Baby Gift for Spring

Two weeks ago, I was going to visit a girlhood friend.  We hadn't seen each other since her wedding and I knew she had had a little girl recently, so I wanted to take a baby gift.  I only had a few days, so I went digging through the stash for something quick and easy - and hunting through my mind for an idea that I would already have all the supplies for.

I found a piece of purple gingham that had white teddy bears and white bows scattered all over it.  There was about a yard and a half of it - the perfect amount to make a lightweight spring/summer blanket.

I cut the fabric in a sqaure, serged the edges, and then hemmed it.  Hmmm, it still needed something else - the perfect touch to make it look unique and take away the plain, simple look that was haunting it as it was.

Digging through my trims, I found quite a bit of 1/8" wide white satin ribbon.  I zig-zagged this on the hem, leaving about 8" of the ribbon at each corner and stopping the zig-zag about 3" before I got to the corner.  I repeated this on all four sides.  Once I was done, I tied a bow at each corner and tacked it down.

The whole project took me only an hour or two...and my friend was thrilled!

Spring Crazy!

When the weather was so icy, with temperatures in the single digits and teens for days on end, all I could think about was summer, spring dresses, and beaches.  I guess now I am sewing the products of those dreams!

Awhile back, I bought this fabric on sale for my sister.  She loves blue and looks fabulous in it.  I found it again last week and asked my mother for her opinion on a pattern for it.  She came up with New Look 6886.



I decided to go with look "C" and made the dress this week.

The pattern is really simple and fast.  A word of warning, though.  I ripped out those cap sleeves five times before I got them the way I wanted them to fit and look.  The way the pattern is, they are completely off your shoulders, and I didn't want them that way.  To get them the way they are now, you have to recut the armholes - cutting them in about 1"-1 1/2" and tapering them in so it doesn't make the armhole any lower.

I am going to add a blue satin sash and the dress will be ready for my sister to wear.  (Sorry, Ang, you'll have to wait till Spring Break to get this one - I'm not mailing it.:-)

Spring Suit

One of these days, I will remember to take "before" pictures to show you what I started with.  I am not used to photographing my work as I create, so it is taking me awhile to remember to photograph the steps of the project, rather than just the finished product.

All that to say, I began this project with two pieces of clothing.  One was an ankle-length, sleeveless dress, made out of navy crepe.  It was my sister's old dress; she had made it, worn it a little, then moved onto different styles.  The fabric itself was in almost new condition and had a lot of wear left in it.  The other was a blouse of my great-grandmother's (we called her Granny).  Granny's blouse was a linen-look type fabric, a white background with small navy flowers scattered over it.  When Granny passed away, my sister had kept the blouse, because she liked the fabric and it reminded her of Granny.  However, the blouse posed a unique problem.  It did not have set-in sleeves, so it was hard to come up with something to remake it into that would be stylish for a girl in her 20's.

As I have been through the "stash" lately on a repeated and regular basis, I came across these two fabrics again.  Suddenly, I had an inspiration.  Why not make a short sleeved spring suit set out of the navy and a sleeveless dress blouse out of the floral?

I was very pleased with the result.  The skirt is Simplicity 4951; a simple A-line skirt with a band.  I have used this pattern multiple times and am always pleased with the result.

The top was Simplicity 4123, an It's So Easy pattern.  I added a zipper down the back; this makes it easier to get the blouse off.

 

The jacket was Simplicity 4230.



I used look "B," but instead of a cuff, I simply sewed the tucks in the sleeve.  I thought it made the jacket look classier.

Other than that, I stuck to the pattern. 

The suit is now in a shoebox, wrapped in brown paper, with my sister's name and college dorm address on it.  I took it to the post office this morning, so hopefully it is safely on it's way.  Shhh...don't tell her!

Memory Quilts

Yes, you read that right: Memory Quilts, not Memory Books, as in scrapbooking.  I owe the idea for this project to a good friend of mine.  She approached me five years ago with her idea: she had saved her sons' baby clothes and she wanted them made into quilts to give to her grandchildren.  Naively, I agreed to make the quilts for little more than the cost of the supplies.

