Colette's New Bedset

I delivered Colette's new bed set today!   I created the 2 large Euro shams in the back, the three pillows, the bedskirt and the accent blanket. 

  The solid colored bedding and blankets were purchased. 

The thing I call an accent blanket on the end of the bed is really cute.  The edges are scalloped which  echos the edges on the solid blankets.  I don't know what they are called in the real world - you see them in hotels and in magazines. My husband sees no point in them- it is not really a blanket , it does not keep you warm- What is the point? Why not just have a real blanket  instead of a pretend one?  

Beause they are  relatively inexpensive as they use little fabric, and it is  a great way to add a little more pizzaz to a room . And because they are pretty!   And just because... does everything in the world need a logical reason for existence?  :) 

I love the pillows. Pillows are also a fun, inexpensive way to add  personality to a room.

White cording  was added to the edge of this envelope pillow. 

I remembered to take close-up pictures of the pillows right before I delivered them - those are my new Living Room panels in the background :)

Colette is not a frilly type of girl, so I suggested  pleats instead of ruffles on the  striped pillow. She liked that idea.   (I tried to use my ruffler foot to do the pleats but  the ruffler foot is  pain  in my beheiny as it only cooperates with me about once a year. So I pleated by hand- it really didn't take  long.)  

I am on a roll lately, rocking out the custom work.  (It's amazing how much I can accomplish now that my darling daughter is back in school. :) ) 

Next up are panels for Colette's window. She has a beautiful large window in her room. I am going to create  panels with tiny pinch pleats at the top out of white twill , with buttons at the bottom of the pleats. They will be banded on the sides in the floral  (so that the white panels don't show the use  from her opening them and closing them each day. ) 

Getting ready for Halloween

Eden wants to be a vampire for Halloween this year. She says she does "not want to be a modern vampire, I want to be a classic vampire". Ok. A classic vampire it is. She would like a cape, black on the outside and red on the inside. She wants a short, fluffy dress. She liked last year's dress but the long dress part got in the way while trick or treating. She wants lots of ruffles and pace because classic vampires have "that old timey look" .


 Sooooooo here is our plan:

 Cape:

 I searched in the pattern box and found this pattern. We are going to make a short version of Cape B, black satin on the outside, red satin on the inside, as requested.

Dress:

I used this pattern as my base. I love this pattern! It is so pretty- I want  version 2 on the left for me! I want it in black and white check, with ruffles - just like the drawing! 

I tissue fit it on Eden and it seemed to fit well.  It was a tad bit big but not too bad. (I grabbed this pattern image off of a google search- scanning in my pattern would require effort that I don't have)  The size I used was a 10T chest  30.  Eden is a 26 so I figured I could take it in in the back and on the sides if it was way too big.

I made my muslin from a pink fabric that Eden picked out a couple of months back. I get tired of sewing on real muslin sometimes...it's so...blah.  Plus, if the test works, Eden can actually wear it. Making muslins are essential but sometimes I get frustrated at spending so much time on a non-wearable item. 

Here is the wearable test muslin!

It looks nothing like the pattern does it?  :)  I changed it all around. I made the pattern just like it is designed at first, though I ignored  the front darts (because Eden is...let's just say it- darts are for curves and my little darlin' doesn't have any yet ) and  it was soooooooooo big.  I removed the neck facing and then added tucks down the front center to take in the fabric. That took the front in 4 inches. The dress was very low cut so I added a neckline  about 2 inches wide. That brought the neck up to a much more comfortable level. Eden wants puffy sleeves so I just made the sleeves wider when I cut them out and gathered the new extra material at the top of the sleeve. I added elastic inside a casing at the bottom edge of the sleeve. That helps increase the puffiness.

 The back is pretty much exactly like the pattern. I took in about 4 inches on the back seam too.   I used an invisible zipper. Regular old double fold hem at the bottom.

I think she likes her new dress. 

I wish I had some of the socks she had as a baby- the white ones with super ruffles on the cuff. That would be adorable . She needs some saddle shoes too!

On the one for halloween , we will just be using the top of the dress. Eden likes the dress  but for her costume, she wants a wider twirly skirt  with a ruffled crinoline underneath. I did try to cut this dress with more skirt but it seemed to just fold up at the sides of the dress- it wasn't twirly. So I moved the side seams back in to about their original position. There will be no yoke-collar-neckline-raising thing on the halloween version.  I will cut the neckline much higher and just use creating a facing. I will also take out 4 inches form the front of the pattern, and 4 inches from the back. Though we both like the tucks, she doesn't think her costume needs them. 

