Hampton Beach 2010

Milkmaid skirt

Milkmaid Skirt 1, originally uploaded by floreksa.

I actually made it into the sewing room last night. It has been WAY.TOO.HOT this summer to go in there. I bought a small AC unit for the room, but it does nothing to help. Last night the heat & humidity broke slightly, so I raced up there to try out a skirt pattern for Ally. Still hotter than Hades up there, but at least it was slightly cooler than the surface of the sun.

Followed the tutorial on Crafterhours.

Incredibly easy, but I have 1 major problem. The skirt fits her BEAUTIFULLY - once its on. The problem? It won't go over her hips. I have to put it on over her head.

I'm afraid to make the waist wider, as it will constantly slide down. I'm wondering if I'm going to be forced to put side zippers in? I dunno. I'm going to consult the experts at my new BFF site PatternReview.com.

New Look 6478 take 3

I am Sasha! Hear me roar! No clue where she comes up with these.





Stretch Rayon blend jersey knit in Berry from Fabric.com. Ribbon from my stash. Probably bought 4 years ago.

This dress is not my shining moment. LOL
I think from the outside its a pretty passable piece of clothing for Ally, but HOLY COW if you look at the construction on the inside. shudder... Its not pretty.

I either got cocky after making the 4th of July dress, or the sewing gods just wanted to see me cry. I'm going share a little secret with you - the lime green ribbon - I had absolutely no intention of using it for this dress. None, what so ever. So why's it there? Can anyone guess??

Yup - I sewed the wrong side of the back to the right side of the front and didn't notice until AFTER I trimmed the seams, and steamed. It was either seam rip it all and hope I can sew the correct "new" seam allowance, or find something to mask the mistake. The instruction don't have you double turn the casing for the elastic so I needed something to cover the raw edge. Seeing as how I have 4 more yards of this pink material and ribbons galore from when I actually thought we'd be able to tame Ally's hair with bows - I went for the "what the hell, let's see if we can salvage this".

12+ hours later

and 3 placemats are completely done.

Just 3.

I still have 5 more to go. 1 is quilted, just needs binding. The other 4 - NOT.EVEN.CUT.YET. sigh. Mom might be getting a set of 4 this summer, with another set next summer.

I realized why I hate them so. They take too much time. I'm an instant gratification kind of gal.

I forced myself to continue work on them this weekend because I'd be damned if I was going to let my cute 4th of July dress for Ally never materialize. So I spent 4 hours yesterday quilting and binding.

Then I spent 2.5 hours and made the most adorable halter style dress for Ally. Still not totally great at fabrics - but I'm pretty sure this is a single knit from JoAnn's that I got on clearance months ago. I had never sewed a knit before, but I made sure to have the proper needle and used my walking foot and had no issues at all.

Ooh and I figured out what was wrong with the previous dress. If I bothered to actually measure her, I'd would have realized that her chest measurement falls right at a size 4 (22"). I cut a 7 - her RTW size. Ooops. I had previously traced off all of the views, so I had to alter the halter top so that it would be a size 5 (since she's right at the measurement for a size 4) up top blending down to the 7 for length.

2.5 hours = completed dress & sense of accomplishment.

someone was a tad bit tired this morning and not in the mood to model



12+ hours = You've got to be kidding me I'm not even 1/2 way done yet?








***edited to add pics***
Sorry no pics yet. I took some of Ally in the dress this morning, then realized as I drove to work that my USB cable for my phone is at home, not work. I'll post them tonight.

Why I only sew what I want to sew....

Connecting Threads Pretty Patches Placemats and Napkins

So I promised my mom I'd make her placemats for our summer place for her birthday - in JANUARY. The placemats, they're not done. Not even close. I have 3 tops completed and a 4th that's already quilted. I still need to cut and piece 4 more, then quilt the 7 of them, then bind them all.

I DON'T WANT TO BE MAKING PLACEMATS.

So - I've been completely ignoring my sewing room. Pretending it doesn't even exist. I have the cutest 4th of July dress I want to make Ally, but I refuse to go in there. I've told myself I can't sew anything until I finish those place-mats, so I've sewn nothing. Nada. Not a stitch in over a month.

The last thing I finished was about 60 key fobs and I only let myself do those because they brought in some money.

So tell me internets, how to I get my mojo back enough to plow through and finish these? My fabric stash and sanity will thank you, as will my mom whose wondering if she'll ever see these placemats.

Redesign

Working on the blog. Sorry for the current crappiness.

Sewing Room update

I did a little shopping for me on Sat. I realized I wasn't sewing as much as I should be because the iron & board are downstairs. I would hem and haw about sewing knowing that I would have to lug out the board, iron the fabric downstairs, put the board & iron away (too scared Ally will burn herself) go upstairs & cut & sew, then back down to set up the iron again, up to sew, down to iron, up to sew...You get the picture. So Saturday I went out and got myself an over the door ironing board and my very own iron! YAY!! I'm not completely thrilled with the over the door board, but I think I can rig up another "foot" to stabilize it.

I spent ALL day Saturday holed up in my sewing den. I got the tops of 4 place mats for my mom done. Now I need to machine quilt and bind them. I've never quilted before, so I'm a little nervous about that.

I also whipped up the most adorable sun dress for Ally. The fit seems a little off in the armpits though. I can't tell if they need to be scooped out and deeper, or if the dress itself is too wide. She doesn't hold still long enough to really figure it out. Any ideas?




I have no idea what this pose is about.

I desperately wanted to sew some more last night, but it was, no lie 98 degrees in that room last night. I was dripping with sweat just fixing up a pillow for my sister. I sent DH a not so subtle hint that I want an AC unit for my sewing room for Mother's Day.