Show off things you have sewn!

In the  Show us your sewing machine! thread it was asked

Melissa DeBusk wrote:Will you all post some of your projects you’ve made?

That's a fun idea, show us what you have made!

:D

I hand sewed all of the faux fur trim and machine sewed the sack.  It had a series of loops for the leather strap which was more of a pain than I anticipated because it was four layers of upholstery fabric.  

Rob Lineberger wrote:I hand sewed all of the faux fur trim and machine sewed the sack.  It had a series of loops for the leather strap which was more of a pain than I anticipated because it was four layers of upholstery fabric.  

Oh my gosh this is great!!!

Melissa DeBusk wrote:

Rob Lineberger wrote:I hand sewed all of the faux fur trim and machine sewed the sack.  It had a series of loops for the leather strap which was more of a pain than I anticipated because it was four layers of upholstery fabric.  

Oh my gosh this is great!!!

Thanks!  When I hit the fourth thrift shop and saw the red wool ladies coat I was pretty pumped.

I did sew so very much ... but never thought of making photos!
Maybe next time ...

I've sewed lots of things, but one thing that's on my list to make more of, are oven mitts. I don't like most commercial oven mitts because they're: 1. usually too short to protect the arm, 2. usually wear right at the danger point and 3. Usually are all sewn together so I can't wash or replace the cover and keep using the well padded inside part.

So I made a pair for myself and one for a friend who kept burning her arm half way to the elbow. I made the inside out of cotton-filled quilted material and I sewed some knitted wool fabric to cover the area that gets the most pressure when picking up hot stuff.

The original covers were a pretty cotton - wore out. The second covers were made from a wool shirt that was stained. The third cover is pictured below - I'm betting you can guess where I salvaged that fabric from!

Now I need to make a pair for my son's girlfriend who's just learning to bake, and I'd like to make a pair for my sister and send them to her.

I hand sewed this tunic inspired by the viking kragelund tunic.

18' tipi for a customer in Maggie Valley, NC

I was looking on my blog for photos of clothing I've sewn--dresses and skirts--but saw this picture instead.  I made it out of scraps and it and two of its friends have been on party duty for several years now.

Lateen sail!

G Freden wrote:I was looking on my blog for photos of clothing I've sewn--dresses and skirts--but saw this picture instead.  I made it out of scraps and it and two of its friends have been on party duty for several years now.

I think it's great when people show small projects that can inspire beginners and that can be made with small bits of fabric. It can be really expensive to buy quality fabric these days, which I would find pretty scary if I was just starting out. I would cheerfully give scraps of fabric to a newbie sewer to make something small but pretty or useful if it got them started on a path to a new skill.

Finally I made a photo. I saw in forums that some of you like dressing (up) in historical costumes. That reminded me of this ... I have some friends (since our youth) who are in the Dutch folk music scene. Once every two years they organise a festival in a village fairly close by here. A festival about folklore and 'Middle-Ageish' things still done nowadays (spinning and weaving and other fiber arts, beer brewing, green wood working, etc.). I went there, together with my sister. Of course I wanted to wear Middle-Ageish clothes there. So I recycled / upcycled linen and wool materials I already had at home. It isn't really 'historical', only looks like I am a woman from the Middle Ages who didn't have much money but knew how to make her own clothes.

Please do not look at the background. Or what I have in my hands ...


Upcycled felted old woolen sweaters into a 'chaperon'.
 

Suddenly I remembered the Middle-Ages are also called Medieval in English ...

Although big, this is a very easy project. I scavenged the stuffing from a purchased dog bed our 2 dogs chewed up in record time and added the stuffing from 3 old pillows we weren't using. I also made a pillowcase-like cover from old, worn out jeans.

Nice work Tammy! I actively scrounge dead jeans from people I know as there are usually parts that are worth salvaging and the material is tough enough to stand up to "real" use.
How's that new pillow survived contact with the dogs?

Jay Angler wrote:Nice work Tammy! I actively scrounge dead jeans from people I know as there are usually parts that are worth salvaging and the material is tough enough to stand up to "real" use.
How's that new pillow survived contact with the dogs?

