ModSew:: thoughts

There are so many times that I just want to type out those thoughts I have. But then I started thinking what if that is not what people want from Modern Sewciety. What if I get to the computer and can’t think of those thoughts. Oh wait I don’t have any glamorous pictures to include in this post. And on and on.

I find myself struggling lately to be me, a wife, a mom, a podcaster, a sewist, a part of my kids schools as a volunteer, and I have just come to the conclusion that I am not a good blogger. I want to be but I hold myself back from it. I let those questions up there hold me back. I see all of the people follow on instagram and such “do it all” and I can’t seem to make it a day sometimes without saying I am running around in circles. I haven’t had time to get on my computer or instagram the past several weeks due to the campaign we are helping friends with. Heck I haven’t even had time to clean my house. I actually broke down and said I have to stay home until it is cleaned or I won’t be able to function. I did the minimum and then finished sewing a pillow case I was making my girls.

Then there are so many things I want to make that I get lost in the what do I make first? I have so many people that ask me to sew things for them and I don’t mind but I don’t have time. I want my sewing to be for me. Heck I think I could hire someone to just sew misc things for people and make a killing because they don’t sew and want something made. But the reality is that is not what I want to do.

Actually this is what I want to do. I want to go through my house and get rid of stuff that is just stuff because I want less. I want to put my fabric stash in my china cabinet with my china because they are both special to me. I want to look at both of them everyday! I yearn for creativity but when there is stuff to clean, to do, to look at I get lost. I like being someone who doesn’t commit to too much but lately I have. I think I am going to say no a little bit more this Fall and Winter and spend some time feeding my creativity. I think I will be a better person for it.

Do you ever feel this way?

ModSew:: Washi Dress in Girl Charlee Knit fabric

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I have been wanting to make a Washi dress for so long but then again I wanted to make all of the Made By Rae dresses. I couldn’t make up my mind which one I really wanted to make first so when I chatted with Rae on the podcast I asked which one would she suggest. She said let me send them to you and make them all. I was so excited. I couldn’t decide still which one I like the most. I have been chatting with Girl Charlee about coming on the podcast and they said let us send you something to make something with. Well that was just the perfect excuse to go ahead and try making the washi in knit.

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I liked this blue with mint green triangle arrows print. I knew it would be something I would wear a lot. I got about 3 yards for a size medium and I could have gotten away with about 2 1/2 or less as I wasn’t super careful about not wasting fabric when cutting it out. I actually cut it out and made it all in one morning… as in started at 8 and had to leave to go on a date with my husband at 11. I wanted to wear it so I knew I had to get it finished. I have done things with elastic thread before and knit so I wasn’t too worried. Although my elastic thread was acting up that day and I think I am going to have to redo a couple of rows.

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I cut a medium and added a facing in the neck. I think next time I will do a fully lined bodice with the knit as I think it will be easier to work with and wear that way. Rae has a full bodice lining tutorial on her blog that you can check out (but you would omit the sleeves if you want it sleeveless like mine). The facing wants to ride a little as it is now. I didn’t finished the arms for 1) I ran out of time and 2) it is knit so it won’t fray and I am the only one the really notices. I also didn’t hem it, again, it is knit and I am the only one who noticed and I ran out of time. A note about me is I don’t let those little things get to me and stress out about them because then I don’t get things done. I really just try to make things that make me happy and that I love.

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I wore the dress on our date and my husband loved it. His only criticism was it makes you look bigger than you are. I wore it that day because I didn’t have time to fix anything. I wanted to wear it and see what I thought I needed to do. I washed it and today I just took it in a little from the top of the underarm seam to the pocket top, angling a little so it didn’t look too forced. I put it on and I love it even more now. Will that method work for everyone? Probably not but it worked for me and I am sure it has something to do with it being made with knit.

