This is exciting!

I am so excited that I have made my third sale today off my Etsy.com site (http://tswhimsy.etsy.com/)! I think this is great, considering I have only posted a total of 5 things for sale. I have reached 60% of total sales today. Hee, hee!

I think it is the coolest thing to think that this person in Chicago, Illinois, whom I have never met, will be wearing my original design - my "relaxed sweatshirt dress" that I created for myself to throw on over my spandex after dance class. However, I ended up loving my sweatshirt dress so much that I actually wore it ALL THE TIME during the winter and spring months. It's just such an easy wardwrobe choice. I wore it often paired with a black tee, black Dansko leggings, my Frye boots, my favorite knit scarf, and the necklace my friend Atomic Owl made for me (you can find her on Etsy also: http://atomicowl.etsy.com/).

There are currently only two Relaxed Sweatshirt Dresses designed and sewn my yours truely out there in the world. Unfortunately, that is all I have had the time to sew and create these days. the cool thing is that both are "originals" because the one that my Etsy customer in Chicago, Illinois bought today is slightly different than the one I own. I put clear elastic in the neckline to give it a different look. My version that I own does not have that detail. Both are super-cute in my opinion, though.

Here is a photo of the dress that will be walking around Chicago, Illinois...

I apologize again for not taking the time to blog on a more regular basis. Between February and now I have been trying to maintain a class load of 3 very challenging classes and work full-time. How I love to blog, though!

I hope to find time to blog more during the summer months (I will only be taking two classes), but still working full-time. And I also hope to get some sewing time in as I haven't sewn anything new since January. I would really like to sew myself a t-shirt version of my Relaxed Sweatshirt Dress to enjoy during the summer months. I hope to sew a few extra to sell on Etsy, too. So please keep checking my Etsy site because I may just well surprise you with a few more new things!

My Favorite Little Model

Meet my favorite little model for a kiddie apron I made for my husband's best friend's little girl. This is Dedo (she was the smallest thing in our house that could model this apron so I could get a photo of it before I sent it off to the recipient who lives in Little Rock, Arkansas). Dedo is going on 15 years old this year - she's the "Old Lady" of the house. She may not look very thrilled to be modeling this very cute kiddie apron I made, but she was apparently loving it because she was purring up a storm at the time. I could barely hold her up straight because I was laughing so hard.

Note the very cute bunny buttons on the top of the apron. I scored those from a friend and ex-coworker who was a Katrina survivor. When she was able to get back to her house before making the permanent move to P-town, she found some of her sewing things still intact including some fabric and buttons (both of which she shared with me when she found out I also loved to sew - in return I made her a very cool apron which I will post some photos of hopefully in the near future).

I know, I have been very bad at blogging, but honestly, I looove to blog. I just have not had much time to blog or to spend in my sewing room because I recently made the decision to go back to school and have been busy trying to juggle three classes and a FT job since January this year (hence, the lack of blog posts since then). But I just made my first sale on Etsy from a very special customer and I am so excited about it that it has given me renewed energy to take some time out to blog some more!

Here is a close up photo of the cute bunny button detailing on the kiddie apron. Aren't they so cute?! Okay, please keep checking out my blog. I promise to be better about making regular posts!

A Christmas Scarf for Kev

I took up knitting a while before I took up sewing. But once I got into sewing, that's all I wanted to do - sew. So I had no more time to knit. Sure, I can knit your basic few stitches, but I'm not very quick (and my problem is I'm a perfectionist, i.e. very AR). And I made the mistake of knitting my husband a scarf with tiny needles and thin yarn so it was taking me FOREVER. I wanted it to be really cool so I was making a blue scarf with red edges on all 4 sides. Next thing you know I'm still working on that same darn scarf one year later. One year becomes two, and then fast-foward like 4 years later... I'm still not done with it. The funny thing is I only have one last side to knit on it (the red edging) and I haven't picked it up to finish it. So now it's this running joke between me and my husband.

I found this really cute cotton flannel remnant at my favorite fabric and knitting thrift store and immediately thought of Kev. I thought it would make a really cute scarf for him. If I wasn't going to ever finish that knit scarf for him, at least I could sew him a scarf. I can't believe I was able to get it together before Christmas! Not only that, I was also able to finish two scarves, one to sell on Etsy.

Kev is so cute! He said this scarf was his favorite Christmas present. It rules over the Magnum P.I. complete Season One DVDs that my sister got him and the Marvel Chronicle book that my mom and aunt got him. ;) Kev has been wearing his scarf every day! So I know it's his new favorite thing because Kev actually rarely ever wears a scarf even though he owns three others.

