Pin It Weekly #282

With over five thousand followers, I have plenty to choose from. Here are a few of the more recent ones. 
Florence Unwin has several interesting boards, but the one titled "dress" I must share! 

I can't resist a board of fidget quilts, so I had to share this one from Terri Freyermuth. Don't these have you wanting to make a few for the nearest nursing home? I'm truly impressed!

 

Rachel Gossett-Mateu has a sweet board "dating my husband" that I just couldn't resist. Here's why:

   

Ann Horton has a "Fibre Art" board that you will definitely want to see. 

Thanks for stopping by. Before you go, please leave a comment telling the rest of us which is your favorite way to display fiber art:

• needle books
• wall hangings
• purses/bags
• baskets/boxes
• clothing items
• pincushions
• book/journal covers

Can you think of any others? 

Wedding dress finish!

My niece has a wedding coming up in a couple of weeks. Just before Christmas. So wedding  bells and Christmas bells will all be ringing. 

Anyway she contacted me with an alteration request. At the time the dress was too long, but in the weeks since she's lost weight, so the dress was also a little big. Just big enough to need a few tucks.

She drove the normally five hours in a torrential rain for this. The dress is well made with underpinnings and boning, and interfacing, and lots of other stuff all built in. However, the structure was such that the top of the bust gaped open and looked awkward. So we had an awkward conversation about those "big girls" and the likelihood that they would escape. It didn't take much convincing since, it turns out, she didn't know how to ask for help but had great concern. The irony!

I tried a couple of ideas: taking in the sides where the armseye would be, drawing in the center of the sweetheart shape, tightening the crisscross drawstring. Nothing made me happy. Either the gap shifted forward, the bust became too tight or I created bulges in odd places. 

Finally I suggested straps. Let's just try ribbon and safety pins. No harm no foul and maybe it will work. Well, lo and behold, that was the answer! She hiked up the dress, I pinned on some satin ribbon front to back and we hemmed and hawed. Then I changed the ribbon to create a halter top and we hemmed and hawed. Lastly I crisscrossed the ribbon in the back and the dress Behaved. With a capitol B, I tell you. Just like that the dress knew who was boss. And the big girls didn't look so nervous. 

So the white ribbon stayed pinned to the top and I tackled the hips. Just a tiny little adjustment took out one the finicky curve and we were in the business of finding a good hem length. I decided to cut an extra half inch off so that I'd have enough for my secret weapon.

After lots of measuring and two little panicky hot flashes, I cut and hemmed the dress. Then I used the pieces of fabric I cut off the hem to create the straps I needed for the top. Yes, there's always a place to steal fabric from the dress. This is my third time, so I know. (Alayna's dress is here.)

I didn't even sweat over the fact that there were curves in the fabric. Instead I let that work to our advantage and turned the straps so the curves are toward the neck and could follow the shape of the shoulder. That removes any stress or pulling against the shorter side of the strap and gives a snug, fitted look. Happy accidents are nice after panic stress. 

We tried getting the dress on with the straps pinned, but that was not happening, which meant I had to devise a way to remove the straps for dressing/undressing. A couple of little white buttons on the back side of the dress did the trick and don't show at all since they are on the inside. 

To make neat buttonholes, I added heavy interfacing to the end of the straps. It's going to take time to get this chick into and out of that dress, but she looks great when she's all buttoned and strapped and busted and SPANXed in. In other words, a typical wedding gown.

I don't have an it's-finished-and-it's-perfect picture for you. That picture will have to wait till the wedding. Since it's only two weeks away, you won't have to wait long. The bride-to-be is happily snoozing surrounded by unwrapped Christmas gifts in our spare bedroom. She'll leave tomorrow with a lovely, well-fitted gown that is much less likely to malfunction on the important day. In other words, a fabulous wedding gown.

Catching up ... and a finish!

Yes, I've got a finish that I haven't shown you. This darling little dress for Milly. I know, I'm spoiling her! It's such fun! 

If you're old enough, you may recognize this pattern from when your own children were babies. I've had the pattern for ages now. I think I used it for the first time when Jolie was little. She's 16 now, but it's possible that the pattern is actually older than that.

Does it look familiar? I love it. And it was very easy to sew up. There are only two pieces: the front is cut on the fold and the back is cut sort of crooked to keep it straight of grain. Both need to be lined, but I decided to cut the opposite side in a light plaid so the top is reversible.

Did you notice that when I switched the dress around to take pictures, I didn't unbutton both straps? There are buttons on both sides so I should have unbuttoned both straps and buttoned them with the strap over the front.

Instead of making the panties that came with the pattern, I used the shorts pattern that I've been using and added elastic in the legs by increasing the size of the hem to make casings. Surprisingly, they are a little tight when made like this, but she didn't complain about the shorts, so we're going with them.


