Burlap Wedding Favour Bags

NO NOT MY WEDDING.  My favourite cousin is getting married this summer, and I happily volunteered myself to make up her wedding favours!

She's planning on having a country wedding at my Grandma's country farm house.  She showed me all of her plans when I was visiting in April, which involve a lot of burlap and candles and lace and haybails and all sorts of gorgeous ideas.  And she's trying to do it all on a dime.

Her wedding favours will be a candy table, and people can fill up little fabric bags with which ever candies they'd like.  It's a cute idea that I've seen before, and a ton of fun.  Especially since everyone will be higher than a kite on sugar!

But their plan was to just get whatever fabric they could find and toss together these little bags.  I looked at the mismatched bits of satin and cotton and polyester they'd gathered together, and I admit, made a bit of a face.  It just wasn't going to match with the rest of the theme. 

Since I really wanted to help out despite being so far away, I (of course) volunteered to take over this project.  My cousin seemed more than happy to hand it off, especially after the ideas I tossed out.

Here's my first attempt at it!  They're about 6.5"x5" in size.  I'm going to walk you through how I made them.  Just because.  :) 

I was able to source some free burlap in the form of coffee bean jute bags from a local coffee roaster.  Which are soooo cool because they have all of this great graphics printed on them!  I washed them a couple of times, dried them a couple of times (the second time to try to get rid of more of the fluff they generated after washing), and then spent most of today ironing out the plethora of wrinkles that set in.

It took a healthy dose of heat, steam, and a lot of arm muscle to press those damn wrinkles out!  And holy crap is there a lot of fluff all over my sewing room now.  

I LOVE the graphics!  Seriously, I'm saving one of these bags to make up into a burlap messanger bag for myself.

Because these bags will be used to hold candy, I lined them with some tight-weaved but light-weight cotton.  I'm actually considering using plastic instead for the next batch, which I didn't think about until just now.  Actually, I might just include some plastic sandwich bags to go inside of them.  Might be easier, on me and my sewing machine.

Once I basted the fabric to the jute bag, I cut it into 15 inch wide strips.  These strips were pressed in half length-wise, and the raw edges folded over and sewn down to create a draw string loop on the top of the bags.

Then I zig-zagged some lace just underneath the draw-string loop.  Finally found a use for my vast collection of vintage and modern lace!

Here's the other side.  You can see the lining and the folded over tops for the draw-string.

Then I just folded the strip in half again, cut them into 5 inch wide bags, and zigzagged along both edges just below the draw-string loops.

Thread some lace and jute through the draw-string loops...

And voila!  Seven adorable favour bags finished...

...only another 200 to go.  Sweet peanuts...

Plans and experiments for some non-burlap bags...

Wardrobe Purge Progress

You guys are awesome, reading all of my blatherings on wardrobe purging and sharing your own stories!  While emptying and ruthlessly purging my closet, I kept a lot of your advice about keeping some garments for the fabric (and in a few cases, buttons).  I forsee a lot of new panties in my future!

These three piles are to be donated.  Yes, there's a pair of fancy panties on the front pile.  I bought them (for a ridiculous amount) and never ever wore them after trying them on at home.  Yes, I washed them before adding to this pile.  THE LAUNDRY I HAVE DONE TODAY, YE GODS.

This pile is going in my reconstruction bin, mostly to scavange the fabrics for other projects.  There are four me-mades in this pile.  Also a bra with a hole in the rib strap.  I'm keeping it to maybe incorporate into the swimming suit I'm hoping to make someday...

I'm not completely done.  I think I was a little too soft about some things, especially me-made makes.  But I set up my new camera and tripod up in the living room and took (poorly) modeled shots of me in them garments, and it helped me really look at them as a useable (or not) garment and not a beloved make.

The pictures above show some of the garments that I waffled on until I took the pictures.  The upper left is a floral bag dress I bought at a thrift store ages ago.  I do love it (it looks much better with a belt), but I just don't reach for it anymore.  TIME TO GO.

The upper right is this top, which I really do adore, but the neckline in the front is too high and the front is finicky because of all the fabric in the back, and while I want to wear it, I never do.  Scavanging the buttons, lace, and fabric (maybe?).

