Retro Grace

Pantyhose, Or No?

2011-07-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you are Royal Watchers, but I find it interesting to see what the Duchess of Cambridge (Princess Catherine) wears. As a young woman, she will surely influence fashion and styling, at least in the UK.

On their recent trip to Canada and the U. S. many photos were published concerning her hairstyles, jewelry, clothing, shoes, purses, etc. A major hoopla seems to have erupted in England over whether she should wear hosiery.

While in Canada, she DID wear hosiery; however, upon landing in California, she did NOT wear hosiery. I can't help but wonder if this was due to the California heat or to California style.

At any rate, her decision to wear hosiery may indeed bring back the pantyhose. You can read more on this story and see the results of a news poll that already indicate that the Future Queen is impacting fashion.

What say you?

New Vogue Jackets Fall 2011

2011-07-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

Of course, like everyone else who is addicted to Vogue Patterns, I've checked out the new releases. My initial response was "Why so few new patterns?" Surely there will be a plethora of new ones in September.

At any rate, Vogue has provided us with a few that I think might be interesting. First up is Vogue 1263, a new Donna Karan. Here's the front and the line art.

Of course I love the deep rich color, but looking beyond that, this is a nice wrap/shawl/topper with a lot of style. Two-piece sleeves, the large shawl collar, and the shaped seaming in the back are nice details. Add in the stitched down tucks on the front and the pockets, and what more does a girl need? This shape and length would work with anything, just throw it on over pants or a dress. It would even look good belted.

Simple seaming, no buttons/buttonholes, and no notches on the collar would make this an easy sew. The only potential challenges are the curved seams on the back yoke and the points at the hemline in the front. Very doable. And what fun to pick out fabrics!

Next is Vogue 1264, Anne Klein New York:

I sort of surprised myself by liking this one. It keeps growing on me. Simple cut with bracelet length sleeve and a bit of contrast--pleather, satin, your choice. This one has a really good length for pants or even over a skirt, but you'd have to be careful not to go longer than below mid-knee length on the skirt to keep the proportions right. The shape of the front contrast panels brings the eye down the silhouette, which lengthens your look. This would be great in dark greys or dark browns, too. And, it has pockets!

The next one, Vogue 8752 Marcy Tilton, is different, to say the least. Here it is:

Hate the hoodie thing. Love the back inset pocket. Did you notice the same pocket set into the button band? Nice touch. Add in those little dangling pleated pockets in the front and you have yourself a statement piece.

The challenge here is to find a striped fabric, since a stripe will show off those nice details. And I would lose the hoodie thing.

And now for the real dog in the jacket department, Vogue 8748 Katharine Tilton:

I'm not going to even bother with the line art on this one. No shape. None. Bat wings time.

I once had a garment like this, and it nearly drove me crazy. The fabric was beautiful, but wearing the thing would make me a nervous wreck. It was impossible to keep the shoulders where they were supposed to be. If I bent over the least little bit, it would slide around like greasy bacon in a frying pan. It went to the GoodWill in the Sky.

Maybe I'm being a little harsh. Maybe it's not a dog.

But it's at least a puppy.

Facing Reality

2011-07-13T09:16:00.001-07:00

I have succumbed once again to Dress Fever. In particular, I want a simple, sophisticated, sleek looking dress, preferably in brown linen, in the luscious Coffee Liqueur shade on yesterday's Pantone Fall 2011 color chart.

On the cutting table, I have been busily hacking away on a muslin for this little number from Vogue:

This is Vogue 8682, a Very Easy Very Vogue design. Here's the line drawing for this one:

I am working on View A, the shorter length with the shorter sleeve length. So far the sleeves seem to be elbow length, which is a nice look for this.

Cutting this one out took a little bit of soul searching and a lot of Facing Reality.

Facing Reality #1:

I took early retirement from teaching two years ago. During that time I have been working in my own business. This business requires a lot of sitting time, both in front of the laptop and in a chair/recliner/sofa, etc.

Facing Reality #2:

Sitting doesn't use up a lot of calories.

Facing Reality #3:

My usual main form of exercise (heavy gardening work) is no longer available to me. (More on this in a future post.)

Facing Reality #4:

The best workout I currently get is from houseWORK. Not my favorite.
Second best current workout involves kitchen appliances. This is a favorite.
Third best current workout is fork lifting, the hands-down all time favorite.

Facing Reality #5:

A session with the tape measure indicated I needed a WAY BIG size in this dress. WAY BIGGER than anything I have ever made for myself. Or that I have made for anyone else, now that I think about it.....

Facing Reality #6:

I need to put on my Big Girl Pants and cut out the WAY BIG size.

Facing Reality #7:

The damn thing fits me.

Fall Colors in the Fabric Stores Yet?

2011-07-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

Long time no see. Such is life, I guess...

At any rate, this of course is probably very old news to most of you, but here is the Fall 2011 Pantone color report:

I really, really like this year's colors. The most surprising thing to me is the lack of black! It seems that we are supposedly going to see more earthy, rich, feminine colors in the stores this year.

Have you ever had your colors "done"? I did, about 25 years ago, and believe it or not I still have my little color swatch book. It is in my purse as I speak.

I'm planning a little road trip soon to a not-so-local fabric stop (JoAnns or Hancock Fabrics), so my mission is to see if these colors are in the fabric stores or if we will have to wait 3 years for these color palettes to show up for home sewers.

If you've seen these colors out there for purchase already, give a girl a holler out in the comments and tell us where!

Busy, Busy

2011-02-15T23:33:00.000-08:00

Very busy with work right now...back soon!

A Little Knitting

2011-02-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this sweater:

From this book:

Using luscious Noro Silk Garden--so far I have finished the back:

And I have started working on the left front. Can I say just how much I love Noro yarn? Especially Silk Garden? Soft, crushable, silky, beautiful coloration, gorgeous in cables or just plain knitting. I can't buy enough of it.

When my sister was here visiting last weekend for the big birthday gala, she helped me fit Muslin 2 (the armhole issues) of Dress 1, so hopefully I will get the final fit sewn and mastered this weekend.

It's been a busy week for me since I am trying to meet a deadline for my business, but I did spend a bit of time reading the instruction manual for the Bernina 640E machine. My impressions so far? WOW. Bernina doesn't call this baby a sewing machine, they call it a sewing computer. I have a lot of play time with this thing ahead of me.

More later!

Hello, Darling!

2011-01-31T16:47:00.000-08:00

Here is something that has put a GIANT smile on my face, a new Bernina Artista 640E!

It even has the embroidery module, which I haven't even taken out of the box yet. I really didn't intend to spend the $$$ on the embroidery module, but my dealer gave me such a good price I said, oh what the heck. This is probably the last sewing machine I will ever buy, given that I spent the weekend eating this:

My grandchildren call me MamMother. The Miss Angie is my sister, and U. J. is the name the little ones all call my youngest older brother. Since we all had January birthdays, the family wished us all a happy birthday together.

I've been eating icing balloons all day.

They are really good.

My teeth are blue.

Anyone Up For Some Freebies?

2011-01-27T21:50:00.001-08:00

I've been busy the past two days reorganizing my sewing room, getting ready for the massive dress sew-a-thon. I'm also trying to make room for two new pieces of machinery that I will post about soon.

On the reorganizing topic, I have gobs of old issues of Just Cross Stitch, Better Homes and Gardens Cross Stitch, and many others, as well as several cross stitch charts I no longer want. At first I was going to toss these into the trash bin, but it occured to me that some of you may be interested in these items. If so, I will start having some drawings and choose winners.

If you would be interested in any of these (all free, of course!), just leave a comment, please. If I don't get any feedback I'll just toss these out, although it does seem a waste.

I also have many issues of the old Lady's Patchwork and Quilting magazines (probably from the late 1970s to 1980s when they ceased publishing).

Let me hear from you!

A Quilting I Will Go...

2011-01-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

I've had a bit of back trouble for the past few days that I am positive is the result of a kitchen injury. I KNOW that it came from slinging around a heavy iron frying pan and multiple loading/unloading of the dishwasher. It's right dead in the middle of my back and it has kept me from sewing.

So for the past few days I've had to entertain myself with doing some hand quilting on this, a version of Grandmothers Flower Garden:

Although it is difficult to see in the photo, I am using a variegated quilting thread. I am liking this effect a lot:

This quilt is entirely hand-pieced. I started it in September and finished the top right after Christmas. I think a hand-pieced top deserves to be hand-quilted, don't you?

Hopefully this back thingamajig will last until the Manly Men that live here decide to vacuum, mop, clean bathrooms, and do all the laundry before I recover. Sounds like a nice little four-day weekend for me, doesn't it?

I'll keep quilting and hopefully be back on my muslin by tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Muslin 2, Advance 8524, Bodice Again

2011-01-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

From the land of beautiful icicles and flickering electricity, I bring you the latest version of Muslin 2--the front, back, and side views of the bodice:

You have probably noticed a difference in the fit on the left and right sides. The fit on my left side is the best, and is the one I will go with. The side view is of the left side, where a zipper will be inserted.

Following Linda T and Robin's advice, I tackled the extra width and length in the upper bodice area first. After trying this on and pinning out excess in different areas, I decided the best method was to remove the extra width in the front by pinning it out along princess seam lines. This is the area where I had originally added two inches, so in effect I have now reduced this to one inch total.

This adjustment not only reduced the width, it somehow made the rest of the bodice "sit" where it is supposed to "sit." It also changed the angle of the shoulder seam, making that area better than before, but I still made a slight adjustment at the shoulder seam to move the shoulder seam into place. The side seams are good.

The only final concern I have is the bit of drag lines at the underarm, particularly in the back. I may need to lower the back armhole a bit, as well as scoop out the front armhole a tad. The original pattern has an extended shoulder line, if you remember (the white one):

Maybe it's just me, but I want to feed Miss White Dress a few biscuits and some cornbread.

So, please, kick in here with any suggestions. Should I leave it as it is and go shopping for fabric? Or tweak it a bit more?

It's nice to have an in-house photographer today, since schools are closed:

I think he wants me to turn up the heat.

In The Winter Time...

2011-01-09T19:08:00.000-08:00

We are under assault here in the Deep South from Mother Nature, currently being bombarded with sleet. Most likely we will lose power (and heat) pretty soon.

Oh, well. At least I have something I can work on--Muslin 2, a quilt top that needs more hand quilting, a bag of Reeses Pieces, and the latest Tom Clancy novel.

I'll be back when possible. Stay warm, yall.

Muslin 2, Advance 8524

2011-01-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

I started over with Muslin 2 for Advance 8524. This time, I added another extra inch in bodice length and PLENTY of room for the side seams. Here it is, still needing more work:

In the above picture I have lowered the side darts 1 and 1/2 inches and shortened the waistline darts 1/2 inch.

In this photo you can see that I have too much room above the bust.

Way too much fabric. Like most women, my upper chest area is sort of concave. Not really concave, but you know what I mean.

And of course, I need to take in deeper side seams.

Another alteration I've already made to Muslin 2 that worked is back neckline darts about 2 inches long. So the back is fine.

At this point I think I need to remove about 1/2 inch in width from the shoulder to the bustline on each side of the bodice front. I also need to take in deeper side seams. I think the darts are working now, but I won't really be able to tell until I take in the side seams.

If you see anything I've missed, please leave a comment! Help!

Muslin 1, Part 3

2011-01-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

I decided to add space to the waistline on each side of the center front (due to a bit of baby flab still holding on there after 17 years, oh well) so I marked the spots with pins:

I cut a split about 3 inches long at each mark, then added a bit of muslin scrap underneath. After basting those in place, I did another try-on:

This is better, but still not good. Even though I already added one inch to the bodice length, I think I still need another inch or so.

So my next step is start over with Muslin 2 for this dress. I will lengthen it plenty and add plenty of room at the waistline. Please point out any other problems I need to address!

More later, as I am back to the drawing board.

Part 2 Muslin, Advance 8524

2011-01-04T19:11:00.000-08:00

Altering the bust dart, or in my case, lowering the entire underarm dart and shortening the waistline dart, is not really that difficult.

The first step is to decide where your bust needs to end. For me, I use the Red Pin Method, like this:

Put on a decent bra and the muslin and use a Red Pin to mark the spot about an inch and a half away from your bust point (the nipple). The dart should stop short of the nipple.

Okay, now that all the perverts are here, let's get on with it.

Here is the muslin laid flat. See the Red Pin?

Now I'm going to draw a line parallel to the existing dart. A see-thru quilting ruler comes in really handy.

Now I'm going to the inside and redraw the original dart in its new location.

Step 1, mark the same line on the inside:

Step 2, measure the width of the original dart and draw the newly located dart:

If you're working with an actual pattern instead of a fabric muslin, simply cut out the original dart on the pattern, move it, and tape it in place. Easy. Sew up your new dart, and admire.

Or maybe, don't admire. I still see problems. Do you?

More to come.

Muslin 1, Advance 8524

2011-01-03T10:51:00.000-08:00

Full Warning: Shameless photos ahead. Okay, I warned you!

I put a pot roast in the crock pot and got right to it on Muslin 1 for Advance 8524. Here it is in all its hideous glory:

See all that saggy business above the boobs? See my muffin top? See how tight it is in the waist? On to photo 2:

I always do this when fitting because if I can't move in it and do normal stuff (like cook) I will be miserable wearing it and it will drive me NUTS. Since I live on the edge anyway, I do not need any extra nuttiness, thank you very much.

