New Moon Changes

OK, it isn’t really a ‘new moon’s! It is a catchy title though, right? I took these two pics on the way home from work. I just thought the clear sky and the mix of bare and evergreen trees with the moon hanging above them was a beautiful sight!

Speaking if beautiful sites… OK. Full disclosure (and slight change of subject): I’m combining my blogs together. So if you go back in the archives you’ll see a lot of posts on yarn crafts and sewing. You might see a few more pop up that are about books and their covers. I decided to just follow all my interests on As Is. I mean, really, they’re all integrated in my life so why seperate them when I’m blogging? I’ll be simplifying my categories and looking for a theme that makes all the subjects I have and will be covering look good. If you have any suggestions feel free to drop me a line!

Advance.

I was surfing the web the other day looking for vintage sewing patterns and I came across this Wiki. There was a plethora of vintage pattern information there including quite a healthy showing of patterns by a company I never heard of: Advance Pattern Co.

Check out the wiki for more info on Advance… and for tons of pattern envelope art for inspiration.

New book(s).

In a two weeks I’m going down to Portland to pick up a used sewing machine from my aunt. I’m really excited! It’s been a while since I sewed anything,  however, so I bought myself a book so that I can re-teach myself the basics. It’s called S.E.W – Sew Everything Workshop: The Complete Step-By-Step Beginner’s Guide by Diana Rupp.

I’ve read the first few chapters, which cover things like assembling a sewing kit, choosing a machine, setting up a sewing area and other helpful tips. The book is written in a very down to earth style and the author’s passion for sewing definitely shines through. Included in the front of the book are 10 patterns for you to sew, with instructions for them in the body of the book. I haven’t got that far yet but I’m going to guess that the patterns cover a lot of common sewing techniques so that you can get the hang of doing things like sewing hems, putting in buttonholes, sewing curves, adding lining or interfacing and that kind of thing.

The whole book is colorful, easy to read and full of lots of color pictures and easy to understand diagrams that fill out the text in a way that a lot of books on crafts that I’ve come across recently does not. It really is a step-by-step guide! I’m so looking forward to following along.

Even more I’m looking forward to honing my sewing skills so that I can enhance my crochet projects. In the meantime, while I wait to go pick up my new sewing machine (squeeeeeeeeee!), I’m going to keep reading and working on that sweater for my Mom… she’s showing up to see my new nephew. I’m making her the Big Bow Cardigan for her in Lion Brand’s Fisherman’s Wool. It’s going well. Much better in fact than when I attempted it before. I highly recommend Julia Vaconsin’s sweater as a beginner sweater project. It’s so simple, it’s all single crochet and it’s fast to make up. I adore her designs. She makes both crochet and knit designs, so she’s a good choice for knitter’s too! Anyway, when I finish it, I’m going take the whole sweater to JoAnn’s with me so I can pick out some cool wood buttons. I saw some there that are two toned wood that has a swirling inlay design that I think my Mom will like.

In other news, I found this very cool blog by a Finnish fashionista whose main interest is recycled clothing. Her focus is high fashion and she shares some really amazing design and cool tutorials, designs/designers, and inspirations. I added her blog to the news feed on homepage and I read every single new post. Check her out! Since I stumbled on this I’m really interested in recycled fashion and have spent a good amount of time looking for books and tutorials to use once I’ve mastered my sewing basics. Some of the more interesting looking books I found include:

 Junky Styling

Annika Sanders & Kerry Seager

I came across this one on OutsaPop. They take old clothes and turn them into some of the coolest retreads I’ve ever seen. Check out this Trouser Shirt tutorial. Unfortunately, in the US it’s import only.

 

 

Sewing Green

Betz White

I still have yet to lay hands on this book… but I’ve seen some photos from inside it online and the projects look really fun and inspirational. The design style is definitely less edgy than Junky Styling’s but they seem fun and on trend. I can’t wait to see it!

 

 

Born Again Vintage

Bridgett Artisse &  Jen Karetnick

There are some really yummy reconstructions in this book from what I can see. I’m waiting for a copy that I have on hold to come to me from the library. But the pics I’ve seen online are really getting the the creative juices flowing. So I can’t wait to see all of the projects from this.

Ultimately, I’d like to be able to combine crochet and sewing together to create some unique items… take my crochet up a notch. I’m really looking forward to ramping up to sewing, finishing up the cardi for my mom, and (bonus!) taking that little weekend trip to Portland. Hopefully, I get to go to Powell’s… again!

Once you start…

I haven’t done any crafting of any kind in some time but at one time or another I’ve drawn, painted, crocheted, knitted (or attempted to anyway), made bead jewelry, made cards, and sewed. I stopped doing anything a few years ago. Just hung up my crafting ways and concentrated on nothing but work, work, work all the time.

The sad part of all that was that I had this pent up creative energy that I desperately wanted to do something with and I was effectively denying a part of my essential nature by laying aside my favorite pastimes. I spent the greater part of the last two years pretty much in an mode of complete creative misery. Then a few weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a message on Facebook, saying “I just learned how to crochet!” and something in me clicked over. I felt like a light bulb got switched on in a room that’s always been in my house but that I didn’t use because the rest of the family thought it was a waste of the space.

Because of that moment I decided to go all out in the opposite direction. Not just picking up one of my old pastimes but also inviting my friends and neighbors into the mix and actively looking for ways to extend that excitement and desire for conscious community. I started this blog, set up a Facebook Page, invited people, started looking for projects and materials, and signed for an invite to Ravelry.

I got my Ravelry invite today and I started surfing, not hoping for much, more because I didn’t know what to expect than any sense of it not being all it was cracked up to be. I haven’t been disappointed. I’ve pretty much been surfing the site since I logged on a few hours ago. There is a wealth of information on the site and it’s very encouraging to see that I’m not the only gung-ho creative type out there.

So, I’m looking at my project with a little bit less apprehension and a little more enthusiasm. I’m looking forward to the upcoming meeting that much more. I’m excited to try out and find new yarn and new patterns. Now that I’ve started… well, I’m not gonna stop.