Second Christmas Dress completed.

This dress went together quickly.   It's a thin cotton so grandbaby will need to wear a warm turtle neck underneath and a pair of woolly stockings.

It's a size 12-18mos using the Bubble Dress pattern from Oliver + S.

I added mini piping around the neck, arm and waist area.  I think that detail makes it look even better.

For fun, I quickly whipped up a fabric poinsettia flower using dupioni to add a little colour.  The flower needs to be made from felt, which I have run out of.  I'll be going to town sometime next week and I'll pick up red and green felt then.  But at least I can get the idea of what a flower on the front will look like.  The centre of the flower is a small jingle bell.

Detachable red felt flower would be better.

Two dresses down, several more to go!

First Christmas dress completed.

This is a pattern I've wanted to try out for a long time.  So this week, I found time and using this pattern made a Christmas dress for Catlin.

This plaid cotton has a thin thread of gold throughout giving it a little sparkle.  There is green in the plaid too, so I matched it with the green ribbon on the hem and cuff.  I didn't put piping on the waist though and I wished I had.
Next dress will definitely piping at the waist. And as I look at the photo again, I can see I need to touch it up with the iron.

Overall, the photo hasn't turned out well at all.  It's overcast here today, -2 oC and wind gusts of 40 km/h so getting this shot was difficult.

I found a Christmas bell that I thought Caitlin would like to wear with the dress.

One dress down and several more to go!

I'd like to buy an Owl.

The smocked Owl jumper is finished. It went together quickly and while I didn't follow the rule "not suitable for obvious diagonals" it looks okay.
 
With the leftover fabric I made a toy Owl.  The pattern came from a wonderful blog called Hammer and Thread. http://hammerandthread.blogspot.com/2010/07/owl-stuffies-tutorial.html

New project underway.

I'm working on a smocking project for Caitlin.  She likes Owls, and while I'm not that keen on picture smocking, Owls it is!  Her mom liked this design plate.
I cannot find small buttons in my stash for the eyes though.  I thought about glueing on googly eyes, but they might come off in the wash no matter what the glue instructions say.  Beads will have to do. Maybe sequins and a seed bead.

Photocopy the design plate in case the original gets lost ... like mine did!

My daughter doesn't like fabrics that have to be ironed.  So making smocked dresses has been a challenge. For example, I made Caitlin a lovely smocked dress using the Baby Carriages plate, on white Dimity which isn't exactly a discount fabric. Anyway, she washed it after one wearing but because she didn't iron it, it hung in the closet and now Caitlin has outgrown the dress.
I also have to factor in our cold winters so the fabric has to be warm but apparently toddlers shouldn't wear wool.
My daughter selected this brushed cotton (flannel) and while in my opinion it needs to be ironed, she might be able to wash, dry and hang it up right away with minimum wrinkles.

Why wasn't my daughter born with an iron in her hand like I was?

I think the colours of the Owls, branches and leaves will work well with the colour of the fabric.  And aside from a few finishing touches and the Owl eyes, it's almost complete.

Maybe 3 hours of work yet to go, plus 2 hours selecting the perfect eyes from the bead box.

In my children's pattern stash bucket I found this gem that I've been anxious to try out.  I plan to make it in the jumper style and of course minus a collar.
When discussing the style of dress with my daughter I suggested a jumper and she confessed she didn't know what a jumper was. Did I give birth to her?

It will need an off white turtle neck underneath.

Well maybe I'm just living in the past.  Jumpers. Smocked dresses. Irons.  Just the same, I'm enjoying sewing.

Back in the saddle again.

It's been ages since I've turned on my sewing machine. The past spring, summer and fall has been fantastic weatherwise and it was a wonderful opportunity to get some landscaping and outdoor improvements done.

However there are light flurries in the forecast for next week and darn it if Santa Claus isn't coming to town also next week.  Time to hunker down in front of the sewing machine and get the many outstanding projects under way.

First project is an Advent Calendar.  Since our Caitlin is lactose intolerant, her calendar needs to be filled with little toys in place of chocolates.

So my husband and I went off into the woods and found some branches to make a miniature tree.

Spring project: sprinkle grass seed in front of new deck.

