wrap skirt

#2 in my quest to sew up a summer's worth of skirts.

The pattern is from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. A word of warning that you may have already seen on other blogs - if you are not very thin, you'll want to cut one to two extra panels before sewing them all together. (Sadly, I didn't see it until after I had finished the project.) Because the skirt is much larger at the hem, I'm hoping the small amount of overlap won't be such a big problem and I think I can ease my mind on a breezy day with some well placed snaps near the hip. Or I can check the weather report and if the air isn't still, I'll choose something else to wear.

(Hey, just had another idea - perhaps I could wear the wrap part in the front and add some buttons along the edge of the wrap to keep it in place. Thoughts?)

The fabric is from Denver fabrics and is a cotton lawn. I love the drape and softness of it, but I may need to wear a slip due to it being somewhat sheer.

Next skirt on the docket - a simple a-line out of some vintage drapery fabric from an estate sale.

date skirt

I think last year was supposed to be the year I made a ton of skirts. That didn't work out so well. I started in on the fabric I'd reserved for all of them last week.

Up first - a red linen bias cut with elastic waist. The pattern was drafted by laying a well fitting skirt I already had on the fabric and cutting a little wider for seam allowances. It worked out pretty well. A little snug at the waist, but otherwise it looks fine. I won't be tucking a shirt into it, so I'm calling it good.

The fabric came embellished with the ribbon. Found in the clearance bin at JoAnn for $1.00/yd.

What's a fancy little date skirt without a fancy little date bag?

The pattern is from Linda Lee. I'm happy with the results, but there were errors in the cutting directions and the zipper instructions were seriously lacking. If you're new to zippers, ask someone for help with this one. I lined it with a toile pattern from my fat quarter stash.

Below is the worst picture I've ever taken of a finished project. It was supposed to show how the strap goes through the loop(that's on the left above) to make the bag small and dainty. There's a fabric rosette where the two come together.

Moving on, just a close up of the cool ribbon detail on the fabric.

Basia's babysitting tonight. I'm wearing the skirt even if our date consists of shopping at Costco.

patchwork blouses

Simple, matching peasant blouses with some thrifted ric rac trim on the sleeves:

The fabric was free - something from the quilting group closet - it had been donated to them. A word of warning should you think it's the perfect fabric for children's clothing - it's a PAIN to sew. All those tiny patches that are already sewn together for you have seams. Lots and lots of seams. A seam every inch. Your presser foot will not like going up and over all of those seams. Your safety pin that guides the elastic in the neck will get stuck every few inches or so. It will annoy you to the point that you decide the sleeves don't need elastic. The neck won't gather as neatly as you'd like. Then you'll give the rest of the yardage to your mother and wish her good luck.

prairie blouse #2

More spring/transitional clothes for Ellie. This one is made with a Robert Kaufman fabric I've had for a few years. The bias is thrifted.

I love the combination of colors in this print. Ellie likes that it's pink.

prairie blouse

Another piece from Seams to Me:

I thought I'd be all tricky and make the bias casing on the neck my way. Turned out to be a good example of why one should read the pattern all the way through before beginning. It seems just scanning the illustrations and thinking, "yeah, yeah, yeah", in my head isn't always enough. I was able to make it work just fine, but her way really would have been easier for this particular project.

If you hoard vintage bias tape, like I do, this is a great way to use it up. (The older Ellie gets, the fewer patterns I have that work with those one yard cuts of fabric I've been saving. Using bias to finish a hem is a good way to finish something that you might night have quite the length of fabric that you'd like. It eliminates the need to turn up the edge of the fabric twice for a standard sewn hem.) The running stitch was done with embroidery floss after the blouse was finished. The fabric is another Heather Ross print that I'd been saving for at least a year (maybe two) looking for something worthy of it.

bo peep skirts

I think I broke a record for buying a book and making something from it with these skirts. The book was home for about an hour before I started cutting fabric. By the end of the afternoon, this skirt was finished. The pattern is from Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner.

Easy, easy, easy to sew. Even easier to cut out (I hate that part of sewing). You can use your rotary cutter for this pattern since it's all rectangles based on a few calculations in the book.

I did use a few specialty presser feet to make the job faster - my ruffler and the edgestitching foot (bernina #10). My serger was pressed into service to avoid the french seams. Not that french seams are hard, just more time consuming and I'm all about what I can whip out fast right now.

I even cut into the matryoshka doll fabric I've been saving for a worthy occasion. The brown polka dot band is actually fabric, but this would be a great way to showcase some beautiful ribbon.

The skirts look great coming -

and going.

paper, plastic or cloth?

I can finally post some gifts I made for the holidays. (The flu has struck our household, so I'm a little behind on posting.)

My sisters and brother-in-law each got two cloth grocery sacks. The fabrics all came out of the stash. The green is estate sale upholstery fabric. Nice and sturdy.

Pears for Heather.

Pomegranates for Cindy.

Something a little more masculine for Michael.

kimono pjs and cutie booties

More models to share with you.

This one is the kimono pj's and cutie booties from Little Stitches for Little Ones by Amy Butler. Cute book with great projects, but most are relevant only for kids under 12 months.

