book love: reader's digest complete guide to sewing

this book has been for a long time and still is my all time favorite sewing book.  it was actually a textbook for a few of my sewing classes in college.  i pulled it out the other day to look something up and remembered how great it is!
here's what i love about this book.  it explains everything you will need to know about sewing(not quilting) with detailed pictures and written steps.  the book also uses methods that will produce a better product in the end.  i have found that if i want to make a dress or something, i can cut out my pattern pieces and completely ignore the pattern instruction papers if i have this book as a reference.

did you know that pattern companies most often print their pattern directions according to what's easiest to print, not nescessarily what may be correct?  when i found that out it was like a light went on as to why all my early sewing years projects did not turn out.   however, if you are only interested in quilting, this is not the book for that.  i have a couple favorite quilting reference books, i'll have to share... but if you want to make clothing, slipcovers, pillows, curtains, bedding, zippers, etc.  this is my favorite book!

mr. perkins

this is mr. perkins. he looks all nice and quiet, but really he is a very challenging giraffe to try to become friends with. i saw this pattern at our local quilt shop and thought he would be a cute addition to the nursery. he looked easy enough to recreate. so i read the pattern through a couple times and got started. it's still a mystery to me how i do this, but i seemed to have failed to read some important parts of the pattern and ended up cutting, sewing, and stuffing this little beast twice. all my fault. while he was probably just laughing inside. needless to say, i won my own battle and now have a little giraffe for a shelf that doesn't yet exist in the nursery. macy is now constantly asking when we are going to make her an elephant. i don't know where she got the idea, but these patterns are addicting even with my lack of reading instructions effectively. so we might have to get another... maybe an elephant, or a flamingo, or just another giraffe. in the meantime, i am in love with the pattern designers' blog and etsy shop and all the cute things they come up with.

hello holly hobby

every once in a while i get to make a custom dress for someone i know. it's so much easier to sew for someone you know. as i was making this dress for a dear friend, i would hold it up for richie after each step and say, "does it look like mandy?" to which he would reply, "totally." (and he thinks he has no fashion sense.)

my only real instructions were to make it look like this picture. no stress- until i started analyzing every detail and wondering what she really meant when she wanted me to copy the picture. i'm sure i drove her crazy with all my questions. but i am in love with all the fabric she found! the blue and white floral is a moda-made in england print, and oh so gorgeous up close. anyway, this is the final result- cute on a clothesline, but oh so much cuter on the adorable baby! she wore it for a baby contest and totally should have won. what a doll.

random sewing notes... and cards

ok, so we didn't actually picnic over the weekend. but i did have a chance to do some experimenting for new little pretties to put in the shop... what do you think?
i'm wondering if my own little pretty is getting to the age where skirts are more her thing than dresses. she squealed and exclaimed, "oh thank you so much, mom, you're wonderful!" when i finished this skirt... (where she learned that phrase is beyond me) so i'm really just trying to keep up with my little fashionista.
this other style is my new favorite for dresses. it just hangs so cute and the ties on the shoulders are just charming. the fabric is a vintage sheet i thrifted so it has a nostalgic feel to it. and the quilt in my last post was a christmas gift from richie a couple years ago. actually i decided he was going to give me a quilt kit every year for christmas... it's been fun because i usually pick the quilts out and wrap them and and my only goal is to finish the quilt by the next year. i have to say this was one of my easiest quilts ever and even though it doesn't match anything in my house or even my style, i love it! i love every single piece of fabric in it and even more now because they are all discontinued and hard to find. it's all fabric from denyse schmidt, one of my most favorite designers.
ever since i've actually had a space to sew, it's all i want to do when i have time- you know, late at night or early in the morning... although tonight we have plans to play cards. richie is determined to beat me and has yet to do so at gin rummy. ha! (p.s. richie beats me at literally everything else in life- scrabble, tennis, IQ tests, etc. etc. so i have to gloat.....)

it's the weekend!

my picnic 'bagsket' is packed, my quilt is laid out, now i'm just praying for sunshine....

happy weekend!

weekend in pictures

etsy = sweet fabric

another thing i love about etsy is that you can find any designer fabric there. recently when my cute sister in law decided she wanted a certain fabric for her flower girl dresses, i went to etsy when i found out it was no longer being made. in just a couple minutes of searching etsy i found more fabric than i needed! one of the sellers was the dizzy daisy. i don't know this seller personally, but have fallen in love with her shop and her sweet personality after purchasing the fabric from her. the fabric arrived in only 2 days and she was completely accomodating and generous as a seller. this is a shop i like to check when i am in a fabric mood because she always has such cute prints. actually, i am loving this one as a new blanket for macy's big girl bed. what do you think?