And on the miniature tree branches, I've hung 24 little stockings all made from scraps of fabric to match my daughters interior; chocolate, deep gold, sage green and off white.

I used my embroidery machine to decorate some of the stockings but mostly used pieces of trim, ribbons and buttons to decorate.  As tempted as I was to buy some Christmas fabric, I showed great restraint using only fabrics from my stash.

A north wind was blowing off the lake making the stockings dance!

I filled each stocking with a little toy such as a wind up caterpillar, bug box, bubbles, spinning top,  small animals bath toys and more.

So the first project since the spring has been accomplished.  There are lots more to go and lots of fabric from the stash to get used up!

Vote For Us

My husband entered a photo of our dog Lucy in to a contest. The picture has been selected in the top 25, and now we need people to vote for it in order to win.

So what has this got to do with sewing, you may well ask. Well, the prize is a very cool camera and if he wins, I can take better photos of my work for this blog!

Go to http://www.cottagelife.com/topdog and under the nickname 'MuskokaDave' is the photo of Lucy. Select the button and then scroll to the main voting button under the photo gallery to cast your ballot.

Meanwhile, my sewing room being renovated. A baby crib and a rocking chair moved in and now I have to re-juggle everything. Once I have it back in order and the change table returns to being a simple sewing machine table, I'll be back in sewing biz.

Here's the e-mail from the Cottage Life lady in charge of the photo contest............

Dear Top Dog Finalist,

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for entering your dog into Cottage Country's Top Dog Photo Contest.
Your dog's photo has been chosen by our judges to be in our top 25.

It's now up to you to spread the word and get all your friends to vote for your dog. Only 3 weeks remain, so send this link to all your friends http://www.cottagelife.com/topdog and tell them which nickname you used to sign up for the contest.

The photo with the most votes on August 2nd will win the Grand prize- a Canon Rebel XSi Digital SLR Camera Kit from Black’s Photography, valued at $2,000 CDN.
Thank you for entering and Good Luck!

Marissa

Sneak Peak

Just like Sew Beautiful magazine, here's a Sneak Peak at the latest pattern by Judith Marquis.

However, unlike the magazine, my photos are just awful! But you can get the idea how delightful her new pattern 'Autumn Leaves' is.

Judith calls the design plate on the nightie 'Diamonds in the Puff(ing)'. And like every item Judith smocks, her stitches are flawless. I tried to get a closeup but it turned out blurry.

What I love about the pattern, and in many respects it's a hallmark of Judith's designs, is the sleeve treatment.
You can see it's in a square shape and that eliminates bulk from under the arm where smocking meets sleeve.
In terms of sewing the sleeve in place, it's a breeze and no need for rows of gathering threads.

Judith put a hint of piping in the sleeve area but it's difficult to see from my photo.

Here's another close up of the nightie front.
There are openings on either side of the shoulder. You could use, hook & eye, snaps (in Canada we call them domes) or velcro. In the pattern, Judith also suggests that the sewist may want to extend the opening down the shoulder a little further.


She also made a housecoat. My photos simply do not do it justice. Therefore I'll describe it as best as I can.

The opening is down the front and she used snaps for closures. (I call them domes, just as I call a couch a chesterfield. Canuck, through and through, eh?)

She pleated the front panel but instead of smocking, she held the pleats in place by machine stitching and then using lace, stitched over those machine lines.

You could use ribbon, or even strips of a co-ordinating fabric to achieve this look.

Here's another shot of the housecoat, full length. Again, the photo does not do it justice.

Judith used a little piping to accent the sleeve treatment.
I tried it on, and this style of sleeve treatment is much better and roomier plus there is no bulk where the pleating meets the sleeve.

The pattern is at the printers and will be available soon. Her website is www.amberlane.ca
She'll be teaching at the SAGA Convention in the fall and no doubt will have these samples will her.

I had a lovely afternoon with Judith. We had tea and cookies and gabbed about everything from sewing to home repairs. I don't see her often because I live so far away. Thankfully, we have been keeping in touch via e-mail.

I admire and am in awe of her sewing and stitching prowess. And I admire her bravery as she is breast cancer survivor. She is an excellent teacher and if I ever need help on a sewing project Judith is the one to turn to. I consider myself lucky to able to call her a dear friend.

