Sew Inspired, LLC - Sleepless Crafter

Previously, I posted about fixing up my  house  to sell, and the whole  moving  adventure.  It's been a wild ride, to say the least.  The first thing I started to do in my new home is design my sewing and doll room.  It's finally finished!  It took so much longer and cost so much more than anticipated.  We had a lot of hiccups along the way, such as my wrists hurting from painting, so I had to do a little each day, finding faulty wiring in the lights, so having to redo those, and last but not least, finding everything to put the room together. The bedding was easy.  I found a Laura Ashley Patchwork Quilt and Pillow Sham on  Target  for $80.  Although, later, I found the same one at  Bed, Bath, and Beyond  for less. Even then, it was twice as much as I have ever spent on any kind of bedding.  But I wanted this room to be perfect.  It is my cozy corner of the house that is all mine and where I will be spe...

Intro I haven't been blogging as much because I had been so busy moving.  I apologize ahead of time because this post is going to be fully-loaded.  To fill anyone in who hasn't been following my social media posts, this all began about 6 years ago.  My husband had an opportunity to move with his company, but we turned it down because I'm a small-town girl with severe anxiety being in a big city.  So moving from a little town with 11k people, to a big metroplex with over 7 million people was a bit overwhelming.  Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to move.  I was all on board, but my husband saw how much anxiety I had just driving around the area, that he pulled the plug.  I knew we were meant to move, though! The Decision Many things happened to push us to move.  Joann's closed it's doors permanently--my favorite store and go-to for my business supplies.  I seriously thought, "What's the point in living here with no fabric store?"  My yo...

  Several years ago I posted about remodeling our kitchen—our own version of Love it or List It. Read about it here . Well, this time we’ve decided to sell, but first we must fix it up for someone else to love.  We started with finishing the bathroom that we bought the stuff for a year prior. New everything (links for each): Tub and Shower Surround Shower Head Tub Faucet Tile , Mat , and Grout Toilet Double Sink and Faucets Mirror Flooring Lighting It was a total transformation.  I was especially impressed with the double sink since it had been left outside all summer, fall, and winter, through rain and snow.  It was covered with plastic, but still, there was a lot of humidity. Painting it white really brightened and cleaned it up.  I absolutely love this bathroom and was sad that I only got to use the tub a few times.  It will be one of the things I miss most.   Here's a video of the before and after. Next was the deck.  It aged really badl...

  Butterick 6372 Pattern Review - Infants' Cape, Vest, Buntings and Pull-On Pants Pattern Description:  Cape has hood with contrast band, snap closing and pre-gathered lace trim. Vest has front zipper closing and purchased bias binding on armholes. Bunting has front zipper closing.  C, D:  Hood with ears. Pants are pull-on with elasticized waist. I made view F, the pants. Pattern Sizing:  Newborn to XL.  I used size Newborn Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?  Somewhat.  Were the instructions easy to follow?   Yes, very simple.  What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It was very easy. Fabric Used:   French terry  (64% Polyester Filament, 33% Rayon, 3% Spandex Filament).  Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I resized it to fit a 22" soft sculpture cabbage Patch kid.  I took off 1" from the sides of the legs and 2" from the t...

Butterick 6970 Pattern Review - Infants' Jacket, Tops, Dress, Rompers, Diaper Cover and Hat Pattern Description: Loose-fitting jacket, pullover tops, dress and rompers have narrow hems. Jacket has long sleeves and button closure. Rompers have snap crotch. View G romper has button closure. Diaper cover has hook and loop tape closure. I made view B, the tshirt.  Pattern Sizing: XXSm to large. Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Somewhat.  Were the instructions easy to follow?   Yes, very simple.  What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It was very easy and I didn't need to resize or make any sizing alterations. I did, however make an alteration to use two different fabrics.  Fabric Used: French terry (64% Polyester Filament, 33% Rayon, 3% Spandex Filament) for the purple, sweater knit (100% polyester) for the white.  Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I dr...

 I was tired of my thread spilling out all over the floor because the lid would pop open when I picked it up. So I bought these Sulky Universal thread organizer boxes. I LOVE them!! There’s 4 rows on each side, instead of 3 like the other organizers by “Creative Options.”  The spools don’t fall out, even if the box is opened. They fit many sizes. I have gutermann, coats and clark, and sulky, as well as a bunch of off brands. The shortest coats and clark spools unfortunately only fit one in each space. I was hoping I could fit two.  But most spools (as long as they’re 1 3/4” tall and less) have extra space for adding a bobbin so I can keep the colors together and not have an extra case for my bobbins.  Each rod has a tab you pull back to lift the rod to put on and take off the spool.   It holds 64 spools. It even fits the wide embroidery thread. And they fit perfectly inside my cube storage bookcase, which holds 15” bins. I bought mine at https://www.sewingmachin...

