Bluebonnet for a Blue-Eyed Babe

In celebration of her first birthday, The Princess had her portrait made this past week. What's a girl to wear? Bluebonnet, of course!



Here she is practicing patty cake!








I love the fullness and complete girliness of this dress. Look at the back:

You may remember that this is the Mary De pattern from the Childrens Corner. I will definitely make another one of these.

I have this theory, see. I firmly believe in dresses for girls--little girls, big girls, skinny girls, fat girls, young girls, old girls, and girls with skinned-up knees. My theory is that if I unleash an avalanche of dresses in their direction and smother my granddaughters with constant and regular doses of them, they will develop a love of dresses and live with me forever in the Land of Dressdom.

And I know that I am not alone in this theory. I read and surf blogs, too, you know. There are tons of you out there who share this theory, too, whether you are in tune to it or not. Of course, some of you, like me, are completely Out Of The Closet on this topic. Erin over at Dress A Day comes to mind immediately. For all the rest of you, don't be afraid. The water's not deep. Just jump in the boat!

The official On The Hanger photo of the front:

And the close-up:

On The Hanger back view:

And the close-up:

I just adore that overlapped double button closure, don't you?

And by the way--Number One Son recently bought a falling down house and has started renovations on it. Check out the link to his blog (Be It Ever So Humble) in the sidebar!

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

We're still on fire down South, a situation that has really made my sinuses give me fits. The wildfires down here are unbelievable. Even though we are a good 150 miles away from the fires, our town has been covered in smoke for three weeks. It even gets inside the house. It has been so bad I've gotten up a couple of times at night, thinking that our house was on fire. It hasn't rained here since the night of the tornado (March 1). The word dry just can't describe it. There is a huge bog down in the Okefeenokee swamp, and the authorities say it will take a tropical storm system to sit on top of that bog and rain for 4 or 5 days to put it out. They say that Nature will have to put it out, that Man Alone just can't do it.

Although I'm feeling a little better now, I'm still not back up to par. Today is the first day I've been on the Internet since my last post. Is eBay still in business??????

I haven't finished Blue Bonnet. All it needs is buttonholes and a hem.

I haven't cut out that cute little baby bubble either. It's still sitting there, all sad, on the cutting table.

On my first day of vacation, last Thursday, I had a pajama day. I laid around all day, feeling puny, and read a little bit.

On Day 2 of my vacation, I decided to get a haircut. That always makes me feel better. In fact I was feeling so rotten I had highlights, too. That helped.

On Day 3 of my vacation, I resorted to Shopping Therapy. I scored this yarn (so soft!) at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents each!





On Day 4 I continued the Shopping Therapy at Joanne's. I got 5 yards of a linen/rayon blend (for me!), two Burda patterns, and a scallop-making thingee:





On Day 5 I took a road trip (more Shopping Therapy!) with my Stitching Friend. We went to the needlework store, two yarn shops, and Michaels. Pictures to come!


Today I feel better than I have in two weeks. I've been off the Claritin-Delirium for 6 days now and am beginning to feel like myself again, although I still have the sinus/chest thing. My sleep patterns are still all screwed up--I sleep at night for three hours, and then get up. I'm tired, but not sleepy.

I really want to make some capri pants and nice slacks out of the linen, but I would LOVE to lose 15 pounds before I have to go back to school (and before I make the pants). So I've decided to spend less time with a fork in my hand, and more time on this:




See how dead the grass is? And we aren't allowed to water.

I'm riding this thing (it's my brother's) at 6 a.m. and about 10 p.m. Why so late early? Well, for one, I'm less likely to get run over. For number two, yall have no idea how HOT it is down here. And number three, I sure look stupid with that little helmet on.

The Post of a Thousand Pictures

I have this weird thing about magazines and books. When I see one I want in a store, I NEVER flip through it before I buy it. I guess I really do judge books by their covers, because that's as far as I ever get. If your cover appeals to me, I'm yours.

After I buy one, I won't open it up in the car on the way home, either. Weird, huh? I wait until I get home, get all stretched out in my favorite chair, get the coffee or sweet tea, get the reading glasses, get all conversation out of the way, and THEN I open it up. It's like Christmas morning because I torture myself the whole time wondering what's in the box!

