Another chapter in the Shoddy Seamstress Adventures

I’ve done a fair amount of sewing this year. I consider myself a relatively shoddy seamstress, mainly because I half-ankle everything and rarely bother with a real pattern. Sometimes I watch a tutorial while scrolling through Pinterest for inspiration, then change half of what they tell me to do. I’m an inaccurate sewist with a flair for the good enough. Here’s some stuff I put together since February.

We’ll start with the most recent. Yesterday and the day before. Last night, a WEDNESDAY, my Girl Scout co-leader and I went to go see Le Tigre at the Sound Stage in Baltimore. It was AMAZING. I could fangirl about my love of Kathleen Hanna for HOURS. My teenage self would have died and gone to heaven- healing our inner child activity? Maybe.
But before we went, I decided I needed a new outfit. All of my stuff was BORING. And it is HOT out. I don’t like shorts.

The obvious solution is make a new skirt. I used a mushroom printed (thin) knit to make a just below knee length skirt. I cut the length, overlock stitched where I trimmed the selvages, stitched my selvage sides into a tube. I tried it on, then marked, cut out, and stitched where I needed the hips to come in. Then I eased the angle because YIKES, I had pointy fabric bits. Then I stitched a short (6 inch) elastic piece to the small of the back. I was done! NO waist band. NO hemming. I will likely finish the raw edges, but I was able to wear as-is since it isn’t unraveling. Yes, of course I wore slip shorts under it, NO CHAFING ALLOWD.

The tank is an old one that was just hanging out. I used my Cricut to make the iron-on. I have LITERALLY been dying to use this image for MONTHS. Then I used scissors to clip off the neckline, the front hem, and a bunch of little air holes (unnecessary). It felt SO PUNK ROCK. I loved it with my very un-punk hair and make-up aesthetic these days. It was a nice mash-up.

Last week, I made some back to school projects for a friend’s kids. They go back to school 7/24!! So early, but it seems the further south you go, the earlier school starts. Any way, I asked if I could sew her boys pencil cases or something because I was in the mood to make them…. And my kids don’t need new ones this year! I love the way they turned out. The little zip triangle dumpling shaped things are a little bigger than I had in mind. But it’ll fit hand sanitizer and Chapstick or A TON OF CHANGE. I used some clip on finding I had randomly around my sewing stash. Perfect for backpacks or belt loops. Bonus points on stash/scrap sewing: All the fabric is from OTHER projects and none of the pieces (including the inner fusible fleece) were from whole yardages. Fat Quarters/Smaller!

Our Girl Scout troop will be merging with another troop this year, and we needed a new “IT” bag. Its a fair/random way for the girls to be selected for “something”; a task, break into groups, who is doing what set-up/clean-up task, etc. Last year we used a paper bag and slips of paper. Which was great! But after a year the paper bag looked like an old paper bag. This was made of scraps from other projects, leftover findings, and reclaimed cord. This will be sturdier than a paperbag. We are going to have the girls decorate wood rounds with their names. Its cute, it cinches, has a sturdy base, and a nice fold over top.

Presented without comment. I love it. But alas, this one is not for me. I just randomly snipped and stitched to make this bag. It’ll fit fiber fest purchases. Or be a project bag for a blanket. There is an inside pocket large enough to hold a pattern and some random supplies. The front pocket is also large. The outer fabric was purchased for THIS project, but the inner fabric and liner was from a purchase in 2020 that has gone unused.

Recently I started a new RPG with some online friends. Its called Monster of the Week. I was just rolling my boring plastic dice on my desktop. But they would bounce and get obstructed by desk detritus. Then I decided I needed NEW dice, and I found some metal ones that have the perfect vibe to go with my character. The metal is surprisingly HEAVY for inexpensive dice, and I don’t want to ding up my desk top rolling them. So I decided to make a collapsible dice tray with tabs that fit into y character binder!! I used a random fat quarter, cotton batting (not fusible), and flannel (leftover from PJ pants I made my spouse for xmas a couple years ago). The inspiration was for a different size, and I slightly modified to fit my needs. My finished size is slightly smaller than a sheet of 3-ring binder paper.

“Funny” note: I’m VERY used to having my batting fused to the back of my fabric, that I had to resew my project multiple times to get the insides ON THE INSIDE.

This brings us back to MAY. I made small book totes for my kids teachers and filled them with pretty smelling lotions and soaps. No pockets, and short handled straps. I was inspired by this project, but changed it a bit. Mainly to leave out all the fiddgity bits (like the matching fabric handles). I made the iron-on words with my Cricut. The fabrics were leftover from my quilt (back in February), and the straps are reclaimed from some unused car seat anchoring straps that we didn’t need (different configuration).

And I think that’s all the projects I’ve sewn and taken pictures of since completing the cat house earlier in 2023.