52weeksewingchallenge, weeks 3 & 4 | This WONDERfilled Life

Wow, by the skin of my teeth I made it.  These last two sewing weeks ended up being me learning about being flexible…I had plans, those plans didn’t happen…I made new plans…some of those didn’t happen…oh well…doesn’t that sum up life in general these days?

Okay, so week 3 & 4 of the #52weeksewingchallenge, lets get to it.

WEEK 3 - Sew swimwear or outerwear

Okay, I know what you’re thinking…swimwear in January! This challenge is worldwide so they try and keep that in mind when planning the weekly themes.  I choose outerwear, for the dog.  Let me say that again…I made my dog a coat…🤦🏼‍♀️ If you didn’t know, we decided to finally, after talking about it for years, to get a puppy.  Lot’s of reasons went into our decision making but in July of last year we brought home Zoey, our purebred, Australian Cattle Dog.  It. Has. Been. A. Ride.  I feel like we’re through the looking glass as far as puppyhood goes…and to be honest this breed doesn’t usually need coats, but I thought why not.  I had the idea to use some PUL to make her a waterproof jacket.  I had a great piece of black and white chevron PUL I had intended to use but it ended up being too small.  Between that snafu and the whole, Zoey would rather eat the tape measure than be measured by it…this project was off to an ominous start.  I realized that the black and white fabric swatch was too small, and I didn’t like how it would look if I “color blocked” it, so I went into my stash…and found this beauty. It was a PUL remnant I got in a surprise box I bought years ago.  If you know anything about the ACD breed (aka blue healer) they are, indeed, little sh*ts…so Super and I agreed this was the piece to use.  I did have to color block it to work, but it turned out great.  Because the pattern was really an image “toss” pattern, it totally worked. 

I was able to cut the piece in half, and use some black PUL I had left over from making Sp!t Happens pads to flush out the areas I needed a little more real estate on.  In the end it totally worked out and it almost looked like I had bound the edges and she’s very fashionable with their solid butt flap like many human jackets.  

I used the free pattern from Wholefully.  It was cool because they have a guide on how to measure your dog (remember how well that went, but if your pup is less puppyish you may have better luck) but the shape and proportions of the jacket overall are really nice. 

My machine started tweaking out towards the end of sewing this…nesting thread, skipped stitches.  I had to really push this one to the finish line…and then make a call to my sewing machine dealer and have an appointment to bring in my baby next week.  Crossing my fingers that it’s an easy repair, timing issue…because I have many other projects on my agenda here shortly.

Also, I wish Zoey would have played nice enough to grab a picture of her in her new jacket…but that was also a negative. It’s a good thing she’s cute…

WEEK 4 - Sew something for the home

So with my machine tweaking out I had to rethink what I wanted to sew for the home.  Originally I was thinking of making a custom pad for the bottom of our bedroom fan.  It rests on my cedar hope chest and I currently we have an old towel under it so it doesn’t scratch the wood.  At any rate, with my main machine on the fritz and a HUGE project promised to someone (more on that later) I opted to make something a little less sewing labor intensive.  P’s hair accessories are out-of-control, and have been.  Making a bow/hair organizer has been on my to sew list for YEARS so I just made it happen.

I made her sit down and go thru every single bow and hair clip she had AND all the ones I had from mine and my sister’s childhood.  She got rid of, maybe three…*sigh*.  

I went to the craft area and pulled out these ribbon remnants of yellow honeycomb.  I had bought a bunch of this ribbon when she was a baby for her Classic Pooh nursery.  I literally sewed the ribbons together with wrong sides facing, perpendicular to the length about every three inches or so.  My thinking was that this allows us to run head band thru the resulting loops when needed but we could also still clip hair clips to it as well.  

It’s pretty effective…and I thought this would tame her stash with room to spare…nope…but at least she has a dedicated space to keep them.  

Our kids share a room, so Super set up this space in their closet for P to get dressed in privately, complete with a full length mirror and now her hair accessories within arms reach.  

I feel like it’s these little things that are keeping me going these day.  We’re still very much in a “locked down” pandemic mode still with Bubba being too young for the vaccine…we’re all getting restless and just trying to keep our heads down, tick off the many house projects we’ve had on our minds for forever, one day at a time.  (You should see my outdoor OASIS to do list for this spring.) 

I’m already behind on the whole #52weeksewingchallenge…but I am still going to forge ahead.  I think they allow make up weeks…so I am hoping to get a few of the February challenges out at some point.  

Chin up I guess, spring really is just around the corner…