~ pinwheels, strawberries and lemon slices ~ oh my ~ Work in Progress Wednesday

Happy Wednesday.  I have been working on lots of projects.  My Sweetheart Pattern is top priority now that I have a secret project for Sew News complete : )  The Sew News project will be in the Spring '16 issue that hits news stands in December.  Hint - you carry it and it is sparkly : )

I have been working on bee blocks for the Cocorico Traveling Bee.  I made a few more for Melinda's quilt whose them is "Itty Bitty and Bright".  I am trying to add a little more orange to the group - I think I succeeded : )

The lemon is from my Jam Jars and Fruit pattern.  

The strawberry is also from my Jam Jars and Fruit Pattern.

The Pinwheel is from a Stitch magazine project from a few years ago.
I would love an entire quilt made with pinwheels : )

I have also found time to work on My Small World quilt.  It is a fun one to work on but I have a feeling this will be a very long work in progress.  The little pinwheels are just 2" square!

Happy Stitching!
xo
Charise

Work in Progress Wednesday ~ Spring Knit Dress

This afternoon I finished a dress!

We are taking a family vacation to Palm Springs and I just had to make a new dress!

I wanted something easy that I could wear with sandals.
Also, a dress I can slip easily over a swim suit.

The fabric is a Rayon Spandex Jersey that I purchased at a local Seattle fabric store.
The drape is lovely.

The cap sleeves are cut on the bias to give the sleeves a nice drape.

The underarm is finished with a double fold self fabric trim.

I am really happy with the neckline finish.  It is a single fold binding that is wrapped around the seam and stitched in the ditch so the stitching disappears.  It is a beautiful neckline finish.

I used my Dritz Ezy-Hem to mark the dress hem.  I overlocked the raw edge and then folded the finished edge to the wrong side.  I lined up the finished edge to the 5/8" line and pressed right on the Ezy-Hem.  It is made out of aluminum so you can press right on it!  I pinned the hem in place and stitched from the wrong side at 1/2".  A Super Easy hem finish.

Head on over to Freshly Pieced for some lovely Works in Progress.
I hope you find some time for creativity today!

xo
Charise

Apples and Pears ~ Work in Progress Wednesday

It has been such a fun journey - learning how to paper piece and share my patterns with you!

I unearthed my Apple and Pear patterns which I created more than 3 years ago!  

You can find the free apple pattern and tutorial HERE.

I decided to sew up the pear today to match the apple I made in a class I taught last weekend.  More on that below. 

Do you remember this project?  I created these potholders and promised a free pear pattern : )

Well.... I am working on updating these patterns - making them a bit bigger and including the original pear pattern I designed in 2012 : )

Look for the patterns soon.  They are fast and fun to make.

Great for pouches, totes or potholders as pictured above.

 The patterns also inspired the block and circle pouch I created for "Playful Little Paper Pieced Projects.

I taught a private paper piecing class last weekend to two lovely ladies - a mother and daughter.  I used the apple pattern as a class sample.
We started with the crayon pattern which is a free pattern you can find HERE.
Their projects turned out so adorable!

I hope you are enjoying your day and finding a bit of time for creativity : )

Be sure to check out the other wonderful Work in Progress Wednesday Projects over at Freshly Pieced!

xo
Charise

Feather Hobo Bag - Work in Progress Wednesday

I am a bit of a pack rat - I like to have a purse that has everything I could need at all times : )  It is always a bit embarrassing to hand my heavy bag to someone to hold!  I'm sure they are thinking "what on earth does she have in there?".  My favorite style is a slouchy bag - usually referred to as a Hobo Bag.

 I sewed up this version in this beautiful print from Anna Maria Horner.  It is a medium weight fabric in a linen cotton blend and the perfect weight for this type of bag.  I think the large scale feathers lend themselves beautifully to a handbag.

 I added a fusible fleece to the lining to give it a bit of stability.   I love the top zipper closure to hold all my goodies inside. 

The leather tab detail gives the bag extra durability - a very nice feature if you hold lots of things inside your bag : )

After seeing this gorgeous tote bag in person at Anthropologie  last week, I will be making the Hobo bag out of a gold embossed leather hide I found at my local Tandy Leather for only $30!

Sure beats paying the $500 for the Anthro bag : )  Situations like this make me very happy I know how to sew.

If you want to try making leather or suede bag, check out my post with Leather Sewing tips HERE.

Be sure to check out the other WIP projects over at freshly pieced!

Have a great evening!

xo

Charise

Sewing for Myself - Work in Progress Wednesday

In between other projects I have made a bit of time to do some selfish sewing.  I have seen some cute sweatshirt style tees appear on Instagram inspiring me to sew some comfy tops for myself.

The one pictured above is made from a heathered jersey knit with sequins and solid jersey sleeves and back. The fabric was a screaming deal at Joann fabrics.

The pattern is New Look 6230.  I went up one size and added 3 inches in length to make sure it was extra comfy to wear.

I signed up for Girl Charlee's January Knit fix and received some great fabrics.  Many of the fabrics I would not have chosen for myself but definitely like.  

I decided to make another "sweatshirt" tee  and paired the Southwest Ikat inspired print (It is the print on the bottom right in the stack above) with solid french terry.  

I've really enjoyed wearing it!

My other Work in Progress is cleaning out the basement!  Oh my....it has gotten a bit out of control.

It is amazing how "stuff" that I don't want to deal with or don't have time to deal with ends up in the basement.  I just found some pants I cut out  and have yet to sew for my youngest son when he was 3 years old.  He is now almost 8!

I think a fabric destash is in order very soon.

We are having an architect come to the house tomorrow to talk about remodeling our 950 sq. ft. 1908 bungalow. I wanted to make sure he could walk through our basement  : )

  It is time to remodel and I have put it off for far too long.  

