Tag Archives: sewing

Busy, Busy, Busy…

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First, let me just share a video of what we experienced this last week.  See those white dots?  Those are Hail Softballs!!  This storm totaled at least one of our cars, took out both front windshields and completely obliterated the sunroof on Scott’s car.  If you watch it, stick around for the end…it gets worse.

I have been quiet lately, but not because I have nothing to share.  On the contrary, I have been busy organizing my clothing patterns (fodder for a future post), sewing and baking.  I was able to finish the second UFO I posted about last time.  The dress is really cute and will go on the Etsy shop soon.

Candi

A few weeks ago, I made my (made for me) first “period” specific clothing item.  It is not much in the realm of costuming, but I actually love it and am ready to move on into something more challenging for myself.  The pattern is an Edwardian era apron and is a free download from the internet.  Taping the pieces together went perfectly, however, the instructions left something to be desired.  You can’t beat the price though, so I gave it a go with some calico fabric that had been in my stash for years.  Here is the end result:

Me in my new apron

Yes, I am sure there were no microwaves, refrigerators, or flip flops in the Edwardian era, but I wanted an apron that I could use today and this one was just right.

Speaking of updating, you know the “maxi-dress” that has been so popular for the last several years?  I have bought several (second hand, of course) and really like the light and comfortable feel of the dresses.  The problem is that they are essentially made for 20 year old ladies (read: college girls) who have something up top to show off and the ability to do just that.  I am beyond that stage, so I would end up wearing a sweater or something over the top of the dress, or not wearing them at all.  So…I decided to fix this and up-cycle the dresses into skirts that I will actually wear.  I cut off the tops, straight across, with a rotary cutter and then attached elastic to the top edge.  Folded this over and sewed again, and that was all there was to it.  This was soooooo easy and fast to do, and now I have three new long skirts to wear this summer.  Whoot!!

New Maxi-Skirts

So, wearing my new apron, I set about baking some cookies.  Now, those of you who know me, know that I don’t cook.  However, I came across a free Kindle book on cookies that explained more about why and how to mix the different ingredients together.  I have always just thrown everything in, mixed in the stand mixer for whatever I thought was long enough and then baked the cookies in the oven (more often forgetting about them after I put them in than not) and hoped for the best.  Well, I took this book’s information and attempted to make some cookies the proper way.  They lasted one day.  I think I did good :-)

Mmmm, Cookies

Notice Anything Odd?

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Last Wednesday, we went to Birmingham (UAB’s Kirkland Clinic) for my 6 month MRI and doctor visit.  We have been going every 6 months since my first hospitalization in 2010.  They have done CT scans, MRIs, and even a liver biopsy.  Since diagnosed with Caroli’s Disease, in 2010, the visits have all been focused on making sure that the spots they were seeing on my liver were not cancer.  This visit, the doctor was comfortable enough with the “non-change” of the spots that he has now moved my MRI appointments to once a year.  Yay, no cancer and less time at the doctor.  It was a good day.

While we were in Birmingham, we dropped off 6 quilts to be quilted by Scott’s aunt, Barbara.  Five of these I have already shown you, but here is the one I finished the day before we left as a present for a friend.  I hope to have it back in June to give to my friend as a housewarming present.  I am calling it Bubbles.  There is a post upcoming about it’s construction…stay tuned for that.

Bubbles

Today, I was assembling another UFO started by someone else and could not understand why the pattern pieces were not quite fitting together properly.

Dress #2 - UFO

There is a front yoke, back yokes, Peter Pan collar and facings…all the usual suspects were there.  They just weren’t clicking together quite like they should.  So, I decided to take a closer look at the pattern pieces.  Lo and behold, I found the problem.  Can you spot it?

What is wrong with this picture?

Problem now solved and pattern pieces altered, the dress should be complete in the next day or two.  Photos coming soon…

I’ve Been Published, Well, sort of…

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Remember the Christmas dresses that I made for my repeat customer Martha?  Martha’s family was featured in an online magazine and they even made the cover.  The shots they used for the story and the cover were of the family dressed in their finest.  Ya, that is right, the Christmas dresses I made.  Whoot!  The article photos look so great.  They were taken by my nephew.  He is quite the budding photographer.  Have a look.

The Hands

Other People’s Unfinished Projects (UFO’s)

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Just a quick note to say that, apparently, I am a magnet for unfinished projects.  I don’t mind, though.  Let me tell you why.  My mother-in-law is in a Bible study with a woman who was “de-stashing” patterns recently, and I am the very grateful recipient of about 15 children’s clothing patterns from the 1960′s to the 1980′s.  Three of these patterns even came with fabrics that had been cut out, but never assembled.  There is something about delving into a half finished project done by someone else and figuring out where they were in the process, what they were trying to do, and why.  It is so interesting to see how someone else does something so simple as, say, cutting out the pattern (this lady used pinking shears).  She was random about the notches she cut, leaving some sticking out, and cutting v’s for others (I cut a single snip in my notches for reference).  Anyway, there is a sense of accomplishment one gets from completing one’s own project, but the feeling is even more gratifying (at least to me) when I am able to do the detective work and finish a project that I did not start.  I have finished one of the three dresses and here are the results of my (and her) efforts.

