Go in for notions, come out with fabric

Thinking fun appliques are the

future use of this

wood grain print fabric.

Only to be used ironically, I promise.

Easy fabric storage

Thanks to Eileen, I had a heap of silk fabric with no home and wondered how to store it. Sure, I could buy plastic lidded storage boxes but those are pain in the ass because they're heavy when stacked full of fabric and invariably it's the bottom box you want when searching for a specific item. Already had this metal shelving unit (that I had powder coated in metallic silver paint) so filled it up with fabric.

Filled that mammajamma and still needed MORE fabric storage space. Another visit to my favorite used office furniture store and found this cool unit for less than marked price of $49! WooHoo! I opted for the sturdy metal cabinet at the same price as four plastic storage containers. Cleaned it up and opted to place unit in closet so no powder coating necessary although, am now considering a powder coat finish to match the other unit and placing them in the same room.

Top two shelves have sliding doors removable for easy cleaning.

Sliding drawers on third and fourth levels.

All the sliding mechanisms are incredibly smooth. No, it isn't pretty but it is incredibly functional, dust-free and easy access storage. It is a joy, I tell ya, JOY for this anal retentive girl to squirrel away even more silk fabric!

People give me stuff - fabulous fabric

Ernest sent some fabulous fabric from his menswear office in Manhattan. If I told you the name of the company, he would get in trouble and you would be green with envy. Feast your eyes:

Top to bottom:

• Black and ecru houndstooth light weight wool
• Black twill
• Grey cashmere
• Black and ecru pinstripe linen
• Khaki twill
• Ecru and navy stripe twill
  

Check out the gray cashmere. It is soft and yummy. And I love it because the color doesn't fit my rut of black black black. Ernest's gift is forcing me to expand my horizons. I cannot imagine how much this fabric would cost at retail $ per yard.

Thinking the gray will become a knee length gored skirt. What say you? Thoughts? Opinions?

Ernest gives me stuff

Looka! 2 meters of waaaay pricey black pinstriped wool!!

Trixie gives me stuff!

Fabric, men's neckties and yoyos

Lots o' ribbon

Ya wanna know something strange?

The more ribbon I get, the more I hoard it.

Before wrapping a gift, I consider whether the recipient is "ribbon worthy".

Stinky fabric solution

I now pre-wash my fabric before sewing to avoid shrinking or fading surprises. Found this $2 a yard brown eyelet at WalMart and noticed the dye fumes were pretty strong when I got home. Machine washed it once and it still stank! Washed it again with some Molton Brown shampoo ~~ it's perfect now!

Examine your back side

My mom taught me to always check out the reverse side of fabric. Sometimes it is more interesting or a more muted shade than the front.




With this fabric for my Craftster swap partner, I used both sides for 2 different items. One side has more blue; the other, more khaki.

Flip on over, let me look at you from behind!

People give me stuff - 2 bolts of fabric!

I am soooo behind on posting stuff that folks have donated to the SkitzoLeezraStudio.

Look at this - 2, count 'em, TWO bolts of fabric from my friend Virginia. She was organizing her closets and found this fabric. OF COURSE, she knew I would give it a good home.

It is quite liberating to have so much "throw away" fabric. REAL designers and seamstresses make a "muslin" (a preliminary version of their creation to cut, tweak and redrape) and use the muslin as a pattern for the real deal. Amateurs and home crafters use muslin or "throw-away" low quality/cost fabric.

This polka dot fabric will be MY muslin. Because, let me tell ya what I've learned: if you think your project won't turn out so great, it will be fabulous. If you are sure that it will be stunning, it will look like crap. As someone wise once said, sewing machines HATE smugness. Thus, IF the "muslin" turns out great, you probably won't use it because the fabric quality is inferior. This blue and white polka dot fabric isn't so horrible.

Stay tuned for lots of polka dot fabric in my future . . . .

Craft room hangover

My friend Chrysanthemum visited me last week and brought her sewing machine with her. She wanted to sew skirts so I was all up for it. I introduced her to the wonderful world of serger finishing and she cut out the skirts. When we finished there were 10 skirts for her, 2 skirts for little girl neighbors and 4 for me. That is not a mistake, 16 skirts in all.

Chrysanthemum complimented me by saying that the SkitzoLeezraStudio is like working in a factory; everything is there at your fingertips.

It was the first time that I had a little buddy sewing with me in the Studio and it was different - and fun. Makes me wish that she were back next week.

About the fabrics:

Chrysanthemum likes upholstery and drapery fabrics for skirts so you might recognize a few prints. My buddy Ernest gave me the most fabulous wool fabric samples several years ago. The wool is usually used for very high end men's sports coats and it drapes incredibly well. The Ernest wools are 3rd from the top and 2nd from the bottom.