She would like the dress to be red. I am pushing for a red and white crinoline  and white tights and black shiny shoes. I think that would be so cute!  Vampire teeth and  white make-up  and we are done! :)

The skirt will be a circle skirt using the circle skirt pattern from this book:

I love this book! I have made tons of skirts from this book and they turn out perfect every time. 

Off to sew!

Student Creations

It has been a very busy few months around here . All of my students are busy making wonderful things! I usually put these photos in my monthly newsletter that I send out to Students & Clients. But I found that this month, there were too many to fit into the newsletter and have it fit in anyones email box!! Here area few of my students with the fantastic projects they have completed.

First up is Nina:

Ok. The universe needs to put it's hands together and make some noise for Nina. Nina worked so hard on these! This is her first item of clothing from a real pattern. These took a couple of months of lessons to complete. Nina's perseverance paid off- how cute do those jammy pants look?

We added a ruffle on the bottom. We did this for two reasons :

Reason #1. I want her to look at patterns as a basic starting point , not a list of rules to follow. Adding a a ruffle and any other embellishments makes each item you create your own.

Reason #2: I swear the child GREW 3 inches from when we first measured for her muslin to when we made the real pants!! She tried them on before we did the final hem and they were short! Adding on a ruffle is a great way to elongate pants or skirts. Nina worked very hard on these and I am sure she is going to wear them every night!!

Haley made a tote bag and I love the fabrics she chose!

Haley was soooo excited to take her tote bag to school and tell everyone she made it! Her bag features a lot of pockets. the great thing about my tote bag pattern is that it is really easy to personalize it to your needs.

Kayla finished her first skirt! Her fabric is sooo pretty. It was a heavier weight cotton and it really lent itself well to this project. Kayla made this pattern her own by adding pockets!! She also wanted to use use bias tape along the bottom edge to finish off the hem. Watch out for Kayla- she is a little designer on the way to the top!

Here is Kate working on her summer skirt. I don't have a photo or the finished skirt on her but I will harras her unmercilfully 'till I get one. I just think this photo is cute :) Kate is pretty much this smiley all the time!

Also- look in the background- see the curtains? The red & gold ones? The don't match my souther pink walls? Those are the pinch pleats I made for Bonnie' s den. Pinch pleats need to hang for at least a week in the drawn back position to "train "them. So I hung them in the studio where I could pet and adjust them constantly. They turned out great.

Sam has been a tote bag making queen! Here is the one she made for herself.

Sam also made tote bags for her mom & mother in law.

Look at the cute ribbon detail she added to the top of the pocket and along the top edge of the bag.

I am very sad as Sam is moving this week to Georgia. :( Hopefully, she will keep sewing as she is a natural!

Donna made a beautiful skirt for summer out of a gorgeous floral embroidered cotton. Donna added a ruffle at the bottom of her skirt. Adding a ruffle to any pattern adds a bit of embellishment and style.

This cotton is just lovely. It is a great summer skirt as it is light and airy. All this skirt needs to go with it is a beach and cabana and fruity concoction with an umbrella in it!

Tori just completed a zipper purse to kepp her makeup and stuff in on her dresser. This is her first zipper project and I have to brag on her- it is perfect!

The pattern piece for this is a sheet of printer paper!

Coming up next month: Leticia;s 1950's "Walk Away" dress, Donna's summer dress, and the Saturday Girls are all working on embroidered t-shirts!

Eden's Summer Dress McCalls 6067

Summer! It's almost here! I see hours of beach time and fancy drinks with umbrellas in them. My daughter and her friends will play in co-ordinated beachwear, like a J Crew catalog photo. My friends and I will smile graciously down upon our darling offspring in our color coordinated suits as we delicately sip our drinks, discussing politics and the best years for our favorite wines.

Eh- who am I kidding ? :) It is going to be hours of sprinkler time and our drinks will probably be wine from a box. Mixed with fruit if a miracle happens and one of us gets our act together and cuts up fruit to put in the wine. We will most likely be discussing RHONJ and what we can make for dinner that doesn't require any effort or actual cooking. All of this will be accompanied by the aroma of bug-spray.

Ahhhh summer. Sweet Off scented summer.

I made Eden a summer dress last year. Each year I make a couple of dresses for her to wear for the season- nice cool cotton dresses that don't require any ironing- just pull from the dryer and slip over her head as we race off to whatever adventure we we have come up with.

