Thinking Ahead - Jacket - British Wool - Questioning at Crafster

Today I posted my questions to Crafster.org http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=450696.0

Working on not keeping materials in my fabric inventory for too long. I have a couple of other sewing projects going on, but preparing and thinking through how to work with this lovely wool, makes it more likely that it will get sewn once it gets chilly 'round here.  I also need to think about Seam Fnishes - I'm thinking either flat-felled or bound. This article has a lot of info and ideas for working with reversible garments

Terminado/Finished Sewing Baby Lounger- Changing/Playing/Napping Pad

Cousin Martha Loving up my dog Jasper
on our recent camping trip
at Pismo Beach

My cousin is going to be a grandmama!

I thought about buying some beautiful Kona cotton and making a finely pieced and quilted baby quilt. 

But......

Would I get it done? I hate to admit that I have found bits and pieces related to unrealized baby quilts in my sewing collection, where the baby involved is in high school..... That's what happens when you decide to focus on garment sewing!

"Whiskers and Tails" - Robert Kaufman fabric

I was looking through my fabric inventory and found this doggie print, very thick batting and a blue and white striped home dec remnent. Golly what a thought - to use up what I have!

Considered various piecing ideas with the print and decided some things are more darling just as they are.

Here is baby pad tucked into it's matching laundry bag
Extra laundry bags for babies are handy
Note - Jasper appears to approve

I have just completed the baby-to-be, a changing/napping/playing pad. It's not intended as a blanket, because the home-dec side would be rough on tender skin. I remember it’s handy to have items you can throw down on the grass or a less than clean zone. 

Babies lounge around a lot.

Reminder of doggy print  became laundry bag - and will serve as gift bag for the baby shower. Horray! nothing remains but minimal scrap!

Also ordered  a baby’s-first type toy to attach to top of laundry bag

I also plan to make several of those bunnies you fold out of washclothes* to attach to the top - there never being sufficient quantities of washclothes in house when a kid is born

I will save the fine piecing and lovely quilting for another day

Técnicos

I did basic round shaped quilting - kind of snail like. Paper worked  well - I hand basted a big circle of it down, then stitched it in place with machine stitching and ripped it off. I also used round chalk lines with pins as guide lines. Quilted enough across surface to attach top to back.

Tried the walking foot - but teflon foot floated better. Maybe because of  very thick batting?

Making the bias strips from home dec fabric, and dealing with fussy corners actually took the most time - that thick home dec fabric is not very fun on the mitred corners.

* For washcloth bunnies I rubber band (instead of tying ribbon) and add faces with sharpie pen (instead of gluing on eyes) to attach to top. The ones in the link below have attachments that would cause choking (that link is not intended for newborn babies but has a handy folding diagram). But once the rubber band is removed and the cloth washed - it just becomes a washcloth. In addition to following link, there are a variety of youtube videos showing how to fold these bunnies origami-like.

 http://www.auntannie.com/Easter/WashclothBunny/

Finding Betty's (Fabric Shopping Field Trip San Luis Obispo)

On a recent trip to San Luis Obispo I couldn't wait to go back to visit Betty's! The crazy thing is that, though my daughter was a student at Cal Poly for several years (she graduated two weeks ago) I never stumbled across this wonderful emporium until last December. 

Here's my strange little story about this fabric lover's store.... I'd gone down to see my daughter between quarters. We set off for a nice day trip to Santa Barbara, and I checked on the web to see if there were any fabric stores close by. Sure enough Betty's showed up on the web. Except that when I went to the Santa Barbara State Street address that I'd found, there wasn't actually a fabric store. Oh rats! We all know the sad story of the disappearing independent fabric store. I chatted with an employee in the household supply store there, and she agreed that yes indeed, people often came in searching for Betty's and had been doing so for years. No, she didn't think the store had just moved or anything. She was a sewist herself. Well tough luck for me, right?

So back in San Luis Obispo I was fussing to my daughter about the missing Santa Barbara store. 

Gee sorry mom, there's some kind of fabric store right down the street. Why don't you try it?

Oh honey, I'm sure it's a home dec store. I'd know if there was a fabric store here besides Beverley's. 

But of course I walked down the street.

And I found Betty's. 

And guess what? It's THE Betty's. The same one that used to be in Santa Barbara! 

Betty is, I hear, a long, long time fabric store owner. Apparently she did indeed have a store in Santa Barbara for a long time, but real estate prices there made her decide to convert her property to rental and focus on sales in San Luis Obispo. 

This ruffly stuff makes a great deconstructed tee
I loved the result using this type of fabric in
my  pale green Fashion Forward Mermaid tee

I'm sure glad she did, because Betty

It's unusual to find these goods
in a local store

 has great stock, especially knits. 


It's stumbling onto great store's like Betty's that keep me Enchanted By Sewing.

~ ~ ~

You may also enjoy this hiking field trip to San Luis Obispo's Mount Madonna