rostitchery

SRC: there HAS been a little creating going on here

actually, i've been doing a lot of crafting and sewing, but it has been of the comfort-crafting variety--things that make me feel better, or at least things that i think will make me feel better.  nothing too challenging, nothing that calls on me to be "creative".  just simple little things that distract me from the more complicated task of paying attention to my life.

i made a few pillows, with more cool fabric from the dearly-departed hancock's store:

i made a super cute clothespin bag out of super cute fabric that ella picked out last year at the dearly-departed hancock's store:

and i made the most wonderfully ridiculous thing, ella says is the potty bib:

(no, that's not OUR bathroom, that's the bathroom in the green room at work--i was too impatient to wait till i got home to take a picture).

usually the fabric on potty bibs is something frilly, and fluffy, and all-together PRISSY.  this fabric is not--unless you think cowboys are prissy.

SRC totals:  the 3 pillows took 1.5 yards but were in the stash less than a year, so i'll say 5 points.  the clothespin bag only took 1/2 yard but that fabric had been in the stash at least a year, so i'll make that 5 points too because that makes the math easier.  the cowboy fabric is much older, i bought it when i was visiting my sister lala after her second son was born, so i've had it nearly 8 years (happy birthday, dear noah!).  1/2 yard times 8 years, plus batting, jiffy grip non-skid fabric for backing, and binding = 10 points for materials, 10 points for technical achievement, but i want 20 points for originality.

40 points!  oh great, i made my year's goal of 500 points, i guess i need to raise the bar.  ok, the new and improved official rostitchery SRC goal for 2006 is now 1000 points.  luckily for me, i have a lot of elderly stash left so i think i'll make it.

married clothes

ok, what do you get when you combine a sleeve left over from a re-made blouse, a scrap of lace, and some elastic?

why, a wedding gown for a duck, of course.

if you really NEED an explanation, click here.

for the SRC, i'm taking 50 points because this is, after all, a wedding gown.  (besides, i used some scraps she found in the cabbage box to make the married hair, and by definition cabbage IS stash).

SRC: cloth napkins and maude chairs

CLOTH NAPKINS:

ok, if you must know:  i cut a bunch of squares, the sizes are all different and were based on however much fabric was in a given piece--i rolled the edges on the serger--and i put fray block on the corners before cutting the thread tails.  nothing fancy but i tell you, this was a very therapeutic project, because i'm finally using all this cute cute fabric that i just HAD TO HAVE. 

i've had the fruit jam fabric for at least 10 years--i used it in a swap on the rec.crafts.textiles.quilting newsgroup and to this day i am friends with the woman i swapped with--i think i've had the blue funky plaid stuff for about that long.  so:  1/2 yard fruit jam X 10 years = 50 points (i don't know why, it just does--YOU do the math).  and 1 yard blue funky plaid X 10 years = 100 points (because, naturally, the first equation being correct, it follows that twice that amount is twice that amount--i used a calculator so i'm pretty sure that's right).

however, the guitar fabric is only 6 years old--ok, just barely, it's birthday is not until the 28th but i don't want it to feel left out so here it is.  1/2 yard guitars X 6 years = 30?  80?  ok, let's say 35, just to be safe.

and the fact that the tag was still attached to the guitar fabric signaled that it HADN'T BEEN WASHED.  yes, i too was appalled.  i'm not sure how this one slipped thru, but by the time it got to the napkin stage, i figured shrinkage was probably an acceptable risk--i can live with a napkin that is 1/2" smaller than planned.  (do not ask me why i have this fabric--i live in MUSIC CITY, USA, people--before you can get a driver's license here you have to prove you have at least one personal possession of the guitar persuasion).

points thus far in this post:  185!  not bad for napkins.

MAUDE CHAIRS:

the day our dining room table and chairs were delivered, it was all i could do to convince the delivery guys that i did NOT want to buy extra plastic covers for the seats.  the fact was, i had planned to run right out and get fabric to cover the seats--they weren't exactly hideous, but they definitely weren't exciting.  ok, it has been almost 4 years but the wait is over!  i got this fantastic mod fabric at the hancock fabric store in madison TN that is, sadly, going out of business as of tomorrow at 6pm. (i'm saving comment on this closing for another post--suffice it to say, it makes me cry and not because of losing a fabric store). 

when i got the first seat done, i commented to rudi how excited i was about our new mod chairs, which provided him the perfect opportunity to share his song stylings on scintillating theme song to "maude":

and then there's maude. (and then there's maude)

and then there's maude. (and then there's maude)

and then there's maude. (and then there's maude)

(REPEAT FOR ANOTHER 22 MINUTES)

thus, i hereby proclaim that the aldridge dining table chairs will hence forward (or until i get bored and change the fabric again) be known throughout the blogosphere as the maude chairs:

so far i've finished 4 chairs, i have 4 more to go and then i get the coveted X amount of points for bravery in the face of an electric staple gun.