Yeah, I still have a stack of 'dead' jeans, although this project took a pretty big bite out of my supply. Never know when some tough material will come in handy. Made a insulated lunch bag for my daughter one time. Really nice that it would stand up to being dragged around.

The bed lasted a lot longer than the store-bought, but it's currently back in the mending.

New six month old rescue pup, Dingo, decided that chewing on the bed was the thing to do. Kind of my fault too - I didn't have the cover on it. Our husky, border collie rescue ripped into the back edge of the case (not the open side, go figure), and I hadn't fixed that yet. She managed to rip through 2 layers of jeans and 2 layers of sheeting material (which is what the jean material is sewn to), not to mention the seam itself!

It's just a corner of the bed, so I'll probably just tuck that part to the inside, and sew a seam across the tucked in part. Depending on how long it takes Dingo to outgrow her chewing stage, they could end up with a round bed, lol.

So far, my hubs has HATED my stash of dead jeans. It used to be rather sizable, but I culled some, before we moved. (He had mixed feelings - glad some were gone, sad because he felt like I'd parted with something important to me, because of him). But, there was still a decent amount, and I only ditched the worst of them. My plan was - might still be - to make them into flannel-backed quilts, for us and all our kids. The smallest bits become patches...

I was planning to make a throw for the couch out of patchwork 'dead' jeans. But my couch is no longer blue, and the dogs' bed isn't as cozy as I thought it would be. The lack of coziness may just be because I chose the sturdiest pieces from my stash though.

I got this remnant of home dec fabric for $1 and decided to make a pouf out of it. After some calculation, I was able to maximize the pouf size to 20" by 18". I inserted an invisible zipper at the bottom and reused bean bag pellets for filling. Aslo put a 2" foam at the bottom to keep it flat.

I made these for my niece this summer.  She loves them.  






I also made this quilt for her little sister.

Kate Muller wrote:

I made these for my niece this summer.  She loves them.

That skirt is adorable - and it's an excellent sort of project if anyone new to sewing wants a useful project. The gathers will cover any little problems with not quite straight seams, and the elastic waist avoids having to learn button holes or zippers.

If anyone wants to learn to sew, looking for a pre-schooler to sew for makes a lot of sense. You get to practice on things which don't call for too much fabric, and if it isn't perfect, most people will notice the cute kid *in* the outfit - not little flaws!

This is a short overall refash, I did, recently. I'm not exactly thrilled with it, because even though I think it turned out cute-ish, I really wanted to wear it for both chores and the quick run-to-town errands, and such. The problem is the fabric I used for the skirt is not durable enough for chores. It's too fine, and wrinkles ridiculously easy, for the purpose I was hoping for. So, the skirt is coming off, and will be turned into a separate skirt,  with the addition of pockets. The short-alls will get a new, heavier-duty skirt - maybe made of dead jeans, with their pockets.

That's a great idea, Carla!

I have a pair short overalls in the donate pile (too short so I never wear them). I think I'll try making them longer.

Great stuff in this thread!

Apart from masks I have only been sewing boxers for my husband recently.
Normally I like to repurpose old dress shirts for those - one dress shirt will give one boxer of the same size. I had a shirt from a friend's husband who is a bit slimmer than my own husband so I had to do a bit more seams (I had to cut out more pieces than usually).

The other two boxers were from normal fabric and were therefore a bit quicker to make.
One fabric was from the stash of my deceased MIL (not sure DH knows) and it looks quite cheerful.

No photos right now but I can provide some.
I still have to work on the front fly where I always get a wonky seam, or maybe I should really buy a pattern instead of my self-drafted newspaper pieces! (I do own two or three patterns but they are either overcomplicated or not suitable for the shirt repurposing).

Tammy Farraway wrote:That's a great idea, Carla!

I have a pair short overalls in the donate pile (too short so I never wear them). I think I'll try making them longer.

Thank you!  I debated leaving the legs on, and doing something like a tiered skirt, for each leg, so they'd stay pants, and give more coverage. But, decided that to use a heavier fabric, like denim or heavy twill, it would get too bulky to be comfortable, while I'm outside working. Btw, John bought these short-alls for me, at Walmart, for $13, back in May. We went back for more, so I could have both the shorts and a dress, lol.

