Weekender Archer

Pattern: Grainline Studio's Archer Button Up Shirt
Material: 2 yds chambray
Cost: Sew Bossy trade

OK guys, I finally made an Archer! This is the product of another sewcial sewing endeaver - a Sew Bossy trade with the adorable Amber of Tangible Artiste. (Click here to see Amber's make).

I was first attracted to Amber's blog because she makes the sort of clean, simple and stylish clothing that give off that effortlessly cool look. When she challenged me to Sew Bossy, I was thrilled! (Though figuring out what to send her was a bit intimidating, and the first two blazer patterns I picked out for her she already had! I guess that's how you know it's a good match, I think?)

Of course, she sent me the classic Archer in a beautiful and casual chambray, along with some buttons, thread, and the nicest interfacing I have ever seen. (Seriously Amber, it was so nice!)

The most fun part of Sew Bossy is that it really creates a collaborative project - you get all the supplies and the pattern, and then can manipulate them to create something uniquely your own. Neither participant knows quite what the finished product will look like, but some amazing collaborations have come out of it.

To me, chambray means casual, so I wanted to create a casual weekend Archer. Instead of a full button-down shirt I created a front placket using  Melly Sew's and The Rusty Bobbin's continuous placket tutorials. I like the results ok but, honestly, I found the continuous placket to be really challenging. It took me half an hour of origami folding that thing before it even began to look like it was supposed to. Maybe mine's too wide, or I used too much of that nice interfacing (I did), but the end of my placket came out way shorter than in the pictures and much more thick. On top of that, I had some puckering in the fabric, even after resewing it. I will have to practice some more or find a different technique for next time I do this...

I also used this opportunity to try out another tutorial - Off the Cuff Style's Perfect Collar Points. This tutorial actually worked quite well, and is based on the wisdom of a long-time custom shirt maker. She says: Custom shirt makers NEVER pivot where they want a point, and NEVER poke their points out with a pointy objects. Of course, she says, If you Pivot and Poke and are happy with your results, then I am NOT the self-appointed Point Police Officer! She had me won over, and her simple technique was flawless! Maybe it's because I haven't done a proper collar in a while, but this is quite possibly the best one I've ever done.

Lastly, I ALWAYS wear my button up shirts rolled up to my elbows, so at the last minute I decided to forgo the cuffs and just hem the sleeves and roll them up. It's a casual weekend shirt anyway, right?!

I do believe I will make this pattern again, either with the full placket or another half one. If I want a version I can wear to work, I will also want to make the shoulders just a bit narrower, although I believe the pattern is intended to look a bit over-sized around the shoulders.

As for this version, I plan to leave it a bit wrinkly, bundled up on my dresser and ready to be put on every weekend. For this weekend, I have already worn it twice...

Thank you Amber!

Sewing Space: Pinboard

I'm closing out my sewing wall tour this week with my pinboard. While I must admit that I use Pinterest almost religiously to store inspirations, techniques and even articles, there is something nice about having inspiration that you can physically touch. Because this board takes more effort than just the click of a mouse, I find it especially useful as a project planning tool rather than all-things inspiration.

For my upcoming projects, I like to print a photo of the inspiration or line drawing, add a fabric swatch, and even tack up some notes or measurements. This helps keep me visually on track with what I want to sew next, and I get inspired every time I look at.

Truth be told, of course, I have taken the time to update the projects in about a year. Some are still on my to-do list, some haven't even been attempted, and many projects have taken place that aren't up here. I think it's time for an update!

Do you have a way to organize your thoughts that is easy to maintain? I'd love to hear your ideas!

This post concludes my sewing-space tour! If you try any of the projects, or are inspired to do your own, I'd love to see them!

Sewing Space: Friendly Kisses

Perhaps I get a little obsessive about my hobbies, but it wasn't until I had a friend over in my early stages of decorating that she commented that I had no pictures of my friends up. Oops!

In honor of Love Day today, I wanted to show you my alternative to the tried and true photo collage. Inspired by this Pinterest post, I decided to put up some friendly kisses instead. Since college, I rarely get to see one of my core groups of friends all together, so I plan on mailing out some return envelopes to get their smooches all in one place. For now, this is just a prototype made by the pucker of yours truly. I think the final version would look nice alongside their signatures, done in black.

It's not a traditional way to show how much  you love your friends, but definitely a unique one. I'm curious to hear if anyone else has a unique way of incorporating their friends or family into their decor.

Sewing Space: Storage

The biggest sewing-related organization challenge for most of us, of course, is storage. For me, it was important to store all (or at least most) of my sewing stuff in my sewing area, and not let it overflow into the rest of my space (and the rest of my life!). I borrowed Sarai's ever-popular Ikea rail system idea, and have not looked back. These handy bins store all my scissors, small tools, pens and pencils, all in a super reachable space. Along with the drawers on my sewing table (which is actually a second-hand Pier 1 console table), these bins store all my paper and writing implements as well as my craft supplies. Even the printer is tucked underneath!