So, okay, I can raise my arms comfortably. But see all that pleating business going on above the bust? That tells me the bust darts are not pointing at my bust. They may be pointing at someone's boobs, just not mine. On to photo 3:

I see a drag line on the right shoulder. A photo like this will tell you lots of things. By looking at the drag lines I can see a difference in the shape of my two shoulders. The muscle at the very top of my right shoulder is more developed than the left shoulder. That's because I am right handed. This photo also shows the need for more width at the waistline. On to photo 4:

Yep, I can move in it, but I have a bit of a gap at the neckline. On to photo 5:

Obviously I have no shame (blush, blush). Now that we have ALL agreed on that, let's look at the bust area. The darts are obviously too high. But look at the side seam. See how it is pulled towards the front of the body at the waistline? But it is in the right spot at the underarm? This is because the FRONT of my body is larger than the back at the waistline.

This is actually important because it tells me I need to split the waistline and add a couple of inches to the front bodice at the waistline, but not to the back bodice.

I'm going to move darts! More later.

Dress 1--Altering The Bodice

2011-01-02T18:24:00.001-08:00

I spent time this afternoon making adjustments to the bodice front and back of Advance 8524. First I made a copy of the original pattern with newspapers and after taking more measurements I decided that I needed to add seven inches around the body and one inch in torso length.

That is a lot of body circumference to add to a pattern so I know that these are the first of many adjustments. I split the seven inches between the front and back, and since I worked with half the bodice pieces, I needed to add 1 3/4" to each piece to get a total of seven inches. I divided this into two separate splits--the shoulder area between the darts and the neck area between the waist dart and the center front. Here is the bodice front. The pink lines show where I added width to the pattern, and the green lines are the bodice length adjustment.

You can see that the darts were minimally affected by these adjustments. I strongly suspect that I will need to lower the armhole and probably adjust the darts after the first muslin.

I matched up the bodice front and back at the shoulder and made the back adjustments in the same location as the front adjustments to help keep things aligned. Here is the back:

Instead of making the adjustments this way, I could have repeatedly graded this pattern up to get it closer to my size. After looking through my grading books I decided that adding to the bodice width by splitting and spreading might be a shortcut. Time will tell.

I'm getting right to work on the first muslin!

2011 Project--100 Dresses

2011-01-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right. I am going to make 100 Dresses. And no, I am not nuts. And no, I doubt I'll be finished by year's end. Maybe halfway. Maybe a quarter of the way. And no, they won't all be for me. We do have a gaggle of girls in this family.

At any rate, I'm jumping right in! I know that this will be a learning experience for me (and hopefully you all will follow along and offer pointers now and then) since I will try to choose patterns with dressmaker details. I also plan to do a little designing for girls as I go along, too. I already have a beautiful little volunteer who has requested a blue dress for school.

Here are the first 14 contenders, all vintage patterns:

And of this first group, this is the one I am starting with, Advance 8524, View 2:

And here's the back of the pattern envelope:

This pattern offers three entirely different bodices in one pattern and originally sold for 50 cents. Hard to imagine, isn't it? You certainly can't get that variety today. The skirt pattern is marked for deep pleats, but the pattern envelope indicates you could gather the skirt instead. (I'm going with the pleats.) I wish I could show you the instruction sheet but it is missing, along with the bodice pieces for the red dress (my favorite one, of course) and a back facing.

It calls for a 12 inch zipper in the left side, which is very exciting because I haven't done one of those yet. Views 2 and 3 have button closures and collars, and View 3 has split cuffs on dolman sleeves.

I had a hard time believing this was going to use up 5 yards of fabric until I saw the pattern pieces for View 2, the one I'm making. Here they are with the huge skirt piece underneath the bodice pieces. I'll have to cut 4 of these giant skirt pieces!

In addition to having no instruction sheet, another challenge is that this pattern is not my size. I will be adding about 7 inches in circumference to the bodice and probably about an inch in bodice length. I think this will be a fun dress to wear to Wal-Mart this summer.

When I decided in early December that I wanted to tackle 100 Dresses, my husband looked at me and said, "You're crazy." After a second or two he said "That means you'll have to buy fabric for 100 Dresses". And all I could do was SMILE.

So imagine my surprise when this was wrapped up under the tree for me on Christmas morning!

Yes, that is two bolts of muslin, thirty wonderful yards, and HE HIMSELF drove 45 miles to JoAnns and bought it for me!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T17:27:00.001-08:00

Here's wishing you all the very best for 2011!

Left to right: The Princess, Little Ruby, and Little Pearl.

I'll post my 2011 Project tomorrow. Can't wait to get started!

Getting A Few Things Out Of The Way

2010-12-30T10:26:00.001-08:00

I have a couple of projects that I am trying to finish up before the 2011 Crazy Project I will begin on January 1. Here are some snaps of one of the things I'm trying to move on outta here:

This will eventually be a king-size bed quilt, specifically requested by my husband to keep him warm at night. And, gee, for all these thirty-odd years I thought that was MY job. Oh, well.

The quilt pattern is a variation of courthouse steps and is made of 100% cottons, some of which are from the late 1970s. Yeah, I have quite the fabric stash in this place.

The only left to do to this puppy is to arrange all 49 squares into something pleasant to look at and stitch them together into a completed top. I have the quilt batting, but I need to come up with a backing fabric. Excellent excuse to go to my Not-So-Local-Quilt-Shop, isn't it?

I intend to get this one out of the way today. Then I'm going to drag out a couple of hundred vintage patterns and start gearing up for the new project!

Oh, Yes, I Want To Do That!

2010-12-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

A vintage dress sew-a-long is underway for January. Am I joining in? Yep.

This fits in PERFECTLY with my new project for 2011 that I will be posting about soon.

A Hint:

It has something to do with DRESSES!

Don't Give Up On Me

2010-12-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

I'll be back soon. Very, very soon. With a terrific project for 2011!

Finally, I Get To Draft Something

2010-03-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am finally getting set up to draft a bodice for myself. I was sidelined by helping out with baby girls who turned out to have what we are referring to as "Swamp Virus". Little did I know that not only would I end up sicker than a sick dog, I would also lose six pounds in the process.

Needless to say, I haven't been worth killing for a few days and now that I'm better I want to draft this darn thing. Oh yeah, and do a LOT of laundry. Yall all know how the virus thing goes....

So you can see here I'm all set up: wrapping paper, drafting tools, measurements, instruction book, and a giant bag of candy.

So I'm off to my little adventure! More later.

Pattern Drafting 101

2010-02-19T17:34:00.000-08:00

At last I have gotten my hot little hands on this, one of the greatest books ever written on pattern drafting and design:

Yep, the one by Jack Handford. What I intend to do, am determined to do, and plan to successfully do, is draft a bodice that will fit ME, ME, ME!

I started out by reading Chapter 1, How To Measure For The Basic Blocks. In fact, I read it twice. It took two readings for the directions and the reasoning behind the directions to fully sink in.

Now the main problem is that I could not possibly take two hundred bodice measurements by myself. So I had to wait for a visitor. Not just ANY visitor, it had to be a special visitor. One that not only knows how to sew and use a measuring tape, but one that has a rotten memory so she couldn't tell the world what my measurements are. I'm talking about The Sister, of course.

So she came and we cooked and we played with babies and we ate and we cooked and we played with babies and before she left I had photocopies of the directions for the two hundred measurements and I Had The Measurements!

I intend to find time this weekend to turn these measurements into a personal bodice pattern. We'll see, won't we?

Sleeves!

2010-02-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

I'm still plugging away on the chevron sweater, and I've managed to finish not one, but TWO! sleeves. Here they are, Mr. Left and Mr. Right:

For a person who likes things to line up EXACTLY when I'm sewing up a stripe or plaid, I feel like I've been allowing myself to run naked in the woods while knitting this. Because when you knit with Noro, it just does its own thing. And I am amazing myself by how much I love the randomness of the result. It's just fascinating to look at, every piece is so different.

On another note, I did actually cook the chicken (with sides, of course) and let my mind work on the bodice drawing from the last post. I've thought of several ways to do it, and as usual, some are simple, some are not so simple, some could be considered as simply cheating, and some are simply complicated.

I'll give this more thought and maybe even (gasp!) try to draw a little. If the idea of me drawing something doesn't make you quit reading, I guess that nothing will.

Thanks to all for welcoming me back to blogging!

Pattern Design Puzzle

2010-02-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

Still here, still knitting, still wishing it would stop raining. Also, still fighting off a nasty cold.

Instead of cooking supper, I'm puzzling over the pattern design of bodices. I wish I had the link to this for you, but alas, no dice. I'm referring to this:

In particular, the one on the bottom right that has the three button closure. Things that are running through my head while I try to decide what to cook with chicken tonight:

1. There are three buttons and either three buttonholes (or maybe snaps).
2. The buttonholes would be on the wearer's right side and the buttons would be on the left side.
3. The button plackets are pleated, pieced, separate, joined with seams, OR
4. This is simply a fancy pants yoke topstitched to look like it is pieced.
5. This whole thing is a well organized conspiracy in order to avoid cooking until the last possible moment.
6. This whole thing is a well organized conspiracy to give me a headache.

Gone to cook.

"C" is for Chevron

2010-01-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

I have a good start on the Chevron sweater. Here's the left front.

This took quite some time....first i knit the sweater back. The ENTIRE back.

Then I laid it out on the floor to admire it and noticed that it seemed really wide. As in, way, way too wide. So I measured it. And it was six inches wider than it was supposed to be.

As a rule, I get the correct gauge using the recommended needle size. Not so with this yarn.

Most people would have been upset with themselves, but not me. Because this meant I had to unravel it--yes, the whole thing--and would therefore have to REKNIT the entire thing. Yippee!! I love this yarn so much that I was HAPPY about this.

So I unraveled it and rewound the luscious stuff. Then I went down a needle size (to a size 7) and started knitting the left front. About six inches into it I decided to measure. And it was still too wide.

So I unraveled it and rewound it AGAIN. And then, and only then, did I decide to cast on 50 stitches in a size 6 needle and knit for gauge.

And now I've got it right. And so the photo above is the result of my knitting an ENTIRE back, MOST of the left front, and ALL of the left front.

Another thing to love about this yarn: it likes to be knitted, and unknitted, and knitted, and unknitted, and knit again. It holds up wonderfully with no thinning or deterioration at all, and I have proved it.

One last closeup look at the chevrony goodness!

A Love Affair

2010-01-09T14:16:00.001-08:00

I am consumed with the spark of a love affair.......with Noro yarn.

I bought the loveliest, softest, lushest Noro ever. See?

This is Noro Kureyon in two colorways, 154 on the left and 183C on the right. The left one has tangerine, yellows, lime, purple, hot pink, turqouise, and every blend possible in the graduated colors. The right one ranges from black to charcoal, to pale greys, tan, chocolate and deep sea blues. They are beautiful. Just beautiful. And they are so soft that I spend way too much time squeezing them. When I'm not just staring at the yarn out of admiration for its sheer beauty, I'm squeezing it. Maybe I'll stare, squeeze, knit. This may take awhile.

I'm going to make this sweater, the Chevron Cardigan, from Jane Ellison's fabulous book, Knitting Noro:

I love this book. I want to knit everything in it. The designs are simple yet stylish with great schematics. The designs really do showcase the YARN, and that's what it is all about.

The Year That Was

2010-01-08T07:02:00.000-08:00

2009 was a busy year for our family. This might give you an idea of what went on:

1 person restored a house
1 person graduated high school AND started college
2 people learned to walk, talk, climb, and take off all their clothes
1 person started kindergarten
1 person started "school" (aka kindergarten for 3 year olds)
1 person got a drivers license AND a speeding ticket AND a lecture from his parents
1 person lost 30 pounds and got a shiny new heart stint
1 person had brain surgery
1 person retired from one career and promptly started another one
1 person decided there are things much more important than a regular paycheck
1 person decided to simplify her life and spend time doing things she loves with people she loves

Gee, no wonder I've been gone for so long.

Creating a Wardrobe, part 1

2009-09-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about about the SWAPpers out there, and it occured to me that many women entering the workforce (or changing careers) might suddenly have a need for a new wardrobe for a new job. Perhaps a promotion, a change to an authority position, or simply transitioning from a SAHM to a working girl. At any rate, I know a couple of folks who are faced with the problem of changing a wardrobe to fit a new job, and I thought it would present some major problems if one had to suddenly start completely over.

So I've been thinking a lot about how I would start over with a wardrobe. Given limited time (to buy or make) and money for a new wardrobe, essentially the question is where to start.

So this has been cooking along in my little brain for a while and then I happened across this in Time magazine. It is a painting by Wassily Kadinsky, created around 1911:

The more I looked at it, the more colors I noticed. Blues from midnight to royal to sky to palest ice; red from burgundies to rose to pinks, purples, periwinkles, orchids, chocolates, golds, olive green.

Look how many different colors are present. Then notice that they all work together.

So I've decided that a painting that one likes could be used as inspiration for a new wardrobe, just as it could be used as the starting point for decorating a room in your home.

Anyone done this before?

Still Here....

2009-09-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still here. Just sidetracked. For more than a year.

A lot has happened while I've been quiet. Babies have grown into toddlers, grandsons have started school, and I have retired from the J-O-B. Because I have started a business!

We finished repairing the tornado damage and the new landscaping is gorgeous. I need to take a picture, obviously. And yes, I am now back into sewing.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Collars

2008-07-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Of course, it will soon be time to go back to the J-O-B, and I still hate my clothes. All of them. Another massive closet clean-out will be executed soon. And when I say executed, I really do mean executed. I hate my current wardrobe just that much. Fire? Guillotine? But no hanging. They have been hanging too long already.

First up on the chopping block will be things that don't fit. They don't fit because they are not the same size as I am, they are too tight in certain areas, the armholes drive me crazy, they look like sacks, they are washed to death, and they all look like Grandma clothes. So what I'm really saying is that they don't fit the mental image of myself that I carry around in my head. To realize the mental image I need to lose about 40 pounds (that's a lot of biscuits, yall) and about 15 years.