Itty Bitty Fundraising Project

I asked our local quilt shop owner if I could conduct an all day sewing marathon making the Itty Bitty Baby Dresses and donating them to our local hospital Gift Shop. She thought it was a grand idea.

Then I asked Rae, the designer if I could have a workshop (donating my time, of course) and then donate the fruits of our labour. She gave me her blessing to go ahead.

Since I've been pre-occupied lately by deck re-construction and gardening, I haven't been focusing on sewing and the quilt store needs a few samples to advertise the project.

So last night I cut out and started sewing together 2 Itty Bitty Dresses.

Early, early, this morning I was awakened by military helicopters flying dignitaries to the G8 Summit being held nearby, and since I was awake, I got up and finished the dresses.

Not a good photo, I know. It's raining out so this will have to do!

So thanks heads of 8 major nations for waking me up to finish these dresses; thanks Rae for letting us use your pattern; and thanks in advance to the ladies that will make up these adorable little dresses to donate to the hospital Gift Shop!

Dresses that fit.

The Oliver +S Bubble dress I made Caitlin months ago fits perfectly. I made 12 month size and she is 13 months. My daughter loves the dress style and has asked me to make more.
Okay!!

The 12 month size smocked dress I made for her 1st birthday is still a little large. Thankfully it has back ties that can pull in the bulk so it looks like it fits.

Warm up.

I haven't stitched a single thing for almost a month and it shows! I cut out some cute pink coordinating seersucker fabric to make this McCalls 5610 sun suit for grandbaby.

According to her measurements and the sizes on the envelop, she needed a size medium. So I cut the fabric and stitched merrily away.

As good luck would have it, my daughter, her husband and Caitlin, the aforementioned grandbaby, came up to my cabin in the woods to visit for a whole week. I was blessed.

But as bad luck would have it, I tried on the size medium sun suit and it wouldn't even go over her head. The problem was the back opening. It just wasn't deep enough despite following the pattern. Had I been sewing on a more constant basis, I might have clued in that the opening was too shallow. Maybe not. Being in a fog seems to be de rigueur lately!

So I salvaged what I could and shirred the remaining fabric for a sundress. While I much prefer smocking, daughter #1 likes the shirred effect.

Oh, and that started a new battle with my sewing machine. In particular, with the bobbin. Having recently switched from Berninas to Husqvarnas, I haven't quite got the hang of putting a thicker thread into the bobbin-holding-area or whatever it's called, with the right tension.

Mostly, I had trouble hand winding the elastic thread onto the bobbin, again, using the right amount of tension. But with many, many attempts plus a whole lot of swearing (I live in the woods therefore no one can hear me) I got all the tension issues sorted out.

I made up the hat too but it is far too large. It will fit my daughters head! Sheesh.

Warm up. I'm treating this sewing fiasco as merely a warm up. Tomorrow, to quote Scarlett, is another day.

Stitching break......

Just taking a hiatus from stitching to do some serious gardening. While walking in the woods behind our cottage looking for some interesting wildflowers to transplant, this is what I nearly stepped on!
It was just hours old and no larger than a football. Mom was nowhere in sight, as she was out foraging, so we were given the opportunity get a couple of good photos.

If anyone ever comes across a fawn that may appear to be an orphan, it's not! Deer use camouflage to hide their young while they look for food. Sometimes Does leave their young for hours at a time, returning for just a few minutes to nurse.
Another bonus is newborn fawns are scent free making them almost undetectable from predators. The natural predators are coyotes, wolves, and humans who think fawns are orphans and need to go to the Wildlife Crisis Centre!

Shirring exercise

A shirred dress or top, seems to be fashionable right now. I've even seen shirred fabric, ready to cut to size and finish the side seams and hem. So, I figured there is no time like the present to try my hand at shirring.

There are great ideas as well as how to do shirring from a segment on Martha Stewart's tv show.
There are also tutorials on these terrific blogs found here and here.

For my dress, I cut 2 pieces 19" wide and 21" long. Caitlin's chest measurement is 18" in diameter, and since the fabric will shrink by half, plus there are 1/2" side seams, I'm figuring this will fit her perfectly. (I hope.)


