Donna's Nightgown

Donna comes to see me on Tuesdays. She originally started taking  sewing lessons to learn how to  sew things for her grand babies.  That changed very quickly and  now sews  mostly for herself! :) 

She made this nightgown for herself  a few weeks ago. 

Isn't it lovely? She used a very pretty  eyelet fabric. 

The pattern is  Simplicity 3504, the same pattern I used to make this shirt . 

For the inset, she used a solid white cotton and inserted a bit of lace into it. Above and below the lace is an heirloom stitch.  We used a wing needle to get the traditional hand stitched look. 

The lace we used is  lace hem tape. We used this method to insert it. 

 For the sleeves, she omitted one of the sleeve layers . The pattern shows the flutter sleeve with two layers.  On the edge of the sleeve she used a satin stitch for the hem. We set the machine to a short length and zig zagged over the edge a couple of times, stretching the fabric slightly as she sewed. This produces a soft  lettuce leaf effect on the edge.  This type of hem is nice and floaty and allows the fabric to drape nicely. We were worried if we put a double fold hem , or even used the rolled hem foot, the hem might be stiff and  the sleeves would stand out away from her arms giving her a bird in  flight look. We wanted soft flutter sleeves and this type of finish is perfect for these sleeves.

 I love how she changed the shirt pattern into a nightgown.  To change it from a shirt to a nightgown, we added a bit more ease  and lengthened it. Pretty easy alterations! :)

Great job Donna! It is lovely!

Sweet dreams to you in your  pretty new nightgown!

I can make anything- even beards!

Last week Eden had a school project  about famous explorers She had to pick one and write a  report, make a poster, and dress up like the explorer.

Eden chose Jacques Cartier.  She came home from school all raring to go  to get her costume together. She said some of the kids were complaining about having to come up with a costume but she was excited. She has realized that her mother is storing a lifetime of costumes and dresses and vintage who-knows-whats  in the closets and attic of this house. I did not have a beard however. My  collection is   lacking in the faux facial hair  area so I googled how to make one. 

How did we ever live without google? 

The beard is felt with ribbons sewn into the sides to tie around her head. It is the easiest thing to make in the entire world and so fast! It took 15 minutes! Just two pieces of felt, some ribbon. That's it.   I got the pattern and instructions here:

 how-to_make_a_fake_beard.

It is comfortable to wear and she loved it. 

The wig is mine, yes I used to wear it  :) ,  the cape is a 1970s faux fur  cape that I used to wear all the time. The shirt is the white shirt from her christmas  outfit,  and the fox is  to represent the fur trade. French explorer dude came to the new world looking for gold and fur.  The boots are her favorite Justice boots. 

We had planned the costume with a hat but at the last minute we left it off- she left it because it was hard for her to get the wig on  on her own much less get the hat to stay and I chickened out on sending my 1960's velvet and satin perfect condition Jackie O type  pillbox hat to school with a third grader.

 I just couldn't do it. 

Here is the man himself:

And here is his  likeness as done by a third grader.
 

This is her I am a serious explorer face. 

I can't really tell them apart! Can you?  :)  

The Honkin' Huge White Panels of Death. Part 1.

 I am  still doing windows here in sewing land.  I know it looks like I have just been making clothing but  in the background there are windows going on. 

I showed you some cushions a few weeks ago that I did for Judy & Rob's NC cottage. I am now working on the windows. I will be making  pinch pleated panels, banded on the sides in blue denim. There will be buttons in denim up at the pleats. They are going to be AMAZING!

White duck , double width, pinch pleat panels. The very description makes me almost break out in hives.  There is a lot that goes into these.

The panels will look just like these that I made last year, but with blue denim on the sides & buttons. 

I thought I would take pictures while I was working on them to show you what goes into these monsters  beauties. 

First:

I ordered 41.5 yards of fabric. Why so many yards you ask? Well, I will be doing three  sliding glass doors in this fabric.  There will be a set for the great room, the guest room and the granddaughters room. each set takes 11/5 yards. Plus there are valances in the great room, and cording for cushions. 

