Sewing Scientist

I was chosen to sew a strike off for Zenith & Quasar Designs. I received the pi fabric. This fabric is available for preorder from June 1 to June 15 for $18 per yard at zenithandquasar.com This fabric is part of the "Back to School" round and also includes other math and science themed fabrics.



What is a strike off? A strike off is essentially a sample the fabric designer gets from the manufacturer to check the design's print quality, color, etc. The strike offs are typically not very big, typically under a yard. Also, the designer's use these "real-life" samples to show customers before they purchase. This works in 2 ways. Sometimes it is hard to visualize how a digital image or photograph will look once it's printed on fabric.  Colors do change some and some fine details in the original design can be lost when printed on fabric. The second is that many people can not visualize how the fabric will translate into an article of clothing or other sewn…

I was chosen to test a pattern for Spot on You Patterns. It was for the size 5 adult Sock-Umms.

The pattern can be purchased at etsy.com
The pattern is for sizes : Women's 5 - 11, and Men's 8 - 13

They are surrently 15% off through Sunday May 31 with coupon code 15% off with coupon code SOCKUMMUP2015

This pattern was very easy and I was able to make myself a pair of socks that fit perfectly.This is a pdf pattern, but does not require many pages to print. For my size it was only 4 pages.

First I checked the test square.


I taped it together and cut out my size, then cut my fabric pieces. I uses a two way stretch knit I got in a scrap bag.


The first step was to sew the heel area.


Then to sew the top and bottom pieces together. First I lined them up and pinned in a few spots.


All sewn together.


Now to add the band to the top.


And here I am wearing them.




These were a fun quick sew - took about 15 minutes. And a great way to use odd scraps.

Today I made a Spoxxy. It's like a sporty tank top with a racer back. The pattern is made by Stitch Upon a Time and is available on Etsy at Etsy Spoxxy Listing

It's a pretty simple pattern and goes together fairly quick.

First off - with pdf patterns you must check that the 1" test box is indeed 1". If it is, you take the pieces together and get started.


Here are all my pieces laid out. The blue and white Hawaiian print is a french terry that I got from Golden D'or in one of their body bag sized scrap bags. These scrap bags are $8 and filled with about 50 pounds (or more) of fabric. Most of it is test pieces that have test holes in them, some are flawed pieces, and some look perfectly fine. The red (it's actually a heathered red) for the back is an old t-shirt bed sheet. And the red strips I use for the binding is just some red rib knit. I think it also came from a Golden D'or grab bag.


The first step is to sew 2 lines across the back piece to gather it.


…

I have a coworker who's daughter is into all things geeky/nerdy - just like my son. I had some scraps left over from a Dr. Who pajama top, and I had a scrap of some Minecraft fabric I got in a mystery pack - so I made her some headbands.

First I gathered my supplies. Fabric, cutting mat, rotary cutter, scissors, and elastic.



The Dr. Who fabric came from Bebe Flow Fabric. http://bebeflowscustoms.bigcartel.com/
I don't recall where the Minecraft piece came from.

The first step was to cut a pieces that was approximately 15" by 7".


Then I needed to taper the ends. So I folded the piece in half and half again.


In this photo I drew a line to show how I cut the ends so they taper down to 4 inches wide from 7.


This is what it looks like.


I made the Dr. Who one first and I did a rolled hem on the edges.


But it curled really bad. I tried this on the Minecraft one and it did the same.  I tried different settings, but it still did it. So I decided to serge the edges together on …