M7969

This is another new garment I could have worn during pregnancy. But again, I thought it would be valuable to have a straightforward project already cut and ready to sew during the early post-partum time. Also, I didn’t know what size or shape my body would be! It turns out I’m mostly the same but a little thicker in the middle. I already had a pooch; it’s just a little fuller and softer now (or as I call it, additional squishional).

The dress is M7969. I got a free PDF of it somehow. By the way, I’ve heard rumblings about the quality of the Simplicity Design Group’s PDFs, and while I don’t know the substance of those complaints, I didn’t run into any issues and actually found it easy and pleasant to assemble. Plus I only had to print the bodice and sleeves of this pattern, since the bindings and skirt are rectangles! I chose size L.

But I’m jumping ahead. First, the gorgeous soft spring weather hit at the same time as some inspiration – Brittany J. Jones’s version of M7969 in pink baby noil. I liked the fabric hand, use of solid color, and the slightly sized-up fit, and decided on a whim to make fundamentally the same dress.

I headed out to Sewfisticated and surprised myself by choosing a pale thistle purple (even though there’s precedent in my wardrobe). A linen/rayon blend at $2.99 a yard can never really be wrong, though!

When I got it home and unfolded it to pre-wash I discovered that there was a faded stripe centered on the fabric and running the whole length, but for less than $9 total I could afford to be forgiving! And while I couldn’t totally cut around it, the only pattern piece that crossed the fabric’s center line was these sleeves, and the fading is invisible among the gathers. I couldn’t actually find it to get a photo.

My real and apparent sleeve issue is that I wasn’t paying attention and I cut the sleeve bindings on the straight grain, not the bias, without thinking through how they were meant to curve and hang. Anyway, now they’re lumpy and a little too stiff. But we have a saying in this household, and I intend to abide by it. And anyway there’s so much sleeve it doesn’t bring down the GPA too much.

My good and smart change was to add slash pockets. This theoretically would have made the gathering denser on the bodice front between the pocket openings, but I also overlapped the bodice an additional 1 ¼” inches past each notch (for a 2 ½” total reduction) so the gathers are about as tight as they should have been.

Upon final* (*not actually final) try-on I discovered that the bodice was a little long for my preferences, but instead of shortening it I messed around with various already-owned belts and decided that a modicum of shaping would alleviate the problem. So I went back to my fabric scraps and cut a couple ties on the straight grain.  

The back ties are a little too utilitarian for the spring-fairy vibe of the rest of this dress, both in width and attachment style. I chose a finished width of 1” because that’s how wide my interfacing roll is, but around 3/8” (to match the width of the sleeve and neck bindings) would have kept the design more delicate and consistent. Also, ideally I would have tucked the ties into the side seams (then they could be tied in front, too), but un-sailing that ship meant redoing the serged and gathered waist seam and the serged and topstitched bodice side seams. So sail on, ship!

I sewed the ties like the straps here, with the additional step of adding interfacing after pressing the seam open + centered, and then sewing one short end closed before turning right-sides-out. I figured out the strap length by making them deliberately too long (about 2 feet each) and tying them together in a bow; then pinning in place, trying on the dress, and ultimately trimming each tie to a finished length of 21”. I can get the dress off and on without untying the ties, which is nice, because Professor Boyfriend’s greatest foes are climate change and tying pretty bows under pressure. I like it with a little cinching – just enough to corral the back with pulling too much on the front.

Overall this is a nice simple project with a good result – a beginner could be successful, which might be part of the dress’s runaway popularity. Personally, I like the raglan seams and the deep V. I’m not the biggest big sleeve stan, but the sleeve length is clever and has not made any baby-care tasks more challenging (input or output). I liked the bodice a lot before adding the skirt, so maybe I’ll make a blouse version this summer, too. Though that will be largely up to the new girl.

Sometimes Mini-Muffin likes to veg out à la the little teapot…

And sometimes she is perky. Very perky. For hours. And that’s why sometimes my ties will be less than ideal.

Eh, she’s still cheap at the price!

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Pattern: M7969

Pattern cost: free

Size: L

Supplies: 2 3/4 yards of linen blend, Sewfisticated, $8.22; thread, Michael’s, $2.39

Total time: 7.25 hours

Total cost: $10.61

Duvet Roscoe

Thank you to all those who sent such lovely wishes! I really appreciate you taking the time, and I’m delighted with the sweet (hungry) little bundle who is the happy recipient of your kind thoughts! ❤️

If you have no idea what I’m talking about: my daughter is born! I had a undeservedly easy pregnancy, but I’m still delighted to be on this side of it. She’s a lot of fun, plus now I don’t have to give birth to her anymore, so that’s checked right off the list! I got a tooon of stitches (3 packets! It took an hour and a half!) but the midwife and the nurse were both sewers, so we chatted machines during the stitch-up and it felt very cozy and gave me lots of confidence (which I had anyway, since their care and support was excellent). Naturally, early recovery didn’t really involve a lot of walking. But the happy result was that I was sitting in front of my machine again 5 days postpartum. Hey, where else could I go?

In addition to bagging and freezing dinners and cookie dough during late pregnancy, I bagged myself cut fabric for 3 sewing projects. My guess was that I could sew in discrete steps, while cutting was an experience best accomplished in one fell swoop. This was the simplest of my prepped projects – a Roscoe blouse. Easy to sew, and so easy to fit I’m not sure the word “fit” actually applies. I used the Sew Tessuti button-front variation, slashing and spreading the sleeve by 18 cm and adding 2” to each center front (previously the place-on-fold line) for plackets. I forgot to raise the neckline as detailed in their version, but next time I would. It’s a subtle difference but I think a good one.

The fabric is linen from an H&M duvet cover that just keeps on giving! After years of use, washing, and mending, its reality was becoming tenuous, so I had to cut around the areas where the veil between the worlds was thin, but a duvet cover (even a dissolving one) still yields some impressive yardage. My natural miserliness still got me to add a center back seam, though.

The fabric aged unevenly so some areas are bluer, and some are greener; it’s most visible along that seam.

This linen is kind of a pain in the butt, since it never wanted to be on-grain and it obviously wrinkles like, y’know, linen, but I still really like the (range of) color. I also think it gathered nicely into the sleeve cuffs.  

I attached both the cuffs and the neck binding the same way, by machine-sewing one edge and hand-stitching the other. That was sort of my one concession to high standards, as I comfortably serged the raglan and side seams, which I easily could have French seamed and usually would.

