Confessions of a Craft Addict

Life happens.

It’s been nearly a year since I’ve written here. I had big plans for 2017 — and then life happened. My priorities shifted to something that needed my full and immediate attention, so my plans were shelved.

But it was far from a year without crafting. Even in those times when my heart hurts and it feels like the weight of the world is on me, I am grateful to find respite in creating. Maybe 2017 wasn’t my prolific year of making, but I know that my priorities were in the right place.

And now I’m determined to get back to crafting and writing, and eventually dusting off those shelved plans.

I hope you’ll follow along.

I have intended to start a regular feature like this for some time but just haven’t gotten myself going on it. Times, they are a changing!

I designed this beach bag for Westminster Fibers last year to showcase the Beach line of fabric by David Walker. It’s a nice, roomy tote with a flat bottom, exterior pocket and interfaced with Soft n Stable so it doesn’t droop. I’ve made a couple for gifts; they’re really easy to sew and can be personalized in so many ways (I’m thinking laminated cotton for the exterior!)

Here’s what you need to make one:

Exterior: 7/8 yard (.81m)
Lining: 7/8 yard (.81m)
Straps: 3/8 yard (.343m)
Pocket: 1/4 yard (.229m)
Binding: 1/4 yard (.229m)
1/4 yard (.229m) of heavyweight fusible interfacing
7/8 yard (.81m) of By Annie’s Soft n Stable
3/8 yard (.343m) of 3/8” elastic

The nice folks at Westminster have the instructions in handy PDF format here for downloading. Enjoy!

Today was the first day of Little Stitchers summer camp at Intown Quilters and I couldn’t be happier.

This is the first time I’ve offered a camp for kids younger than 11. All my other camps (and the camps done by another teacher) are aimed at older kids. Inevitably, we get calls about things younger kids can do and have to turn them away.

After the fun we had with Miss L’s birthday party, I started brainstorming a camp for younger kids. All the projects involve hand sewing and each project builds on the skills from the previous projects.

Obviously I had to sign up Miss L, who has been disappointed that she’s not old enough for my other camps. She and two other students arrived bright and early this morning for the first three-hour camp day.

And they loved it.

Miss L is showing off the nametag she stitched up this morning. (Isn’t that fabric so cool? It’s by Timeless Treasures and has some great school coordinates.)

It was awesome to watch the girls work, contentedly sewing and then grinning broadly as they finished.

I have the best job EVER.

When I was in Houston last week, the delightful Jessica Levitt razzed me about not finishing up my DragonCon costume posts. Sigh. She’s right; I’ve been really slack in the blogging department for a while now. But I’m reforming my lazy ways and catching up with something that happened on Labor Day seems like as good a place as any to start.

This costume sort of came together at the last minute, in that I had a vague idea that I wanted something Steampunk with a corset but no clear plan for it. The boots were a given (my fabulous Fluevog  Babycakes that I got for a steal at Squash Blossom in Decatur) but the rest of it just sort of fell into place.

And yet I love it so!

I do need to give a major shoutout to the amazingly talented and sweet Ana Aesthetic, cosplayer and costumer extraordinaire. I met her at DragonCon in 2010 and am so happy to call her my friend. In addition to introducing me to some of the better dining spots in the area, she also looked at corset muslin #8 and steered me in the right direction on the fit issues I was having. Thanks to her help, I actually pulled off a wearable corset.

I used the Laughing Moon Silverado and think I may add the hip gores next time to make it fit just a wee bit better over my badonkadonk. LOL! The fabric is by Quilt Gate and such an amazing  Asian stripe. I do wish I’d cut out both sides independently, rather than with the fabric doubled over, just so I could have spread out the stripes a bit more evenly. Still, I had so many people comment on the corset and that just made my day.

The tiny top hat is a pattern from the Quilted Fish. I like it but I will probably make a full size top hat to wear in the future. My hair does not do well with combs, clips and barrettes, so I spent all day trying to keep the hat from migrating even further down my head. It does look super cool, though.

I made just a basic, elastic waist skirt from a purple stretch sateen and dressed it up with some embroidery from Urban Threads. Underneath is a simple petticoat that I whipped up with some lining fabric and layers of gathered tulle. It’s kind of a hodge podge of tulle (I was working my way through my former tutu supplies) but it gets the job done.

I need to add some Steampunk gear to really make the costume work but it’s definitely a great start. And insanely comfortable, in spite of all the steel boning.