Sally Stitch: More seams and some Really Helpful Hints

This Helpful Hints page is getting framed up and hung in my sewing area. When I first started making stuff I had to sew some velvet to canvas for curtains for a family friend and after some serious tears and cursewords I called my Grandma Ruth and she told me to sew the whole thing between cut strips of brown paper bags. It worked. I love handy info like that!




What? Mrs. Home Maker is scrapbooking her seam practice?
Okay, now I feel like a total craft slacker.

There's no Place like Home

Back from the trip to the In-Laws in good old Orange County.
I know. No warning... but I had delusions of posting on the road.
I am nothing, if not delusional.
Our schedule was hectic and the laptop wasn't hooked up to the internet when it was in my vicinity so:
So home again after a family reunion, a good friend's bridal shower, cuddling cute nieces, and a mom and son trip to the land of Disney. No photos.. I left the camera at home. Doh.

I really enjoyed everyone's responses to the Personality profiling.. and there is only one I have to question.
Come on, Jungle Dream Pagoda... You have to be "dramatic".. It's in your job description!
.. And you own more than one Pucci!

We are in recovery mode here after actually watching commercial tv for a few days (!) and having all our socks dirty at the same time. I am excited though because I watched Martha Stewart silkscreen and even though I have carved a lino block for the swap.. I am all excited to silkscreen some fabric. I have almost everybody's addresses.. I will get my organizational bonnet on and get the remainder of the list.

But in the mean time... The garden is so pretty. And I just don't know what other post to share these on. So please enjoy my tiger lilies.





And the hydrangeas... The deer didn't gnaw them off this year and frankly I couldn't be more thrilled.



It is almost making up for the fact that the dang "napalm on the hoof" did desimate the summer kitchen garden pretty much entirely.

Snacking on the pepper plants and the chowing down on the early heirloom tomatoes. Aw, wilderness.

Personality Plus What?

Wow..
This is all something I think we should consider before we sew another Garment.
Can you fit yourself into a handy stereotype? I mean according to this your clothing can actually enhance your personality..

Assuming we all actually have one to begin with.

(Click on the image to make them ledgible....)






Sew... What personality are you?

A.K.A. the Noodle

4 pals on the first Monday sans school, post water balloon fight, and just before a pizza feast and cupcakes.
Who is gunning for coolest mom on the planet? Me, that's who. And I have such a small window to still be the one who can make the best things happen.

Now, for an overdue answer to a me-me from Violette Crumble.

Where did we get our dear son's name. Jacob Albert.

Jacob seemed so original at the time. Funny because that year it became the most popular name for boys and stayed that way for the next 3 years.... Something in the water? who knows.
Albert is a family name on his dad's side and I like how solid and old fashioned it sounds. No trendy moniker is Albert.
And as a story a real let down too.. Just wrote Jacob Albert on a matchbook and that one stuck, beating out Griffin ( my fave) and Tyler ( dad's fave) because we agreed on it. We didn't find out he was a boy ahead of time .. because I didn't want to spoil the surprise... but I think we sensed it, because our girls name was never really "chosen". Just debated.
Jacob has a zillion nick names. We very rarley call him just Jacob. The second he was born his dad called him Sport Shoes. We refer to him often as Punker D or the Punk. Sometimes Boo or The Chuckling.. But mostly Noodle. Jakey Noodle. Punkey Noodle. The Nood.

I expect as he revs it up toward young adulthood we may cross a line and he will put the brakes on all the pet names. So for now I will use them, as often as I can, for as long as he will let me.

Okay I will tag:
Michelle, and Knit Sonya . (Between them they have 5 kids so that should count for 5?)...

I am so excited because I have a whole huge home improvement project to post, A New Vintage Circus Tent, and the next installment of everybody's sewing super hero Sally Stitch and her humble side kick Mrs. Home Maker (the good twin of the less popular, Mrs. Home Wrecker)..

Do... Stay Tuned!

The Swap is Set and a Lesson from Sally Stitch

Okay! 30 Players for the Handprinted fabric swap. THIRTY!
Well, Yee- Haw... Let's git to swappin'!