The first thing may happen (40 pounds), but not in the next four weeks. The second thing? I wouldn't go back to that age. No, thank you. There's a lot to be said for growing into who you really are as a person, and time is the only thing that will get you there.

So although I haven't been 35 in a long time, most of the current fashions can still be worn by a person of a certain age. Modified for modesty, I think most things worn by a 35-year old can be worn by others. Anyone else out there agree with me on this?

Some really cute summer things have been out there on the internet and in the stores and many of them are halter backs. No, thanks. But why not use the cute front and add a regular back to it? That's what I mean by modifying for modesty and maturity. Just because we are aging does not mean we must be confined to square, shapeless blazer jackets and straight skirts. Or does it?

Thinking about all of this led me to Style for a look at the Fall 2008 collections. One of the lead articles is about collars. So I borrowed a few photos to talk about.

This one is by BCBG. Love this collar. It does what a collar is meant to do, that is, it frames the face. Soft, drapable fabrics for this one, preferably in a solid. But I can also see this in a silky print. So feminine. Did you notice the sleeves? They are a little longer, giving the entire top a sort of layered petal look. The length of those sleeves is critical to the look of the collar. Lengthen that jumper by one foot and I think this would work for me. And the model? She needs a biscuit.

This one has a detail you don't see very often. Look at the two collars-one squared, one rounded. A very interesting look. The sleeves have a soft rounded look also. Again, add length to the hemline and I really like this one, too. It's from Yigal Azrouel.

This one, from Allessandro Dell Acqua, has a straight cut across the neck instead of the normal curve. Very simple. The back neckline looks to be a funnel cut, and the sleeves are cut kimono-style. A classic look, to me anyway. The width across the shoulders will balance out a heavy bottom, too.

Next up is this one by Allegra Hicks. It's folded double back onto itself. I'm still trying to figure out how to cut this one. If you have an idea, just go ahead and shout it out.

Here's another one by BCBG. This is a circle collar (notice how it's not gathered into the neckband?) and it's cut of two contrasting fabrics with the bottom layer slightly longer than the top one. I have a pattern around here somewhere with this collar, and as soon as I dig it up I'll post it.

This shirtdress by Lanvin appears to be made of a jersey knit and what caught my eye here is just how minimal the collar actually is. I need a better and bigger photo of this one because there looks like something rolled going on here, but I can't tell what it is! If you find a better photo, please leave me a link to it. It's cut way too low (think camisole?) and I would lose the black eyeliner. But my hair looks just like that when I get out of the shower.

I like this jacket by Y & Kei. It has a military feel, doesn't it? Those look like angled front bands and the bottom band looks to be heavily topstitched, but look at that collar! It really softens the whole look up. I have a pattern here somewhere for that collar, too (I think it's a Vogue). Sigh. I need to dig for it. And did you notice the soft rolled collar on the tank under it?

And last but not least, look at this take on a shirtdress. It needs to be silk, of course, or a really good fake silk, and I actually found a pattern for this one:

Vogue 1017 by Sandra Betzina, the one that everyone seemed to laugh at. Just extend the ruffled collar down below the waist and continue it over to the opposite side. Use the short sleeve without the bottom band/ruffle to get the same effect on the sleeves.

I'm off. Do you feel a massive sew-a-thon coming in this space soon?

Landscaping, Still

2008-07-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

The work on the landscaping continues. As you can see, there are plenty of things left to put in the ground and on the ground:

Here's one section that's partly planted:

Here's another section with the first few plants in:

The Brick Men were here today, putting up part of the retaining wall:

And big things like this are parked everywhere:

Although it doesn't look like much yet, we are very pleased. There is still an enormous amount of grading, fill dirt, planting, irrigation pipes, and brick work left to be done.

And just for those who have never experienced it, this is what traveling with twin babies is like:

It's amazing that two itty bitty people can turn a four-hour drive into a seven-hour event!

And this grandmother certainly has developed twin skills, too:

Two Little Peas In A Pod

2008-06-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

We're all at the beach, having a little vacation. Of course, these Little Bobbies have been entertaining Grandma. Here they are, posing on the sofa:

That's Little Ruby on the left, and Little Pearl on the right.

Little Ruby comes in at a little over 9 pounds, and Little Pearl is over 10 pounds. So Little Ruby has tripled her birth weight, and Little Pearl has doubled hers. Fat babies!

Of course, Little Ruby is still extracting revenge for being so mistreated while in the womb:

See the sneaky litte smile? See Little Pearl do what she does best? Holler, that is. There is a reason her nickname is Holler Head.

I Finally Found It

2008-06-19T07:46:00.001-07:00

My camera, that is. It has been MIA for the past week. I finally found it in the sewing room, of all places. That kind of gives you an idea of just how much sewing has been going on around here, now doesn't it?

That's because we are in the midst of a massive landscaping project. As I'm sure all of my neighbors will agree, our yard has been pretty pitiful since the tornado. Now that all the stumps and stubs of what used to be wonderful shade trees have been decimated by the chain saw and stump grinders, very little is left.

I can describe it in just two words.

Not Much.

There used to be a retaining wall there. It was clobbered by trees and heavy equipment, so the Landscaping Guys have busted down what was left of it and piled it in the yard. A shiny new one will go up any second now.

See the big ugly piles? See the nice front porch? See the not-so-nice view from the front porch?

This used to be our front walkway.

On the right you can see what's left of the front walkway pavers. We're going to reuse those (and about a hundred more) to rebuild the walkway.

See the nice dirt?

But now, oh, my goodness, just look at all of THIS!!!!

All of those glorious, beautiful living things will soon live in the front yard. There are 100 daylilies, 400 asiatic jasmine, little gem magnolias, elm leaf hollies, stokesia, purple coneflowers, hundreds of daffodils, white zinnias, and about 200 things I can't identify.

We are going for an English cottage garden look, with a basic green evergreen foundation planting with hundreds of perennials for four season color. Also included are 10,000 square feet of centipede sod and a monstrous irrigation system.

It took a whole can of W-D 40 to get that wallet out of my Sweet Heart's pocket.

Pants, Version 1

2008-06-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

It's been another exciting day for the yard. The Tree Men returned, and as a special treat, the Bulldozer Guys came, too. We had to move all the cars (I still don't know where mine is--I guess one of the kids drove it off somewhere, and just think, it had a full tank of gas in it, too) so they could get a bucket truck, a dump truck, a bulldozer, two trailers, and too many chain saws and ropes to count into the back yard. More tree work from the tornado, I'm afraid. PLUS, the Bulldozer Guys are here to knock down two old decrepit sheds in the back yard.

How decrepit is decrepit? Well, one of the old sheds was the original outhouse for the big house, so it must have been built around 1890. The termites have had a heyday with that thing. The only thing holding it up was kudzu.

The Duke of Cute was here, too, to watch the men work. He and Pa had a large time watching the men with the big machines.

Last night I sat in front of the TV and basted together Version 1 of the Burda pants pattern. I'm talking about real basting, the kind done by hand. That's right, I basted the ENTIRE pair of pants together (even the hems!) by hand. With quilting thread. Here's a view of the front:

I wore these for about four hours today while cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, and other sorts of bending and working activities. I did this so I could tell if the things really fit or not. So many times I think something fits me, only to have it drive me bonkers if I wear it to work.

I can sit, stand, bend, stretch, walk around, and sit some more in these. They are very comfortable. But after wearing them I realize that this pattern is drafted for saddlebags, which I don't have. All of my butt is behind me. So I need to take about an inch off each side seam from mid-hip down.

Here's the back view:

Again with the saddlebags. With the additional problem of too short of a crotch length. Although these feel really good on, they don't look so good, now do they?

The waist fit is fine, I'm just not sure if it's at the right point on my body. So next I plan to taper out those saddlebags and let out the crotch seams and wear them some more. Then I can make a better decision about the waistline.

It's Kind Of Noisy Here Today

2008-06-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

That's because the Tree Men have finally arrived. I don't know what happened to the "first thing Monday morning" scenario, but I'm just glad they came.

Here's either a very brave, or very stupid, Tree Man doing his thing with a huge chain saw:

Lucky me, I caught a picture of a huge hunk of tree just as it hit the ground. See?

That made a very loud "thump" sound. That is the sound of carefully laid centipede sod getting pounded to death. The children and I spent three steamy July days laying sod in the front and side yard many years ago, but the agony of that heat is still with me today. So of course, I decided to come back inside. And play with this, the haul from Joanne's yesterday:

Those are three silky/gauzy, chiffony prints, destined to become tops and blouses for the J-O-B. And also a brown/white burnout linen that will need to be underlined. You may notice that they are all browns. There is a reason for this. Over the past ten years I have taught at two different high schools, and the school colors were black/red and black/grey. Almost everything in my closet has gradually turned to black, or something that goes with black.

This year, brown will be my new black. That's my first goal for summer sewing. I'm steadily collecting fabrics and shoes and accessories in the brown/beige family. I intend to spice it up a bit with some red and dark yellows. We'll see how this develops. The force of a SWAP is compelling, let me tell you. I'm just about to succumb.

Which brings me to this purchase.

What can I say--it spoke to me. It said take me home with you, it doesn't matter that I match NOTHING you own. So I bought it. It's soft, crinkly, drapey polyester and I have two yards of it. If you have a pattern recommendation, just sing out. I need help with this one. It's turquoise with a bit of lime green and ivory.

Since I'm too frail to stand up to the heat of midday (it's currently only 95 degrees) I'm going to make a muslin of this pants pattern. It's Burda 8341. Basic two darts in front, two darts in back, fly front zipper, one button waistband.

What I'm doing here is comparing the back crotch curve to an absolutely favorite pair of jeans. Although the jeans are stretch denim, the crotch curve is not on the stretch part and it looks as though the crotch curve of the Burda pattern is identical to the jeans. At least I will have a really good jumping off point for a start.

Goal number two for summer sewing is to perfect the fit of a basic pants pattern. Then I will have a TNT to use as a basis for all future pants to come. I haven't made a pair of pants for myself in over 20 years, so this will probably be both interesting and highly comical. I just can't wait.

And just so you'll know, if you hate the Mom jeans (in my case it's Grandma jeans) with the saggy seat and the boggy bottom of the thigh, go try on a pair of these Bandolino jeans in the stretch denim. Love them, love them, love them. And when I turned them inside out I discovered they were made in Egypt. I had no idea Egyptians could sew.

Yard Work, Bobbies, and More

2008-06-04T10:17:00.001-07:00

Hello again. Long time no blog. School over. Gardening begins. Cooking, maybe. Laundry, definitely. Bobbies, absolutely.

Here's Little Pearl in the cutest little hat (this was on her 4 week birthday--she's now 8 weeks old):

And the divine Little Ruby, wearing hers:

Someone has stolen Little Ruby's hair...she's sort of bald on top. Little Pearl, however, has been nicknamed WigHead, since she has SO much hair.

These darling little bobbies spent all day with me yesterday. Their mama returned to the J-O-B on Monday and since I have no J-O-B until the end of July, it is all-out bobbies, gardening, and sewing until then. Yes, I said sewing. As soon as I post this, I'm hitting the shower and the highway to Joanne's Fabrics. Even though I haven't been sewing I have been dreaming about it and reading everything everyone else has blogged about and I have a list of 14 new patterns I MUST buy, and I hope to come away with a carload of fabric, too.

We have a massive landscaping project underway as a result of last year's tornado. We are having damaged trees removed, a retaining wall rebuilt, a walkway relaid, and lots and lots of planting. It's a good thing this little person arrived just in time to teach Pa how to use the posthole diggers:

They are planting tomatoes. Yes, that's right, they are planting tomatoes (and squash) in Grandma's flower garden. Pa says that way he knows they'll get watered, because I water that flower bed religiously every day. It's already 96 degrees here, with a high this afternoon of 98, and nary a drop of rain until next week sometime.

One really nice thing about having a garden space is the ability to walk out the door and come in with a homegrown bouquet, like this one--gardenias and eucalyptus.

And in the She's Really, Really Stupid category, how about this one? I was spray painting some wrought iron plant stands with black spray paint late Monday evening, and the slightest little breeze was cooling me off while I worked. When I went up on the porch and flipped my sandals off, I found this had happened:

And no, that's not dirt. It's paint. I guess I'll wear socks to Joanne's.

Wish me luck.

I'm Still Here

2008-05-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still here. Where have the past four weeks gone? Well, I've been rocking bobbies. Teaching school. Planting flowers. And waiting, just waiting, for the last day of school.

Finally, it is here. Tomorrow is the last day of school! We have graduation on Saturday, then a few days of post-planning next week.

Which means that life will get back to normal next week. It is amazing how much time all the end-of-year school stuff takes, what with Awards Night, Senior Receptions, Graduation, etc. I am so ready to have this OVER, because I have many, many plans for the summer.....

Back soon!

We've Been A Little Busy Over Here....

2008-04-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have. There has been a whole lot of this going on:

That's Little Pearl on the left above, and Little Ruby on the right. Such hair! These little babies are fattening right up. They've just been fed and are totally konked out and relaxed in Pa's arms.

They've reached their first milestone--they lost their umbilical cords and have shiny new bellybuttons! Nothing is cuter than a brand new bellybutton, I'm here to tell you. And these are very cooperative babies; they'll let you rock them whether they are asleep or awake. Which is a good thing, since they mostly sleep.

Another reason I've been MIA is due to a truly lousy internet connection. But that will be remedied very, very soon. A new setup will be installed shortly, because it takes FOREVER to upload pictures. I guess that's what you get when you run two desktops, three laptops, two X-boxes, and a Wi on one service. It's a wonder anyone around here ever gets any work done, isn't it? But with a house full of people and many, many Random Teenagers hanging out at our house we need all the internet (and gaming power) we can get.