Before:

Before

After:

After

Oh, and here is the latest preemie gown.  So sad that this is a burial gown, but happy to know that it will give a nice vision to the parents of their only moment with their baby girl.

Latest Premie Gown

Fen’s Sherlock Coat and Hat

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I made this coat and hat for my grand-dog Fen about a month ago.  He lives in Colorado and is a big shivering baby Great Dane.  Anyway, I sent the coat and hat to Fen and it never arrived.  Then about a week ago, we received it back in the mail.  So, now I feel kind of bad that I griped about the Post Office losing my package, when I actually put the wrong address on the package.  Oh well, after paying twice to get it to the right place, Fen now has a new reversible fleece Sherlock Holmes coat and hat.

On one side of the coat I put applique letters spelling his name and the other side is plain hounds-tooth.  The hat came from an adult costume pattern.  I shortened the sides of the hat, since his head is as big around as a human’s but is much more shallow.  The only thing I did not like about the coat is that the neck opening is too large for him.  I will fix that the next time I can get a hold of the coat.

Houndstooth Side

 

Personalized Side

Fen in his new outfit

Aunt Barbara Is Going To Be Busy

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Just a quick post to show what I have been up to the past week or so.  Still working on things that have been in the works and in the attic for years.  Scott’s Aunt Barbara has been doing the machine quilting on the tops that I have been finishing.  Well, now that I have her and one other source for the quilting part of the process, I now feel free to complete the tops that I have been dreading quilting.  Here are a few that are ready to be quilted.

Tops to be quilted

I have an MRI coming up in March and we will be delivering these to her in Birmingham.  Aunt Barbara, I hope you are ready to be busy :-)

Dress Completion

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In the last post, I completed the skirt portion of the dress.  In this one we look at the bodice, bonnet and shoes.  Details make all the difference in sewing children’s clothing, especially little dresses and heirloom clothing.  I prefer to make my own bias binding and piping for my dresses, so, as you can see around the neckline, I used the skirt fabric to create piping edge.

To create the piping, cut 1″ fabric strips on a 45 degree bias.  Using a thick cotton crochet thread, fold the fabric strip lengthwise over the thread and sew a 3/8″ seam down the length of the strip, encasing the thread.  Perhaps I should do a tutorial on this next time…

Custom piping on collar

Following the directions, I attached the skirt to the bodice and then made the button holes.

How to open a button hole (my way)

I just happened to have two flower buttons in my stash that worked perfectly for this dress.

Dress Back (complete)

See, aren’t they pretty?

Back button detail

The bonnet directions state that you should leave an opening at the back edge and, after turning right side out, you should slip stitch the opening closed.  This seemed counter-intuitive to me, since there was a scalloped lace edging that could easily be slip-stitched shut after turning the bonnet right side out.  The way the pattern shows the finished bonnet, there are raw edges exposed where the scalloped edges are, inside the bonnet.  It seems to me that this would not only be unsightly, but would not feel very good to the baby either.  See the photos below to see the directions and to see how I did it instead.

Bonnet Pattern 1

My method: I basted the edge of the lining along the scallop, clipped and pressed the edges.  Then I removed the basting and turned the bonnet right side out.  After that it was easy to line up the pressed edge with the scalloped edge and slip-stitch it shut again.

Bonnet (my method)

Right side out, lining side:

Bonnet (closure)

Outside of bonnet:

Completed Bonnet Lace and Brim

Completed outfit:

Dress Ensemble

The shoes I will cover in a post sometime down the road.  This dress ensemble will be going on the Etsy shop as a custom order, so if you know anyone who would like this outfit for their child or as a gift, please send them my way :-)

Dress Ensemble Side View

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the progress through the assembly of this outfit.  Let me know what you would like to see next.  I would love to use this blog as a way to demonstrate techniques, if I know them.  Just give me a shout.

Finally, here is a quilt that I have pulled out of the past projects pile.  It is going together quite nicely.  I can’t wait to have this one under my belt and on to the recipient.

Gift?

Moving on with the Dress Construction

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In this post we tackle the skirt assembly.  Sewing the lace or any other edging, like piping, onto a garment is easier if you draw the pattern outline on the fabric and pin the edging along the line, rather than a raw edge.

Applying edging

Here are the two together for comparison.  The one on the bottom is way easier to pin and to stitch than the top one.

Different ways to apply lace and edging

Below you can see how, by using a 1/4″ foot on the machine, I am able to stitch  with the seam guide right on top of the drawn line.  This ensures that the lace is applied uniformly and that the fabric is not pulled out of shape.

