Fabric Pick-up Today

Here's some fabric I picked up today at the quilt store. I had a gift certificate from my DH so I had a grand time. I plan to make a table runner - haven't quite decided on pattern.

From lois

Quilt Festival

Quilt Festival 2010

I made this quilt purely for fun. Plus I wanted a new quilt to snuggle under during the winter evenings. This one has a pretty striped pink flannel backing. I found the pattern in a jelly roll book and thought it looked fun.

From lois

From lois

From lois

It makes a fun accent to my husband and my "corner."

New Nightgown - Just in Time

When the weather turned cool recently I decided it was time to get out this medium-weight knit and make myself a new nightgown. The pattern was from a thrift store.

It turned out great. The shoulders are a bit wide, but that's okay for a nightgown. Otherwise it fits good, i.e. nice and loose. I am especially happy with the way the neckline facing turned out. I cut a piece of fabric 1 1/4 inches wide on the bias. First I measured the neckline, then cut the piece 1 inch shorter than the neckline, plus the seam allowance. Next I closed the seam on the facing piece and pinned it onto the neckline, just stretching ever so slightly. I used the reverse side of the fabric for the facing. It was the greatest thing about this project!!! I also made the sleeve length long - to come down past my wrist about an inch down onto my hand. Also cozy in the winter.

From lois

From lois

From lois

A Finished Quilt

I have been sadly neglectful in putting up anything. I haven't done a lot of sewing lately. Summers are so busy, but I guess it's over now, judging by the weather.

This quilt is for my "corner" chair, where I sit and knit and read, and... etc. I put a flannel back on it 'cause I like to throw it over my legs in the winter. It will put a spot of color in my corner.

From lois

From lois

From lois

A Summer Blouse

From lois

I had read on a blog that this pattern is one of the few patterns of this style of blouse that you can use cotton or silk fabrics instead of knit fabrics, so I thought I'd try it. Of course I didn't read the Pattern Reviews on it before I started it!

From lois

This pattern is huge! Luckily I did a muslin, but unfortunately didn't get a picture of the muslin that was huge.

Here is a photo, though, in which you can see the permanent marker lines showing how much I folded the front and back pattern pieces over to make it smaller. I used the size 14, which corresponded to bust and waist. Sorry, I tried to make these bigger, but couldn't get it to work for some reason, so it's hard to see. You can click on the photos though.

From lois

From lois

So I ended up taking out several inches. You can see by the pattern envelope that the neck facing doesn't lay nicely and that there are wrinkles extending to the armholes. I decided to extend the neckline up about 2 1/2 inches. Luckily, it turned out great! I made my own 1/2 inch self-facing and put that on.

All in all, I really like how the blouse turned out and would make it again with these corrections. I also did a rolled hem on the serger for the sleeve hems.

From lois

Amy Butler Sweet Harmony Bag

Carissa (daughter)and I made the Amy Butler Sweet Harmony Bag. You can see hers on her Bumblebee Bliss blog, plus the umbrella tutorial that she did. I have wanted to make something from toile fabric for a long time, so when I saw this pink and brown, I bought it. I read several reviews for this bag on Pattern Review before doing it, and was very glad I did.

Amy Butler patterns are not for beginning sewers and some of the instructions leave you scratching your head for awhile. She says if you use 45 inch fabric you need 2 layers of interfacing on some pieces, and 54 inch fabric only needs one layer of interfacing. What she doesn't say is that 54 inch fabric is home dec fabric and heavier, thus not needing the second layer of interfacing. That kind of thing that takes a few minutes to figure out.

I made my handle a bit longer to be able to tuck it on my shoulder and under my arm better. Some people complained that you have to cut out all the fusible fleece and interfacing and then trim them all down, thus wasting fabric. It would be nice to have included separate interfacing pieces.

All in all, it was easy once I got into the sewing of it and it went together fine.
I do love it.

Flower Tutorial

Here's a little tutorial to show you how to make the flower that I put on the Amy Butler Sweet Harmony bag.




Cut out a flower shape from paper. I made a pansy petal using wool felt. Cut out about 6 or so petals, then three more to make smaller petals to go in the front.




Using one of those fancy stitches on your sewing machine that we almost never use, stitch around the edge of each petal. The stitching pulls the edges up slightly to make a little curve to each petal. This makes the flower look dimensional. You can see this better if you click on the picture.




Take three of the petals and cut them a little smaller to go in front of the larger petals, to make a more realistic looking flower.




Glue the pansy petals together into a desirable shape to make a pretty flower.



To make this flower center, I used a 1 1/2 inch piece of fabric, folded it in half lengthwise and stitched down the middle with a gathering stitch. Gather up to a desired length.




Make a nice circle with this ruffle by trimming it, then glue it together, then glue it to the pansy and add a cute button from your stash.


For the green frill that will go behind the whole flower, I used a 1 1/2 inch strip of fabric, sewing a gathering stitch down the middle and gathered it up. When the inside of the flower is complete, glue it to the back of the flower in an attractive way to peek out in three or four places.




The finished product! Glue a pin to the back to attach to the purse.