procrasti-blogging

isn't blogging great? what better way to procrastinate a deadline like making 3 more of these dresses by thursday? you can post on your blog, read other blogs, surf for new blogs, or just sit and stare at the computer...
otherwise, isn't this a darling dress? not that i can take credit- it's a flower girl dress for the wedding of a very stylish bride. i'm so excited because she has such cute and different things picked out for her wedding! more on that later... now what else can i do to procrastinate?

one more dress

thank you for all the comments on macy's easter dress! i really should mention that i got the idea from here... actually, i had the fabric and was planning to make a little wrap dress with it until my sister in-law showed me this cute line and i thought- hey, i can make that!

speaking of making something i see... sometimes i think i can totally relate to the couple on Napoleon Dynamite when Uncle Rico whips out the free sailboat during his tupperware presentation. you know, how the wife whispers to her husband, "i want that," so seriously-- that's how I felt when i saw this dress but how can i justify spending $78 on a dress for a two-year old? so i set out to make one like it. it's not exact, but i love how it turned out. this dress was the first time i have made a 'muslin' since college. so in reality i made this dress three times before i got the one you see. but it was definitely worth saving the money! oh, and the shoes are from the Gap and don't actually have any of the same plaid, but you couldn't tell until I told you, right? that's what i love about sewing and creating. really, it's all ideas we see and then recreate the way our brain remembers. i guess. anyway, i am loving this dress for macy and i have plenty of extra fabric that i can use for something in my shop... (just not the exact same dress obviously) any suggestions?

easter dress no. 3

i don't know what it is about spring that always makes me itch to sew. easter is the only holiday that i have succeeded in always making macy a new dress for. this year i wanted to go a little less traditional in color and style. i love all the fluffy dresses for spring that are out right now, but that's all there is. so i chose one of my favorite amy butler prints and made a little sassy a-line dress. and macy had no problem flaunting her cute little legs in it. i actually used a simplicity pattern but really only for the bodice and sleeves. then i made up the rest. it seems like macy is getting harder and harder to photograph the older she gets!

budding seamstress

be still my heart...
she's making a dress for her monkey

sweet blessings

(i've been meaning to post this forever!)

so almost a year ago one of my oldest (as in we've known each other since we were born) friends emailed asking if i would make her daughter a blessing dress out of her own wedding dress. yep you read it right. she wanted me to use her wedding dress. i was actually really excited about this. think of how meaningful the dress would be. the blessing dress would be the first formal gown she would own. it would be something to keep forever. and to have it created out of the dress your mother was married in would make it even more meaningful. i love the idea of making a special garment even more meaningful. the blessing gown i made for macy was styled after my wedding gown but i made it out of silk i had purchased when i worked at a fabric store in high school. i bought it hoping someday i would have a girl to make a blessing dress for and i loved that i got to use it for my first baby. (sorry no picture of it! what was i thinking back then?)

so i agreed that i would love to make the dress for my friend. we met up for lunch one day and i got the dress. once i had the wedding dress in my possession i didn't know if i really had the guts to cut it up. it was gorgeous. it was satin. it was her wedding dress! what if i were to mess up? there's no forgiveness when it's a garment of that nature. so truly, the hardest part of making the dress was working up the nerve to cut into her beautiful gown. after that, it was so fun to try to follow the design my friend had requested and add a little bit of the original gown to the dress. so here's the end result. i used only fabric from the wedding dress minus the tie(it's a ribbon) if you look closely, the band near the bottom with designs on it is the same as a band on the skirt and the bodice of the original dress. the narrow bands of ribbon sewn on the skirt are the tie from the corset back of the original dress. i love how it turned out because it already had an antique feel to it because of the fabric having been used before. i loved working with the fabric because it was bridal satin which is way nicer than the satin you can just buy at joanns. making this dress reminded me of one i also made for my neice. it was one of my favorite styles because it wasn't the traditional blessing gown style. i don't know how, but i did princess seams down the front. then i embroidered flowers on it with ribbon(i don't know how to do ribbon embroidery) but i thought it was sweet and stylish for a cute little baby. oh i hope i have a girl next so i can make another sweet gown.

a good way to layer quilts

here is my new favorite way to layer a quilt.

first, take the backing and lay it on a wood floor or hard surface face down. tape it to the floor so it is pulled tight.

next, center the batting on top of the backing.

finally, lay the quilt top on top of it all. make sure everything is smooth and all lined up.

then pin every few inches. i like the large quilting safety pins just because they are easy to get through all the layers.

and now you are ready to quilt or tie your quilt. or you can leave it in your closet for a few months until you remember you have yet another unfinished project to work on.

