The Skip-Stitch Blades

I found a solution to the crochet hole poking problem on the fleece blankets I have been working on. I have found and purchased a a new tool called a Skip-Stitch Blade. As you may remember, I was having trouble poking holes with a little pair of scissors in polar fleece to crochet around the edge for a blanket. The Skip-Stitch Blade is a rotary cutting blade with notches cut into it so that a little slit or hole is cut at regular intervals rather than a solid cut. There are 3 different blades with different size notches depending on the size of your hook and yarn. Check out their web site at www.skipstitchblade.com if you want more information on them. I have ordered several sets for myself and Mom.

As with any new sewing tool, I have to learn how to use it. There are instructions on the web site and it would seem very straight forward, but there is always a technique to master. The first thing I learned is to pin where you start and end as you measure and cut. I figured I could see were I stopped and started but as I started to crochet there are some spot were I have cut extra little slits, oops. Luckily, that is not too often. I learned that the rounded corner can be a little challenging. I tried to use a plate as a guild for cutting but my plates are too thick for the blade.  I ended up just eyeing it, but I think I did pretty good. Next time I will leave the corners square and try that. In the instructions, it said to cut at 3/4″, but I tried 1/2″ because that was closer to measurement of the ones I have previous done. So I will see if that was the correct measurement.

Stay tuned for the results.

That Was A Long Time Ago

Look at what I found. I was digging through my stash looking for a piece of white flannel when I came across this tag attached to a piece of fabric. I purchased this piece of fabric many years ago when I worked at the $2 fabric store in Midvale, Utah to help put myself through school. The fabric was $0.99 a yard, there was one yard and the little circle at the bottom meant it had some kind of flaw. At the store, the flat fold pieces hung from pant hangers on round clothing racks. You had to purchase the whole piece.

The tag made me smile and brought back many memories. I got the job when I was an extreme beginner at sewing. When a customer would ask me a question, I would reply that I did not know because I did not sew. The ladies that I worked with at the store were great and gave me great advise to improve my sewing skills. Some of the tips they gave me I still use in my sewing today. As I continued my schooling and started my externships for my profession, my hours at the fabric store decreased until soon there were none.  I missed the job and especially the employee’s discount. Maybe after I retire, I will return to the fabric store for a job again.

Spending some time with my Sister

I had the rare opportunity to go fabric shopping with my sister here recently. My niece and her family went to Disneyland and their grandma, my sister, went with them to help out with the youngest child. Our hope was to meet up with them for a day or two, but I could not get the time off work. So we decided to make it a day trip and meet up with them at Downtown Disney. It was great to see them and we had a wonderful visit over lunch. Our plan was to just hang out around Downtown Disney with them for a while, but that morning they received the Disney Year of a Million Dreams Dream Passes from a Disney Cast Member so they did not have to stand in lines all day long. I hated to keep them from the chance to use their passes, so my niece and her family were sent back to the park to play, but I stole my sister away from them for a few hours.

We headed straight for M&L Fabric store in Anaheim. We had a great time there. I love to shop with my sister. She has many great ideas. It was so much fun just to spend time with her. We talked constantly about sewing, crocheting and other craft projects. The plan was for me to ship her fabric to her when she got home, so she did not buy very much. I, on the other hand, went a little crazy, but that was to be expected. 

After the fabric store we headed for the Disney outlet store. We had even more fun at this store. We both bought gifts and souvenirs. Both of us were so excited when we left the store about all the fun treasures we had found.

We then dropped my sister back off at the gates of Disney and met up with the rest of the family for pictures and goodbyes. It looked like they had had a fun day with the passes. I miss my sister, and I am so glad that I had the chance to spend some time with her.

New Jammies for Me!

This time the new pajamas I made are for me. Well, not really pajamas, this is more  of a “lounge around the house” outfit.  We are going on a trip with some friend in a few months and will be staying at their condo in England.  I wanted something to wear around the condo in the mornings. At home I wear my bathrobe around the house, but I needed some thing smaller and lighter and more presentable in public to fit in my suitcase. 

I remembered this piece of fabric in my stash. I purchased it from Walmart’s $1.00 section because I liked the colors and cloud pattern. At the time of purchase I just got 1 yard, but I liked the fabric enough that I went back and got 4 more yards and I’m glad I did.  I wanted this outfit big and baggy so I added 1 inch to everything. Pictured is the shirt, but I also made matching pants. After cutting out the pants and top, I looked at the scraps and decided I had enough left over to make a pair of matching shorts too. If we visit a warmer climate, I will be happy to have the shorts rather than the long pants. So, 5 yards used from the stash. Looking at the completed outfit, I decided to embroider Snoopy as the Flying Ace, looking for the Red Baron in the clouds, and I think it turned out great.

