I have returneth

I won't sit around and whine about why I've been more absent lately. I'll just say, sorry, and show you the few good, happy things surrounding me right now!



Look at what my amazing mom sent me as a surprise! She searched online for the perfect pair of scissors for me. I asked her, why, you know I have like 10 pairs of scissors? and she said, yeah, but now you have a pair from me! I love her so much. They're beautiful. I'm almost afraid to use them.



Working on quilt bee blocks. I was pretty impressed when I thought to use clips to keep my strips together.



Really need to force myself to finish the binding on this little baby quilt. It's a surprise gift for a friend, and I probably need to get it to her before the baby is born! :)



My bruise from Courtney vs The Guy On the Bike in which Courtney Totally Wins has almost healed! Can you differentiate between bruise and freckle?



My little hexagon pincushion was featured in this amazing teal-and-red treasury in honor of Sewing Machine Day (September 10th)! I'm so honored, it's full of beautiful items. You can check it out here. I really hope it makes it to the front page, I would just die!


p.s. You may have noticed I just enabled Google AdSense ads. I hate how vague they are with how much they pay, so I'm really just trying it out until I see if it's worth it. If it's going to make like $5 a year, no thanks. It would be nice if it could at least cover my monthly etsy fees, though. Anyway, I mention this because I'd like to hear your (honest) opinions on it. Super tacky? Moderate annoyance? Don't even notice? A few people on my feed use it, I've noticed. It doesn't really bother me, I just think, huh...weird. Have you used it? What was your experience?

a little catch-all

I've spent a lot of time cutting, cutting....



cutting my vintage sheet stash down (the lid won't close, something must go!).

Used said cuttings....



to make a pincushion.

My two favorite finds of the weekend....



gen-u-ine (I guess?) Pucci silk skirt found in between the wool plaid minis and denim maxis. Not really my style clothing-wise so I'd like to use it for fabric...if only I can think of a better use;



and an only-barely-used paint by numbers kit. The Eiffel Tower as you can see, using the box as a reference (which I obviously did not do...), was marked wrong. Plus the included paint was weak to say the least. Started the clown with some better acrylics. A very relaxing $2.



Mark and I are getting our very own screen printing set-up tomorrow (yaaayyy!) so I've been practicing my tracing. I can draw, but it makes my head hurt. I was much too serious about it as a child.

And lastly I have to show off the cutest baby I have ever had the pleasure of knowing...



Mark's nephew. We got to babysit him on Saturday and it was the best day ever :) as is any day we get to hang out with him. xoxo

could you use a sneak peek?

I have been working my fingers to the bone this week, hence my absence. And now I am quite proud to be able to show you some peeks at what I was working on!













Gorgeous, right? And how adorable are those tags that Elsie gocco'd? I'm in love.

The update will be soon, tentatively tonight...but either way, keep an eye on A Beautiful Mess for more.

Elsie and I had so much fun working together on these (she has the most amazing inspiration, designs, and vintage fabric of anyone I've met...I'm constantly honored to bring her ideas to life with my sewing)...I hope you love them too. :)

vintage transformed

Vintage clothes are awesome awesome, right? Duh. But sometimes they're not quite right for us, or for the times (or the season, I'm looking at you, double-knit polyester!).

Cute as a button Katie asked me to alter this almost-perfect vintage dress to suit her a little better...


(left is the seller's picture, right is my "after" pic)

I had never drafted a neckline, or a collar before, so it was exciting...or nerve-wracking, you know, whatevs. I also relaxed the puff of the sleeve a little bit. I think it turned out great, and I can't wait to see how it looks on her!

lots of projects

One way I've discovered to keep myself motivated & productive is to allow free-range.

Like, if I'm cleaning up my room and come across an old project I never got around to, I'll work on it. Or if I have some crazy new sewing idea, I'll do it (instead of writing it down or plain old forgetting about it). I might never finish anything this way, but for certain times it seems very applicable.

