... filia dress preview - Flea-for-All, May 19

This Flea-for-All dress preview is a bit of a cop-out because, as you unusually astute readers will not doubt notice, there are no new dresses in the following post. But! This doesn't mean I don't have anything new for the Flea this week. I do, in fact, have some skirts in new colorful prints and also, something I don't usually do a whole lot of, new summer-weight tops!

These tops (blouses? tanks? I'm not entirely sure what the best descriptor is) are really lightweight, perfect for summer with shorts, jeans or skirts. They're a little bit shaped, but loose-fitting for a relaxed look. Pleats around the scoop neckline and button closure at the back of the neck. I've got one in the great brown-and-ivory print seen above and a few in a fantastic pink/teal/purple/navy print that I call "Yellow Submarine Print" in my head because I think it looks pretty psychedelic-fabulous.

(The shorts in these pictures look a little funny on Estelle because they're just pinned onto the front of her. I couldn't actually put them on her because Estelle, unlike most of us, has a metal rod sticking out the bottom of her torso which effectively prevents her from wearing pants. Don't feel too bad for her though - she can also lose like five inches off her hips with a couple clicks of a dial and about twenty seconds. That I wouldn't mind).

In addition to the new tops, I also have some of my classic elastic waist skirts in bright new prints, including a preppy kelly green geometric print and a fantastic print that's like a cross between fireworks and Spriograph drawings on a royal blue background. How perfect would that be for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July?? I'll have a few sizes with me this weekend, with enough fabric to make more if I don't have your size on Saturday.

So come visit me at the Flea, 125 Kennebec Street, Portland, Maine from 10AM-5PM this Saturday, May 19! (It's also my parents' 33rd anniversary - Happy Anniversary, Mum and Dad!!)

In non-filia news, god that chair that we've been working on forever - still not done! I am totally creating the hold-up because I just. can't. decide. on what fabric to use. I don't think I've ever been so indecisive about a fabric choice before. Our living room already has a lot of prints going on, so I think I'm leaning toward a solid (even though I'm always drawn to prints) just to even things out a bit. So maybe a grey or dark blue velveteen, something like that. Maybe. I just need to decide so we can finish it! Here it is looking all forlorn and halfway done:

Somebody decide for me!! Gah!

... filia dress preview - Flea-for-All, April 28

The last two weeks flew by and my second Flea-for-All appearance is this coming Saturday, April 28! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to visit and shop on Opening Weekend - it was a blast. Hope to see even more on Saturday! And here's the newest dress I'll have with me:

If the last dress was a little modern, this one's a little bit country at heart, I think. I thought of the shape as soon as I found the fabric - a super-soft cotton voile in a tiny floral print (mostly reds, pinks and blues on a ivory background). Because voile is almost sheer, the dress is fully lined in cotton muslin. It also features pockets on the side seams, a red button closure at the back of the neck, and a drawstring waist. I had a very limited amount of this fabric, so I was only able to make a few of these dresses (I'll probably make more in another fabric if I find some I like). Find me at the Flea this Saturday if you're interested!

And that Flea is once again located at 125 Kennebec Street in Portland, Maine, open from 10AM-5PM. See you there!!

... filia dress preview - Flea-for-All, April 15

As previously promised, here is the first dress I'll be debuting at the Portland Flea-for-All this Sunday!

(Sorry for the lack of human modeling in these pics. I can't fit into anything for a while, and I couldn't recruit anyone on short notice. So you'll have to make do with my lovely dummy Estelle and just imagine how good these would look on an actual person. Like you!)

It's make of crisp cotton poplin in colorblocked red and navy (I also have a few in red and khaki). It has a comfy wide elastic waist, button closure at the back of the neck and pockets on the side seams (of couse). Available for the first time this Sunday, April 15 at the Portland Flea-for-All!

And because it's the big Flea Opening Weekend, here's one more sneak peak of a new item I'll have there:

This skirt is made of navy cotton eyelet (fully lined), has a really cute paper-bag style elastic waist and those trusty side-seam pockets. I came across the eyelet in one of my favorite fabric stores in Boston and snapped it up (I wasn't letting it pass me by, considering the epic quest I went on to find navy eyelet for a dress I made for a friend last year). I turned it into a limited number of skirts, so stop by Sunday to grab one for yourself http://portlandfleaforall.com/before they're gone!

So, one more time, the new Portland Flea-for-All opens this weekend on Saturday, April 14 and your truly will be there on Sunday, April 15th. It's at 125 Kennebec Street in Portland (in the Bayside neighborhood). Hope to see you there!!

... Spring show schedule

I'm taking a quick break from making things to bust out some info about some really fun and exciting retail events I'm going to be participating in as a vendor this Spring. I've got a lot in the works so I needed to take a time out to organize everything!