Gwen... Graphic and funky is great!
Please join in! I put you on the list!

Everyone else is on board. Dorie is the last "new" signup.... and we are off. No Rules! No Boundaries!
Except: Please get it to me here in California during the last week of July.
We are swapping fat quarters which is a half of a HALF (..oops.. revised..) yard of fabric .. aka: 18x22 inches. Hand embellished with paints, ink or dyes..
If your fabric requires special washing or something.. it would be great if you could include a "care slip".

I will sort and send out the first week in August.. You inclusion of a bit of money (or stamps) for postage will be appreciated.
You will recieve the same # of fat quarters as you send. (The swap is for 4-6.. but I am willing to go as far as 8 with a group this big!)

Email me: bitterbetty13 ( at ) sbcglobal ( dot) net.. So I have a real email for everyone (blogger doesn't often provide that info to me) and also if you include your address, I can start address labels. And I will send my address back to you!

This is really exciting! Thanks everyone who signed up and all the well wishers too!


Now with no further ado:
Sally Stitch shows us seams!!
This is fun but these are a great little reference for doing the seam finishes.. There are a few more pages to this chapter that I will upload .. But great clear demonstrations.





Sadly, less catty remarks about Mrs. Home Maker's recklessness with "her husband's money".
(Oh, Puh-leeeeeze.)
( And I guess her husband's first name is Home... maybe short for Homer?)
But if you learn and use these tricks you will feel so clever and detail oriented that it will make you look 10 to 12 years younger.

The second half of chapter one will be published shortly. It includes 5 more seams, a helpful hints page and more of those humorous stick figures in the titles! And as a bonus we will include "Your Wardrobe Personality Profiler"..

All for the low, low, price of Free..

The Swap Plan!

Okay:

How about this: Everyone make 4-6 fat quarters of printed ( or fancy dyed) fabric and you will get 4-6 sent back to you. What you send in, you will get back.

International swappers are fine. We are going to do this ATC swap style: everyone send the fabric to me and I will collate and redistribute. So if it is coming from overseas... It would be great if you sent early, if at all possible. Aim for having it to me by the last week of July, then I will send it back out the first week of August, if humanly possible.

I think if everyone sends in fabric and some nominal postage money (just match what it cost you to send it to me please)..
Then, we should be good.

So far we have 10 swappers. And quite a talented group!!
Anyone else? (Sonya? Stef?)

I will leave the sign up open until Tuesday. After that I will gather everyone's info, and we can go get printing.

Now I better get loading the car and putting on my Craft show lipstick.

This is where I will be today:

Cis4Craft.com
June 9,2007 11am-5pm
Lifestyle Culinary Arts
101 B Cooper Street
Santa Cruz,CA

( That is right downtown , near good coffee, books and gelato!)

If you have no plans you should come to Santa Cruz.. shop for crafts and then hit the beach!

Ok.. The Hand Printed Fabric Swap. Let's go!

Alrighty. Sounds like I have a fantasy shared by a few of you!
Let's do a handprinted fabric swap. I think this could be any print/dye process.
Lino, Gocco, silkscreen, wood block, batik, etc.

I am not sure exactly how to do it, so I would love to hear who is interested and what do you think about how to swap it.

Do we want to swap 1/4 yards? Fat quarters?
I think it would be great to get a bunch of different fabrics from different people.
Do we want to send in 4 to 8 1/4 yard pieces (or fat quarters) and then get 4-8 back?

Any other ideas? Color theme?

Shall we aim for sending out the swap the last week in July?
Can't wait to hear what you have to say on this one!

Home Sewing Is Easy!!

Okay here are the first two pages of my new favorite:
A How-To Sewing Comic!

(another Perfect Gift from my pal Lindy!!)






(Click on the image for a bigger version.)

This Sally Stitch does not mess around! There are great Sewing Kung Fu moves in this and I hope to republish a chapter a week for all you new New Vintage sewing novices out there!