I interfaced both the cuffs and the front plackets. I treated myself to two new rolls of tricot interfacing with my last Wawak order – one black, one white – and used the black here. I’m never going back to cutting long strips of interfacing! Nevaaar! I wasn’t sure how well the buttonholes would work on this thin and tricky linen, but the interfacing thankfully prevented tunneling.

The buttons are from a pair of decorative boot socks that I got from a clothing swap several years ago, and when the heels wore past mending (a theme of this project) I snaffled the buttons. They’re shockingly nice non-functional sock buttons! Not my usual source for buttons, but I won’t knock it! Continuing the theme, I sewed on the buttons using the basting thread I’d pulled out post-gathering. Go on you thrifty monster, save 6 feet of thread.

I sewed this in three sittings of roughly an hour each; I was home alone for the first two (Professor Boyfriend had taken our heir and scion to appointments) and the third was while Mini-Muffin was home and napping despite the chugging of the sewing machine. She has also slept through the serger, the stand mixer, and my singing (it turns out I only know the entire lyrics of one song, so she gets a frequent tuneless cover of “You’re So Vain”). It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes me to sew something more complex! Will it be a linear progression or no?

Anyway, I have a new Roscoe now, and I like it! I’m really glad I completed this project. In large part it was to prove something to myself – that I was still capable of taking time for my interests, and that a kiddaroo was an addition and not a subtraction to my life. Also, it’s nice to wear something other than what I’ve been wearing on repeat! I learned something interesting, too: my sewing posture is automatically much better than my eating posture. When eating at the table I had to remind myself not to perch on the edge of the chair and lean funny, but when sewing at the table I sat firmly grounded with my feet flat on the floor.

Finally, this is probably common to all babies, but when girlie is waking up and stretching she vamps up a storm. I like to make fun of her.

She kicked me first!

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Pattern: True Bias Roscoe blouse

Pattern cost: NA

Size: 4, Sew Tessuti variation

Supplies: linen duvet, from stash; Fusible Tricot Interfacing Rolls – 1″ x 50 yds. – Black, Wawak + thread, Michael’s, $11.24; buttons from stash

Total time: 4.75 hours

Total cost: $11.24

Baby Basket

As mentioned, I’m not trying to spend all my money on ~*aesthetics*~, but Professor Boyfriend and I agreed it would be nice to have one place to park a newborn that wasn’t all plastic, since presumably we’d have to look at it during the daytime (the baby or the basket? Yes). We both liked the idea of a Moses basket, and it seemed like something we could DIY! This did not turn out to be one of those DIYs that saved money. It also did not save time. It’s also not as gorgeous as hoped. Too flipping late, we’re keeping it (the baby or the…)!

We agreed on this free yarn theory tutorial. I had a rude awakening when I realized the cord she used was like $27 bucks a pop, and would require 3 pops! “Oho,” I thought. “I can find something cheaper, my fine crochet tutorial!” (Yes, but ultimately also nope. Read on.) “And then learn to crochet!!” (This part was reasonably true.)

We followed her measurements for the wooden bottom, though. Professor Boyfriend laser-cut the base from birch and added this delightful emblem (we’re all Year of the Rabbit in this household).

I made a guess at the size and spacing of the holes, based on almost nothing but vibes and the fact that my chosen yarn, Cascade Cotton Puff in Herb*, was smaller than the Bobbiny cord. (*This green did not photograph correctly, not once, just FYI!)

Again, swapping yarn with my lack of experience was a bad choice. (I’d kick myself, but that would be superfluous to the vigorous boot-putting-in I already receive from this basket’s future user.) I bought 4 cakes from Webs at $16 bucks each, reasoning that the yarn was skinnier but that 4 was more than 3; with the Webs discount (plus shipping) that came to $58.47. Thirty smackerels back in my pocket!! Or were they?? Foreshadowing!

I did enjoy trying a new skill. And I can sort of crochet now, providing I don’t need to join or turn! I learned a lot during this experience, though what I mainly learned is that my understanding is not sophisticated enough to figure out if a particular hook/stitch/number of stitches combination is likely to be successful without trying it in real life. Which leads us to the following list of false starts…

Attempt 1: set-up row used every hole, size M hook, one increase per corner, waistcoat stitch + invisible join. The main issue with my first attempt was that the rim was too long and wavy, but my “invisible” joins were also hideous. It clearly wasn’t going to function. Ripped it back.

Attempt 2: set-up row used every hole, size K hook, 1 increase per corner, waistcoat stitch + invisible join. This version was sturdy, but the resulting fabric was lumpy and uneven. This basket is too big to be that ugly! Ripped it back, but not before panic-ordering more yarn because the denser fabric was eating it up so quickly.

This time I ordered from Wool and Company – since my Webs order, this yarn had been discontinued, which meant that I found a great sale but also felt very very nervous about the whole world running out! 3 more cakes ran me an additional $33.60. Current total, $92.07 and a lot of stress. You win, Bobbiny cord.

Attempt 3: set-up row used every other hole, size M hook, 4 increases per corner, waistcoat stitch + invisible join. This was a hopeful attempt, but even though I made a conscious effort to keep my tension loose, the walls were curving in. This was destined to be a dome, not a basket. My invisible joins were improving though! Still: ripped it back.

Attempt 4: set-up row used every other hole on the straight sides, ten contiguous holes per corner, size M hook, no increases, waistcoat stitch + invisible join. I got pretty far with this one! I was even convinced that ordering more yarn was a silly mistake! The curves were tidy and strong and the fabric looked nice, but then I got far enough to discover that the walls at this stitch density and scale (though pretty) were buckling and floppy. They were too full of holes to smother a baby, but “technically not going to smother a baby” wasn’t quite good enough. Ripped it back.

At this point I knew I needed to pivot. If I’d only begun by following directions and buying the fancypants macramé cord, I could have continued following directions! But alea iacta est, you know the deal. So instead I did some reading and video-watching about “stable crochet baskets”, and ended up at this video. She’s clear that it’s the cord that makes the difference, but I liked the look of her stitch pattern (half double crochet, which, what a name!!) more than the waistcoat stitch.

I also found this video – but it would require twice as much yarn, so now I wished I bought even more?! String-based fiber arts are hard. Anyway, I sort of merged them and tried:

Attempt 5: set-up row used every hole, size H hook, no increases, half double crochet + seamless join. Crochet up 7”; switch to a size G hook, crochet once around through the third loop, single crochet until I run out of yarn and fold in half. 4 cakes up, 3 cakes down. This was the one that stuck! Hallelujah!!!

