M Avery Designs Blog

Fashion Lab 2008 Has Begun

The Summer 2008 Fashion Lab Summer Camp for Teens and Tweens in Hoboken (and surrounding areas) has taken off with full force!

These budding fashionistas are in week 3 of their five week fashion and sewing camp taught at the M Avery Designs Studio.  On day one, each fashion labber was presented their very own fashion lab t-shirt to take home. The t-shirt was to become their homework for the entire 5 weeks of fashion lab. They were instructed to turn their plain pink t-shirt into a fashion statement by using sewing techniques they learn throughout the course of the Fashion Lab Summer Camp. On the last day, each camper will bring their transformed T-shirt to camp to show off what they did to “trick out” their t-shirt.

  Since camp begun, each camper has been learning the art of using the sewing machine and we have tackled many projects so far.

We began with a simple fabric & elastic headband that helped the campers use their new skills on the sewing machines. As they became more familiar with using the machine, we have since moved on to making a simple envelope clutch purse / pencil case, a pair of summer shorts, as well as a summer tote bag. This week we’ll be starting on the summer dress project. Very exciting!

Don’t forget there will be a second session of Fashion Lab that begins on July 29th, 2008 and there are still a few spots available to sign up kids and teens ages 10-18. Give us a ring to find out more!

M Avery Designs Celebrates Two Years at the Storefront

We are so very proud to announce that the M Avery Designs Studio / Boutique celebrated Two Years (and two months) at the storefront location in Hoboken! This is no small feat considering the rising costs of rent in Hoboken and the state of the economy lately.

We made it this far and plan on being around many more years! Here are a select few of the  highlights from the party we hosted at the store, featuring Jeanine Mercurio, the (apparently, spot on) psychic, who joined us for the evening, giving many astrological readings throughout the night.

As you can see, the night began relatively low-key, but as the night wore on and more and more wine was drunk, out came the hair metal, air guitar and double dutch! Thanks to all who came out and celebrated with us!

Valentines Day Heart Pillow Project

Here is a great simple project for any valentine of any age.

Start out by tracing the heart size of your choice onto an old folder.
Keep in mind you should draw the pattern about an inch bigger all around, than you would like the pillow to be.

And don’t forget the easiest way to draw an even heart is to fold the folder in half and draw half a heart and cut it out this way.

The next thing you are going to do is trace your heart pattern onto interfacing.

Cut out the interfacing heart and place it on the wrong side of the fabric you would like to use for the front of your pillow.

Place the interfacing and the front pillow fabric onto the right side of the fabric you would like to use for the back of your pillow and pin securely in 5 or 6 places like this:

The fabric pieces you choose should be at least bigger than the heart pattern on all sizes.

Next stitch all around the edges of the heart interfacing pattern using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Make sure to leave about a 3″ whole on the left hand bottom side open. This is where you will eventually turn your pillow right side out.

Your next step is to trim all the access fabric around the edge of the interfacing heart.

Be sure to clip the edges of the fabric around the entire heart to ensure smooth edges when you turn it right side out. Be careful not to clip into the stitching you just made.

Your next step is to turn the heart right side out and top stitch around all the edges, except where your pillow is still open.

Now stuff your heart with pillow fill. You can always open up a pillow that you already own that you don’t really like and re-use the pillow fill from this pillow, if you don’t have any extra pillow fill.

Once the pillow is stuffed, turn over the edges of the portion of the heart pillow that was left open. Secure this edge with straight pins and top stitch this portion of the pillow shut. Voila ! Your heart pillow!

Red Velvet Cake Disaster

I would consider myself a pretty crafty person. I sew, I create, I can even knit (I just find it extremelly boring)… Lately, I have been trying my hand at baking. I especially love making cakes. I guess it started a few years ago with an obsession with this amazing carrot cake recipe I found in the book called The Cake Club .

This particular cake making book was a sort of gift from my friend Michelle (She works in book publishing and snaggged it for me at her office) and it really got me loving the idea of making cakes. I found the idea of this group of smart, southern ladies, getting together regularly to swap recipes and stories such a fun idea. (Note to self - start a Hoboken Cake Club!)

