sew along

Ruby Star Wrap-Along

I’m so excited to be able to kick of the Ruby Star Wrap-Along.  For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, there’s a bunch of bloggers each trying out projects from the book Ruby Star Wrapping by Melody Miller and Allison Tannery.  I was so happy to get a copy of this at Sewing Summit!  As I paged through I loved the Chinese Takeout boxes project, I knew they looked like fun!

I totally has a blast picking out fabrics and using my hot glue gun (that thing doesn’t get used enough!).  It’s a quick and easy project, so if you’ve got a half hour, give it a try!

One thing about the book is that I love that the authors give you so many different options and ideas to try.  For me, I always like choosing from different suggestions, gives a project a whole different look depending on what you choose!  And of course I couldn’t stop making these little boxes, they’re addicting.  Plus now I have a nice selection of wrapping for when I need to give a last minute gift.

I wanted to try making a mini version, it would be easy enough to do, just scale down the template.  By the way, in the book they give you a link to all the templates from the book so you can easily print them.  No more fumbling around at the copy machine trying to make sure everything fits.

This week’s prize is a octopurse handbag and a $20 gift certificate to Pink Chalk Fabrics.  Just hop on over and link up your project to be entered.

octopurse Pink Chalk Fabrics

Friday, Amanda of A Crafty Fox will be sharing her version of Jaimie’s Casserole Cover!

Jamie's Casserole Cover

Want to purchase a copy of Ruby Star Wrapping?  Check out these shops!  This book is a great gift for that special person who loves to give gifts.  Christmas isn’t far away you know, hint hint.  ♥
Random House

And you can also add your project photos to the Flickr Group!

Join in the fun and follow along on your favorite blogs to see more projects from the Wrap-Along:
11.9.12 Amanda of A Crafty Fox
11.12.12 – Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson!
11.14.12 – Brooke of Pitter Putter Stitch
11.16.12 – Erin of Two More Seconds
11.19.12 – Jennifer of BettyCrockerAss
11.21.12 – Rochelle of Lucky Lucille
11.26.12 – Elizabeth of Don’t Call Me Betsy
11.28.12 – Gina and crew of Bolt Neighborhood
11.30.12 – Ellen of the Long Thread
12.3.12 – Katie of Swim, Bike Quilt
12.5.12 Faith of Fresh Lemon Quilts
12.7.12 Lee of Freshly Pieced
12.10.12 Maureen of Maureen Cracknell Handmade
12.12.12 Sara of Sew Sweetness
12.14.12 Colleen of The Busy Bean
12.17.12 Amy of Diary of a Quilter
12.19.12 Monica of Happy Zombie
sew along

zakka along and some babble

Just had to pop in today for a couple updates.  I’m sure you’ve heard of the Zakka Style Sew Along hosted by the lovely Lindsey of LR Stitched, right?  Well, I get to be part of it, and I’m super excited about the project I’ll be sharing (you’ll have to wait until August to see it though, hope you’re patient!)

Here’s the schedule of events:

There are 24 projects in the book and they’ll be sewing right through it from start to finish.
The sew along starts Monday April 2nd with the first project in the book and will continue through Monday September 10th with a new project  introduced each Monday.
Each blogger will be sewing a different project and will share their finished project and inspiration with you!  How cool is that?  And there’s so many awesome projects in this book, you’ll love it.  Anyway, here’s the list:

Lindsey is also hosting a giveaway on her blog today for the chance to win one of 5 copies of the Zakka Style book!

And as for the babble part of the post title, I found out the other day that I’m on Babble‘s list of the top 50 Mom Craft blogs of 2012, wow wow!  Now before I give my acceptance speech (haha) you should check out the list, lots of my great blogging friends are on there.  If I made my list though, I think it would have to include a bunch more!

sew along, Sew Along

simplicity skirt 2226 sew along – day 4

Welcome back for day 4 of the sew along, you can catch up on day 1, day 2, and day 3 anytime as well.  


It’s zipper day!  Don’t be afraid, take some deep breaths, whatever you have to do to get your game face on.  I can tell you that my second time sewing the zipper was much better and went smoother than the first time, but both worked out great and I’ve got two wearable skirts.  



Inserting the zipper:

First you need to baste the rest of the back skirt seam from the notch you sewed up to earlier all the way up to the top of the waistband.  Basting again is the longest stitch length on your machine.  


Flip the skirt so that you have the left seam allowance all the way to the left, pulling the rest of the skirt to the right.



Pin the opened zipper in place to the seam allowance only.  Teeth and pull tab should be facing down with the teeth centered on the center seam.  



Starting from the bottom of the zipper, using your zipper foot, baste the zipper along that left seam allowance (it looks like the right seam allowance, but it’s because I’m sewing it from the bottom of the zipper to the top).  

 



Next, flip your zipper out to the side and you’ll have a tiny little bit of fabric peeking through from the seam allowance that you’ll sew along (see that little green line above?).  



Now, flip the zipper face down over the right seam allowance now.  Pin it in place through all the layers (zipper tape, seam allowance and skirt).  


From the RIGHT side of the skirt, baste in place.  I think they recommend hand basting, but I cheated and used a basting stitch on my machine. (I didn’t take a picture of the basting, but you can see it in the picture below:) 

 



Now sew with a regular stitch starting by making a line perpendicular to the center back skirt seam at the bottom of the zipper about 3/8″ of an inch or so, then pivoting and continuing to sew up towards the top of the skirt all the way to the top of the waistband along the zipper.  You’re sewing right next to the zipper teeth (which you can’t see, but they’re under the fabric, just feel for them) and be sure not to sew into them otherwise your zipper won’t open! Remove basting stitches from the previous step.



Use your seam ripper and open up the basting stitch and you should reveal a lovely little zipper all finished and ready!

 



**Here’s the nitty gritty.  If you’re super stressed about the zipper again, practice on a piece of junk fabric and zipper. Just use two pieces of fabric sewn with a 5/8″ seam allowance.  You might be surprised how much more comfortable you’ll feel doing it on your actual garment after you’ve practiced.  Trust me that trying new things will not only help you learn, but that you get a huge sense of accomplishment once you’ve done it.  


Please let me know if you have any questions.  Feel free to put your pictures in my flickr group and you can add notes and ask questions right with your actual photo, of course ask questions in the comments section too, but I know sometimes it’s just easier to show what you’re working with compared to trying to explain it all.  


I really want you all to succeed with this!  ♥


[I’m going to run this sew along a little differently than my typical blog posts, if you have any questions or comments or suggestions/tips please leave them in the comments section and I’ll respond to them there.  Usually I like to reply to comments directly by email when time allows, but this way the info will be there for anyone who joins along.]

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