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H4 pattern numero uno: the Cody Slipper. {The Cody Slipper}

Bianca recently purchased her first sewing machine and asked if I’d help her learn how to use it. Me, teaching sewing. I know. I know.

While I grew up with my mama’s sewing machine on the kitchen table, I never took home ec or had any desire to be artistic. Have you met my mother? Better yet, have you met her sewing?  It’s like a composer’s kid being tone deaf. Or Kim Kardashian’s kids being nuns. I was adamant. Stubborn. Obstinante, one might say. I had zero use or interest in anything that had any scent whatsoever of eu de Housewife.

Fast forward until I became a citizen of Dormistan. The land of honey and irony,  all-you-can-eat-and-weight-you-can-gain-buffets and $18 checking account balances. Skipping the beat of the dance clubs for the hum of a new sewing machine was an easy decision. The latter never required: Spanx, boys, cash, or my self-conscious awkwardness in public. I was a confident know-it-all in class. I was a shy, nervous wreck at an underage club.

Today I’m a fair combination of both, but do have a bit more balance between the social and the sewing. Sadly, 9 out of 10 projects still look like something off of Regretsy. But I can’t stop. I’ve got a closet full of fabric, a binder full of patterns and am slowly but surely becoming more comfortable with my modernized Laura Ingalls Wilder spirit.

{My version of the Oregon Trail would be by Prius. With stops along the way for hiking, sleeping under the stars and hitting the half annual sales at any Nordstrom en route. Wineries, pedicures, fly fishing for dinner. I’m pretty sure Laura would have been all about getting her eyebrows waxed, hitting a hot yoga class and gossiping about that wicked Nellie Oleson over happy hour. Something tells me the oxen and cholera wouldn’t be missed.}

The first video sewing 101 tutorial, for sweet Bianca and girls everywhere who celebrate their inner modern pioneering spirit:*

Happy trails, friends!

~k

* there is a clever joke to be made about how a current Laura Ingalls Wilder would kick some Kardash ass, and what a large task that would be, and her video skills being used for good, nor horror. But I’ll leave that to you…

A tongue in cheek guide to moving:

1. Visit a place you’d rather live. Or don’t. Pick a spot on a map, out of a book, do the “spin the globe and land” game.

2. Tell your friends and family, “I’m moving!”

3. Say it again for 4 years or so. Convince yourself slowly. Make yourself promises you’ll do something about it.

4. One day, actually do something about it. Start by telling your boss. Ask for a transfer.

5. In the meantime, look for jobs online. Don’t be proud. Apply for anything you think will make you happy. That’s the whole point of this little move, after all. Want to be a barista/knitting store worker/bartender/taxi cab driver/nanny? Well. Good for you! Let’s do it!

6. Send your resume to your smartest friends. Ask them to review it. Then, ask them to send it to their friends who may know someone in your new desired city.

7. Apply for more jobs.

8. If you know someone in the new city, ask to crash at their house for a bit. If they are incredibly generous and wonderful people, they’ll agree. Begin sending them gifts and notes of thanks immediately. If you are making a new start without knowing a soul, God bless you. Look in the newspaper for homes available. Talk to your realtor friends about a referral in the new city. Someone will want your business. Be picky.

9. Cry. Laugh. Schedule happy hours in your home town. Give yourself whatever emotional space you need to feel whatever you need, and don’t let guilt take hold. Laugh some more. (Stop yourself on occasion to think, “HOLY SHIT I AM ACTUALLY DOING THIS!”)

10. Organize your home. If you haven’t seen or used it in a year, someone at Goodwill can. Donate generously. Give friends books. Give friends plates of cookies and pitchers of sangria and make them promise to return them to you in your new city (built in guests). Give friends anything you think they can use. Find boxes and start packing. (I started packing 2 years before I called a moving company.) Call a moving company. Have a stiff drink before they hand you the estimate.

11. Make a pledge to pack a certain number of boxes every day. My number is 5.

12. Keep applying for jobs.

13. Check out the newspaper for your new hometown and find an event you want to attend when you arrive. For me, it’s Ray LaMontagne at Red Rocks. I am dreaming of this show.

