Back at the blog

I analyzed my posting habits, and I realized I just don't blog enough in the summer.  In the past, I've come up with all kinds of excuses - potential move, working on a book, etc.  The truth is, I am hot and I am lazy.  I spend far too much time outside in the a.m., battling evil weeds and nasty squash beetles.  Then I come inside, and have to feed and entertain my kid.  That means slapping together PB&Js and heading to the pool.  In between gardening and parenting, I sew and write about sewing.  I make it sound awful, but I of course love it.  Blogging gets shoved to the back burner, which is inherently wrong because I have so much to blog about!

Soooo...where to start?

BOOK!  
Last summer's excuse for not blogging is this summer's big news!  My first book, Sewn Hats was released on 8/28/12!  Here is the description from the publisher:

35 hat patterns for everyone!
Sewn Hats is a collaboration of hat designs from some of the industry's most-loved fabric designers, pattern designers, and bloggers. Expertly edited by top designer Carla Hegeman Crim, the patternmaker and blogger behind The Scientific Seamstress, Sewn Hats offers a collection of patterns that uses a wide variety of fabrics, from felt to silk, corduroy to cotton, and everything in between.
Sewn Hats is packed with beautiful photography, precise instructions, and detailed illustrations to make creating the hats a snap. You'll find an array of hats for every age, gender, occasion, and style. Most projects are sized from baby through men's sizes and inspiration for fabric selection and embellishments make each pattern even more versatile. All pattern pieces are conveniently located online. Simply click and print to get just the pattern pieces you need—no more tracing or keeping track of used pieces.
Whether you dig vintage or want to craft something cute for your kid, are looking to breathe new life into your own wardrobe or make a hat as a gift, Sewn Hats has everything you need to create something for everyone.

And how cool is this?  All the patterns are housed online in PDF format - no tracing, no folding and tracing...just click and print!

In fact, I'm kicking off the Blog Tour, right here - TODAY!  You'll have a chance to win a copy, so stay tuned. 

Texas!
I had an absolute ball presenting at Martha Pullen's Sewing Market in Arlington, Texas.  I was really nervous about telling my life story, but Martha had me dance the Hokey Pokey and Macarena with her on stage, and I was ready to rip!  I had my wonderful friend and tester Shannon by my side, and she was such an angel.  It was a treat to spend time with her, and she and her family were so much help getting "goodie bags" together.

 

 
Big Move!
Our family is up and moving from the Baltimore 'burbs to the Catskill Mountains in Upstate NY.  Chef Del got a dream job as the Director of Dining at SUNY-Delhi. So I am in serious "primp the house to sell" mode right now.  We love this big spacious home and the amazing gardens, but honestly, it is way more than we can properly manage at this point.  We are going to rent for a bit, then find a little dream home in the Village of Delhi. In the meantime, I hope to be doing lots more writing, patternmaking, and blogging!

Everlasting Gobstopper of Pants

Check it out - Jessica used the Easy-Fit Pants pattern to make her son Dallas some PJs when he was barely 5 years old. Fast forward 4.5 years, and he is still wearing them! Look how much he has grown - he's gone from cute little kindergartner to handsome young man. His jammies, in the meantime, have gone from long pants to cool board shorts.



His mom is the sewing whiz behind Magical Memories by Jessica Boutique. She makes awesome appliqued shirts, dresses, and of course...PANTS! She says "I really love this pattern. I think this year I made him 3 new pairs for Christmas, birthday and our Disney trip." I love that she is still getting so much use out of it after all of these years!




Easy-Fits are great for boys and girls alike. They are soooooo easy to make (only 1 pattern piece), and are super comfy. The full-fit and long rise allows for years of wear. Louie wore the heck out of the pants he modeled in the picture above, and then we passed them down to his younger cousin. The pattern ranges from sizes 6 months - 10 years, and we have an adult version that goes from tween size up to 3X...Easy-fits Forever!

Divine Devon!

I've taken way too long to introduce the newest downloadable Sis Boom pattern - the Devon Peasant Top/Dress ! Like our other popular peasant, the Meghan, this versatile style is super easy to sew, can be made in a range of lengths, and has lots of sleeve options!