Occasionally this method backfires on me and I waste money. This happened this weekend, when I fell for the cover of the latest knitting magazine because the tank on the cover was gorgeous. But when I opened it up, I found things like this:





My scanner barfed.

And lookee what's under it! The companion piece:





All I can think of is dog collars.


Maybe it's just me and I have no sense of style, pattern, design, color coordination, and tap dancing, but I usually recognize ugly when I see it.


And the tank that was on the cover? It is really nice, and it will cost a really big pile of $$$ to make it. I figured I could make 12 to 15 baby dresses with the same $$$$, so it's back to smocking for me.

And I have been smocking! I made a few changes on Bluebonnet. I added self piping to the bottom of the front and back bodices. Here are the piped back bodices:



Once I had the pattern pieces all cut out and the smocking done, I decided that the weight of the skirts was most likely going to distort the bodices. I shoveled out one small area on the floor so I could pose this photo of a back bodice and its corresponding skirt piece:




That's a full fabric width (45") that's going to be gathered onto a 9 inch piece of bodice. So I did the piping thing, and I am very happy with the results:





I had already turned under 1 1/2" on the center back of each bodice piece for the facings. You'll notice that I extended the bodice 1/4" beyond the faced edge. Later when I sew the bodice facings on, I want that bodice piece to finish off perfectly even with the skirt piece. Yes, I am picky.

Now I have all the dress pieces sewn together and have also sewn the bodice facings together at the shoulders. I sewed the neckline seam (the facings are on top, wrong side out):

I clipped the neck seam, turned it and pressed it. Here's a close up of what I have so far. Notice that the armhole edges are still raw edges:

Now this is the part that is really neat, really interesting, or really confusing. Just reading directions, without illustrations, makes this confusing. So I thought I would confuse you with pictures!

What I am going to try to show you is how to sew the armholes to the armhole facings and end up with no handwork. This is the way RTW does it, and it always looks professional. And it's easy once you figure out how to do it.

In order to do this trick you need either the center back seam or the center front seam unstitched. In my case, this dress is still open all the way down the center back. Here goes!

I open out the facing on one side, like so:

Then I take the dress part on the unopened side, wad it up, and lay it across the middle of the opened up area:

In this next photo, a Random Teenager lent his hands because I didn't have enough of them myself. He is holding up the armhole edge and the armhole facing edge. These are the edges I'm going to stitch together.

Now he has brought the two edges together. See the wadded up part poking out of each end?

The pins go in:

The seam goes in:

Now I'm going to pull the rabbit out of the hat:

I just reach up in there and pull the wadded up part out.

Still pulling:

Abracadabra, it's magic!

Do the same thing with the other side. Then stitch the side seams, and you will have perfect neckline and armhole finishes with no handwork and no raw edges.

One last shot here of the stitched underarm seam:

Someone in cyberland has probably done a much better job of illustrating this than I have. If you know where it is, please leave a comment. It's times like these when I wish I could draw.

All Smocked Up!

As you can see, I have been busily smocking on Bluebonnet. Last night I finished the smocking and this morning I added the little cable flowerettes in the large diamonds:




This was a very fast smock. Either it was easy to smock, or I benefited from still not having cable TV. With no distractions, this was super fast and fun. I really like the floss colors, too, so that probably had something to do with it. This fabric came from Joann's and it is a nice firm closely woven 100% cotton. Nice stuff.

Just a note on this pattern. The front skirt pieces have the cutouts for the armholes, but I chose not to do it that way. It is much easier to run a straight edge through a pleater, so why torture myself by trying to get that armhole curve to feed evenly through the pleater?

I just tore the front skirt to the length I needed, marked off the armhole curve, and THEN ran it through the pleater. In the photo below, you can see the drawn curve. You can also tell that I removed the pleater threads from the curved piece that will later be cut away. And I ran my smocking into the seam allowance in that area.




I'm hoping to get in some construction time on this little dress later today. I also plan to cut out my next project, the baby bubble I posted a picture of the other day.


Why haven't I cut it out already? Because this person has taken over my cutting table with a total re-do of a Spanish II project. These Random Teenagers, why don't they listen to their mamas and do it right the first time?





