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.

Ally's Rag Quilt

So I bought this fabric in December I think. Ally picked it out. Cut it in early January and then it sat. And sat. And sat.

Today I had planned to start my mom's placemats and table runner. I feel like crap though and figured now was probably not the time to cut into my mom's fabric. Especially on cold meds.

I instead decided to do Ally's quilt. FINALLY. Piecing was easy enough. I didn't even bother pinning. Bad, bad Sarah! I know, but hey, its a RAG quilt.

After 2 snips with my regular scissors I realized why spring loaded are recommended. I promptly took my drug enhanced body out to JoAnns and realized that that was probably a really bad idea. Had a massive dizzy spell and almost had to sit down. It didn't stop me from buying an awesome red, white and blue floral print for a 4th of July dress for Ally and some Ariel flannel for pjs for her, though. LOL

The Easter Dress

Welcome to the world of PINK!

Pink and sparkles, sparkles and pink. Its a princess fantasy, if you happen to be a 5 year old. And yes, my 5 year old picked it out. LOL

The dress was actually not that difficult to put together. It was my 1st zipper and while I did cheat slightly by using a shorter zipper and not having it go into the skirt portion, I think it went quite well.

I used Butterick B3351 Children's/Girls Jacket and Dress



Main fabric is pink with a silver glitter to it (sorry still don't know my fabric types yet) and the skirt has a sheer overlay which had silver "gems" in it. The gems were a PITA. Every time the needle hit one the fabric would jump either left or right.

The jacket was an afterthought. I had no plans on making it, but found myself with enough leftover fabric and was looking for a distraction before I attempted the zipper.

The most difficult part of this entire dress was adjusting the length. I fudged the cutting of the skirt and literally had about 15" I had to remove. I kept measuring Ally, then the dress, then Ally, then the dress. Finally I took the plunge, grabbed the scissors and hacked away. Not too bad. Hit her right at the ankle. Of course the shoes we bought (pink and sparkly OF COURSE!) hurt her, so she spent the day in her pink cowboy boots. LOL No pics of her in it as she's been camera shy lately.

The Quilt

Its FINALLY done. Finally!! This was the project that (sort of) started the sewing obsession. Last Spring my sister and I decided to do an all day quilting class. I have no clue what possessed us to do it, but we did. We decided we'd make large bags for our kids for Easter. Huge bags. Bags much larger than we thought they'd be. Our plan was to put their Easter treats in. They turned out to be big enough to put the KIDS in. LOL But the bug was planted.

This fall we decided to do the weekly quilting class. I chose the Boxy-Moxie Free pattern along with the Apple line by Timeless Treasures.

We took the classes from Sept until Jan. I managed to get the entire quilt cut, pieced and sewn by Jan. My friend's mom quilted it for me and then it sat.

My sister decided she hates quilting and $140 is awfully pricey for a hobby she doesn't like. I wasn't fond of taking the class without her. I still had to bind the quilt, though. I was afraid to try binding on my own. Finally, I just went for it. And it wasn't as bad as I thought. Oh, sure my "mitred" corners aren't so much mitred as they are controlled chaos. But its done!!

I should've posted earlier....

I meant to create this blog to chronicle my adventures in sewing, only I've been woefully behind in updating anything that I've sewn. So for my own memory, I've made a quilt (it still needs to be bound), a fleece jacket for Ally that still needs to have the bottom finished, 4 pairs of pj bottoms for Ally (2 out of a monkey flannel, 1 out of a plaid fleece and 1 out of a pink polar bear fleece), 2 pillowcases for Ally (Hannah Montanna and Ariel).

Along with her Christmas dress:


Dress was made with MCCall's M5793 (I used view C)


I used a stretch velvet for the top and a flocked taffeta purchased from Fabric.com.
The dress was insane idea I had about 3 weeks before Christmas. I got the fabric 2 weeks before Christmas. I told EVERYONE I knew I was going to sew Ally's Christmas dress. I traced off her size, cut the fabric then prayed to the sewing gods since I didn't have a CLUE what I was doing. The bodice went together rather easily. Well, after I realized that using the same fabric for the bodice and the lining was insane. I had no clue what I was looking at. After having to rip the same shoulder seam 4 times I finally figured out to put it together. I skipped the back zipper and just hoped and prayed the velvet would stretch enough.

The netting petticoat was another nightmare. Gathering just wasn't happening so I gave up and pleated it all by hand. I hand basted the skirt to gather it and that went better than using the machine. Sewing the skirt to the bodice, I somehow folded the bodice and sewed it to itself. Of course that's also where the machine got caught up and sewed the same spot with about a thousand stitches. Took over an hour to rip that out! I hand sewed the hem which I was very proud of. The finish touch was a band made of a separate velvet I had and a white flower pin. I finished the dress with ohhh, 2 hours to spare on Christmas Eve. LOL


and finally, my latest creation a nightgown:


Its made out of a silky, Tinkerbell material Ally picked out from JoAnn's. I used the bodice pattern from the dress above, then just attached a skirt to it. It wasn't "just that easy" though. Never is, right? Since the material wasn't stretch, it didn't fit around her head. I ended up cutting a V out of the back. It was also then that I noticed, I cut the back upside down and poor Tinkerbell was head down. Oh well!!

I used bias tape for the 1st time to finish off the arm and neck holes, since I wasn't adding a liner to a nightgown and also used it to hem the bottom. Can you believe I did all of the bias tape WITHOUT noticing the upside down Tinkerbell?!! I thought the bias tape would give the bottom a little extra body compared to just a regular folded hem. I love bias tape ;). I really wish I had some lace or extra fabric to make a nice ruffle at the bottom, but had nothing that would really match.

My gathering skills are improving. I still hate gathering, though. I can't figure out how to get it even for the life of me. As you can see from the Christmas dress, I had areas with TONS of gathers and then flat areas.

Next up - Waiting on my next fabric order from Fabric.com to make some tops for me. Also thinking of making a dress for Ally with some shirring. Want to try my hand with elastic thread.