Here's what I've got going right now...


"Canvas", primed. Mark gave me this old peg board that he had prepped to be hung on the wall, for my sewing room. I want to do some kind of abstract painting on it before I hang it up, but I'm lost, as usual. I tried to find some inspiration online & came up with a bunch of nothing.

Oh and incidentally, does anyone know of a good source for peg board hooks? The ones at Lowe's were SO expensive and not even the size I wanted, and I can't find anything good and affordable online either.


A little mindless, pretty sewing that makes my heart flutter! (I do have a hopefully less-than-mindless plan for these, though.) In my newest Pyrex, a pattern/shape I hadn't seen in person yet, yay.


And a bit of quilty art. Yup, I decided to branch out and try something new. Still needs binding, label, and hanging hook, then I'll share the whole thing. :)

Oh my golly I think I got twenty mosquito bites while I was outside taking these. I love summer but eeek, no fun!

good mail day

The post man was very good to me today, not only did he not leave me any bills or junk mail, he left me these new toys...


Far Far Away II, mmmmmmm.
And something I've been craving ever since I took the mastery class for my machine...a ruffler foot!

So, I had to get everything out and play.


Just for fun, a little FFA2 zipper pouch with a yummy raw silk ruffle.
It's listed over at the shop!

Now I'm going to go back to cutting in to fabric that was way too expensive to just put on the shelf.

a little technical: thread

We could chat on and on about thread, you and I. Like, you shouldn't run "vintage" thread through a machine or on important fabrics, it breaks easily and could also disintegrate faster. Coats & Clark's new poly covered poly thread is much more reliable than the old cotton covered poly. And did you know, the colors of thread change with the "in" colors of the season; colors are discontinued as they become outdated, and are replaced by the hot new colors being shown on the runway.

But what I really came to say is, Hancock Fabrics has their Coats & Clark thread 50% off through this Sunday. Well, this happens a lot (the next instance is Memorial Day...and if you're going to stock up then, be sure you also get a hold of the one-day-sale 'additional 10% off your purchase' coupon). However this time was MY time!



If you sew often, and this is especially true for a 'professional' seamstress such as myself, you're going to need lots of colors of thread. It just looks better to match your thread. It's not something people are going to notice. And that's the point. They will notice if your thread doesn't match, and quite frankly, it can look cheap. Professionalism is perfectionism.

If you don't sew often, or mainly for yourself, don't worry about it. Go pick up a spool here or there when you need it. But if you're going to stock up and get the spectrum, promise me you won't go unless it's at least half off!

For anyone who is considering going out and getting a beginners set up of thread, I've constructed this chart, using Coats and Clark's color chart:


Here for the original; warning, it's huge!

Highlighted in red are the spools I bought this weekend (shown above). Highlighted in blue are approximations of what I already had at home. Some of those came in bulk packs so they may not be particularly necessary, but I felt the need to be thorough. Also, I got so many browns anticipating working on trousers in the future. Home sewers not doing blind or docker hems can probably get by on just a couple brown shades.

Hope this helps a bit! I could spend all day lining those little bits of sewing candy into a rainbow.

oh my aching prototype

You'll have to forgive him for being rude. He's really not feeling very well.





He's made from lots of fun things I had around the house, including a vintage heavy wale corduroy that is definitely one of my favorite items in my stash.

Trying to figure out how I can cut down my construction time, because as-is I would have to charge way more than he's worth.

new product!

I'm so proud of these little lovelies.


little miss zipper pouch
Great for cell phones, iPods, tampons, makeup, sewing kits, etc! Thinking of making a second batch with loops for clutching.






mini terrycloth-backed burp cloths
The last time we went to see my favorite baby in the world, Mark's nephew, I was on drool patrol. And I noticed the regular shoulder-size burp rags were just too big and inconvenient (and kind of ugly!). So I wanted to make some cute ones for wiping up little faces. Yes?