I've partially succumbed to a serious case of Spring Fever, too. In my case this involves grandiose plans of flower beds, potted plants, manicured lawns, and climbing roses. This happens to me every year, although I must say I escaped it last year. That was the Spring of the Tornado, when the entire yard and house was just awful. The front yard is still unsightly, but hopefully that project will be started in the summer. In the meantime, I'm working on the back patio area and the back flowerbeds, because that's where we'll spend the most time until the heat drives us indoors. I'm good outside until it hits 90 degrees, then it's every flower for himself.

This year I'm using a different approach to the gardening thing. I'm cleaning out flower beds and pulling weeds and getting my containers ready FIRST. Then I'm going shopping and put it all in the ground or pot.

Yesterday the Old Man and I celebrated out 34th wedding anniversary. The children gave us a little party (excellent food was involved) and nice gift certificates to an area restaurant. Such smart children. They want their daddy to be able to eat something he didn't have to cook himself. We spent the day working on the patio and the flower beds. The weather was perfect and it was really nice to spend time by ourselves, planning and working together. And that's what marriage is all about, isn't it? Spending time together, planning for the future, and realizing how fortunate you really are.

On the sewing front, no sewing has occurred, but a lot of sewing is about to occur. I've been shopping for sewing stuff, since that's what we do when we can't actually sew, isn't it? I've subscribed to Patrones (more on that later), bought fabrics to redecorate my bedroom, and bought a new sewing machine to boot!

Sorry for the long post, but I had a lot of ground to cover. Which reminds me, I need some vinca or pachysandra or ivy or wandering jew.....

Bobbies!

2008-04-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

Oh Happy Day!

They're home, in a great big bed.

Only one word fits here. Angels.

Here's Little Ruby, getting ready for the ride home. See how tiny she is?

"Yo, Grandma, what IS this thing? Help!"

Here's a very happy mama.

And what does The Princess think of these two bobbies?

That one picture tells the story. Pure delight.

And I love this last one. Little Pearl is pinching Little Ruby--getting even for all those times she was kicked in the head.....

We are blessed.

Packing Up

2008-04-16T04:06:00.000-07:00

Little Pearl has gotten her Get Out Of Jail Free card, so we are heading home around noon.

Yahoo!

Everything's Coming Up Babies...

2008-04-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

We're still here, chilling out at the hotel, and things are going wonderfully. It seems like these little babies get bigger every day.

Here's Little Ruby, who likes being my roommate:

And I actually caught a picture of her with her eyes open!

"Yo, Grandma, I need some food here, woman!"

And Little Pearl (who is really not quite so little) is chugging right along, getting plumper and cuter every day. If this doesn't look like a lump of sleeping sugar, I don't know what does:

Now she's all stretched out, and ready for some food! With the eyes open! This has been my lucky day for baby pictures, it seems.

We're still set to go home on Wednesday or Thursday since everything is fine with both little babies. Over the weekend The Princess came to visit and she is fascinated by "the bobby" (which is her word for "baby"). We can't wait to see her reaction when not one bobby, but two bobbies, come to her house to live!

Keep those good thoughts coming. Thanks, all.

Another Quick Update

2008-04-10T00:59:00.000-07:00

Little Ruby is being discharged!

Little Pearl didn't get a Get Out Of Jail Free card yet, so the mama and the daddy and Little Ruby and I are taking over a couple of hotel rooms for the next several days while Little Pearl gets up to speed. We're going to hang out and wait for Little Pearl, since the NICU is not local (yall do remember that our hospital got blown away in the tornado?), but is about an hour's drive away.

At any rate, when my daughter called me at school yesterday to relay the news about Little Ruby, a plan was quickly hatched as to how to manage all this. One, they didn't want to leave Little Pearl, Two, they didn't want to leave Little Ruby, Three, they needed another Grandma, since the Other Grandma is taking care of The Princess, and Four, they are beginning to get a little frazzled.

Yall cannot IMAGINE how mad I was. I mean, really. They wanted to know if I could take a few sick days, check into a nice hotel, hang out in pajamas all day, eat restaurant meals delivered to my door, bring along a little needlework project and a couple of books, and spend lots of time rocking Little Ruby, holding Little Ruby, changing Little Ruby, snuggling Little Ruby, sitting and gazing at Little Ruby......it's enough to tick off anyone, right?

So it's 4 a.m. here, and I'm up and gathering my things together. Then I'm off to pick up the cradle and baby things and I'll be heading out. I do plan on taking the laptop, as I'm pretty sure we'll have internet service.

I just need to figure out how to get a rocking chair in my car. I have a small one that was my Mama's that she always used for rocking babies, and my sister suggested I take it with me. Good idea. It may have to ride in the passenger seat with me, seat belt and all.

Wish us luck! And keep those sweet thoughts coming for our little babies. We appreciate each and every one.

Quick Update

2008-04-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on our babies: Little Pearl has discovered nursing! Between the two of them, they are keeping their mama busy. They get stronger every day.

And as for sewing, today I cut more piping strips to go around the bottom of Festival. I decided to add it to the bottom of the skirt, too. Tomorrow I hope to get some sewing in.

Keep those good thoughts coming in, if you will. We appreciate each and every one.

Update and a Skirt

2008-04-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to say thanks to all of you for your sweet comments on our new little babies. They are sweet and delightful already, and we can only wonder what joy they will bring us in the years to come. Today Little Pearl has her IVs out and is getting supplemental feeding (breast milk) through a gastro tube, since she's not quite strong enough to suckle well. And Little Ruby has graduated to a regular plastic isolette bed! She Who Was Pregnant With Twins continues to get better every day, and went out to eat supper at a real restaurant for the first time in months. She and The Daddy Of Little Girls are staying in-house in a hospital hotel room now that she has been promoted out of medical custody.

Here's another member of the family, Lulu, who joined us here last week:

She came from here. Although I ordered a size 1-2, she actually measures a 3-4 in the chest; so I can't dress her up in little stuff like I had hoped, but she will be really handy for draping, designing, and deciding on proportions. See?

This is the first part of the Festival skirt. I had put it together and then all these Fashion Critics that hang out over here decided it needed piping in the skirt seams. So I took it apart and added piping. As usual, they were right. Here's a close up of a seam:

The skirt will be gathered onto a bodice of some sort--still playing around with that part. The skirt will have three more pieces attached at the bottom-a flap, a band, and a ruffle. And yes, I had to take all of THAT apart, too. I just love me a seam ripper!

Again, thanks to all of you. Keep those happy thoughts coming our way, if you will.

Two Little Bitty Girls

2008-04-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Here they are! On the left is Little Pearl, at 5 lbs 1 oz, and on the right is Little Ruby, at 3 lbs 10 oz:

Both are healthy and nursing, and Little Ruby is really fiesty. She's gone completely wireless, and is wearing an Indian feather on top of her head. She loves her Mama! Little Pearl seems like she will love her Mama, too; today was her first try at nursing. And we can't tell if they are identical or not. It seems to me like Little Pearl has darker hair, but maybe she just has more of it since she's a bit larger. And they were born on Thursday night and almost made it to 34 weeks gestation--my Blogger clock must be in the wrong time zone, or something

Here are Grandpa and I, each with a handful of little babes with bows in their hair:

And here they are, sunbathing at the spa with sunglasses on--Little Ruby:

And Little Pearl:

We are blessed.

On the sewing front, I did start a project mid-week before all the excitement kicked in. Here's what it still looks like, all in a heap:

This one is Festival, and that's what we're going to have when everyone comes home from the hospital!

They're Here!

2008-04-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

Two beautiful and perfect little girl babies were born last night. Mother and babies are all well. We're all pooped and we're going to bed happy!

Still Here

2008-04-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still here, but having computer/router/modem issues that really cramp the blogging thing. As soon as it gets worked out I have pictures of the Spring Break Sewing Marathon for you.

She Who Is Pregnant With Twins is in the hospital with contractions and high blood pressure. Hopefully this will all work out and she'll be out soon; otherwise, she may get to enjoy hospital food for a couple of weeks. Keep her in your thoughts, if you will.

I'll try and get the pictures up tomorrow. Sometimes life just gets wild, you know?

Another Spring Break Project--Tomato!

2008-03-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest project underway, which I am calling Tomato. Can you figure out where I got the name?

It's not done yet, but it's very close. I'm trying to decide on the bodice embellishment, and this is what I've come up with so far:

I would love some input on this. Let me hear you!

A Pink Little Flirt...

2008-03-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

Although it's not hemmed or button-able (no buttons or buttonholes, yet), here is a little pink Flirt:

Detail of the front collar, pleating around the neck just so...

And the back:

And the back detail:

You might can see that I used bias piping made from the stripe at the waist, armhole, neck, and back opening edges.

I am quite pleased with this one. One of my goals while drafting this design was to have the pleats encircle the skirt, with no break in the pleating at the side seams. Although at the time it seemed to take forever, I think all the time I spent on the muslining process was worth it. Comments?

I have two Little Dresses cut out and calling out to me (come here! come here and sew me up!). Can you hear them, too?

Sneak Peak

2008-03-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick sneak peak of the fabrics I used for Flirt. I'll have pictures of the dress as soon as one of the Hanger Holder people wakes up!

Doritos, Version 2

2008-03-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Easter Sunday on a beautiful day, and I hope you did, too. It was a day filled with sunshine, good food, family, an Easter Egg Hunt for the little ones, and flowers blooming everywhere. We gathered at the home of SWIPWT, since she's bed-bound, and the yard was filled with azaleas, bulbs, and dogwood trees. Just gorgeous.

Since she has been really good this week (she's hit the 32-weeks mark in the pregnancy), she was allowed to sit on the front porch in a rocker and watch the egg hunt. Of course, after the little ones found the eggs, we decided to have an EXTREME egg hunt for all the Random Teenagers. They found out quick that us old folks could really hide some eggs. It took them three times as long to find the eggs as it did the little folks. A joyful day.

I did most of the finish work on Doritos, Version 2. It still needs buttons and buttonholes, but I am currently out of white sewing thread. A person with a driver's license is currently getting in the shower and will soon be on his way to buy more thread. After having two daughters and three sons, I can tell you that it takes a male child just as long to get dressed as it does a female child. These guys spend more time on their hair than I do.

I'm thinking I will use covered buttons on this version of the dress, using white on black and black on white. Comments?

And for lynn in the comment section, I can't remember what size crochet thread I use for the piping. It's the regular Coats and Clark in the big ball from Wally World. I'll get the size for you the next time I go.

I also finished the pattern work on Flirt, and have it pretty much ready to go. I'm cutting out another Little Dress today, this time from a vintage pattern. More later!

Spring Break Is ON!

2008-03-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

It has arrived at last--Spring Break! And to make things even sweeter, the fabric I ordered has also arrived. I'm hard at work already, making a new version of Doritos. Here are the fabrics I'm using (although I'm not sure I'll use the orange one yet):

Well, yes, indeed I did order full bolts. I'm going to enter the handmade clothes market and open an Etsy shop later this week. So it made good sense to order full bolts of fabrics.

My spring break will cover 10 days (today is day 2) and my goal is to make 10 Dresses in 10 Days. Wish me luck!

Here is the front bodice with part of the piping underway:

My helper, the Duke of Cute, came over to visit and spend the day with us yesterday. It took 5 people to keep an eye on one 3-year old. Here he is, sitting still for 30 seconds:

He is highly entertaining. One of the things he did was spray my bedroom, bathroom, and closet with a can of air freshener. And I'm talking about a CAN, an entire CAN. My clothes smell really nice!

Today I hope to finish the pattern draft on Flirt. It's almost done. On to the sewing!

I'll try and post an update tonight.

What A Weekend

2008-03-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

It was the weekend of the Prom. Up at dark thirty on Saturday morning, drank half a gallon of strong coffee, and off to decorate (with about 30 other folks) for the annual shindig. It was great. The dresses were beautiful, and the refreshments were divine. And, oh yes, one of my Random Teenagers wore a tuxedo for the very first time. He likes to make his mama cry. It seems like just yesterday I pushed and shoved birthing that 9 pound baby.....

At any rate, I haven't done any sewing at all. But I did manage to get rid of the Really Loud Music Headache from last night and work on this pleat pattern problem I've been having.

In case you've been reading the comments, here's a photo of what patsjean was describing (well, I'm pretty sure it was patsjean, but I'm really too pooped at the moment to verify it-thanks!).

You take a piece of paper and pleat it, like so:

Then you cut the desired angle, like so:

And when you open it up, you have a pattern, like so:

Mine's not even (too tired at this point to pick up the ruler), but you get the idea. And that's exactly the technique I'm going to use on my pattern.

It looks like an awful mess at this point, doesn't it?

I just wish I had stock in the 3M Company, those wonderful folks who manufacture Scotch tape. I'd be a millionaire, instead of just being out of tape.

Back to the Inherent Design Problem with the pattern. There are three problems, actually.

One, of course, is the bottom hem shape. By the time I got to that point the other day, I knew the thing wasn't going to work out right and I simply didn't care enough to perfect it.

Two is the pleats aren't vertical. Now why couldn't I see that to begin with? I am such a dumb bunny sometimes. And I just know that there are at least a hundred REAL patternmakers laughing their heads off and telling their friends about this stupid woman down South with her paper and Scotch tape....

Three is the shape of the bottom section, which nobody pointed out. The problem is that I based this on an A-line shape but you can't evenly pleat an A-line shape so that the pleats are consistent around the body. If you go look at the last post pictures you'll see what I'm talking about. There is a little angled "wing" piece that is unpleated on the right side of the front (and there would be the same thing going on in the back).

My solution? I have redrafted this on a straight sheath style. I've gotton the front pieces pretty much done and I'm way too tired to do any more tonight, so I'm off to bed.

My question is, Will This Work?

Gee, That Was Fast

2008-03-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I cheated a little. I only made a front this time. No back. Because I had an enlightening thought.

