Fabric Ribbon Love

My Grandma (in law) gave my a bunch of fabulous fabric during a 4th of July trip.  It included a variety of vintage fabric that I loved.  As I was organizing my fabric a couple weekends ago I ran acrossed it again and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, fabric ribbon! First, I gathered my supplies: fabric, rotary cutter (straight edge and scalloped blade), cutting mat and see thru ruler.Next, I decided the thickness I wanted on the fabric, I choose some with under 1/2 inch all the way up to 2 inches.  Then I cut the fabric into strips.

Look how fun my fabric ribbon turned out!

 

And look how nice it looks on bags and packages. I have been tying them to presents too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so glad I had this great stash for such a useful thing!  I don’t know what I did without my fabric ribbon!

Happy Wandering

Anne

The Right Part Time Job for Me

I am so thankful that I am able to have such an awesome second job. Right now, we’re going through a bit of a bump and we need a little extra cash to make things work. I applied for a part time job at the YMCA around the corner from my house, the timing didn’t work out. Over spring break I made a decision to work on Wandering Chick. I looked through fabric I had stock piles of and worked on new products for the shop and I “relaunched” Wandering Chick on Etsy. I have been so grateful for the positive response it has gotten over the last couple months. I would have never had this much fun or flexibility if I had gotten that other part time job. There are so many benefits to a “work from home” second job.

I make your own schedule
The cats help me work
I work in sweatpants, pajamas or leggings
I can work for 10 mins at a time
I take breaks to make waffles
I give my products as presents
I can make my tags or work on other things on my front porch in the sun
I listen to audio books or Pandora while I work
Part of my job is to write about the love of my job on this blog
I can make things for my classroom as prototypes
My husband and I share a work space so we often work together
I can drink as much coffee as I want
I walk up to the post office to mail my packages
I can be creative in every aspect of my shop from the products to the packaging
I can try new things and have time to fail

So this morning as I write my “to do” list in bed, organizing my thoughts for the weekend, I feel excited about what new things Wandering Chick will bring, instead of sitting behind a desk answering phones. I feel so blessed.

Best of all, I can take time to wander on my weekends

Anne

Custom Ordering is Easy at Wandering Chick!

I wanted to share with everyone how easy it can be to custom order from Wandering Chick.  Someone who had made a previous order thought my iPad pillow would make a fabulous gift for a friend, but wanted one with purples and blues.  She let me know through the conversation option on Etsy.  She said, “I don’t see any purples, would I be able to get one in dark purples or blues?”  I responded, “I will be making a trip to my local fabric store this weekend and would happy to get some samples for you.”  After I had a blast looking for new fabric (who wouldn’t right?) I sent her some photos of the fabric choices I found.

 

 

She chose the fabrics she wanted and bam, custom order ready!

I’ll send her a link to her order on my Etsy site and everything is just as always at check out.  So easy right? So, what ideas do you have for a custom order?

Happy Wandering

Anne

New Camera = New Zipper Pouch

One of my Big Brothers gave me a new camera for Christmas (we celebrated a bit late this year). A new camera means a new zipper pouch! I’ve had this fabric for a while and just rediscovered it and used it for a recent burp cloth order. I knew the perfect use for it this. My new pouch has curvy yellow stripes inside, I love it!

Mustache Fabric

This is the last of the Mustache Fabric I have…Just enough to make the husband a headband.

New Fabric

I love getting packages…the only thing better, packages with new fabric. Here is the newest collection to add to my stash! Thank you to Brook at Surly Sheep for helping me and being so flexible! Don’t you love them, I can’t want to see what I’m going to make with them.

Happy Wandering
Anne

Here is the link to Surly Sheep on Etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/surlysheep

Happy Siblings Day!

My big brother Phil was in town for work and took us out to dinner. We wandered down to The Sign of the Beefcarver on Woodward for a very filling dinner! Happy Siblings Day!

Happy Wandering

Anne

Loops in Bottom of Stitching from Sewing Machine

As I was filling an order I had gotten over the weekend, my machine started creating loops in the bottom stitching.  As I sewer, I thought, “oh no, my tension must be messed up.”

Upon further investigating, I found the stitches had little tears in them and the thread was fraying near the needle.

I took a closer look at the machine, and noticed the needle plate was a bit worn.  That reminded me I had broken a needle last week and it made a mess of the needle plate.  I found what they call a burr.  Can you see it, right where the needle goes through the plate, on the bottom of the hole.

Does that help?  The little piece sticking into the hole.  I had to get rid of it!

I found my husbands sandpaper, and started sanding the top of the plate.  Next, I folded the sandpaper to fit inside the hole and sanded it down as much as I could.

Viola, the burr was gone, and my stitching was just as if nothing happened.  That saved my weekend!If you have loops in the bottom of your stitching, it might not always be the tension.

Happy Wandering!

Anne

Wandering Chick Blog on WordPress

After some fresh new changes happening with Wandering Chick lately, I felt it was necessary to move to a new blog.  Here is the new blog where I will continue posting news, projects, thoughts, wanderings and more.

It will be an experience as I find my way again in this blog world, but look forward to the change.  Thank you for taking this adventure with me.

Happy Wanderings,

Anne

If you would like to view my past content you can find it here:  Wandering Chicks Older Blog