It’s not perfect but it’s sturdy! And despite the origins of this project, its eventual usage puts function over form! And at some point I have to stop crocheting the same dang basket!!

So yeah, I have regrets. But for a different project (a less shockingly huge one – I swear the yarn theory base doesn’t look this big), I would have really liked the Cotton Puff yarn. It was satisfyingly full of body, though some of the cakes were continuous and some had two bulky joins, so it was a bit of a crapshoot. One benefit of starting a new skill with a big puffy yarn was that it was really straightforward to see the architecture of a stitch, which I liked even better than the fact it worked up quickly.

I have no idea how I would have woven in ends without those extra udon noodles showing from a mile away, but happily folding the crochet fabric in half hid all the ends inside the fabric sandwich! Yes, that sentence had both noodles and a sandwich. I want both.

That Yarn and Chai video linked above (dang it, now I want chai too!!) is hugely impressive, by the way. I don’t typically like watching videos but hers was impeccable; clear camera angles, easy to navigate, neither too fast nor too slow. Just really excellent instructional content. Which is why this lumpy edge is aaallll me!

I wouldn’t say I got cocky but I was world-weary enough by the final stages of this project that I also omitted the person plastic (or as she more accurately calls it, plastic canvas). My inner layer didn’t quite reach the bottom; luckily, it’s close enough that the mattress will cover the gap, and I stitched it permanently in place with regular sewing thread.

The double-chambered wall is reassuringly strong, but I didn’t know how to add handles to the mix (and didn’t have enough extra yarn anyway). Bur apparently you’re not supposed to actually move it when occupied, so the handles would have been just razzle-dazzle anyhow.

And it’s done!! Which as always, is better than perfect! One baby parking place, check. Currently occupied by a stuffed armadillo (for the first 6 months of this pregnancy, this was the only thing we purchased to prepare). I’ll be happy to fork over the basket to its new user, but I’m going to struggle to share the armadillo!

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Pattern: half double crochet stitch + single crochet stitch, around a wooden base

Pattern cost: N/A

Size: 29.5″ x 16″ x 7″

Supplies: 4 cakes of Cascade Cotton Puff in Herb, Webs, $58.47; 3 cakes of Cascade Cotton Puff in Herb, Wool and Company, $33.60; sheet of 1/4″ American Birch plywood, 24”W x 48”L, Rockler, $25.48

Total time: 3/15/2023 – 3/29/2023

Total cost: $117.55

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UPDATED TO ADD: It doesn’t look quite so capacious anymore! 🙂

What I Didn’t Sew

I didn’t have a coherent plan for a pregnancy wardrobe, and I didn’t want to commit to one without knowing what specific changes (to shape, motivation, taste, etc.) I would experience. Would I start wearing leggings? Would I prefer tent dresses to avoid pressure on an unhappy stomach? Would I experience fatigue and choose to buy what I needed? To the above: nah, no, nope, hallelujah! (I’m aware that I’m very lucky, and accordingly very grateful!)

Ultimately my shape changed but my taste/comfort stayed pretty stable, so for the most part I kept wearing jeans and t-shirts. There were a handful of pieces I thought I would make from patterns I already own, but I didn’t. So here they are, and here’s why…

1. A Paper Theory Olya shirt dress. Originally I planned on making one from Kaufman Porto flannel – specifically one of the Engineering colorways – but as much as I loved the feel of the fabric (and the width – thank you 57”!) I just never quite loved the combination of pattern + fabric enough to pull the trigger. At a guess, I just don’t feel like Olya is a winter pattern. I might still make the dress view at some point in cotton or linen, because I like the idea of wearing it as a duster a lot!

A pregnancy version: Melt.Stitches in beautiful bone-colored linen.

2. An elastic-waist gathered skirt. You know what’s got a gorgeous pattern envelope? The True Bias Mave skirt. You know what I was never going to pay $16 for? Anybody’s pattern for a bunch of rectangles. I was wearing skirts like this the first second time around (I still have one I bought from a thrift store when I was in high school), and I wouldn’t mind making a fresh one to wear again. I do think, however, the lack of any particular pattern I associate with this kind of skirt meant I kept forgetting about the skirt itself. And this is another garment I’d probably prefer in a lightweight fabric! Maybe I’ll make one this summer!

Here’s a nice free pattern, by the way, though any Google search for “gathered skirt tutorial” will do.

A pregnancy version of a gathered skirt: Happy Makes Me in windowpane linen.

3. Pregnancy-specific overalls. I’m sitting here at 39+ weeks, still wearing my plain old Roberts dungarees. I’ve also been wearing my Burnside Bibs throughout. I peeped this cute side-paneled version of the Burnsides a while ago, but I didn’t seem to require that adjustment. Probably because I sewed the no-zip version and accommodated my hips – obviously the whole belly thing is distributed differently, but it’s not girthier than my hips (yet; we’ll see if/how far I go over term and what happens then).

I think I would have sewn these if I needed them, because (one) overalls are great and (two) if you want to a wear a button-down that still fits through the bust and arms but doesn’t button under a certain meridian, you can pop some overall/dungarees on top and nobody has to know!  

A pregnancy version (not a pattern I own, but very very cute): Henny Lou’s cotton canvas Greta overalls.

4. A True Bias Roscoe, definitely the blouse, maybe the dress. I cut the blouse! I just never sewed it! I think I cut it in January or February but bagged it for a future sewing day. Then the longer I waited to sew it, the more it seemed valuable to have a simple project ready to go for when I’ll also be learning to care for a newborn, than it did to have the blouse now.

I have fabric available for a dress version, too – and have had for many years, since I was thinking of making it for a wedding that got Covid cancelled. Unfortunately the wedding I would have made it for/worn it to this spring was within a month of my due date and required a flight, so I had to decline. I was really disappointed, it seemed like a wonderful wedding! And still the fabric sits! I’ll do something with it at some point, but I’m not sure my theoretical Roscoe dress is ever crossing the finish line.

A pregnancy version: The German Edge in leopard-print viscose.

5. A long-sleeved Named Kielo dress. This was my back-up plan for the wedding, if the weather had been harsh and I could, y’know, actually attend. I thought I might make a long-sleeved rib knit one for at-home casual winter glamour anyway, but I was stopped in my tracks by my inability to find the free sleeve download. I think Named has made it unavailable! Do you know where to find it? I mean sure, I could bung on a sleeve from a different pattern but I’d like to see how they “officially” handle the underarm area.

