Camp counselor t-shirts

A couple months back my mother-in-law dropped off a stack of my husband's old t-shirts including five from his summer as a counselor at Camp Unistar. Joel was going to turn them into rags, but I secretly rescued them from the rag pile and re-purposed them as kid's t-shirts.



I used the Skinny Flashback Tee pattern from Made By Rae. I changed the long sleeves into short sleeves, but otherwise left the pattern unaltered. Size 2T fits Ethan and 5T fits Isaac perfectly.

I used my serger for the shoulder and side seams and then hand-stitched the collar and hems - I think it was actually quicker that way! I've struggled for hours to serge a blind hem, with mediocre results. I used Wonder Clips to fold under and secure the hems, and a doubled length of heavy duty Coats and Clark thread for hand-stitching. It looks like a serged blind hem, but soooo much sturdier! I will be shocked if my kids can rip these hems.

I used a running stitch to attach the collars, being careful not to pull the thread taut. Toddlers have big noggins! I did have to redo one of the 2T collars that I'd stitched too tightly. I used flat seams in the ribbed collar to avoid bulky seam allowances.



I finished these shirts just in time for the kids to wear them on Father's Day.

La Passacaglia quilt

The first time I saw a La Passacaglia quilt on Instagram, I thought "wow, that's beautiful!" My next thoughts were "those pieces are tiny," "that is a LOT of work," and "that whole project is crazy-pants. I'm not doing that."

Well... here I am... making one of those. There are too many cute cogs popping up on my Instagram feed. A bunch of fellow MMQG members have started. And last fall when I visited my friend Julie we jumped on the bandwagon, too.

A photo posted by @carriebee04 on Oct 11, 2015 at 9:47am PDT

The pieces are tiny. And it will take a lot of time. But it's so fun!

I'm using templates from Sunset Seams, precut papers from Paper Pieces, a SewLine glue pen and fancy Tulip needles from a recent Massdrop. I bought some vintage Tupperware on eBay to hold all my supplies.



I've made a little progress in the last 8 months. I still need to choose fabrics for the diamonds in cog #1.

A photo posted by @carriebee04 on Jul 2, 2016 at 6:48am PDT

My plan is to sew the first three rounds of a bunch of cogs, then decide on a layout and start the next rounds. Here's cog #2.

A photo posted by @carriebee04 on Jul 6, 2016 at 8:46am PDT

I'm drawing the line at fussy-cutting star points. I still think that's crazy-pants.

Manchester Metallics challenge

I'm so thrilled to be participating in the Manchester Metallics Summer Bag Challenge hosted by Sew Mama Sew and Robert Kaufman! The challenge is to make a bag featuring the new Manchester Metallics fabric and any other Robert Kaufman solids or textured solids.

I made a Cargo Duffle - a free pattern from Robert Kaufman by Noodlehead - with my summer roadtrips in mind. I need a moderately structured bag that can fit on the floor behind the passenger seat, under my toddler's kicking feet. And I need a lot of pockets.

 

All photo credits go to my husband, Joel. 

For my fabric pull I chose:

• Manchester Metallic Evening: 1 yard


• Essex Yarn Dyed Nautical: 1 yard


• Outback Canvas Navy: 1 yard


• Kona Cotton Berry: 3/4 yard


• Kona Cotton Wasabi: 3/4 yard

 Disclaimer: the fabric was provided by Robert Kaufman. 

Look at how sparkly this fabric is in the sun! I love it. The Manchester Metallics fabric is soft and has a very nice drape. For this project I wanted more structure and less drape, so I fused medium-weight interfacing to the back of the Manchester Metallics fabric. As an added bonus, the interfacing prevented the lovely weave of the fabric from being distorted by the dense quilting. I cut the interfacing the same size as the quilt batting.



I added a card pocket to one of the exterior pockets. I also substituted magnets for snaps.



I added another card pocket and a large pleated pocket on the interior. The interior pocket will hold a couple road maps.

I attached the extra pockets with a minimum of hand-sewing, and no seams are visible on the exterior. (The seams are visible inside the exterior flap pockets.) Here's how I did it:

1. Sew the center seam of the exterior pocket.

2. Glue-baste and sew the interior and exterior card pockets, pinning the exterior pocket out of the way.

3. Glue-baste the interior pocket so the top of both the interior and exterior pockets line up. Partially sew the side seams of the interior pocket - start at the top and sew down to where the exterior pockets end.

4. Fold the unsewn bottom inch(s) of the interior pocket up, and pin it out of the way.

5. Attach the contrast bottom on the exterior, completing the exterior pockets.

6. Finish quilting the panel.

7. Unpin and unfold the interior pocket. Glue-baste the bottom of the interior pocket to the canvas. Mark with pins on the outside of the bag where the interior pocket starts and stops.

8. With the exterior facing up, sew along the quilting line that overlaps the bottom of the interior pocket between the pins.

9. Hand-sew the bottom inch(s) of the interior pocket sides.

I added a place to clip my keychain. No more fishing around in the bottom of my bag for my keys!

A photo posted by @carriebee04 on Jun 26, 2016 at 9:37pm PDT

One of my favorite added details is the contrast flange on the handles - progress shot above. I cut a 3/4" x WOF strip of the Kona Cotton Berry and folded it in half. I cut the handle accent piece 1/4" thinner than called for in the pattern and glue-basted the flange in place before topstitching.

If you're making a Cargo Duffle I highly recommend glue-basting. It's so much easier on your sewing machine than pinning thick layers (in some places there are 10+ layers of fabric, and interface, and batting) and does wonders for accuracy.

I can't wait to pack my new bag and hit the road this summer! Big thanks to Sew Mama Sew and Robert Kaufman for this opportunity!

Here's the full list of talented bloggers that participated in the challenge:

Mo Bedell
Sandy Whitelaw of UpStairs Hobby Room
Michelle Morris of That Black Chic
Kathy Green of Designs by KTGreen
Carrie Federer of carrie bee
Anne Zeitler of AnneZPlace
Sanchia Gair of Red Brolly
Natalie Strand of Vegetablog
Devida Bushrod of The Driftwood Thimble
Sara Johansen of The Sara Project
Sarah Sharp of No Hats in the House
Michelle Webster of michellepatterns
Marni Weaver of Haberdashery Fun
Jenny of My Handmade Home