w H S e E I D I S T A P d L e E iz S n a g r O for the Busy Girl Tips to Make the Most S of Your Time & Space e w O r g a n iz e d 23 f o r Quick & Clever t h e B Sewing Projects u s y G ir You’ll Love l Heidi Staples Sew Organized for the Busy Girl Tips to Make the Most of Your Time & Space 23 Quick & Clever Sewing Projects You’ll Love Heidi Staples Text copyright © 2015 by Heidi Staples Photography and Artwork copyright © 2015 by C&T Publishing, Inc. PUBLISHER: Amy Marson CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Gailen Runge ART DIRECTOR / COVER DESIGNER : Kristy Zacharias EDITOR: Karla Menaugh TECHNICAL EDITORS: Mary E. Flynn and Helen Frost BOOK DESIGNER: April Mostek COVER ILLUSTRATOR: Casey Dukes PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Jenny Davis PRODUCTION EDITOR: Joanna Burgarino ILLUSTRATOR: Aliza Shalit PHOTO ASSISTANT: Mary Peyton Peppo STYLED PHOTOGRAPHY by Nissa Brehmer and INSTRUCTIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY by Diane Pedersen, unless otherwise noted Published by Stash Books, an imprint of C&T Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549 All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be used in any form or reproduced by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems—without written permission from the publisher. The copyrights on individual artworks are retained by the artists as noted in Sew Organized for the Busy Girl. These designs may be used to make items only for personal use. Donations to nonprofit groups, items for sale, or items for display only at events require the following credit on a conspicuous label: Designs copyright © 2015 by Heidi Staples from the book Sew Organized for the Busy Girl from C&T Publishing, Inc. Permission for all other purposes must be requested in writing from C&T Publishing, Inc. Attention Copy Shops: Please note the following exception—publisher and author give permission to photocopy pages 63 and 93 for personal use only. Attention Teachers: C&T Publishing, Inc., encourages you to use this book as a text for teaching. Contact us at 800-284-1114 or www.ctpub.com for lesson plans and information about the C&T Creative Troupe. We take great care to ensure that the information included in our products is accurate and presented in good faith, but no warranty is provided nor are results guaranteed. Having no control over the choices of materials or procedures used, neither the author nor C&T Publishing, Inc., shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. For your convenience, we post an up-to-date listing of corrections on our website (www.ctpub.com). If a correction is not already noted, please contact our customer service department at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549. Trademark (™) and registered trademark (®) names are used throughout this book. Rather than use the symbols with every occurrence of a trademark or registered trademark name, we are using the names only in the editorial fashion and to the benefit of the owner, with no intention of infringement. GOODNIGHT MOON Copyright 1947 and Renewal Copyright 1975 Albert Clarke III and John Thatcher Hurd. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Staples, Heidi, 1977- author. Sew organized for the busy girl : tips to make the most of your time & space : 23 quick and clever sewing projects you’ll love / by Heidi Staples. pages cm ISBN 978-1-60705-979-0 (softcover) 1. Sewing. 2. House furnishings. I. Title. TT705.S73 2015 646.2--dc23 2014031103 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Table of Contents 4 DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Sleepy-Time Friend Kit 50 Softie Doll • Mini Quilt 5 INTRODUCTION Coordinating Tote • Pillow 6 WHY EVERY MODERN GIRL SHOULD SEW Baby Love Set 58 Making the Case for Sewing Crawl Pillow • Flutter Quilt My Story: How Sewing Saved My Sanity Chevron Table Set 64 Your Story: How This Book Can Help You Table Runner • Place Mats 12 DESIGNING WOMAN: Brass Ring Pillow 68 Create a Space That Works for You Envelope Clutch 72 Discover Your Workspace Personality Manicure Set • Art Pack Find Storage Solutions That Fit Your Space Keep Your Work Area Clean Jet-Set Case 78 Stock Your Shelves to Save Time and Money Case • Zippered Pouch Hold Regular Fabric Auditions Be Prepared with Project Bags 83 MAKE SOMETHING BIGGER: Keep a Set of Sewing Files Projects for Time and Travel Surround Yourself with Inspiration Splitting a Big Project into Manageable Pieces Traveling with Your Sewing 26 CALENDAR GIRL: Summer Tourist Quilt 86 How to Fit Sewing into Your Schedule You Have to Make It Happen Dotty Hexagon Pillow 90 Use a Calendar Starlet Mini Quilt 94 Kids and the Sewing Room Know Your Limits Girl Friday Sewing Case 98 33 MAKE SOMETHING: 103 JOY Projects and Variations 105 SEWING BASICS Double-Zip Clutch 34 111 RESOURCES AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nine-Patch Pocket Pillows 40 Deluxe Pincushion First Aid Station, Zippered Pouch, and Cold Pack Book Nook Table of ConTenTs 3 Dedication To my beloved family, who not only believed that I could write a book, but also made sure that I had all the