i really like this method because it seems to produce fewer wrinkles and puckers in my finished quilts. the pins are easier to take out than basting and seem to hold the quilt in place just fine. i think the key is in taping your backing down tightly. it really helps everything to lay perfectly flat. and for the life of me i cannot remember where i learned this or i would give proper credit.

no.18 denyse schmidt quilts

i first fell in love with denyse schmidt when i saw her line of fabric at this quilt shop. i thought i had died and gone to 70s fabric heaven. i love her colors. i love her designs. i love the feel of her fabrics. so one day when macy lost the keys we decided to search until we found them and the winner got to order one thing from amazon. i was so happy when i found the keys in a kitchen drawer, and i ordered this book. if you are an avid quilter or just a beginner, this book is for you. it's not your average granny quilt book... or even your mom's quilt book. this is the quilt book for the modern quilters of today. it also had patterns for an apron, totebags, cards, a scarf and more if you aren't into quilting. even if you don't want to buy the book or borrow it from me (on the condition that you will keep it in a glass case until you return it) you can download a pattern for this quilt for free! isn't that so nice?
i just love how denyse has a very modern style with bright colors and funky lines. her fabrics and patterns are very unexpected but pleasing to the eye. in my dream world i would own at least a yard of each and every of her fabrics. but in reality, i just drool over them online. anyway, denyse schmidt is definitely my most favorite fabric and quilt designer and that makes her a very good thing.
oh yes, and no, i didn't make either of these quilts. the patterns are available here and here... someday i would love to make them though.

sweet baby quilts (no.14)

baby quilts are a good thing. everyone needs a baby quilt. the memories associated with babies can only be made sweeter with a quilt. my great grandma made quilts for almost every baby she knew until she passed away at age 99. i have the quilt she made for me when i was born and just love to look at it and think about each stitch and how she worked so hard at it. she probably chose the fabric carefully and matched each corner, then hand quilted it for hours on end. a handmade quilt is more than a blanket, especially when made for a baby. i just finished this one today for a sweet friend michelle. i met michelle through etsy. she lives in canada and is due to have her first girl (after two boys) in december. i can't take the credit for this quilt as it was all michelle's idea. i made up this pattern when i made macy a quilt to go with her new doll bed, then made a couple more for the shop. michelle came up with the sweet idea of mixing pinks, reds, and linen with cream. she chose the binding, the backing, and the sizes of squares. although michelle didn't make the quilt, i think she spent put just as much love and thought into it as my great grandmother would. this quilt will be off to canada soon to welcome michelle's new baby! what could be sweeter than bringing home your new baby in a cuddly quilt? that's a good thing.

no. 12 hoot!

i have been in love with this cute idea ever since i saw these little owls on this cute blog. yesterday i felt like doing some crafting for fun and these are what happened. i was debating about what to have my little flock say and we came up with all kinds of fun ideas, like thank you, get well, be kind, be thankful, and then richie came up with the idea of "be wise" and i just knew it was the perfect phrase! i can see these cute little birds sitting on our bookshelf someday in our library someday in our house that has a library someday. well now i'm getting carried away. these owls were super easy and very fun to make. what a cute little gift these would be for someone and you could include your little message right on them. i love how each one has a personality even though they were all made out of the same pattern. funny how they are also different shapes- who knew? well, these were the perfect little break from two big custom projects i have been working on that i am so excited to show... maybe tomorrow!

match those corners up (gt no. 7)

have you ever been working on a quilt and had a hard time getting corners to match up? this is actually one of the reasons my very first quilt is hidden in a cedar chest. those pesky corners! i decided matching corners was something only seasoned quilters could produce. that was until i learned this simple technique. so i was talking to a friend last night who is starting her first quilt and i woke up this morning thinking of how much i love this technique and i so wish i had known it when i started quilting. oh yes, and if you are reading this and you think it might be beneficial to a quilt you are making... feel free to return the favor by, say, sharing a certain enchilada recipe or something? just an idea.

matching corners:

here's an example using a 4-patch, but this method works with any corners that may need to line up. if you are making rows of squares, you can just press every other seam in opposite directions then follow the same instructions.

first lay out what you are piecing

place squares right sides together and stitch.
press the seams of each set in opposite directions.

lay the two sets right sides together and you will feel the two seams lock into place like a puzzle.

i pin the seams just for backup.

sew the sets together- removing the pin just before you sew over it. now for the fun part. hold your square while it is still closed and you can pop the seam where it overlaps what you just sewed.

now press your seams- one half of the seam will press one direction and the other half in the opposite direction.

because you popped the seam previously, it will press nice and flat and you will have a little 4-patch in the center of wrong side of your square. that's how you know you did it right.

turn it over and enjoy your perfectly matched corners.

now that's a good thing.