All American Girl

My Mom-in-law found the cutest 4th of July dresses  for the grandbabies summer picture.  Each year  on vacation we are taking pictures of the girls in matching outfits. She couldn't find a dress that matched in  Eden's size, so I made one!  ( Last year I made all three outfits, this year was much easier. Hooray! :) ) 

I took a picture of the baby's dress, then hunted down the right  fabrics. Sounds easy enough to find  navy & white stars and red & white stripes, right?  No, not really. They were a bit elusive  but I finally found the exact matches online. 

This is the baby's dress.

I used this pattern AGAIN. I know this pattern now inside & out, backwards and forwards. I have made 5 or 6 versions of this now. It is  so easy to alter and change up, each version looks different!  Eden loves each version , they have been her favorite for two years now.   When she grows out of this, we are going to have a crisis- what pattern will we go to for everything???

On July 4, Eden and I went to Michael's in search of ribbons  to put on the straps. They had nothing- we wanted stars and stripes and crazy  patriotic ribbons but it was all gone. They put it out so early and then it is all gone by the holiday.  I guess you have to get your July 4 stuff around Valentines Day. 

 (Halloween is out right now, people. It is July.  Halloween!)

We found navy ribbons and red ribbon  in the regular ribbon aisle and that had to do. 

The inside is lined in plain white cotton. I think it might even be white drapery lining...  Rock on Roclon Drapery Lining! I always have small cuttings of drapery lining hanging around. When  washed, drapery lining  does great as a clothing lining.  I didn't want to use the stripe to line it as I didn't want the stripe show thought the fabric on the outside.

Lining up the stripes was fun. I pinned at each stripe and sewed sloooooooowly. The entire bodice is topstitched  at the top edge to give it more structure. 

The ruffle was attached to the dress on the outside.  There is  about 170 inches of ruffle on the bottom edge of this dress!!!   I thought it might be too much, as I was gathering it, but Eden loves it. It is her favorite part of the dress. 

To look just like the babies dresses, I satin stitched the top edge of the ruffle in red thread. I used a short length zig zag and went over it like 8 times, around and around and around the ruffle loop. That took  forever- maybe an hour and a half. But it felt like forever, sitting there zig zagging and zig zagging and zig zagging.... 

I gathered it and attached it to the bottom of the dress skirt with two rows of stitching.  One row just didn't seem like it was going to hold up that insane amount of ruffle! 

 This is the underneath of the ruffle- I attached it to the skirt  and then just zig zagged the bottom edge of the skirt to keep it from unraveling. 

The bottom edge  of the ruffle is a rolled hem . I used the  1/4 inch size rolled hem foot.  

Here is Eden  on the deck in Nag's Head. 

My shy girl. 

The back of the dress

On the straps, I used an heirloom stitch on my machine and a wing needle. I thought it kinda looks like fireworks !

The ribbons on the straps , meant to match the little ones dresses, actually cover up a booboo. I tried to get the straps sewn on so that the stripes  went in the right order, meaning the top row of the bodice is a white stripe so the first stripe showing on the straps should have been red. Uhm.....it didn't go quite like that. After re-doing it three times after it came out crooked or on the white stripe not the red,  I said  something like "to heck with this" only a little less PG . 

I put ribbons and a button over it and done! You can't tell underneath is all crazy crooked stripes of the wrong color. :) :) !!!!

I did make this dress about an inch  big around her chest. I would like for her to get to wear it next year too.  I ended up spending a good chunk of time on a dress she has worn....3 times. By making it just a tad big, she might be able to wear it three times next year!  

So, how did the picture of all the babies turn out, you ask?

Here is the best picture!

Molly is the little one being held up by Eden and Naney is standing next to Eden. Aren't they adorable?

The ribbons on E's dress didn't end up in the photo but other than that- how cute is this??

