Felt Enamel Pin Display

Here we have it - my first make of 2018!  It was a really simple one and only took me about 45 minutes... while I was waiting for my delivery sushi to arrive, ha! 

I have been collecting a bunch of enamel pins since they became popular, and until now most of them have lived on my denim jacket... which really only gets worn for a short period in the spring/ summer before it gets too hot, and then again for a week or two in the fall.  I don't want to put them in other jackets (like my Kelly Anorak) and ruin the fabric, and I definitely won't punch them through my beloved Roots leather purses!  I had seen a tutorial on Sew Mama Sew for making a shadow box display... but I didn't really like having to keep the backs in a jar.  BUT, the other day Devon from Miss Make posted a fantastic idea on her Instagram... making a hanging felt flag!  This solves the problem of storing the backs!  Also... felt and a dowel is WAY cheaper than a $20 shadowbox.  So... here's my version:

I'm so pleased with how this turned out!  Once I get my sewing room re-do done, I'll get this up on the wall.  Click on through for more photos and a quick summary of how I made this [...]

2017 Sewing Wrap-Up

Well there we have it, 2017 done!  Hoo boy that was an interesting one.  Although it felt sometimes like the world was falling apart, personally I had a pretty good year.  Really, not too many complaints!  Aside from sewing, I had a productive year professionally, rounding out a whole year as a licensed Professional Engineer and feeling really good about the work I've been doing.  Matt and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary this year, and a whole year in our first home.  Although we still have lots of work to do around the house, it really feels like our place and I love it!  It's also been an interesting couple months as Matt left his full-time job went back to school to start another undergrad degree and I am so friggin' proud of him.  He's doing incredibly well and couldn't be happier.

Sewing wise, although I didn't get as much blogging done as I had hoped, I really had a fantastic year!  I learned a TON of new skills, and I'm really feeling a ton more confident in my ability to make every-day wearable garments that fit well.  I'm gonna toot my own horn here for a second and say - I now have coworkers who are SO surprised to find out that I make 90% of my clothing, because "oh my goodness everything looks so professional!"  YOU GUYS!!  That is LITERALLY the BEST compliment I could hope to receive about my sewing.  It feels SO GOOD!  (yes, all caps are necessary for this!)

Also this past year, I reached out to the local Ottawa sewing community to see if there would be interest in a "Garment Guild".  I could not have been more surprised at the incredible response I got back, and the amazing group of women who are going to help me get this thing up and running in the coming months.  We are still getting details sorted, but you can pop over to the website for the Ottawa Garment Guild for more information!

Anyways!  I'm not going to write up a summary of all the things I've made - you can pop over to my archive for that ;)  Hopefully I'll find some time soon to photograph a bunch of my makes that I've been meaning to blog about AND I'll have my completed sewing-room re-do to talk about in the coming weeks.  I post on Instagram far more often than on my blog, so if you want more updates on what I'm up to, just follow me over there at @kalliesews.