Hobbies

[Deleted]

Congrats, Shawna! So exciting!

So this is a little off-topic but wondering if anyone else really likes to watch college football? I am a newbie fan but love watching weekend games on tv with my friends. really want to go to a game (and a bowl game would be SO exciting) but i don't know yet what team to pledge my allegiance to. saw that tostitos is having a ticket giveaway for the bcs national championship...def would be exciting to win!

[chonies]

This one is for the sewers:

I know how to sew. I've made skirts, dresses, pajama sets, etc. I would say I'm a skilled intermediate because my mom taught me and I learned from a lot of crazy gaffes, but I've never taken home ec or a real sewing class, so I am presuming there are gaping pits of ignorance in my foundation. And I just bought my own sewing maching (a Kenmore Mini Ultra, because it was on closeout, even though I'm from a Singer household). Would some be so kind as to recommend books on the craft? I like reading vintage crafts books as well as Craftster, and I want to be able to have a better grasp on designing stuff, especially clothes.

Also, links to great online fabric resources would be swell. I love reprodepot, but I need more, if only to pad my links file.

[Deleted]

Hey chonies, welcome back to the sewing fold.

Most of my sewing is for historical reenactment events, so my links are heavy on linen and silk (on the other hand, if you need a source for corsetry supplies, I have several).

Some of my favorite fabric stores: Denverfabrics.com (all kinds of fabrics), dharmatrading.com (only carries fabrics in white or black, but has lots of different kinds of silk, dyes, etc), fabrics-store.com (great linen that can be bought by the yard or by the bolt), thaisilks.com (great silk).

[Auroranorth]

For good sewing books I'd recommend one of the Dummies or Idiot's guides as a basic. I also like Sewing and Collecting Vintage Fashions by Eileen MacIntosh, though it's out of print now. Check out Threads magazine for helpful tips.

Sewing resource list put together by my first sewing teacher- includes fabrics. I've never bought online since I live near G Street Fabrics in MD.

[Deleted]

Damn, I wish I'd found this thread earlier. I love crafty stuff.

I am envious of all you sewers. I used to sew, a very long time ago. Lately I have been thinking about getting a sewing machine. But I think it will have to wait till after I get married. I wish it was a hobby I hadn't dropped, as I'm trying to figure out how to get the wedding dress I want, and don't know any steamstresses any more.

However, I do knit (currently a patchwork cardigan for my four year old niece, and a scarf for me, because I never knit anything for myself) and crochet on occasion, and I am another jewellery maker. I do sell a bit - that's a store journal, really - but mostly because I've spent so much money on beads and wire that I'm bankrupting myself. As someone mentioned up thread, it's ridiculously addictive. Stupid sexy beads.

[monkey]

I cross-stitch occasionally - very easy, but my French knots still look like crap. Right now I'm working on a project with a hummingbird and tulips for my mom. I should have it completed by Christmas. For part of the purplish tulip, I couldn't find a certain color at my local fabric store, so I just substituted some leftover thread from an old project. Now that I'm almost done with the purplish flower, I'm afraid that the blue I substituted is much too bright. Ah, well. I'm also using DMC 3348 (light green) wherever the design specifies DMC 772 (very light green) or DMC 3348. Very lazy stitcher here.

[monkey]

Sorry for the double post, but it's been several days. I just finished the cross stitch project I was working on as a Christmas gift for my mother. Boy, am I sick of the color green.

[Deleted]

Beautiful, monkey!

Now that I've mastered knitting and am learning crochet, I'm definitely thinking about learning how to cross stitch. How did you learn?

[chonies]

That is really nice, monkey! Was it a kit or your own design?

knob, I learned to cross-stitch in Brownies, courtesy of the mom of one of the other Brownies. Then I discovered making friendship bracelets and had to repurpose all my embroidery floss.

[monkey]

Thank you both! eataknobatnight, I learned from my aunt whenever I was 8 or 9. She gave me a piece of Aida cloth, a hoop, and some floss, and taught me how to make the 'x' stitch. chonies, I worked the design in counted cross stitch from a pattern by Leisure Arts.