Last year she chose this pattern view C:

It looks wonderfully comfortable. We both thought it would be perfect for the family trip to the Nags Head, NC. Ya know when you get back from a wonderful day at the beach, you take a shower and you just want to put on something soft and comfy? This dress is just perfect.

She picked out a cute cotton in a lovely aqua blue that matches her eyes with butterflies on it- and flowery lace trims. I love her to take part in the planning of her clothes. It gets her in the habit of thinking about a project before starting it.

Up until last summer, I could just measure her and make her clothes. No muslin required. It was awesome! I could just cut, sew and put it on her and it fit. I made this dress according to her measurements, put it on her and it was a tad too big. Eden FREAKS when clothing is too big. So she refused to wear it. So I said FINE! and hung it up in her closet to wait a year. The pattern has a bit of ease in it and though I thought it was just right, she felt it was too roomy. I brought it back out a week or so ago for her to try on and she now feels it fits her perfectly.

Now whenever I make her something, I am making a quick muslin to check the size. My baby is so big! She has to be fitted now!

Here is my shy little princess that I coaxed and persuaded to model for me.

No, not really. I said "Hey, lets go out and take pictures of you in your blue dress", and then there was a giant boom of the sound barrier being broken in her rush to get outside.

The back is lovely. She loves the tie at the neck. My only issue with the dress is that I made it according to the pattern and I have to say , the finished zipper didn't thrill me. It is too exposed. I need to put a hook at the top, that might solve the problem. She has on her nice shoes as we were going out to dinner but I see flip flops in the future.

Even though it is a halter top, she is pretty well covered up. The sides go high so she isn't showing any side ribcage.

I am going to totally steal the format from Pattern Review.com and fill in the rest of the details about this pattern:

McCalls 6067

GIRLS' AND GIRLS' PLUS DRESSES IN TWO LENGTHS: Dresses A, B, C with midriff and gathered skirt with back zipper closing; dress A has neck casing; dress B has drawstring neckline; dress C has extended ties and trim; dresses A, B lengths are above mid-knee; dress C length is below ankle.

NOTIONS: Dress A − 20" Zipper, 1 Yd. of 1/2" Elastic, Hooks and Eyes; Dress B, C − 12" Zipper, 3/4 Yd. of 1/4" Elastic, Hooks and Eyes; Dress C - also 11/4 Yds. of Approximately 3/8" Trim and 11/4 Yds. of Approximately 13/4" Trim.

SUGGESTED FABRICS: Lightweight Broadcloth • Lightweight Poplin • Lightweight Piqué. Additional Fabric may be needed to match stripes, plaids or one-way design fabric.

Pattern Sizing:
7-14Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yesWere the instructions easy to follow?
very easy.What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I did not like the zipper. I think next time I would try to use an invisible zipper as at the top of the dress, the elastic on either side of the zipper seem to pull it apart. I liked how easy the top was to assemble.Fabric Used:
cottonPattern alterations or any design changes you made:
noneWould you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
yes yes

Saturday Girls

Every other Saturday is Lesson Day around here. I have 6 girls from age 10-17. I start at 9 am and I finish up at 6. Lesson days are so much fun! I get to hear all about the trials and tribulations of the 5th grade (so cute!) and high school (nope. don't miss it. ) The girls are all so sweet and really devoted to learning all about sewing .

Wanna meet them?

Kayla started with me in November, She had done a bit of sewing with her grandmother but as her grandmother is in a different state, it was hard to keep it up. Kayla is very interested in making just about everything she sees. Each week when I show what I have been working on, I know she is going to say " I wanna make that!" Kayla has finished our first project together- a stuffed heart wall hanging that incorporated some different stitches on the front, her initials and a small topstitched heart at the bottom. Kayla really was careful stitching around the curves of the heart. Great job Kalya!

Next is Rachael. Rach has been taking lessons with me for about a year and has graduated up to patterns! Woohoo! Here she is cutting out her tissue pattern for her Pajama pants. Everyone starts out with the pattern as their first one. It doesn't matter to me if you are 10, 30 or 87- when we move onto patterns you make this one. Why? It has two pattern pieces and is easy to alter.
In the background of this photo you can see some of my recent projects hanging up. There are itty bitty dresses I made for my new baby niece to be Molly ( Steff! If you see this picture before the shower DON'T LOOK!! ) There is also the skirt I made from the Sew Serendipity book. Also the muslin and version one of a jacket from the same book. The jacket still needs buttonholes but I haven't done them yet because I got mad at the jacket. ( Long story. I will tell that one some other time. )

Then we have Nina. Nina is also making the pajama pants. She is cutting out the muslin from her pattern pieces here.

