Hello September

So I think September may be my favorite month. The weather is beautiful, warm days, cool nights. Summer is winding down but we still have access to garden veggies. And the birthstone of September is sapphire and astrological sign for most of the month is Virgo.

I am one of the facebook posters for the newnew team in NYC. I check out the daily treasuries and share with the world what I think are the smartest, most unique and simply beautiful treasuries put together. Ok what's a treasury? A treasury is a list put together on www.etsy.com of items on the website. There is a theme that the creator of the list comes up with. Anyone can create a list.  There are many treasuries per day.   Today I chose this treasury to share, http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NTEzNzA3Nnw2NTE0NDUxNDQ/dreaming-in-blue

The items themselves are varied and interesting but visually the blues are just breath taking.

I hope you enjoy!

The NewNew NYC

Have you heard of The Newnew?
It is a great, awesome group of crafters. This is not just a group of people but the support of independent business is wonderful! NYC is tough to find the little things like where do I buy bulk shipping bags or what markets should I be in? The Newnew is there to help w all of this stuff.
So all this week  I would like to focus on Newnew NYC crafters. Today's blog is ceramics and housewares. I have spent a good time recently looking for cake stands and birds. Odd combo but there is a reason. While on etsy I found these oh so cool ones from Newnew New Yorkers!

takemehomeware

stephaniemonroe

• shevongantceramics
  brooklyn, NY 
   
   
   
  romiceramics
   
   
  Just click on a picture to go to the artist's shop on etsy. Or just type in newnewteam to see all of the New York Indie Artists part of this creative collective!

Animal Camo

I received a custom order the other day on etsy. A woman saw my animal camo mini tote. I love this fabric so much. It is so cool and fun. Of course it is Michael Miller. The woman wanted a larger tote in the same fabric, fortunately I did have enough fabric.
So I took some pics of the building process. I call this the City Tote. Living in the city I sometimes don't make it home in between errands and stops. So many times I will carry my laptop, gym clothes and regular purse stuff. This tote will hold it all!
The original pattern came from Lotta Jansdotter http://www.jansdotter.com
I deleted a few details and added a few.

In this shot, I added heavy weight fusible nterfacing to the outside fabric to give it some stability.

The inside of the bag is built the same way as the shell. I used a canvas for the inside, to give some body and durability.

Drop the liner into the shell and added bias tape around the top.

Double needle those straps!

Finished!

If you decide to make this bag and have some questions feel free to ask me!

Sewing classes 101 and 102- my student's projects

This past weekend I wrapped up 2 of the sewing classes I teach at 3rdward. Both classes were filled with interesting and eager students. Saturday's class was Sewing 101. I teach them how to make a grocery bag- one sided or reversible or they can make a cafe apron.  It's always interesting to see how many aprons will be sewn and how many bags. In this class it was split pretty evenly. Most people do finish the first project and start on the second one before the 3 session class ends.

This was very cool fabric, it was a poly mix and had a very breezy quality.

I loved the royal blue waistband. It totally pops out with the striped fabric.

Sewing 102 ended on Sunday. Mostly girls with our one guy Noel. Noel took my 101, he picked up sewing with no problem and worked on a very cool black denim messenger bag. All the ladies did the A Line skirt, denim was the most popular chosen fabric. This was a great group of people. I don't think anyone wanted the class to end, including me.

Charlotte added 2 5 point pockets to her's.

Sarah added an angled flap 5 point pocket

darts in the back

Students are so hard on themselves. They don't realise not only did they learn how to use a sewing machine, they made something!

More photos here http://3rdward.tumblr.com/tagged/craft/page/2

Martha Stewart may be for sale!

Interesting article on NPR. Martha Stewart Omnimedia may be for sale. I have been looking for a career sign. I am not a money person, those who know me will laugh at that. However, it is amazing she made some $43 mil last year on her products but still lost $10 mil. Tough business.

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2011/jun/08/martha-stewart/