Monday Muse: Sew Happy

Happy Monday all you beautiful crafty people! This past week I received the quarterly ‘home’ magazine from Home Depot. I actually love this little catalog because it has some pretty good home decor inspiration in it. Imagine my EXTRA excitement though when I flipped to the very last page and saw this SEWING MACHINES!

Home Depot is promoting and selling sewing machines! I know this is a strange thing to be excited about. I already own two fantastic machines so it’s not that sewing machine are now more available for ME to purchase. No, my excitement comes from the fact that Home Depot’s mass department of trend studying buyers have determined the need/desire for sewing machines is significant enough to start selling them…AND promoting them in their quarterly magazine. Ahhhhhh crafting is alive and well!

It just makes me SEW HAPPY!

Who knows, maybe they will start reviving home economics programs in the schools! Maybe kids will start asking for sewing machines for their birthdays again! Maybe a resurgence of local fabric stores is in the near future! I mean, macrame came back…right?! Could this be just the beginning of a handmade, heartfelt crafting renaissance?

Ok, I may have had too much coffee this morning. BUT it is truly exciting to see a renewed interest in sewing… and therefore, an interest in all things handmade. Naturally, this Monday Muse has to be about things that inspire the love of stitching.

Like…

This assortment of FREE Handbag patterns put together by The Cutting Floor. This collection offers some absolutely darling bags from a variety of designers. In addition to purses there are potential overnight bags, diaper bags and grocery or farmers’ market bags. The best thing is they are all FREE patterns! Woohoo! Bags make fantastic gifts and, if you get started now, you could have a whole slew of them ready by Christmas… just sayin’.

I LOVE FABRIC…

Just walking through a fabric store gives me inspiration. Often, a quick lap through rows of fabric will help me chose or solidify a color scheme for a project or decorating a room. You can purchase just a 1/4 or 1/8 of a yard and carry it around with you as you look for accessories, paint or ???

If you are looking for something in a specific theme, check out Spoonflower. This is the most amazing site because once you find a print you like, you can order it printed onto different types of fabric. This is absolutely awesome because sometimes you find a great print but it’s on the wrong type of fabric for your project. Look no further…Spoonflower’s got you covered.

Also, you can make your own fabric. YES!  You can design your own fabric at Spoonflower. I’ll have more details on this in a future post about how I turned old family recipes into darling dish towels.

Keep It Simple

You don’t have to take on big projects to enjoy sewing. Here are a few fun  ideas that can be completed quickly.

Hand sew a ready-made crochet trim to your pillow case – or better yet, make your own pillow cases with this fantastic video tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Co.

These darling ric rac roses from Practically Functional could be used in so many creative ways. . . You could even sew one on to this quick and easy market tote bag from Handmadiya.com

How about this super cute cactus pin cushion I blogged about a few months ago?

This final project is absolutely on my to-do sewing list. I want to make this so badly for my sewing machine. You can order the pattern from Rainbow Hare’s Etsy Shop. Just think about all the ways you could customize it!

SEW MUCH FUN!

Well, I hope you have found a reason or two to dust off your sewing machine and give it a whirl. I think I’m heading to my local fabric store right now. Check back later this week for another segment of my Craft Room Makeover.

Have a great week and please comment or share on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram so we can keep our crafty community growing.

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