A pregnancy version: Sew Slow Sarah in jersey.  

6. An L&D gown. For a while I thought I would make one, because even though it’s a single-use garment, any comfort I could squeeze from my environment while in labor seemed worth it; but eventually I decided I’d rather have thirty bucks or whatever, and didn’t care that much about what I wore during the most temporary part of an already temporary experience. I didn’t have a specific pattern in mind for this, but the front runner was a sleeveless, dartless MN Darling Ranges with snaps on the shoulders! But I’ll just put on whatever hospital gown they give me. I hope everything goes so easily that I have extra headspace to regret this decision and rue the breeze on my butt.

So that’s what I didn’t make for this season of my life. Or, well, there’s an infinite list of things I didn’t make, but those are the headliners!

In the end, I sewed/modded three pairs of stretchy-front jeans, got one pregnancy button-up hand-me-down from my sister, and otherwise used what I had. I definitely got lucky – I’ve been a nice sturdy gal my whole life, and I didn’t own many body-conscious clothes before, so between that and my small-but-healthy pregnancy size, much of my wardrobe was still available to me. It might have been nice to have one more Kielo, though. Not that this was my daily attire, but here I am swanning around at 39 weeks, 1 day. Can you tell I’m killing time while I wait out the home stretch?!

I’m super excited to have more sewing options again soon! Specifically: pants!! PANTS!!!

Range Backpack

My almost-annual April bag is back!! Why does April make me sew bags? I don’t know, it just do!

This is yet another Noodlehead bag, the Range backpack. It’s sort of for both me and Professor Boyfriend to potentially use as a diaper bag; we were between this and the very handsome Desmond Roll Top backpack pattern, but decided the Range was easier to open in a hurry. Worst case scenario, if it’s not fit to purpose, it’s still a new backpack for Professor Boyfriend. Everything using that shade of yellow (the contrast base) is automatically his property, much as the King owns swans and dolphins. Also sturgeons.

The yellow was a leftover. To coordinate with it, we ended up with two blue Ruby Star fabrics – two Warp and Weft fabrics, specifically, which I’ve been tempted by for ages, so I was excited to give them a whirl! We got a mid-to-heavy weight, nicely grainy cotton for the exterior fabric, and a lightweight patterned weave cotton for the lining. That one was probably a smidge delicate for a long-lasting bag lining, but I took a peek at the pattern directions and confirmed that it would be interfaced left, right, and center, so I hope it survives.

Both sides of the heavier “chore coat” fabric are identical; both sides of the lightweight patterned weave are opposite, and both are lovely. We ultimately chose the smoother, lighter-colored side as the “right” side (it offered nice contrast, plus I was worried the other would be too snaggy).

The only negative I found using the Warp and Weft stuff was that it was not the on-grain-iest of fabrics?? This interfered with my plan to block fuse and cut, since each piece had to be cut, tugged into shape, and then interfaced. I only bothered for the lining fabric, since it had a visible geometric pattern. I was more casual about the chore coat fabric, just using the selvedge to set the grain, but I later regretted it; I think some of edges would have pressed more neatly if I’d taken more time in the cutting. Also! That one was a shedder!

The interfacing I purchased was DEFINITELY not the stick-on-iest. This kind was heavier but also cheaper than the cotton interfacing I usually use; I basted it to every piece that wasn’t immediately folded and topstitched, because I sensed otherwise it would peel off like an old sunburn. I couldn’t find 45” wide medium interfacing as the pattern instructed, so instead of buying 3 ½ yards of “light” interfacing and 1 yard of “medium”, I just bought 4 ½ yards of whatever this was (931TD, 20” wide). I don’t love it.

And I have a ton leftover! 64”! Noodlehead patterns are terrific in most ways, but this one asked for way more fabric than I found it needed. Granted, I used non-directional fabrics and did not pay much attention to the “wide” versus the “tall” measurement, but I also have 10” left selvedge to selvedge from the mere ¾ yard of exterior fabric, and 7” selvedge to selvedge left of the 1 ½ yards of lining. Plus a large scrap of Cumin oilskin, originally from Professor Boyfriend’s Sandhill Sling, now leftover from this too. Given that I bought my hardware from Wawak, who sells it in neat quantities of exactly-double-what-I-need, I feel like there’s another little bag hiding in here somewhere.

That said, I found the process of sewing the Range backpack to be – and I hesitate to use this word – enchanting??

Despite the cheapness and the unstickiness of the interfacing, topstitching the straps gave an almost quilted effect. The horizontal reinforcement strips were unexpected, but cleverly covered raw edges without extra bulk. And oilskin is always fun to sew. Everything about this pattern was tidy and so well-thought-out, including the directions. The Range is actually simpler than other backpack patterns I’ve sewn, because of the open rolled top, but I still did sewing-as-faith – I didn’t try to know better than the instructions, I just took it one step at a time. Slightly out of order at times so I could switch topstitching thread less often, but otherwise I heard and obeyed!

Oh, one exception – my zipper is 7”, not 8” as it should be. I didn’t want to shorten a 9” metal zipper, which was the other option I could source locally (it’s a lot of work and it often looks messy afterwards). I planned instead to add fabric tabs to extend the 7″ length, but it seemed fine as-is! I had ordered an 8” zipper from Wawak before we chose fabric and took a flyer on ivory zipper tape, but shorter navy > suitable-length ivory. I could have used nylon, but I love metal hardware!

I really enjoyed making this; sewing flew by. Actually it took almost as long to cut as it did to sew. I was originally going to sew just a strap or so to see if the blue thread I found in my collection was a good enough match for the lining fabric, and instead I ended up sewing the whole bag in one sitting. In my defense, it was a good match! For whatever reason, I found this project deeply satisfying. Nice, well-behaved fabrics, not too light or too heavy, on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I overspent on fabric, but I don’t even resent it! Plus I’ll try to squeeze another bag out of the generous scraps.

This backpack hasn’t existed long enough for me to discuss its functionality intelligently, but it seems roomy and practical and I really like how it looks. Long live April bags!

(Ed. Note: Professor Boyfriend got dressed *before* he knew I wanted to photograph this bag. I mean!!)

Also, for those keeping count, my due date is exactly two weeks from writing this post. Soon I will be able to cut fabric without forgetting where my edges are and knocking into chairs! Huzzah!