When we make a muslin, sometimes it is hard to tell what side is what . So we write on the fabric with fabric pen. I thought it was cute Nina signed her name underneath the note to ourselves. And put a little smiley face.

This is Haley- world meet Haley, Haley meet world. Haley is so funny we have blast at lessons. Here she is modeling her First Skirt. It is hard to see in the picture but the fabric was actually a really soft white and purple check. She did a really nice job. Currently we are working on a tote bag. We cut the pieces last week and will be assembling next lesson day.

Tori began lesson with me in December. She doesn't say too much but I can see the gears turning in her brain each lesson. She is like a sponge just soaking up all the info. She is working on an envelope pillow here with buttonholes. She got an awesome new machine a few weeks ago and buttons are a breeze. Hooray for the automatic buttonhole setting on sewing machines!

Oh and see my pretty pretty chairs in the background? They go with my pretty pretty new table.

And last we have DAISY!!!! Daisy had to drop out for a little while as school commitments we taking up all of her time. But she is back and we are working on a pair of pajama pants. Daisy has been accepted to a fashion design program for college next year. I forget where... I think it she said Mary Mount up near DC. I think. I will check. Her family is also moving this summer so we are now in cram mode! We have to get as much knowledge into her as we can before she goes. So after this we are going to do as many items from patterns as we can fit in :)!! Here she is cutting out her muslin from the altered pattern.
And that's it- those are my Saturday Girls!

You might say- there are two blog posts in two days! How is she doing this? What lit the fire under her? Well, I am stuck at home with strep and had to cancel lessons. I am also procrastinating finishing up a huge window proposal for a client so I am blogging :) :) :) I have to get out the calculator , use all available brain cells and put all of my crazy notes and samples into some sort of coherent professional looking presentation.

I have also done all of my emailing to clients and students. I checked both bank accounts. Read the news (Hooray Egypt!) . Read MSN gossip ( Charlie Sheen can drop off the planet- I am so sick of reading about him!) . Checked facebook. Looked at slide shows from fashion week. (Really people? Some of those runway fashions looked very badly constructed. ) I read some sewing blogs. I converted a step-by-step off of Sew Mama Sew into Word so I can print it out and work on it down in the sewing room. It will be a cute top for Eden for this summer.

I have run out of things to waste time with so I guess I have to do this proposal ! :)

which of these things is not like the other?

Leticia has started commercial patterns and for our first pattern we made PJ pants. I use this pattern for the first commercial pattern my students tackle as it only has two pattern pieces. The alterations are also fairly easy .

We altered the pattern a little bit and made a muslin. She wore that around her house once or twice to get an idea of how else she wanted to change it. We then altered the pattern again tp suit her and made another muslin. This time it was perfect so she then made the pants out of a fabric she chose.

I love this fabric. I love the happy dancing skeletons and all the wonderful flowers.

Here they are on my beautiful , lovely sewing table.



I also love that we added pockets to the pants, which do not come with the pattern. We just drew ourselves a little pattern piece right there as we were going along.

For our next pattern project, Leticia got to go pick out her own pattern. As she is a part time nurse in school she wanted to make her own scrub tops

She chose this one. Over all the pattern is pretty good so far. We are about halfway through the muslin. This pattern has a lot more pieces to it- front back, 2 pocket pieces and a neck piece. The pattern instructions could have a whole lot more clarity in them but I just write in pencil all over the pattern as we go along. When she makes this on her own I will have filled in those gaps for her :)
Now here is where we had a bit of a giggle. Look at the pattern front at drawing of the gal wearing the scrub top. She has super long barbie legs. This gal does not eat breakfast, has birthed no babies and never eats dessert.
Now when we open up this pattern, look at what we see on the inside! Do they look like the gal on the cover?

No! They do not! They look very different from the gal on the cover!

You can see on the far right one, I drew in what Leticia and I kinda look like. (Less belly for both of us and in my case, less behind.)

Really what happened here is that the pattern is offered in two multi sized packets- XS- Xl and XXL-6X. As the sewing instructions are the same for all sizes, both packets just have one set of instructions. This is a how to alter the armseye for different sized arms. These drawings are really for the larger sizes. But even the larger sized packet features miss-never-eats-a-muffin: same drawing that is on the cover of the small sizes.

We just thought it was funny how differently the pattern was portrayed outside and then inside.