Hope you have more fun this weekend than he will!

Need Some Input, Folks

Yes, I've been busy smocking on Bluebonnet. Yes, I have it all cut out. Yes, I can't wait for school to be out so I can do this ALL DAY LONG if I want to.......


First of all I must encourage you to go over to Candle's site and see Miss Daisy. That's her link over there on the left, in the side bar. Scroll down a bit and feast your eyes on her work.

Isn't that gorgeous? After all that beautiful and wonderful work, I am a tad shy about showing you a scan of my own stuff. Oh, well, if you insist:




Why is it I always get to the good part and have to quit and go to bed? Oh, that's right, it's the J-O-B. The one that keeps me in fabric. The one that keeps the kids in college. The one that will soon be over for this school year. Just six more days--I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

I'm dying to get finished with Bluebonnet, because I have the next project already picked out, the pattern separated, and the embroidery colors selected. I'm hoping to use this pattern, from the Children's Corner, but I need your input on this particular pattern, a baby bishop bubble:

At the shop where I bought it, they warned me that it ran short in length (like it might not have enough room to snap). I'm interested in the 12 months size, and just by looking at it, it looks okay. The 3 months size DOES look extremely short lengthwise.

So my question to all of you out there is: Have you any experience with this pattern in the 12 months size? WAS it too short? I would really appreciate any input/comments on this one. Thanks!

Did Jamaica Nuff Ruffles?

I've been ruffling and sewing away on these bloomers, and now they are done! See?





That's going to be the cutest little baby behind in the South, don't you think?


A construction detail on these is the elastic application on the legs. I used 1/4 inch elastic and set my zigzag to the widest width, with a regular stitch length. After taking a few straight stitches at the beginning to anchor the elastic, I zigged and zagged about 3/4 inch around the leg openings, being careful not to stitch through the elastic. By stitching over it, the elastic is movable, just as if it was inside a regular casing. I really like this trick. Next time I think I'll try it with 1/8 inch elastic, just to see how well that would work. Here's how it looks from the outside:





And here's how it looks from the inside:

This is the finish you see in Ready To Wear--and we can do it, too!

After everything was done, Jamaica wanted to go out on the back porch and admire the begonias. Here she is, mid-swing in a garden chair:

Once she quit petting the cat, I caught this shot from the back:



Now that's cute, yall. And I think I made enough ruffles for this one--eleven!

Bluebonnet

Remember Bluebonnet? No? Well, here it is again:

While I was pondering what to cut up next, I realized that Bluebonnet had posed herself atop this pattern, and was already picking out embroidery floss!

Who am I to argue? I'm going to cut it out, of course.

A-Smocking We Shall Go

Here is a progress photo of the smocking on Little Miss Sunshine. The first row is cable and alternating cable. The second row is wave. Of course, I have taken out the first row and changed the color. Funny how I always do that, isn't it?

At first I had a paler pink for the alternating cable, but after working the waves the pale pink wasn't showing up. So out it came, and in went dark pink. I'm happy now.





We are now three weeks post-tornado, and I am still going through the mail. This pattern is one I fought dearly for on e-bay even though it doesn't fit any of my princesses. I adore the eight gore princess seaming on this one, and the flare of the skirt is to die for. My problem? I really, really want this one in a size 1. If you've seen it (or one similar) anywhere, please tell me where! Otherwise, I may find myself trying to redraft this. Lots of work, there.

The more I look at this, the more I like it. Hmmmm......since I have a size 1 bodice, I could use that and shorten it a bit......fold out the excess in equal amounts in all the gored skirt pieces so it would fit the bodice.....adjust the armhole......shorten the length......respace the buttonholes.....This is doable. Without too much effort. Sunday afternoon, maybe? We'll see.

Here's the back.

Nice possibilities with this pattern. You could pipe all the seams. You could make just the jumper (the blouse is separate) for the hot summer. You could put the sleeves on the jumper and forget the blouse entirely. I really like the button closing in the back, and of course, I would use the sash. And the buttoned cuffs on the sleeves. Oh my!

Meet Bluebonnet. Isn't she lovely? The background is the color of a Spring afternoon.

She brought a lot of friends home with her from the fabric store.

What would you do with her?