The bottom left is this top.  This photo (and the blog post I just dug up) almost convinced me to keep it, but it's just not a style I wear anymore.  It's too office-y to me (probably because I always wore it to the office part of the Job From Hell), and that's just not my life anymore.  Really fun pattern created by Tanit-Isis though (links in that blog post), and I'm so keeping the piece to be recycled.  Or possibly to slip back into my closet OMG I HAVE A PROBLEM GIVING THESE AWAY.

Th bottom right is my cute little Jaunty Jacket, the last contribution to my PR Wardrobe Contest 2010 entry.  While it's adorable and I love the corduroy, I only wore it through the Self-Stitched September right after the contest, a handful of times in the months afterward, and not a once since then.

Looks so cute here!  They're the Jaunty Jacket, the Petal Skirt, and the Sheety Blouse.  I'm keeping the blouse for fabric and those lovely covered buttons.

So so not me anymore.  And that skirt is still so annoying to wear.  Why did I keep it for this long?  Oh yeah, sentiment.

In fact, I'm getting rid of my last three pieces from that wardrobe contest.  ::sadface::  WHY IS THIS SO HARD.  I tried the whole outfit on again, and it really showed how much my style has changed (I hate the whole look on me).  Also how much weight I've put on. *ahem*

I hate posing for the camera.

There are a few surprising saves though.  Those three jackets were shoved into the very back of our awkwardly constructed closet, and I totally forgot about them.  Annoying, because I was really lacking sprint jackets this year.  So SAVE.

I'd fully planned to donate the red polka dot faux-wrap dress until I tried it on again and omg love.  LOVE!!!  Seriously, LOVE.  It's going back into the closet (for now), but I really would like to replace it with something less polyester.  I always forget how awesomely I rock faux-wrapped bodices.

I'd also planned to get rid of the green (thrifted) blouse, but it's just so...me.  Funky weird fabric design, casual fit, 3/4 length sleeves, and a perfect length.  It's going into my clothes cupboard now so I won't forget about it in my closet.

All told, I think I did a damn fine job...so far.  My cupboard is looking much less packed and filled with clothes I'll actually wear, and I'm donating two garbage bags worth of garments (plus adding a bunch of fabric to my recon bin).  But there's still a computer chair filled with closet stuff that I probably should've been more brutal with, and I kept a lot of tank tops I don't wear that often...

...may need to revisit those bits again...

Blathering on about a Planned Purge

So tomorrow is going to be The Big Purge.

I've been planning this for a while, but have been hesitating because of Reasons.  See, I have a closet and cupboard full of clothes, and yet, not that much to wear.  So much crap.  So many ill-fitted garments.  So many worn out pieces, mismatched pieces, pieces that I hate.

Why do I keep them all?  Some of it's probably because of that whole 'I have nothing to wear, so don't get rid of anything or else I'll be NAKED' thought.  But I think it's mostly because of sentimental reasons or value reasons. 

'I bought this top last year and have barely worn it - I can't toss it out!  It's practically NEW.' 

'I've had this top for years and it's gotten me through many a crappy day.' 

'My Grandma gave it to me.' 

'I made this top when I first started sewing and I can't get rid of it!'

And so much more.  I think another big part of it is that I really do want to have a me-made wardrobe, and keep thinking that I'll just replace garments with me-mades.  Sadly, I both don't have time to replace everything in the time span that I want, and I don't actually replace anything.  I just add to the whole mess.

So, purge.

Honestly, I've done a bunch of clothes shopping lately (yes I know, fast fashion and cheap crap - I know, but there's not many other options in the Yukon right now, and I need clothes now), and I think even including camp clothes, I have more than enough to just purge nearly everything older (and send to the local Sally-Ann), and still get by.  Hell, I'm making it work on what little I wear out of my vast collection of crap.  And it should give me a chance to really look for the holes in my wardrobe, and work on filling it as needed (hopefully with my own makes). 

My head and heart are fighting about this already, and I'm going to be keeping a bunch of sentimental pieces, I just know it (here's looking at you, dress in which I defended my M.Sc.), but it's beyond necessary at this point. 

