Deploy That Fabric

Since I've spent this week working on a fundraiser for Southern Tier Quilts of Valor, I thought I'd write a little bit about projects designed with military uniforms. A few years ago, I received my niece's ACU (Army Combat Uniform) and made her a backpack with a "soldier girl" embroidered on it.

Later I got a new pattern from Kwik Sew and made a cosmetic bag and a zippered bag. I cut off the tags (and other labels) from her uniforms and sewed those on. 













And of course, I had to accent everything in pink!


I knew that bags made out of uniforms were really popular and you can see why!  

At our QOV event, one of the raffle baskets included the book, "Deploy That Fabric" by Jen Eskridge. It's a wonderful book that includes several projects made from uniforms. So I bought up a bunch of tickets and hoped that if I put them all in one bag, I'd win...and what do you know? I won the book!


My niece is on her second tour (and probably reading this blog post while in Afghanistan); and I think her ACU is different. Hmmm...I see a new project in my future!
 

Organizing Your Sewing Space

If your sewing space is like mine, it's a little cluttered. I'm a visual person, so if I don't see something I forget about it. I also hate clutter. I hate to look at it. I hate the feeling I get when I look at it. So I like to keep things closed up and put away. That creates a huge problem for me - I need to see things but I put them away!

Sorting extra stuff.

To help me with this conundrum, I sort and label. Some things are stored in banker's boxes. I use a Sharpie to write the name of the contents on the outside of the box. Eventually, I'll print colorful labels and glue (spray glue) them to the box...so it looks a little better.

More fabric.

Here is a work in progress. These containers store my cotton quilting fabric. I realized that, because they were stacked, I didn't like pulling the bottom one out. I eventually moved the containers to some shelving so they weren't sitting on top of each other. As you can see, they are all labeled.

I then moved my IKEA Antonius drawers under the table. These are a great price and work wonderfully. The table is skirted, so sun and dust don't ruin my fabric. I don't have any fabric stored out in the open. I like the look of fabric folded on shelves, but I don't use fabric fast enough to store it like that - the sun will fade the folded ends of fabric.

And I don't neatly fold this fabric. I'm too lazy and usually in a big hurry. So yes, this is what it really looks like!

One of my favorite books for organizing is Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter. It's a great book even if you don't quilt!

Learn to Sew: Sewing Edges and Corners

Sewing Edges & Corners by Linda Lee is one of my all-time favorite books - and I used it to teach myself, and with A LOT of practice, eventually master many of the techniques. The photographs and directions are clear as a bell and easy to follow. Plus, there are some really unusual techniques that can make a project truly your own.



Go to Amazon and take a peak inside this book. Some of the mysteries of sewing will be solved - like piping and boxed corners/gussets. I promise that it will be a wonderful addition to your sewing library!