I wanted to share something I learned today.  I searched everywhere online and couldn't find the answer.  I searched, "why won't paypal work on mobile?" "Why won't paypal work on my phone?" "Why won't paypal work on other apps?"  Every time I tried to use PayPal as a method of payment, I would get the never ending spinning circle and nothing would happen.   This didn't happen on the PayPal app, it happened while I was in Chrome or some other app, trying to buy something with PayPal.  Yet it worked fine when I was on my computer.  Other websites said to uninstall the paypal app and then reinstall it, but it wasn't the app that wasn't working.   It finally dawned on me to turn off 2-step factor verification.  So that's what I did and then I could finally use PayPal in other apps.  I mean, it wasn't even allowing me to get money out from ibotta to transfer to PayPal.  So finally it works.  Here's how PayPal says to do i...

 Found at Joann Fabrics store, with a 40% off coupon, I got this baby for $77.99.  I had searched online and ya, there's lots of options, but I didn't want to wait for shipping because I really needed to take my Singer in for a tune-up.  This is the Hudson (Everything Mary) Rolling Sewing Tote (Sew Print) .  Funny that online it says "Everything Mary" but on the tag in the store, it says "Hudson."  Anyway, it fit my Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 with the hard case perfectly.  There are different ones that are similar that are not the same size.  The one at Walmart was 17x10x16.  The one I bought is 21x13x18.  With the hard case over the Singer, you'd need one 19x12x9 for the inside dimensions.  Without the hard case, the Singer is 17x12x8.  So the one at Walmart would fit without the hard case.  I wanted one to fit with the hard case.  Just a matter of preference.   I like how it has sturdy side handles to lift it....

  Universal Roller Bag I'm sorry to say that I do NOT have one of these for sale, and the internet has very few. I'm just sharing what I found that fits my Singer Futura XL-580 perfectly. I found it at a local sew shop that was going out of business. It was marked $299.99 and the guy said he could sell it to me for 40% off, which was $179.99. I hesitated. I told him I really didn't want to spend that much. So he said, "What about $150?" I thought about it for a while. I really needed one that fit the Futura. I had searched online and so many of them wouldn't fit the Futura because they were too small. The Futura is pretty big compared to other sewing machines (22x10x14"). It is an embroidery machine, after all. Anyway, I decided to go ahead and get it because I imagined my Futura just sitting on the floor, getting kicked and dirty. I don't have room for both machines to be up on a desk, so I have to switch them out each time I use one or ...

Singer no longer has the Futura Software for sale, so I think it's okay to make the software available to download from dropbox.  It comes with the basic editing software, plus AutoPunch, Hyperfont, and Photostitch, as well as the updated version.  I've included step-by-step instructions which even include how to make it work with Windows 11 computers.  Some people have trouble with it not working with their new computer and need to change the compatibility. Please let me know on facebook if it doesn't work on your computer, as I no longer have this machine, so there's no way for me to test it out. Click here to download the instructions. Click here to download the software. Always check the Singer Futura Help website for updates on your software.  They haven't updated since 2013, but you never know, they may decide to update it some day.  It also has manuals and other helpful tips, and free designs.

Several years ago I purchased a bunch of presser feet and made my own custom organizer.  You can read about it here .  After a while, I realized I wasn't using many of the presser feet, so I decided to sell the ones I didn't use.  Then I created a new organizer, which is smaller and more easily fits into my desk drawer.  Here's a step-by-step guide how to make your own.... Materials Storage Container with compartments Magic Erasers Scissors Ruler Pen Double-sided Tape First measure the compartment size.  If you are computer savvy, you can create your own spreadsheet using the measurements, and customizing it with your presser feet.  Or you can download the one I made here: pdf ms works Then cut out the magic erasers to fit the compartments.  I didn't need them for each compartment since some of my feet are pretty large. Then print out 3 sheets.  You will cut one, and use the other two for the lid of your organizer. Place the cut labels inside the ...

 Windows Movie maker was the best video editing software I have ever used.  It was 100% user-friendly and had many must-have features for making a slideshow or video.  Sadly, Microsoft decided to replace it with a piece of crap software called Video Editor.  It is crap--total crap!  There are no transitions, and is very limited on text and music features.  But there is good news!  You can still download Windows Movie Maker from an archive website here .  Scroll down until you find "Windows Executable."  Click on it to download. Once it's downloaded, I always right click and then scan for viruses.  If there are no threats, double-click the file, and click "yes" if it asks to make changes to your computer. It will then say that you need to install Framework 3.5.  You don't have to do that.  I clicked " Skip this installation " and it installed and worked just fine. Then click  "Choose the programs you want to install." You c...