They say hoodie is in. Well, I don't  have any. So I made my 24" doll a hoodie and matching sweatpants. She has a more fashionable wardrobe than I do.

Anita Martin wrote:
Apart from masks I have only been sewing boxers for my husband recently.
[...]
No photos right now but I can provide some.

Thanks for the apple on that previous post!
I thought I had to keep up the promise to show some pics.
These are three of my latest boxers. I also made one from fabric I bought but I will preferrably repurpose any shirt I get my hands on. Sustainable and you get nice prewashed (=soft) fabric that already has a classy pattern/colour!

The topmost boxer has additional  vertical seams as the smaller shirt did not allow for my usual layout.

I am not sure if I have shown my sketch on how to lay out the pattern pieces for the boxer on a shirt. If there is interest, I can make a pic and upload.

Here's a recent project!

So, I moved into a drafty old farmhouse from the late 1800s and there were no window treatments except for some old brackets for roller shades. I decided to put some secondhand fabric that I had been saving to use and made some curtains lined with blackout material. I was thinking about putting in a quilted middle layer for better insulation but these are already quite heavy, so if I do these quilt-style in another room I'll definitely have to put in a tougher rod.

I also recovered one of the original roller shades, then realized I recovered it on the wrong side.... so I'll be redoing that, ha ha.

I originally took these photos hoping they'd fall into a sewing BB but uh... I don't think this counts for anything on the list. Except maybe the part where I made these and then had to hem them to get a perfect fit after the first hanging.

Hayley, good jobs on the curtains. One might think that straight seams are an easy thing but I always have to force myself to slow down and sew with precision on such large projects.
I tore out a page from a DIY catalogue on blackout curtain material (for my daughter's room) but I am still undecided - if I find something similar on a second-hand internet platform I might just buy something for her window.

In the meantime I have done some underwear sewing.
I finished two bralettes last week, roughly taking a bikini top I have as a guideline. They are both pullover style and they turned out quite cute. One is with double knit fabric, the other with elastic. I prefer to use double fabric if the fabric is thin, both because you don't need so much foldover elastic and lace elastic and because I want some coverage from my bralettes (after breastfeeding three kids I need an extra layer to feel comfortable, although I do not need it for support).

The white bralette (also in pullover style) was the quickest, done today, and the only one where I had some sort of pattern (for a sports bra). I deepened the neck opening because I knew from previous projects that otherwise the bralette peeks out of the neckline and omitted the cut-out in the back.
After trying on I decided not to add any band on the seam but just finished the edge off with foldover elastic. All seams are encased/finished off now nicely.
The permie thing about it was that I used what I had on hand, e.g. the repurposed hem of a donated sweater for the turquoise one (colour is a bit off in the pic) and used knits that were remnants from t-shirt sewing.

My skirt is finished. After posting my thread about the classic jean skirt, I still wanted to add more pockets - I'll add that info to that post. So, here's the result:

I made a foldable shopping bag. When folded up, It can easily fit in my purse. I found use for it the ery first day, bagging black walnuts found in the park!

The so sew easy website has a free pattern of a different kind of folded bag. It has a sew-on zipper pouch at the bottom. I remember my mum had one of those made of nylon and stiff faux leather.

https://so-sew-easy.com/folded-shopping-bag-batik-fabric/

What a nice bag!
I have sewed several of the fold-up bags that have the zipper bottom (plus a tiny extra zipper to store change) and it is really nice, but I love how stylish your version looks when folded up - plus you don't need extra notions such as a zipper.

I do have lots of fabric bags and use most of them but maybe I can make some more fold-up versions. So convenient to have them in the purse or car.

Redid the bottom of the overall skirt in flannel. Much softer, comfy-er, less wrinkles-prone, and I'm loving it, now. I may add more pockets, lol.

Looks comfy for sure! I applaud you that you redid the skirt part instead of just arranging yourself with a so-so solution. It does take some work but you actually get to wear the garment in the end!
Are you wearing the dress around the house or out in the garden as well? I am wondering because I myself would get caught everywhere with the long skirt and probably even stepping on the seam (I am quite short).