time, caffeine, and encouragement I needed to actually do it. Acknowledgments To Angela, Beth, Debbie, Kimberly, Lindsay, Lynne, Maureen, Sarah, and Svetlana for being kind enough Author’s Note to share their ideas and experience. You each The title of this book might seem like a deserve your own fan club. giant “No Boys Allowed” sign on the sewing To Karla—my editor, encourager, and all-around life- clubhouse. Not so. While it’s true that the saver. You’re the best. majority of people who sew also happen To the amazing team at Stash Books and to be female, and while I had plenty of fun C&T Publishing, who helped me make sense of the designing these pages with that theme in vision I had for this book. You guys are fantastic, and mind, the principles in this book will work I am so proud to be working with you. for you no matter what gender you happen to be. So pick up a needle, gentlemen, and To all the lovely companies who donated materials let’s make something … so that I could write a sewing book without going broke. I (and my husband) can’t thank you enough. To the many friends—online and in person—who keep me going each day with their love and laughter. I appreciate you more than I can say. To my incredible family: Dad and Mom, David and Amy, my darling nieces, Mike and Mary, Dave and Jenna. And to Grandma, who was overjoyed about this book but didn’t live to see it published. I love you all so dearly. To Amy, who always had a listening ear and willing hands to help. You’re amazing, Sis. To my three beautiful daughters (affectionately known as Bunny, Bear & Mouse), who have been so proud of Mommy’s book from the start. You are the joy of my life, and I just love you to pieces. To my husband, James, who has been the constant voice of sanity in my life—“It doesn’t have to be the best book ever written, Sweetheart, just the best book you can write.” I absolutely adore you. And to my Lord, who has brought me through doors that I never dreamed could open for me. I am so grateful. May all the glory go to You. 4 SEW ORGANIZED FOR THE BUSY GIRL Introduction I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. — Laura Ingalls Wilder There are moments when it seems as if life could it be that sewing has made it into is spinning out of control. the top ten? If it has, then wouldn’t you like to be doing it more often? Sewing I’m not talking about what you see on just makes me happy. And when I’m the nightly news. Let’s not even go there. happy, it’s so much easier to take the No, I’m talking about your life. When your petty annoyances of life in stride. to-do list for today takes up more than one page; when the only time you spend I wrote this book because I know all with your husband is falling asleep in about living the busy life. These ideas front of the television set together; when were conceived and tested in the midst you’re perfecting the art of multitasking by of a bustling, noisy house packed with learning to wash dishes, talk on the phone, four busy adults, three active little girls, and brush your daughter’s hair at the and three completely neurotic dogs. same time. Insanity becomes routine, and There were days when these ideas we can’t seem to remember how to slow worked to perfection and other moments down anymore. when … well, not so much. Life doesn’t always work out the way we plan, but I’ve Whether we like it or not, life is going to learned that a little planning doesn’t hurt. be busy … and this is not necessarily a bad thing. It becomes bad when we let the My fondest wish is that this book will end craziness hijack our lives so completely up full of dog-eared corners, scribbled that we don’t leave any room for the notes, and coffee stains; that it will be things that bring us joy. there for you like a personal assistant and a comfortable old friend. More than any- We need joy. Life becomes boring and thing, I hope it will give you the chance to utterly depressing without it. Of course, sew more often, and that as you do, you’ll I suspect that the names of some special remember why you love it so much. people are at the top of your joy list, but Let’s find our way back to joy. 5 Why Every Modern Girl Should Sew I am not a has-been. I am a will-be. —Lauren Bacall Why bother sewing? You can buy clothes at Walmart for a fraction of what it costs you to make them. Home furnishings are available online at the click of a button, and styles are changing faster than anyone can keep up. Gifts line the shelves at the local mall, and if you’re really desperate, you can buy something handmade (by someone else, of course) on Etsy. Besides, who has time to sew? Have you looked at your calendar lately? Where exactly are you going to find time to do this in between meetings, errands, and the 50 other appointments on your schedule today? 