I’m working on a few project using the Quick Pleater and here is the latest.  When I saw this pillowcase at the thrift store, I knew it was destined to become a cute little dress with cute little pleats.

alphabet pillowcase dress

This is such a happy little fabric; it makes me smile just looking at it.  And these pleats! Don’t you love them.

cute pleats

The pleats were made using the 3/4″ Quick Pleater.

Don’t have one yet! Then head on over to the store and get yours now!

Once again, I’ve found a fun machine at the thrift store.  Meet the Mini Ultra.  A scaled down sewing machine.  This baby was brand new in the box! For $25.

the mini ultra

Now you may be wondering why I need another machine.  And a scaled down one at that.  Well, I don’t need it.  And it is not for me.  For a while my 6 year old great niece was coming over for craft day.  But my machines are way too powerful for her.  Now she can have her own machine.

I tested it out and it functions just like a normal sized machine.  After some tensions adjustments the stitch quality is great.  Take a look.

stitch test

Here are a few more shots.  I know my great niece will love it!

mini ultra

stitches available

Want to attend the Slipcover Summit, but funds are a little tight?  Then you should apply for the 2012 scholarship.  Apply now and you could receive up to $400 toward classes.  But hurry, the deadline is tomorrow, April 21.

What are you waiting for?

I have some good news and not so good news about the Quick Pleaters.  First the good news.

The 1″ pleaters are now available singly.  So if you don’t need an entire set you can purchase it all by itself.  Just hop over to the store and get it now.

And for the first bit of not so good news. I am currently out of large sets.  They are on order and should arrive in about 2 weeks.

And, as things always seem to go, productions costs for the Quick Pleater has risen again.  I’ve tried to hold down the retail price, but the time has come where I must raise the price.  Effective April 16, the purchase price for the small and large sets will increase to $33.95.  The single prices will increase to $12.

Any orders placed for the large sets before April 16 will be honored at the current price.  So if you are on the fence, get it now before the price goes up.

This slipcover is just too cute for words.  The client collects cute pieces of furniture and old textiles and sells them.  But she is keeping this one for herself.  The floral print is an old drapery panel and the contrast trim is what we are using for the love seat.  She wanted something short & flirty, so I did this full gathered skirt with a 1″ contrast band at the bottom.  So cute!

just too cute!

For the gathers, I used the zigzag over cord technique as shown in my gathering tutorial.

I’m linking up with

Shabby Creek Cottage

Miss Mustard Seed

The past week has been crazy busy.  Karen from Home Fashions U arrived last week and we have been super busy getting ready for the Original Sewing & Quilting Expo in Lakeland, FL.  Karen is teaching 6 classes–to include ottomans, bedding, updating your dining chairs, a business class and more.

While Karen is teaching, I will be working in the booth and demonstrating the Quick Pleater.  So if you are thinking about attending the show, why don’t you stop by and see what all the buzz is about.  Hope to see you there.

In the meantime, this is what the studio has looked like for the last few days.

Hope to see you in Lakeland.

Remember this gold chair?  Well she has a brand new outfit and boy is it hot!  I have to say, this was one fun slipcover.  Although at first I was a little worried about it.  The client wanted a really tight fit, which can sometimes be difficult with these rounded chairs.  And the fabric was a knit.  It looked like a woven, but it was knit with a stabilizer on the back.  The only other time I'd worked with a knit fabric, it kept growing and growing.  Took quite some work to pull enough stretch out of the fabric so I could get a tight fit.

But this fabric was a dream to work with.  I fitted directly on the chair instead of making a muslin pattern, so I could control how much excess fabric I pulled out.

Here is a close up shot of the fabric.  Not the typical fabric most people would choose for this type of chair.  But my client is a textile artist, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

And here is the final slipcover.  She wanted tight and she got tight!  Since she wanted the fabric and the shape of the chair to be the main focus, we didn't do any details other than self welt.  I did velcro it to the underside of the chair.  This is the tightest slipcover I've made in a long while.  I love it.  Gotta be my new favorite slipcover.

PS:  I'm linking up with Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday

I'm working on a new slipcover, this cute little gold chair.  I love chairs like this.  If I could spend the rest of my slipcover making days doing chairs like this, I would be one happy slipcover diva.

I'm doing this chair in exchange for some furniture.  A friend who knows I'm fixing up the apartment just purchased some new pieces and offered me some of old furniture.  The pieces fit perfectly in the apartment.  So in exchange for the furniture I am making a slipcover for this chair.

The fabric she choose, totally unexpected for this chair.  You can see it on the table in below. 

I'm almost finished, so stay tuned.

So would you believe that I spent time getting my studio back in order, just in time to trash it again.  Hubby and I have started a big new project and the studio is slowly turning into a dumping ground.  Luckily it is still organized, just looks like a dump.  Have to get in there tomorrow and make some sense of it; I have a slipcover to make.

Since our soldier girl left for boot camp, we have a 2 bedroom apartment above my studio to get into shape and turn into a vacation rental.  Mostly cosmetic work, but a few rooms need some major attention.  Soldier girl moved in before we could do the work and since she wasn't very forthcoming with rent monies, the work never got done.

You can read all about it and keep up with our progress at my new blog Acorn Cottage.

But don't worry, I won't get so wrapped up in it that I forget about slipcovers.  Actually, I have an entire apartment of slipcovers to make.  So go on over and check out Acorn Cottage.

The Wrap Up

Well, we've come to the end of Sew Organized 2012.  So far this week we've

• identified our biggest problem area
• de-cluttered by donating some items, trashing others and keeping the best for ourselves
• sorted the keepers into like groups
• found containers to organize the keepers by recycling, re-purposing and purchasing

But I must tell you that organizing is never done.  It is kinda like doing the dishes or the laundry.  You must keep on top of it or chaos will reign. 

Keeping Control

I've shared some of my favorite items to re-purpose and recycle and now I want to share some of what I do to keep the studio from getting out of hand.

• put tools away at the end of each day
• clean the floors daily
• put projects together in a laundry basket
• lay out project for the next day
• make sure the cutting table is cleaned and ready to go for the next morning

Taking the time to create some daily organizing rituals for yourself goes a long way in helping you keep the studio in an organized state.  And if things start to get out of hand you know exactly what to do to whip it back into shape.

I hope you have enjoyed this short organizing series.  To help you stay organized I will be posting more organizing tips throughout the year.

I leave you with this collage photo of some of my favorite organizing from my studio.