Still suffering from a bit of home remodeling PTSD from tackling this project five years ago.

We want to turn this

into  something like this.

I love the title - "Looks Like $3000 - Costs $995"

If only one could build a new house for that price now : )

This image is a 1916 house from the website antique home.org

A must visit if you like looking at vintage houses.

Wish me luck!

xx

Charise

Anna Blouse in Kokka Camera Fabric

 Happy Wednesday!

I have some fun sewing to share today.

I have been working away on the instructions for my Anna blouse and making another short sleeve sample to help me write the instructions.  This project has been going on for - dare I say - a year, yikes!  It has been quite the learning curve with the hardest part grading the pattern on my IMac using Adobe Illustrator (turning the size 10 into size 2-18)!  My experience is drawing in Illustrator so it took some time to learn how to grade the pattern.
I am so excited to finish because I have ideas for so many more garment patterns I want to make.

I was going to use photo instructions for sewing the blouse together, but after asking my IG friends their preference between photos and illustrations, the overwhelming vote was illustrations.   

It takes more time but I think the results are worth it : )

I purchased this adorable Kokka Camera Fabric a few months ago and am so excited to put it to use.
It is a gorgeous shade of blue - a beautiful turquoise blue.

You can find it on sale here!    So sorry, it is sold out.  If I find a source I will update this post.

The scale is fairly small - cameras are about 1"  - 1 1/2", so it is a perfect fabric for quilty projects too.

I have been working on my "Scrappy nine Patch" and have decided to add a rather interesting border so this will not be done any time soon.  I think it will be worth it though - spending a little extra time to get the exact look I want!

Lovely Gathered Clutch in Suede ~ Work in Progress Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!  

I recently make my Lovely Gathered Clutch with Suede Trim and just love it.

The fabric on the left is from Cotton + Steel - Tokyo Train ride.  

The suede I have had in my stash for ages.  It is leftover  from my Fashion Design Days when I was designing suede jackets : )

I thought it would be fun to make a clutch entirely in Suede! 

I changed the gathers to pleats and I will share the "how to" in another post : )

Through trial and error, I have come up with some tips and tricks that make it possible to have professional results sewing Suede and Leather on your home machine.

Look for a post where I share my tips for sewing on Suede and Leather.

I also could not resist starting another clutch in my new favorite print from Melody Miller's "Playful Line" for Cotton + Steel Fabrics.  It is a wonderful collage print and I'm looking forward to making more purses with it!

The pink border fabric is also from Cotton + Steel.

This is such a fun pattern and easy to sew up!

It is so nice to sew with "Springy" fabrics in the middle of Winter!  I hope to finish it before I have to pick up the kids this afternoon : )  

(It did not happen - maybe tonight!)

Be sure to head on over to Freshly Pieced to see the other wonderful "WIP Wednesday" projects!

xo

Charise

Tea Time ~ Work in Progress Wednesday

Happy Wednesday to you!  Today I have been working on a quilt block for the Cocorico Online Quilting Bee on Flickr.  Kylie asked for tea themed blocks for her quilt. 

Kylie supplied some great images and I used one of them for the inspiration for this design.

I am happy with it overall but I think that next time I will make the spoon in a darker fabric so it "pops" a bit more.

I will be sure to share here on my blog when the pattern is in my shops for sale : )

I love the tea bag - that adorable tea pot motif is from a Japanese fabric I have had in my stash for ages and I love to use the motifs for paper pieced blocks.

Be sure to head on over to Freshly Pieced for more wonderful Works in Progress or search the hashtag #WIPWednesday on Instagram. : )

xo

Charise

Work in Progress Wednesday ~ Scrappy Nine Patch Quilt

Happy Wednesday to you : )

Over the Holiday I was inspired to start a new quilt - My Scrappy Nine Patch.  

I had scraps left over from some log cabin blocks I was working on for the Scrappy Log Cabin Quilt along on Instagram and thought this would be the perfect use for them!

It was fun to go through my smallest scraps and pull anything that was bigger than 2" square.

Not all pieces came from the scrap bin....some of my favorite blocks are fussy cut squares from favorite fabrics.

Be sure to see all the lovely works in progress over at Freshly Pieced! 

xo

Charise

Work in Progress Wednesday - Lovely Gathered Purse

I've taken a little break from my "deadline" sewing. Well...at least the deadlines I have set for myself- 

Finishing my Anna Blouse Pattern (release in January!) 

and the last block in my Vintage Block Quilt Along.
As well as a few blocks for the Cocorico Bee.

This little number - I'm calling it the "Lovely  Gathered Purse" has been in my sketch book for ages and when I found this fabric I knew I had to make it.
The zippers are a perfect match to the metallic dot print.

The fabrics are from Daiwabo and I love the simplicity and modern feel of the fabrics.

The colors are perfect for winter outfits in such pretty metallics,
 and cool wintry shades of silver, gray and blue.

I found the fabric at my local Pacific Fabrics.  It is also available online too!

This bag is a nice medium size at 11" tall x 11 wide at the top,
 and I just cut out a larger "shopper" version today!

I love the inside zipper pocket and it is so easy to install!

xo

Charise 

Work in Progress Wednesday

Thought I would share a few things I am working on this cold (28 degrees!) sunny day in Seattle.

I've been working on a new paper piecing pattern for my shop.  I hope to sneak in a little bit of time to finish it today.

RJR fabrics is sponsoring a mini quilt challenge for their Cotton Supreme Solids line which will be hosted by Pink Castle Fabrics.  I had a lot of fun designing this quilt for the hop.  

The hop starts on Feb 7th and runs through June 20th and I'll be sure to post links once the blog hop starts! 

If you have some WIP, share them over at Freshly Pieced!

Happy Sewing!

xo

Charise