It is extremely difficult getting a good shot of multiple babies.  They just don't get the picture taking process. "You mean you want me to stand still and smile and look at the camera? Aunt Stacye, you're so  funny!" We just wanted one picture of them all together, looking in the same-ish direction.  The photo above is the winner: all the girls in one photo, looking sort of at me.  I also got some cute, cute shots of the  girls  in their dresses looking everywhere but at me, and running in every direction!

I  love this photo- Naney is trying to grab Molly's hand and
  Molly is just trying to get back to her mommy.
 Eden is trying her best to herd the sweet
 little baby sheep together so I can take the picture!

This is my favorite photo of my baby. 

My all american girl with a gorgeous summer smile!! 

Happy Summer! 

Does this count as insanity?

I started this blanket  in 2009. I saw this  crochet flower pattern online and loved it and I thought ( as I do with every pretty  thing I see online) - I can do that! I had never crocheted a blanket but it can't be hard, right? My Gram  used to  crochet amazing blankets.  She would just whip them right up. I have a lacy cream colored one she made that is just gorgeous. I pull it out once a year and put it on the bed for a while, admire it, then pack it back up. I  don't want to mess it up!   I decided to crochet a more practical blanket  in black and ivory, the colors in my bedroom.  This will take no time, I thought. Crocheting is fast.  I was going to do 144 squares- for a 12 square by 12 blanket.  Enough to cover a queen sized bed. 

 I did a couple of test squares and found the right gauge hook, super soft yarn and off I went. 

Note to self: when the first square takes forever, it isn't going to be a quick project. 

Each square takes about 2 hours. I can do about half a square a night, sometimes a whole one depending on what we are watching on netflix that night and how late we stay up.  Every few months, I pull out the crochet box and make square after square until I get sick of them and put them away for a few more months.  Then the crazy cycle starts over again. 

These photos date to November 2009.  I had done 18 squares  and was very proud of myself. I put them  on the bed to see how they looked and realized- oh holy cow and that which springs forth from the cows back end this is going to take me the rest of my life to finish.   I  decided to just make a throw. 8x8 squares. So now I just need 64. 

I love the contrast of the ivory yarn and the black. 

Eden assisted me with the square arranging. She was just 7 then. I love her missing front teeth.

 Only 46 squares to go Mommy!  Keep going!!!

Eden had me cover her up so she could test out the squares and see how comfy they were. 

It is 2012 now.. At the end of Mad Men last night, I counted  40 squares. 40.   In three years. 

 That means  40 squares at 2 hours a piece: 80 hours so far into this thing.
The yarn is Lion Brand Micro Spun I am not sure how many skeins of yarn I have used.  A lot. I think, and this is a guess, that I can get 2-3 squares out of a black skein and 3-4 squares out of  one skein of cream.  Joann's used to carry this yarn, but they stopped and so now I have to order it online. It is usually about $5 a skein but Hancocks has it every once in a while on half price and I try to order some then.

Here are all the squares I have completed so far :

     I ask myself every once in a while- why do I do these things? This is an insane amount of time to put into a blanket that, now that it is underway, isn't really as practical as my brain imagined it to be way back in the beginning. Now we have Sophie the wonder pup, her paws, claws, collar & tags  can catch in this one just as easily as my Gram's blanket so I can't actually put it on the bed and use it like a regular blanket. And my hubby has asked what is the point of a blanket with holes in it?  He doesn't really see it being used as how is it going to do  what a blanket is supposed to do which is  hold in heat, when there are holes in it?  I say it will work just fine  because it's pretty!  The pretty adds a whole level of funtionality. It will work even better than blankets with no design holes in them! 

    At this point, and even at the 18 square point, I felt I had too much time invested to give it up . What do you do with just 18 squares? Toss and time wasted?   So I wonder is that I am just too stubborn to give up, I am gonna see this though dammit and finish what I started  or am I just possesing amazing amounts of patience. Or is plain insanity an option here because who in their right mind really plans something like this?  64 freakin' squares.....