Here is the little front pinned to a chair, since it refuses to hang on a hanger. There is an inherent design flaw here:

Can any of you spot it?

And as for the puzzle picture I posted last night, here's a little hint: it has something to do with Jillian. Yall do know who that is, don't you?

The People Have Spoken....

2008-03-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, you have. LOTS of you have spoken. And the amazing thing is that yall have put into words my same exact feelings about Flirt.

The top ruffle is not "pleaty" enough. It is not asymmetrical enough. And the bottom ruffle may need to be tossed entirely.

But I do love that little pleated collar so much.....

Back to the pattern paper and the cutting table it is. Another muslin is about to begin.

Thanks to you all for the comments and suggestions. It's really nice to have a group to offer advice and encouragement!

And the fabric shopping yesterday? Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. A very large box will arrive here sometime next week.

Just A Little Flirt

2008-03-10T17:19:00.001-07:00

Flirt

Well, last night I pleated up all these huge panels and sewed them together, and now I have a little Flirt. Here's the front, hanging all cattywhompus on a hanger:

You will notice, I'm sure, that the overskirt band is bright purple. That's on purpose. I wanted to visually check the proportion of the band to the overskirt length, and the best way to do that was to use a high contrast fabric. That purple was over in the corner, up to no good, so I used it for something good before it started playing with matches, or something. You know, sometimes fabric just goes all BAD on you, doesn't it? So there.

Here's the back--no buttonholes, just a huge straight pin for a closure:

Throw those comments at me, yall. In particular, what I want to know is this: Is the asymmetrical part asymmetrical enough? Or should it be more angled?

From the Comments

Nancy left a comment about a pleat puzzle. She wanted the magic formula for figuring out pleats.

Unfortunately I don't have a magic formula. In the case of Flirt, I knew the width of the panel I started with, and I knew how deep I wanted each pleat to be. So I just split the panel and added the pleat width. I did it a million times, and used a million pieces of tape.

Nancy has the reverse problem. She wants to pleat up 70 inches of skirt down to 26 inches. Here's what I would do:

70 minus 26 equals 44, so Nancy needs to remove 44 inches of fabric from the skirt waistband. I like the number 44 because it is nice and even. Thank you, Nancy, for picking such a fun number.

Since she has a skirt front and a skirt back, I would divide the 44 inches into two parts--22 inches for the front and 22 inches for the back. Find the center front/back, and put 11 pleats on each side of the center. You'll have to play with it a bit, but if you then divide each front half in two again, you will have 5 1/2 pleats, and 5 1/2 pleats on each side front/back. That should help you to even them out.

The main thing is that you want each pleat to be the same depth for a balanced look.

If anyone out there has a better method for Nancy, please share it in the comments or send me an email and I'll post it.

A Puzzle of My Own

Can anyone figure out what I'm trying to draft here? I know how yall love a little challenge!

And one last thing--hopefully tomorrow I will get to shop for fabric! Wish me luck.

Flirt, The Skirt Patterns

2008-03-09T20:02:00.001-07:00

Preparing the final draft of the skirt overlay and bottom band pieces took four hours. Since I wanted pleats in these pieces, I had to split the original draft and add width for the pleats to fold under. We're talking a lot of pleats, people. Here is one section that's finished:

See how shiny that pattern piece is? That's because I used a whole roll of tape on the thing. This is meticulous work, and it is WORK. It's one of those things that once you get it figured out in your head, you must do it quickly before the vision fades. It's also best to do it when you don't have any distractions at all, like a barking dog or barking teenagers. Once you start you need to be able to get the piece finished. You know, keep at it, and don't decide to quit in the middle of it and go work on the income taxes or something.

At any rate, I finished the overskirt pieces and cut them out. I added a purple band to my muslin so I could visually check the proportions of the bottom band on the overskirt. Here it is all pinned and pleated to the underskirt section:

Can you tell my husband wants me to go work on the income taxes?

Comments? I just love a little input now and then!

Flirt, The Bodice and Collar Sections

2008-03-08T15:53:00.000-08:00

I've put together the bodice for Flirt. It took a little tweaking on the pleated collar, but it is now done. Here's the front:

You'll notice that the bottom of the bodice is cut at an angle. Here's the back, with a reverse angle on the bottom edge:

The collar swings out over one shoulder and meets up with the opposite side of the back bodice. I also made an adjustment on my original pattern draft to shorten the collar a bit and to have it end in the right spot. I'm thinking I like this one, too.

Now, on to the skirt sections.

Comments, anyone?

A New Project

2008-03-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

The next project is a little dress I've named Flirt. It is based on a basic A-line style jumper. Here's my drawing, if you can call it that:

It's the style at the bottom, an asymmetrical design with an overlay and pleated collar and many buttons. I like buttons. A lot.

Since the design is asymmetrical I had to draft an entire front and an entire back pattern piece.

I drew in the seam allowances and then removed the extra length from the back shoulder, since the style I started with had buttoned shoulders:

I then used the eyeball method to divide the skirt into sections:

After marking the grainlines, I cut off the bodice front and bodice back in order to draft the collar and back opening. Here's the bodice back. Hopefully I will end up with a nice collar line that wraps around the neckline.

You may have noticed that one side of the bodice is longer than the other. That explains my notes about cutting with the fabric right side up. When working with an asymmetrical design each piece must be cut individually.

I'm off to try my hand at a little bodice. Anything can happen at this point. Maybe it will resemble the original drawing, and maybe it won't. It's usually a crapshoot.

Stay tuned.

Pivot-Done!

2008-03-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

Pivot is done, and She Who Is Pregnant With Twins says it is her favorite dress of all. I spent the day at her house, babysitting her while The Daddy Of Little Girls put the last coat of paint on the twins' bedroom. The baby beds and furniture will arrive very, very soon.....

The Princess wasn't in the mood for pictures today, so I'll get photos of her in Doritos and Pivot later. Meanwhile, Pivot and I took a break during nap time and hung out on the front porch a while. See?

I need to trim a few threads, don't I? The hot pink sash really pulls it all together. Here's a back shot, with little dark pink buttons:

And a close up of the back bodice and bow:

This Little Dress makes me happy. Comments?

I have the fish dress figured out, now I just need to find the right fabric...in the meantime I'm working on the pattern for another idea that's burning a hole inside my head.

So many ideas.

Drat. I have to work tomorrow.

Still Pivoting

2008-03-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of Pivot basking in the sunshine. It's a beautiful day today. Absolutely perfect for finishing up a Little Dress...

For the bodice I ended up cutting 10 more circles, for a grand total of 50 so far. More satin stitching to come.

I have two more ideas in my head, and I'm still practicing drawing little fishies...still working on that idea.

We're thinking Pivot may need a big sash and bow--hot pink, maybe?

On the Twin Watch, She Who Is Pregnant With Twins has hit the 29 week mark, had a really good report on a detailed ultrasound earlier this week, and is still in bed eating ice cream and resting well--growing and growing and growing two little babies......

Stay tuned.

I Was Really Bored

2008-02-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Well, if a person can be both bored and excited at the same time, I was. I was excited to finally finish stitching down every single circle of the skirt on Pivot. And I was even more excited to start satin stitching around the circles. Until I actually started doing it, that is.

Although I started with 20 circles for the skirt, the Sadist (you know, the designer of this design) cut out 20 more, for a grand total of about 40 circles on the skirt! That I had to sew down! And then he expected me to satin stitch around each and every one of them!

So I did. And I liked it. A lot. See?

This took 3 hours. Slow. Painstakingly slow.

But worth it, don't you think?

I need to trim out the waist area and decide how to finish off the bottom of the skirt. I'm thinking I will put in a full lining and satin stitch around the bottom edge of the hem.

I think it's very interesting the way the pink satin stitching makes each individual fabric "pop". Look at the un-satin stitched photo in the previous post and you will see what I mean. Strange, isn't it?

Just a little design note here: before I started sewing all this together it occured to me that it would be easier to make the fabric first. By that I mean that I could have just sewn the circles together and then cut out the skirt. But The Sadist wanted the circle shape on the hemline, so I did it his way. And he was right.

Comments?

The Circle Skirt

2008-02-26T18:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comments on Doritos. One comment in particular from a lurker (hi there!) made me realize that I had been meaning to write about circle skirts in general. She suggested that I rotate the skirt on Doritos and place the black section at the center front and back. A very good idea, that. At some point I plan to try it out.

Below you can see a page from Helen Joseph-Armstrong, Patternmaking for Fashion Design, which is probably one of the best books I have ever bought. If you are the least bit interested in design and pattern drafting, buy it. It's fascinating to read and makes it all look so easy. One day I'm gonna chuck the J-O-B and devote six months to this book. Seriously.

Anyway, back to the suggestion about rotating the skirt. The grainline of the skirt determines where the fullness falls into folds. I think of this as puddling. If you study the drawing below, you will see what I'm trying to describe:

This is pretty much one of those things that has to be decided before you cut out your skirt. In my case I wanted the straight grain at the center front and back and cut my pattern accordingly. But, since it is a circle, I could rotate it.

If you study the grainlines in the drawing you can also see that Number 2 is a fabric pig, and Number 3 is such a hog it would probably require piecing to cut out the complete circle. Number 1 (the one I did) uses the least amount of fabric, which is dandy, since I wanted my skirt to fall into the folds as diagrammed.

Now on to Pivot. Here in the South everyone has a pivot. The rest of the country probably calls them Licensed Ground Water Dispensing and Pumping Devices, but we call them pivots. Because that's what they do--go around and around in circles.

See the circles? Pivot. Yes, my mind is weird. But obviously so are the minds of my children. Number One son actually designed this dress. I guess he thought if he came up with something so complicated, and mind-boggling, and totally bias, that I would go away.

Instead, I decided to try it. And I made him help, since it was his idea. We started out with 20 circles of fabric from one of the quilt totes. After drawing circle after circle, it occured to us to use the mouse pad as a pattern.

Then we laid the circles out and pinned them to a base foundation (yes, another circle skirt) and used one gazillion pins to pin it together:

You have no idea how much fun all this pinning was. Nor how aggravating.

Now to sew the thing together. Whew.

Doritos-Done!

2008-02-24T09:28:00.001-08:00

Warning!

Wild Fabric Ahead!

Here's the front of Doritos:

And here's the back, hanging from the arm of a Random Teenager:

A little detail shot:

And you know I had to take this shot, didn't cha?

The orange is very orange. I used orange buttons on the black triangles and black buttons on the orange triangles.

From cutting out to finish--4 hours. Big smile.

And now I'm working on a new design that I've named Pivot. Yes, it's a Southern thing....

A Wild Week

2008-02-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

What a week! Today She Who Is Pregnant With Twins hits the 28 weeks mark, but this has been no small feat.

On Monday I took her to the hospital due to contractions. She spent the day and part of the evening there, getting fluids and stop labor shots. We came home.

On Tuesday, The Father Of Twins took her back to the hospital. Contractions, again. She stayed until Thursday afternoon.

Last night (Thursday night) she went back again and got more stop labor shots before coming home.

Right this second she is at home, on bed rest. I think she just likes the hospital food.

So that's what it's been like around here. Lots of high excitement, very little sewing. But hopefully that will change. Right now the fabric for Doritos (Yes! I found some!) is going around in the washer, so maybe I can cut something out here shortly.

We'll see....

Re: Cluck Cluck

2008-02-18T07:44:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for the nice comments on Cluck Cluck. To answer a few questions:

Thank you BIG TIME, patsjean, I have been thinking about a pattern line. Or just making and selling original Little Dresses on Etsy. Trying to decide, trying to decide....

The pattern is Natalie by the Childrens Corner. I posted a picture of the pattern a couple of weeks ago.

Since the dress is made of 100% cotton, I prewashed and tumble dried all of the fabrics before I cut the dress out. I made the piping myself out of solid red with crochet thread as the filler cord.

One thing I have noticed about patterns from the Childrens Corner is that the necks seem to be cut a little small. I've made more than one pattern from them and I have found this to be true in every case. It may just be me (or the children that wear them may all be Big Necked Children) but I would advise you to make a bodice out of muslin first to check the fit.

From cutting out to sewing on the last button, Cluck Cluck took 4 hours. One hour of that was pure wasted time. As I was marking the buttonholes on the back, I noticed that the chickens were upside down. Yep. I had turned the back skirts upside down and sewed them to the dress. For 15 seconds I tried to tell myself that no one would ever notice. Then for the next 30 minutes I took the dress apart (including all those serged seams!) and put it back together again. Sometimes I think I'll truly stupid. Or way too hard on myself.

So at any rate, I think I could make another one of these in 3 hours. I think I have enough fabric left to squeeze out another one in a smaller size. If I did so, and wanted to sell it, how much do yall think it would bring on Etsy or ebay?

I'm off today YIPPEE! and I have little fishes on my mind......more later. Maybe.

We'll see what develops.

Do I Hear A Chicken In Here?

2008-02-16T20:29:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning with chickens on my brains, so I decided to make Cluck Cluck. And I did. Here it is, the front:

Front pocket detail:

The back:

And the fold-back flaps on the back, up close and personal:

I'm loving these flaps. And the black polka dot lining, too.

In the comments the other day, someone (I'm thinking it was patsjean) mentioned labels. I do put a label in every Little Dress I make. Here's the one in Cluck Cluck:

I'm really happy with this Little Dress.

I'm still pondering Flower Power and Doritos, although I must say I really do like the link to the chili pepper fabric an anonymous commenter directed me to the other day. I just may order some of that.

Doritos-I Need Fabric!

2008-02-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

First off, thanks all for the kind comments on Doritos. Alas, I have no suitable fabric. In my mind it is made of bright, spicy, hot salsa colors, two, maybe three of them....I MUST go shopping. It fits The Princess perfectly and I REALLY want to make the real thing for her.