Stitching on edging with 1/4" foot

When I assemble my dresses, I prefer to use a french seam whenever I can, especially on the long side seams.  This type of seam allows you to hide all the raw edges along the seam and makes a more professional looking garment.

To make a french seam (on a 5/8″ seam allowance), sew a 1/4″ seam with wrong sides together.  Clean up the edge, removing any stray threads and turn the garment with right sides together and press the seam.  Go back to the machine and stitch the seam again using a scant 3/8″ seam allowance.  See two photos below.

French seam first edge

French seam second seam

Remember in the last post that I was confused about the hem band and that I thought there might be an error in the pattern?  Well, like I said at the time, I could be wrong and I usually am about those things.  The problem, after lots of rereading the pattern directions was not the number of hem bands to cut (2 vs. 4), but rather the poorly written directions for assembly.  The drawings are fine, but the directions are for several different dresses and they skip back and forth frequently, which really makes the whole process more frustrating than it should be.  This finally led me to break out the sticky notes and cover up the portions of the pattern that did not pertain to the dress I was working on.  After that, the dress went together quite quickly and smoothly.

Here was the precise issue.  In all the time I have been making girl’s dresses, I have always done hem bands with facings, meaning that I would need to cut 4 pieces (2 bands and 2 facings).  On this pattern, the hem band is sewn in such a way as to use the skirt as the facing for the hem band, so the pattern was correct in stating “cut two.”  In the photo below, photo 28 and 29 are NOT the dress I am working on.  However, they are right below the photo (27) of the dress I am working on, so EVERY time you look at the pattern for reference, you get confused as to how it should look.  Photo 27 and 28 are NOT the same dress…

Confusing skirt instructions

In the photos below, the hem band is sewn with the right side facing the wrong side of the skirt.  Then the hem band is flipped around to the front of the skirt and top-stitched in place.  Adding to my confusion, the hem band on this dress has scallops that face upwards when finished, rather than down (see photo confusion above).
IMG_0806

IMG_0808

Finally, we have to have a placket in the back of the skirt.  This is the opening just below the buttons on the back of yoke (or top).  The directions in most patterns are pretty clear about how to do this, so I will leave you with a photo of mine for reference.  Note how the split edge of the skirt is not lined up with the edge of the placket facing, but drops down to the edge of the seam allowance and then back out again.

Placket

The Green Dresses, Blue Dress, and Other Assorted Projects

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Every time I think about sitting down and telling you all about my latest projects, I get distracted by another project.  This year has started off as busy as ever with year end reports for work and tutor evaluations, etc.  In the little spare time I have had I have been completing orders and planning new projects.  The first order completed this year was a set of green (flower girl) dresses for an Etsy customer.

Green Dresses

Green Dresses Close-up

Immediately after completing that order, I had to quickly turn aound another blue heirloom dress for another order.  The start of this order was delayed a bit by the flu bug I caught in December.  Having made the dress 4 times before, it was not too difficult to quickly complete another one.

Blue Easter Dress

My Etsy listing for preemie gowns has been getting a lot of traffic this month, as well.  I have completed and shipped three so far for 2013.

Preemie Gown

We received a surprise belated present from my aunt in Texas.  It seems that my maternal grandmother (the one who I owe all my fiber art talent to) crocheted this piece for us several years ago.  She was apparently waiting to give it to us until she had it properly framed.  My aunt was able to persuade her to part with it and go ahead and send it as it was.  I purchased a frame and solid, uncut mat and framed it myself.  We love it!  I am so grateful that we are able to have it hanging in our home where it belongs.

Crocheted Fillmer Nameplate

Finally, I used my Amazon gift card from my boss to purchase this little gadget of joy.  It is a foot massager and it works great!!

Foot Massager

I have several projects in the works now that I will post about soon and I was thinking about posting about my next dress project in a step by step fashion.  A follow along project, if you will…we will see.

Holiday Dresses for 2012

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Hello there, remember me?  Poor neglected blog…  I have been super busy with a Holiday dress order from the same customer that I made the Easter dresses for earlier this year.  She ordered 4 dresses for the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays for the same 4 daughters.  You will recognize the photo set up for the dresses, but the dresses themselves are quite different.  This order was for smocked and embroidered dresses in a deep wine color, where the Easter order was for heirloom embroidered dresses with large collars and lace.  I loved doing this order because this customer lets me know what she has in mind and then she leaves it to me to come up with something special.  Here is what I came up with.

The bishop dress was based on the Cherié pattern from AS&E issue #44 and the size 14 dress was based on the Angel pattern from AS&E issue #88.  The two middle dresses were basic full smocked yokes with embroidery.  All 4 dresses were smocked or embroidered with pinks and gold filament, usually twisted together.  The size 4 and 14 dresses are beaded within the smocking design as well.

What do you think?