I guess if they had the other larger size gals drawings on the cover, then no one would buy the pattern. We all try to buy clothing that we think might flatter us in some way. But no pattern is this world is gonna make a gal go from what is drawn on the inside of the pattern to what is on the outside. When they do, put me down for 2!

Nina's Valentine Project

Nina is 11 years old and has been taking lessons with me for about a year now. When she first started she was kinda quiet. She was very interested in sewing, I could tell, but I would have to ask a lot of questions to get her to say what she liked and didn't like. Then she came out of her shell a little and she started to talk a little bit about her ideas and ask questions. Along the way we did projects geared toward learning basic sewing skills like planning the project, cutting out pattern pieces, working the machine and sewing a nice straight seam. With each project she would get a little more confident with the machine and her sewing ability.

I use a really cute book to get ideas for projects for kids. I usually end up altering the instructions a bit to suit the individual child.

Nina made a cat/fox from the book. The project was a cat or a dog that used many different pieces. She decided to make a two tailed cat/fox. Nina loves animals so this project was really fun for her as she got to combine animals! It turned out adorable! It gave her practice cutting and sewing small pieces. We did not use the method in the book that uses wax paper as the pattern pieces- we just photocopied the book page and cut them out. She had to go slow and stitch carefully around the small curved edges. This project was great for teaching patience and carefulness :) We used some hand sewing in sewing on buttons. Then she did the cutest thing! She glued cotton balls onto the ears and tails to make soft fluffy tails.

Here it is ! :)

Now lessons are hoppin' as when I present our next project, she is just bursting with ideas and ways to make it her own.

Here she is with her first purse that she made. She chose the fabric as it has cute dogs on it. It is fully lined and has a rick rack trim on the front:

For Christmas presents we made tissue holders. We used only hand sewing with this as I am still trying to convince them that hand sewing is necessary. For some reason the young ones think that sewing means just using the machine and only the machine. We also practiced sewing on buttons, tying knots and cutting using the pinking shears. The pinking sheers are hard for the young ones to hold onto sometimes. I am trying to find a smaller pair but so far haven't seen any.

She made this one for her grandmother. I forget why she chose the green fabric and ladybug theme but she had a really cute reason. These tissue holders fit a travel size tissue pack. They are made of felt, which is about .25 a sheet. I like to buy it on sale at Joann's for .19. The felt is very forgiving to young fingers trying to work a hand needle. Each of the Saturday Girls made this project with me in lesson then took home the instructions so that they could make some on their own to give as presents for Christmas.

For Valentines day I had planned a project that we could do in an hour. A year ago, this would have taken us two lessons. Now when I talk about creating a pattern piece, sewing it with the seams showing, using pinking sheers, stuffing, etc. she understands what I am talking about and we can get right to the fun.

I had to project idea for a Valentine's pin- we would cut felt shapes and stack them together, sew them , add buttons or whatever decoration she wanted, then stuff it and glue a pin onto the back. She loved the idea but wanted to change it. She wanted to make a Valentine's lollipop pin for her dad. I think that is just fantastic! We are at the point where she understands the idea I have for the project, but redesigns it. (To me this also means I am doing my job :) She gets it! Hooray!!)

Here she is after creating the pattern piece for the lollipop. I have discovered that people learn the intricacies of patterns easier if they start out making them. So we drew out the lollipop and heart on paper. She also thought that it would be cute if the lollipop already had a bite taken out of it.

She then pinned the pattern pieces down and cut them out of red felt.
She was very good about keeping her fingers back and carefully turning the felt piece to stitch around the curves of the heart. Curves are not easy to sew, especially small ones, like the heart. She took it slow and did an absolutely beautiful job. And see how her fingers are back outside of the throat plate? That is exactly how they should be! :) :)


We use a piece of Peltex for the lollipop stick. Peltex is very thick super sturdy iron on interfacing. I use it for the bottom of purses, to make christmas ornaments and to back decorated pins. Nina then pinned it to the backing and sewed around the edge of the lollipop.

Here is the finished lollipop.


We glued a pin onto the back.

And here is one last shot of the lollipop. She wanted one photo to have the hail in it. As we were finishing up the lollipop it started to hail. It was crazy! Luckily it wasn't the really big car denting kind of hail. Just little granola sized hail.

Nina also wanted the lollipop to say" lollipops are like love" But I told her that she should draw her dad a card and put that in it. There was just no room on our lollipop to write" lollipops are like love" :) :)

Happy Valentines Day everyone!