About the pattern:

A bastardized version of easy sew a-line skirt. Some finished with drawstrings, some with elastic waists.

Silk fabric stash again

That silk stash that my good buddy Eileen sent me? It is taking over my life. In a good way, I think.

Take a look at this wall hanging and pair of pillow shams. I made them all by myself. WooHoo!

People give me stuff, part 2

Get ready to covet!

Ring stash is class ring samples and some tacky "nugget" rings.
Nugget? Fugget! And no, sample rings are not manufactured of genuine gold nor include genuine stones. (I know how you think.)



Cigar box stash from my good buddy Kay! She knows I'll do make something cool!



Okay, ready? Prepare to soil yourself~~~Italian silk fabric. Uncut men's ties. Be-yoo-ti-ful colors! Stay tuned to see what becomes of the ultimate in the mother of all hook ups! As the song goes, "I love ya, Eileen!"

Scraps o' fabric

Skitzo Leezra:
My mom was a daughter of a Depression era mother and thus, could not throw away a fabric scrap. Every dress made by her included a matching purse or headband or both. I thought it was because she liked doing that. She recently told me that it was part of the fabric obsession. Guess what? I cannot toss fabric either but am glad to report that I have one friend that quilts and another that makes baby bibs so no worries about little piles of scraps.

Mallys:
Of course, now that I've discovered the joys of the drawstring bag, the tiniest bit of fabric can turn into some kind of recyclable (environmentally friendly!)gift bag, which is good since I'm beyond the hair scrunchy days.
I am actively working, though, to eschew my Depression Era gene pool. I cut up old t-shirts and tank tops for rags this weekend, and instead of saving the tank-top arm straps--a la my great great grandmother who buried her cash in a mayonnaise jar in her dirt basement rather than trust a bank--I THREW THEM AWAY. Baby steps.

Happy sewing!

Mom says

My mom says that

• once you have handled a fabric, it is forever imprinted in your memory. If you see it from 20 yards or 20 years later, you will instantly recognize it.


• the ugliest fabrics can produce some of the cutest things. Much like ugly parents often have beautiful children.

Mallys says:

I used to sew much more than I do now, so I always had hilarious shorts made from fabric that no one else wanted to buy, or that Mom had sitting in the basement from days gone by. Imagine Raggedy Ann & Andy shorts, "Stinkweed" shorts that featured a skunk in too-big high heels smelling flowers, and shorts with Latin text in tiny paragraphs.

Skitzo Leezra Sent A Friend Over the Edge

So, being an all things crafty girl all hyped up on sewing projects, I sent the grocery bag tote sewing instructions to my good buddy Mallys. Last week I received an envelope with 2 nice drawstring bags and 1 wine bottle bag and this nice note from her.

------------------------------------------------------

1. SkitzoLeezra sends Mallys a really cute and sort-of easy looking pattern for a reusable grocery bag, based on those noxious plastic bags.


2. Mallys reads the directions, which estimate about a yard of face fabric and a yard of lining per bag.


3. Mallys decides to buy some cut-rate fabric to try it out - no need to spend tons of money if the pattern doesn't work.


4. Mallys finds two complementary patterns on the $2/yard shelf at the Evil Empire. Mallys thinks the frogs are cute and the bright pink is festive.



5. Mallys pre-washes and dries the fabric, and every time she walks past it, the froggies make her giggle. "How cute those frogs are, " Mallys says to herself several times a week, "Won't they make a cute bag?"


6. Mallys makes bag #1 for her pal Suki, in which to place thank-you bowls for feeding the kitties while Mallys was on vacation. The sewing of the happy, bright frogs goes smoothly, and except for a little issue with the gusset, all is well. The bag is cute, and Mallys has used the lining fabric for the pocket on the outside of the bag so as to avoid the stripe-matching issue. The stripes are loud and attention getting, and the solid pink pocket is a funny contrast to the stripes.


7. Mallys make bag #2 for Mom because, after all, there's a whole lot of pink frog material left, and because Mom is looking for ways to avoid the plastic bags. Mallys switches up face fabric/lining - the stripes as lining are also cute, but also are getting a little old. This has now been hours of staring at pink and purple frogs - during the washing and hanging, the ironing, the cutting, the sewing. The frogs are sort of like other people's well-behaved children: they're all right for awhile, and then you want them to go home.


8. After two bags, Mallys is dismayed to see that there are, inexplicably yarrrrrrdddddssssss of this material left, and it's getting the tiniest bit tiresome: the frogs get happier and the pink gets brighter with every stitch. Mallys has never been happy nor bright. The material is challenging her self identity and gnawing at her already limited patience.


