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?

Golden Tulip Done! And Now, Limeade!

Golden Tulip

I have put the finishing touches on Golden Tulip. The side seams under the arms needed to be taken in a bit, so I took most of the bodice and the bodice lining apart to accomplish that. Then it all went back together again. Here's the completed item:







A close up of the front bodice and pocket area:






The finished back (I added sash loops):







The collar lies perfectly. You can see the understitching on the seam below. Understitching a collar has an amazing effect. Once you do it, the collar rolls wonderfully. It's worth two minutes of your time:





This is the side closure in the left side seam. It's hook and eye sewn onto folded bias strips, as per the pattern directions:



When it's closed, this closure is absolutely invisible from the right side. And no bulkiness, either.

The other thing I did was bind the armholes with bias. After sewing, I rollled the bias to the inside and pressed it well. Then I turned under the raw edges of bias and hand stitched it to the lining only, being careful not to pierce the outer fabric:




Isn't that nice?


I may have mentioned before that this was a vintage pattern from the fifties that I won on ebay. This pattern had been used before I got it, and I spent a lot of time while I was sewing wondering about the little girl who wore a version of this dress fifty years ago. Did she like it? What color was it? Was it for Easter? Was it made by her grandmother, too?


As a grandmother, I get triple pleasure from sewing for little princesses. First I select materials, trims, and patterns. Then I get the actual fun of putting it together, adding a detail here and there as I go along. Then I get to see it on a little angel and see the joy on her face.

But the best part? The hugs and kisses.

Limeade

A few days ago, I posted a photo of three lime green fabrics--a stripe, a retro dot, and a squiggly print. Here it is again. Meet Limeade!






I started with this pattern, from McCalls:





Here's the back.



I bought this pattern for several reasons. One, it appeared to be a nice full skirt, perfect for a twirly girl. The skirts on most modern patterns are usually to skimpy for my taste, which is one of the reasons I love the older patterns. Two, I liked the three different back treatments. Three, I immediately thought of several ways to fancy this up a bit for more of a designer look, instead of a sewn-at-home look.


I'll try and get some pics of it up later today. From cutting out to hemming, it only took four hours. It's finished already!

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.

Retail Therapy

I couldn't sleep last night for worrying over the state of the fabric economy in this great country, so today I made a pilgrimage to the not-so-local JoAnns to see for myself.

Well, kiddies, it's hot dogs and scrambled eggs for the rest of the month. Just to give you an idea, the sales receipt was 28 inches long. The sacrifices I make for the sake of my country. If I have only one dollar to give, ......let me give it to the fabric store.

Yes I will scan and post. As soon as I drag the bulging bags up the stairs. I promise.

But meanwhile, this is the little snippet about something I had been thinking about for The Princess. There's fabric, and thread......




I need to scan the flowered print. The background is deep lemon yellow, not the pale washed-out pitiful thing in the photo above. It is the same shade as the other yellow one.

And I made the tie sash for Golden Tulip. There was this Random Teenager hanging out over here, and I pressed him into model service so I could check the length of the thing:



Is this great blackmail material here, or what?......And no, he's not one of mine, but he might as well be. He looks so cute I'm gonna make that boy an apron.

A Room With A View

My sewing room is on the second floor at the corner of the house. Although it is damaged, I still go in there to sew and play. It has nice big windows, and here is the current view from one of them:



The window is shattered and broken. But until two weeks ago, if I looked out this window all I could see what the top of a magnificent old oak. It kept me nice and shady in the hot, hot, summertime, too. Oh well.....

Here's the view from the other window, the one that looks out over the former front yard and porch:



But I keep my gaze here, on the beautiful promise of Spring:



It was a cold but fabulously sunny day here today, and the dogwood trees inspired me to let all discord and stress fly away.

Funny how those little dogwoods survived an F3 tornado and are all a-bloom, and not 25 feet away a giant was felled. Food for thought.

Since I had already made the collar and pocket flaps for Golden Tulips, today I just darted around, making darts, of course, all 12 of them. There are 12 because I decided to line the bodice. I put the bodice pieces and lining pieces together with the collar and made this:



A Collar Sandwich!

From the other side:



Yum yum! After sewing this concoction all together, I had the cutest little bodice you ever did see:



This collar is so pretty I just want to kiss it.

