I wanted to share some of my summer sewing projects. No wait, don't click away! You have the right blog, really. Yeah, this is the sailing chick who doesn't know basting from serging and swears a lot at her sewing machine. But my son told me it's not nice to talk to mechanical equipment that way, and suggested I "try my hardest" (where on earth did he learn that old line). So I made a few things that are basically no-pattern-required, just sew a few striaght-ish lines, slap-em-together, variations on the sqaure.
First some warm clothing for our fenders. No really, for those not on boats, fender covers are a silly little luxury that serve a small purpose. Since our boat is fresh from the haul out yard with a nice summer wax job, we didn't want to let our funky old fenders rub against the shiny hull. (Wanna here a fun fact? We did not buy one fender for this boat. They have all floated to us after various storms. We just pluck them out of the water and put them to work.) So some basic polar fleece (it was on sale this summer!) sewn into little sausage sacks means when our fneders rub, they are also buffing the hull instead of marking it.
Next up... some more paper notebooks. Sewing paper is a little tricky for me, but super satisfying. Zach picked out images from various magazines and catalogs and we recycled some mostly blank sheets to go inside. I also made him a little felt notebook too using
this tutorial.
And finally, Miss Naia's mat.
I got this small piece of Etsuko Furuya oil cloth on etsy and knew what I wanted to do. Paired up with some dark purple terry cloth I once again amazed myself by sewing a square-ish thing. I managed to get the two pieces together, turn in right side out, and then as I wanted to sew a border and close it the machine protested and revolted. Super Jen was busy (damn her for supporting her family) but I found another neighborhood sewing master to help me finish the last bit on her sturdy machine (hey Jen, bet you can't guess who?)
The idea is that if Naia ever decides to, oh I don't know, taste something other than the one blueberry she ate on Zach's birthday (yep that's all she's ever had in the food department) then the mat will be ready to catch her mess. But thus far, food like these tantilizing bits of fresh mango are met with a mix of scientific curiosity (what is this strange stuff and why are you giving it to me?)...
...and regal disgust (what is this strange stuff and why are you giving it to me?)
But there is a pretty mat there to squish it all on.
