You can find the tutorial here:

http://modernquiltlove.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/perfect-box-pouch-tutorial/

Thanks to http://modernquiltlove.wordpress.com for the tutorial!

By the way… this blog is totally awesome in general… one crafter’s learning experience documented visually for other other visual learners. There are lots of fun tutorials, beautifully documented.

I did make a trip to NYC’s garment district and went on a little shopping spree. Will post pics soon of the fab fabrics that I bought.

While randomly trolling the fabric stores, I stumbled into Chic Fabrics on West 39th, between 7th and 8th Avenues. They have great prices on some high quality stuff. I got a stunning wool in lavender. If you’re in the area, they’re definitely worth checking out.

If you have favorite fabric stores in NYC, I would love to hear about them!

Not a new book, but I do want to give a shout out to this wonderful sewing book by Diana Rupp, The Sew Everything Workshop. I sewed with my mother and family friends when I was young, but lost the thread (so to speak). When I decided to give sewing a try as an adult, I needed a serious refresher course.  And this book was just wonderful.

S.E.W. addresses a lot of basics for sewing, starting from the beginning. But Diana Rupp has a light touch and leads you through some rather challenging techniques without you even knowing it. Imgaine my surprise when I finished the Tokyo Tie Bag and realized I had sucessfully completed french seams!

The book comes with many patterns and very concise, step by step instructions, clear illustrations and photos, and whimsical tone to boot. The projects in the book are cute, hip and wearable. And the capelet makes a great gift.

I can’t speak to how much value the book might have for more accomplished sewers, but it is far and away the best book for beginners (or those who are rusty) that I’ve come across.

If you haven’t already, check this book out at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Sew-Everything-Workshop-Diana-Rupp/dp/0761139737/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248789355&sr=1-6

Also, for those of you in NYC, Diana Rupp is the founder of make workshop, located on the Lower East Side. She teaches classes there, and while I haven’t had the opportunity to take any, I really, really would love to. Check out the make website for class schedules:

http://www.makeworkshop.com/

If you have used this book or have other fantastic books you would like to recommend, leave a comment below!

So I got a walking foot:

The walking foot

I tried to make the very simple t-shirt (no hems) in the Home Stretch book out of some very nice lemony yellow knit fabric. The fabric is kind of heavy and it doesn’t have a whole lot of stretch. I thought it might help to use a seemingly more stable knit.

My machine has a mock overlock stitch, which is what I used here to go around the neck hole, sleeve openings, and the bottom. I used a contrasting green thread because I thought it would be cute.

Here are some pics:

Abby wanted to help with the cutting.

Finishing the edges of the neck opening

So of all the knit projects I have tried, this has been the most successful… but there are still problems. One, because there aren’t real hems here the neck doesn’t lay quite right. This might not have been a problems with a thinner, lighter fabric.

But more troubling is that a lot of the stiches are uneven. I’m not ready to invest in a serger so I really want to make this work on a conventional machine. I’ve almost come to the conclusion that I might need to upgrade my machine. I’m using a Brother XL 5500 which has been pretty good up until now, but I think I’ve reached it’ s limitations.

This is the best pic I have of the finished shirt:

Finished shirt

Any thoughts on sewing knits using a conventional machines? If anyone knows tips or tricks,  I would appreciate hearing them.

I don’t know about you, but I learn so much from the things that go horribly awry. You only have to utterly ruin the beautiful fabric you love or destroy the shirt you spent hours on with a wack buttonhole once… you never make those mistakes again.

I’m going to run home and take some pics of my personal craft Waterloos for posting.

So sweet!

Check out the tutorial here:

http://mairuru.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-make-fabric-covered-snap-clip.html

Listen to the podcast of episode 192: Meet the Pros at http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ or purchase at iTunes.