Pajamas Detour

In this post about the Shop Hop, I mentioned buying some Beatrix Potter print flannel for youngest dd to make her first pair of pj pants.  She's been sick and I thought it was a good time for me to cut them out so when she felt better they'd be ready to go!  One thing led to another and I got out this pj pant and t-shirt (purchased) w/ an applique to compare sizes before I cut out the Beatrix Potter flannel:

Please notice (and feel free to rave about) the matching stripes.  I hardly had any fabric (under a yard) to make these since it came out of the remnant bin at Joann's at dd's prompting.  And, of course, the stripes HAD to match!  Anyway, that was a project from January but still a good gauge to see if I needed to lengthen the pattern (I did!) or go up to the next size (I didn't). 

Cut out and awaiting youngest dd's sewing...

While I had the pattern out, my glance fell to the stuff I was going to toss on the ASG sale table at our next meeting and then I'm dragging out a couple of other pieces for more pj's.  So much for clearing out!  Quick and easy projects though and the pj's are needed.  This Simplicity pattern is getting a workout!

And, might I add, I now understand why everyone is complaining about blogger and pictures!  This is a pain!

What's Next?

I've been thinking really hard about my sewing queue.  My needs and wants for myself are pretty straightforward.  I need fall and winter tops and perhaps a dress or skirt.  I want to make jeans, bras and panties.  The wants will probably come before the needs for the odd reason that I want to make sure that I retain all the sewing information I got during ASG conference before I forget it all!  Plus, I have the jeans muslin all prepared which saves some time and planning.  I will need some bras soon, so I guess putting them higher in the queue isn't a bad thing.

Some other sewing that I ought to do is for the youngest dd.  She needs fall and winter dresses and I have 3 pieces of fabric that need to be sewn for her.  First, this Dalmatian smocking insert is ready to go (I won't discuss how long that's been ready!).  This will make a great transition type dress from the hot to the cooler days.  I've already posted pics of this, but here's one again:

 
Next, I have this really lovely piece of pink wool that I bought during last winter:

It was a kit type thing from http://www.sewitup.com/.    I didn't feel like buying another pattern, so I'll use McCall 9534 which is OOP.  The fabric is just wonderful feeling!I have some Bemburg lining for the inside so it will be soft against dd's skin!  This should carry her through the winter.

And finally, a piece of corduroy for a Christmas dress.  This one bothers me because I can't decide how I'd like it to be made.  It has holly embroidered on it although it almost looks like a string of Christmas tree lights from this picture!  At first, I'd thought about smocking an insert for it, but since the corduroy is white I don't want to use a white insert.  So I think I'll make it easy on myself and just aim for a simple dress using the same McCall 9534 as for the pink wool one!  It will look different with some green ribbon and red highlights which I can play with depending on what I find at the store.

Quite a number of years ago now, I used this same McCall pattern to make my oldest dd a dress.  It has got to be the best multi-purpose dress I ever made!  I used red polar fleece and its first purpose was for her to be a strawberry for Halloween.  I used some long straight stitches on the front of the dress itself in a gold silk ribbon, just like those markings on the outside of strawberries!  I attached some cheap, slippery, red lining fabric the entire length of the underarm so that when she held out her arms, it made the entire dress strawberry shaped!  Some fabric paint for the gold markings on that carried on the markings appropriately.  Then, to top it off, I made a red polar fleece hat with the green strawberry 'cap' on top.  The silk ribbon was quick and easy to take out and since I had basted the underarm 'strawberry' on, that was quick to remove so she had a plain red winter dress!

The next year, she wanted to be a cardinal.  Out came that red dress and I stitched giant red feathers onto it.  Again, quick and easy to remove.  Some red facepaint applied in a feathery fashion and a little yellow beak completed that look. 

Wish I had some pictures to show you!  I was thinking about when I had used that McCall pattern and then I remembered that it was for this multi-purpose dress so long ago!

Christmas Tree Skirt Complete!

Well, the tree skirt is done!  It needs to be taken to the quilter for assembling the layers and quilting them.  I'll need to cut a hole for the tree and bind the edges when I get it back.  Most people who participated in the sew-in for this projected left it whole because they hated to cut into it!  I agree; it's pretty as is, but I do really want a tree skirt so I think I'll cut into mine when I get it back.

It's a great feeling to have finished something! It's a little wavy looking since I pinned it to the curtain to take the picture.

Here it is flat and folded in quarters:

Here ends my chapter (maybe it should my book!) in quilting!

Shop Hop

I did my first ever Shop Hop over the weekend!  Some very hard working ASG members put it together with 8 local shops ranging from home dec to sewing machines to quilting stores.  It was fun to go to each store to see what they'd put together for the Hop.  It was also fun to run into guild members at the stores.  I know I really enjoyed all of it! 

I bought 2 sets of fabrics for a placemat sew-in later this month, which are being processed in the washer :)  One set is for Halloween, including some solid black to make napkins using glow in the dark thread on the edges!  I bought a few patterns which I might either give away as gifts or sew up as gifts. I liked the tie pattern, shown on the left.  It looked quick and easy.  The middle Kwik Sew pattern looked like a good basic pattern.  And the organizer on the right is something we can all use!

Here are some freebies given out by a couple of shops.  The pattern on the left is for a Christmas tree skirt and the pumpkin fabric is a fat quarter.

I also bought yarn for the older kids to knit while we're reading aloud.  I got a brown slightly fuzzy yarn for ds and a lavender silky soft bamboo blend for dd.

The youngest dd chose some Beatrix Potter flannel to make herself some pj bottoms.  I think this will be a great project for her if I do the cutting out and pressing for her.  This stuff shrank a LOT in the wash so I'm running it through again and hoping that we'll still have enough :(

Only one store had a make it and take it project.  Who knew that a project could be sewn to completion in less than what? 3 minutes?  Of course, the fabric was pre-cut, but still.  It's a card holder made using the serger...and the strap across the front is elastic covered in heavy rayon thread using the serger (this was already done for us).  I haven't pushed the corners out all the way yet!

Outside.

Inside.

Very Little Sewing...

....as you can plainly see!  I did take my Christmas Tree Skirt and got quite a bit done on it although it isn't finished yet.

It's nearly done, but sadly we've gotten caught up in school!  Never again will we take a summer off--it is too hard to get started and it feels like there's no more time left over for me to sew!!!  After watching youngest dd on the beach, it might be time to start sewing swimsuits.  Getting them to stay on or up all the way seems impossible for store bought ones.  Next year!