A week (or so) of crafty book reviews

Giveaway is now closed. Thanks!

I love craft books. There is nothing like getting your hands on a book and flipping through it and reading in bed or the bathtub and taking notes and marking pages and all that good stuff. I just like the inspiration. So I'm doing a short series of book reviews over the next few days -- complete with a giveaway. As you know, CSN stores carries everything from the play dollhouse furniture that I reviewed previously to leather messenger bags that you can carry all your crafty books around in. They are giving away a $55 promotional code to one reader. I had a really good experience with this company before so I'm excited to be working with them again.

Leave a comment on this post to enter. When the book reviews are finished, I'll close the comments on this post and announce a winner. Make sure you include your email address in your comment if your profile doesn't link to it.

The image above is a spread I did in a collaborative art journal a few years ago. It was inspired by one of my favorite poems of all time, I Am Waiting by Ferlinghetti. The little accordion folds back down and is held with that little spiral clip.

EDIT: CSN stores does not appear to carry craft books. Sorry for any confusion! Buy a non-leather messenger bag to put your books in. They do have tons of children's books and just about anything else you could want. PROJECT: project does not encourage the wearing of leather as we are a vegetarian blog. Thanks.

Crafty Storage Feature

My new little cubby system is up on Crafty Storage. You should really check it out. It's seriously my version of porn: beautifully organized craft supplies in fabulous bins and boxes on gorgeously styled shelves. Sigh.

It's totally not hoarding if it's like neat, right?

Project: Top Week Shirt Finished

I have finally completed my shirt for Top Week. I didn't think I'd actually be able to do it even though I had it mostly done last weekend. There was something bothering me about the collar but I just tacked it down on each side of the back closure and I think it works.

But here's the deal: It's too big. Don't you think? I altered the pattern I used to make this shirt (so much so that I don't even think alter is the word for it). The original faux silky shirt fits well but this shirt is hanging off of me way more than I'd like. I think it's because the knit is so fine that it has absolutely no structure. It's just pulling itself down.

Having learned from my first encounter with said pattern, I made the belt a good bit longer and also a little wider. It looks cute from the front but because of all the fabric I added to the back for the gathers, it looks awful. Bunchy bunchy.

I love the Heather Ross fabric I used for the top panel. It was lovely to work with and I still have a little bit of it left to hoard. I also liked working with the knit. You will no longer hear me complain about it. I'm good. I used a hook and eye to close it up at the top. I thought there was enough going on in the back so I didn't want to add a button.

More photos on flickr. More about changing a vintage pattern to fit my design here. And more about the fabric and inspiration here. How hilarious is it that without thinking about it, I am kinda in the same pose as the model in the ad up there in my first picture.

Project: Polka dots and ruffles

I bought the pattern to make this super cute ruffly dress from Etsy during the great series of blizzards earlier this year. The directions were super easy to follow and this was quick to put together. If my sewing machine had a longer stitch length, it would have been even easier (add that to the list of requirements for my future upgrade). Instead, it takes me years to make a ruffle perfectly ruffly.

I used fabrics from the Nicey Jane line by Heather Bailey. I think the polka dots are just perfect for a little girl.

The pattern called for an extra row of ruffles on the bottom but I think I had enough going on that one more would have been one too many. I still have the ruffle and I'm thinking about turning it into a flower or something.

As you can see, the dress is hanging off of Zadie but it was also really hard to get on (and off). There's definitely something wrong with the fit. The pattern didn't call for a closure but I'm going to have to cut it open in the back and add a button and elastic so this will be easier to manage during toddler-wrangling-getting-dressed time. I'll probably just tack up the straps with a longer stitch so that it will fit better but allow for some growth.

Does anyone have any suggestions for alterations that might be better than these?

Project: Great Blizzard of 2010 Pattern Haul

Just over two weeks after we got several massive and consecutive snowstorms, they plowed our street. I took advantage of the momentary road visibility and brought a couple of bags of junk to Goodwill so I could visit the awesome thrift store across the way.

I picked up all some very cool vintage trim, some really beautiful handkerchiefs, and all of these patterns for about 10 bucks.

I have current plans to make the belted top (top image) and the little white dress with rick rac trim (bottom image). See my flickr for notes.

I wanted to make that blue top (top photo) but realized when I got home that it's not the right size. I'm really bummed about that but I should be able to alter it. For now, it goes in the bin with the rest of the little girl patterns that are too big for Zadie. The future holds good things.

Project: a feature!

