Bye Bye Bear

A bear, however hard he tries,

Grows tubby without exercise.

Our Teddy Bear is short and fat,

Which is not to be wondered at.

But do you think it worries him

To know that he is far from slim?

No, just the other way about—

He’s proud of being short and stout.

                          ~ A.A. Milne

     The blue sundress is all ready for warm weather in Birmingham, and will go in the box tomorrow to be mailed to the Magic City.   I completed this dress with NOT ONE hand stitch.  I used my serger to finish the seams on the inside of the dress and the bottom hem.  Then I used the #5 foot and a blind hem stitch to do the hem.  I had to press it a good bit to make the it lie flat, and I hope that after it is washed that it will not curl up.  I used the #18 foot, the button sew on foot, to attach the big green buttons.  It worked fairly well on these thick buttons;  I have not had much success when using the foot with thinner buttons and finer cotton.

    I decided to used corded buttonholes, they are easy to do with foot 3A and gimp, and they give the buttonholes a polished look.

The renegade bear, who was not to be seen in the bed linens upstairs, was found behind a chair, hiding in a plant, and can be included in the box to go to Birmingham.  I would love to know how he found his way into the Night Blooming Cereus, and I know one little girl who will be very happy to see her old friend.

I Want to Buy a Paper Doll That I Can Call My Own...

                        (If you remember the title of this post as a song from the Mills Brothers when you were young, well...lets just say you are not a part of Generation X.)

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.  ~Madeleine L'Engle

One part of my youth that I have not lost is my love for paper dolls.  Oliver + s has a precious design for their pattern envelopes, and I picked up this pattern at the Atlanta Sewing Center in Duluth.  You know I love the way my Children's Corner patterns fit, but this Seashore Sundress had some cute details and  I decided to give it a try.  This particular dress was a special request from Katelyn.  "Purple and pinkish flowers, and if we can't find that...Blue flowers."   We wanted a polycotton blend so that we could take it out of the wash and give it a shake, so this Tutti Fruitti  fabric  was our choice.

After cutting it out, which is somewhat of a chore for me, I did the applique K on the center front, using the Sassy Applique font.  With the Artista Designer Software I was able to topstitch on top of the satin stitch outline. (with a little help from a friend)  The easiest way was to go over to my color film on the right of the screen, then duplicate the first placement stitch and place it at the end.  It is not perfect;  I have a few pokie outies, but I am pleased with the result.

My little Birmingham girls are happily at home with mommy and daddy;  I was not quite able to finish the dress, but I will hopefully do that today.  I will send it tomorrow with her Chevron Skirt and BEAR, who is still sleeping peacefully upstairs.  Thankfully a wise mommy made sure that she has 2 BEARs and BUNNY, so my little girl is not too sad when she goes to sleep at night.

A girl's gotta twirl

In a dancer, there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength.  ~Martha Graham

I am gradually recuperating from a more active than usual week.  Little Sarah and Katelyn came to visit while their parents went to Key West on vacation.  There was not a lot of time to sew, but I did have time to monogram a couple of twirly dresses for the girls.  This stairway dance gives an idea of how quiet our week was.

 I asked what color Katelyn wanted her monogram to be;  I wish I hadn't, I had my mind set on lime green and they would not be swayed from PINK. I used a ball point needle, polymesh stabilizer, another layer of tearaway under the hoop, and solvy on top of the knit.  I didn't have the slightest pucker. I used fonts that were a little less traditional, in a favorite shade of pink, knowing that they will twirl and enjoy their dresses wherever they go.

Pocket T Shirt

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.  ~Charles Dickens,Great Expectations





We have been seeing the little pocket t-shirts with monograms, usually done with a chevron print.  I checked out an in-the-hoop design from one of the applique sites, but I did not just love the way it looked.  So I decided....how hard can a patch pocket be on a knit?

I had nothing in my stash of pastels and pinks that looked good with the chevron print in which I had done their skirts, so I settled on a polka dot.  No whites....all I had was red, so red pocket on red shirt it was.  I was ready to get these babies DONE.  I did 3 little monograms on the dot, little Sarah never gets a matching shirt because I can't find them in toddler sizes.

Then I just cut a patch pocket pattern from one of the many green accounting tablets that are around my house.  The same tablet that Joe uses to compose my cards, the ones on which our grocery lists are scribbled, and the ones Joe uses to  scratch his never ending TO DO lists . I centered the patch over the monogram, eyeballing the center, counting the dots on either side of the monogram, and cut it our adding a 1/4 " seam.  I cut 3 additional pockets for linings, and sewed them right sides together, leaving a little bit on the side where I could pull it through, trimmed the corners and seams, turned it and PRESSED AND STEAMED, making sure the lining didn't peek out on the sides.



The final step was carefully stitching the pocket to the shirt.  I used a stabilizer on the back of the shirt, my trusty #10 foot, bumped off center just once, and stitched it down, making sure to reinforce the corners.

Maybe the mommies will want one of my t-shirts!

Ruthie again

We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it. 
 ~George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, 1860

I want to show you Mae's version of the little "Ruthie" pattern.  It is in the softest  pink with a black background.  This dress has a shorter yoke that gives it a little younger appearance.  Mae will also appreciate a shorter sleeve.