As with all sewing projects, something just had to go wrong. When I started to cut out the outfit, I checked very closely for a pattern in the fabrics design to know which way to cut. I did not see one. I had cut out the pants and half the shirt when I realized I was cutting against the lay of the fabric. My mom calls it “cutting against the kitty’s fur”.  So with some of the outfit you have to rub up for a nice smooth feel of the fabric and some you have to rub down, but I don’t think that will alter the wear of the outfit and it did not affect the sewing or the fit.

I’m just hoping I will not look like a giant blueberry or a giant cloud in the outfit.

More Blanks to Embroidery on!

We have this fun little store in town that sells clothes for $5.99 and less. I enjoy shopping at this store, not because I will ever find anything that fits me, but because I can get some wonderful deals on blanks. The last time I stopped in, they had kids levi denim jackets on clearance for $3.00. How could I pass that up. I bought one in of all the sizes they had and two of some of the sizes. I certainly could not buy the fabric or snaps for that little money, not to mention the time involved in sewing a denim jacket together.

Like all sewing items, the jackets have been hanging the closet waiting for me to get busy working on them, but I knew that the size 7, the largest size of the jackets, was not going to fit the eldest nephew for much longer, so it was time for action. I called that nephews and asked them what they wanted on their jackets. I already knew that the answer for the 4 year old nephew would be Batman. But the soon to be 7 year old nephew couldn’t decide. At first he wanted a Star War’s stormtrooper, but then he picked Snoopy as the flying ace. Hopefully, he was not just trying to make the aunt happy knowing how much I love all things Snoopy.

With the husband’s help, I increased the size of the two designs to 5″ by 7″ and started to stitch. Blanks can be difficult to hoop sometimes. I had to use sticky paper to hoop the jackets. I love to use sticky paper, but I have learned that with a larger design it is not always the best choice. So, in the sewing process there was a little curling, but it did not affect the designs too much.  On the Batman jacket, I ran out of bobbin thread. When I put the new bobbin in, I did not get it back in right. As the machine started to sew again, it made a big thread mess and pulled the stepper off. I about cried, but with lots of patience and luck, I was able to realign the design and finish the pattern. Good thing too, that was the only size 5 jacket I had. I learned a lot about fixing an embroidery alignment problem, but most of all I learned to take an extra minute to make sure the bobbin is in right! 

I am pleased with how the jackets turned out. Hopefully the boys will like the jackets too! Now that I have a couple of empty hangers in the closet, I guess I will go shopping for more blanks. (Grumble-grumble says the husband.)

Classroom Quilt

My friend is a school teacher. She teaches the developmentally disabled kids. Each year she has the each kid bring in or pick out a square of fabric and they make a wall quilt. Then they hang it on the wall with the previous years quilts. She asked me to embroidery the date on last years before she returned to school this year.  What a fun idea for the kids. I would imagine that it would bring the kids together as a class to see all their squares made into a quilt. I told her that years from now when she retires from teaching we will take all the squares and make a large quit for her.

A New Skill

Look at what I learned how to do. Many years ago I learned how to crochet but never did much with the skill mostly due to it aggravating my carpal tunnel problems in my right arm and hand. My mom and sister have been crocheting around blankets for years.  It was just something I said I did not do, but due to the nephew’s love of Star Wars and the new little one, I decided to give it a try.

I dug the fleece out of the stash and took it on our last trip to see Mom and Dad over the 4th of July, and with Mom’s help the creative process began. Mom first squared up the fabric and rounded the corners. Then, she blind hem stitched around the edge.  Next, she used a sharp pair of scissors to poke a holes in between the blind hem stitches. Last, she got me started on the crocheting. I did two single crochets per hole all the way around to cover the edge. I could have stopped there, but Mom had me chain 3 – skip a stitch to make the edge. It was a lot of fun to crochet and I loved the end result. I had to be careful though, if I crocheted for too long, my ct would act up, so I just took it easy and only stitched in small increments.

When we got home, I dug through the stash again and found another piece of fleece. What I learned quickly is the hardest part is poking the holes with the little scissors.  I only thought the crocheting bothered my ct. Poking the holes in the fabric aggravated it far worse. I only poked holes around half the blanket because I was anxious to start crocheting before my hand gave completely out. It is still very fun to crochet, but with hole poking, I have to crochet in even smaller increments. To solve this problem I did a search on the internet and came up with some ideas to combat the hole poking problem, so stay tuned and I will let you know how they go.

By the way, it was Mom’s great idea to put the rubber pencil holder on my crochet hook so it didn’t slip in my hand.  It makes it much easier for me to hold and I can crochet longer.