I used some ribbon for the shoulder ties. I also found a little blue butterfly to stitch on the front.
Click on the image to make it larger to see the little butterfly.


The problem I encountered was that elastic in the bobbin would not stitch flat. So I used a special bobbin case that accepts thicker thread. It took me better part of the day to get it adjusted properly.

It's supposed to look like this.

So while this was an easy project, it was time consuming in terms of getting the bobbin tension correct. Actually, frustrating might be a better description.

More Itty Bitty Baby Dresses

A neighbour has asked me to make some outfits to donate to the Gift Shop of our local hospital.

The Itty Bitty Baby dresses are cute, fun and quick to make so I thought I'd whip up a bunch and gift them to my neighbour, who coincidentally, is a volunteer at the Gift Shop.


I think I made the solid pink contrast too long on this one.

These are all 4 to 5 Kilograms (9-11 lbs.) sizes. Download the pattern from here.
I plan to make a few more of these for the Hospital Gift Shop.

Iva Leigh et al.

I have 2 meters of this fabric in my stash and it's been calling to me for the past couple of days.

This pattern has been calling to me as well. It's Iva Leigh by Bonnie Blue.

So I used up some of the fabric making the pattern in 12 month size.

I piped the collar in a contrast blue to match the background of the main fabric. Then piped the yoke using contrast fabric from the collar. Therefore, there are two colours of piping. I think it looks okay but not 100% sure. The pattern was easy and quick to make.

However, there was quite a bit of fabric left over.


So I made this little bonnet. The pattern is Melissa, from Petite Poche using size 2. I piped the back opening using the colour from the collar on the dress. I just love this bonnet pattern.

But there was still lots of this vintage inspired, cats with hoola hoops fabric leftover.


I got an idea to make a little cat wearing a matching dress using this pattern. I have had this pattern in my stash for years and years. "One day I'll make it" I would say to myself each time I came across it. Well, today was the day of reckoning!


I used a soft brushed corduroy for the body of the cat and instead of using beads for the eyes, simply made french knots using black yarn. The tail is striped with corduroy and pink velour.

The instructions suggest to make a pleat in the front of the dress, but I smocked it instead. Since I had already made the dress, lining and all when the smocking brainwave hit me, I found some 'Knotts Dots' ironed them on, pleated by hand (how barbaric) and using pale blue perlé cotton, stitched a few rows on to the front. It's difficult to see from my photo.

Oh, and I love the Dudley Dooright chin on the cat!

Here's the ensemble; dress, bonnet and Cat.

As for the cat fabric, there's still about .4 of a meter left. (Sigh.)

Updated Classic

In the Sept/Oct. 2003 issue of Sew Beautiful, I saw this project called "An Updated Classic" by Kris Curtis.
I particularly liked the high yoke version worn by the younger girl in the photo, the pattern being inspired by 1950's style dresses.

The cut out pages have been sitting in my stash bucket of 'to-do patterns' and today, became my 'to do' day for this project.

Actually, I cut it out and smocked it yesterday, but today was construction day. It turned out well and I found the pattern really easy to follow.
I managed to foul up the collar though, and I don't know what I did wrong. However, with a little unpicking and swearing to myself, I made it work.

I was not sure about the instructions for the smocking though. The designer said to base the smocking on multiples of 8 pleats to get the design centered between the points. I couldn't make that work. So if Kris Curtis ever reads this blog, maybe she could enlighten me because I simply couldn't figure it out. Just the same, I managed to make it reasonably balanced and centered.

Here's the front a little closer. I whipped some matching floss on the piping and added lace as well. Perhaps that's where I went wrong with the collar prior to the unpicking and swearing episode.

I added some embroidery flowers on the front, just as in the photo in the magazine.

Here are all the pages in the magazine article, minus the pattern that was also included.


Here's where I got confused with the multiples of 8 pleats instructions.

Here's another method to construct the front that allows the smocker to simply do the whole row omitting the multiples of 8 pleats counting.

It was this picture that grabbed my attention in the beginning. I just love the look of that little blue dress.


Here is my version again. Size 12 months.
Oh, and I put the remaining bit of lace that matches the collar on the double hem.Half of the peach fabric is used up, all of this style of lace, almost all of the white mini-piping, most of the peach thread and I finally got to make up this pattern.