Almost Done!

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

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!

Ideas Are Percolating

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.

Smocking On Stormy Night

I have begun the smocking on Stormy Night:





The first round is cable in DMC 976, a nice shade of gold with a little orange tone to it. That is followed by a round of wheat stitch in 977, then three rounds of baby wave. I think this is looking very sweet. This is a simple smocking pattern (I need to post a picture of the source) that is perfect for the person smocking with the flu.

This pattern is not mind-blogging at all, and leaves me plenty of time for sneezing and coughing. Of course, there is much whining involved, too..."I'm sick and nobody cares"..."I'm going to die unless I get some tea"...."My head hurts"...."I want to watch football"......you get the idea.

Maybe I can get more done today. I need to get my appetite back QUICK since we are going to put on the feedback at my sister's house on Thanksgiving Day.

All Pleated Up

This has been a very busy week at work, finishing up on loose ends before the start of our Thanksgiving break. That's right, kiddies, I'm out for the entire week!

I cut out Stormy Night on Wednesday, and got around to seaming it up on Friday afternoon. It made a trip throught the pleater late Friday night, with seven rows of pleats. Yesterday I went and did a bit of Christmas shopping with She Who Is Pregnant With Twins.

Right now the dress is being blocked, like so:




I'm very happy with the way this pleated up. I really do like this fabric now, and I think it will be a sweet little old-fashioned dress. I've said before that the pleating is one of my favorite processes when sewing, because the fabric can look entirely different once it's pleated.

I'm going to put a row or two of smocking on this tonight to see how the smocking pattern and thread colors I've picked will look. Somewhere I've picked up a nasty head and chest cold, so I'm sort of dragging around. Hopefully it will go away soon because I have a LOT of sewing planned for this week!

A Dress To Dance In

A Princess came to see us, and she has a new dress!




Here's a back shot. It's very difficult to take a picture of a dancing baby, but we tried:




The dress is the perfect length on her. It just looks long due to the angle of the photos. It was being taken by a very tall Number One son.

Here she is again, and that's her Grandma (me) in the background, laughing at her:




What?????? You don't let your babies dance on the kitchen table? She can do anything at Grandma's house.

I have the next project underway. I'm using this pattern, Woodland Fairy, from issue 49 of Australian Smocking and Embroidery:




I will probably use a different smocking plate, and I am going to lengthen the sleeves to 3/4 length if I have enough fabric.

I'm going to challenge myself a bit on this project, by using this almost ugly, almost boring, almost unsuitable fabric. Meet Stormy Night:




The background is an intensely dark midnight navy, with gold flowers and dark green stems. I hope to "baby" it up with embroidery, maybe some piping, maybe some ribbon, maybe some lace. If you have any suggestions on how I can pretty this up, leave a comment! We'll see what develops!

Thanks to all of you for the kind compliments on Frolic. I really appreciate all your encouragement, and your comments keep me going!