Winter break gave me a little time to spend at the sewing machine. I was really hoping to make some curtains and learn to insert zippers, but that’s not what actually got done. Here’s what did:
Borris the bear. Isn’t he adorable? He’s made from corduroy and bits of cotton from my stash. The pattern is from One Yard Wonders.
I forgot to sew the eyes (buttons) on before I stuffed him and stitched up the opening. Turns out you can’t sew buttons on when the inside of the fabric is inaccessible. Believe me, I tried. But I actually like him this way. What do you think? Is it weird that he has no eyes?
He makes the perfect pillow, especially for airplane rides.
Cute little tail
He’s a little wonky in the way amature homemade stuffed animals are, but that adds to his charm.
I also stitched up a new cloth shopping bag. The pattern is based on an actual plastic shopping bag (yes, you make the pattern!). It’s fully lined and very sturdy. It’s gusseted and roomy. I love it! Although I cut the bamboo fabric wrong and it’s upside down. You may not be able to tell, but as a plant geek it drives me crazy having the leaves point in the wrong direction.
The tutorial is here and is very easy to follow.
A few years ago, when P and I were dating, I scavenged an almost brand-new down comforter out of the dumpster behind P’s apartment. It had a badly soiled corner, so I simply cut open the comforter and took out 3 garbage bags of clean down. I’ve moved the down twice and finally did something with it! With some down ticking (tightly woven fabric so the little pokey ends don’t come out) I sewed up a cylindrical pillow and then made a washable cover out of some stashed quilting cottons.
Here you can see the actual pillow under the cover. I used the snap press to finish the cover. It makes a wonderful reading pillow. It’s long enough I can have my head on one side and use the other to prop up a book. I stuffed it firmly so it’s very supportive. Considering I totally made up the pattern, I am very happy with how it came out. Don’t look too closely, though, I had to do some serious patchworking to make the cover fit!
That was fun, although it’s probably the last sewing I’ll do until summer. Too bad, those curtains are just going to have to wait.