The amazing folks over at Feeling Stitchy featured my Yeti Dreams of Soup dress on their blog. It's a great site full of all the latest stuff in the world of embroidery: new patterns, some projects, free tutorials, and a lot of talent.

It's an honor to be there. Thanks so much!

Project: Pinafore

Apparently my post about the market bag did absolutely nothing to bring on Spring. In fact, we got even more snow. So here's round two of hoping for better weather. But seriously, it can't get much worse.

I bought the pattern from Aliyah's Hope Chest on Etsy. She emailed the instructions but sent the pattern in the mail. She also sells pinafore kits in her shop. The pinafore was incredibly easy to make thanks to all the detail. There was one tricky part but she had a little video up on YouTube that showed how to do it. After seeing how it was constructed, I didn't have any problems. I actually made 4 more of these to give as Christmas gifts but my friends must not have cameras because I haven't seen any photos.

For the pinafore Zadie is wearing, I used awesome Tina Givens fabric (Chandelier Medallion) in chartreuse for the front and a vintage red fine wale corduroy for the inside. I wish I had fussy cut the print because it's so amazing but that's definitely part of the learning process.

It's perfectly reversible -- no weird seams or anything like that. Zadie is wearing the red side here. Unfortunately, my kid is also obsessed with fleece and demanded to wear that ugly hoodie. I will definitely be making many more of these. How cute they will be with little bloomers in the summer.

For more about Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Press

The play kitchen we made for Zadie was featured on Ohdeedoh today. It's one of my favorite blogs. I usually store up a bunch of posts then read them once or twice a week during lunch. A lot of the inspiration for the kitchen came from their archives so it's nice to be added into the mix.

Project: Storybook Cape

I'm a huge fan of the Grosgrain blog. Kathleen is an amazingly talented seamstress, designer, and photographer. I don't know how she does it. All I know is that I'm lucky enough to have a kid just a few months younger than hers so if she keeps posting patterns like this one that fit her kid, then I'm all set with cuteness.

This cape was incredibly easy to make. I'd like to say it took longer to cut out the slippery velour than it did to make the entire cape but I screwed up (what, again, really? no.). Something that should have been simple, of course, took me a couple extra hours.

So I chose this incredibly soft dark chocolate brown velour to pair with the super bright turquoise fine wale corduroy. Kathleen said not to choose stiff fabrics so I was worried about the corduroy but it was perfect to give some needed weight to that crazy velour.

Zadie came with me to the fabric store to pick everything out and she was dying over the velour. When we got home she was draping the yardage over herself like a kimono and would pile herself dramatically on top of it on the floor all while shouting, "Soft! Soft!" So I hurried to cut out my pattern pieces and stitched her up a little soft of her own with what was left over. "The soft" has now joined the entourage in the crib (Mila, blankie, Elph the elephant).

What I did wrong: Because I used such a slippery fabric, the two layers weren't holding together very well. So I decided to tack them together at the top and bottom of the sleeve holes with a horizontal stitch. I did this before sewing the bottom hem so I couldn't turn it inside out to make a blind hem, I had to pin it together and topstitch the entire thing. With velour, you need to pin every inch or it goes wild. I like to pin and I love to topstitch (as I've said before). But ugh. Then I had to rip out a few sections where it got all bunchy bunchy and re-stitch.

The end result is amazing. Zadie loves it and we can't wait for Spring when this becomes a permanent fixture in the outerwear collection. Check out Grosgrain for all the giveaways and help out her friend win the wedding of her dreams.

For more information about Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Someone Else's Project, THE 2010 HANDMADE OLYMPICS!

The rikrack studio is hosting the 2010 Handmade Olympics. I've been a follower of their Twitter feed for some time now and just learned of this awesome event.

So here's the deal: you can nominate yourself and others in 8 different handmade events from eco-friendly goodies to a handmaking-focus blog. I just submitted my first nomination and then posted that to Twitter (I can't bring myself to type the word tweet as a verb in that usage just yet except in parentheses like this. The same thing goes for Google as a verb, journal as a verb, and blog as a verb. I'm sure I'll get over this one day but my years as a lit. major are still winning my inner battle with technology.).

Anyway, check out this post for all the details. I might even nominate myself.

For more information about Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Cape

I made my niece Gracie a fabulous cape using this pattern I found on the Martha Stewart website thanks to my amazing crafty friend Nikole who made an even more amazing cape for her daughter for Halloween last year from the same tutorial (hopefully Nikole will agree to be interviewed for Project: Project sometime soon).

Gracie is the girliest of girly girls and just turned 5. So for Christmas I put together a bin of dress up clothes for her since I had heard she was the only girl in the neighborhood without one. I picked up a few things here and there but that box just seemed empty (even though it was overflowing with tulle). I decided a cape was in order and set out to make it happen.

