Twirly Girls

We had a birthday party Sunday evening for the youngest Random Teenager, and the gang was all here. What did we do besides eat, eat, eat, and eat? We tried on dresses, of course.

Here's Limeade, getting the final fitting on the shoulder straps:



Look at that smile! And the back:



The full skirt was a big hit, too. Little sister went shopping in the fabric pile and picked out fabric for her own version, TBA.........

Here's Cornfield. This young lady is practicing curtseys for the Queen:



And she's making sure it will be comfortable on the trampoline, too, in this practice jump:



And Golden Tulip went home, amid high hopes the weather will warm up so it can go to school this week:



She likes the pockets almost as much as I do:



And here it is again, in mid-twirl:



Baby Love Update

YES, I took it all apart.

YES, I pressed all the pleats out of it.

YES, it took a tremendous amount of steam to do so.

YES, I had to trim a bit off the side seam (yall remember, when I was wearing the dunce hat I mistakenly smocked that side).

YES, I have smocked one of the fronts.

NO, I haven't smocked the other front.

And NO, Wal-Mart doesn't carry embroidery thread any more.

And YES, I have to drive 45 MILES to get embroidery thread to finish smocking the front.

I may never go to Wal-Mart again. Am I the only one who feels this way about it?

Little Miss Sunshine

Something weird is going on. I keep hearing whispering.

I made a quick run up the road to visit Miss America and the children today, and I took Corn Field and Golden Tulip along for the ride. Who's Miss America, you ask? Why, she's our Number One Daughter, that's who. Not only did Corn Field and Golden Tulip wish for some fresh spring air, they were ready for a try-on!

The Blue Eyed Bombshell just adores Corn Field. They will be very happy together. Now that I have the hem pinned up, they will soon be living happily ever after. And her older sister, The Heartbreaker, is a little darling in Golden Tulip. After a couple of minor adjustments and a hem, Golden Tulip will be ready to move in, too.

As for their little brother, the Duke of Cute, he's mainly interested in something called "play."

And I now present...........Little Miss Sunshine:




This one is for The Princess. It will be smocked in blue and dark pink, with perhaps a little green thrown in for good measure. I posted a picture of the fabric and embroidery thread a couple of days ago. The background is a dark lemon yellow; for some reason the scans and photos look a little orangey. I'm using this smocking plate from the same issue of AS&E that I used for Purple Passion:





I really like the look of the scalloped bottom row. So sweet. And I have some ideas for trim, but I really can't concentrate because of all that whispering....

I'm going to reuse the Baby Square Yokes high yoke design for this dress. And just for the record, I always use a full 45" width of fabric for the dress front, and the same for the dress back. The pattern calls for a 36" cut, but I think the extra fullness really adds to the finished appearance of the dress. This pattern really fits The Princess well at this point in her reign.

As I got Amanda The Super Pleater out of her box, I noticed she looked a little bruised. As if she had been pinched or something. Strange.

I removed all except 11 needles and was thrilled that I didn't shed any blood in the process this time. Is someone in here whispering?

I threaded all the needles with quilting thread and got out the Magic Stick and the tape. I used three little pieces of tape to anchor the edge of the fabric to the Magic Stick. Do you hear the whispering, too?



Now we're ready to run through the rollers. Who is doing all that whispering???????

We start out going through the rollers. So far so good. Is that whispering coming from that big bag of fabric over there?????



Almost finished. If you look closely you can see the tape on the Magic Stick. I remove the tape, of course. I don't run it through the pleater, although it's hard to keep my mind straight with all that whispering I hear.....

This comes out of Amanda PERFECTLY the very first time! Yeah, baby!

And that's when I knew for sure about the whispering. Because when I did The Happy Dance, all the fabric in the bag started to applaud. The noise was thunderous.

After an hour of intensive water-drip torture with a bright light shining in its eyes, one of the fabrics in the bag ratted on all the others.

Seems like they had ganged up on Amanda and gave her a little roughing up. Made her promise to be nice to me. Told her they would pull out her needles with a pair of pliers if she stabbed me again. In short, they promised her a good old butt-whupping if she gave me any trouble at all.

They know a desperate woman when they see one.

Corn Field--For the Good Old Summertime

No one guessed what was lurking on the cutting table the other day. It was Corn Field, freshly cut up for this pattern--McCalls 5385, circa 1960:



She will be View A, the cute little purple one that buttons on the side. I love this pattern. It reminds me of the little dresses I wore when I was a little girl. It also has 3 different dresses! Check out the back:



One buttons on the side and the other two button up the back. One has a V back and roll over shawl collar, which I adore. The one with the front ties is a doll, too.

