Practical tech help

Does anyone know how to disable anonymous comments, while still allowing people to post with just a name and URL? I don't want to have to force people to register to comment, but the amount of spam comments is getting a little overwhelming.

Finished coat lining

Ooops! I never posted a picture of my finished coat lining. As you may recall, I needed to replace the lining on my coat. I did, in fact, finish it, I just forgot to post about it.

Here's the finished project:

This was really a functional project, and it functions well. It's not perfect by any means, but now I've learned for next time! My major mistake was that I cut one of the lining pieces out backwards, so it's wrong side out rather than right side out. However, since it's a lining, I didn't care enough to take the time to fix it!

My coat is perfectly functional, and I receive compliments on the lining on a fairly regular basis, so I'm satisfied!

Christmas present #1

I made two Christmas presents this year, which is rather unusual for me. When I try to make presents, they are usually late. But this time, I had both presents finished, wrapped, and labeled when I left to go visit K on the 19th. I was extraordinarily proud of myself!

For Teresa, I made pot holders, or hot pads. (They seem to go by a lot of names.) I was aiming for floppy enough that she could pick things up, but large enough that you could set a pot on them, rather than just a serving dish. I think I succeeded!

 I made two hot pads. They turned out pretty well, I thought, and they were easy to make. Teresa is moving into a house next year, and her kitchen is going to be apple-themed. So apple hot pads seemed cute, easy, and useful! A win-win situation.

 I quilted around the apples, rather than diagonally, because I thought it looked cuter. The diagonal lines turned out sort of weird and bunchy. One of the apples is coming out already, though! Not sure why, but I'll put it back in before Teresa leaves to go back to college.

Here are the two finished hot pads. You can see the diagonal lines from the earlier stitching on the left one, and how strange it looks. Other than that, I'm really pleased with how these turned out. There's some leftover fabric, so perhaps I'll make her a matching apron!

Merry Christmas!

Sorry for the gap in posts! I have two completed sewing projects, but both are secrets, so I can't blog about them yet. I also took a trip to NYC, and I had been planning to schedule a post or two, but I just forgot. Regular blogging will resume after Christmas.

I wish you all a joyful Christmas season, or whichever holiday you prefer to celebrate if Christmas isn't your cup of tea.

Two aprons

I made the white and blue apron on the left a few years ago. The blue one with stars that I'm wearing I made last month. Neither of them is very interesting, but I do still like my fabric choices for both of them. Aprons are actually pretty fun to make because there's no fitting, but they're so useful.

Non-sewing Christmas present!

I can post about this handmade Christmas present before Christmas, because it's already been given. At the costume shop we had a mug party where everyone was given a mug by someone else. I gave my boss a mug. I couldn't find one with the message I wanted, and I thought of the message too late to order it custom-made from the internet. So I made it myself!

I bought a mug making kit from the store, and all the markers were dried out! So instead, I used Sharpie. According to the internet, writing on a mug with Sharpie and baking it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350* will seal in the Sharpie.

Here's the finished mug. On one side:

 Because she is! And on the other side:

Because this is what we say when we make a mistake in the shop. It's become a running joke.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

G Street Fabrics

After our fabric and pattern swap, we headed to G Street Fabrics in Rockville. Others said it was disappointing compared to the old location, but I had never been there before, so I was impressed.

Some of these fabrics were just so much fun to look at. I can't imagine making something out of some of them, though!

 

So. Much. Fabric. So. Many. Zippers.

 

I did buy one piece of fabric, but I'll save all my acquisitions for another post. While I was there, I saw the machine we have in the costume shop. I asked the lady how much it costs. $986. Time to find a new dream sewing machine! Haha.

Sewing meetup!

Of course everyone else has already posted about the DC sewing meetup. And I'm days late. It's paper week here. Now that I only have one paper left, I can breathe enough to post.

The day was great! We met up at Robin's house. Everyone brought fabric and patterns to swap.

There was lots of fabric

  lots of patterns

 

and plenty of seamstresses ready to go through them all!

 

There are more pictures that Robin's husband took, as well as links to the blogs of all the participants with blogs, here.

After the fabric and pattern swap, we headed to G Street Fabrics, but I'll save that for another post. It was a great day! Thanks to Lisa for organizing the whole shebang, and to Robin for offering her house!