Sewing Stage Fright

So I finally finished my big queen-sized wool star quilt blanket and the only thing left is to sew a soft flannel backing onto it and now that I'm looking at it I'm terrified. I don't know how to sew! I took it to a master quilter for advice and she said that she wouldn't try it even on one of those big machines with the rollers that are used to back sewn quilts because the wool will stretch as it moves through the machine. It's got to be done by hand.

This is my plan so far and I'm hoping that Stephanie or anyone else reading this will tell me if there is a better way:

I bought a soft flannel sheet that is larger than the blanket. I'm going to take advantage of 2 of the hemmed ends and cut the other 2 sides so that the whole thing is about 3.5" bigger than the blanket on each side. Then I'll fold over 1.5 inches on each side and iron in some of that sewing tape stuff to hold it in place. This will leave me with a square that is about 2" bigger than the blanket on each side. I want that extra play in the material because wool stretches a bit over time and without it the blanket will pucker. Then I'll lay it out on a sheet on the floor and carefully tack the edges and pin or baste it in place. Once that's done I'll move it onto the bed and stand at some horribly awkward angle to hand stitch it all in place right under the edging and try to keep the stitches as even as I can. After that I'll lightly tack the backing down at regular intervals to keep it in place. It will be a little loose at first but will fit more tautly as the wool stretches. Does it sound like I'm leaving anything out?

I'm going to make myself start it tomorrow morning because the longer I think about it the more nervous I get. I suppose that the worst I can do is ruin the flannel or have to spend a day carefully picking out stitches. I suppose that one advantage is that no one will ever question whether or not it was handmade once they see my amateur uneven stitches. Maybe they'll think it's quaint and charming or something cool like that :).


Please come see my handmade designer plus size sweaters, sweater coats, capes and shrugs at MirabilisFashions.com

I'm so proud of myself....

So a few months ago, when I had some money, I decided I was going to learn to spin yarn.

 I bought this drop spindle:
top-whorl-drop-spindle-double-whorl

And this roving:
domestic-56-wool-roving-8-oz

I used the spindle to do my handplied yarns, but the roving sat unused until earlier this week.

 I'm not going to post a tutorial on how to do it, because there are a bazillion other tutorials out there and I watched many of them. But here is the finished product!

Before plying with thread

The finished yarn, 36 yards of wooly goodness!

Polymer Clay Covered Crochet Hooks

One day when I was browsing on Etsy I came across these wonderful polymer clay covered hooks from NKDesigns and they were so pretty that I just had to have some. She didn’t have the steelite sizes that I wanted on hand but she put together a custom order in the colors that I wanted in no time. I love them! Not only are they beautiful but they cushion the side of my hand as I work. I’m strongly hinting to my husband that I want him to get her to make me a full set of luxite hooks for my birthday. If you click on the picture it will take you to it on Etsy and from there you can see all of the great stuff in her shop.

Please come see my handmade designer plus size sweaters, sweater coats, capes and shrugs at MirabilisFashions.com

Yarn Lust - I must not bid...I must not bid...

This is killing me. Every morning I look at the new yarn listings on ebay to trawl for great deals and today my favorite mohair lady is back. She sells 100 yard hanks of pure British mohair for $4-$5 a skein and her hanks never tangle on my swift. I already have 10 of one color and I'm bidding on other yarns to go with it for one sweater and then I also have a bid in on a lot of wool in a different color to use as the base yarn of another sweater. I shouldn't buy anything else until I know which auctions I won because I could end up with a bunch of things that don't add up to even one sweater.

I'm also working on two projects at once right now. One is going to be a glittery evening cape and the other is something I'm designing that I don't know what to call yet. I work on the second one when it's too hot to work on the first one. I'm still waiting for the backing material for the quilt that I just finished and once that comes I'll have to set those two aside and go finish that project. I'll do a tutorial on crocheting quilts once I can take a picture of the backing. It may sound a bit like I have the attention span of a gnat but it keeps me from having to stop.


Please come see my handmade designer plus size sweaters, sweater coats, capes and shrugs at MirabilisFashions.com

Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Sections

Etsy allows 10 sections in each shop, 10 categories to do make browsing easier for your buyers.

 Seeing as I have a little more than a split personality when it comes to crafts, and I was getting a lot of supplies in my shop, I decided to open a second shop, a supply shop, which is the type of shop that most of the top sellers have. One Stitch Designs was born.

so I keep making stuff, and getting more ideas, and I realize that I am also getting a lot of recycled stuff too, so I decide to make a third shop for recycled stuff, and Stephanie Re-Makes All was born.

I am thinking about folding StephanieREMakesAll back into the main shop, because this may just be one too many shops for me! 

I think that my shop has a split personality...

but I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. It's probably bad because the items appeal to two entirely different audiences and where I want to go isn't where I started out. The hats and bags appeal to latter day hippies who generally don't want to buy a $250 sweater and the people who buy the sweaters wouldn't go near a hippie store. So, option one is to take all of that stuff out of my shop and just aim for a high-end audience but if I do that my shop will be practically empty and that doesn't look good. Option 2 is to leave them there permanently so that I have some low-priced items and hope that the big spenders aren't turned off by them. Option 3 is to replace them with sweaters as I make them so that the shop at least stays the same size for a while and work on thinking up some lower priced designs that are at least somewhat unique. So far I don't have a single idea for hats, scarves, necklaces or hand warmers that someone isn't already making. Option 4 is to open a second shop for the hippie stuff but that seems like a waste of time since I'm not planning on making any more of them. I don't know - what do you think?


Please come see my handmade designer plus size sweaters, sweater coats, capes and shrugs at MirabilisFashions.com

Deciding whether or not to sell...

I've been crocheting for 18 years now, and I'm only 24 (yes, I'm that young). I started with making thousands of thousands of yards of chain, so I'm pretty good at it. Then mom taught me a couple basic stitches, and then I could make misshaped.... I don't know what they were. They were supposed to be hats.

Over the years I got better, made a whole bunch of afghans, then found out that almost everything my mother taught me, was wrong. No wonder nothing looked quite right!

Everything she taught me was the extended form of the stitch, so I had to learn everything the right way.

This didn't take a long time, as I knew my hook pretty well.

Before too long, I was making and designing some seriously awesome patterns.

But I never thought to sell my stuff. Not for a long time anyway. I gave some stuff away, but after I found a coaster set I had given my mother in my sister's yard sale, then later found those same coasters in the dumpster where I worked. Then find out that the gold (real gold) and sapphire ring I gave her for her 18th birthday was pawned, I decided to never give another thing to any member of my family (told to show the lack of support I have).

And my house was starting to get filled with stuff from my hobby.

I've sold on Ebay in the past, so i checked there to see what was selling in handmade-uck, 99¢ and free shipping for a pair of fingerless gloves?? I think not! (was tempted to buy them, and reclaim the yarn, though!).

I got to thinking, there's a site for everything, and I found this article about places to sell handmade stuff. Etsy was on that list. After 3 weeks of peeking around the site, I signed up, then had to wait for the chance to get a camera. and listed my first item! Which is still in my shop, weirdly enough.

I was not the "dreaded hobbyist" though, I had plans, I was going to be rid of my boss with the 6 year old mind once and for all:) Those 3 weeks looking around included some lessons in business 101 and pricing.