Whatever I am, stubborn, patient or insane I am going to be SO HAPPY when it is finished!!!!! And it will be  used more than once a year and displayed somehow in my bedroom either on the bed or on the chair or somewhere...Anywhere. 

Bebe Dress Sew-a-long Part 3 Make the muslin

***7/6/12  This post is unfinished- it is missing some photos but I wanted to get it up quick so that Kristi has photos while she is working on her muslin 

:) 

Today I sewed up my muslin for The Bebe dress and I am so excited! It looks great! This pattern is beautifully drafted and easy to alter. I am going to show the process I used today to  fit this pattern to me. If you have any questions or problems- comment and I  help you!

 I transfered the dart markings from the pattern-  to the muslin using good old fashioned carbon paper and a tracing wheel .     The carbon ink is permanent so only do this on muslin!  I like to use carbon paper on muslins as the lines are bright and clear to see.   And it is  dark enough for you to see in photographs. On the real version I will use either dressmakers carbon paper or a disappearing fabric pen. I do not care for the wax free dressmakers tracing paper, the kind that is chalk. It is just  a personal preference. 

Ok! let's get crackin'!! :) 

Snip a tiny snip at the edge of the darts- do this to each dart leg. This makes it easier to line up the dart legs.  be sure it is tiny! The seam allowance on this dress is 1/2- DO NOT GO PAST THAT.   We just want a tiny snip to see where the legs are when folding them together. 

The pattern instructs us to fold the darts right through the dart point.  I then finger creased the fold.  Finger creasing is using - yep! your fingers to put in a crease or mark . I got everything lined up and smushed down on the fabric with my fingers. An iron could  put a permanent crease here and we just want the crease to hold long enough for us to make sure the darts are perfectly lined up. 

I lined up the dart legs while making sure the crease went right through the dart point. This took a couple of minutes so don't worry if it takes  a couple of tries to get it right on the point. 

I put a pin in the the dart point first and work out from there. The pin at the dart point makes sure that when you sew, the dart  doesn't move. Pin the dart in place, checking to make sure the dart legs are matched up.  You can also stick  a pin though one side of the dart leg and look at the other side to make sure both legs are exactly lined up. 

Put a pin in the dart point to ensure accuracy  on your dart.

Set your machine on  the longest straight stitch you have- a basting stitch. We are going to baste the muslin together.   This allows us to just pull thread out super fast  if we need to make changes.  Thread up your machine with a dark or bright  colored thread.  This allows us to easily  see stitching lines when trying it on.  

  Sew from the raw edge of the dart to the point , SLOWLY.  At the tip of the dart point sew off the edge one or two stitches. Lift up your presser foot and pull the fabric away form the machine and clip the threads, leaving long tails. Tie these threads together with two knots. Do not trim the threads - leave the threads long in case you need to pull them out to change the dart. 

Do this to all four darts. Press. Press the side darts downward and the smaller under bust darts towards the center. 

The pattern instructs us to trim the  side bust darts down to 3/8. We will not do this on the muslin as we are doing this for fit, not to wear, and if we trim it, we cannot make adjustments. 

All of the darts have been sewn and it is ready for pressing. 

FIT AS YOU SEW.

Try on the bodice at each stage when construction it. 

You can tell a lot at this stage by just holding the bodice up to you and looking.  A great way to do it is wear a form fitting t-shirt and pin the muslin front to the t-shirt. That way your hands are free to mark and pin. 

  I discovered that on me the under bust darts extended too far up. Not by too much, but enough that it made my  girls look kinda funny shaped.  I measured using my seam gauge and the dart was @ 1 inch too high.  The side bust darts were just fine.

The bodice front  is  pinned to my shirt
so I can look at it on me.
The flash went off for some reason. Sorry :) 

I removed the stitching in the under bust darts,  measured down one inch and made a dot. I drew a straight line from the dot to the dart legs original position. Then I  re-stitched the dart, still using a basting stitch. 