Several of you have asked what I do with the muslins. I keep them. They hang on a little hanger in the sewing room closet and it really surprises me how much I refer to them. I go back and measure hem lengths, the chest, the shape of an armhole, all sorts of things. Just looking at one of them will spark an idea every now and then.

Anonymous mentioned making the bodice triangle into a collar. I had thought of that. When I was playing around with it, it seemed to need the button to make it zingy. Since I know The Princess so well, if she had a loose collar with a button on it, she would try to eat the button. That's why I decided on the applique instead.

I really like this little design. My head is full of nonsense like this. There are so many sketches lying around here, drawn on napkins stuffed in my purse, crammed in the desk drawer at school.....

Here's one I finally just had to play with. I had it in my little mind to do a folk-arty type flower on the front panel of a basic dress. Since I can't draw (as you all have witnessed so many times), I cut a piece of muslin about the size of the panel I had in mind and grabbed the scissors and this big basket of scraps:

Three minutes later the nice basket of scraps looked like this:

I wish I could tell you that this is all of the cotton scrap yardage I have, but it wouldn't be true. There's probably over 800 different cotton fabrics in various yardage amounts from 1/4 yard to 2 yards hanging out in large totes in the closet. I've been quilting and collecting 100% cotton for a long time.

At any rate, even though I can't draw a lick I can certainly wield a pair of scissors. It wasn't long before what I had in my little head turned into this:

I cut all those pieces freehand, so each one is a little wonky. I'm a little wonky, too; maybe that's why I like this.

After trying this out on muslin I went into the cabinet and came out with this, a little lavender and cream dot:

It has named itself. Flower Power, of course. Comments? I just love it when yall give me some input!

Doritos-Finished Muslin

2008-02-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

Although it's not quite appealing in beige and white, here is my final muslin of Doritos:

I decided the bodice needed a little something, so I added a triangle applique and a button. I think this would work really well in bright colors.

I'm liking this A LOT. Comments? Suggestions?

I need to go buy fabric......

Doritos-The Skirt

2008-02-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

The next step on Doritos is to construct the triangular skirt borders. For this, I need to draft a pattern that will fit the circumference of the bottom of the skirt. In my case, the circumference was divisible by 4, so I drew off triangles with a 4 inch base. I wanted them to be 3 inches "tall", so I drew in the midpoint, and added seam allowances, like so:

I drew off a long strip, and had this:

I cut 5 inch wide fabric strips (I used 3), seamed them together and pressed them well, then traced off the pattern.

If you have Fear Of Clipping, a border like this is definitely not for you. You won't be happy if you don't clip!

I made two border sections (one white and one natural), stacked them, sewed them on, and lookee here, yall, I have a skirt!

I'm happy now.

Doritos-Drafting The Pattern

2008-02-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

I've started work on drafting the pattern for Doritos. I started with a fresh copy of the circle skirt pattern that I know works with my bodice:

In order to draft the triangles for the skirt, I first measured the center front line of the skirt, without seam allowances. Mine measured 10 1/2", which was nice, because I had my little heart set on three triangles down the front. This gives me three triangles, 3 1/2" on the long edge. Perfect.

So I marked off the center front every 3 1/2", then marked the midpoints (1 3/4"). I drew lines at the midpoint mark for the tips of the triangles:

Then I used my quilting ruler to draw the triangles:

I sketched in a few imaginary buttons and a seam line:

I'm getting excited by now, so I traced off the triangle section and added seam allowances, like so:

Since I will have four seams in this skirt, I need four sets of triangle panels. Since I plan on this being a multi-colored skirt, I made half out of one fabric and half out of another fabric.

Here's one set all seamed together before I turned and pressed it:

After stitching, trimming, clipping, and pressing each panel, I sandwiched each one between the skirt seams. Just for fun I tacked on a few buttons on the fronts:

And I just tacked down the flaps on the back side:

I used two colors of muslin, bleached and unbleached, to get the multi-color look.

Now to work on those hem triangles.....what do you think so far?

Twirl-Construction Notes

2008-02-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Wow. I can't believe how many comments and emails this Little Dress has generated. Thanks, all!

I see that there is a contest going on over at Pattern Review for a knock off design, and since the prize is $200, I'm thinking about it.....what do yall think? That sure would make a lot more Little Dresses if I won, wouldn't it?

Who am I kidding? The Little Dresses will continue anyway. I just can't help myself.

Would it surprise you to know that I currently have 16 more designs sketched out, based on the basic Twirl pattern?

Or that I've squeezed 10 additional designs and suggestions so far out of the Male Inhabitants in this house? These guys are really creative, if I can just get them off the X-Box and the Internet and basketball.....

See?

It's kind of surprising, actually, since I live in the House of Testosterone, that I get such great input from these guys. Maybe they just humor me to get me to shut up and go away, but they are quick to say Yes, that's good! or Good grief, Woman, get a grip on yourself.

I get that last one a lot.

On to the Construction Notes:

In an effort to remember/not lose/keep track of/organize myself, I now keep a legal pad on the sewing table. And a pencil with an eraser. This way I can jot down little notes as I sew about sewing order, seam allowances, interfacing, and machine settings. In the long run this will be a huge time saver, since those Little Twin Girls are cooking right along.....She Who Is Pregnant With Twins is at 26 weeks and growing.

For the skirt ruffles, which we will refer to as Ruffles A, I used 20 strips. For the hem ruffles (Ruffles B), I used 9 strips. This dress is a fabric hog.

I used fusible knit interfacing, cut into 1 1/2" strips, to interface the back bodices.

While roll hemming with the serger, I once more ran out of thread. This time it was on the left needle, and I discovered that you get an even thinner roll hem if you thread the right needle only. I really like it better that way. And I love the look of machine embroidery thread in the upper and lower loopers on the roll hem.

For the elastic in the back, I measured the length of the back bodice/skirt seamline and cut a piece of baby elastic 2 inches shorter than the measured seam. After sewing and serging the skirt to the bodice, I zigzagged the center of the elastic to the seamline. No casing was needed, and I got nice soft gathering for a better fit, just like I wanted.

I made the underskirt from a skirt circle and added the ruffle at the bottom.

I plan to make a more permanent copy of my original pattern. I will draw it with 1/4" seam allowances on the neck and armholes, and 3/8" everywhere else. It is more efficient, time-wise, to start out with 1/4" allowances on the neck and armholes, since I have to trim off the excess anyway. I will still need to clip the seam allowances. I have found that it is much easier and more accurate to sew curves with a small seam allowance.

Total Cost of this Little Dress:

5 1/2 yards fabric (Poly/cotton from Joann's)

11.00

3 buttons

3.00

Sewing thread

2.59

Machine embroidery thread

5.49

Interfacing

.25

Total Cost

22.33

Since the original dress was priced at $195.00, I saved $172.67. I can make more dresses!

No, my Little Dress is not silk.

No, my Little Dress is not dry clean only.

Yes, I love this Little Dress.

Now that I have the pattern perfected, the cutting figured out, the sewing order established, and the serger submitted to my will, I figure I could make one of these Little Dresses from start to finish in 4 hours flat.

I just might try it. Am I nuts, or what? I'm thinking bright blue with a lime green ruffle at the bottom.....need fabric, need more fabric, gotta have me some fabric........

While I try to decide, I'm trying to work out this little number, based on Twirl:

One of the Random Teenagers has named this one Doritos. I may have to cut one of these out real soon.

Twirl-Done!

2008-02-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

Twirl is finished! I went back to Plan A, and added a hot pink underskirt and ruffle after all.

I have to say thank you to all of you who left suggestions in the comments. I, too, thought the neck ruffle might get itchy. But it sure was cute, wasn't it.......something similar may appear in the very near future.

My husband, kind and considerate as always, loves to share everything with me. Unfortunately, he has shared the flu. Maybe that's one reason I had so much trouble with the darn serger? Hmmmm......at any rate, I made three pages of notes on Twirl and I'll share them with yall later. Right now, I'm going to sit here and just look at this Little Dress a while before I go to bed.

But just this one more thing--I'm happy now!

Twirl-Almost There....

2008-02-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

I'm almost finished, I think. I have one last decision to make.

I've decided that a hot pink ruffle at the bottom will look lost and out of place, since there isn't hot pink anywhere else. So, here's the current status of the front:

And the back:

And since I am so enamored of this view, the full circle:

So I need to decide whether to add this little ruffle around the top edge:

I'm thinking Yes. Opinions?

And here's a hint for using the gathering foot. Fold your soon-to-be ruffle in half and press about 8 inches down the center to get a crease, like so:

When you put the strip in the ruffler, put the needle dead center of the crease. Notice where the seam width marking is on your machine (in my case, it's 1 inch, down there at the very bottom of the photo) and you can easily keep the thing lined up for perfectly centered gathering.

Works for me. But you really have to have a good handhold on the strip as it feeds into the pleater. Whoa, baby!

Twirl-The Bodice

2008-02-02T07:53:00.001-08:00

It turns out that I spoke too soon yesterday. The Force was not with me; instead, The Empire took the day. I had serger problems. Or rather I had a mental problem. At any rate, like An Idiot I ran out of thread on the serger on not just one, but two bobbins. So I spent a couple of hours trying to rethread the thing, only to have it lock up with a humongous knot of thread.

This morning the world is a more beautiful place. When I woke up, I just knew that I had the looper threaded incorrectly. Three minutes later I was back in business again. I'm telling yall, sleep is just magical!

So since I couldn't use the serger, I made this little purple bodice. Here's the front:

And here's the back:

Weird how a flash changes colors, isn't it? It looks like I used red thread, but I didn't. And that little bit of white in that top buttonhole is a piece of basting thread that wants to be visited by Mr. Tweezers. Where is he, anyway? The last time I saw him, he was getting cozy with Little Miss Thread Snips, and she's gone to. They probably ran of to Vegas.

This is a good place to point out that yes, indeed, I have already worked the buttonholes. I try to put in the buttonholes on any garment at the earliest point in the contruction process. Buttonholes usually cause me the most aggravation, so if I can put those bad boys in without cross seams, collars, bands, and skirts in the way, I do. It makes me happier, and we all know that sewing makes us happy. That's the whole point, isn't it?

This will become the skirt ruffles. I'm starting off with 450 inches. I'm off to make rolled hems!

Twirl-The Real Thing, At Last

2008-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

I do have the final version of the skirt pattern for Twirl. The red lines are the new and improved ruffle markings:

And I do have a shot of the back of the final sample. I only put ruffles on the back (so many strips!) and I double gathered what will become the bottom treatment. I did all this to check the final length.

Here's a close up shot of the bottom part pulled apart. Sorry it's such a wonky photo, but you get the idea:

Cute, huh? I think this will work. As always, holler at me, people, with your comments.

And for the oh-so-curious, here's the fabric choices for Twirl--royal purple, hot pink, and purple crinoline, just in case:

And even though I'm not at school today, this old dog learned a new trick this morning. It was serendipity, yall. I had planned to serge the ruffle edges, and wound regular sewing thread on bobbins to use on the serger since I couldn't find regular serging thread to match my fabric. As luck would have it, I managed to unthread one of the little doohickeys in the serger. So I dug out the serger manual, and Lo And Behold, it fell open to a page that said if you flip this one teeny little lever, the serger will AUTOMATICALLY convert to a ROLLED HEM! With no magic required! Or special pressure feet! Or anything else!

See?

I'm totally excited. Now I can roll hem all those ruffle edges instead of serging them.

The Force Is With Me.

Twirl-The Ruffles, Part 2

2008-01-31T21:13:00.000-08:00

Thanks, all, for your comments and suggestions about the ruffles on Twirl. I agree. I didn't like it much, either. So I've taken the skirt apart, removed the ruffles, shortened the skirt 6 inches (it was WAY too long) and this is where I am now:

I had to redraw the ruffle circles, since shortening the skirt meant that I had to cut off that bottom tier. So now it's redrawn and remarked. I'm redoing the ruffles. See?

Just for the record, I'm using the gathering foot, set on 1, with a stitch length of 4. After some measuring, I found that this gives me a gathering ratio of 3 to 1. That's nice and full and fluffy, and I was right about it taking a ton of fabric for those cute little ruffles.

Here's a heads-on shot of the gathering foot in action. In these photos I'm actually gathering two ruffles at one time!

I love this presser foot. If one is available for your machine, get it. It's tons of fun.

Now I have the dress perfectly fitted to The Princess, with the correct finished length all figured out (finally!), and since I'm off tomorrow--yippee--I plan to cut out the REAL Twirl!

Twirl-The Ruffles, Part 1

2008-01-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

I've had great fun making ruffle samples. Once I decided on the settings for my gathering foot, I cut some muslin strips, serged the cut edges, and gathered them up. I followed the black basting lines on the skirt and basted those babies on. See?

I just did the front three. I still want to play with different gather types before I make a commitment.

I'm off to bed, have to go to the J-O-B in the morning, of course. Meanwhile, if you would, leave a comment and let me know what you think, OK? Should the ruffles be closer together, more "gathery", more rows, whatever?

Thanks for reading my blog, by the way. I don't think I say that often enough!

Yeah, It's My Birthday, Alright

2008-01-29T16:31:00.000-08:00

It certainly is. And I can feel my Advancing Age. Here's the latest example.

I'm in the sewing room, putting a new spool of thread on the Bernina. I'm all set. I have the bobbin in, the machine threaded up, my little circle skirt pinned to the bodice. All I need to do is baste the skirt to the bodice. I'm very excited. I even have the glasses on.

I put the dress on the machine, line everything up, lower the presser foot, and I push down on the foot lever. Nothing. No sewing action AT ALL. Just a really loud "Wwwhhheeeeeeeeeeee" noise.

I try again. "Wwwwhhheeeeeeeeeee."

I remove the dress, turn off the machine. Take a deep breath. Turn the machine back on again. "Wwwhhhheeeeeeeeeee."

