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Thank you everyone for your kind words on my tartan scarf. I feel like I am starting to get my groove with weaving and I am really hoping that I will make time to do more in the next few weeks and months.

For Christmas this year I had made TJ a shaving kit, as he travels so often and his old one was…..icky. I used a roll of seat belt material that I stitched together to create a wide fabric. Then I made a basic box bag with it, and used waxed canvas for the inside. I changed how it was stitched around the zipper because the standard way that I make them wouldn’t have worked with the thickness of the seat belt material.

He really liked it, but he had an idea for a shaving roll to go with it that would hold a few of his things. So….

shavingroll (2)
Tada! It is vinyl lined to keep it clean, and uses the same waxed canvas on the outside. The little pieces of elastic hold all of his travel toiletries securely, and it means he is not rummaging around in the bottom of his bag for a sharp razor.

It rolls up neat and tidy and fits right inside the bag. The little pocket at the end even has a little bit of elastic to hold his collar thingies.

shavingroll 1
The seat belt material on the outside of this one was actually made from the original seat belt from the very old car that he has (he has had it since he was 16…it’s going on 30 years old now!). So I was excited to get to use that. And he even helped me a bunch! He figured out layout and came up with a few of the construction details, and even sewed a few things.

shavingroll (1)
It was a fun project to work on!

shavingroll 4

Thank you everyone for participating in my giveaway! We had 231 entries which made me feel so good. Random.org told me that the winner was comment #69, which is Sasha from Bath, UK! Sasha said:

“I think i’d use it to keep my Mama cloth in, in-between uses. I think the bag is really pretty so I wouldn’t feel embarrassed leaving it out in a bathroom!”

I will be sending you an email with all the details today Sasha! If you didn’t win but would still like a bag (you guys came up with some seriously good ideas on things to store in them – I think I will make a little list just for fun) you can check them out in my box bag section here. I will be adding more small ones early next week. Thanks again everyone for entering and to Sew Mama Sew! for organizing such a fun event!

My wee family extended recently with the addition of a new industrial sewing machine!

Penny is a Juki 8700 with some extra gizmos and gadgets. For a long time I have been working away on my little home Singer, but I was really starting to put too much wear and tear on it with the amount of sewing I was doing for my business. I really like that little machine, and I was scared that I was going to blow out the motor. Plus, there were a lot of features that it didn’t have that could really save me a lot of time when I am producing 10 or 15 of the same thing at once.

So after what felt like months of research, and after finding a very good deal, I decided to go for it! With Laura in tow we picked her up on our way back to a visit to Toronto.

It has definitely been a learning curve; it’s basically like learning how to sew all over again. But to give you an idea of the power and speed this thing has: 1/2 horsepower motor (the same size that is in my husbands great big table saw), 5500 stitches per minute (my Singer probably does 700, if it’s having a good day), and a presser foot that drops down with enough force to really hurt a finger (did that once, never again). It will automatically trim the threads off for me, which is honestly my favourite part. It is saving me a HUGE amount of time. And the stitches! I can’t believe how good everything looks. So much more professional (to the trained eye I suppose). I can even control everything, presser foot up and down, trimming of threads, with my feet. It has a big wide pedal which allows me to rest both feet on it, which has left my back feeling much better at the end of a long sewing session. And I find my shoulder is feeling better too, since I don’t feel like I am forcing the heavy fabric layers through the machine. I am seriously in love!

The next research project is on industrial sergers. I can’t use a home one, as the cutter is not strong enough to go through what I need, but I am definitely starting at ground zero as far as knowledge. Anyone out there have any experience with industrial sergers?

The first round of box bags made with Penny are up in the shop today in case you want to check them out. And don’t forget to enter my giveaway below!

 

Thankfully over the last few days I have managed to get a few of the things on my ongoing project list finished, or at least well on their way. Thanks to everyone that has been helping me to clear out my stash. I feel better about it already. I am going to be making a trip to the wondrous world of Ikea in a couple of weeks to get some storage stuff, with plans to do a bit of a shift around in the studio. I will be sure to show you how that goes.

Over the last couple of weeks I have made a number of little zippy pouches to help me get organized. I had a sad little old box bag for my notions, so I decided I needed a new one. And my sock in progress seemed to always be getting tangled up with stuff in my purse, so I decided I needed a bag for those too. And since I have been doing a lot of cross stitch this year, I made an addition hoop bag too.

One of the nice things about ordering fabric for a business, it that you can pick fabrics for your own projects from a bit wider range (of immediately available choices anyway). These three bags have been put into solid use since I made them last week.

Then, since it was my friend Lindsay’s birthday, I thought I would make her a little zippy for her cross stitch too.

I can’t get enough of that toaster fabric. (Actually, I am almost out of it now, at least in the blue colourway, so I am going to have to get over the love affair). This little bag will hold an 8″ hoop along with your threads, scissors, pattern, etc. I also made a little card to go with it.

White is a new ink colour for me, so I have been trying it out on a bunch of different cardstocks.

Later this week I am going to post an update to last week’s list, just to keep myself on track. For now though, I am off to warp my loom!

Before last weekend’s quilting class, I decided it was finally time to make myself a scissor roll. I have been carrying around my sewing class supplies in this box bag that I made a while back as a demo for a class I was teaching.

While it worked great, I was worried about my scissors either banging around inside the bag or poking through the side. So I decided to make a little roll to keep them (and me) safe.

The outside fabric is the same as the box bag, and folded up it actually fits right in the bag as well.

Unfolded it has lots of pockets for all my sharp stuff. Rotary cutters, snippers, scissors, seam ripper etc. It worked really well to keep everything in one place, and actually helped me to keep things sorted on my table in the class too. I felt a bit like a chef with a knife roll! Except, you know, less tasty. :)