It was only when I sat down to look, really look, at the bags of baby clothes she brought, that the enormity of the task dawned on me.  Most of the clothes were of a knit material, so I had to iron them onto interfacing.  But that wasn't even the first step!  The first step was to meticulously cut the clothes apart, followed by the ironing.  Then, the fabric was finally ready to be cut and sewn into a quilt top.

Last summer, I completed the quilts for her oldest son.  She wanted two quilts for each boy.  A few weeks ago, I finally completed the two quilts for her youngest son.

Here are some close-ups of the blocks.  As I cut out blocks, I tried to get the main parts of the clothing: whether it be a design, a pocket, the pearl snaps down a western shirt, or anything else.

She loved the quilts - so much so that she is already planning to have me make some like them for her little girl that is due next month.  I'm not so sure about going through all that work again :-).

Jumper for Professional Wear

Some time ago (who knows how long), I cut out a jumper to wear for work.  As a school teacher, I am always in need of cute, professional-looking outfits.  I had a piece of dark brown moleskin suede and when I saw the jumper on Simplicity 3678 (I was going to link you to the pattern cover here, but apparently it is out-of-print), there was an instant connection in my mind between the pattern and the fabric.

Since I am currently on a quest to finish my unfinished projects, I pulled the jumper out again.  Plus, it looked like it would be nice and warm, and with all this snow and ice, I wanted something warm to wear to work!

The pattern itself was fairly easy to construct.  I did have to lengthen the bodice and the skirt, but those are pretty normal alterations for me, since I am above average height.  The only real problem was the armholes; they were cut funny and once I finished the jumper, I realized they didn't fit right.  They needed to come in more and the needed to be larger to accomodate the sleeves of the blouse, t-shirt, or sweater that I would wear under the jumper.  So I spent a few more hours taking out the armholes and recutting them.  The final result was perfect.

I really like the gathers in the bodice and the unique look that creates.  Here is the back view.

The ironic thing was...the day I finished the jumper was the day the snow and ice finally disappeared and we had a beautiful day - but I wore the jumper anyways!

Baby Dress

My friend is about to have her first little girl, and so I started digging through my stuff to make her a baby gift.  Somehow, when it comes to baby gifts, my first thought is always "make," not "buy." Sigh...life would be less complicated if I would just buy gifts.  But my legacy is gifting with handmade gifts...passed down from my grandmother and mother.  Plus, it is much more fun and creative!

In my stash, I found a mint green gingham dress that I had cut out several years ago.  It was going to be a gift for someone else, but evidently, I was too busy at the time to complete the dress, so it was placed in my stash.  It was a round-yoke, cut for about 3-6 months size.  When I went to sew the dress, I couldn't find the pattern anymore.  It was an old pattern I bought from GoodWill and somehow it has been misplaced since then.  The good news was that I have sewn many dresses in this pattern, so I didn't really have to have the pattern.

I found a piece of trim in the trim scraps just the right size to go around the yoke and four matching buttons in the button box(es).  Here is the finished product:

Here is a close-up of the back: trim and buttons.

I think, with the gingham, trim, and pattern combination, the dress came out somewhat vintage-style.  What do you think?  Looking at it now, the one thing I would change would be to add tiny tucks on the sleeves, the bodice, and the bottom of the skirt.

Decorative Pillow

Several summers ago, I took a quilting class at Alford Inn & Quilt Shop (http://alfordinn.com/).  It was just a single class - lasting a few hours - and we learned how to make stained glass quilt blocks.  During the class we made the first block.  While I enjoyed the class and loved the artistic beauty of the finished block, I knew that I did not want to make a dozen, or even two dozen, of these blocks so that I could have an entire quilt.  So the lonely block sat in my unfinished "project pile," awaiting it's final destiny.

I came across the block, and the remaining scraps, recently, in my quest to complete the unfinished projects around my apartment.  After some consideration, I decided to turn the block into a decorative sofa pillow.  Here is the finished project:

The block wasn't quite large enough for the pillow size, so I added a black border.  I then used the green scraps for the back and the purple scraps to create a piping around the edge of the pillow. 

In this photo, you can see the detail of the blocks.  Stained glass quilting is fun and creates a stunning look - I have just decided it takes a wee bit more patience than I have at this age.