Organizing and some new toys

I did some cleaning and reorganizing in my sewing room. Getting a Kindle (birthday present from Corey) has really helped me let go of some books. This made room for the fabric and sewing supplies that been draped all over the floor, chairs, etc. Here are some before and after photos. The lucite chairs are a future upholstery project. I just need to finish the other two half-completed chairs before I start anymore. ;)

Before

After

Here is Roni enjoying the fact that there is actually visible floor space now.




Tack-it Pattern Marker

After reading about the tack-it pattern marker in an article about "the magic of vintage sewing tools" on the blog Casey's Musings, I went out and found one on ebay for $7. I just have to say Best. Invention. Ever. I HATE marking all the notches, dots, triangles and circles on fabric. And trying to get the second layer exactly in the same spot as the first layer is hard. Half the time chalk won't wont work on the fabric and I've had NO luck with tailor's tacks. Well, the Tack-It marks both layers at the same time. It saves time and a bunch of heartache. I lurve it!

I bought a pack of multicolored tracing paper. Just put the tracing paper under the bottom layer, on top of the top layer but below the pattern and push down on the handle. It marks both layers with a smalll circle, and it is actually visible. Apologies for the blurry photo.

Zippers Galore

My local JoAnn never seems to have zippers in colors I need so I have been following some great zipper auctions on ebay. Unfortunately they keep going up to more than I want to pay (over $100 in one case. But it was for 200 22" zippers, all colors). I lucked out and was able to get this lot of 100 new zippers for $9 last week. Lot of colors and sized. No invisible zips but really for pennies apiece, who cares.