From gross to great in one hour or less

I despise ironing with a passion, but I've had to learn to get over that, somewhat, since I've become serious about sewing.  As every tutorial you ever read on the Internet tells you, ironing fabric and seams makes the difference between lumpy, obviously homemade projects, and the stuff you are proud to show off. 

This is what my ironing board cover looked like at 7 p.m. last night.

And this is what it looked like at 8 p.m.

I used some fabric I had bought on sale at IKEA a few months ago, thread and elastic from my stash, and this free tutorial.  It was so easy that I can't believe I didn't do it sooner!

Step into my craft room - for real

We have a bunch of visitors on the way starting next week, and my craft room needs to morph into the spare room for the rest of July.  This was good motivation for me to get the piles and piles of fabric scraps off the floor and sorted.  I also needed to clean a couple of the drawers out of the dresser I had been keeping fabric and notions in.  So I took a look online at other people's craft rooms, realized that I must accept the limitations posed by Embassy housing and Drexel Heritage furniture, and resolved to do the best I could.

I made a cover for my sewing machine and a ribbon board, hung my thread rack on the wall, put up a quilt made for Natasha by a family friend, and moved my fabric from the dresser to the bookcase next to the desk.  Unfortunately, the sun would not cooperate, so I had to use the flash, but here you go.

Happy Independence Day!

As most of the Embassy staff will be working the official 4th of July reception tomorrow, the compound community party took place yesterday.  Last year's was a pretty sad affair, so this year a few folks decided to take matters into their own hands and try to make things a bit more festive.  We had a children's parade, a chili cook-off, and a barbecue outside the Marine House.  I made cupcakes (egg-free on account of my daughter's allergy, but the frosting was legit and delicious).  Here's the photographic proof.

Birthday Apron

N's little friend S is turning two next week, so I made her a chef's hat and apron.  I love the lemon print, which I originally bought for dresses for my daughters.  I have a lot of it, so you'll be seeing more citrusy projects in the future!  I couldn't decide which fabric I wanted for the main portion of the apron, and which for the pocket, so I made it reversible.  Now the pressure's off me to choose - whew!  Free pattern is here.

A dress for N

Way back in April, I blogged about a skirt I shortened.  I used the leftover fabric to make a dress for Natasha, and today I finally got some action shots.