Well lately, I have been doing a lot more baking. I guess it has to do with the cold I have no desire to be out enjoying the outdoors. Instead I’ve retreated to the kitchen in my new spacious apartment. I also love that I have now have eager roomates that are willing to try whatever comes out of the oven. Thought the blog might be a good place to highlight my latest cake recipe.The cake making began so eager and full of hope, taking proud photographs and dreaming of the delicious Red Velvet cake I would soon be consuming and showing you all. Ha! Things just got distastrous by the second.

Here is the play by play:

Started out at marthastewart.com (I know I am addicted…) even though I have a ton of great cake making books. I sometimes feel like before I make anything, I should at least consult her sight. The recipe for Red Velvet Cake looked great to me, so I decided I would follow that one… Like I said - things started out swimmingly. Take a look for yourself… Here are some shots of the velvety batter before it made it to the cake pans.

Looking good, right?

Here is how it looked just before it made it to the oven. Still looking pretty darn good, huh? Just sit tight…

About 15 minutes into the baking process I started to smell something burning. I was a little surprised because I didn’t think it could possibly be close to be done… So how is my cake already burning?? Turns out, the batter was a bit too full in the pans and one had started to overflow and was burning on the bottom of the oven.

Great, just great! It’s overflowing, it’s burning the batter on the bottom of the oven and the has started to burn around the edges of the pan, while the middle is as liquidy as a glass of water… Ugh, what to do.

I decided I would trash pan #3 because that was the one that was really starting to overflow. I would move pans #1 & #2 up to the rack above (a bit further away from the heat source) and see if they could be salvaged. Here is a cool shot of trashed cake pan #3.

So while I still thought cake pan #1 & #2 weren’t going to pull through, I kept them at 350 degress for about 15 more minutes. Miraculously moving them to a cooler place in the oven helped a lot. They middle started to cook and the edges weren’t as crispy as I thought they would be… I think the fact that I used this really amazing black cocoa for this recipe, made me think the cake was more burnt than it actually was. Anyway - here is what the cake looked like at the end of the baking process. Not great, but not as bad I had originally thought it might be…

“Okay - so what happened?”, I then asked myself. What did I do that was so wrong (besides the positioning in the oven that I am not fully used to yet…). After a bit of detective work (ie - reading my ingredients box and the recipe a bit more carefully…) I figured out that while the recipe called for cake flower - and that was what I bought… It specified that I needed “non-self rising” cake flower and clearly the cake flower that I bought at the A&P this afternoon is pretty clearly “self-rising”. Argh! My chef friend Ellen is on her way over to save the day. She doesn’t bake much so she’s willing to part with her NON self rising Cake Flour… Will try the recipe again with the correct flour and see how it goes…

My Friend Fray Check

Wanted to add a new category the blog today. Quick Sewing Tips will be added as a section to include sewing “tricks of the trade” that I have learned through out the years making tons and tons of accessories. It will contain small things you can do to your projects to give it even more of a finished look.Today I was adding products to my Amazon Associates account and was reminded of a product that I started using about three years ago and LOVE.  It’s called Fray Check and Yes, you can now buy it on Amazon.com, believe it or not…We love adding trim and ribbon to so many of our bags and anyone that works with ribbon a lot knows, the ends frays pretty easily if you don’t finish them with topstitching. Well, that’s a lot of work… 

Fray Check is the wonder elixir that you can add to the edge of any ribbon, trim or piece of fabric and what it does is add a layer of glue (that dries completely clear) and prevents the edge from unraveling. It’s easy to use and really does dry so clear you can’t even tell it’s on there. LOVE IT! And it’s way simpler than topstitching all the ends of your ribbons!

Make sweet music with your sewing machine…

Always obsessed with awesome bags to buy and make, I just found this tutorial for a guitar bag on the Bored & Crafty Blog and thought it was worth posting about. It’s a pretty freaking cool bag and she’s included pretty easy to follow directions, as well as tons of photos. She just asks that no one make them and sell them. So no, you won’t be able to buy any of them on my site or at our store ; ) But happy sewing! Here’s the direct link to the project.