The UPS man loves me. Have you ever lifted 41.5 yards of heavy fabric?    When I work with huge bolts I just flop them onto the floor and roll them around. He actually had to lift it from the truck to my porch. Poor guy. 

Next:

I clean the entire area  that I will be working in. I roll out fabric in the living room, so I vacuum that area super well. The I also clean up the dining room, scrub the table and vacuum. I usually do larger work on the dining table. It is cafe height, it is easier to work on than my sewing table. And so much easier on my back!

Now these panels are pure white.  So on the days where I am working on these, I cannot wear any make-up or hair products, so that it does not get anywhere on the fabric. I also cannot wear colored fingernail polish as  the fabric is thick and if I run my nails across it like to brush off threads , the polish  can leave a streak on the fabric.  I also wash my hands often so that any oils or anything do not transfer to the fabric. My hands & nails look horrible right now as this fabric is really drying on the skin. Plus the constant washing. 

 I roll out the fabric and check it for flaws. On printed fabric, this isn't as much of an issue. On pure white fabric, it is. They stick out and can ruin a perfectly made panel.  And let me tell ya, my panels are perfect. I guarantee that when I deliver these babies, they will be pristine. No a spot anywhere. 

Look here: this is a huge flaw. The red  is actually woven into the fabric, so this happened at manufacturing. Ugh. I can't cut it out, I have to try to go around it. So what I do when I find flaws is  put a big safety pin  on the flaw.  The pin helps me to spot it easily when working. Then as I cut it out or make it, I try to do it so the flaw is cut away or hidden somewhere.  I did add in a bit of extra fabric when we ordered to compensate for this. Fabric can arrive with flaws and the companies consider this ok. They tell you to to order more in case there are flaws.  On this bolt, I have only seen red and blue threads in it. The last time I ordered this fabric, I actually had to order more yardage because when I arrived there was a HUGE obvious flaw in the weaving that ran across the fabric and there was no way I could hide it in a hem or seam.

This is my assistant, Sophie. She was trying to convince me to play instead of work. Usually, I let her outside when  I vacuum and lay the fabric on the floor. Black dog and white fabric do not mix:) I let her back in when the fabric is up on the table.

Hey mom- don't you want to play?? I  have my santa squeaky!
 Put down all that white stuff and come play! Squeak Squeak! 

Here the lengths are being sewn together at the sides.  This fabric is 54 inches wide. I cut the length that I need twice and then sew it together. You end up with a huge wide panel.

I try to keep as much of the fabric up on the table as possible but it is heavy. So I sew  a foot or two and then stop re-arrange, move the fabric up on the table and then sew some more.

Once I have the face fabric done, I do the same to the lining, and interlining if there is some. We did not interline these panels as this set of glass doors has an overhang above it to help block some light. Also, this white duck is HEAVY!!! So I only interface this fabric if the window gets direct sun or if we are looking for extra  insulation on the window. Or if the fabric is thin. This fabric is thick.  Mr. Thick Thick Thickety Thickface Fabric  from Thicktown, Thickania. 

Once I have the face and linings cut, sewn, hemmed then I lay them out on the floor again and put them together . The lining is placed over the face fabric, wrong sides together. then I pull and smooth and tug again until they are perfectly lined up together. This can take a while.

The lining is placed two inches from the bottom of the face fabric. 

Then I pin the sides,  and sometimes I baste them in place. I basted these because they are so huge they move around a lot. Basting them helps me get less pins stuck in my hand. If I leave the pins in the sides, when I am working with fabric this large, it is so hard to watch out for them. 

I did get a pin stuck really deep in  my thumb.  I had to wait for the bleeding to stop  so I could go back to working. Blood and white fabric, don't mix. 

Then I measure, measure , measure and  measure once more and add in the buckram to the top and  fold it  over. I use the iron on buckram. I know there are purists out there that would never ever use iron on buckram, it is a modern invention of evil. But you know what? I like modern inventions of evil.  I have nothing against progress and I consider any iron on product progress.  You mean I can adhere it in a few minutes instead of wrangling with yards and yards of heavy white fabric at the machine?  And it looks the same as the sew in kind? Sweet! Sold!

I fold it  and mark the pleats. I use a piece of wood with the space and pleat marks drawn on it. This cuts  down on measuring time and makes it sooo much easier. 