I like the way the pattern instructs  you to do the rick rack trim around the sleeve.  You finish the edge of the sleeve;  they recommend  serger but I just used my overlock  2A foot  which is so much easier than dragging out the serger.  Then place the rick rack on top of the  sleeve at exactly a quarter inch above the edge of the sleeve, and keep it in place with tiny dots of fabric glue. I have discovered the only way for me to be successful with rick rack is to dot glue, and then stitch it down using my # 10 foot.  After you stitch it down, turn it under and just half of the rick rack is visible giving it a pretty look.  Then do a topstitch along the edge of the sleeve.  I use the #10 foot, bump it over two spaces, and let the blade ride along the edge of the sleeve.  Here is the sleeve before the topstitch.

So here is Miss Mae in her little version of Ruthie.  I wanted to add a border of the rick rack trim around the hem but I have run out of the soft shell pink and can't find it anywhere.  Getting a photo of Mae The Moving Target is never easy, but I coaxed her into a quick shot by letting her leave her jeans and t-shirt on UNDER the dress.









Now I am on to Katelyn's dress and a special request for blue!

Been sewing, not blogging!

My road trips are over for the time being, my dear family is all in place, and I can begin to concentrate on my sewing again!  I have actually been in my sewing room, but have not have time to blog and to share with my sewing buddies.  So here we have it, one of my latest projects! I love this Pattern from Children's Corner;  I think I will make it for all the girls! I made view B for Issa,; it has long sleeves and a dropped yoke. I will make view A for the younger girls, I think

.  I have pretty much decided to just stick with Children's Corner patterns. They just FIT.  They are easy to read, they often will teach a new technique, and they are precious.

I bought this fabric last year at Hancock's. I bought it in the blue/brown and a pink/black combination.  I am almost finished with Maes little dress, and then I am on to one for Katelyn.

I envisioned this dress worn with white anklets and English Sandals, but I am getting used to my sweet dresses with cowboy boots and converse tennis shoes.

Heal the Brokenhearted

Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys. 

    ~Madeleine L'Engle

O Christmas Tree...

The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect!

~Charles N. Barnard

I wanted to do something a little different than the usual red and green this year for my girls. My little kiwis are in white batiste from Christmas Past, so I just had my two Birmingham sweeties to sew for.  I let the design from Applique Corner dictate the colors.  The tree was whimsical, so I used lime green and red on a blue corduroy.  The little hanging star was embroidered with Gutterman gold metallic thread.  I slowed the machine down and didn't have a problem with the thread breaking.

For some reason both my Ipad and Iphone photograph the tree's fabric as yellow, when it is really a pretty bright green.

Happy Christmas sweet Katelyn and Sarah.  I hope they fit!

STAY is a charming word in a friend’s vocabulary.

 ~ Louisa May Alcott

The time in New Zealand is coming to an end, and Mandy needed some parting gifts for a few of the many kind people she has met along the way. 1.  Lilo's linen napkin with the brown ribbon comes from Embroidery Arts.  I couldn't find a font that I liked in the software, so I took the Middle M from the Empire font, then reduced the size of the other letters, using the middle option so that they did not lean.  She uses four letters, so I had to do a little research on ways to do a four letter monogram.  2.  Toni's towel is from Williams Sonoma, and I used a soft cotton on the bottom border.  The font is Art Deco from Embroidery Arts and is accented in bright blue and black.  3.  Jodene's towel is linen with a simple manuscript font from the Artista software.  I used a step fill on this one because of the size of the F.  4.  Hope's black linen towel is Empire, a long time favorite.  5.  I had to play around with the circle monogram.  Lorna is the her friend's  first name, but the L  did not look right on the left side of the circle.  I put her husband's name first, and the final effect is much more pleasing to the eye.

  I hate to see their adventure end, but I am so glad that they will be home soon.

Sewing Under the influence

When the wine goes in, strange things come out.
            ~Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, The Piccolomini, 1799

 

I am not going to complain about being to busy to sew, because I am grateful for a full and happy life. When I get up in the morning I have every intention of finishing just one little project, but life seems to get in the way.  But Christmas is coming, and even though there is not time for 4 little smocked dresses this year, I can at least do little lined jumpers.

I wanted to do something a little different this year, and Kathy suggested I try turquoise and red; it is in many of the stores this year for Christmas.  I was in a rush, so Fabric.com was my answer.  I ordered a cute little snowman print for the lining and a soft pinwale corduroy for the body of the dress.

Long story short,  I was tired, I had a glass or two of wine, but I am getting worried about getting the dresses in the mail.  Nothing was on TV, so even though I usually sew in the morning, I went up to my little closet at 8 this evening.

My first problem was the lining. The little snowmen on the back lining are right side up, but the poor little guys on the front are all standing on their heads. I don't think Sarah will mind too much if her ling is upside down, so I forged ahead.

I sewed back to front, and as I began to attach it to the corduroy, I notitced I had SEWN UP THE WRONG SIDE.

I have learned that I am an early morning sewist rather than one who sews at 8 in the evening.  And from now on I will sew after a cup of tea rather than a glass of Kendall Jackson.