Esme came to Atlanta and brought her little Brother!

No, not THIS little brother!...THIS little brother!

We, no SHE, has been sewing all afternoon. We fooled with the tension until we got it just right, she learned how to wind a bobbin, sew a straight stitch, do a zig zag stitch, thread it by herself, and then she made a couple of little pillows. They are precious and will be unveiled at a later date. Right now she is working on a beautiful applique that she designed by herself. Esme I am so proud of how quickly you learned to stitch with your little brother! While I am in here blogging that little machine is in the kitchen humming away!

She is so precious, and she is tired of Bibi and her camera. I have been blogging for less than a year and these girls are starting to run when I come at them with my Casio. The font is from the Bernina Inspired Embroidery CD, the t shirt is from Target, the stabilizer is fusible Floriani cut-away, and I used Solvy on top. I did not have a ball point needle handy so I used a sharp. She wore this for me today, even though I know that she really wanted to wear her leotard with the frilly skirt. That's pretty nice for a 4 year old.

Rub a dub dub

  How can  Catey or Codydry their tootsies when they get out of the bathtub? On their new bath mat!

If you don't recognize these little toes with the silver toenails, they belong to Issa, and she was kind enough to lend her feet for the photograph. Thank you Issa!
This mat was monogrammed using the Classic font, and I increased the underlay to a double zigzig. I did not change the pull compensation; it would have plumped up the letters a little more, but I am happy with the way the monogram turned out. I did not hoop the mat, I just used a tearaway stabilizer in the hoop, sprayed it with a little 505, matched the center of the mat to the center of the stabilizer, put a little solvy on top and stitched away.

Miss Morgan

A cute little Zutano romper for Morgan's first birthday. My story here is about stabilizer. I used a fusible Floriani (similar to a polymesh)behind my stitching and solvy on top. After the Mo it was eviedent that more backing was needed. So we slid a piece of tear away under the hoop and bingo...nice and smooth.

Recycle! Reuse!

You know I love my linen, so when I found a linen shower curtain in a pile of fabric given to me by Sharen, it haunted me for days. I didn't really need a shower curtain, but I did need a window treatment at one of the long ugly windows at the lake. I was sitting at my Bernina and glanced up at the Pottery Barn shade...Eureka!

I would do a knock off! Theirs had long ties, not buttons, but my shower curtain had button holes so I turned it upside down and used it to button up to vary the length. I had some matching yellow (from age, I imagine) buttons in my button box and I liked them up against the linen. I added a strip of linen at the top, just like my Pottery Barn shade, and turned a double half inch hem on either side. A rod pocket at the top and I was finished!

I am going to send my shade with Mandy to the lake and let her hang it, that is IF she can figure out the convuluted design.

Honestly...Mandy is at the lake and just hung this. Isn't technology amazing??

Trisha's Treasures

This skirt is another product of the Children's Corner Sewing School from last October. It was designed by Trisha Smith, another very sweet and very talented teacher at the school. We made this skirt two ways, this corduroy with panels and a crazy patch skirt. I love love love these patterns because they FIT. This little panel skirt has two strips of elastic on the sides of the waist band; you can see the pins if you look carefully and I am going to pull it up a little tighter before I do the final stitching. The Children's Corner designers take such care with their measurements; I can make a size and know just who in my gaggle of girls is going to wear it! The skirt needed a special t-shirt, and I had this little target t-shirt in my pie safe....so I started searching for an applique that I could do in pink corduroy. I found the little strawberry and thought that Issa would like it. I won't bore you with the details, but it took HOURS to stitch out. I am not sure if it was operator error (very likely) or very odd digitizing, but I had to repeat several color stitch outs to cover errors. The satin sitch is very narrow, and I like the look, but I had to trim AFTER the satin stitch so I am going to have some fraying.
By the way, this skirt is fully lined with a pretty raspberry gingham, Issa will appreciate the comfort.

OOPS! Have to go back and clip some jump threads.
I could tell that Issa liked this skirt, (obviously not from the big smile). It is a venture into big girl clothes, and THAT makes me a little sad.

sum sum Summertime

When the heat like a mist veil floats, And poppies flame in the rye,

And the silver note in the streamlet’s throat
Has softened almost to a sigh.
It is July.

~Susan Hartley Swett

Miss Mae came to visit this afternnon, in the gently worn Martha Pullen jumper that Issa has outgrown. Tan arms and bare feet. I don't mind the heat one bit, I love July.

a petite lawn dress

I think lawn is such a pretty name for a fabric; it conjures up images of the English countryside in the summertime. It is a little crisper than a batiste; it has more body but is still so soft to the touch. I think Issa will like wearing this dress because it is going to feel so good to wear. The dress was designed by Lezette Thomason from Children's Corner, and it is based on three patterns...Tiffany, Elizabeth and a sleeve from Kinsey that has been modified to have a "peek-a- boo" opening that is edged in rickrack. The rickrack edges the round yoke and the bottom of the ruffle, but is difficult to see in this photo. This is a size 6 and I hope it fits Issa, but it may be another dress for next spring.

The rickrack was so much easier to attach using this Sewline Glue Pen. Just stick it down where you want it and then stitch. The tiny baby rickrack would have been difficult to pin in place, but it was quick and easy with the glue pen.

The princess with the crooked crown was more than happy to be photographed this morning, especially since her sister had a little bit of a pout on this sunny day.
The dress is designed to be a mid calf length.

I started this dress at the Children's Corner workshop in Nashville. Their workshops are so much fun, and then you come home with 3 or 4 little dresses in varying degrees of completion. I have one more little dress for fall to finish, then it may be time for another road trip to Tennessee.

Job One

Back from the beach and a beautiful wedding, back from the lake and the Fourth of July, back from work and Babylocks and Berninas... finally into my sewing closet! I have one goal today, and that is to change THIS

Into THIS!