SRC: cinderella

ella has discovered cinderella, which means she has discovered outfits--after all, that's more or less what cinderella is about.  she didn't really want a ballgown--i think because all the most important stuff in the story happens when cinderella is wearing her rag dress--so i made her a "rag" dress.  (although even in the movie, it can hardly be described as ragged--one very neat, picturesque apron tear does not a rag dress make). 

anyway....

inspiration:

and interpretation:

the bodice is cut from the leftovers of the big, brown baggy dress i used to make the skirt for charlotte's riding suit--the sleeves are from the scraps left from the one seam convertible dress--the skirt is the bottom of a dress i found in stock (have no idea why we have it or what it was for)--the apron was cut down from an apron i made for "amelia goes to the ball" (an opera which we did before i had a blog--i'll have to get some pictures up for you--it was beautiful).  please note that ella INSISTED on a pocket--that's where she keeps her glass slipper.

and believe it or not, k-mart, of all places, has some really cute "glass slippers", which the smallest size is still way too big for her but that just makes it easier for her to try them on when the prince comes to find her:

and of course, every girl reserves the right to re-invent herself, or in this case to re-invent whomever she is pretending to be:

for the SRC: 

• 1 point for the bodice
• 1 point for the sleeves
• 3 points for the skirt since i actually made up for the train so the dress hangs level
• 2 points for the apron (why 2?  i don't know--sounds right)
• 100 points for making my baby happy.

i'm not taking off points for buying slippers--shoes are a fashion necessity.

SRC 2006: girly stuff

this skirt was made from some fabric that i eyed for days and days at an ASG show and then on the last day it was on sale and i bought all they had--then i put it in my stash and coveted my own fabric.  finally i HAD to use it, i wanted to actually SEE it on my person, so i made a skirt.  i cut a panel of tulle long enough to fit around my hips plus ease and seam allowances--put a few darts in it to shape it to my waist--i cut a couple of pieces of the polka dot fabric that were the width of the fabric and the length i wanted the skirt  (i had to seam them together to get a long piece)--then beginning at one end of the tulle i started pleating the pretty fabric.  i did NOT measure, mark, or plan anything--i just pleated until i got to the other end of the tulle then i cut off the excess.  i stitched the pleats down with random, wavy lines of stitching--from waist to hip--just sewing until i decided it was enough.  i cut off the bottom of an old slip to use for lining, put in an invisible zipper, and rolled the hem with a narrow hemming foot on the sewing machine.  an hour of time, and a new twirly skirt for me.

for the SRC i'll take 5 points for the polka dot fabric, 1 point for the zipper, 1 for the slip, and 3 because i want a round number.  oh good, look, that's 10 points!

this other skirt was made from fabric that i ordinarily wouldn't like, but ella has decided that anything brown was chocolate flavored, so this fabric grew on me.  it is just an ordinary circle skirt, i put in a lapped zipper, a bound waistband, and i faced the hem because i wanted to give it some weight.  the wrap top was a t-shirt that i bought for a show 5 years ago but didn't end up using.  i cut off the sleeves, cut it shorter, and cut the front so it had a V neck and an upside down V on the bottom.  i also took it in and gave it more shape at the waist.  i used what i cut from the bottom to make the ties.  i had the pink camisole, i just cut the underarms lower for nursing friendliness.

for the skirt i'll take 5 points for fabric, 1 point for zipper, 3 points for going to the trouble of cutting all the scraps to make the 2" wide bias strips to make the faced hem--3 points for the wrap top--1 point for the camisole--and because i used BROWN, i'm giving myself extra credit--let's say 20 points for the whole outfit.

it's only 30 points all together, but it's still progress!

SRC 2006: catching up, and shoving it out the door

how is it that it's already july and i have yet to posted an entry for this year's stash reduction contest???

oh yes, now i remember--i have ADD--Always Distracted Disorder.

so to catch up:  for the one seam convertible dress i used 3 yards of fabric, but i'm taking 30 points because it is a good design.  :)  for the coasters i made on the 4th of july, i'll take 1 point for each coaster, 1 point for the yarn to stitch them, and 1 point for finally letting go of the sweater in the first place.  that makes 6 points. 

i'm not taking any points for the t-shirts, because i bought those just for this project, but i will take 1 point for the dye since i used up all of three teaspoons.  and i'll take 2 points for using a scrap of muslin instead of pouring the excess dye on the ground.  :)

for the new set of diapers i made this spring, i'll take 5 points for each diaper because i used the rest of my PUL stash, the rest of my alova suedecloth stash, the rest of my microfleece stash, and the rest of my poly resin snaps (ok, i still have a few left, but not enough to make a full diaper).  one dozen diapers means 60 points.

that makes 99 points.

then, for the twist top, i'll take 5 points for the fabric, and 10 points for figuring out the design.  for the skirt i made to go with it, i'll take 5 points.

ooooooooooh i just remembered two skirts and tops i haven't even posted yet!  ok, i won't take points for those yet, since i haven't shown you that they actually exist (i showed craftster, i just haven't posted them here).

i'm now up to 119 point--dang, that is a far cry from my goal of 500.

ok, here's another step on my way to stash-free living:  i have a bucket of scraps that i haven't even opened for over a year--who wants some??? 

this is mostly cotton scraps, but there are a few pieces of mixed fiber stuff too.  all sizes, all shapes, all clean and needing a loving home.  and this stuff is yours for the low low price of flat rate postage.  :)  i'm not sorting this stuff, i'm just going to shove as much of it as i can in a box, so if you want some of it, speak now because whatever is still here in a week is going down the street to the neighborhood daycare center.  you don't want to force preschoolers to sort this stuff, do you?