I turn the thing off and try it again. "Wwwhhheeeeeeee."

My ears tear up. Blurred vision. One more time. "Wwwhhheeeeeeeee."

A Random Teenager walks past the sewing room door. I'm desperate.

Me: "Honey, I can't sew. The Bernina won't work."

RT: Notices the tears. "What's wrong with it?"

Me: "I don't know. It won't work. It keeps doing this---"Wwwhhheeeeeee."

RT: Gives the Bernina A Look That Would Melt Polyester. "What is that noise?"

Me: "I don't know." "Wwwwheeeeeeee." "I have to take it to the repair shop."

RT: Serious look on young face. He KNOWS that he will have to go with me to the repair shop. And that I will be tense and tearful all the way there. "Do you have it threaded right?"

Me: "Of course. I just redid it." I reach up to show him and notice that the BOBBIN WINDER is turned on.................

"Oh, no. I had the bobbin winder turned on."

RT: Gives me The Look. The Look, that with just one glance, tells me all I need to know.

I am getting old.

RT: Look changes to the Thank You, Lord Look. You've seen it yourself on the faces of your own offspring. It's The Look that says:

Thank you, Lord, for letting her figure this out right now, here, in the privacy of our own home, so that her Total Stupidity can remain a family secret.

Thank you, Lord, for letting her figure this out right now, so that I don't have to ride in the car with her at breakneck speed for 75 miles to the Bernina place, with her crying and swerving all over the road.

Thank you, Lord, for letting her figure this out right now, so that I don't have to tote that stupid sewing machine into the Bernina place, with her crying and all, only to have the Bernina lady take one look and say, "You have the bobbin winder turned on."

Thank you, Lord, for sparing me the ultimate humiliation of being embarassed by my mother IN PUBLIC.

Thank you, Lord, for letting her sew tonight, so she will forget that I STILL haven't cleaned my nasty, filthy bathroom.

I dried my face, lowered the presser foot, and 15 minutes later I had this:

I'm happy now. And I should be, because it IS my birthday, after all.

Twirl-Drafting The Skirt

2008-01-27T14:46:00.000-08:00

I sewed together the muslin bodice and tried it on The Princess. The little tucks in the front are perfect. It's amazing how such a simple little thing like the tucks can move a garment from "blah" to "boutique". Without them, this little bodice would have been shapeless and squarish. This explains my addiction to vintage children's patterns very well-those little design details add so much charm to Little Dresses, don't they?

I pinned in some very slight alterations to the bodice, mainly shortening the sleeve depth and removing a smidgen of width in the front and back necklines. See?

You may have noticed that the muslin bodice is lined. What? You don't line your little muslin bodices? I am SUCH a nerd, aren't I?

On to drafting the circle skirt pattern. Math will be involved. If you can divide, this is easy. If you can't, get a calculator. Or a Random Teenager, if one is available. This is your chance to find out if your kid sleeps in class. Oh, the stories I could tell.....

To draft the circle, I have to know the circumference of the bottom of the bodice. So I measured it with the tape measure, and it came out to 25 inches. So that step was pretty easy.

Now I need to draw a circle with a circumference of 25 inches. Here comes the math part.

I used this handy little mathematical formula:

Circumference=pi X diameter

Now I know the circumference (25) and I know pi (3.14), so I get

25 = 3.14 X diameter

I divide 25 by 3.14 and the answer is 7.96 inches. Let's just call it 8.

I make marks 8 inches apart on the paper. Then I mark the middle-that will be 4, yall.

I put the protractor like so, and rotate around from the marked middle:

And I get half the circle:

Since I'm such a nerd, I put my cloth tape measure on edge and measured around the outside of that red half circle. And guess what? It measured 12 1/2", which is perfect! Life is good.

I did a little thinking and decided my skirt needed to be 17 inches long, so I marked it off and cut it out and here is my skirt pattern!

The astute among you are saying "That's not a half circle!" You're correct. Since my muslin is only 35 inches wide, I can't cut a half circle. I'm cutting a quarter circle instead, with one edge on the fold.

The next design technique I used was the eyeball method. I eyed this pattern piece, drew in some lines, used the eraser a few times, and finally decided on the placement lines for all those little ruffles:

I'm off to sew together a little skirt!

Twirl-Drafting The Bodices

2008-01-26T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have begun work on Twirl (the dress that keeps me awake at night) and the first step was to find an existing bodice pattern in size 2. This one rose to the top of the pile and I decided to start with it for several reasons.

One, it was an empire style bodice. Two, the bodice appears to fit fairly close to the body (I'll know for sure once I sew it up, since we all know that you cannot always rely on pattern drawings). Three, it has a little sleeve that should fit into the existing armhole. Although I'm not using sleeves on Twirl, if I can get this bodice drafted like I want it I have other plans that do involve sleeves.

So here we go.

Here are the bodice front and back in their original state. The pattern calls for a center back zipper, but I'm using buttons.

The first step is to trace off the original pattern and draw in the original cutting lines. I drew in the original center back seamline and I marked the straight grain of fabric. I measured the original side seams to see if they were the same length. They weren't. So I marked in the pattern correction for that. It is imperative that the side seams be equal in length. I used a brown marker, just for you!

Since I want to add small tucks to the bottom of the front bodice and I want to add gathers to the back bodice, I marked the center of each piece and drew in three slash lines one inch apart. I don't want to interfere with the armhole, so I ended the slashes just below the armhole.

Now I slashed the front bodice on the slash lines. I am not afraid. It's only paper. I pinned down the parts of the pattern that I don't want to move. Then I spread the slashes to add width for the tucks, taping down the adjustment as I worked:

You can see that this causes the pattern to crease. It's trying to tell me something.

It wants to be slashed. So I go along....

Then I let it flatten itself out again:

This changes the angle of the side seam. Since the fabric will be flat, the pattern must be flat, too. So I draw in the new side seam with a blue marker, and sketch in the seamlines with green:

The final step is to redraw the curve on the bottom of the bodice and lengthen the side seam back to its original length. Viola!

I followed the same procedure with the back bodice. The only difference here is that I added 5/8" to the center back cutting line to accomodate those cute little buttons I'm adding:

Here are the progress pictures for the back:

Now to cut this out of muslin and baste it together for a first fitting on The Princess.

Almost Done!

2008-01-24T19:09:00.000-08:00

Stormy Night is almost done! It needs buttons sewn on, one snap at the neckline, the bias neck facing whipped down, and hemming! Hopefully I can knock this out tomorrow afternoon.

I've pretty much worked out all the drafting techniques to use for the twirly dress. My mind has been working on this one all week and I've made a whole page of notes to myself. So I guess really I've been working double time--working at the J-O-B and working mentally on the D-R-E-S-S.

One odd thing I've noticed is that I manage to solve most of my sewing problems at night while I sleep. For several days I've been trying to figure out one little detail on the twirly dress (the elastic on the back bodice) and I woke up about 2 a.m. this morning with the answer in my head. I promptly went back to sleep, but the solution is perfect. Many people think my mind is out of control (just ask my children), and I guess that can be a good thing sometimes. Has this ever happened to you? Or am I the only weird one?

At any rate, here's another piece of fabric from my little excursion on Monday. This will become a little dress, of course, but I'm undecided about which one:

I'm a sucker for sweet little flower prints. Speaking of which, I'm on the hunt for a black cotton print like this one, so if you've seen it available online anywhere, please leave me a comment.

I can't wait for the weekend!

Of Course, I Went Shopping

2008-01-22T20:11:00.000-08:00

Yall knew I would, didn't you? And I had a great time, and some good luck. Why is it I always want to buy 50 yards of fabric? I didn't, though. Only fifteen yards. Honest.

I adore this one:

And this to go with it:

I've pretty much decided that I'm going to use this pattern, Natalie, by the Childrens Corner:

I'm planning on using the black dot for the fold back flaps on the back and the pockets, red piping, and red buttons. Any guesses as to what I'll name this dress?

Of course, there's more fabric lurking in those bags over there...and some patterns, too...and the latest issue of Australian Smocking....

I've done a bit more work on Stormy Night. The smocking is all done and I have the back closure ready for buttonholes. Then the neck binding, sleeve and side seams, hemming, and it's done!

I'm not particularly happy with the way this smocking pattern ends in the back. I may spinkle a few flower buds around, sort of random like. I'll be better able to tell when I get the buttons on it.

I'm anxious to get through with this one so I can draft out the little purple number. It is my intention to have it drafted and done in muslin by nightfall Friday night. If so, I'll head out to Joann's and grab me up some purple and orange fabric early Saturday morning.

Thanks to all who have left suggestions and hints as to how to finish off the bottom of the ruffly parts. You're a great help, and I'm glad you stop by!

A Three Day Weekend

2008-01-20T11:45:00.001-08:00

Here I am in the middle of a three-day weekend, and some may think that I have nothing to show for it yet. Not so. Yesterday I spent four hours straightening up the sewing room so I could actually sew in there. During the holidays it seems as if everything in the world wound up piled up--on the ironing board, all three tables, and heaped up in stacks on the floor. Who made that awful mess? Me.

I inherited two bookcases from my mother, and they are perfect in the sewing room. Here's one of them, the one I mentally refer to as "The Dress Cabinet":

All of that is my little girl dress fabric. Yeah, I know. I don't have enough, do I? Maybe tomorrow.......

At any rate, I finally did get to smocking on the sleeves for Stormy Night. Here's a very unflatttering photo of one of them in progress:

I'm off to cook some Italian Pork Chops for She Who Is Pregnant With Twins. We're up to 23 weeks and 2 days, and things are looking good. And this evening? Sewing, sewing, sewing. I've got my groove on!

Ideas Still Percolating

2008-01-16T15:14:00.001-08:00

Okay, I still can't draw, and this time I even used a ruler. Sort of.

But anyway, here's my sketch of the skirt part of the dress I want to make. This represents half of the skirt--there will be two of these. For simplicity's sake, let's just call this the skirt front, shall we?

I started by drawing a half circle at the top. This is the part that will be sewn to the bodice. I will measure out the desired length and cut myself a piece of fabric.

The shell shapes (a complete shell in the center front, and two half shells shown for each side) are the sewing lines where I will attach the ruffles. The gathering foot for my machine will get a real workout on this one. The finished skirt will have four sets of shell ruffles (center front, center back, and one on each side).

Aren't you admiring the cute little flounce I drew on the bottom edge? That's the separate ruffle underlay shown in orange on the original dress. I haven't decided how to attach that piece yet.

The photo also shows a band applied to the bottom of the main skirt body. That's that thin little strip I drew right above the ruffle. I plan to cut a bias strip and essentially bind that bottom edge of the main skirt.

Yes, I know that means I will be sewing a bias strip to the bottom of a bias skirt, but what can I say? I just love me a good challenge!

If you have any ideas, or suggestions, please speak up! The only thing I love more than a challenge is a comment.

I'm off to smock some little sleeves.

Ideas Are Percolating

2008-01-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

As usual, I couldn't sleep last night because I was thinking about dresses. By the upside to that is that I figured out how to do what I want to do. But first, this:

Oh, pleater, how I love thee.

Yes, friends, this is Stormy Night. The poor little thing has been languishing in the sewing room, waiting to get its little sleeves pleated. I couldn't seem to make up my mind what length I wanted the sleeves to be. After finally deciding on elbow length, I cut off the extra sleeve length and ran each sleeve through the pleater. Although I pleated five rows, I doubt I'll smock that many rows.

Today I'm concentrating on the bodice of the little dress I posted about yesterday. The front and back bodices are a little out of the ordinary. In an effort to make this easier to see, I enlarged the original photo and cropped away everything except the bodice. It may be a little fuzzy, but here goes nothing:

I hope it will be large when you click on it. I did try, honest.

At any rate, here goes Part One of my ideas for recreating this design:

Use a standard bodice in size 2 from one of the major pattern companies. Not sure yet which one to use--I keep tripping over the darn things. I'll just grab one.
Scoop out the front and back neck a bit for a more summery look.
Make the front bodice long enough at the center front to accomodate three decorative buttons.
Close the back bodice with three buttons.
Add a little cap sleeve or a flutter sleeve. Maybe. More on this when the muslin stage gets here (yes, there is a muslin appearing here soon).
Small tucks at the bottom edge of the front bodice.
Back bodice appears to be gathered with elastic in the bodice/skirt seam. Or maybe it's tucked and gathered with elastic. Need to think about this one a bit more.
I can't tell a thing about the sash, except that it's mighty cute. Trimmed with rosettes and buttons, maybe?
Line both bodices
Use stay tape on the bodice/skirt seam, because this puppy is going to be heavy when I put eight miles of ruffles on it

That's where I am right now. I think I have the skirt all worked out, too, but right now I'm off to smock a couple of little bitty sleeves.

Inspiration Number One

2008-01-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

I went over to cook for She Who Is Pregnant With Twins (Chicken Pilaf, Green Beans, and Garlic Bread) and a mail-order catalog was just lying around, waiting for me to pick it up. So I did. And I found this:

This is a real cutie, and for $200 it should be. Silk. Dry clean only. Yeah, right.

Forget cooking. I'm busy trying to figure out how to make this for, oh, say, about $20. Three yards of cotton broadcloth (the good stuff) should be gracious plenty, six covered buttons, three spools of thread, and another yard of contrast fabric for that bottom ruffle. Okay, maybe $25.

I have a feeling this one will keep me awake all night. See what I mean about not getting enough sleep? It's always something.

Looking To Spring

2008-01-11T20:12:00.001-08:00

Twins Update

She Who Is Pregnant With Twins marks 22 weeks of pregnancy today. No, I don't know what the official time of day it was when that milestone was reached. And I'm not asking, either. There are some things a mother just doesn't want to know, you know?

