My Handmade Holidays

With all my traveling, sewing, soap making and present wrapping, i missed out on participating in much handmade holiday conversation here at Not Dabbling, so my post this week will be a run down of all the projects i worked on this year. Check out An Austin Homestead in the next week or two to [...]

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Pillowcase Purse

I shared this on my blog, Unearthing This Life, earlier this week. I thought I’d pass it along for all of  you looking for a way to be crafty while (re)using thrift store purchases. Everything but the ribbon is vintage in this item. This was way more fun to design than purchasing something brand new! [...]

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Apron Sew-A-Long Part 3

Ready for part 3 of the apron sew-a-long?  Time to finish up those aprons and start wearing them!  If you missed any of the previous posts, you can find them here – part 1 and part 2. Now it’s time to make the binding for the apron.  First lay your fabric and draw lines with a water-soluble [...]

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Apron Sew-A-Long Part 2

Are you all ready for part 2 of the apron sew-a-long?  My apologies for not posting two weeks ago like I was supposed to.  We went camping and I forgot about my post – oops.  Love those long holiday weekends, but it messes with my mental calendar and makes me think that Tuesday is really Monday. [...]

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Apron Sew-A-Long Part 1

Alright, does everyone have their apron pattern and fabric?  Well let’s get started!  To begin you’ll need either McCall’s 2947 or McCall’s 5358 and 1 3/8 yd of fabric. My apologies if this is too elementary for some of you.  I want to make sure it’s easy for everyone to follow along and successfully make an apron.  [...]

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Apron Sew-A-Long

With the big holiday weekend coming up, I thought it would be a great time to get all our supplies gathered for our apron sew-a-long.  I know many of you might prefer something more frilly and girly, but honestly because this is supposed to be a beginning sewing project, I picked a very simple apron style.  I [...]

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Sewing 101 – Reading a Pattern

Today we’re going to go a little more in-depth into how to read a sewing pattern.  As outlined in my last post, there are three basic types of sewing patterns: envelope patterns magazine patterns pdf/download patterns For simplicity’s sake, I’m just going to discuss how to read an envelope sewing pattern.  These are the most [...]

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Sewing 101 – Patterns

First off I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who posted a comment last time.  You all sure know how to make the “new girl” feel welcome! This week I’ll be talking more in-depth about one of my favorite aspects of sewing – patterns!!!  That is the time when I start to dream of my closet [...]

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Sewing 101 – Sewing Basket Basics

Kim the inadvertent farmer here.  We’re starting a new series today at Not Dabbling in Normal…sewing 101!  I am very excited about this because my dear friend Melissa has agreed to write it…she is a seriously great seamstress and I am thrilled that she will be joining us.  Thanks Melissa! PS…remind me to tell you [...]

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Re-purposing wool sweater Bag tutorial

We have talked a lot in the last two weeks about our food and the challenge it is to eat real food in today’s modern world of pre-packaged processed fare. Today I am going to switch gears a little… As important as food is to me I am not a foodie.  I cook to sustain [...]

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