Then I pleat the bitches sweet lovely cooperative panels.  I pin the pleats, then one by one sew them on place. 

 The next step is so band the sides.  Then add the buttons. 

Then I hang them for two weeks so I can train the pleats. And  check them over a million times . 

Then I do it all over again with the girls' room panels. Then I do it again with the guest room panels!

They are going to be awesomely gorgeous so all of the work that goes into them is well worth it. 

Puppies and kitties and snack.

My niece Naney will be 3 in August. I am making her a dress for her birthday. The dress I made for her here is the test run. I wanted to make a practice one  to check for fit. Now I have between now and August to make the real one :) 

I was in line to checkout  at Hancock's and saw this fabric. I actually got out of line  to get this for her because it  just screams happy dog and cat  loving 3 year old.  I bought a half yard of the animal print and the  co-ordinating stripe. I didn't know what I was going to do with them, I just knew she needed something made of this fabric.  I decided to use it for a test run of her birthday dress. The fabric was $8.99 yd but was half price. 

 I am basing it off of this pattern available free  Olivia's Best Dress. I didn't do the striped skirt as they have on the website as I am working with just two fabrics.  The pattern on the site is a 4-5.  Naney's mom asked for her dress  to be a bit bigger so who could wear it longer, so that is why  I  made a 4/5 even though she is  not yet 3. 

Dress front.
I love these fabrics. I love the little kitties mixed with the pups. On the stripe is says woof  meow and has little paw prints and fish bones mixed in. 

I found a ribbon at Michael's for $1 that matched so perfectly! I covered the seam lines where the flat panels met the gathers.  

Does that  dachsund look cross eyed to you or is it just me... ?
I used a decorative stitch  around the neckline for some fun.  Topstitching, be it in a decorative stitch or a straight stitch helps to keep the neckline in better shape when wearing. I also think that  it  makes sure it comes out of the dryer in the shape that it needs to be, so that cuts down on ironing.  Naney's mommy is a teacher. With a two year old. Does she have time to iron ?  nooooo. So the extra line of stitching makes it easier to keep the dress looking good with minimal effort. 

The back of the dress

I used my machine and made a label. Even though the dress is a 4, I labeled it 3t because she can wear it now, at three years old. I put the year and my initials. This way if it gets passed down, you know what size it is. 

 This is a close-up of the inside lining where it  is hand slipstitched  to the dress.  I have taught a couple of lessons on this recently so I thought my students might like to see it- slipstitching in action! :)

The fabrics are
 Purrfect Barking Patch

Woof-and-Meow-Stripe-

I took Naney's picutre so I could come back home and look at them and see what I needed to change for her birthday dress.  Sometimes that is easier because kids don't want to stand there while you look and pinch fabric and think. 

Me: "Naney, can I take your picture?"
Naney: "Yes."
Me:"Without the bowl of puffs?"
Naney: "No."
My baby is 9 now and  I had forgotten the First Rule of Toddler Land:
Never let go of your  snack.  Ever.  For any reason. 

 Looking at these pictures I see what needs to be changed. On the next version, I will pull in the back seam at the neckline and lower the armscye.  The width of the dress is fine, length can be longer, if I want.

Karen, Naneys mom, had a pair of aqua leggings that match the dress perfect! My mom in law also bought a pair of white shorts and I am going to add a cuff or ruffle on the bottom edge.  I have a small square of the stripe leftover. This fabric is great because she can put just about any color shirt, shorts, leggings anything underneath and they will match. 

Measuring little ones can be challenging. My suggestion is if you can, do it while they are asleep. I am  not kidding.
Little ones do not like to try on clothes. Fittings are just a joke. Try to get the garment on them if you can and take pictures.  Even my 9 year old gets a little whiny during fittings.
Sometimes you get this :) :

 or this :) :

This dress is very easy to put together and  went pretty fast. The real version will have many different fabrics in the skirt.

Naney seemed to really like the dress. I got this indication from the fact that she did not immediately take it off. 

Me: "Naney can I have a puff?"

Naney: "Ok,"  

And then she  ran away. 

The end.