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I really love it. I love how comfortable it is and how easy it was to make. I am not super new to garnet sewing, knits, and making things at the last minute but I think this is a great dress to make in knit. I think you can make one too. Girl Charlee knits are so easy to work with and are good quality knits. Wanna know something? I didn’t have my ball point needle in my machine that had my walking foot but that is the one I was standing by when I got the dress out of the dryer this morning – I sewed on it anyways. I think sometimes just trying and if you fail then you learn but sometimes trying gets you to where you want to go. I have a dress I dearly love and will make many, many more of!

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I really love that Girl Charlee is an easy place to find great quality knits easily AND they have awesome customer service. I love working with them and I have bought knits from them before and made things so even though they sent me the fabric to make this dress I am still a customer. I love knit fabric for many reasons but the most important is how comfortable it is to wear any time of the year. Oh and the not having to worry about raveling of seams is really nice too!

Wanna make one too??? You are in luck! Made by Rae is giving away a Washi Dress pattern and Girl Charlee is giving away a $20 gift certificate for you to buy the material to make one of your own!

Leave a comment letting me know what Girl Charlee fabric you will use to make your Washi!!!!

Extra (optional) Entry:: Share this on social media (tweet, Facebook, pinterest, instagram, etc). Please put each share in a separate comment

Also if you are a no reply blogger then make sure to leave your email in the comment so I can contact you if you win!

Giveaway ends:: Saturday June 21, 2014 at midnight.

ModSew:: Flying Geese of Comfort

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Have you heard about the Zeller family? If you are on instagram you probably saw, participated, or shared about the @thezellerauction that Katy Kristin hosted to benefit them. The Zeller’s have lost three children, their home and belongings, and now their health is suffering because of exposure to mold. They have three children as well that are also suffering from mold exposure.

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I have two daughters and I know if they lost everything they would be devasted. Kids are kids and they don’t have a lot that is all theirs but their stuff is all theirs. The Zeller’s found out they had to leave their house and the stuff in it because it had mold. really bad mold. They could not take or save anything. My heart sank and my brain started to think of a way to help.

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I put out a call for quilts on instagram. I had three awesome people step up and say they would make a quilt for them. I knew I would make a girl quilt with Amy Butler Lark and some HST. The other ladies made another girl quilt, a boy quilt and a queen size for Misty and her husband. It was amazing and so why I love this community so so much. Everyone didn’t think twice about helping. And those ladies are @darcychildress, @marygeorge, and @sewinlovequilting please go follow these ladies and let them know how awesome they are.

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Misty (Zeller) said she really loved patchwork. I knew that everyone needed a little Amy Butler in their life so It was a perfect match. I also knew I didn’t want to quilt it a lot because my kids seem to like the snuggly quilts a little more than the ones that have a lot of quilting. So I did some minimal quilting on this and washed and dried it before sending it off. I mean quilts are always so much better after they come out of the dryer!

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I did something I haven’t tried before and that was quilting the quilt, then trimming away the batting, trimming the backing so I could use it like a binding. That is not easy to explain! lol I think it really worked on this quilt. I didn’t think it was easier or anything but I have been wanting to try it.

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I used the HST in a flying geese pattern. If you look at the quilt and focus you can see the geese are going down the center, then each going a different way up and down the quilt. It was a crazy pattern but the Zeller’s are a flock of geese having a really hard and crazy time right now. No matter how hard and crazy though they are still a flock and they stick together.

I thought about that craziness and pain and sickness so much while making this quilt. I thought so much about how I wish I could pray something into this quilt to help them with what they are going through. I did pray a lot of prayers for them into this quilt. I ask that you lift up the Zeller family as well. They need all of the love, hugs, and prayers they can get right now.

ModSew:: baby quilt “what does the fox say?”

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We have a friend that I know is the reason I met my husband. He was friends with my husband (whom I didn’t know at the time) and one of my friends. We all went to watch a basketball game at a local restaurant together and my husband stopped by. He had just bought a black mustang. He was just coming back from being with his parents as his mom had hip surgery. He was so not my type at all. He came in and said hi and that he was going to run home and unpack, shower, and change to head back up to watch the game. I was not phased that much… he wasn’t my type.