I did some more mask sewing the last days (including one new pattern which is quite fun as you use your hand for measuring - I might include that in the mask sewing thread).
Then I had to sew another boxer as one of the older ones got a rip beyond repair (and was very frayed around the waist from years of washing).
I took the same fabric as the discarded one and used the pattern with the gusset. I suspect that the shape is sturdier than with just a middle seam.

While searching for a fabric I stumbled upon a mystery fabric that might have been from my grandaunt's stash. At least I cannot remember buying it. It is either a very finely woven cotton or some vintage viscose. Very soft, drapey and cool to the touch, not stiff at all but rather flowing. Plus the stripes - it begged to be sewn into PJ pants.

I have a pattern I modified from a Japanese pattern book and which I had sewn up several times already. This time I left out the seam pockets, back patch pockets, double tunnel in the waist with buttonholes for a string tie - just the basic pants pattern.
But I enclosed all seams nicely and pressed after each seam.

I guess I have to sew (or buy, gasp) some white t-shirts to go with my nice sewn pants (I have sewn a similar with chequered cotton fabric).

I sewed this shirt. It is one piece of knit fabric. There is one seam down the middle of the back, seams on the shoulders, and darts under the arms for fit. Finished around arms, neck, and waist by turning the fabric over and zig-zag stitching.

It has two traits that I couldn't get in a commercial shirt. It is extra long, which I adore. And it is a heavy fabric that is great for winter. Oh, and it's tailored to fit my body.

Anita Martin wrote:Looks comfy for sure! I applaud you that you redid the skirt part instead of just arranging yourself with a so-so solution. It does take some work but you actually get to wear the garment in the end!
Are you wearing the dress around the house or out in the garden as well? I am wondering because I myself would get caught everywhere with the long skirt and probably even stepping on the seam (I am quite short).

I'm wearing it for pretty much everything but construction & fencing. For anything where it could become a safety issue, I put on my jeans. But, almost anything in the house, going to town, routine critter feeding & grooming, normal daily chores... I wore it to a local bbq restaurant, last night, when time and energy evaporated, & before we knew it, it was past dinner time, and we had nothing even close to 'dinner in under an hour'.

Anita Martin wrote:
While searching for a fabric I stumbled upon a mystery fabric that might have been from my grandaunt's stash. At least I cannot remember buying it. It is either a very finely woven cotton or some vintage viscose. Very soft, drapey and cool to the touch, not stiff at all but rather flowing. Plus the stripes - it begged to be sewn into PJ pants.

I LOVE 'found' anything, but 'found' fabric is always fun, because (at least in my head) it becomes like a game, to see how many things it could be used for, and how creatively it can be used.

Anita Martin wrote:
I have a pattern I modified from a Japanese pattern book and which I had sewn up several times already. This time I left out the seam pockets, back patch pockets, double tunnel in the waist with buttonholes for a string tie - just the basic pants pattern.
But I enclosed all seams nicely and pressed after each seam.

I guess I have to sew (or buy, gasp) some white t-shirts to go with my nice sewn pants (I have sewn a similar with chequered cotton fabric).

Traditional Asian and Middle Eastern sewing methods are always intriguing, to me, because they are so focused on the comfort, economic use of the fabric (& work time), as well as functionality and durability. One thing I think is what drives it for me, is the almost 'origami' approach they use. I've a few things rolling around in the back of my head, that I want to try, using some of those techniques, for this winter.

Carla Burke wrote:
Traditional Asian and Middle Eastern sewing methods are always intriguing, to me, because they are so focused on the comfort, economic use of the fabric (& work time), as well as functionality and durability. One thing I think is what drives it for me, is the almost 'origami' approach they use. I've a few things rolling around in the back of my head, that I want to try, using some of those techniques, for this winter.

Sounds interesting.
About three years ago I searched out Japanese sewing books from the library, but they were about modern Japanese garments (Shape Shape, Drape Drape and similar).

I have sewn some of the garments but I have found that mostly I like to look at them when others are wearing them, but they don't flatter me. I love the clean, cool silhouettes but somehow my body does not fit that scheme. It is convenient that the sizing caters to small sizes but I am more "curvy" than Asian ladies (mind you, nobody who saw me would call me curvy, haha).

Well, I will adapt what fits my body and my way of living and leave the rest to admire from a distance!