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Pattern: Noodlehead Range backpack

Pattern cost: $9.49

Size: NA

Supplies: 3/4 yards of Ruby Star Warp and Weft in Chore Coat Navy; 1 1/2 yards of Ruby Star Warp and Weft in Holiday Periwinkle; 4.5 yards of Fusible Midweight interfacing – 931TD; Gather Here, $51.15; M&M oilskin in Cumin, from stash; YKK #4.5 8″ Brass Long Pull Bag Zipper – Natural,  Slider Buckles Bag Hardware – 1 1/2″ – 2/Pack – Gold, Rectangle Rings Bag Hardware – 1 1/2″ – 4/Pack – Gold,  D-Rings Bag Hardware – 1″ – 4/Pack – Gold, Wawak, $13.96; #4 Brass Jean Zipper, 7″, Gather Here, $1.79

Total time: 6.25 hours

Total cost: $72.30

Cargo

After my complaints about commercially available crapola recently, it might seem out-of-character to make this purely functional beige item, but our beloved one-bedroom apartment is not without its quirks – including a solitary closet which is not only our only closet, but also too shallow for clothes hangers, so when it comes to storage, we need solutions.

I almost said “creative” solutions but after I had my brainwave to use an over-the-door shoe organizer to store baby clothes I Googled it, and mine sure wasn’t the first wave of this particular idea. But! I made my own organizer, because the ones I saw to buy, while cheap, looked cheap, and also we wanted some larger pockets for heavier clothes/sleep accoutrement. The cheapest sturdy fabric for my version was Essex Wide, which is available in variations of tan (Natural! Sand! Ivory!), so the aesthetic is: utility!! I think it looks like a fisherman’s vest sans vest or fisherman. But let’s begin.  

I planned the various pieces in Illustrator (it’s all rectangles, so this could be done on the back of an envelope with equal effort). First I decided on the width of the organizer, then the depth of the pockets. Not including seam allowances, I decided the organizer would be 20” wide, and the pockets would be 9” deep, on a 10” backing. (I did not care about the final organizer length.)

I just needed two more numbers: my preferred pocket width, and my preferred gusset depth. I decided the easiest pocket width was 5”, which meant I could fit 4 across in the 20” measurement. I also decided the gussets would be 2.25” inches deep. So each pocket required 9.5” of fabric width; left gusset (2.25”) + pocket width (5”) + right gusset (2.25”) = 9.5”. 9.5” x 4 = 38”. I would pleat and stitch these before attaching them to the backing. The final measurement, including ½” seam allowances on most sides and 1” for the double-fold hem at the top pocket edge, meant I cut 4 rectangles at 39” x 11”.

For the backing pieces (the part touching the door), I cut 4 rectangles at 21” x 11” (also including ½” seam allowances). The fifth and lowest segment is a little deeper, so that piece is 21” x 13”. I decided the bottommost pockets would not be gusseted, so that pocket front piece was also 21” x 13”. This was a mistake!! You can see how when those pockets are stuffed, it makes the edges curl away from the door. Extra cargo room would have been vastly to be preferred. That said – did we care enough for me to change it? Nopedy nope.

Because I cannot fool you cleverboots, you have already noticed that the middle two rows each have 3 pockets, not 4. This was a gameday decision. I’d sewn the top two pocket stripes, and then had a bit of a panic that they wouldn’t be big enough to be useful down the line. Since I’d already cut the fabric, I reversed the formula to figure out the dimensions of these pockets – 20/3 = 6.6 repeating (I called it 6 5/8”). Each pocket has a left and right gusset intake, for a total of 6. 38 – 20 = 18; 18/6 = 3; therefore each gusset would be 3” deep. I am no longer worried about capacity! These are roomy pockets!  

Sewing order went like this: I folded the top hem of each pocket front piece twice to the outside and topstitched. Then I measured one gusset width, ironed the fabric wrong-sides together, and topstitched it a scanty 1/8” from the edge. Then I measured one pocket width and repeated the pressing and topstitching. Then measured one gusset width and marked it. Measured one gusset width, ironed WST, etc.

After the pockets were all formed, I brought the pocket front edges together and stitched along the bottom edge to keep the pleats down, then attached each pocket front to each backing along the sides and bottom edge. I also topstitched between each pocket segment to attach it to the backing.

I then sewed each pocket unit to the next, serged that seam, and topstitched it.

After all the pocket stripes were attached I continuously bound the vertical edges and the bottom, and sewed a channel piece (essentially a cuff with open short edges) to the top edge, for a hanging dowel.

And then it was done!

This is one of those things that’s more challenging in the telling than the doing! I used neon topstitching thread to make the sewing process more fun for me, but as you can tell from these pictures, it’s irrelevant at any distance. Otherwise I just chugged along.

The things I actually struggled with, not unique to this project, are 1: cutting rectangles with 90° corners. I use a right-angle ruler and take multiple measurements, but my rectangles are always a bit skew-whiff anyway! And the other, 2: tidy mitered corner binding. I’ve followed a few different tutorials step-by-step – they’re all fundamentally the same, and I understand what I’m being instructed to do. However, my resulting bound corners are rarely pointy and often lumpy. I don’t know what the solution is to either of these issues beyond “GET GOOD NOOB”. I know it’s possible to do both well or there wouldn’t be so many beautiful quilts at the intersection of artistry and math! Any tips for a garment sewer on how to cut a dang box?

I also whipped up this little stroller blanket from lemon-limey crinkle cotton gauze. I bought 1.5 yards, cut it into fat quarters, stacked them, sewed a plus sign through the middle, and bound the edges with quilting cotton. Bing-bang-boom. I’m bringing it up now because I cut this binding on the bias and the organizer binding on the straight grain, but they’re equally messy! Lia mad! Me want pretty corners!! Can you tell I’m dwelling?

By the way, our clothes-storage system, for the curious…

Top two rows – each pocket contains one grab-and-go outfit; a top/onesie, bottom, and socks.

Middle two rows – the pockets contain, in order, short-sleeved onesies, long-sleeved onesies, sweaters, socks + onesie extenders, pants, and hats.

Bottom pockets – sleep sacks to the left, sleepers to the right.

Right now this is all our newborn and 0-3 M stuff! We’ll swap items out for bigger sizes as needed. The pants look unbelievably tiny for fitting over a cloth diaper bum, so those may get swapped sooner.