Offer from Simplicity for 3 FREE sewing patterns

Just found this offer for the SideWinder™ Portable Bobbin Winder™ — I didn’t every know such a thing exists but apparently it’s little gadget that fills bobbins without the use of a sewing machine. It seems like a great little device cause you don’t have to stop what you are sewing, unthread the machine to spin a bobbin when you run out. You buy the gadget for $29.99 (which includes shipping costs) and they will send you three free sewing patterns (they’re claiming are worth $40) from Simplicity.Not bad… Here are the patterns:

Get Patterns 2997 K5 (Adult Dress Pattern: misses’ sizes 8 to 16), 3512 A (Toddler Dress Pattern sizes ½ to 4) and 3517 OS (Doll Clothes in one size) by using promo code SIDEWINDK5.

Get Patterns 2997 U5 (Adult Dress Pattern: misses’ sizes 16 to 24), 3512 A (Toddler Dress Pattern sizes ½ to 4) and 3517 OS (Doll Clothes in one size) by using promo code SIDEWINDU5. And here is the info on the simplicity.com website. Enjoy!

DIY Bathing Suits - From Blueprint Magazine

Can someone make one of these bathing suits and let us know how it turns out? Maybe even send me a photo or something? It seems way to easy to be soooo cute. 
I would make one, I just don’t have any lycra laying around at the moment and can’t justify buying one more piece of fabric right now…  Anyway - here are the directions from Martha’s mag, Blueprint. And here are some links to the  Web-Exclusive Slideshow: Simple Suit How-To & the Web-Exclusive Slideshow: Twist-and-Tie Suit How-To  

Bandeau Swimsuit How-To 

1. Make your pattern (instructions on following page) using ourtemplate.

2. Fold a yard of spandex in half width-wise on a smooth, flat surface. Fold 1/3 yard of a piece in a complementary color in half widthwise and lay it over the first piece, at one edge.

    3. At the fold, pin the top’s pattern through both colors, the bottom’s through one, then cut.

4. Tie the bottom in a double knot at both hips and tuck the ends under.

5. Holding both layers of the top, twist it, wrap it around your chest, and double-knot the ends in back.

Material: Lycra/spandex, $8 per yard, Mood Designer Fabrics, 212-730-5003 

The Bi-Annual Women’s Clothing Swap - Hoboken

Thought you all might like to know about this upcoming event in Hoboken. I have attended this a couple of times and always find a bag or two to donate. As anyone that lives in Hoboken or Manhattan knows, cleaning out your closet is a necessity at least a couple of times per year. Who has the room to hang on to the things that you just aren’t wearing regularly… And of course this is a great way to get a few new piece on the cheap. And this is always a great way to recycle used clothing for crafting, sewing, scrap booking or whatever. You all know as well as I, old jeans make great new bags! Check it out!
The Bi-Annual Women’s Clothing Swap
Saturday January 19th
1pm to 3pm
Monroe Center
720 Monroe St. in Suite C-304

But remember, you don’t need to bring clothes. Feel free to just come and take clothes.
There’s always plenty. And if you can’t make it, the organizer is always happy to pick up bags in advance of the swap -
if you live in Hoboken. Contact #: 732-485-7405

Don’t forget to invite friends. The more women that come, the more shapes & sizes to choose from.

Please RSVP so I know how many women to expect. Thanks

If anyone can stick around for an hour at the end of the swap to help pack things up, that would be great.
We always need help packing up the leftovers. Also if anyone has a car, that would be great too, since we need to transport everything to “In Jesus Name” on 5th & Clinton Streets.

I have reached out to the Mc Swiggins fire victims as well, and invited them to the swap. Two or three of them may attend. It is so sad what happened and this will be a nice fun way for them to replenish their wardrobes.

Kick Ass Bag, Literally…

 Obviously I love bags. It’s what I do, it’s what I make, and it’s what I love! So I am always checking out other bags. I check them out when people are carrying them, and I am always checking them out online. I am not that easily impressed by bags cause I see so many of them, so often. But I  just spotted this one and couldn’t help but notice just how kick ass (literally) it is. Those are real brass knuckles being used as the handle for the bag! I love it! It’s called the “Peace Keeper” and comes from jamespiatt.com. How tough would you look carrying one of these cuties.