The directions were pretty easy to follow but I did have some problems. The Red Riding Hood cape pattern calls for 28" of fabric but FOLDED. So that means that you must have yardage that is at least 56" wide (so from a 60" bolt). The silver satiny stuff that I bought was 60" and it worked out just fine. Then I started to cut the pink and realized that it was from a 45" bolt. So even if I were to cut the pattern and create a seam, I wouldn't have had enough fabric. Keep that in mind if you want to make a cape from this pattern -- and really do your math if you want to make one of the longer ones.

But what a happy accident. I pieced together a panel from some of my favorite and most girly of girly girl prints to extend it. If I had remembered to add seam allowances to my cuts, this would have been simple. Ha!

I used some grosgrain ribbon to make the tie and topstitched all the edges because I'm crazy and I love to topstitch. I think it turned out great and Gracie loves her special cape -- and it's reversible (if only I had a steamer).

For more information about Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Me

Self Portrait: Family, Pittsburgh Children's Museum, the week Zadie really started walking

I am married to the venerable Mr. Lemon and we have a daughter, Zadie (formerly known as Baby Lemon). I have a bunch of degrees but teach technical writing (not one of my degrees) at one of the nation’s highest ranked party schools. We live on the outskirts of the student ghetto close to town and campus in a small house with an enormous yard and a summer vegetable garden.

For as long as I can remember, I have been sewing. My first project of merit was a small purse with a really big button, all stitched by hand. Out of those patches you buy at the grocery store to fix the holes in your jeans, I made bizarre outfits for my lego guys. Mom let me help her pin and cut out patterns, reminding me to leave the notches.

In college I took a course called Flat Pattern Design because I wanted to be able to make and alter my own clothes. My love of really awesome fabrics led me to make plush bellies out of satin, silk shantung and velvet. And then I wanted a baby so I started making baby clothes. People loved my stuff so I opened up an Etsy shop and the blog to promote it and the flickr to have more pictures.

It took about two years to get pregnant and it’s been over two years since then. Zadie has taken over our lives and we are not looking back. I love sewing her little dresses and puffy quilts and crazy dolls. With Project: Project, I will talk about all that process and some of the other things we consider really important to us like how we eat and the products we use, and living in a house smaller than most Manhattan apartments so that we can travel.

For more information about Project: Project, read this post.

Introducing Project: Project

So lately I have been figuring out some things. Lemon Cadet is going to see some change.

The background: Little by little, after almost 6 years here, our tiny house has started coming together. I asked myself how it was happening and it took me a while to remember that a couple of months ago, Mr. Lemon and I agreed to keep the kitchen table clean. What was once a huge pile of mail and newspaper inserts and hats and gloves and my bag and cookbooks and magazines is now a clean yellow surface. That clean spot spread to the hutch against the wall, then the side table next to the couch in the living room and then the mantle above the fireplace. What used to be this huge pile of dread that sat there sucking my life away into its vacuum of procrastination, is now where we eat dinner. And cool cookies (since we have no counter space). And decide what coffee cake recipe to make. And pin quilt pieces together.

Now I'm not saying that I'm some organization queen. In fact, that photo above depicts about 15 seconds in the life of that countertop. There's a lot going on in that space right now. And we have some messy closets and one earthquake aftermath of a basement.

But it seems I've been able to start cleaning up this mess. I have just been doing it a little at a time. And I feel a lot more free. I've been doing projects like a maniac. We have been decorating -- making the transition from living like messy college students to like adults or something. I've been sewing lots of great things and designing and taking pictures of it all.

I'm giving it a year. Project: Project is going to chronicle the new action. Look for more frequent posts (I promise they will not be this long) and tutorials, interviews and the results of my OCD research. As always, I'll continue to post about all the craftiness that I'm up to with a little bit more information on the process (pattern review), the results (what I had to change to make it work), and the accidents (happy or not). I'm really excited about this and am looking forward to it. My goal is that others will be motivated to start on some projects of their own.

Tomorrow: A bit about me.

Soon after: Some projects.

Stay tuned.

We made a play kitchen

I had an idea of what I wanted and I sketched it out in the car on the way to Ikea. We picked up a bunch of stuff from the wonderful land of AS-IS and went to town. We spent a total of $68.04 (plus tax) and used up a lot of stuff that we had in the basement.

Mr. Lemon did all the building and I provided emotional support and detailing.

Many more photos in my flickr set. The descriptions and comments have more information as well.