It's hard to tell from the pattern, but the armholes, neck, and waistline are piped. So let's get piping! Step 1: Cut bias strips. Mine are 1 1/4" wide, absolutely on the true bias. I also need crochet cotton.



I need to sew those bias strips together to make one L O N G string. Line up the edges like so:



Flip one piece over on the other one, with right sides together:



You notice the little triangle edges poking out. That's perfect. I sew it together with a 1/4" seam, on the imaginary line where those triangles cross over. I repeat this until they are all sewn together into one string. Attach the zipper foot, lay the crochet cotton in the middle, fold it over, and machine baste with the longest possible stitch right next to the cord. Why do I machine baste? Because the moving action of the basting stitch slightly stretches out the bias, and I end up with perfect bias that doesn't pucker or go all wonky on me.



If you need to know how much bias you need, simply measure the armholes, neck, etc. You get the idea. Me? I just love making piping. So I have about 5 yards of it now.

I used to be a real dummy. When I needed piping, I would actually buy white piping ready made, and then reupholster it with my own fabric. Later on, I would buy piping cord and reupholster it. A kind smocking person gave me the scoop on using crochet cotton and it is perfect. Minimal to no shrinkage. Available everywhere. And cheap, cheap, cheap. What will I do with all that $$$ I save? Buy more fabric. That big ball will last me a lifetime.

When using the crochet cotton, the 1 1/4" bias width is perfect for a pattern that uses 5/8" seams. To apply the piping, just line up the raw edges of the piping with the raw edges of the bodice. I go ahead and sew this in with a regular stitch length, except for the tricky parts. I baste those. Here's a piped armhole for your perusal:



Here's the button flap on the back shoulder. You notice that the piping is squared off. To get this to work, you must stitch the piping to the corner, slash to the corner, pivot, and keep stitching. I baste this area first then check it to make sure it looks good. Then I restitch it and keep on piping.



Here's a close up of the clipped corner--clip just the piping, not the bodice:



Here's a shot of the corners of the armhole and waist seam line:



Here's the shaped buttonhole flap. See how the piping is curling up? That's perfect. That tells me it will lay nice and flat and just breeze around those curves when I get through!


The bodice, completely piped:



You might have noticed that I have already done the tie ends. Here's my method for turning these right side out. I stitch them, and then use my favorite sewing tool (my husband is still trying to find these--he thinks they are lost, and I'm not telling...)



I just reach in there with the needle nose pliers and grab it. Pull. Repeat. I turned both of these right side out in less than 2 minutes. Works for me!

The finished tie ends.

Now for the skirt!

Absolutely No Self Control

You good people didn't really think I made it out of the fabric store with just Green Goddess the other day, now did you? I couldn't leave all her best friends behind, could I? Of course not. Meet them:



This is Golden Tulip. She is a splash of old-fashioned summer time, with off white, gold, and pink flowerettes scattered all about. She is perfect for a little baby dress with luscious shades of rose, lemon, and grass green. I am beginning to see a little ecru lace and satin ribbon in the mix, too.

Speaking of roses, here's Rose Garden:



Large beautiful roses in shades of pink, coral, and palest creamy yellow with dark golden leaves jumped off the bolt and into the bag, too! I'm thinking shades of coral, yellow ribbons, and maybe some dangling pockets, perhaps? I need to sketch this one out.

And this is Milky Way! She really is the life of the party. If you gave a four year old a box of crayons and requested a picture of the Milky Way, this is probably what you'd get:



I love this one. And I know a little girl who would love it, especially with huge purple buttons!

And this is Corn Field:



I almost passed her by, but she has since Spoken To Me. On the ride home, she kept whispering things like "bright green grosgrain ribbon" and "flounced sleeves" and other such nonsense. We'll see.

Here's another Wild and Crazy girl, AKA as Daisy Riot:



This one is fabulous, not only for the colors (grape background with dark purple, hot pink, golden orange, lemon yellow, and several yummy shades of lime green), but also for the design inspiration. Look at the flowers and leaves. Can you see these traced off, enlarged, and used for applique? Imagine a pale pink microcheck base fabric, with large appliques applied with decorative stitches. Now throw in some ribbon stems. Add a handful of big buttons for the centers of the flowers.

And last but not least, here is Veranda, who is the Very Best Friend of Green Goddess!



Why have I christened her as Veranda? Because she is exactly what I wish I could see while I'm sitting on my own veranda, instead of the mostly dead, weed-infested roses and flower beds that I currently gaze upon. She may end up being worn as a skirt by me!

I'm giving these girls (and Green Goddess too) a free trip on the merry-go-round this afternoon. Now that they are Out Of The Bag, a quick bath and tumble are required. But first, there are eight loads of dirty laundry that are in line ahead of them.