12.21.2012

the start of the christmas madness

I have two cousins, and for Christmas, the boy got a custom t-shirt memory quilt. I needed to do something cool for the girl cousin. I initially started a quilt for her, but upon learning that she also wanted a memory quilt for her birthday, I switched gears and made a Two-Zip Hipster Bag. This pattern is great - I've made three bags from it already, and find it pretty easy to follow. And the bag it makes is fantastic.

So this is the version for my cousin:

adjustable cross-body strap, front zip pocket and front slip pocket!

nice top zip with slip pockets inside

top zip and outside pockets

the back
I chose this fabric because I felt it was girly without being obnoxious (and it was in my stash!), and I added black zippers for a little edgy contrast. I used a coordinating pink patterned fabric for the lining of the bag. The zippers are 'sport' zippers from Jo-Anns, and I love them. The strap is adjustable, and the bag is a great medium on-the-go size. Perfect for a wallet, phone and random purchases.


Fabric Organization

The beautiful dresser in my sewing room has been holding all most of my fabrics since it was completed. After finding it increasingly difficult to stuff fabrics into the drawers and even more difficult to find what I'm looking for, I decided it was time to sort, fold, and reorganize. I was inspired by several great fabric stash photos and organizations tips on the good old internet. 

So today I cleaned up my sewing room (because organizing makes a mess all on it's own!), put on some Christmas music, sat down in the sun, and started.

I decided to get rid of all this:

unwanted fabrics
Sorted by color what I wanted to keep:
wanted fabric
 Dealt with an inquisitive cat:
Sassy is "helping"

 And ended up with this:
rainbow of fabric!

I followed (very roughly) the folding direction from In Color Order. Obviously I did not do a perfect job, but I was going for completion rather than perfectionism. Which is good for me, I think. Anyway, I now have five more or less organized drawers of fabric - the two pictured above, which contain all my cottons sorted by color, one small drawer holding all my fat quarters, one drawer containing all my flannels, and one drawer containing the miscellaneous other fabrics (cotton duck, mostly). 

You might notice that my color-sorted drawers seem to have an overabundance of certain colors - greens, blues and my "rainbow" prints. There is also lots of black and white prints, but one can never have too much black or white. I am confused as to how I ended up with so much green, since I do not particularly care for green. And there were NO orange fabrics! Isn't that a shame? That's my favorite color! Oh well. I am promising myself (again) not to buy fabric until I use up more of my stash. I've done pretty well using only my stash for Christmas gifts. More on those later...

I already have a buyer lined up for the unwanted pile. I'm selling it for ridiculously cheap, but I just want it all gone. After all, what is the point of holding on to fabric that I am never going to use?

It felt great to organize today, and now I have a far better idea of what exactly I have, and a method to find what I need (or don't need), and the drawers even close. What more could I ask for?