*sigh*  Wish me luck!

Me-Made Panties: a Trial Run

Yep, that's right, I spent a rare day in my sewing room.  I've been itching to get in there for a while now, so you can probably imagine the contented smile on my face right now.

Sadly, only half of the last 5 hours was spent sewing.  This morning was spent digging out my sewing room from the epic storm that seemed to blow through.  Cripes, how does it wind up such a disaster without any sewing going on?! 

Anywho, I MADE PANTIES!!

I've been wanting to make more of these suckers for a while.  I'm still wearing two of the pairs I made back in 2010 since they're the most comfortable panties I own and I don't ever want to give them up!  Yikes, that's a long time ago.  Definitely time to make some new ones!

I'm not going to go into much detail about the construction or tracing the pattern, as they're very similar to how I did the last set and I added some useful links in that post.  I did spend some time yesterday reading through Zoe's (of So Zo...) series of blog posts on making panties, and she has a free pattern available if you don't want to try tracing your own.  Really helpful stuff!

These were really just a trial run of the pattern I traced this afternoon from a pair of beloved-but-sadly-unwearable La Senza panties.  This time I was smart and traced them onto some stiff muslin fabric to create a more durable pattern.

For the trial run, I cut up an old comfy-but-indescribably-unflattering top I originally found at a thrift shop and has been hanging out in my To-Be-Reconstructed Bin for years.

This was the first time I've sewn elastic like this, first stitching the elastic and fabric right sides together, then flipping the elastic under and using a three-stitch zig-zag overtop.  Boy do I need practice keeping a straight zig-zagged seam on wiggly elastic! 

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with them, other than the horrible job I did on the elastic.  And you can't really see once it's all said and done - at least, not from the front.  I've learned to use a light coloured thread when using a light coloured elastic - boy does the underside look horrible.

The traced pattern turned out to be really comfortable!  I love how odd the leg holes look flat, but they have good bum coverage because of it, yet doesn't dig into my legs in the front.  Though one thing I'll need to remember in the future is to tighten up the elastic as it goes over the bum area of the leg holes.  The elastic wound up a bit too loose in that area, and tightening it up should snug it up to my bum a bit more.

Things you all obviously need to know.  You're welcome.

So yeah, I'd call these a success.  Time to start cranking these suckers out, assembly-line style!

Have any of you converted to me-made panties yet?  I sort of want to replace all of my current stock with them!

Camp Knitting and Project Plotting

Between a trip to Manitoba, a busy rotation in camp, and a fantastic camping weekend in the middle of Nowhere, Yukon, I've been far away from the sewing (and knitting) community.  Heh, I'll probably be popping into quite a few blogs in the coming days, making comments on all sorts of old posts as I catch up.

Got one twist repeat finished on Saturday...

...and completed (nearly) another repeat on Sunday.  This photo was taken at 11:20 pm, btw, and in natural light too.  I love living in the North.

 Inspired by Michelle, I worked on my Just Beachy while sitting around the campfire.  (I definitely did not get as far as she did during her camping trip!)  It's definitely a project you park yourself to do, because there's so many balls of yarn to handle.  This was great because my boyfriend kept refilling my drinks!  Sadly, it meant sitting in the rain while I dropped down stitches to correct a cable twist direction.  The Boyfriend and our Buddy were laughing pretty hard at that.  Jerks.


I'm so happy to be back home now though, mostly because there's so many projects I want to work on. 

My favourite cousin is getting married this summer, and I'm helping her out with her wedding favours.  I'm sewing up a ton of little burlap, cotton, and lace bags.  I have lots of ideas on how to make these up, so be prepared to see these in the coming weeks.  So stoked to find a use for my vintage lace collection!

I'm also hoping to do some home dec stuff for around our house.  I really want to put my person touch on our home.  Although first I need to do some serious spring cleaning!

And part of that spring cleaning is going to include digging out all of my clothes and getting rid of most of it.  Seriously, my closet is in dire shape, and I need to see what I need to replace (hopefully by sewing).  We'll see.  I may take you guys along for that ride.  :)