This was one of those boring projects that we’ll probably use every day and stop seeing almost instantly! In the meantime I’m aware of its imperfections, but project Lower My Standards is ongoing. How low can I go? We’ll find out!

–

Pattern: organizer – NA

Pattern cost: NA

Size: finished dimensions: about 20” x 52”

Supplies: 2.25 yards of Essex Wide cotton/linen in Natural, $27.00, Gather Here; thread from stash

Total time: 4.25 hours

Total cost: $27.00

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Pattern: stroller blanket – NA

Pattern cost: NA

Size: finished dimensions: 27″ x 28″

Supplies: 1.5 yards of cotton gauze, Sewfisticated, 1/4 yard of Tapestry Dot quilting cotton in Navy, Gather Here, $10.89; thread from stash

Total time: 1.5 hours

Total cost: $10.89

Kiss A Wookie

Professor Boyfriend isn’t usually a scoundrel, but in the year 2015 he had an excuse to dress like one. This was before our current Star Wars saturation (how many series about morose beardy men mumbling lawlessly around the galaxy do we need?? Though Prof. B.F. loved Andor, so YMMV), when it was hopeful, nay reasonable, to show up to a trilogy premiere wearing a jacket inspired by whatshisface, you know, that lawless grumbly guy. Well, these space operas have a type.

I’m crossing my fingers for the day when there’s a selection of nice, tailored, men’s jacket patterns to choose from, but so far I’ve found few and in 2015? None. So this jacket was actually based off the Colette Negroni! With the exception of a lot more pockets, it’s simpler than the initial pattern; no closures, a band instead of a collar, and sleeves that are merely turned and hemmed instead of vented and cuffed. I straightened the hem, kept the back yoke, and added a front yoke that serves no purpose other than referencing Han Solo’s costume.

Speaking of reference, I don’t remember where I found it, but I assume it was somewhere like this! There’s no shortage of Star Wars support materials!

I used 10 ounce navy duck canvas to recreate this casual Bespin topper, most likely from fabric.com before b. it stopped existing and a. I learned it was owned by Amazon and therefore embargoed (though I will still go into a Whole Foods and eat their free cheese when available. Justice!!). Cotton canvas is durable, cheap, and easy to sew – not very warm, but a lining is always an option. I wanted something sturdy to feel more like outerwear but also light enough to fold easily into the gusseted pockets.

These were the first cargo pockets I sewed, long before the Kelly anorak (for example). I followed this tutorial, just modifying the sizes based on pictures of the original piece. The tutorial is as clear as can be, and cargo pockets are a useful sewing skill to try for anyone who’s bracing for the ongoing 90s fashion comeback. The finished pockets look pretty good, though I say so who shouldn’t, but the extra-thick top edges of the pocket openings make the pocket flaps curl at the corners. Even a hot iron can’t convince them to get flat and stay flat. More interfacing required, perhaps?

Meanwhile, the sleeve hosts a patch pocket instead of a cargo pocket, and its flap sits neatly (hold for amateur sleeve cap easing, please).

I omitted one pocket visible on Han Solo’s costume – the wide flapped pocket on the jacket’s middle back. I believe this sort of pocket, in its original state, was meant to hold an umbrella when shooting? Unless that fact was a spider baby dream, which is certainly possible. In any case, it didn’t look comfortable to wear, so we skipped it!  

I took this photo to show how simple the finishes were – folding a narrow hem at center fronts first, and a wider hem at the bottom afterwards, all straight lines. But it also revealed the fact that the pockets aren’t square to the jacket edges! I can be a fussbudget, but I don’t notice this hinky angle when the jacket is in use, so I graciously pardon myself! And then look away quickly!!

All the internal seams are French seamed; the yokes, shoulders, and armscyes are also topstitched (sort of a mock flat-felled seam). I *believe* the neckband is essentially a cuff – two stacked rectangles cut on the straight grain – but it’s also possible I cut two curved pieces based on the Grainline Archer collar stand (that would have been the only collared shirt pattern I owned at the time; the Negroni has a camp collar). The wide-set pleats under the back yoke are pure Negroni, though!

This was an unusual early success for me. There’s not many things I sewed in 2015 that I still feel okay about, and while this isn’t perfect – wonky band collar topstitching, ahem – I actually like it as an everyday wearable jacket. Possibly because of the sedate color/workaday fabric (and possibly because it’s not paired with a chef shirt and stirrup pants), it doesn’t read as too costume-y. Though Professor Boyfriend can still recreate iconic action poses in it!

Pew-pew!

Because of the collage/trash-diving elements of the original films’ production, it’s probable the Star Wars costume – costumer? Costume team? – just grabbed a jacket somewhere, another reason it might function well in a realistic wardrobe. I think it stylistically suits a smuggler character, being full of pockets, and it turns out to be useful for actual smuggling, too – by which I mean bringing outside candy into the movie theater!

If you share my opinion that Professor Boyfriend looks dashing here, just imagine how happy you’d be to see him if every one of those pockets was filled with boxes of Sno-Caps!

–

Pattern: Colette Negroni

Pattern cost: long time ago

Size: M

Supplies: 10 ounce navy duck canvas

Total time: far far away

Total cost: 2,000 credits with the promise of an additional 15,000 upon safe arrival at Alderaan

Sassy & Classy

We’re preparing for a baby minimally, mostly sourcing from hand-me-downs and the Buy Nothing, so we’re not exactly aiming for an aesthetic experience. But when it came time to fill in the gaps with some shopping I was surprised to discover that not only were so many baby products useless tat (which I expected), but that they were ugly, useless tat. Things I truly don’t understand: why is the surface design so predictable and generic? Why wouldn’t I want jewel tones and deep or dark colors? Why is so much baby stuff just plain boring? I have to look at it too! So, I buckled and sewed a couple things.

Definitely not clothes – I’m not really interested in kids’ clothes, with the exception of Megan Nielsen’s children’s Book Week costumes, which I hope she keeps making and sharing for a hundred years. But many people asked “So are you going to make baby clothes?” to which my answer was NAH, I’m going to make more me clothes, same as ever, as soon as the me in question settles down a bit size-wise – but I will make a few items of use/organization. First among these, lightweight sleep sacks.

I can’t sleep uncovered and it’s possible the baby won’t either, so I prepared for the spring/summer (i.e. the first few months of their life) with two versions of one design. It’s the Small Dreams Factory sleeping bag. I used the free pattern pieces though not the directions. And actually I resized the pattern too – I printed it at 96%, and then shortened it a further 2.5” because that puppy looked enormous. My top priority (at the advice of my delightful midwife) was sewing a sack with a zipper that opens from the bottom. That didn’t require any pattern piece adjustment, I just had to nudge myself to remember!

