june at noon

It started with a huge sale at my local fabric store. I needed some red fabric for a project (having discovered I had no red fabric at all, and red was necessary), plus I had a running list of other odds and ends that I needed for in-progress or future projects. I went to the store with a specific list.

While browsing, I *may* have picked up a few extra things that called to me from the aisles. (It was on sale!) And that was all it took. Fast forward a few days and the ideas were flying as fast as the fabric remnants, and I had my very own SewStorm. Here I give you Part 1: Jingle Ball Bubble.

(The Ball)

This project was not on my to-do list, not even a twinkle in my eye when I went to the store. But I soon remembered that we had a first birthday party on the weekend and no gift. What’s a crafty loon to do?

The birthday girl likes to play with balls, and a few minutes of Internet searching led me to instructions for a patchwork ball. It involved English paper piecing, which was fun to learn, but oh! The hand sewing! How do you people complete those huge quilts with this method without losing the use of your hands?!?

Anyway, I pulled some fabrics from my stash and a bell taken from an old cat collar, and I made a squishy, cheerful ball. My hand model was very willing to demonstrate its usefulness, and I am told the birthday girl took a nap with it.

(The Bubble)

I couldn’t stop there, though. I didn’t feel like that was enough. (Do I ever? That’s my problem. Just like I am sometimes—ok, a lot of times—incapable of writing a not-lengthy blog post because, despite lots and lots of editing, I still just have too much to say. Oh, what? Back to the story?)

I considered going to the store to buy an outfit, but I glanced at all my pretty fabrics and instead thought, “I could just make something.” Nevermind I had two days left and had never made kids’ clothing before.

After more Internet searching I decided to make a reversible bubble skirt. (I added a store-bought shirt for a complete outfit.) How lucky that bubble skirts are as easy as it gets!

I used a bright, patterned fabric that was a gift from my MIL and a more subdued, smaller print that has been in my mom’s basement since the ’80s and that she passed on to me last year.

I learned that elastic does not have to be scary and that, in fact, all that scrunchiness can be quite good at hiding crooked seams and other such mistakes.

Unfortunately, my female model was entirely unwilling to assist, and my male model was incapable of remaining still long enough for a non-blurry photo, so no true action shots.

I was so pleased with the bubble skirt that suddenly my brain exploded into all sorts of ideas, and then the “sewflakes” started falling like mad. I’ll show you the results of the real frenzy next time.

And so, the moral of the story? I blame the snippets of thread clinging to our socks and the strange sound my sewing machine is making and the reheated pizza for dinner and my dirty bathrooms on my local fabric store for having a sale and on my friend for having a baby who was turning 1. The end.