After the darts are all done  and pressed,  stitch  front  bodice to the back bodice pieces. 

I put in a zipper for fitting. It is just to hold the dress together as it will be in the final version so I can get a good look at the fit. It is basted in, I can rip it our and reuse it on something else. 

By putting a zipper, in it tightens the bodice around me and I get a very good look at how it is fitting. if you leave the muslin loose,  you aren't getting an accurate fit. 

XX pic of zipper XXX

Now under bust darts have been adjusted and look much better.

The side bust darts are a touch poufy at the tip. On the real version I will solve this by either tapering the dart farther away from the tip or by sewing the dart on a curve.   I will photograph this so you can see ot/ 

Everything fit nice but there was an extra bit of fabric just under the arm. I measured 1/2 inch in from the top edge of the side seam , and drew a line angling down to the original seam allowance at the bottom of the side seam  and then sewed on this line. This took out the floppy bit at the top edge.

XXXX picture of side seamXXXX

I tried it  on one more time (fit as you sew! fit as you sew!)  and it felt wonderful. Nice fit, nice dart placement, I'm happy!

To get an even  better idea of how the  dress will look when finished, I folded down the seam allowance  on the neckline and one arm to see exactly where the seams would sit on my body.  

Using a medium length stitch (2.5-3.5) stitch away from the raw edge of the neckline and armscyes  on the seam line. This pattern has a seam allowance of 1/2 inch. ( Most commercial patterns are 5/8 inch  so be sure  to look and use what each  pattern calls for)

Make tiny snips up to the stitching line. I did it every inch or so. 

then press the seam allowance to the inside.

 It will look like this.

 Then try it on.  Now I know exactly where the neckline will fall.  The neckline on this dress is perfection, not too low-cut but not nun-like either.
     By folding in the armscye seam allowance, I could see where the seam would actually be. On the left side of the picture ( my right arm)  you can see how the fabric is flat around  the arm, just like it should be. On the right side of the picture, there is some gathering just under my arm. This is taken care of when the seam allowance is removed, as it will be when the dress is sewn together.

 While I was working on this, I took notes or each alteration I made.  I usually use a piece of paper taped up onto the wall so that as I stand in front of the mirror, I can easily write it down.

WRITE DOWN EACH THING YOU DO, even if you think you will remember it , because it is easy to forget what you have done.

My crazy cracker handwriting says:

•  lower the under bust dart by 1 inch
• take in side seam 1/2 inch angled from top of seam to bottom
• add 1/2 inch more to bottom of bodice - total 11/2 inch. 
• stitch a curved dart seam  on the side darts  to reduce puffiness in the dart tip. 

Ok!!! Muslin made, next  we will talk about fabric choices!!!

Bebe Dress Sew-a-long Part 2 Determining size

In this post I am going to talk about determining what size to cut the pattern out. When first starting out, it can be a bit tricky  reading size charts, choosing a size and then making any alterations to the pattern. 


Here is the size chart for the Bebe Dress.


Size Chart

	XXS	XS	S	M	L	XL	XXL
Bust	32	34	36	38	40	42	44
Waist	24	26	28	30	32	34	36
Hip	34	36	38	40	42	44	46

The instructions state that the bust measurement is the most critical  to choosing fit for this pattern .  As this dress is loose around the hips and tummy, we really only need to look at the bust measurement.

   Step 1
 Measure. 
 We need to take two measurements : An actual  bust and over bust.

Actual bust- measure at the fullest part of your bust.

image from Sew La Blog 

Over bust- measure above the bust just under your armpits.

image from Sew La Blog 

 If there is a difference of 2 inches or less  between those two measurements you can use the pattern as it is  without altering. Just   look on the chart and use your actual bust size.



If there is a difference of 3 inches or more, you will need to make a full bust adjustment.  A full bust adjustment alters the pattern to provide more room just where it is needed: in the bust. This way the shoulders and neckline fit  and are not too big. Most patterns are drafted for a B cup.  This dress is drafted for a C cup.  If you are larger than a C cup   do a full bust adjustment.


