Sewing as a Mission

I finally finished my first pair of designer jeans a few weeks ago.  I plan to make another pair but I'm going to tweak the fit a bit by making a couple adjustments to my pattern.  My next pair will be aqua stretch denim.  I think I will use some cream colored jeans topstitching thread.

A lot has happened since I last wrote! I got my dream Janome 15000 and am looking forward to learning all that it is capable of doing!

I plan to give some basic sewing lessons in the near future as part of a mentoring program at the church I attend.  We need to round up a few sewing machines and other needed supplies.  I put together seven lessons which could stretch out to another one or two depending on how students progress.  Then after those lessons are complete we will see which direction students want to go with their sewing.

I decided for now to mainly concentrate on sewing as a mission and continue my sewing education online and sew for myself, family and friends.

The other day a long time friend who is married to our former preacher called and asked me to make a sample up of a kindergarten graduation robe.  She and her husband go to Honduras on a mission trip every year and are very involved with the mission school there.  My friend and others make uniforms for the girls and boys.  I was blessed to be able to help make some cute plaid jumpers a few years ago for the mission.

This week I plan to make the graduation robe.  The collar for the robe will be the same plaid fabric as the jumper uniforms for the girls.

Maybe I can post some pictures in my next post!

Thanks for reading,
Marla

Designer Jeans

I spent most of the afternoon today working on my "designer jeans".  I'm following along with Angela Wolf's Craftsy class, Sewing Designer Jeans.  I'm using her pattern, but modified it quite a bit.  The rise was lower than I wanted so I made adjustments there.  Then I had to majorly shorten the jeans and I straightened the legs a bit.

I spent quite a bit of time prior to cutting out the denim fitting a muslin.  I adjusted and adjusted and sent pictures to Angela Wolf who gave me a couple tips; but said I did a great job and was very close on the fit! That made me feel good!  Anyway, so I made some more adjustments and finally cut out my fashion fabric of denim with 2% lycra.

It's pretty time consuming with all the top stitching but I'm taking my time because if this turns out nice, I may enter it in our county fair.

Here is the back of my jeans.  I haven't attached the buttons yet:

Thanks for reading,

Marla

Blog Name Change

I decided to change the name of my blog because I am going to end my little sewing business for financial reasons.  It's just not worth it financially to sew as a business at this point.  I am going to concentrate more on charity type sewing and continue my learning of more advanced sewing techniques.

Because of my decision, I have changed my blog name to "Sew Are the Days with Marla".  Ok, so  maybe that sounds dorky.  Maybe I will change it again, but going with that for now.

I wanted to test my blog and see if all my posts under Cooprider Sewing remained here.  It appears they did. So thankful for that!

Anyway, I hope you continue to read my posts.  Maybe I will post more often.

I'm finally starting on my jeans.  I'm working on the pockets right now!  I will try to post some pictures soon.

Thanks for reading and I hope the name change on this blog doesn't confuse you!

Marla

Designer Jeans

Since Christmas I've been working on making a muslin for my first pair of "designer jeans".  I have a lot of Craftsy classes including one called "Sewing Designer Jeans" by Angela Wolf.  I just finished the muslin after numerous attempts and consultation with Angela.

Now I am ready to make a pattern off my muslin and start the process of making my jeans.  I'm sure I will need to work on the fit some more since my fashion fabric is denim with 2% lycra.  But according to Angela Wolf, I should just need to take the seams in about 1/4".

In addition to working on this jeans project, I'm also working on writing up some basic sewing classes for a mentoring program at church.  I need to make up some samples of some of the sewing techniques yet, but I have my written instructions pretty much done! 

Once I get going on my jeans, I will try to post some pictures.

Thanks for reading,

Marla

Easy Napkin Tutorial

The holidays are over and here in Indiana we are under a blanket of snow after a heavy snowstorm a few days ago with wind chills of 40 below.  Finally the temperature is starting to warm and the snow melt a little. I have no desire to be out in this weather.  So thankfully I can offset any cabin fever with sewing!

I've been viewing some of my Craftsy sewing courses and trying to decide what project to start on next.  So while trying to decide, I am going to use up some of my fabric stash and make a few cloth napkins.  You can use all sorts of fabrics including linen; but I'm just going to use some cottons.  Stain resistant fabrics would be great; but I'm just making some informal ones for now. 

I decided to cut out some Christmas print fabric that I was actually going to use when my daughter was young for a little dress. But that never happened!

I thought I'd go through the steps to make a narrow hemmed napkin here.  Hopefully you will be able to see the stitching on this fabric.  

Standard napkins are generally either 14" or 17" squares; but you could make them whatever size you desire.  I would preshrink your fabric first.  Make sure your fabric is on grain so it lays nice.  The easiest way to cut the fabric would be with a rotary cutter and ruler using a protective cutting mat.  Be careful cutting because the rotary cutter has very sharp blades.  When cutting be sure to add one inch to the size for hemming.

After cutting your fabric turn all four sides under 1/2" and press.  You could stitch all around the napkin 1/2" to help in turning under if you like or just measure with a seam gauge and press as you go.  I had previously stitched 1/4" around because I was going to do a different method...so ignore that stitching! ;)

Here's a picture after turning under 1/2".  This fabric ravels a lot so if yours does be sure to trim the little ravels off. 

Next you will need to turn the corners under diagonally so the pressed folds match.  I used a pin to see where the pressed lines intersect because this fabric made it hard to see.  A solid fabric would be easier to see:

After folding and pressing the corner diagonally trim the corner edges to 1/4":

Now you are ready to turn the edges under 1/4" to meet the pressed fold line all the way around the edges of napkin:

When you come to a corner you will miter it.  The two edges will meet in the middle with a diagonal line. Here is the mitered corner half done.  The other side will meet that little diagonal edge that's pinned.  Just turn the left side under like the right and it will work! :)

Just keep going around turning under the edges and mitering your corners.  Then you will stitch all around your pinned napkin.  Pivot at the corners and keep sewing.  Be sure to remove your pins as you go and don't sew over them.  Here's a picture where I stitched along one edge and pivoted to begin down the another side. Stitch close to the folded inside edge:

Here you can hopefully see where I stitched along the first edge, pivoted and now stitching along next edge. You can also see my mitered corner:

And here is a picture showing the stitching from the top side of the napkin:

 

And lastly I pressed and folded my napkin into eighths.  You could fold your napkin fancier, of course:

Have fun making some napkins yourself!  It's a great way to use up some fabrics and makes meals a little special!

Thanks for reading,
Marla