Fave Creative Space: Common Thread Studio

My home sewing machine was acting up so I decided it was the perfect excuse to do some work at Common Thread Studio in my hometown, South Pasadena.

It was my first time using the work spaces and I will definitely be going back. Seriously fell in love with the character of the place: creative, hip, clean, stylish, personal, and fun.

The owner, Jin, was awesome and brings a lot of design experience and enthusiasm to her space. I spent a good three hours there so I was thankful that she was blasting the likes of Beck, Kings of Leon (their old stuff), and Arcade Fire on the iPod. Made me feel like I was working from home.

If only this place had been around when I was in High School! She has classes for all levels of sewing and also offers a screen printing area, how cool is that?

WARNING: chances are that you WILL buy something from her shop area. It's curated with great gift items for babies, crafters, and even the most discerning creative and stylish people in your life.

Cut until the cows come home

Spent all day cutting stabilizer, interfacing, and scarves in prep for ironing (I use fusible interfacing) and sewing. Thank goodness I finally gave in to buying a rotary cutter and mat - made things SO much easier! Except for the fact I sliced by left thumb a bit. It's paper cut size but man it hurt.

Looking forward to getting back to these after my vacation in Colombia!!!

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Steps 6, 7 of 10, 11....

p3280214 Finally got around to sewing all the bag shells I had cut and pressed a week or two ago. Definitely learning how to do things more efficiently every day I work on them!

Pockets were done too and all that's left is to sew the linings then put each bag together. Oh, and I need to order labels and more purse frames. If anyone knows where I can order woven satin labels for less than 1000 minimum, please let me know!

Sneak Peak

p22211591Today was a cut-and-pin day.  This typically means cutting the stabilzer and silks into my purse pattern. Before that can be done, however, I wash and air dry each scarf and then steam to remove any wrinkles. Above is one of the silk scarves in a gathered style. Can't wait to sew it together! While some of the scarves dried I got started prepping buttons to create more magnets (and push-pins as requested by my friend Liza!). Check out the first set I made a few months ago here.

On a side note - I'm SUCH a proud auntie of an adorable pitbull, Pepper, that I had to post this! My sister took this picture of me and Pepper frolicking in Malibu after my mom's 50th b-day breakfast atGladstones (highly recommend their "Hangtown Fry" plate!!!) dscn05521