Embroidery 101 - Block 1

So I started actually embroidering the 1st block. I kind of love and kind of hate it. Its very zen if I can get the perfectionist in me to SHUT THE HECK UP!

Ya - equally sized stitches, not so good at that. Here's a shot of the partially finished block. I actually got the butterfly and the right flower outline done, but by then there wasn't enough light to get even a crappy shot from my phone. One day I'll think to bring my camera up into the sewing room.

Embroidery 101: Piecing part 1

Its HOT in here. Whiney hot. Giving up, hot. I managed to get this far. As you can see I'm 2 short. My bobbin just ran out and I'm throwing in the towel for today.

I've got some wonky "squares". I'm blaming the heat. No worries though, they should square out nicely in the end, probably around 18.25 instead of 18.5.

Embroidery 101: Stitch and Quilt Along - Cutting

Phew - I suddenly remember why I choose sewing clothes over quilting. I'm not a fan of taking a gigantic rectangle of fabric, cutting in to a bazillion smaller pieces, just to sew it all back together! LOL

I pushed through though. Tomorrow I'm going have to try and bang out piecing everything. Its suppose to get H-O-T here by Thursday (97+) and we stole the AC that normally goes in my sewing room for our bedroom. If I don't get it pieced tomorrow it might have to get put on hold for a while (at least until the weekend when I can try and get a new unit for this room).

I had 1 major issue cutting the fat quarters...Apparently JoAnn's fat quarters aren't very generous. Or hey, even 18", but who's measuring? Oh, right - me! I needed 18 USABLE inches out of each fat quarter. NOT HAPPENING with the ones I bought. Case in point:

fabric looks really wrinkled but pinkie swear it is flat on the cutting table

If you notice - the fabric does not make 18" and this wasn't even the worst of the lot, just a general idea of what all of them were like. Once I got it on grain (were the people drinking when they cut these?!!) I was left with maybe 17.5" of usable fabric - so it was 2 fat quarters per print for me!!

Well without further ado - here's the fabric cut into pieces.

Itty Bitty Baby Dress

I found this adorable pattern at Made by Rae and just KNEW it would be the perfect baby shower gift for a friend of mine.

The dress is adorably small and ALMOST makes me wish I was having another little one...Almost

The fabric was leftovers from Ally's Easter Dress, which I've yet to document. Have to get on that...

The directions are very clear, although after constructing the entire dress I realized that there is no way to hide the inside waist/skirt seam. If I make another one (and I'm sure I will!) I will cut the lining pieces longer. I think I will also try out sewing the front to the back at 1 side, attach the piping, then close it up to catch the piping ends in the seam.