New Umbrellas

Here's a peek at what Carissa and I did this past week when she and Ben came for a week. Using Amy Butler's laminated fabric, we took vintage umbrellas, took the fabric off and used it for a pattern to make a new umbrella. Since they are now living in Vancouver, WA, she will make good use of the umbrella. She will be putting a tutorial up on her blog, Bumblebee Bliss, in the next few days, so check back

Hunter's Bible Case

Here's a bible case I made for Hunter. He picked the fabric out and his mom picked the coordinating yellow zipper - which makes John Deere colors!

I drafted the pattern according to the size Susie wanted and did the piping around the edge to make it look more finished. My sewing machine does the lettering, so I stitched his name in yellow. I guess you have to look closely or enlarge the picture to see the lettering.

Sewing in the Days of Feedsacks

I got this little booklet from an elderly lady and only the other day got around to looking at it. This is SO cool. I can imagine that farming ladies would have been delighted to get this free fabric and be able to put it to good use.




It says that if you have 100 chickens and 2 cows and 5 hogs you could get 24 yards of fabric every month! And, for example, that would be enough for six dresses! And if you had a few children, then by switching things around everybody could have something new every once in a while. The booklet goes on to share men's and children's patterns.



The paper is kind of yellowish and the printing isn't very dark, but, hopefully, if you click on the picture you can read some of it. I tried to tweak the scanner to get the best possible picture.



Simplicity Pattern 4092 has a hot pad to go with the dress!!



This page gives the neat idea of making the basic dress and adding collar, cuffs, belts, bows or scarves.

Sewing in the

Fun Apron!

Yesterday I made this apron. It is Butterick 4945 and I will try and get a review up soon. This pattern is not for the faint-hearted. I should have read reviews of it before doing it. I put a button and buttonhole at the neck instead of a tie in the neck back. Also put rickrack and a button from my stash on the pocket.

However, it turned out okay. The main fabric is Vicky Payne - the heavier quilting fabric and the coordinating fabric is Michael Miller. I am anxious to tie this one on!

McCall's 3106 Jacket

Procrastination has to end sometime, right? I have been meaning to get this jacket up on the blog for some time.



I cannot find this pattern on the McCalls website even though I recently bought the pattern, so here is the photo.


Here's a photo of the jacket from the back and from the front.







This jacket is very comfortable to wear and I fully expect to make it again. I'd like to do it again without the collar. The zipper went in nicely except the instructions didn't seem clear - it said to sew the facings on and then afterwards put the zipper on. Maybe there is something I missed.... Anyway, I basted the zipper on before putting the facing on the front.

I like this pleat in the back seam of the lining. Makes it very comfy.



One more photo of the front.

McCalls Pattern Sale

Hancocks has McCalls patterns for 99 cents for a few more days. Here are a few that I got yesterday.

A Couple'a Thrift Store Finds Yesterday

I have several things to post from sewing projects, and hope to do so in the next day or so. The weather has been so nice outside that it's almost impossible not to be out there doing some spring clean-up. Has anyone ever seen this before? It came in a package from the thrift store with several other items. It says, "Sew Hooks to Bra - Sew eyes to Girdle one inch below edge." Interesting! Sorry about the sideways. When I took the picture it was straight up, but it posted sideway. I will have to get some help from my son!





I found this metal knitting gauge yesterday. The interesting thing about it is that the gauge goes to 000 sized needle. The newer ones I have seen stop at 1 or 0 This is from the older days when many ladies, including my mom, used the small needles to knit doilies.

House Dress

Gertie has posted twice now about house dresses, the kind our moms used to wear. I have been intrigued by the idea - I noticed that at least half have no waistline - which means super comfort. Yet they look to be very attractively styled and fitted.

Since I am at home a goodly amount of time, this seems like a very comfortable way to spend the day. Think I will try this!

Jacket almost done

Here is the jacket I have been working on. I really like this pattern and the way it fits. I have a long neck and chose this pattern partly because of the collar. Of course, it doesn't drape quite as nicely on the dress form because she has no arms. I had to alter the back princess seam on this pattern as well. I will do a review of this when I finish it. Sorry. I don't know why this went sideways. Maybe can fix it later.

Thrift Store Find Today!

I have been coveting this book by Claire Schaeffer and found it today at a thrift store! I have taken it out of the library and read it, but it is one that really needs to be in the sewing library.

Another top!

I have been wanting to get these photos up for a week now and forget to have Tim do the photos. The one I took of myself in the mirror. I see lots of ladies who do this well, but I can't seem to get the hang of it.

Anyway, the pattern, using my normal 12, was very large. Luckily I had done a muslin of it and altered the muslin and it fits well. I was glad I made the sleeves according to the pattern, even though they seemed kinda floppy, which I feared might annoy me. I put a snap halfway down the sleeve opening and added a button for decoration. The buttons are vintage ones from mom. I just love the buttons!

There is one problem, as you can see in the last picture. The back princess seam by the arm scythe is much too large. I have been wanting to get into pattern drafting, and have read a couple of books on it. I just might have to use this as my first pattern drafting trial. Much more research will have to be done first!

I love this top and the way it fits. The fabric is fantastic. It's a nice cotton/poly that washes up beautifully.