9. Mallys buys a pattern for gift bags to help use up some of the fabric. She sews a wine bag. The frogs are working on her nerves. There is still too much material left.


10. Mallys another wine bag. That frog is going to send her over the brink. There is more of the goddamned ugly fucking left, and Mallys - whose great grandmother used to tie her hair back with a worn out bras strap and whose grandmother won't throw away 10-year-old Swiss Miss instant cocoa because the fake marshmallows only taste a little musty - can't bring herself to throw away a swatch of material that is big enough to "make something with."


11. Mallys sews a shorter version of the wine bag. She'd like to pack that short gift bag with the guts of this fucking frog who won't stop smiling at her, if only she could get the frog off the fucking fabric and make it real so that she could exact her craft vengeance on this frog who is driving her crazy. AND THERE'S STILL MORE FUCKING FABRIC LEFT.


12. Everything is pink. Everywhere Mallys looks pink, pink, pink. Here a frog, there a frog, everywhere a mo-fo frog. Mallys is muttering in her sleep, dreaming of stripes of happy anthropomorphized frogs that won't leave her alone. There is still more fabric. Mallys sews a drawstring bag and finally, has sewn every last bit of fabric.


13. Mallys is disgusted by the items she has sewn. Too much pink. Too bright a pink. Too much purple. Too many frogs. Frogs frogs fucking frogs.


14. Mallys - embarrassed at the obnoxious choice - gives the "thank you" bowls and froggie bag to Suki. Suki assures her that the bag is hilarious, that the frogs are pink and funny and not - in fact - gunning for Mally's last shred of sanity.


15. Mallys breathes in through her nose, out through her mouth, and employs logic to convince herself that the frogs do not have some sort of $2/yard vendetta against her, actively trying to make her crazy.


16. But now Mallys sees that she has another bag to send her mother, two wine bags, one short gift bag, and one drawstring bag. She will send one wine bag to her mother. She can't unload a second bag on Suki - who claims to like frogs - because drinks wine out of a box and doesn't take wine to friends' houses. What the hell will she do with annoying froggie wine bags galore?


17. Mallys knows there has to be someone to blame: who is responsible for the frogs? Who should pay the price for the frogs? Who owes it to Mallys to take the frogs off her hands? And then it dawns on Mallys.


18. See item #1.

And that, Leezra, is why you will find in this envelope some really fucking bright, really fucking perky frogs on assorted bags that you may or may not have anything to stuff into.

In short, I am making you pay for the mental anguish those frigging frogs have caused me. Now you get to share at the fabric that's so frigging bright I think it has done irreversible damage to my rods and cones. Or, you can do what I've done, and you can pass the bags on - for some "good reason" of course - to someone who you think deserves the happy, loud frogs.

And the wine bag pattern is actually kind of cute in something other than frogs, dressed up with come ribbon, some buttons. I have now sewn waayyyyyy too many wine bags out of leftover fabric, and have purchased new (remnants). Somehow, I pixilated enough to send them to Mom, who starts doing craft shows in mid-September through early December (she paints), and who thinks she might be able to sell some wine bags at those shows. 39 bags later (with another 17 cut out and fabric for 2 more left to sew), I think that, perhaps, I should wait and see if the wine bags actually sell before I buy any more fabric and sew any more stitches. After all, a wine bag is always a handy item to have sitting around for those last-minute hostess gifts, but let's be real: how on earth is Mallys going to get 39 invites anywhere that call for a wine bag rather than a plastic cup and frothy head of beer?

The boyfriend has taken to calling me "The Wine Bag". I tell him that the joke will be on him when I make my fortune from crafts fashioned out of remnants and leave him high and dry, wishing he had a stylish gift bag in which to carry his hostess gift . . .

Enjoy,

Mallys

Super cheap organization

This is my favorite craft and sewing organizer. Flat cardboard boxes from canned drink cases.
I tote a stack of them from work when the Coca~Cola machine is refilled and use them for everything.

• Projects in progress can be tossed together and stashed away.
• Or sit the box on your lap while you watch television. Trim paper and let the scraps fall. Toss the whole thing when finished.
• If you stagger them in a Rubbermaid type storage box, you can keep your materials neat and separate.
• These boxes are great for painting small craft projects!
• Decoupage paper images are sorted by genre.
• A favorite for kitty lounging.
• Great transport for food.

Yeah, yeah, I know that the boxes aren't acid free but storage is not long term nor do I care. As my friend Chrysanthemum would say,

"If it is free, it's for me!"

Don't throw that away!

Baby clothing that is just too cute to toss?

Baby clothing that might be stained?

Nursery bedding fabric remnant?

Don't toss that fabric!

Sew a cute Christmas tree ornament instead! And create a special keepsake.

"When you were a baby . . ."