bee creative

from the front porch: measuring fabric for quilt squares

Grace asked me to find the first post for my GOOD enough COVID 19 quilt. It's been a little over two years since it was started. 

Thinking about that.

I was hoping to be able to make one square a week...that didn't happen for the most part.  There were periods of time when I was distracted by other projects. 

There were times when I was distracted by everything that Covid has brought to our world.

The top is fairly close to done but a few more squares are needed to get to the 6 foot by 6 foot size I want, the recommended distance for social distancing.

Today I cut up the last of my cloth masks for the block I made today. When I need a mask I use what is recommended and is, unfortunately, disposable.

After cutting some more strips, with some assistance I stitched a block today....

 Sew

Flip

Snuggle a cat & move a cat.

Repeat.

And then go outside to make a tiny little video showing how I am cutting the strips.

There really is no rhyme or reason when I pick out strips for each square, just whatever appeals at the moment. I do sort by size a bit as one goal is to use up scraps. 

Hope that helps Grace. :)

from the front porch: how to repurpose a dress into a tank top

 

I am imagining everyone on my front porch with me...

and if you listen carefully you can hear one of the cats.

One thing that I didn't mention, to avoid having to sew the side seams over, the bottom of the arm hole needs to meet the edge of the piece of clothing when you cut.  For me if it's an article of clothing that already fits me, it works.  If it's larger the side seams would need to be resewn as well. Extending the arm hole out does not work unless you don't care if your bra shows. It is also the best reason to use a sleeveless shirt pattern for this.

This works well with skirts too.  An example of how I did this can be found here.  The pictures in this post also provide an example of what I mean by the side seams.

Two other things as I replayed the video:

-This dress has a dart.  To make a new neckline/arm hole for this I would have to go below the dart to cut.

-I think it's really funny that my verbal tick was "so."  If I were a perfectionist I'd probably have done the video over. But I am not so there you go!

P.S.  I've never tried this with something that has sleeves but I have some ideas now that I want to try...