First up: my sassy sack. This was an opportunity to pick colors, prints, and combos I was unlikely to have used otherwise! I didn’t pay enough attention when cutting and I got some jarring almost-doubling right in center front, but I don’t think that’s the main takeaway. Was I aiming for the seventies? I was not. Did I hit it smack on the money? Boy did I!

As I understand it, the buttoned over-the-shoulder flaps are for getting the baby in and out more easily, while the buttoned front tab is to keep the zipper pull away from their skin (and later, their grasp). The upside-down zipper installation may have made the front tab unnecessary but this was my chance to use goofy little flower buttons and I was taking it at the flood! I sewed the buttons on, then interfaced over the sewing, then sewed them on again through the interfacing too. No choking, please.

I added a second layer of cotton to the curved tab ends to reinforce the button holes, a last-minute addition when I realized I hadn’t made accommodation for interfacing there. The button interfacing, however, is just hanging out fancy-free.

Otherwise, this bag is neat and tidy, with nothing scratchy or snaggy inside.

I added a shield behind the zipper and bound all the seams, plus the edges. I’m really pretty pleased with that binding!

And as a bonus, I tucked in a little selvedge tag. I’m not saying I’d buy a fabric just to get my mitts on the selvedge, but sometimes it’s tempting.

Secondly: my classy sack. I wanted to try refining the design as a fully-lined, no-binding-necessary sleepsack, because while I loved the finished look it certainly took a minute. This edition is made out of a pair of well-used linen pillowcases. We recently replaced our duvet cover because it was basically de-cohering; you’ll be seeing more projects made from this linen at some point. But just the pillowcases yielded the perfect amount of fabric for a fully lined sleep sack, provided I wasn’t too fussy about stuff like fading, which I wasn’t.

I actually learned a lot about how to sequence the bag lining from sewing waistcoats this past winter. I assembled the fronts, except for the long curved outer edge, then sandwiched the fronts between the two backs right-sides-together. Then I sewed the entire perimeter of the backs except for a little opening for turning, turned it right-sides out, and zip zap zooey, it’s a finished bag.

The curved ends of the over-the-shoulder tabs are less than perfect. I allowed myself to adjust them one time, and then considered it necessary practice in lowering my standards. If someone is going to pee on something I sew, it is not a good use of my time and energy to noodle endlessly on one tiny curve, let alone two.

Though I wish, wish, wish, I had made the zipper shield extra-long, long enough to meet the bottom edge of the sack. This separating zipper is wider than the one I used for the quilting cotton bag, so my initial plan – to sew each front as a separate unit first, and join them under the zipper later – proved misguided. A lengthened, pieced shield and a little topstitching to fix it in place bridged the gap nicely. But I could have skipped an unnecessary seam! Alas!!

This also got the sturdy button treatment, this time with ~classy~ flower buttons. I like a motif!

We’ll see if these get any use – I’m frankly skeptical that babies need much of anything, but these were fun to sew and I had a good time shopping uncharacteristic quilting cottons. And if they somehow prove essential I can make more, in yet wilder combinations!

Just think of the selvedges! What an excellent reason to add a entire person to the world!!

–

Pattern: Small Dreams Factory sleeping bag

Pattern cost: $0.00

Size: printed at 96%, shortened 2.5”

Supplies: 1 yard of Ruby Star Clippings in Honey, 1/4 yard Ruby Star Grid in Soft Blue, Gather Here, $16.60; zipper, 3 buttons, Gather Here, $4.12/2 linen pillowcases, from stash; 16″ separating zipper, Sewfisticated; 3 1/2″ buttons, Gather Here; thread, Michael’s, $6.59

Total time: 7 hours/3.25 hours

Total cost: $20.72/$6.59

Deep Cut

For increasingly self-evident reasons, I’m digging into forgotten corners of my dresser for pretty much anything that fits. That includes this old, old pair of track pants. I mostly consider these only junk-around pants because of the rise, the grass stains, and also the not-grass stains (soup? Mud? Maybe!), but hey, I still gotta get dressed every day.

These are the original low-rise True Bias Hudson pants, made by copying a woven variation that I could only find with the Wayback Machine. That post was from summer 2015, so it’s safe to say so are these, or somewhere in that zone! The fabric is Brussels Washer linen/rayon in a color Kaufman no longer produces, but I think it was called Willow?? I also think a more accurate name would be Sprite (like the soda!), but strangely it’s not up to me.

I was interested to discover that while my new curvature is forcing the front rise down, it seems  to have fixed my main comfort issue with these pants, which is that I frequently felt like my butt was going to fall out. Pushing down the front rise seems to have commensurately pushed up the back rise. I wouldn’t recommend this as a general fitting technique, but it worked!

The pictures in that tutorial are no more, but the language is pretty clear. At the time it’s not something I would have attempted without guidance, but the paneled leg is just a handful of cuts perpendicular to the grainline plus added seam allowance. Lemon squeezy! Though in a fabric like this, which aged evenly, with tonal thread, it’s hardly a punchy effect. Definitely more appropriate as a denim thing, where seams are automatically a feature. It could be a nice way to work around fabric constraints, though.

These have aged shockingly well. I think that’s due to the combination of French seams and flat-felled seams. Flat-felled seams, in particular, are such a pain to sew neatly that I usually only bother for Professor Boyfriend’s shirts, but it really is a super solid finish. The only raw edge I couldn’t figure out how to handle was the seam allowances of the faux fly, which is basically a wee useless pocket plus topstitching.

The actual functional pockets are patch pockets with a simple folded-edge finish. As a beginner I would have considered patches the easiest style; they are easy, but if you’re topstitching-avoidant, I recommend a nice slash pocket. I also enjoy topstitching though. No bad choices! Except floppy inseam pockets!!

I was still learning how to apply bands/cuffs on this project, but it looks like I stitched in the ditch on the right side to finish (nowadays I would attach the inside first and then topstitch the outside – guaranteed to capture the edge and look good where it counts). And actually it seems to have gone pretty well, get it 2015 newbie sewer!

Still used way too short a stitch length though.

There was a time (pre-grass stains etc.) where I wore these regularly, but that was a while ago! They fit better recently than they did originally, mostly because of the improved back rise, but I put them on now more out of necessity than enthusiasm.