First off, I hope everyone's heard about the Flea-for-All, Portland's new indoor flea market located at 125 Kennebec Street. I'm so psyched about this, as a vendor and as a shopper! It opens this weekend, April 14 & 15 and will feature tons of amazing vendors selling vintage, antique and handcrafted items. Check out their adorable website here for more info. I'll be there with my filia wares for the Opening Weekend on Sunday, April 15 and also on the following dates:

Saturday, April 28
Saturday, May 19
Saturday, May 26
Saturday, June 10
Saturday, June 30

I have a ton of new styles in the works for the spring and summer, so at every appearance I make at the Flea-for-All, I'll be debuting a new design.  Stayed tuned this week for the first new dress!

On May 12, I'll also be at The Big Thaw, a very cool local arts, crafts and vintage fair held at the Mayo Street Arts Center in Portland, ME. It's the day before Mother's Day, so it's perfect for last minute shopping! I'll have some of my clothes there as well as lots of giftie items. filia was also recently spotlighted on the event website, which you can check out here and wherein I talk a lot about my mum.

So with all the filia stuff going on, I haven't been able to focus on making much else lately. I still have a deconstructed chair sitting in my dining room that needs to be reupholstered, but I just can't seem to pull the trigger on a fabric choice. But I'm hoping to squeeze that project in soon!

... reupholstered ottoman

The ottoman, it is finished! I am so seriously happy with the way it came out, and the fact that it's done. This is a project that we've had on deck for months, so it feels really satisfying. Without further ado, the process!

I was taking a walk around my neighborhood with my mum back in the fall when we spotted this oversized ottoman frame out by the side of the road.  Incidentally, "the side of the road" is one of my favorite places to find old furniture. In our very college-y neighborhood in Boston, we found tons of great stuff that way, especially when everyone was moving out at the end of a semester. Anyway, the ottoman seemed sturdy and, being made of wood, seemed to have a low possibility of harboring bedbugs (I left it outside for like a month, just in case), so we picked it up and carried it back to my apartment. In the "Before" shots below, you can see that we basically started out with the wooden frame and coils with most of the padding and fabric already removed.

The first thing we did was spend some QT with the pliers, a screwdriver and a claw-foot hammer, removing the many, many staples left over from the previous reupholstering job and the last bits of fabric that were hanging on. I'm not going to lie, this part was no fun. But with two of us (the two being me and George, who was my partner in crime on this project) working on it, we banged it out in a few hours. The next step was re-tying a few of the coils where the original cord had broken. Luckily for me, most of the string was in good shape and I didn't have to do too much. Then we stapled a large piece of burlap over the coils.

At this point I should mention that for the majority of this project I followed the excellent Upholstery Basics tutorial on Design*Sponge - you can check it out here. It's incredibly detailed and helpful and it you're tacking this kind of project for the first time, I think you'll find it invaluable. OK, moving on! Next step was to add a bunch of stuffing for cushioning. I actually used the insides of some couch cushions we no longer use, so we got in a little extra bit of up-cycling there.

The cats were super-intrigued by this part, so it was hard to get an in-progress shot without them in it. So after the stuffing, it was time for the foam. We used a large piece of 2"-thick foam, cut to the size of the ottoman with an extra half-inch on each side. George used spray-adhesive to attach pieces of burlap to the edges of the foam rectangle, which we used to pull down and staple to the frame. This gave a nice rounded edge all the way around.

Sorry for the crap picture quality - we were working on this at night. And watching TV.

Next was a layer of batting. I used high-loft quilting batting, which is the kind that comes in a big roll. We cut a large piece to fit and draped it over the top. To attach it, we actually separted the layers a bit around the edges, stapling the bottom layer and then smoothing the top layer down to hide the dimple left by the staples. Neat trick, huh?

God, this picture is even worse. Sorry!

At this point, it was ready for fabric! I used a cotton slub (feels kind of like linen) in a yellow and white ikat-ish pattern. This was another drape-and-staple layer - the only tricky bits were the corners and making sure we got the staples as close to the bottom trim as possible.

This was the point at which we could actually sit on the ottoman and use it, so we got a little lazy about actually doing the finishing work. This weekend we finally completed the last step, which was to sew double-welt cord and glue it over the exposed staples. I used this tutorial  on Centsational Girl for tips on how to sew the double-welt cord without the special presser foot made specifically for doing so, since I didn't have one. Then it was just a matter of hot-gluing the cord over the exposed staples, just above the decorative wooden trim.