Now she may not have complained about the shorts but wow! she was in a mood. She fussed and cried for a good ten minutes for no reason. None. She was just cranky. That is very rare, so I changed her into a comfy little outfit and rocked her for a few minutes. Ahh, the joys of being a retired grandmother!

The only other news I have is that I'm already getting ready for our August meeting. We have a special guest coming to give a presentation. I'll wait to surprise you but thought a little tease would be fun.

And I'll leave you with a few quilts from the Krotz Springs show on Saturday. These are all from the trunk shows. I had to crop out the backs of heads, but I hate to stand in front of people to take pictures. It feels rude to be in other people's line of view. 
Hope you enjoy!

Milly is loading up! ~~ Finishes!

Today's finishes mean that Milly has gotten three dresses and several pair of shorts in less than a week. It seems that almost every time she shows up for a couple of hours, I get the urge to sew a little dress. 

She's not complaining, though. Well, when she's done with the waiting, she can whine a little but nothing too bad. 



This crazy loud daisy fabric been sitting around for a couple of years. I've cut into it several times to toss a few scraps into some colorful quilt or other, but I keep finding these the big pieces. Even after cutting Mill's dress out, I still have enough to make a pair of shorts. Maybe I'll just chop it to bits and add it to a quilt kit. Let's see what happens then.

Yesterday I got pretty enthusiastic with the cleaning and emptied another box of fabric. There are only two options--on a shelf (where I can see it) or in a box for donating. Occasionally I do put something aside to make shorts or a dress, but even those are rare. I'm determined to get my studio into a clean enough condition that I can find stuff and get work done.

The other thing that I got enthusiastic about was recovering this little binder. It holds my favorite recipes, mostly those written by the person I got it from, and a few recipes that I want to try eventually. (In some cases it's been years, but who's keeping track, right?)

The original binder

Front cover

Inside front cover in pretty stripes

I discovered this little piece of decorator fabric that I really like because of the soft colors, and added two other pieces that were hanging around (and almost match) to use as the inside covers. 

Back cover (same fabric goes from front) edge to back edge

I like the way it turned out. Plus it was fast and easy. I used Mrs. Bertha's suggestions from last Monday's guild meeting. I think I'll write a tutorial and include the tips Mrs. Bertha gave us. Look for that by the end of the week. 

Inside back cover

And here are a few more pics of Milly dancing in her new dress with her favorite toy--a cheap little plastic slinky. Goodness knows where it came from.

Link Ups!

My Quilt Infatuation (NTT)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

Kiddo Fast Finishes

 One afternoon this week I had Milly and decided that she needed a new dress. When she goes home, oftentimes she's wearing the dress or other nice outfit that we managed to hold on to. It's easy to lose things: shoes, bottles, clothes, sippy cups and so on. 

Front of dress showing the sherbet bodice

It's sometimes easier to just figure it out as we go. This particular time I decided to sew a little dress and matching shorts. As I've been cleaning and organizing fabric, I've run across a few pieces that I immediately have a project for. I pulled out this pretty plaid and set it aside thinking it would be just big enough for shorts. 

Back of dress

Well, it was even bigger than that. I was able to piece together enough for the dress by adding a bodice from a coordinating sherbet orange. The sherbet piece was big enough for the shorts and the interfacing for the dress. In other words, I squeezed all I could out of the plaid then squeezed the orange. There are only small scraps of the plaid left. 

Asked to show me her shorts,
she did exactly that

Milly does not like to change clothes. When she saw me coming with the dress, she started fussing, but I got a length measurement anyway. A good thing since it was about four inches too long. In no time I had a little dress and matching shorts. 

After a particularly wet diaper, she got to wear the outfit. I got a few pictures of her showing off in her new dress. And I could not resist this little collage of her playing. 

Since the outfit was a fast finish, I decided to sew a couple of pair of shorts for the bigger girls. I used what I thought was the pattern from last summer, but that must have been for Jolie. These two are way too big. So I'll have to find someone about two sizes bigger to gift them to.

Nevertheless, these are really cute. And while the plaids on the dress are a mess, these plaids are perfect. Yes, there is a seam in the middle of those short 

So all that happened on Tuesday, maybe? Then yesterday I put it in my head that she is so cute she deserves another outfit. I even got to wash it before putting it on her.

How sweet is this smile?

Am I right? How is it possible to love a cutie pie so much?

I found this cute garden fabric while trying to organize fabrics—again—but decided that it's too cute and the opportunity too good to past up. So I delayed the fabric organizing by an hour or so.

Well worth my time, don't you agree?

Link Ups!

My Quilt Infatuation (NTT)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)