Not a single solitary soul figured out the pattern piece jigsaw puzzle I offered up a few days ago. This is the Official Pattern Description for this dress: "The dart-fitted bodice is styled with a V-shaped neckline. The full skirt, gathered at the waistline, joins the bodice at the natural waistline. Style 1 has a shaped double collar banding the neckline of the sleeveless bodice. A little bow in front is used as trimming. Inside pockets at the sides of the skirt are finished with pointed flaps. Style 2 has a wide, shaped collar edged wth scallops. Puffed sleeves trimmed with scalloped cuffs are featured. A self belt finished with tie ends forms a bow in back."

Now that description is not exactly accurate. It gives no hint of the darling little pocket hidden away in the pattern pieces. And since it is not mentioned, I have taken full liberty to name it, henceforth, as The Dart Pocket. Yessiree. The pocket is sewn into a dart, not into the side seams.

I stitched around the dart markings, and slashed down through the middle of it, exactly as is done when making a placket opening. See?



Then I basted the pocket flaps on:



I slashed the dart open on the pocket facing piece and stitched it on top:



I turned and kind of semi-pressed it (and I was really starting to get excited at this point!):



From the outside (no, I didn't press it well at all...):



Then at last, at last, I sewed the pocket to the pocket facing, and had this:

I'm tickled. There is not other word for it. Just think about the design possibilities here. You can put a pocket ANYWHERE with this technique. With flaps. Without flaps. Plain vanilla. Or Double-Dipped Chocolate with Maraschino Cherries, Walnuts, and Whipped Cream. My imagination is in overdrive.

Four seams later, I had a skirt!

Golden Tulip and a Princess!

Golden Tulip is ready to go. The gang's all here:

The pattern, the cut pieces, the lining, the thread, and the lace all showed up.

Candle suggested that I use a contrasting fabric for the collar and pockets, an idea I loved. I rummaged around and found an almost perfect tiny little yellow check. If I had more of it, it would have been completely perfect. Alas, only 1/4 yard. And since the nearest fabric store is almost an hour away from here, I had to go with what I had.

I cut the collar and pocket flaps out of the same fabric as the dress. After more digging around, I found 5 yards of a mid-weight crochet edging. Although it looks pure white in the photos, it is actually more of an antique white. I'm using it on the collar and pockets. I used the fusible knit interfacing for these pieces. Then I basted the trim around the edges, going very slow and pivoting at the corners:

Next, I put the lining pieces on it, pinning it on the interfacing side. I did it this way so that with the next line of stitching I can stitch exactly on the first basting line. And I do mean exactly. I start out in the first hole of the first basting stitch, and I baste these pieces together:

And, yes, I do need a manicure, but the nail place doesn't exist anymore.....

Anyway, by basting exactly in the exact same holes as the previous basting, I end up in the corners at the exact same place I did the first time around. It is amazing how well this works. If you go 1/2 a stitch beyond the corner, you will get an ugly little pucker when you turn the corner inside out. I don't have that problem anymore, since it finally dawned on me to do it this way. Yes, I am exactly that picky about my sewing.

That's all I have so far, because The Princess arrived, and she was wearing Purple Passion! Here she is with The Grandfather of All Firearms:

Here she is practicing the Royal Curtsy:

The dress actually hits her about mid-calf, but it's hard to tell with all this jumping going on.

Her favorite thing about Purple Passion? It' a great dress for Peek-A-Boo!

Here's the back view, which also shows the source of Baby Neck Sugar:

And what did The Princess do during the tornado? Why, she decided to cut her first tooth! And immediately followed it with Tooth Number Two.

After a great deal of eyelash fluttering and eyeball rolling, she gave out a great sigh and consented to the Tornado Teeth photo:

A Golden Tulip Puzzle

Please ignore yesterday's post, if you can. The Raving Rant-A-Lot has left the building. How did I manage that? I went and got my hair cut. Again. If anything else goes wrong I'll be the spitting image of Britney Spears.

Anyway, here are the photos I intended to show you yesterday. These two pieces:




and this piece:



get friendly with this piece



and create something new (or old, actually, since the pattern itself is old) and different. New and different to me, at any rate. Can you figure it out?

You recognize the fabric, I'm sure, from the earlier posts about it. If not, just follow the link-backs to Golden Tulip, since I don't have access to that scan right now....

And just for the official record, this doesn't close on the left side with a zipper after all. It has applied bias bands with snaps to close. That will also be something new and different.

Although the pattern doesn't call for it, I'm thinking about lining the bodice. And I need to make a decision about cutting out the collar and pocket flaps. Right now I'm leaning towards using the dress fabric and adding a lace edge. Any and all suggestions are welcome!

I'm going to sew now and might, just might, get some photos up later today. Check back later!

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.