I’m about 32 weeks in these pictures; looking at them, and at my current wearable wardrobe, forced me to make a call. Either I run out the last 8 weeks with 2 pairs each of trackies, Papao pants, and Burnside Bibs, 1 pair of overalls and 1 pair of stretchy-panel jeans (and hope the weather continues unseasonably warm), or I add more weather-flexible, pregnancy-specific garments.

In addition to pure function, there’s also my preferences to consider. These woven Hudsons were made in a more innocent time, where if you wanted a indie pattern for a pair of track pants, this was it, and because of that I didn’t really think about whether or not I liked or suited them. Well, thanks to my extraordinary frontage, I once again have limited options, but now I’m paying a little more attention and I think I don’t! I don’t like ’em all that much!

But I also have a longstanding animus towards popcorn poppers (a.k.a. highly specific single-purpose items), and I don’t want to spend my time, money, or space on one. A new wardrobe for a matter of weeks sounds like a popcorn popper to me. I think I found a balance, though: there were two pairs of Ginger jeans in my mending basket with busted zippers, though their denim was too tired to really be worth intensive repair. They were just right, however, for replacing the fronts with cotton jersey. And this time I kept the front pockets!

So I got 2 items that would otherwise be headed towards fabric recycling out of my basket and onto my legs, and I now own THREE PAIRS of usable jeans!! I feel like a billionaire!

These jeans mods took about an hour to an hour and a half of sewing each, and cost none dollars. ½ yard of cotton jersey was the perfect amount to make 3 front panels (my official pair + these). And now I can rehome my old Hudsons without fear of a Winnie the Pooh scenario!

Yay! And byeee!

–

Pattern: True Bias Hudson pants

Pattern cost: NA

Size: 12 or 14, possibly?

Supplies: Brussels Washer linen in Willow, probably?

Total time: One of history’s mysteries!

Total cost: Unknown, but the pants have paid their dues

Failure Potato

I’ve gone on record with my belief that there’s no bad way to serve a potato. Except I just found one: as an ottoman.

We’ve been cleaning and organizing and generally rationalizing our apartment in anticipation of a new roomie, and I found 2.5 boxes worth of fabric and thread scraps. And we’re talking GOOD boxes. W.B. Mason boxes! The most valuable commodity in our one-bedroom apartment is space, and I knew I could free up a fair few cubic feet with one scrap pouf, so I tallied ho. Anyway, I hate it! More at 11!  

There’s piles of tutorials/patterns for floor poufs/cushions/ottomans (dealer’s choice), but I thought it would be fun to try and recreate a Moroccan* leather pouf in fabric. *Are these actually Moroccan in origin? No idea, but it sure gets the point across in an image search! It’s a pieced pouf, at least.

I picked my finished dimensions based on a random website’s product listing – roughly 19” in diameter, 14” in height – and drew up a pattern.

The top is a central hexadecagon with 16 “petals”; the vertical sides are 16 straight-sided panels; and the base is just a circle, which I didn’t create a pattern piece for, instead measuring and cutting once the rest of the pouf was constructed. These pieces are basically correct in that the seams match up, but upon further review I maybe should have curved the edges of the side panels (wider in the center, narrower at the top and bottom) for a properly full-bellied shape.

I was excited to learn how to piece the top, but wasn’t quite sure what to ask for. I searched for “quilting block that looks like flower” and landed on this tutorial for hexagon flowers. It’s a different number of sides, but clear and totally applicable! This part was a blast. I used ¼” seam allowances on all my pattern pieces, and after printing them on thick cardstock (at 16 pieces per top/side, they would see some heavy use), I cut little windows for marking the exact seam points.

I actually only needed the mark points at the narrow end of the “petal” piece, since once I began pinning and sewing, it was surprisingly intuitive. The top grew quickly and I was pretty pleased with the result! After pressing the seam allowances, I cut a duplicate of the central hexadecagon out of interfacing and applied it to the back, both to keep the seam allowances corralled – there were plenty – and to ensure that the central shape wouldn’t warp when I began stuffing.

I sewed a simple centered zipper (with guard, ‘cause I’m fancy) between two side panels, then connected the remaining panels into a tube. Sewing the tube to the completed top was just a matter of paying good attention to the seam allowances; I didn’t really bother with pins, since I was pivoting every few inches or so. I topstitched the hexadecagon, plus the zig-zag edge where the top and side met.

That edge was still a little puckery but I hoped that stuffing the pouf until it was tight and firm would push out the errant ruckles!

I cut and attached the bottom base right-sides together with the zipper open, then used the open zipper to flip the completed shell right-sides out, and stuff. At this point I was excited to see the result! My math had survived contact with reality, and it was time to fatten up my new cushion!

The scrap stuffing made for fun trip through old sewing projects. There were bits in my boxes from finished projects I no longer own. And it’s shocking and gratifying to see how many scraps can be crammed into one glorified pillow! However, somewhere around a box and a half in, when the pouf was only starting to loosely fill, its major flaw was revealed.

I’d picked up some inexpensive upholstery fabric at Sewfisticated for this project. It seemed stable to cut and mark, plus heavy enough for home dec but not too heavy for all those seams. Well, All Those Seams were now turning to so much dust.

Maybe a wider seam allowance would have saved the day, but I doubt it. The shredding was comprehensive enough that I gave up on stuffing well before the pouf was truly full. Actually, I didn’t like the way the scrap stuffing looked, even discounting the impending catastrophic seam failure. I know I’ve accused a handful of finished projects of being sad sacks, but this one was positively lachrymose – saggy, uneven, and about to explode.

Even if I loved the fabric and it didn’t shred like a sharp cheddar, the pouf would still be lumpy from scraps! And even if it stood proud and plump and lofty, I still wouldn’t like the proportions! So I made an unusual call for me: I looted the zipper, then threw this dumpy potato away. No salvaging fabric. No reusing scraps. OUT OF MY HOUSE. FOREVER.

So in the end, I did make some space!

I’m definitely not chalking this up in my “victories” column, but I enjoyed learning a new piecing technique, plus the valuable self-knowledge that I don’t actually want a scrap pouf. That said, I’m still saving scraps. Begging the question: why???

–

Pattern: NA

Pattern cost: NA

Size: roughly 14” tall, 19” diameter

Supplies: 2 yards upholstery fabric, Sewfisticated, $5.98; zipper, Sewfisticated, $1.30

Total time: 5.75 hours

Total cost: $7.28