I rounded the edges of the scarf I sewed him just to see how well I could do with curves on my serger. Not bad at all! (There's room to improve, as always.) I only made 2 scarves in this fabric since that's all I had enough fabric for. Kev's scarf is narrower and has the rounded edges. The scarf I posted on Etsy is wider and has squared edges. So even though they're two-of-a-kind in fabric, they're actually one-of-a-kind in design.

Since It's a reversible scarf you can wear it a few different ways - with either just mainly the plaid side showing, or the white/gray diagonal box side showing, or mix it up with a little bit of each side showing like in this photo. If you want to score the only other scarf like it go to my Etsy page to buy it before someone beats you to it! http://tswhimsy.etsy.com

Maybe later I'll post some photos of some of the scarves I've knit when I was really into knitting. They're kinda cool.

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Lounge Pants for Lori

One of the recent sewing projects I've finished are "Lounge Pants for Lori," a birthday present for my friend. She has a degree in Graphic Design so she really appreciates color. I would have to say that this fabric selection is not necessarily my taste, but when I saw it at my favorite fabric & knitting thrift store (yes, there is a thrift store dedicated just to fabric & knitting in P-town) I knew it was definitely Lori. I scored 3 yards of this fuchia cotton flannel for $5 TOTAL. It was in great shape with no imperfections! When I showed my husband the fabric when I got home his reaction was funny. He made a face and said it was "kind of ugy." But I assured him it would look super-cute when I was done making the lounge pants. He didn't really believe me.

I call these "Lounge Pants" (instead of "pajama pants") because I don't sleep in them - I just love to wear pants like this just to hang out around the house. They're sooo comfy! I sew small pockets on the front to hold an iPod and cell phone (this one has 2 small pockets but it's hard to see them in the photo). I love to wear my lounge pants especially when I'm sewing late at night. When I'm sewing I also catch up on phone calls to family and friends or listen to my iPod and those nifty little pockets on the front are so perfect to hold these gadgets. There's an elastic waistband & drawstring waistband as well - helps to hold the pants up when there's something heavier in the pocket (say, like a BlackBerry). Once my husband saw the finished product he thought it was "totally cute." He thought the constrasting fabric on the cuff and drawstring really pulled it together - so did I. Even though I didn't love the fabric (it's not quite my taste either), once it was done I thought, "I might like to keep the lounge pants for myself!" Here is a close-up of the lounge pant fabric & the constrasting fabric I used on the cuff and drawstring:

I can't wait to make myself a pair of lounge pants of this design. I do own another pair I made that's similar but doesn't have the contrasting fabric drawstring casing or cuff (previously I used thick twill tape for the drawstring casing), plus the pair I already own has a different shape to the leg (a little more tapered leg - which I don't care for). I like this new shape better (straight-leg), I think. I'm very excited about the fabric I picked out for my own lounge pants. It's Heather Ross' mermaid-octapai-fish fabric with a contrasting fabric for the drawstring & cuffs in pale-peach polk-a-dot. I think it's going to look so cute! I promise to post photos of the finished product in a future blog. Maybe I will get down to business soon and make a few extra to sell on Etsy. Lori brought her lounge pants to her parents house for Christmas and her sister saw them. She wants to know if I'll make a pair for her. ;)

I Love My New Drink Coasters

Here is a recent item I've sewn for myself. I love my new drink coasters I made for myself to keep in my sewing room. Previously I was using some handmade/handwoven ones that are also very cool. They look like little "mini rugs" complete with fringe on the end - too cute! Kev & I picked them up as a souviner when we traveled to New Mexico one summer. We bought them to use on our living room coffee table but I stole 2 out of the set of four to keep in my sewing room. I finally found some cute fabric recently that inspired me to make some drink coasters of my own. I could finally put those 2 woven coasters back in the living room where they belonged with the others!

After I was done sewing my new coasters I was so excited to use them! I got a glass of water, a mini Pepsi, and some hot soup in a mug and put three of the coasters to use right away! They're useful and cute, AND they look so cute in my sewing room!

I made 4 sets of coasters: 2 sets of six that I am selling on Etsy, 1 set of four for my friend's X-mas present, and 1 set of five for my sewing room (I didn't have enough fabric to make a set of 6 for myself but that's okay because I really only wanted/needed 4 for my sewing room). All the coaster sets are different in their designs/print on one side. I have the animal-themed coasters. My friend has the ones that have a people-cat-things theme. One set I posted for sale on Etsy is a matching vine theme and the other set I posted for sale is a fruit and flower theme. They're all reversible with a yellow and dark red polk-a-dot print on the reverse. Then I ran out of this particular fabric, so I guess you can say these are my "limited edition December drink coasters." They are all one-of-a-kind!





Visit my Etsy storefront to purchase some of these cute coasters for yourself or a friend (http://tswhimsy.etsy.com/). They're great for both hot and cold drinks, or hot soup - yum! I love hot soup in the winter! Don't you?!