6 SEW ORGANIZED FOR THE BUSY GIRL Making the Case for Sewing In today’s world, it may seem as if sewing has become completely irrelevant, but I disagree. So do a lot of other people out there. The handmade revolution has exploded in recent years. There was a time when people made everything themselves because they had no other choice. Now we’re choosing to make more things ourselves because we’re finding that it’s a more fulfilling way to live. SEWING GIVES YOU MORE VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY. You may spend more money on a dress that you made yourself rather than one you picked up at the local chain store, but be sure you’re making the right comparison: a mass-produced, cheaply made item versus a garment that has been carefully sewn and tailored to your specific measurements. How much would you spend on a dress like that if you ordered it from a dressmaker? Exactly. SEWING SAVES YOU TIME. Dropping off clothes at the dry cleaners for small tailoring fixes, running out to find a last-minute gift—no more of that for you. You can handle all this on your own now, and often you can do it in half the time. SEWING GIVES YOU QUALITY CONTROL. I will never forget the time I walked into an unnamed chain store in search of a tote bag to use as a gift. There were badly sewn edges, loose threads, and (quite frankly) ugly fabrics everywhere. I settled for a gift card because I was too embarrassed to give my friend the items I’d seen on the shelves. That day has stuck with me as a reminder that I don’t ever need to feel like a handmade gift is a poor substitute for Detail of Summer Tourist (page 86) something from the store. SEWING LETS YOU BE CREATIVE. Remember how much fun you used to have during craft time? That need for creativity doesn’t go away when you grow up. Sewing can put you back in touch with the joy of creativity, giving you the chance to make items that are both lovely and useful. Why every Modern Girl should seW 7 SEWING LETS YOU FINISH SOMETHING. Sewing can give you the chance to see something begin and end in a relatively short period of time. Finishing an item gives you the well-deserved sense of accomplishment. SEWING LETS YOU SHARE THE LOVE. You can’t put a price tag on love, and that’s what you pour into every project that passes through your fingers. What’s more meaningful—a plastic gift card or a project that someone spent hours making just for you? Hand-sewn gifts show your friends and family that they’re worth more than your money … they’re worth your time. SEWING GIVES YOU THE POWER TO CHOOSE. Sewing equals freedom. We’re not limited to what the style makers are offering this year. We can make exactly what we want because we’re the designers of our own Detail of Chevron Place Mat brand of style. (page 67) My Story: How Sewing Saved My Sanity By fall 2011, I felt like I was about one step away I desperately needed a hobby. All the creativity from losing my mind. and independence of my former life seemed buried somewhere under a pile of dishes Life had changed so much in the six years since and laundry. Don’t get me wrong … I was so my husband and I had gotten married. I had gone grateful to be able to stay home with my kids, from being a teacher to a school administrator to but there were days when the walls started a stay-at-home mom. In the midst of economic closing in on me. challenges, we decided to buy a large home with my parents where we could all live together—a For about a year, I had bounced around good decision, but one that would take a few from one idea to the next—picture-book years to settle into normalcy. Our first daughter writing, party planning, home fitness, interior was soon joined by two more, and I was dealing decorating. I was interested in all of it to with the ever-shifting joy and insanity of caring varying degrees, but I was passionate about for three little girls who were just one, two, none. Then one day my mom ordered a new and four years old. I was happy to be where I sewing machine. When it arrived, I looked at it was in life—in a frazzled, exhausted, living-on- with a speculative eye. Was this worth trying? baked-goods-and-Diet-Coke sort of way—but something was missing. 8 SEW ORGANIZED FOR THE BUSY GIRL I bought some fabric and supplies, asked Mom to teach me how to use the machine, and made my first mini quilt from a tutorial I found online at Purl Bee. It felt amazing to look at that finished project. I bought more fabric, added more blogs to my online reader, and tried another project … and then another. I didn’t have all the techniques mastered yet, and my work was full of mistakes. For the first time, though, I didn’t let that stop me, because I was having so much fun! At the end of that December, I started my own sewing blog, Fabric Mutt, and officially joined the online quilting community. I had finally found the creative outlet I was looking for. BUSY GIRL SPEAKS Beth Vassalo of Plum and June (plumandjune.blogspot.com) Why did you start blogging? I started blogging to join in the conversation and connect with other people who shared my interests. Any advice for a new sewing blogger? Comment, comment, comment! When you see something you like, tell the person who made it. If you have a question, ask it. When people comment on your blog, respond to them. Then visit their blog and leave them a comment. Forming relationships with other bloggers is a large part of the experience, and one of the best ways to meet others is through commenting. Why every Modern Girl should seW 9