Our sweet friend Judy of Hickity Pickity was one of the first to ask for this pattern. The child-sized Leighanna Peasants she made were selling like hotcakes in Florida boutiques, so she knew there was going to be a demand for the mama version. Of course, the first thing she did was make a coordinating set for her beautiful daughter and granddaughter.




Ahhh...life is good!





My Texas buddy Jenny also made herself a bright and happy Devon Peasant out of Girl's World Vibe Fabric. She is a self-declared jeans and t-shirt gal, but she and her daughter both loved this classy, yet comfortable top. I adore the color on her!




Jeanne has been testing for me for years now, so I feel like I know her favorite colors and prints. This one really brings out her beautiful eyes and hair. Even though I chose the fabric, she gets all the credit for sewing the top and looking so pretty in it, of course!




I always love love love Jenny's creations! Read about the Devon she made to coordinate with her daughter's Marissa Dress! They both look SO Sis Boom stunning!




My awesome Head Technician Cathy rocks the Devon, which is actually named after one of her lovely little daughters! Read her Sewing Story here!




And how is cool is this?...I got to meet up with Cathy and long-time testers/great friends Tom, Marlo, and Shannon at Disney last month! Notice that Shannon has her Devon on - so pretty, and perfect for a Florida vacation!




I got to see this little beauty, too (the kid, not the top). This is Marlo's tween daughter Nicole, and she is such the Sis Boom Girl! She is mature enough to comfortably chitty-chat with all the adults, but not too grown-up to have a blast at the kids' table!




This one is hot off the presses...Monique blogged it just yesterday, and Jennifer blogged it today! My jaw seriously dropped when I saw it - I love this on her! The style, the print, (and as someone commented) the smile - everything is just gorgeous!

Devon became available on YouCanMakeThis.com just last week, and is already holding the top spot in the "Most Popular" section! Can't wait to see all the Devons that are about to bloom this spring!!!

A project in hand...

In the evenings, we typically wind down with a little TV. It is very hard for me to sit still, so I usually work on something else while I'm in my recliner. I was pretty hooked on Sudoku, but would get distracted and mess up completely if the show was any good. So I needed something I could just blissfully do without too much thinking. I've been wanting to hand piece a good old-fashioned hexagon quilt for ages. The little pieces are portable and easy to handle, and the finished product has such a sweet, intricate look.

There are gobs of great tutorials about making hexagonal quilts. There are even whole blog posts like this one that explain and give links to the different methods. I initially thought I was going to go with traditional piecing, but was overwhelmed by the idea of cutting out lots of paper templates. Plus, I knew I'd get bored halfway through the basting step and it would turn it a massive UFO of a project.




I ended up going with a paper-free technique from Snippets and Blabbery. It is a very straightforward method that involves tracing hexagons on the wrong side of the fabric and stitching through the markings. She gives an excellent tutorial, and a comparison with the traditional method. It is working so well for me! I love that I can put it down and pick it back up without too much thought (or mess).




Of course, I'm using all Sis Boom fabrics. To get started, I would take a pair of coordinating prints and cut 7 hexagons from each. I'd surround 1 of print 1 with 6 of print 2, and vice versa. That gave me lots of pretty flowers. I did the math and figured out how many hundreds of little flowers I would need for a queen sized quilt, and decided to expand my existing flowers.




To keep things interesting, I decided to use contrasting fabric for print 3. I really tried to make the inner flower stand out without overthinking the combo too much. After all, this purpose of this project is NOT thinking. So far so good...I've made around 60 small flowers, and about half of them have grown into big flowers.




I keep my supplies right beside my easy chair in a Basic Box from my Case Studies series (I need to come out with some new patterns for my family's newfangled electronic devices...but I digress). Can you find my needle? The foam core makes it so the box doubles as a pincushion!




I keep a stack of small flowers with fabric 3 strips at the ready. That way, when the mood strikes, I can trace (usually on a cookbook), cut, and sew. The little ironing board is nice for sitting on the floor and pressing seams.

I haven't totally decided on a layout for the quilt. I'm torn between piecing the flowers together or separating them with a solid. If I do go with a solid, I'll probably go with something dark so the flowers pop. Decisions decisions. For now, I'm quite content with the piecing process.