Jenna Lou Loves You

Best Friends Forever - My new industrial Juki

My whole obsession and jealousy and lust for an industrial sewing machine began when Allyson got hers. I'll admit it was on my mind for probably over a year before that, but I had always put it off and really my Bernina is such a dream most of the time that I never seriously flirted with others. But upon seeing Allyson's it got my gears turning again and I delved deep into a research period followed by about a week of knowing it would happen, but trying to decide how and when. Then like all great decisions in life I just jumped on it. 

And I couldn't be happier with my decision to get my Juki. My love. My soul mate...*clears throat" umm well... my friend and partner in crafting crime. She's model DNU-1541 and she's a gem. This girl rips through layers of heavyweight fabric backed with interfacing like none other and I'm hoping to spend some time in the next couple months becoming familiar with leather as a new medium. The absence of the sound of a steam roller plowing through our house every time I made a gusset in a heavy weight bag has both John and I amazed... the juki just hums. 

The Bernina still has a strong place in my heart too. Where the Juki has strength and speed, the Bernina can be delicate and has great precision and so she will always have a place in my craft room too. 

The Reveal

Wow... What a process. The room was our first official home improvement project and I'm happy to say we did about 99% of the work ourselves.

I think that in size my new studio is quite comparable to my old one. It's small and that's that. But this room has a closet and WALLS! Before I was surrounded on 3 sides by huge windows. It was so great for sunlight and I can hardly remember ever having to turn a lamp on during day hours... but it was lacking in wall space for things that are tall like shelving and it just really wasn't very great for storage.

So here is my new room. It's still missing the wall shelving that will be above the Bernina... and if you look closely you may even notice a couple small pieces of base trim missing from where we decided to install the cube shelving... and I know there needs to be a couple touch ups on the paint... and the fabric for window treatments is on order, but really it's done in the sense of I'm in and it's working and today I sewed for 6 hours on my new Juki (more on this little girl tomorrow). And I can't tell you how relieved I am! After months of pushing a honey-do list on my honey and feeling like a jerk about it, and tears over paint colors and carpet men who wouldn't show up I'm just so darn happy it's done.

 

Ps. Remember what it used to look like??

Pattern Review - Favorite Things Belle Skirts

Every summer I make myself a new skirt or two. Usually it's done in early spring as my anticipation of warmer weather is bubbling. This year I was so busy in the spring that my skirt project got pushed back a bit. No big deal I've still got a month of skirt wearing weather.

This year I made the Belle Skirt by Favorite things. First of all I have to say that I love Favorite Things Patterns for their cover work. As a pattern designer myself maybe I notice this more than others, but I do have a thing for nice large color photos which clearly depict the project along side loads of other useful information. It's just charming.

Moving into more critical stuff. The pattern sheets are very standard lightweight paper. I don't love this stuff because it's not the easiest thing in the world to cut, wrangle, and pin, but it gets the job done. One thing I've found in common with all Favorite Things Patterns is that their instructions seem brief. Brief in a good way. Sometimes with commercial patterns the wording is where I get hung up. Too much mumbo-jumbo and this girl gets bored.  Favorite Things Patterns are all about action and if you have the slightest idea about sewing clothing you'll do just fine.

The Belle Skirt was a really quick project (as most skirts are). I love the use of two fabrics for a layered look and the ruffle placement only in the front and back (not sides) is slimming. The one and only thing I would change when I make this skirt again (and I will because I love the style) is the waist band. The band is kind of loose due partly to my tendency to make a size too large for myself on almost every occasion, but mostly to the elastic waistband. In this pattern there is no channel for the waistband, so it kind of just floats around which can make for interesting and in my opinion unwanted bunching. So next time I think I'll make the waistband interfaced and give it an invisible zipper. Two easy changes. I guess I'm just at a point in my life where I like to feel "held in" rather than "ready to expand". Don't get my wrong, elastic waistbands have their place.... buffets and maternity.... I'm just not there right now.

Overall I love the skirt. Love the fabrics (Anna Maria Horner). And most of all love sewing.

Custom Design Fabric Updated

It had been months since my online fabric database has been updated, but I had a little extra time last week so I uploaded over 80 new prints that are available for custom orders. I thought I had been doing good about not buying fabric and squashing my addiction, but I guess I might have been wrong. I was astonished that I had over 80 prints, but maybe it's just been longer than I thought since it's been updated.

Anyways I just wanted to share that I'm once again open for custom work. Summer months are slower so it's fun to take the extra time to work with customers on their special requests and custom fabric selections. If you've been waiting to place an order or just didn't see the fabric you wanted feel free to check again. I have to warn you though.... it may be hard to decide with so many amazing prints out there now days!

Click here to view the full fabric list.

Finally HERE - Mabel Messenger PDF Sewing Pattern by Jenna Lou Designs

You know how sometimes you start a project.... but then you get distracted and the longer it is since you've last worked on it the harder it is to pick it up again?? Well that's what happened to the Mabel Messenger. I started the pattern for her months ago, but got busy getting ready for summer shows and before I knew it I had completely moved on.