Well we all ended up hanging out that night and had a really fun time. Well there were some drinks that were consumed as well. But we had fun and he was so nice.

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So that week I get a call saying is this Stephanie, THE Stephanie that I met? Uh who is this? And it was him and he had asked his friend for my number and he happened to have 3 Stephanie’s in his phone. So I was the third and he was wondering if he would ever get the right one on the phone. So we talked to a while and decided to go on a date.

And we did and haven’t looked back at all. We were us. And we ended up getting married and having two daughters.

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That friend we both shared is the reason I know we are together. He was our common link and God put us together.

That friend now lives in another state and is having a baby girl this month. I knew that that baby girl needed something handmade from me. I prayed over this quilt. I thanked God for His many blessings while making this quilt.

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Now to get it in the mail to her.

Mod Sew:: Patchwork bag big enough for the beach

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I have a friend that I have never met in person but I love her more than words can say. Do you know what that is like? To never actually meet someone face to face but feel like they are a part of who you are? I think that is what the internet has done for so many of us. The internet is a great thing if you use it that way.

Well until you start looking up the symptoms you have and think you are going to die of a rare something any second. Yea that isn’t so awesome. Don’t lie you know you have done that too.

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anyways….

I sometimes go and check my mail and there is a package with awesomeness in it.

Like the one time I opened a package with a fat quarter set of Amy Butler’s Lark for me and my kids each had a bag of stuff for them.

Or the one time I got a quilt with all of our names on it and a cute label with my kid’d picture.

or the time I sent these ugly 9 patches to my friend and said do what you want with them. She sent me a package of the most beautiful quilt ever made with those 9 patches that didn’t look so ugly anymore.

Or the time I got the cutest bag made with the cutest fabric I had been loving. Just because.

Or the time I opened up a package with a fat quarter bundle of Jennifer Paganelli fabric… one of my favorites.

It keeps going… and going.

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She loves me and my family more than I could ever imagine someone I have never met could love us. My kids even know her and know what she has sent to them. They pick things up all of the time and talk about her with love in their hearts and smiles on their faces.

My husband thinks of her as one of my closest friends and he even texts her sometimes to thank her for being the person I can talk to about sewing.

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She has filled our home with beautiful handmade things that she took the time to make us. She is part of who I am as a person who sews. That makes sense right? She gets me. We chat about fabric and thread and designers and retreats. She encourages me and helps me think about what my next moves should be. She inspires me with her charity work and giving so generously.

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She also happens to live near the beach… actually she works on the beach. Yea not the tons of beaches near me because that would be super awesome. She takes most of her pictures of her amazing quilts by the beach.

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I always get awesome ribbons and trims from her when she sends packages. I have to say one of my favorite parts about fabric are the cute selvages. I mean some are just plain awesome… like butterflies.

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Everyone needs a friend like her. I wish we could all meet our many online friends and sew with them. I think that would be so awesome. I hope that her and I get to sew together soon. I think she is going to fly down to see us and I have already warned her that I want to call Carolyn and take her back down to Plant City to go shopping. That would be so much fun.

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Most of all I think that there are so many things I need to make and want to make but when I make something and send it to someone else I love it. I love that I thought about them the whole time, prayed for them, put my heart in fabric for them. I want to hug her so much because she is so special to us but until that happens I send her handmade things. I even forget to put a nice little note in the box because I am so excited to send it to her and get her text. I love that… the text that screams at you that they got happy mail. Happy mail should be a requirement for everyone. Right? right.

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I put so many things into this bag that were special… like a Tula Pink selvage because she loves Tula. She is a groupie. Pinwheels because they are my favorite block. Ice Cream cones because ice cream is the universal sign for happiness. Chevrons because they are just classic and perfect for anything. Donkeys wearing rain boots. Bonnie and Camille because hello they are awesome. Denyse Schmidt’s grey eyelet fabric because it is always appropriate to use that print in anything. So many more.

I hope she loves it and I hope more than anything she knows how much we love her!