Tag Archives: liberty of london tanna lawn

Catching Up

My-Oh-My!  It has been so long since I have posted but life surely can get in the way.  Sewing has been going on, but with lots of interruptions and delays.

 

Children's Corner Jenni Leigh, worn hard and outgrown by Vivian Rose

Children’s Corner Jenni Leigh, worn hard and outgrown fast by Vivian Rose

Similar to this, the first Children on Parade dress I made for granddaughter Vivian Rose, another is is nearly finished.  It just needs the aqua gingham covered  buttons, which should arrive tomorrow.

This is such a delightful fabric, just perfect, I thought, for Vivian Rose’s 3rd birthday party this weekend.

The dress pictured was one of my daughter’s absolute favorites for Vivi, and true to my directive, she let the child wear it everywhere–playground, preschool, play dates, whatever.  When Rebecca handed it back to me I thought this rag should just be thrown out.  But I took it to a dry cleaner who worked a miracle, getting out most of the stains.  Vivian is a very active little whirlwind and her clothes reflect her love of dirt.  After being cleaned, the dress isn’t pristine but I think it’s decent enough to be passed on to another little girl for general play.

When cutting out that dress, I moved heaven and earth trying to match the border print at the front and side seams.  I was unsuccessful.  So an alternative pattern was chosen, Children’s Corner Carol.  Hopefully, pictures will be posted soon with Vivi modeling the dress at her party.

The other project I have worked on is Petite Poche’s Penny, by Wendy Schoen.

Penny patt

I have loved that pattern for so long and finally just decided to “git ‘er done.”  It’s not done yet, but will be soon.

The pattern includes an especially pretty hand embroidery design but I had no time for that.  The design shown is from Custom Keepsakes Christening 2 Collection, which, like all Kathy Harrison’s designs, is spectacular.

 

Penny yoke

The pinstitch around the bodice scallops are finished.  Those scallops are small and take almost non-stop pivoting.  I was so grateful for the knee life on my Brother Dream Machine.

White Swiss pique is combined with Liberty of London and hot pink gingham piping.  All that remains is to pinstitch the skirt scallops, attach the skirt and put in 3 buttons and buttonholes.  I can’t wait to get it finished.

 

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We’ve spent most of the month at dr. appointments.  I’ve had cataract surgery—WOW!  That was a non-event, about as stressful as waiting in a short grocery line. No pain whatsoever and now I can see!  My second eye will be done next week.  My husband has had some cardiac problems so we’ve been back and forth to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.  I’ve got a broken bone in my foot necessitating podiatrist appointments, orthodic fittings, etc.  So I’ve been way behind with blogging.

Hopefully,  blog posts will appear more regularly.  Please don’t give up on me!  I need to know someone reads this stuff….or not.

So what are you sewing? Valentine projects?  I’d love to hear about them.

Bunny Dress for Bunny Lunch

bunny callie CR

One more Easter outfit finished.  This is for Vivian Rose to wear to the Bunny Lunch/Easter Egg Hunt at church on Saturday.

The pattern is Children’s Corner Callie, made from some anonymous pink fabric from my stash and trimmed with this sweet vintage Liberty bunny print.  It has been aging in my stash for so long that these playful rabbits are elderly by now.

More details later.  I still have Easter sewing to finish.  Tick  tock tick tock…..

 

New Sundress, NewTechniques

dress-full

The past two weeks have been very, very hectic.  Aside from an increase in the busy-ness of everyday life, I’ve been learning more about my Brother Quattro sewing/embroidery comb machine.  This little sundress is the result of my first attempts at using a few of the amazing features.  I’m just blown away with the impact of technology on today’s sewing machines.

Somewhere, I have a booklet printed in 1900 which celebrates the advances in Singer sewing machines up to 1900.  In that little publication, it was stated that every advance possible had been included in the newest Singer sewing machine model. Again and again, it stressed that there were absolutely no more improvements possible!  The machine stitched forward and backward and stitch length that could be adjusted.  What more could sewing women want?  The machine of 1900 was perfected.

They were wrong.

But first, here are the specs on the dress.  The pattern is Martha Pullen’s Summer Separates.   Now that my granddaughter, Laurel, is 8, I am happy to have a pattern that reaches up into the big girl sizes. Continue reading

AEsop’s Fable Quillow

zAEsopsFableQuillowcoverBrite

Quillows have been featured in previous posts, but most were of polar fleece. I find quillow projects to be universally useful and always fun to make.

Recently, while plundering through my Liberty of London scraps, I was reminded of this little quillow.   It is currently  among the missing and presumed to be residing in the depths of one of my grandchildren’s dressers.  An all-points-bulletin has been issued and I hope soon to have news of its whereabouts.

 

zAEsopsFablequillowholeBrite

 

Some time ago, it was featured in an article I wrote for Creative Needle magazine.  All of the photos and parts of that article are included in this post.

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A uniquely contemporary version of the Great American Quilt, a quillow is a small quilt which folds up into its own pocket to create a pillow. One of simple design, such as a whole cloth with no piecing, can be made in as little as three hours.

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Turn Tube Pillowcase Hem

4th parade pillowcase

My grandchildren love having special holiday pillowcases. My personal favorite for bed linens is pima cotton, so I normally use pima for the pillowcase body and a seasonal or novelty cotton print for the contrasting hem.

 

parade pc CN

Photo courtesy of Creative Needle magazine

 

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