14. Pack five more boxes. Apply for more jobs. Say goodbye to those you love. Cry. Laugh. Remember not to burn any bridges, especially those that may prevent you from returning to the hometown you still very much love.

15. Rent your current home. Pray your renters aren’t really sociopaths waiting to turn your casita into a meth den.

16. Consider what you what this new life to look like. For me, it includes dogs, chickens, babies, a big chunk of land, a dirty Outback, a messy kitchen, an all loving church, an indie bookstore, a masters swim team and many, many happy meals shared with my baby brother and Colorado family.

And with any luck, your hometown friends will throw you one heck of a going away party and have plans to come see you before you even leave.

Giddyup,

K

What to do with those handmade cards you buy at the local coffee shop? Or order from Paper Source? Or buy in bulk from Etsy? (Or perhaps my favorite new local shop: See SawDesigns. Hello, adorable letterpress creations!)

How about a fabric correspondence envelope, with space for both your cards, stamps and your favorite pen? You could use this to clean up your stationery drawer, or throw it in your suitcase when you travel to keep postcards and an address book handy.

{Yes, I actually travel like this. And yes, if you are in my address book, you’ve more than likely received your fair dose of correspondence over the years.}

Let’s start with fabric selection. Pick two pieces of fabric that are decor weight to give this some heft.

Supplies:

- 2 pieces of decor weight fabric, interior 10 ” x 14 ”

- 2 pieces of decor weight fabric, exterior 10 ” x 7″

- 2 pieces of lightweight fusible interfacing,  one, 10″ x 14″; the other 10″ x 7″

- 1 fabulous button, with needle and thread to attach

- general sewing notions: scissors, machine, ruler, pencil, etc.

Directions:

All seams are 1/2 inch.

Cut your exterior and interior pieces, along with your interfacing. Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of your exterior pieces. Place the exteriors (with interfacing now attached) and interior right sides together. You’ll have two stacks. The 10″ side is the bottom. The 14″/7″ side is the height.

Now, we are going to cut the larger set of pieces  to make the point of the envelope. Pin the 10″ x 14″ exterior and interior piece together.  Use a ruler and a dull pencil and measure 7″ from the bottom of the sandwiched pieces. The wrong side of the either the exterior or the interior should be facing up. Draw a line across the 10″ width at the 7″ (from the bottom up) mark. Now, draw a line from top to bottom at the 5″ mark. You should have two lightly drawn lines across one piece of your fabric.

Starting at the left corner of the 7″ mark and the left-side of the fabric, gently draw a line to the top 5″ mark, creating one side of the envelope point. Repeat on the other side of the fabric, creating the other side. You’ve now drawn a perfect triangle. Trim your envelope pieces accordingly:

You started with rectangles.

Now you have four pieces, two with a triangle top.

Let’s sew these pieces together. As per most sewing patterns, the key is to always sew things right sides together and leave a hole so you can turn it right-side out when you are done. Starting with the smaller 10″ x & 7″ pieces, place right sides together and sew only the top edge closed. (see the above photo) Press with your iron, turn right-side out, repeat seam with a top stitch.

Now, leaving a 3″ hole along the bottom 10″ piece — we are going sew the envelope portion together. Place the 10″ x 14″ (pointy envelope) exterior piece and interior pieces right-sides together. Sew along the outer edge, leaving the 3″ hole along the bottom. Place the other two pieces (10″ x 7″) right-sides together and repeat, leaving the same hole. Clip the corners. Turn both sets right sides out. Using your iron, push out your seams as far as you can. Match up both sets of fabric along the bottom edge (both with 3″ holes). Carefully turn these in and pin. Pin around the entire outer edge of the envelope and top stitch, enclosing your 3″ turning holes. You should now have one giant envelope.

To create pockets for the pen and cards, measure in 2″ from the left-hand edge of your fabric. Run a seam from the bottom to the top of the pocket section (only 7″ tall, not the entire 14″ triangle point!). You’ve now got one large pocket — on the right — for cards and stamps, and one little pocket — on the left, for your pen.