In the Bebe Pattern  booklet, Kay Whit recommends looking at the Full Bust adjustment  on Sew LAs Website... here is the link:     Sew La Bog Full Bust Adjustment  I am not going to do one here as  the one on the link is just fantastic and I really don't think I could explain it any clearer :)


My measurements are 38 over bust and 42 bust.   That is a difference of 4 inches. Yes,  I need to do an FBA.

  When looking at the pattern, if I go by my overbust measurement of 38, I would need to cut out a medium. I have pretty broad shoulders and would like for this dress to be a tad loose for summer, so I am going to cut out a large and do a full bust adjustment of two inches.  The large is 40 inches, my  bust measurement is 42.

If I were to cut out the XL, which is a bust 42, yes it would fit around my ample  bosom.  But it would be too big  in the neckline, the sleeves, everywhere.  The rest of my body is a medium/large.  My front is just super-duper extra large :)

 I photocopied the bodice top because it makes it easier for you to see exactly what I have done to the pattern piece.   I find that photocopying works very well for pattern altering, especially bodices as  tracing can be a bit inexact.  (This also works in cases of laziness when you don't feel like tracing it. )

Once you have made the changes to your pattern, hold it up to you in front of a mirror and really look - is it long enough?  Does it look right?  You can get a lot of information about what the pattern needs to fit you, just by holding it up to yourself and looking.  Remember to factor in seam allowance,  which on the Bebe dress is 1/2.   I  am extending the bodice down one inch as when I pinned the pattern to me, it fell about an inch short. By adding on an inch, it makes sure that the bodice sits just under my bust, at the bra line.

 This is the bodice with a full bust adjustment.  I drew a line one inch down from the bottom edge to add an inch.  

Here is the back bodice piece and front bodice piece, ready to go to sew up!

Next post: Sewing the muslin!

The Red Dress of Summer

Eden and I made a dress back in March for her to wear on spring break when we went to Tennessee. It has become her favorite dress!  I picked the fabric- I thought this bandana fabric was  just perfect for Tennessee. Eden chose the pattern. Shake it up is  one of her favorite Disney shows and she went nuts that there was a pattern. Went totally bonkers, actually. I told her I had seen it in the pattern book and she was so upset that I didn't buy it. So next time Simplicity was on sale, I got one for her.  

We made version C. We moved the elastic from where the pattern has it
 at natural waist, to an empire waist. 

Here is the whole dress. Eden is standing in front of our garden, in front
of the mutant zucchini and squash plants.  

Back view. That is my hubby in the background , weeding :) 

Eden cut out the pattern all by herself!!

Eden cut the pattern out, cut the fabric and did about 1/2 the sewing. I did the harder stuff (what she considers harder like the ruffle and the flounce and the top stitching) 

Sophia and I supervised Eden cutting out the pattern 

Bottom Hem .   Eden and I love the cute cotton lace with hearts. 

Eden wanted the cotton lace on the straps, too.  It makes a cute addition!

 This pattern had some  issues in the instructions. It  left out the last steps completely. I think someone at Simplicity saw popularity of the show and acted quick to get the pattern our while there is a demand- but they forgot to proofread it!   

We  plan on making more of these dresses. It is very quick to put together and  Eden loves how comfortable it is.  Since spring break Eden has worn this dress weekly. Now that it is hot as everything here ( 95 today - heat index over 100 ) she  loves it as it is light and cool. 

Eden is wearing her red dress in Tennessee on The Square in Lynchburg  . She is kissin' Belle. 

Eden and I are in Lynchburg Cemetary in the Bedford section.  'cause we're Bedfords.
I am wearing my Jasmine blouse.

@ mile post 6.5  On the way to Nags Head.  June 2012

I asked Eden if she had any messages to give ya'll. She said just to say that she loves her dress-
and  Peace!