That white cabinet you see at the left of my desk stores the rest of my sewing notions, including clear storage boxes with notions; shelves for patterns, remnants, and interfacings; and a space on top for sewing books. The baskets under the table store my mending and unfinished project, which I hope to eliminate by the end of this year. My actual fabric stash, which I don't really need access to, sits on a wide shelf in my closet (I don't have that much fabric, right?!).

In keeping with the 'everyday objects as art' theme, I also bought a small wall-mounted spool holder for good measure, and this holds mostly bobbins and some thread from current projects where I can easily reach them. The rest are stored in the cabinet.

So far so a good for an organized 2013!

Sewing Space: Presser Foot Organization

Lately, I have been showing you all around my new sewing wall in my studio apartment. One of the first projects I did that has been immensely helpful is organizing and displaying my presser feet!

I know from ready ze blogs that many of us have no idea what most of our presser feet are used for (Shanni Loves just started writing about hers from her new machine). The breakthrough for me was when I sat down with the Janome website and some useful articles to start looking these things up! The challenge, of course, was remembering which did what after I put them back in their packages. And storing them in all their packaging was becoming such a drag, especially in a small space like mine. I needed some way I could label all them and have them in handy reach. 

The solution? A framed presser foot collection! Kind of like a butterfly collection, I mounted up all my presser feet in a frame and labeled each of them. So that I can easily take them down for use, I bought a pack of super small command hooks, bent them a little into shape, stuck them in rows in the frame, and then hung the presser feet by the needle-hole part of each foot (this works for everything but the zipper feet - dunno what I'm going to do about them). Aren't I a proud collector??

Again, this project definitely fits into my philosophy 'beautiful and useable' - decorating with important and every day things in your life. Would you be willing to display your sewing supplies as art?

Sewing Space: Quote

Free download: You Are What You Make mini poster in rose, apple and sky

Last week, I showed you the first part of my sewing wall - decorating with sewing samples! Today, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite inspiration quotes, and a free download!

I'm not sure where I first saw this quote, but I think it ties nicely into life as well as sewing. This is important because, as I said before, my sewing room is in my main room (the joys of a studio apartment!), so I need to be inspired all around. It is also a good reminder of how the things I do - my hobbies, my work, my thoughts - are a part of me and make me who I am.

To make this mini poster, I was inspired by Village's 'For Like Ever' Poster, which seems to be popping up in every room on Pinterest lately. I didn't love the saying, but I do love the way the letters seem to disintegrate down the page. I replicated this with a torn paper pack in GIMP (the poor man's Photoshop) and I am quite liking the results.

I like them so much, in fact, that I have decided to make them available for you! You can download your very own mini poster in rose, apple and sky.

Sewing Space: Sewing Samples

Earlier this week, I promised I'd show you some of the elements from my new sewing wall. First up are my framed sewing samples!

A couple of years ago, my mom and I took a class where we made up a bunch of great sewing samples to practice techniques. I photographed the process and now have those steps saved in my Tutorials section, which I refer back to all the time. The sewing samples themselves, however, just sat in a bag taking up space. Since my main philosophy for small space decorating has centered around the 'beautiful and useable' - keeping only those things which are most useful and displaying them in a beautiful way, I decided that I needed to get those sewing samples out where I could see them. Luckily for me, this was also a cheap way to fill some of the frames on my new sewing wall.

To make these framed sewing samples, I started by picking up a bunch of small antique frames at an estate sale. I then made up new sewing samples in my decorating color scheme and in the right size for the frames. Finally, I squeezed them into the frames with a bit (a lot!) of tugging and pulling. I also removed the glass to accommodate some of the 3D elements (like zipper pulls).

My wall has one row of frames with three different types of zippers (pictured above), and another group of four that showcase (pictured at top, clockwise from top left) a tiny patch pocket, seam finishes, decorative stitches, and button holes. While pretty to look at, they also remind me of what my machine's different stitches look like. 

I know a ton of you have sewing samples, too (House of Pinheiro was just talking about hers). Does anyone else refer back to their samples when sewing?

Sewing Space: Decorating with Useable, Beautiful Items

Those who I've chatted with about my sewing space know that I live in a very small apartment. In June, I moved into a slightly larger place, upgrading from 220 sq ft to something in the 300 to 400 sq ft range. But still, it's not much - from the blogs I read, it seems like some lucky people have that much space in their sewing room alone! Besides space limitations, my setup has other challenges: living in a studio means that my sewing space is my bedroom space is my living space is my dining space, so decorating my sewing space also means that I am decorating my main room, which is very important! (Thankfully I have a separate - and very large - walk-in closet, which pretty much makes it all worthwhile.)

My main decorating philosophy centers around the 'beautiful and usable,' keeping only those items that are most useful, and in turn displaying them for easy use in a beautiful way. In a small space, that means to get it up on the walls! Over the next few weeks, I hope to show you some of the ways I got my sewing supplies out on display to make the space my own.

So stay tuned as a I show off my sewing wall and give you some cool sewing-related decorating projects!