She's good. Tomorrow I'm going over with the new Southern Living cookbook for her to pick out things she wants to eat next week. Or tomorrow night, even.

The Sewing

Spring will be here before we know it. Where I live, it will probably arrive in three weeks, so it's best to get going on some spring dresses for The Princess, who keeps on growing and growing and growing.

I'm thinking about this one. A lot. It's vintage, of course. Simplicity, 1947. And it should fit, too.

The front:

This has that darling little girl sweetness that I love. It has it all: little round collar, puffed sleeves, gathered waist, buttoned back, tie sash. The bonus on this one is the inverted box pleat at the center front.

The back:

This pattern calls for 35" or 39" fabric. I don't know about you, but it's been a long time since I've seen fabric bolts in that width. But I am old enough to have actually seen it, bought it, and sewn it up in my lifetime.

The pattern suggests that you use lawn, batiste, seersucker, pique, cotton, and taffeta. If that doesn't sound like sugar and spice and everything nice, I don't know what does.

I'm on the hunt for the perfect little stripe, so I can make View 2 with the bias front. Nothing gives you a good headache like a little stripe. I'm game.

A Bird A Day

2008-01-10T17:08:00.000-08:00

She Who Is Pregnant With Twins has been confined to bed rest. During the holidays she went to the not-so-local hospital (since ours was blown away by the tornado) not once, but twice. The first time it was due to kidney stones. She had two of those, too. The second time was due to contractions. After a couple of days under observation, she was sent home on strict bed rest until the babies arrive. So she's at home, eating ice cream. To console her I have started cooking again. She will eat anything, and lots of it, as long as there's ice cream to go with it. I have a feeling we are ALL going to gain a lot of weight.

To help mark her progress, I started stitching birds. These birds, in fact:

This design is Birds in the Bower by The Goode Huswife, from 1999. I've had this since it first came out. I'm working it on 32 count Dirty Sands linen with DMC thread. Here's my progress so far:

My goal here is to stitch a bird for every day she's on bed rest. It's just a way to mark off her progress while she grows babies. I'm already 3 birds behind. Sheesh!

I'm off to stitch a bird (or two). Send good thoughts our way, if you will. They are much appreciated!

2008 Plan

2008-01-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

It may be a little extreme for me to call this my plan for 2008. "Dreams" may actually be a better word. But in the spirit of setting goals, raising the bar, aiming for the sky, and all that kind of stuff, here I go--this is what I want to accomplish this year. Laugh if you want to.

2008 Plans

Make 20 Little Dresses. My reason for being may very well be to make this world a more beautiful place. Twenty little dresses will certainly help, don't you think?
Make 10 Garments For Myself. Goodness knows, I've made enough muslins already. I'm ready to Do It. Besides, I hate all my clothes.
Make 6 Aprons. These will all be retro style, of course.
Buy 200 Vintage Patterns. If you want me to be honest about all these plans, I might as well own up to this one publicly. I crave the darn things. I've been good. I need to reward myself, don't I?
Make 1 Smocked Ornament. I had planned to do this one during the Christmas holidays, but life kind of got in the way somehow.
Complete 4 Needlework Projects. Two of these will be unfinished projects from the past. Two will be new projects, ones that the UPS guy delivered to me during Christmas. What? Your dog and cat don't give you Christmas presents??????
Smock With Beads. I despise working with beads. I am going to self-medicate this illness by immunizing myself by combining beading with something I love. That's where the smocking part comes in.
Finish The Quilt I started a few months ago. All it needs is a border, for crying out loud.
Plant Flowers. And water them.
Buy More Shoes. At least one of these must be a pair that I love so much I will buy them knowing full well that I will never wear them.
Knit One Sock. This should be nerve-wracking enough to put me off the knitted sock hunger pains I've been having for six months. It should take just one sock to put an end to this. A full pair shouldn't be necessary.
Get More Sleep. This one ain't gonna happen, yall.
Make Pink Things.

That last one there, about the Pink Things? Well, I haven't made The Princess anything pink yet. And now, the announcement that has me dreaming in pink--remember those TWINS that are due this spring? They are both

GIRLS!

Whew!

2008-01-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

Wow. I can't believe it's come and gone already.

The Food:

(Yes, I cooked for TWO days, although I have to admit that Number One son hung in there with me through the mixing, cooking, and washing up)

Roast Turkey

Smoked Ham

Cornbread Dressing with Giblet Gravy

Baby Carrots

Collard Greens

Pear Salad with Maraschino Cherries

Brown Rice with Mushrooms

Broccoli with Cheese Casserole

Fordhook Lima Beans

Macaroni and Cheese

Pasta Salad

Green Beans

Black Eyed Peas

Deviled Eggs

Chocolate Delight

Cranberry Sauce

Baked Creamed Corn

Tropical Fruit Salad

Hot Buttered Rolls

Stuff Other People Made That We Ate All Gone-Gone:

Fudge Brownies

Cookies Galore

Red Velvet Cake

Italian Creme Cake

Chocolate Layer Cake

Pecan Pie

Sweet Potato Casserole

We ate, and ate, and ate some more. Then after we recuperated for a while, we gathered up the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren in attendance and forced them, once again, to sit on the stairs for the Annual Christmas Staircase Photo Opportunity:

By looking at this photo, I can tell you that when we started this annual picture, eight of those people weren't even born. Time flies, I tell ya.

And once in a while you get lucky. You have a camera in hand, turned on, with a memory card and a nice strong battery, when a precious little child plants a kiss on your Christmas tree:

I hope you were that lucky.

A Special Christmas For Mama

2007-12-25T05:14:00.000-08:00

This silver pitcher was precious to our Mama. It was a cherished wedding gift she and Daddy received so many years ago. It is filled with roses, her favorite flowers, and is on the buffet with other silver pieces I inherited from her. She loved pretty, shiny things.

She was a gentle, kind, sweet soul, but there are two legacies she left to her four children. One is the immense love she had for each of us and our families, and the other was her love of the Lord.

We will miss her today, but we will celebrate her life and see the love she had for us reflected in the face of every child and grandchild. Today she is a part of the heavenly choir, celebrating her first Christmas where the streets are paved in silver and gold. She will love it.

Merry Christmas, Mama.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.....

2007-12-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

an angel on high over the tree....

keeping an eye on the ornaments.......

shiny polished silver on the sideboard.....

fragrant white flowers on the mantle....

the stockings all hung....

a portrait of the children and the bird tree........

and a table laid, just waiting for tomorrow......

when I get the best gift of all....my family, arriving for Christmas, to celebrate the joyous Day.

The Elves Have Been Busy.....

2007-12-24T08:05:00.001-08:00

The Christmas Elves have been extremely busy around here. Busy, yes, but also a bit inattentive when it comes to HIDING things......

Oh, look! Where did THIS come from?????

Let's see....if I hold my mouth just right, maybe I can work this door thingee......

Don't I look MARVELOUS in this little pink car??

Oh well. Maybe she'll drive the thing in the living room and park it under the tree.

I wish such delight and smiles for you and your little ones this Christmas.

Getting Closer and Closer

2007-12-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

What a week! This was our week of semester exams at school, and school is officially over until January. I do have to go in for a teacher workday on Monday, but after that, Christmas is ON! I still have a little shopping to do, but not much. And I haven't wrapped a single present yet.

We are almost finished with decorating the house. Here is a close up of the beaded fruit decorations on the Hall Tree that I posted a few days ago:

I just love the grapes and pomegranates.

The next photo is of the Kitchen Tree. The quilt hanging on the wall was a gift from my mother about 15 years ago. It makes an appearance every year. The little reindeer plates in the plate rack were a gift from my niece.

I love this tree! Look how we decorate it every year:

It is draped with wooden cranberry beads, laced with ribbon, and hung with toy food and cookware from a children's cooking set. We hot-glued the ornament hangers directly to the back of the toys. This is the seventh or eighth year we've had this tree and the children (and me!) love it.

I have something to run through the pleater, fifty loads of laundry, and a special shopping trip to do today. I'm hoping, really hoping, to get in some sewing time before midnight.

Enjoy your day.

A Special Day

2007-12-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

Today, far north of here, my oldest brother is celebrating his 57th birthday. If I know him, a very large steak and some excellent ice cream will be part of his celebration. Jalapeno peppers will also be involved.

Our parents married at the end of World War II, and after several years of marriage they found out they were expecting a baby. Today is his birthday.

To celebrate the upcoming event, our daddy went out and bought this for our mama:

A Singer sewing machine. He bought it so she could make baby clothes and blankets, not only for that little baby, but for the other three that would quickly follow within five years. There was only one hitch to his plan. Mama didn't know how to sew.

That didn't daunt Daddy one little bit. As one of ten children raised on a farm, he had one sister and eight brothers. In the rural backwoods where they were all born and raised, everyone had to pitch in, whether it was farm work or house work. So his mother taught every single one of her children how to sew. Yep, all nine boys sewed, as well as the only sister.

So Daddy taught Mama how to sew. She never had a sewing class in school, and her mother and sisters didn't sew. He taught her how to lay out patterns on the grainline, put in zippers, hand stitch hems, make buttonholes, and put in sleeves. He must have been an excellent teacher, because she took right to it and never looked back. As children we all remember her sitting at that sewing machine, winding bobbins, dropping pins, and figuring out new things.

I remember standing right beside her the night she was making my sister a dress and sewed right through the fingernail on her hand. She very calmly unscrewed the needle and we all piled into the backseat of the car, headed to the emergency room. I can still see her driving along, changing the gears, with that one finger stuck up above the steering wheel. She was calm as a cucumber.

Later on she bought Barbie doll patterns for 25 cents apiece and taught my sister and me how to sew. We both learned on this old Singer.

When we were going through Mama's things, we took turns choosing what we would most like to have. I chose the sewing machine. I don't think the others were surprised one little bit at my choice.

Once I got it home, I was amazed to see that the instruction manual was still in the little tilt-out drawer. Here it is, copyrighted in 1947:

And from this view of a couple of the inner pages, you can tell we liked to color while she sewed:

It's really odd how life works out. Last year when we redecorated the downstairs family room, we never did find the perfect little chair to put next to the fireplace. This old sewing machine, in its battle-scarred cabinet, now sits in that spot. I think it was meant to be. When I look at it, I think of Mama and how she loved that old sewing machine. She loved to tell the story about how Daddy surprised her with it when she was pregnant, and then taught her to sew.

She moved many, many times during her marriage, and of all her possessions there were only six things that she took with her on each move. Her four children, the pearls Daddy gave her on their wedding day, and this old sewing machine.

To her, this old sewing machine represented the happiest period in her life.

Happy Birthday, big brother. Mama adored you, and so do I.

Sewing? no. Decorating? yes.

2007-12-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Still no sewing or smocking, but there's been a whole lotta decorating going on here. See?

This is the landing of the main staircase in our house. Here's a shot of the mid-landing about three-fourths of the way up, where the stairs turn:

Here's a close up of one of the newel posts on the mid-landing:

Draping and decorating this staircase takes a LOT of time....it took Number One son and me about five hours to do this today, which was actually pretty fast. We've been doing it for about 15 years, so it does get faster with time. The first time we did it, it took 3 days. Now we know how much drape it needs and how much STUFF you need to make it look good.

Although it would be much simpler and quicker, we don't do it the same way every year. We've had a variety of trims and ribbons and ornaments on it in the past, but this is the first time we've used the gold beads. This year it is made of up about 300 feet of garland, around 3000 little white lights, and about 75 yards of gold lame fabric.

We also put up another tree today (we're up to three already) and I just want one more.....the bird tree. I'll put up pictures of the other two trees tomorrow--it's hard to photograph trees at night.

And who knows? Maybe I'll smock something tomorrow....I have one to finish, one to cut out, and a little idea for a tiny little smocked something special. We'll see!

One Tree Up....

2007-12-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

Long time no post. First a bit of a flu, then quite a bit of a stomach virus has kept me from doing pretty much anything fun. Throw in some Christmas shopping and work, and that's what I've been up to. So of course, I haven't done any smocking or sewing for more than a week.

But in between the flu and the stomach virus, we did manage to put up a tree or two. Here's one of them, the Hall Tree:

It's hard to photograph a Christmas tree. I finally climbed up on the staircase to get this picture.

This is our fruit tree. It's six feet tall and sits atop the sideboard in the front hallway. It is decorated with a zillion little lights and satin and beaded fruits--apples, pears, pomegranates, grapes, etc. We always enjoy this tree a lot, since we can see it from downstairs and upstairs. You have to walk past it to get upstairs, so the children and their friends enjoy it as much as we do.

I'm itching to smock and sew again, so I plan to get going with it again this weekend. But first, I'm going to a basketball game!

Have a nice afternoon!

If Only YOUR Sister Could Cook Like This...

2007-11-25T02:59:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving Day at my sister's house again this year. She hosts the entire family (and whoever else might show up) out in the country at Thanksgiving every year. She puts out a spread to feed anywhere from 20 to 35 people every year, and she always has enough food for dinner AND supper. Just look at what we had to eat, yall:

The Feast

Deep Fried Turkey

Sugar Cured Ham

Chicken and Dumplings

Cornbread Dressing

Giblet Gravy

Home Grown Corn

Broccoli Casserole

Sweet Potato Souffle

Zipper Peas

Cranberry Sauce

Deviled Eggs

Glazed Fruit Salad

Baked Rolls

Pound Cake

Pecan Pie

Banana Pudding

...and I probably left something out. It is all homemade food, too, no cooking out of a can or box.

She cooks like this all the time. Her family lives on a farm and they tend to grow food there, so she tends to cook it, and then everybody tends to eat a lot of it. We eat so much that the grownups sprawl out wherever they can afterwards and nap while the Random Teenagers and Countless Cousins play football in the yard. People tend to hang around in her kitchen all the time.

She's one of the things in my life I'm thankful for.