Well I'm happy to say that last week I got the bug to finish it. And I cannot believe how easy it was. All the hard work was already done months ago. Research, writing, photography, pattern drawing... all done. The only thing left was for me to finish putting it all together in a pretty little package.

So now Mabel Messenger has been added to the collection of patterns available in my shop. If you've been waiting for ever for this one: my apologies.... but I promise the wait was worth it!

New Item - The Credit Card Cruncher (card organizing wallet)

Just released a new item in the shop. I call it the Card Cruncher - your card organizing wallet. In the day of speedy soccer moms and online bill pay the checkbook is nearing extinction and every store has a loyalty card for you to hold onto. This wallet is perfect for stashing/crunching all your cards in one place. It small enough for your back pocket or that glam evening bag that's way too small, but oh so sexy.

The Card Cruncher is available in many designer fabrics and the plastic card holding insert is removable so you can throw it right in the wash. With a price of only $15 I'm hoping these little gems will be accessible to everyone.

To purchase, read more, or see other fabrics feel free to stop by the shop.

And don't forget to enter into the giveaway for a Best-Ever Icing Kit by Bake It Pretty. Giveaway closes on the 24th.

If you are in the Southern MN area feel free to stop by the Mankato Farmers Market on Saturday. I'll be there from 8-Noon.

One Of A Kind Handmade Patchwork Bags

This weekend I had lots of fun digging through my scrap bin and cutting little 2x2 squares. I'm one of those people who save every last scrap just knowing that eventually I'll find the perfect project for it, so I had lots of old forgotten prints to drool over and choose from. These totes sure did a great job a cleaning up the bin... I think I emptied about 1/3rd of it which was great because it was completely overflowing.

They where really fun to put together because as each patch was added it changed the mood and overall look of the bag. I highly recommend doing some patchwork if you need some inspiration or crafty encouragement. It's hard to go wrong with patchwork.

Each bag is truly one of a kind. To give them even more of the 'gotta have it' vibe I added some leather handles. The black handles on the yellow bag are faux leather style N50... you can find them here. The brown handles are real leather and where custom made by yours truly especially for these bags. They are really beautiful in person and the rivets add a great touch too.

So what do you think? Does anyone care to see this bag made into a pattern? I have a few other patterns on the tabel right now, but I can always add it to the list. Also was thinking about doing a free tutorial on using rivets... anyone interested?

These bags will be available in my shop. They are all One Of A Kind so if your heart is set on one do stop by right away. xoxo-

New Woven Labels For Sewn Goods

I've been using the same labels for probably two years... so when the supply was looking a little low a couple weeks ago I decided it was time for a change. The new labels arrived in the mail this week and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. They are professional quality woven and super darling. I can't wait to sew up loads of new stuff just so I can stick my new labels on them. Talk about motivation!

A Pal for You and Me!

Well... It's done. The long talked about... highly requested Pocket Pal sewing pattern is finished and now an official addition to my pattern collection. I've had a lot of requests for my patterns to be available in PDF format in the past months so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out.

At first I was opposed to using PDF because I'm a bit old fashioned and like to feel the nice printed pages beneath my hand, but I came to the realization that PDF's are actually great for SO many reasons. The most important of those being that they are GREEN. PDF's save paper, ink, and gas miles! In addition to saving the plannet the delivery into your email inbox will be made within 24 hours of payment so you can get sewing your new pal right away!

I haven't updated my web shop with them yet, but they are already for sale over on the etsy shop for $8, so do stop in!

** I just updated the shop, so if they are sold out on etsy you can always find them there! **

And as always... a HUGE thanks to everyone for your encouraging comments and support!
xo,
Jennalou

Jalie Hoodie

So.... who is the worst blogger ever? I am. Sorry people, but I just haven't been getting the urge to blog lately and the longer I've put it off the easier it is to say tomorrow, tomorrow.... tomorrow I will post. I guess I've just been feeling like not much of what I've been up to is very blog worthy. Anyways enough with that.

Back when I was still a bit on the sick side I decided to do a project for myself. Something I don't do enough anymore. So I pulled out one of the new Jalie sewing patterns I got my hands on and started cutting, serging, sewing, seaming. It was such a relief to take an afternoon for myself. Sewing this new pattern brought that joy, curiosity, and creativity back to me the way you can only feel when doing something for the first time. As each piece is sewn together it slowly becomes something whole and the journey to that is what I LOVE about sewing. Plus I got to hang out on the floor with this little helper when I was cutting the pieces out :DAnd so came together my new zip-up hoodie. It makes a perfect cover up for bike rides, gardening, or the quick run to the store. The Jalie pattern was very easy to understand and I felt like the look is very non-handmade. I serged 95% of the seams and used my regular machine for all the top stitching. I love this so much that I just know I'll be making more when this one becomes tired from all the use it's been getting.
 
Sewing Pattern: Jalie 2795 / Womans Jacket and Hoodie

xo,
Jennalou

Ps. Did anyone else notice it JUNE already!!?