sewing room tour

I love nosying in on others' sewing spaces (I've spent far too much time reading these features), so I figured it was due time to show you my own. It's nothing that special, but I might as well give you an insider's look at my creative environment and what I stare at everyday. Welcome to my lair. 

This is the view from the door. The A-frame shelf was from Corey's last apartment -- it's not the most practical storage solution, and it's VERY difficult to style without looking crazy messy, but hey, A is for Andrea and A+ sewing projects.

Moving counterclockwise. That's the closet that holds all my fabric, full and empty moving boxes, unfinished objects, unwanted objects, objects I need to but don't want to alter or refashion, and our off-season clothing. The door currently hangs Corey's cameraman-jacket-in-progress. And YES, that's the door that provides the glamorous backdrop to all my stunning blog photoshoots. To the left is the dark yellow cave that hosts my makeshift Ikea-bought cutting table with two adjustable legs in front. It's bracketed to the wall in the back. I'm considering draping a curtain in front of it so I can shove more clutter under there and hide the lamp cords. 

I used paprika-colored wood stain on the birch tabletop to match the hardwood floors. This is the first time in three months this table was clear of junk. Savor it. The red pendant lamp is this one from West Elm.

My machine and overlocker share the same table so they don't have to fight too much for my affection. It's efficient this way, but I have found myself accidentally pressing the serger pedal when I mean to press the sewing machine pedal and vice versa. The little dressing table was my grandma's, and despite the limited leg room, the drawer space is great for hiding all my tools. The obnoxiously yellow lamp was obnoxiously expensive from Urban Outfitters but I'm kinda in love with it. The frames above my machines hold a print from this artist on Etsy and a poem my boyfriend wrote for me. Awwww-gag.

Everyone should study world geography while ironing their party dresses. Wait, where's Antarctica? Eh. Map print is here on Etsy.

I use 4-oz quilted crystal Ball jelly jars to store little loose things, like hooks & eyes, safety pins, bobbins, covered button kits, etc. The jars are clear enough that you can kinda tell what's in each one, but they're not cluttered eyesores either. I like their country charm.

I store my patterns in these IKEA PRÄNT plywood boxes, organized by garment type. They're the perfect width for commercial patterns, but unfortunately I can't find this size on the Ikea website anymore. 

My button stash floats loosey-goosey in this old wooden box, which belonged to my great-grandmother. I'm not sure how she acquired the box or what her connection was to the Art Club of Philadelphia, but obviously I had to have it for my new home in Philly.

I don't have too many sewing books though I do appreciate them. What can I say? I'm a Gen-Y'er and the Internet is almighty.

So there she is. Small and sweet. A grab bag of vintage hand-me-downs, handmade Etsy stuff, colorful Urban Outfitters stuff and blah Ikea storage. I'm very lucky and grateful to have a whole room dedicated to my hobby, and I'm thrilled it's actually... clean right now. Time to sew.

Sorry that my posts have been few(er) and far(ther) between, but November and December are my busiest months at work so I've been putting in a lot of hours there lately. I definitely haven't been able to pump out a sewing project a week like I had been! Corey's jacket is coming along, but I need to buy lining fabric and figure out how to make toggle buttons. Does anyone know a resource for buying toggle button sets, that come with the buttons, cord and ready-made leather patches? Or do you just have to make that stuff yourself?

So tell me, what is your sewing space like? Or what do you WISH it was like? Hope you all are having a great weekend!

diy drape shade @ que linda

Today I had the honor of guest blogging for the wonderful Janny at Que Linda. There's a tutorial on how I made a versatile drape shade for my bathroom window. Check it out!

Have you already finished all your holiday shopping and crafting and cooking? Of course you have! So, why not use this weekend to sew a curtain? 

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project shared with:

delicate construction

and

twice with 504 Main -- oops, Janny got there first!

tutorial: how to make a round pintuck pillow

Want this pillow?:

 

If you stalk the apartment decor section of Urban Outfitters like I do, you may already recognize these round velvet pintuck pillows that come in an array of colors (currently 11 colors). They have a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars over 73 reviews, probably because they are pretty fabulous. They're also $32-$34 each, which isn't outrageous but of course I like to think I can always do better.

So I made one.

Certainly it's not exact, especially the pintucking, but it still emulates the retro-throwback style. And it was half the price to make. So, wanna make your own? Get ready to smock!

Click below to see the full tutorial:

turn my swag on

i knew i needed a pendant lamp over my fireplace mantel to cure my dark living room woes. and to shine a light on my rad horse print.


i found this one at goodwill. i liked that it had a chain i could "swag" (like this) and that i wouldn't have to buy a lamp kit. it was brown originally, but in my genius mind i thought that a good old coat of spray paint would be all the makeover it needed.



ick. couldn't stop there. i was hoping that i could just rip the red stuff off and have the basic gold plate, chain and wire to use with a different shade. but of course the frame was made of metal, not wood, and i couldn't remove just the top part without, well, something that cuts metal.




i think i tried forty different things to make a new frame shade that fit my style. a $9 lamp at goodwill is pretty steep, after all, so i couldn't just waste it, right? i tried using the basket from this unused hanging planter:



but it was too shallow and looked pretty goofy:


since i hadn't removed the glue and staples from the base yet, i thought i'd hide it with the twine from the hanging basket:


wait, TWINE? i hate decorating with basket weave. this isn't my style at all, are you kidding me?
so i went a whole new route. the placements i bought for my dining table when i first moved in are not functional at all, but i still like the look of them.

 crumbs would easily fall through, and they attracted dust since they're made of felt or something. so i cut up two of them into six triangles. painted the metal frame of that lamp with leftover white paint. attached the triangles to the frame with needle and thread. and now i have this:










i don't own a ladder, so hanging this from my 10-foot-ceiling with a chair, a suitcase filled with books, tiptoes and a lot of cursing was a dangerous ordeal in itself. also explains why i got lazy and only swagged the chain up to where it was easier to reach on the wall.


a similar look can also be achieved with doilies, as i found on apartment therapy:

source: calinas (in swedish) via apartment therapy 


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Project linked to:

Today's Creative Blog
and

apartment tour

Yesterday I was a Tumblr who Tumbld, but today I am officially a Blogger who Bloggers. Mostly because I can't stand the omission of vowels in words. Srsly.

Blogger, meet my 450-square-foot apartment. It has a few more than four walls, and some of them are not square. What's in a name?

In case you're stat-happy, here are some slightly irrelevant stats: the Department of Housing and Urban Development says that fair market rent in FY2011 for a one-bedroom place in Louisville, Kentucky (where I live) is $585 per month--about what I pay. The highest I saw in the country is San Francisco at $1,465 and the lowest is in my dear state: Lawrence, KY at $383. I would never call $1,465 FAIR, especially because that's 150% of Louisville's rent but my current salary converted to SF dollars would only be 82% more.

Back to my apartment, which was featured as a house call on Apartment Therapy. I write that sentence with seventeen hidden exclamation marks. Srsly.

These photos are are old enough that they don't capture some of the changes I've made (moved photos, killed plants) and projects I've completed since summer (wrapped tin cans in fabric).

But taking all new 360-degree photos would mean I'd have to make the bed and do dishes or something equally awful, so I will slowly Blogger my way through some of the DIY stuff that's worth sharing. Some of it will be recycled from my Tumblr.