Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Sorta Ready...

I've got the new site up and I'll be posting again soon. Please make a new bookmark for...

www.marieoliveira.com

I have wasted so much time in the past day trying to move the old posts and comments over. But, it just won't work. It always messes up the sidebar.

But, I did get a chance to try out the new design features that blogger has and I think they are awesome! I could really waste a lot of time changing the layout and color scheme.

Anyway, see you over at the new blog!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Under Construction

I'm trying to move the blog and am having a lot of trouble keeping the sidebars straight. Hopefully I'll be back in business soon.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Pattern Paper

Remember when I made a comment about using Uhaul packing paper for making pattern copies? Well, after cutting it out, I realized that it tears a lot easier than the pattern paper that I bought at G Street Fabrics. The product sticker on the roll says that it's "Alphabet Paper", but I can't seem to find it anywhere on the Internet.

So, I emailed Ruth at Sew Chic because she uses Ottobre patterns a lot and you have to make copies of those because they print about 100 patterns on the same sheet overlapping each other. Anyway, she was super nice and told me she uses Swedish Tracing paper.

This stuff looks awesome! It's much more transparent than the Alphabet paper and you can actually sew with it! The price is not so bad if you order three rolls of it, but that's a lot of paper.

I did a little more research online and found some ladies talking about some pattern paper that they got at Joann's in the interfacing section. And lucky for me, I'm going to Joann's tomorrow!

Some ladies were also talking about using interfacing, the kind you buy off the bolt. I'm thinking this might actually work well.

I'm going to try out the interfacing and Joann's pattern paper (if they have it) and I'll let you know how it goes.


Oh! And I ordered the clothing labels! I'm so excited about this! They should get to me in about 2 weeks!

Week 28 Belly and Something Else

This is actually a week late. I'm 29 weeks today. I really can't believe I still have 11 weeks to go. This is taking forever.

Not that I'm feel particularly horrible. No nausea and I'm not feeling that fat. I'm just looking forward to having my body back. But then again, I have really been flip flopping about this a lot. Just 10 minutes ago, I was feeling Charlotte move around and really enjoying the miracle of life forming in me.

Maybe I just can't wait to have control of my emotions back.



Caleb comes back in two days! I've been avoiding talking to him because I knew I would start crying and I didn't want to upset him. But, Shane was talking to him and I thought I might be okay since I'll see him in less than 48 hours. Wrong. I cried.

Shane and I have noticed though, that I've taken the last month or so and really gotten my creative mind back. I've got lots of ideas for sewing and I've really figured out exactly why I want to be an excellent seamstress. (more on that later)

Of course, this has unfortunately fueled a fabric shopping spree that will be haunting my credit card for way too long.

And while I'm not ready to make stuff for profit, I have been thinking that it would be really fun to have tags made for the clothes that I make for the kids. I can pretend I'm like a real professional, haha! So, I've come up with my brand name, which is conveniently... my name! Marie Oliveira. That's my middle name. It's fancier than Marie Faile, don't ya think?

And I have two lines. One for girls (more specifically Ana and Charlotte) and one for boys (Caleb).

I'm going to order these tags from Custom Couture Label Co..

Since I'm broke, I'll order the girly ones first. That way I can also see if I like how they turn out.

What do you think? Cute?



And here is the boy version. I changed the ! (exclamation point) to a . (period) because you know, periods are so much tougher than exclamation points. I know, doesn't make much sense, but it's just for fun.



So, seriously. What do you think?

New Address

I'm moving the blog over to a new address...

http://www.marieoliveira.com

It'll take a day or so to get set up, but once it is, you should be automatically redirected there from the old

Friday, July 30, 2010

Ummm... Did I say I wasn't going to start any new projects?

I have no self control. For one thing, my super fantastic mom had a great idea to get Shane a Lay-Z-Boy for a belated-Father's Day, birthday, 10-year anniversary, early Christmas present! Not surprisingly, he's been in a really good mood lately :)



What does my self control have to do with that? Well, I paid for half the chair with my own savings. And yet, I keep buying fabric. I just can't stop myself.

And I also started a new project. (I did get Caleb's pj pants cut out though.) There is a pattern for cloth napkins at my local quilt shop just like these. I love that it's not just a flimsy piece of material with finished edges. But the pattern is $9!! It does come with a pattern for placemats, but I'd never use it. So, I found a tutorial online and made the robot napkin.



Unfortunately, who ever wrote the tutorial doesn't do math very well and it turned out to be a 13.5" square instead of 16". But, I think it'll be a nice size for Caleb. I made another, this time with 1" border instead of the 2". The napkin turned out to be a 15.5" square.

I think I'd like the border to be a little thicker, maybe 1.5". What do you think?

Aren't these mitered corners pretty?



And I made this pillowcase a week or so ago.



It was basically the same pattern as the pink one I did for Ana, but this one has a ruffled accent piece.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Projects: Pajamas for Caleb

These are high on the priority list because I want to have them ready for him when he gets home next week. Next week! Yay! It seems like he's been gone forever and it's just wrong. It wasn't this hard when he spent a month with Shane's family when he was 2.5 years old.



I'm using View B, the long pants and long sleeve night shirt. I'll be making just pants with the flame fabric below. And then a set with some other fabric. He requested the flames. He said, "I want pajama pants with fire on them. But not real fire." :)



And just in case you didn't know just how crazy I am...



Yes. That's right. I iron the pattern paper...



And then I make a copy.



Okay, it's really not that crazy if you think about it. I find it very difficult to use the pattern paper with multiple sizes on it. I figure there are three options...

1. Waste money by buying a pattern for each size and then cut each size out.

2. Snip, fold and tuck the pattern to accommodate the size you want.

3. Take the time to make a copy.

When it comes to crafting I don't have a problem with taking extra time to do things thoroughly and correctly. I can unravel an entire sweater with out crying.

I have a large roll of pattern paper that I got at G Street Fabrics in Alexandria, VA for about $15. It's the only place I've ever seen it.

But, I recently discovered that packing paper works well too! You know, the kind from Uhaul. That's what I used above. It only becomes a problem when the pattern piece is larger than the packing paper. But, I think it would be fine to just tape some pieces together. It's at least a lot easier to find than the real pattern paper.

If you try this, put a piece of paper underneath the pattern, it will help you to see the pattern. And do this in an area with sunlight, if possible.

I use an "ultra fine" tipped Sharpie, then I cut the pattern out. I keep the patterns in a manila envelope. Darn. I forgot to take a picture. I'll do it sometime soon.