I think there's a possibility I could redraft this pattern in a larger size to fit Trixie. Goes together quickly if you use a bias tape maker. (The 1"/25mm size was used for the trim on the top.) She also gives good instructions on how to make your own bias tape in the general instructions. Easy to follow if you've never done it before.

All the bias trim was sewn on using an edgestitching foot (Bernina #10). I sew it to the wrong side first so I can do the final stitching on the front where I want it to look perfect. (Yes, you can try to just sandwich the fabric in the bias and sew it in one pass, but I've yet to do this without slipping off at some point and it looks ghastly. Then it's a pain to correct. By the time I've ripped it out and fixed the problem I could have done it the "right" way and not been frustrated.)

I finished these up and just sat and thought about how teeny the kids' feet used to be.

They look a bit harder than they actually are to construct. You just have to sew through a lot of layers and the cutting of all the pieces for this takes as long as the sewing. I think I've figured out a few tricks for making the hand sewing of the lining's sole a bit easier for when I teach it.

I almost want to make a pair I can just stare at here at home.

school days dress

What to do when I have a perfectly good onesie shirt that doesn't work on a potty trained child and a dress with ruined buttonholes on the bodice? Sew them together.

I got to use more of my favorite buttons too.

Ages ago, someone asked me how I put buttons on by machine and I never got around to posting it before. It's really easy. First, you need to drop the feed dogs on your machine so the fabric doesn't advance as you sew them on. I use an open embroidery foot so I can see the button better, like below.

Put the button under the foot. If it slips a bit, I use a dab of glue from a glue stick on the bottom of the button to give it a little hold on the fabric. Change the stitch to a zig zag - test the width by turning the flywheel by hand. When it's set so the needle goes in the holes on opposite swings, you're ready. Now just sew about 10 stitches. You can either clip the threads close or draw the top thread through to the back and tie them off (the more secure option). This method works well for buttons that are purely decorative. When I'm sewing buttons on by machine that need to work on a blouse, I use another foot that has a pin in the center that gives some extra play in the thread so the fabric on the side with the buttonholes will fit easily under the button. Next time I need to use it, I'll try to take a few pictures.

hi-ho the derry-o

I feel like the farmer in the dell's wife when I put this apron on, but I still love all the detailing in it. This is another project I finished up over the last few weeks that had sat in a UFO pile for at least two years. I think I realized I didn't have enough fabric for the ties, nor enough bias tape on hand. There's also a matching apron that had been cut out to fit Ellie, but will probably fit Trixie better at this late date.

The tie situation was remedied with some white muslin. A look through some recently thrifted bias tapes took care of that problem.

The pattern is a mother/daughter set from Simplicity #4692.

liberty top

Summer's over, but I keep thinking about this wall. It was mecca for me. Dozens of Liberty prints all in one place, more than I could take in at one time. I'd planned to buy enough to make one piece of clothing for myself. Since the price per yard is a bit extravagant, I settled on a pattern that I'd had success with and didn't require much yardage. In other words, I wasn't making a full skirted dress out of a vintage pattern in my "someday" pile.

I went with a top that I'd made before. In fact, I'd made it for that trip.

There was enough left for a headband/belt/scarf thingy. (Not the greatest photo here, but it was the one that hid the gray in my hair the best.)

I bought a stack of Liberty fat quarters too. I'm afraid to cut them.

little hip skirt 2

Another model for a class I'm teaching this fall. Another skirt Ellie has to wait months to wear.

The pattern information is here.

One thing I like about this style is that it was easy to alter for Ellie's very slender waist. I simply drew a line connecting the 5/6 waist to the size 7/8 length. The yoke piece was cut out in the smaller size. That was it for alterations.

I'm sorry, but I can't remember the name of the fabric line. I wish I'd had more of the polka dot for the belt. As it was, I barely got the yoke piece out of the only two fat quarters left in the shop.

just ducky

Another pillow for the girls' room.

I can't remember if Carol thrifted the embroidered piece or if I did. One more item that's been waiting patiently for me to get to it - at least 4 years. It's not like I didn't know what I would do with it - the motif goes perfectly with the ducks fabric in their room.

It was appliqued onto the gingham fabric with a simple straight stitch hidden in the crochet detailing around the edges of the duck piece. After that was done the pillow cover was sewn together. This was another one of those things that went together so quickly I'm kicking myself for putting it off so long.

Quack.

little baker's set

Another model for a class I'm teaching this fall.

The pattern is Little Retro Aprons for Kids. Fabrics are by Moda. The pattern includes the size for the doll's apron. There's also a pattern available for matching adult sized aprons.

In addition to the aprons, there'll be a demo on how to make some pretend play cookies with wool felt and buttons. I love how these turned out.

neglected skirt

I should consider August a "finish what you have" month. I've been working dilligently to get UFO's out of my sewing room.

This one had been cut and all the notions were gathered and tucked away with it. I think it was started in the spring of '07. No idea why I stopped working on it. Fear of the invisible zipper? (Which really, with the right presser foot, is nothing to be afraid of.)

Anyway, it's done now and it still fits(a bit of concern when walking away from a project for that long...). The pattern is McCalls 4306. It's a good basic pattern for a bias cut skirt. It was hemmed with thrifted bias tape. Can you believe the color match?

I might get to wear it a few times before it feels too much like fall around here.