S.T.U.D. August received

Here's the STUD buildings swap mini-quilt that I received, from CASharp. It's so great! The windows are pieced into the buildings, and the window shadows are embroidered by hand. The quilting in the metallic thread really makes it look like a city on a starry night (or in the light of streetlamps).

The detail on this mini is pretty amazing. And I really love the curvy quilting. It adds so much to the mini.

Here's the rest of the package. I got fabric scraps, plus two adorable. new fat quarters, a drawstring bag, and a really clever luggage tag with a sewing kit built in! Lucky me!

S.T.U.D. August sent

Here's the mini-quilt I made and sent for August's STUD challenge - "buildings." It came from an idea from one of my coworkers, actually. I'd been considering making a birdhouse out of selvedges, but wanted to do something less time-intensive. Then this beehive idea presented itself and seemed perfect!

When I couldn't find bee buttons like I'd wanted, I made these out of Shrinky-Dink clear plastic. I embroidered the flight path to add a little detail. This what my first time using fusible web, and I really liked how easy it made everything. I stitched around the beehive in brown quilting thread once I had the quilt sandwiched so I didn't have to applique that area and then quilt it, too. I quilted the background in a scribbly stipple. I hadn't done any free-motion quilting in a while and was nervous about it, though I guess I shouldn't have been, because it went really well!

More catch-up posts to come...

Lantern Bloom dress

When I bought this fabric a while ago I had no idea what I would make with it, but I did know that I wanted it to be something extra special. Then I started working through this book from the library, and a plan came together: The Back-to-School dress! 

I loved everything about this pattern: the neckline, the sleeves, the pockets! But I was so nervous about cutting into that amazing Laura Gunn fabric that I went beyond my usual muslin-making and made a sleeveless version of this dress to wear as pjs. For two weeks. Just to test out the pattern, you know, and see what I thought. 

I'm glad I did. After wearing it for a while, I realized that the arm hole was too low, and if I added the sleeve, that would be a problem. So I made some adjustments. I had made my muslin and pjs in the pattern's size medium, and had then given the book back to the library, so I don't know if moving down to a small would've fixed these issues or not. Anyway, I removed 1" from the middle of the front, back, and neck pieces. I also moved up the inside of the arm hole by about 1" on front and back pieces. And for the pockets, I used this tutorial again. L-O-V-E! Seriously. I am considering adding pockets to ALL of my dresses because pockets on dresses are the best things ever! 

So, there you have it: The dress that Rob says is my best ever. If I could do it over again, the only thing I would change is adding another 1" to the elastic in the sleeve casings, as they're a little snug to get into, but once it's on it's fine. I made this dress on August 2nd, just in time to wear on our anniversary date in Providence, RI. You can check out pictures here. It was a great weekend trip; WaterFire is definitely worth seeing! And 6 years of marriage? Wow--how did that happen so fast?! 

On the crafting front, last weekend was a wash and the weekend before was packed and was when I made this dress, so I don't have much else to document. I'm still working steadily on a replacement apron, and I need to get moving on my August swap minis, so I hope to have more to share soon. 

Dress refashion

Sorry for the delayed post on this, and for this being my first August post! Eeep! You know what? Actually, I'm just going to stop apologizing for this stuff. Because life is life, right? And sometimes it all happens at once. 

Anyway, this is a dress refashion, though I didn't do much to it. I bought this dress at Marshall's over a year ago for $19.95 but never wore it. Why? It was strapless. I don't do strapless. When I bought the dress I was planning on adding straps, but I finally got around to it a couple of weeks ago. I was able to machine-stitch on some grosgrain ribbon straps in the front AND back, which made the entire project go even faster. I also added the ribbon belt (it's a lovely double-faced satin) because I thought the dress needed it. I only wore this dress once so far, when we went to see the local theater do Footloose, the musical, but I loved every minute of it and felt oh-so-pretty. 

So, I'm back, and with a post in the works showcasing the dress Rob calls my best dress ever. Will you agree? Stay tuned... 

Best. Dress. Ever.

This is quite possibly the best dress I've ever made. I was inspired to make it after I got and adored this dress, and then when I had Chic and Simple Sewing from the library I saw the pattern in there for a baby doll dress and decided to give it a go. I was rummaging through my stash and discovered I had 3 yards of this lovely Anna Maria Horner print, and it just came together from there! 

Per usual, I did make a number of modifications to the dress. I changed the back up quite a bit. Instead of doing a back dress piece and then a bodice (in two pieces), I made a muslin of the dress following the instructions, then cut it in half and used those pieces to make just two back pieces, with a zip in the middle. Make sense? I didn't like the idea of the back being gathered like the front. I also omitted the facings for the bodice and bound the top edge with some pink single-fold bias tape (and I used three lines of contrast stitching to hold it in place). I did lower the neckline a little all around to make up for the seam allowance that would've been eaten up by the facing. 

I also changed the sleeve. I thought the one in the pattern was a little too long. I ended up just swapping it out with the short-sleeve pattern piece for my version of the Weekend Sewing top. I gathered the sleeve pretty tightly at the shoulder to give it some puff, and then ran elastic through the hem casing (as the original pattern instructions call for). This is quite possibly the cutest sleeve ever. 

Also cute? These pockets! Once I had the dress finished, I thought it was still missing something. I don't know if it's because of the centered design in the front or what, but adding these pockets, which were made following this tutorial by Made by Rae, did the trick! Also I think pockets on dresses might be the best thing ever! I carried things in them all day yesterday and really liked having that option. 

So, for about five hours of work on Sunday morning / Monday night, I have an adorable, comfortable dress that I totally love! I'm quite pleased. I think Iris is, too. 

Dear Jane

After a very long hiatus, I finally have a new Dear Jane block to post! This is block B5. I think most of the blocks I've already prepared but have set aside contain appliqué. It's still a little scary to me. My points aren't very pointy, and looking at this pic now I see that the bottom right diamond is not angled correctly. Oh well! I'm okay with imperfection. I certainly did miss doing the handwork on these. I need to work harder to keep up with this. Right now I've got 12 blocks done in a little over a year. At this rate, it'll take me over 14 years to finish the middle, and that doesn't even include triangles! I guess I need to step up my game. 

Anyone have any tips for perfecting hand-appliqué? I've been using the freezer-paper-template + starch method to prepare my pieces, but I just can't seem to get my points to be super pointy and not unravel. I know the Kona solid white isn't the tightest weave, but maybe there are some technique pointers I should take, too? Anyone? 

Drawstring bag

Still more crafty catch-up! A couple of weeks ago, Molly posted that she was having trouble making a drawstring bag. It was just after her birthday, and I knew she could definitely make one, so I whipped one up for her following the instructions in Sew What! Bags. Easy peasy. 

I used most of the 1/2 yard of fabric on the bag and used a twill tape for the drawstring. I decided to make a little zippy pouch to go with it. This did not turn out as well, as the zipper was supposed to go the long way on the top. I sent it anyway and Molly claims that it's useful, though I have my doubts... 

More posts this week, including a Dear Jane update (finally!) and some new dresses!