More Unselfish Work - And a Sewing Course Coming Up!

It has been a while since I have made any clothes for myself, and I am a little sad about that. The reason that nothing has come out of my sewing room (clothing wise) is that I have lost weight recently (26 lbs and counting!) and although this is the ideal time to make some new (smaller) garments - I don't want to use my lovely, lovely fabrics for clothes that will only last a couple of months. I know that some of you go through your wardrobes with gusto each season, clearing out the old to make place for the new, but I tend to keep hold of clothes for a little longer.  So, no clothes sewing for now . . . . however, I am booked on a bra-making course on July 14th (here in Canada!!) and I can't wait!  I have booked a week long course - if I have to travel halfway across the country, I really need to spend a few days there!  I plan to travel a little whilst I am there - Niagara Falls is relatively close, and I understand that Burlington is worth a visit as well.  Oh, and then there is Lake Ontario, I think that I will be dipping my tootsies in the sea.  Has anyone taken a course like this?  Do you make your own bras?

Source

Sadly, if my bras could speak right now, I am sure that this is what they would be saying - but in a couple of weeks, I should have some much happier underwears!!

But here is what I have been making.  A few baby hats and wallets to raise money for charity.

Pretty cute hats - very quick and easy to make.

The fabric for the aboe wallet is from a designer called Laurel Burch - probably very well known amongst the quilters out there.  Her colour combinations are gorgeous.

And finally, the last two greyhound fabrics are from Spoonflower - they are not my designs, but you can buy other peoples designs,and this is what I made.  The fabric is pretty expensive, but I have been very pleased with the quality and service.  Definitely worth a look if you are after something specific - or want to have your own design printed up.

Have you ever had your fabric design printed up?  And what about weight loss/gain - how does that affect your sewing?

Sweet Dreams . . . .

The lovely Rhonda has been blogging for some time about sewing pillowcases for Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, and says:

. . . . They have a very interesting charity, pillowcases for the children who come to the hospital. The hospital gives out over 900 pillowcases every month. The children are allowed to choose their pillowcase from those that are donated. This was the sponsored charity event of the Sewing and Stitchery Expo held in Puyallup, WA this year. They have found that the pillowcases bring so much comfort to the children. . . . .

Rhonda thought (quite rightly) that this would be a fabulous project to be involved in, and is co-ordinating the collection and disbursal of 900 pillowcases - one month's supply.  As of today's date, she has received 260 pillowcases.  Wow! That equates to 260 comforted children.  So I have decided to play . . . .

Although I do not sew that much 'non-clothing', I do have a rather impressive amount of quilting fabric passed down from my Mum.  There is more than I would ever use with my projects, and I thought that this would be a great use of the fabric - and I know my Mum would approve!  Last weekend I cut out some fabric and got sewing . . . . 

As you can see from the picture below, I used slightly different instructions than those that Rhonda has suggested, (I got a bit confused, did a Google search, and used this great tutorial).  What I particularly liked was that there are no raw seams - they are all hidden! 
 

These pretty flowery pillowcases were the first ones I made.

And then I hit Mum's Christmas fabric.  What I like about this project is that three metres of fabric makes three pillowcases.  Out of each metre you cut one main piece, one accent piece and one trim piece, mix them all up and you have three 'co-ordinating but slightly different' pillowcases.

It is interesting to see how the patterns and colors play out against each other :)

And here is my little stack!

Sew, 10 pillowcases that will be on their way to Rhonda, and I hope that means 10 children whose hospital visit is made a little easier.

If you fancy taking part - drop on over to Rhonda's blog, and get sewing!!

ETA:  You can see Rhonda's post about my pillowcases here!