Canvas Boxes

Remember the canvas boxes I posted the other day? I finally have time to write up how I made them. I'm not sure this was the best method because I was pretty much making it up as I went along, but it worked! Here they are:

To make 5 of these 5"x5" boxes I used 1 yd of 9 oz canvas, 1 yd of quilter's cotton, and 1 yd of the stiffest interfacing I could find. 

To begin I used my rotary cutter (oh man to I love that sucker) to cut the interfacing into 5"x5" squares. I cut the canvas into 6"x6" squares and the quilter's cotton into 6"x7" rectangles. You will need five of each per box. 5 of my lining pieces are 6x6 because I messed up when I was cutting, but if you pay attention the entire time you shouldn't have this problem.

Then I sewed the interfacing to the center of each canvas square. I made them smaller than the canvas because the interfacing was so stiff that I didn't want it in the seam allowances, but this does mean the stitching holding it on is visible from the right side. My fabric and thread are both black, so you really have to be looking closely to find it, but if you chose a printed canvas or your thread wasn't a perfect match these stitches will be visible. 

Next I sewed four of the squares together in a line using 1/2" seam allowance. These are the sides of the box.

Then I sewed on the fifth square to make a sort of 'L' shape.

Now comes the slightly tricky part. Between the canvas and the interfacing you end up having to kind of manhandle the box to keep it under the pressure foot while you sew. Start sewing the sides of the box to the bottom (the small leg on the 'L')

When it is all sewn together turn your box right side out.

Now sew your lining pieces together the same way you did the box. They will be much easier because they are nice and limp. If you are using a patterned lining make sure you orient your pattern in the same direction for each side piece.

With the wrong sides out fold down the top edge 1/4" and sew. This will be easier if you have the kind of machine with a narrow arm, but it's not hard even without one.

When you are done with the hem put the lining into the boxes. Poke the lining down into the corners of the box. 

Then fold the top down over the edge of the box and admire how cute it looks!

If you want to you could sew the lining to the box by pressing the top 1/4" but not sewing anything until the lining is in place, but I knew I would have make-up and lotion in at least some of these and I wanted to be able to throw the lining into the wash if need be. 

One of my boxes is 1/2" shorter than the others because my lining was shorter, but I still wanted the cute folded down visible lining so I trimmed the top of the box down to be even with the interfacing before putting in the lining. If each box was next to each other I might be able to tell one was shorter and it might bug me, but with stuff in between each box on the shelves it's not obvious that one is smaller. 

I've been using my boxes for a couple of weeks now and I totally love them. This is the most organized and the cutest I think my bathroom has ever been, and next week I can start sharing non-bathroom related home decor projects with you!

Sailboats Galore Again!

Yesterday I posted about Fiance and his friends building a boat. Today I'm going to talk about what I wore while they built.

Their competition started on Friday, but I couldn't join them until Saturday because I had to work. So rather than sit at home and just pout that I wasn't with the boys I decided to make myself a new nautical themed dress.

Normally I avoid Simplicity patterns because I always end up swimming in them if I make the size indicated on the package, but they were on sale and I didn't want to spend a lot so I was leafing through the lookbook and I found Simplicity 1080 (I made view A). They called it a "Granny Chic" tunic. I don't really understand why. Maybe because they posed the model holding some yarn? (Let's all try not be offended at yet another implication that knitting/crocheting as a thing only old people do) It certainly doesn't look like anything my grandmother would wear.

So I was looking at the pattern and I spotted something I had never noticed before (probably because it's been so many years since I made a simplicity pattern and when last I looked at them I didn't really understand ease). At the bottom of the envelope was a list of finished garment measurements. And no wonder I always ended up swimming in my finished garments because they give, like, four inches of positive ease. I mean, it's a pull over in a woven fabric, so you need some ease, but four inches seemed truly excessive to me, so instead of making the large the pattern said I needed to accommodate my bust, I went with a medium, and low and behold the fit was perfect!


Here I am in Port Townsend wearing the dress. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day with tons of adorable sailboats in the water behind me all day, but I couldn't pull Fiance away from his build long enough to take pictures then. So instead you get a gloomy twilight shot with my sweater on because it was cold and windy by that point. (Also, do you recognize the bag? It's the one I talked about in this post. I brought it with me because it was all I had big enough to carry two meals worth of food for four hungry men)

And here is a badly lit shot of the whole dress so you can actually see what it looked like. Isn't that nautical fabric adorable!

The pockets were a huge reason that I picked out this pattern. Normally I'm not a big one for patch pockets, but these were cute and big enough to actually be functional. And most importantly not right over my breasts. I don't understand why designers seem to insist of putting pockets on nipples like I need to be drawing any extra attention to my boobs. Anyway, I'm a sucker for a dress with functional pockets. 

The dress had some interesting construction details. The neck, shoulder, arms and hem were finished with single fold bias tape. I've never used it to finish a hem like this, but I rather liked it for the neck and arms. Next time I think I will skip it in favor of a narrow hem on the bottom because the dress is just wide enough that you need a second package of tape for the last four inches of hem. 

This is also the first pattern I've seen that includes instructions for finished seams. In this case, it called for french seams on the sides. Even if it hadn't I would have done them anyway because I like my clothes nice and neat and finished on the inside, but I liked seeing a pattern that agrees with me.

Another note of interest on the pattern, the pieces were not nested so you had to hunt out the size that you needed for each piece. It certainly made it easier to cut out, but it also makes for a very thick envelope when you are trying to put all the tissue away. 

And last but not least, this dress illustrated the importance of back-tacking. I was tired and in a hurry and I somehow completely forgot to back tack the tucks on the front of the dress, so by the end of the day they had pulled completely out. It's a good thing the back ties were attached first and then hidden by the tuck instead of doing it all in one seam or I would have lost the ties on the dress too. 

If you look closely in the picture you can see the needle holes where the tuck used to be.

I followed those holes to quickly fix the tucks before I washed the dress. It was a bit fiddly to do the second time since the back was attached to the dress now, but I got it and now it is fixed, and back-tacked so it won't be going anywhere a second time. 

Overall I am super pleased with this dress. It's comfy, it fits well and it was really easy to make. I think it only took a couple hours Friday night. Oh, and don't let the thought of turning those long skinny ties turn you off, they are folded lie bias tape and top-stitched, so no turning required! I am totally going to make this pattern again. Next time I think I'll do it in the tunic length. 

Cutting Project Pieces

As I mentioned yesterday I've been sick. I'm finally starting to feel better, but now my boyfriend's got it. I've got a bunch of sewing projects that I've been meaning to get to, but he was trying to take a nap, so I didn't want to actually run the sewing machine. As a result, I've spent my afternoon cutting out projects, without actually doing any sewing.

Top left is a new cotton button-up, top right is a denim pencil skirt (view C if you zoom in on the picture) and the bottom pile of white fabric will be sewn into two pillowcases. I'll give more details on each project when I actually sew them up.

I've also got a knit that I'm planning on making into a skirt. It's got 3/4" white and 1/4" black stripes. I was originally planning on making it into an a-line, but I hadn't really handled the fabric. I inherited it when my grandmother passed last spring. I love the stripes, but I hadn't realized the fabric was a knit until I shook it out to cut it. Now that I know it's a knit I'm thinking about making a second of my favorite knit pencil skirt. BUT the directionality of the stretch is such that I would end up with horizontal stripes. Not sure I want that in a pencil skirt. Now I'm conflicted. Would you make a horizontally striped pencil skirt?