I’m going to take a chance, and assume that MOST of my IRL friends don’t read my blog. This does not hurt my feelings. We are adults and busy with our own stuff, and they are not all interested in my crafty.

But I digress. I did a LOT of sewing this week. Or it feels like I did a TON of sewing. I finished up the masks for my kids’ school (yet to be delivered). Then I made two gifts.

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I don’t usually sew with patterns, I like to live dangerously. I get an idea in my head, and I run with it. Other people’s patterns sometimes slow me down. Maybe if I used a pattern I would be a better seamstress. Not likely. But, sometimes I make a rough sketch so I don’t forget the dimensions. That’s like a pattern, right?
A few weeks back, I made a little zipper pouch for myself. Sewing an exposed zipper was something new. Instead of looking at how OTHERS do it, I just went for it. My result is usable and looks cool. But I knew I could do better.

With this pouch, I sewed the whole body together first, and then the zipper on last. My zipper pull ends are getting better, they don’t look so….. haphazard. Using a dark thread and unpatterned dark fabric would have made them look better. Details. Its good enough to gift, and has a SUPER COOL zipper to boot.

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The other item I made is an apron for a friend. She is both larger and taller than I am, so I had to use my best guesses about getting it right. I think it will be pretty close. She gets it on Sunday, so I hope she is both too busy and doesn’t read my blog!
It started off as a simple rectangular apron with pockets and straps. But I needed to make the piece wider than the width of the fabric. I then decided to stripe it, do what amounts to a reverse french seam (does it have a real name??), make adjustable straps, and fancy decorative stitching. The fabric is all from Joann. The “scientific mushroom print” is a light canvas. The green mushroom+ print is a “premium” quilting fabric, and the rainbows are “keepsake” quilting fabric. I used ALL of the canvas and have a 12″x45″ strip of the other left. I still have most of a quarter yard of the rainbows (and plans for another week)

I am going to make myself an easy version, with a rectangle of fabric, contrast pockets, and maybe the adjustable straps, because I like them and I have 2 yards of webbing I can use. I just need to get buckles.

Masks. I made 17 or 18 kid sized cotton masks for my kids’ school. Nothing fancy, just dinosaurs and mermaids and flamingos. Stuff that was fun and the print sized appropriately for masks (a LOT of my prints are way too big for mask making).

For such tiny pieces, they are rather time consuming! If the rectangular ones fit kid faces better, I could have made 30 in the same amount of time it took to make 20. But a well fitting mask is a well used mask I guess.