything

With a regular sewing time every day and frequent extra sewing sessions on weekends or while kids enjoy their daily 20 minutes of Wii time, I have plenty of opportunity to sew the same pattern in different fabrics. I thoroughly enjoy making the same items over and over, with a different fabric each time. Two of these three messenger bags were custom ordered. I hadn't yet thought to make a messenger bag with dogs or hippos on the flap, but the patterns look cute on the outside of a purse. I have on the top of my to-sew list a new fabric featuring the owl and pussy cat going to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat. I don't even want a purse or bag for myself out the design; I just want to make something from it.

I Heard A Story...

Making pouches and bags for the Urbana Market at the Square and the Shared Space art and craft cooperative is fantastic. I am free to sew and sew and sew with a multitude of fabrics and a rainbow of zippers and then pass my projects along to make room for more fabric and more zippers.
I have a few ideas of what the pouches might be used for, and I can report what I do with my own items, but I recently heard what a few others have stored in their pouches.
I have learned that someone bought a long and thin knitting needle zippered pouch to hold his telescope. I was also told a younger customer uses his small zippered pouch to hold his treasures, which include the skull of a squirrel.
Money, tools, collections, unmentionables, and random what-nots are all out there zipped up and stored in a pouch I made in my vast spare time. So cool.

A Basket for the Market

It was a great Saturday at the Market at the Square yesterday. The weather cooperated, and my pouches appealed to customers gathering peaches, cheese, flowers and other market whatnot. I had several fun conversations with folks who enjoy a really pretty fabric, are thinking about sewing themselves, or just had extra time to browse. I delivered three custom orders and wrote down the details for a new one.
I've been interested in fabric baskets lately and took 6 of them to this Saturday's market. The orange one pictured to the left did not sell, but baskets with dogs and the hippos on them did. My next booth day is in two weeks, and I'll take this basket back then. I will have to refrain from using it to store fabric in the mean time.

I Know The Designer

My friend K pointed me to the coolest web site. www.spoonflower.com allows you to design your own fabric and have it printed on cotton or canvas or a decent variety of other bases. Two to three weeks later the fabric parcel that arrives in the mail is one you invented yourself. My son R had the first idea for what to put on fabric, so his design is our test case. He expressed his current interest in Ancient Egypt with a pattern he reports says "colors of the rainbow" in hieroglyphics. I'm very impressed, and I trust R and I will come up with the perfect project for his one-of-a-kind fabric.

Seat with a View

My friend J showed me the idea of framing fabric in embroidery hoops. After combing through my stash of fabric for suitable patterns to group in round frames, I took the route of obvious success and bought fresh designs. All part of the same collection, these purple chairs decorate the wall behind the desk in my sewing room. Now I can sit, browse future fabric purchases, and enjoy the chairs.

Summer Dress

K is frequently with me when I duck into the fabric store for supplies. She is not a fan of linen or fresh needles or stabilizer. She likes bright prints, Disney characters or anything with sequins on it. From time to time she convinces me the dress modeled on the tempting project mannequins is perfect for her, and I should make it. This is one such dress.
Unfortunately, though she was with me to approve the pattern, K was not around when I picked out the fabric for the project. She was dismayed, therefore, to see that my finished dress is neither the same color nor the same splashy fabric pattern as the one shown on the front of the pattern envelope. The result is K consented to wear her new dress so I might take a picture of her in it if I gave her a piece of gum. She then immediately changed herself into a corduroy jumper, pink sandals and a Rocky Mountain baseball cap. I might as well go back to making fabric pouches.

Patch Basket

My entire side of the family is vacationing together this year. Four families and fourteen people are meeting at a cabin in Colorado. Since I've visited there before, I have a collection of patches from the Rockies. It turns out I really did need them. They fit just so as the center decoration on a series of vacation baskets. My thought is to pass the baskets out to folks to contain their keys, cameras and sunscreen during the visit, and maybe to serve a mail basket when they return home.

It's a Possibility

Someone visiting my booth at the Urbana Market at the Square last Saturday suggested an eyeglass case as a possible future project. This is a first attempt. It's a simple construction, slightly padded, lined in soft cotton, and top-stitched for a utilitarian look. K's new purple sunglasses fit inside the case well; I'll use it for awhile to see if any additions to the design occur to me.