Day 203 of 2026

 

I've finished four sweatshirt pillow covers for Little E.

Day 202 of 2026

The shirt came together better today. 

It's ready for buttonholes.

 

Day 199 of 2026

I want to make Fireball a shirt. 

I bought the pattern and the prescribed amount of fabric. 

I have begun laying out the pattern on the fabric

 according to the diagram. 

No matter how many times I measure the fabric 

and review the pattern layout, 

I keep coming up short. 

I suspect it is a pattern-writing error 

and will look into that at a later time. 

For now Fireball will be getting a short sleeved shirt.

 

Day 198 of 2026

I finished another sweatshirt pillow cover 

and then moved on this pouf 

which has been waiting for a zipper since last year. 

It has its zipper now and will be filled 

with small bits of threads and unusable fabric scraps. 

 

Day 197 of 2026

I only finished one sweatshirt pillow cover today, 

but I have a good idea how to tackle the other three now. 

I should get a good amount of sewing time tomorrow

 so we'll see how far I get.

 

Day 196 of 2026

Today I'm working on a new project 

which involves sweatshirts and zippers.

 

Day 195 of 2026

One of the things I love 

about this Matchy Matchy Sewing Club pattern

 is that right before you are to stitch 

the final edge of the bias facing down, 

it reminds you to add a label, if you are using one.

 

Day 193 of 2026

I'm almost finished with my second Collage Gather Top. 

Tomorrow I'll finish the neck and hem

 and try to get a picture.

 

Day 192 of 2026

Done.

This is the Collage Gather Top by Matchy Matchy Sewing Club. 

I've already plotted out my second one.

 

Day 191 of 2026

I started this shirt yesterday afternoon and finished it up today

 with the exception of the hem. 

I will be doing a try-on tomorrow 

to decide what length I'd like to make it. 

There are a few changes I will probably make to the pattern 

before making the second top, but this wearable toile 

is definitely going to be wearable.

 

Day 189 of 2026

I am making something called a wearable toile. 

This means I am making a garment out of fabric

 that is not the "good" fabric 

I intend to use for the real garment. 

This allows me to make my pattern adjustments 

and try it out to see if I am happy with the fit 

without ruining my "good" fabric

 if the adjustments are not quite right. 

In theory, the wearable toile will be good enough to wear 

even if there are still small adjustments to make. 

My fabric for this trial garment is two 100% cotton 

Pottery Barn crib sheets I found at the thrift store.

 

Day 167 of 2026

I saw a woman online take an orphan granny square

 and attach it to a baseball cap with a logo she didn't like on it. 

It occurred to me that I had a tote given to me

 that had a blacked out name on it. 

Then I remembered that I have a bag of orphan granny hexies

 that were meant for another project that I will never finish.

I had quite a few that were good options

 but ultimately chose this one which gives me bright summer vibes. 

I sewed it on with a large zig-zag and matching thread 

and now it feels like a new tote.

It already has a knitting project in it.

 

Day 166 of 2026

Today I tackled the thread drawer.

Most of my quilt piecing threads will go into the drawer I have emptied 

instead of being scattered in various places on the sewing table. 

The full spools of the type of thread pictured above 

that I use for clothing, topstitching and other sewing 

that needs matching thread will be relocated. 

I will be trying to use up these almost empty spools 

for things like basting and bobbin thread. 

I'm not sure how I'll store them yet.

 

Day 150 of 2026

I've been cleaning in my studio to enable me to get in there and sew. 

I found this under a stack of fabrics. 

Do you remember when I did the repair on the front of this quilt? 

After that I was stumped as to how to repair the batting and backing

 in a manner that will allow me to hand quilt the areas

 that are missing their quilting due to the original damage. 

I have an idea how to approach it, 

but for now it will have to go in a queue 

while I continue to clean up and out the studio.

 

Day 128 of 2026

A new round of mending requests has come in.

 

Day 106 of 2026

My repairs are done.

 One subtle, one Frankenstein style.

 

Day 105 of 2026

I'm feeling much better this afternoon 

so I have started some stuffed animal surgery. 

I couldn't finish it though as a nap was needed.

 

Day 21 of 2026

Do any of you remember when silk ribbon embroidery was a big deal? 

I took a class in which we learned how to embellish a jacket. 

While decluttering a closet today, I found my jacket from that lesson. 

I still love it even though I haven't worn it in a long time. 

I'm not ready to part with it yet so it will go back into the closet. 

Maybe at some point I will take lots of detailed pictures of it 

and let it go, 

but not today. 

Plenty of other items did leave.

 

Day 7 of 2026

This zipper pull had come off the track and 

I was asked if I could fix it. 

The process involved unstitching, 

replacing the pull, adding a fabric pull stop, 

stitching the main fabric back to the zipper tape, 

stitching the lining back to the zipper tape 

and redoing all the topstitching. 

Because the spaces were awkward, bulky and not at all flat, 

all stitching was done by hand.

Whew.

I have to say though, I am pretty happy with the result.

 

Day 310 of 2025

My advent calendar box from Stitch Supply Co arrived today. 

I'm excited to begin opening boxes on the first of December.