Now, pick a coordinating button to sew on the front of the flap. This is simply for decoration, and to provide a bit of weight to keep the flap down. You won’t create a button hole, so your button doesn’t need to be practical. Go wild!

Add a personal label if you’d like, fill with stationery and a pen and enjoy!

Yay! Letters! Who doesn’t love letters (especially love letters)!

-k

Namaste bag tutorial

Okay, 25 projects and I’m done! I realize this one is a double-post, but you asked for a tutorial. The Namaste Yoga bag:

Cut your exterior (above) and interior pieces 15″ wide by 17″ tall.

For the exterior yoga mat pocket, cut a piece of fabric 12″ x 10 ” (this piece pictured is too big, as you’ll see. This is a live and learn tutorial.)

With the yoga pocket, iron under the 10″ (tall) edges by 1/4″ and top stitch.

Then iron under the 12″ top and bottom.  Set aside.

Turn your exterior piece right sides together and sew 1/4″ seam along both edges and across the bottom.  Set aside.

Random photo of a European candy tin I use for pins. I love these.

Cut an interior pocket piece 15″ wide x 5.5″ tall.  Iron under top edge by 1/4″. Top stitch. Place it as desired on one side of your interior fabric.

Pin the pocket down.

Add a fancy label if you’d like. (I buy my labels here. Yes, they are pricey. They are also fabulous!)

Topstitch along both edges and the bottom.

I also like to add a stitch up the center of the pocket to create a division. These smaller pockets seem to hold keys, cell phones, etc., better.

Now, turn your interior pieces right sides together and stitch down both edges and across the bottom. HOWEVER: leave a 3″ hole in your stitching across the bottom. This is how you’ll eventually turn the bag right-side out. Set aside.

Back to that exterior — to create a bag that looks a bit more structured, we are going to sew and trim these corners. I forget what this is officially called in sewing lingo, but I think it is something like a gusset.

See that seam running down the center? That is actually the seam from the bottom of the bag. Take your first corner and make a triangle with this seam running down the center. This seems (seams?) difficult, but it is very easy. Just try it.

See? Not hard. Now, measure 3 inches in from the point and place a pin to mark where you will sew.

Sew along the pinned line being sure to backstitch at each end.

Then chop off the ends, leaving a 1/4″ seam.

Turn the exterior right-side out and voila — trimmed, structured corners to the bottom of the bag.

Now, about that yoga mat pocket. Obviously this pocket is too big, but the dimensions above are a better fit. Place the top edge of the yoga pocket 12″ from the bottom seam of the bag. You want to create a significant flap in the pocket to allow space for the mat or towel when in place.

Pin this top edge of the pocket 12″ up from the bottom of the bag and top stitch to the front of the bag. (Be sure not to stitch through both layers.)  Now take the bottom edge of the pocket and pin it 5″ from the bottom. Top stitch. Set aside.

On to the handles. There are two options. If you’d like the bag to be cross-body, as pictured, cut two pieces 3″ wide by 45″ long. If you’d like a shoulder bag, follow the same directions but cut your straps 5″ wide by 25″ long.

Iron each strap in half, right-sides together. Then uncrease and fold each half toward the center, as pictured above.

The fold the strap in half again, enclosing all raw edges. Pin these and topstitch along each edge, all the way down the straps.

Now place the exterior inside the interior bag, right sides together.

It seems weird, but I promise this works.

Lay your completed straps out and fold them in half. Be careful to make sure the strap isn’t twisted and pin the top edge of each strap between the layers of the bag, on each side. (This step isn’t photographed.)

If you think of this as a sandwich from the cutting mat up,  it would go: interior, strap inside, exterior, exterior, strap inside, interior.  Leave an inch or so of strap poking above the layers and sew around the top of the bag enclosing them. Trim the remaining strap that is poking between layers. Then pull the bag through the opening you left at the bottom edge of the interior. Press flat.

Then top stitch that bottom edge of the interior closed.

Press the bag and pat yourself on the back. Namaste!

This bag looks to have a saggy butt. It must need to do more yoga.

~K