My favorite lines?
"Remember- Clothes are an expression of your personality." ( All the vintage wardrobe and charm books have really covered this extensively. In fact there appear to be only about 6 personalites out there for women of the mid century era.. but more on that later. Including a handy "Clothing Personality Pigeonholing Chart" for you to use at home!)

and, of course, the line on the first page: " And there's extra money in the budget Thanks to my new sewing machine Know-How..." Is this lady gunning for an evening out in the cute little suit or wha-at?
Looks like if the Hub won't spring for some spring rolls the wolf whistling paper boy might be willing!

and finally without further ado:
the 7 things me-me ( brought to you by Christelle at http://makingthingslady.blogspot.com/)

1) My middle name is Paige. That could make me Betty Paige but since my first name is really Bethany, that would be stretching it... and besides that name is already taken.
2) I am the eldest sister in my family; There are also Sarah, Lassen, and Amelia.
3)My favorite color is usually red. but I waffle.
4) I like to "cook big" for company, but for general dinners I am remarkably lazy.
5) I used to be as obessessed with my garden as I am with sewing.. but the deer jaded me.
6) I have read 10 books already this year... not counting sewing and craft books which I really skim, more than read.
7) I am just dying to print my own fabric. I picture a lino block/ silkscreen/ batik party with clothes lines draped with gorgeous one of a kind fabric. I think about it about 3 times a day for the last few weeks.

I tag: umm, whomever wants to play.


My next meme is the "Origin of Your Child's Name." and i will get it done very soon..

But now.. off to "save money" at the fabric store!

What The Heck Happened to Betty?

I spent last Friday having lunch with Futuregirl and Kuky Ideas



I got some Japanese Crafts books (my first) and we ate crepes in a paper cone.



These are lovely ladies and Kuky brought her family which made for some fantastic baby games!
it is so nice to meet blog friends face to face and have them be as charming and delightful as you imagined.



Futuregirl was on vacation all the way from PHILLY, PA. That is FA-AR. So, it was extra great to see her. Plus , I think she was my very first virtual friend. You know, the first to email and not just comment, the first to share more about her life than what project she just finished. She's good like that. Friendly ... generous.. and talented.

Then Home again and was I ever suprised, the Wrap Skirt Tutorials I did for Sew, Mama, Sew was featured on the Craftzine blog... That was a thrill! And i can count on Knit Sonya to make sure I didn't miss it.! Finger on the Pulse of the Blogosphere.

Over the last month and a half I have taken a couple of needle felting classes (one from Knit Sonya and the other one from this lady ) and that led me to make these.



Fluffy stuff. I love that they balance on their pipecleaner feet. Needle felting is my first fibercraft. I have already bought more wool.It has it's own plastic box in the craft cave... a big one.

I have done some thrift-craft too, using the thrifted embroidery transfers to embellish the thrifted linen pillow case with redwork.



I got the vintage laundry basket at the thrift store for 6.50.. definitely my score o' the week. ( But the Krups ice cream maker for 6.00 wasn't a bad deal either.)

I sold a bunch of my goose eggs to a shop called Iron Dog Antiques in historic Niles, CA... and they already sold three of them right back out of there. Flattered, I am sure!



I am making ready for the Big 40th birthday party here and so am cleaning and cooking instead of crafting for the "C is 4 Craft" Fair in Santa Cruz on June 9th. Well, I am trying to clean.. but I keep finding little crafty things to do too.

Come visit me there!

Cis4Craft.com
June 9,2007 11am-5pm
Lifestyle Culinary Arts
101 B Cooper Street
Santa Cruz,CA

Had some super sad news too. An old friend from high school died in a mototrcycle accident. Scooter Meyerhoff didn't just have the greatest name in the universe, he was the kind of person that you thought would go on forever. He was charming and gregarious and larger than life. He was all hugs and smiles, when most teens were moody and distant. He was a great friend.
The world got just a little less sunny last Sunday.

Oh and I know I am tagged for the 7 things but I am not finding the right moves for my interpretive dance for that one.. I will do it soon, I swear!!!!!!! I will not flake!