That's it! I just used a little Murphy's Wood Soap on the frame to shine it up, and it was 100% done. I'm so happy with the way it came out. It was definitely the most complicated reupholstery job that I've tried, but was also the perfect piece to start on since it was just a big rectangle - no arms or back to cut around. I was trying to figure out how much it cost overall - I think the materials set me back $60-$70 altogether (that's for the burlap, foam - which is always super-pricey although I got a pretty good deal on this stuff at Mardens's - fabric, batting and cord) which I don't think is too bad for such a large piece and I do have a bunch of materials left over for the next project. In terms of time, I'd say we spent 3-4 days on it, although we obviously weren't working on it all day on those days. Definitely a success for us - it's really comfy and has added two more much-needed seats to our living room. Well, really just one seat in the aggregate - while I was sewing the welt cord, George was stripping the fabric off and reinforcing the legs of an armchair that will be our next reupholstery project. It never ends! But that's kind of the point.

... Facebook page for filia

Just a quick update to let all my readers (hi, mum!) know that I've finally created a Facebook page for my sewing business filia. I'll be posting about new filia items that I'm working on or that are available on Etsy or at the Merchant Company, craft fairs in which I'll be participating... all that jazz.  You can check it out (and even "like" it, if you are so inclined) here!

In other news, I am almost, almost done with my reupholstered ottoman. It really should be done by now actually, but we made the mistake of getting it as far as it needed to be actually functional and then taking a break (the only thing left to be finished is the trim, which covers the staples but is essentially aesthetic). So now that we can actually use it, we kind of lost the motivation to do the finishing work. But I just need to bite the bullet and do it, and I'm going to do it soon. So since I don't have a picture of anything new to post at the moment, please enjoy this picture of my cats sleeping. 

... Random Round-Up: iPod Sleeve, Floor Pillow & Plush Toy

I’m working on a reupholstering project that’s more complicated than the chair seat covers I did recently, so it’s going to be a little while before I can share it. In the meantime, I’ve made a few little things that, in and of themselves, didn’t really seem to merit their own post. That happens pretty often, actually – so I decided that maybe I’d start grouping these little projects together in a kind of odds & ends Random Round-Up. And for this inaugural RR post, I’ve got a couple of really rando items: an iPod sleeve, a floor pillow cover, and a stuffed dragon.

So up first: the iPod sleeve, made at the request of my sister Erin. For this little project I got to use fabric scraps that I had lying around, which I LOVE to do because I am neurotic about letting anything go to waste. The owl pinwale corduroy Erin chose was leftover from a baby outfit I made for a friend and the sleeve is lined with matching green corduroy. The sleeve is open at the top and I used some silk cord I had lying around to make a loop that would fasten over a button sewn to the front. This was a super-fast project – instant gratification sewing!

This is a sleeve for an iPod Classic, by the way. I probably should have taken a picture with the iPod half out of the sleeve so you could get an idea of the size, but as exceptionally clever readers I think you can picture how it works. I was happy with how it came out though - what do you think, maybe a new product line?

Moving on to the floor pillow cover! Right now we have kind of a seating issue in our living room, which is that there isn’t enough of it, and half of what there is, is in the process of being reupholstered. So my temporary,  budget-friendly solution is to make some floor pillows to sit or lean on, and very fortuitously, Joann’s happened to have a sale on pillow forms last week and I got a few 27”x27” pillow inserts for half price. The design for the cover is as basic as it gets: Just a big square with an invisible zipper. I love using invisible zippers for pillow covers – they are really easy to put in when you use the special little invisible zipper foot and I think they give you a really finished, professional look.

Like, I said, super-basic and not terribly noteworthy (and, obviously, already covered in cat hair. I should probably just say it's the new cat bed and call it a day). The fabric is Ikea – I previously made throw pillow covers out of the same fabric for the couch. It’s a ridiculous deal, something like $8 a yard for a nice, thick cotton that’s almost a canvas. The only downside is that you actually have to go to Ikea to get it, and now that we live in Maine, that is a way more onerous trip than it used to be from Boston!

So last thing for today – a stuffed dragon! This was my first attempt at a making a plush toy and was made as a late Christmas/Chinese New Year gift for a friend’s daughter (it’s the Year of the Dragon!). I ordered the pattern from DIY Fluffies on Etsy and had it via e-mail the same day – how cool is that? The .pdf included the pattern pieces and really good instructions to put the whole thing together. It’s made of fleece and stuffed with poly batting and is pretty dang cute if I do say so myself.

Again, I probably should have taken a picture of the dragon next to something else so you can get a sense of scale – it’s about 10” tall. Hey look, here he (she?) is on the half-reupholstered ottoman!

So there’s a little sneak peek at that project, which hopefully won’t take too too much longer to finish. In the meantime, Happy Valentines Day to you all! I hope someone buys you one of those heart-shaped doughnuts from Dunks. Those things look wicked good.