pond_ripple's Fabric Blog

Wallet front, closed Now for Sale!->  http://www.etsy.com/listing/67858411/left-handed-botanical-lion-wallet?ref=v1_other_1 This tropical lion wallet is another project I've been meaning to post about. To get the lion on the front of the fabric like I wanted, turned it into a left handed wallet. The entire thing was hand-stitched in a few hours. Outside, open Inside, open The inside of the wallet is divided into four card holders. I've put in an old PacSun gift card for scale. Money pocket, open The whole project is done in a large scale botanical with lions that gives the wallet a coordination without much repeat that I think is wonderful. I only bought a yard from Ebay, so I'm going to have fun seeing how much I can do with the little bit that I have left. Stay tuned!!

One of my newer fabric projects, this pincushion, started from a simple gift of homemade shortcake. It came in mason jars that had fabric circles in between the flat metal seals and the ringed parts of the lid. I turned one of the fabric circles into a pincushion by 1. going round the edge with my thread, 2. pulling it like a drawstring, 3. adding stuffing, 4. and sewing a small hemmed black circle to the bottom to finish it off. I really love how the dot and dash pattern lets me be OCD with my pins and needles!

Saturday, I made the hour long trek to Jacksonville to get everything my sewing machine needed. The motor and bobbin belts were replaced, and there was a very tense moment where we finally got to see how it ran. It made the most awful screeching sounds, but it was doing everything it was supposed to do. The man who was assisting us took a good look and told us that oiling it up should do the trick. He was right! It runs really well. I still have some issues. The bobbin belt they gave me is too big which doesn't really matter since my bobbins are too wide to fit under the thread guide on the bobbin winder. I'll be hand winding for awhile. :) My stitch length regulator is still rusted in place, but judging by the few test seams I ran, whatever I make is going to be super durable. The stitches are tiny and the seams are impossible to tear with brute force and almost as tough to get out by hand. I'm just happy that my stitches are stuck at something I can work with.

The Jinxed Rust Lion

Click on the image to see it full-size, click on the title to see it as fabric on Spoonflower . Jet Over City

So I've been busy lately designing fabrics, and yesterday I did did something that I never thought I would. I deleted designs. Not a great many went under the axe, just a few that I had to be honest with myself about. I thought I'd share the ideas behind a few of my designs that have lived to see another day: Jesters Jesters is for the jokers and fools contest on Spoonflower. I wanted to do something colorful and fun, but I had serious doubts that I could do this contest. It took awhile for me to stumble across the right thing on my sketch pad, but once it happened I was really glad that I stuck with it. Primavera Primavera is a beautiful mural in Pompeii that I came across while doing a research paper on Roman paintings. For that project I painted a smaller reproduction of it. To make the fabric design, I took a photograph using my digital camera. I then used Pixlr to edit out the background which had too much texture due to the canvas and the reflection of the flash on the ...

It turns out that my Singer sewing machine is a model 99-13. The previous owner said it was a 99k. The bobbin belt and the motor belt need to be replaced, so I went looking online for belts for the 99k. They arrived and didn't fit. Frustrated, I searched for answers and came across this wonderfully helpful identification guide for older Singers: http://www.sandman-collectibles.com/id-singer-machines.htm