Back again...I hope!..

Wow,, over a year has gone by, it wouldn't be so bad,, but it went by so fast...

I have still been sewing, will have to post some pix soon,, for both Holly and I... (I hope that is correct grammar, hehe..)

Ok enough chit chat.. you want pictures.. I haven't smocked in like 10 yrs, well a lady I work with had a baby,, and I couldn't think of anything to get her,, I know, I should ask,, well when I remembered to, I found out she supposedly had everything she needed.. So, me being me,, I thought, what is thing I can do that no one else that got her something does.. Sew, and then I thought it has been a long time since I made a little girls dress,, so thats what I made....

                                      The material is a gray quilting cotton with white dots,,

                                             
                                                    The hem has little flowers on it as well.

 It has been so long since I made a little dress,, I cut out the lining,, but forgot to put it on at the right time,, I had the center back turned under and sewn in the back skirt when, and was getting ready to do the neck when I realized I forgot the lining, so I had to hand stitch it to the back... Oh well, it gave me some good practice doing hand stitching which I will use soon on a jacket...

I had originally pleated the skirt with the top,, but a 45 in wide front,, and back,, was going to make WAY to big of a skirt,, so I guessed how much to cut off for a seam for the smocking band,, 1 in... Then I had a crazy idea,, instead of just sewing the skirt onto the band,, why not make the bottom piece a ruffle... 

Oh me and my ideas,, good grief, as if smocking isn't tedious enough... Now I have to hem this thing,,,and inch at a time.. same with with sewing it....

But it actually went fast,, and easier than I thought... 

It worked... rather well I might add.

Then I serged the skirt front, and top stitched it to on...

Testing...

I haven't posted lately because of this new Blogger interface,, I liked the old one.. not sure about the new one... I almost had to use the video's on Youtube  to learn how to get to my reading list of blogs.. hummmff,, oh well, I guess change is good in some things.. but I don't have to like it....lol....oh well, guess I better get to sewing so I can post something... :-)

Still sewing,,

Just got side tracked by School starting back. I keep trying to remember to take pix of what I have made,, and every time I either don't have a camera, or I don't have my model, my Dd...



But, I do have another pic for you. This is a pic I took at our local JoAnn's,, the material pictured is their fat quarters,,,this is in a "shelf" by the checkout station,,, there is about maybe 50 in here,,, the store is moving and they are trying to see inventory..if you think this is bad,, you should see the rest of the store behind me,, half of the store was already cleaned out,, can't wait for Aug 31st for the new store to open.....

ITY top

Another take on my TnT knit top,,  but with one difference,, I used ITY fabric,,, now I made one several months ago,, and didn't like it at all,, so I thought I would try it again,,, I LOVE this one,,,, it is so comfortable  the difference,, I added about 3/8 in to the middle of the side seam,, and yes just to the middle. You know had some shirt styles go in a little for the hour glass shape,,, well my pattern did to,, so I left the side seam straight,, and it worked perfectly,,                    

I wanted to do something different on the neck,, but couldn't decide what,, I wanted it to stand out just a bit and not blend in so much,,, I wanted to put a trim on with the binding,, but with what,, and what color, I either had off white or green to choose from in the colors form material to work with,,, so I got to looking at the material and noticed the white on the salvage,, perfect,, only problem it is not bias, so that means I have to curve it myself,,,

                               

                                      Time for the iron, and a lot of steam,,,,

                                                         

                                                          Whala....

Twin set.

I love twin sets.... sometimes I have to realize that a twinset may not be the top and over shirt that comes together in a pattern, but sometimes its what  you put together... this set  is the jacket form  Vogue 8559 and a self made top,  the material is a slightly heavy sweater knit,, actually a little heavier than I wanted, but it will work, for now..........I don't just love it, so I am definitely going to make the pattern again,, cause I just like the casualness... (is that a word) of it,,, besides, any thing that hides tummy fluff it a good thing,, lol...

Oh,,, I found something to do with my dress form,,,, HA...I don't have a mirror to take pix of myself, so this is the next best thing,, problem is, clothes look better on the form than on me,,,, oops, did I say that...

 Ok ok,, so I went a little overboard with the pix,,  I had such a hard time deciding which ones to post,, I posted them all,, well not ALL,, I did delete about 5 or 10 or,, oh you know,,,,

Felting wool.

Now this is something totally new to me,,, I felted wool....... 

I have seen and read about it being done,, but never tried it.. I was cleaning out a storage room, and found some wool I had purchased from Fabric.com,, 3 years ago,, I know,, I am slow,,, uhem,, so slow in fact I forgot whether I had pre-washed it or not,,, well I obviously hadn't ,, cause this is what happened....

I  washed it in cool,, and dried it,,,a side view,, see how thick it is, now this is just from the washer,, the piece on top is before,, the one on bottom is after it was washed,, I was going to take a pic after it came out of the dryer,, but drying it didn't make any more changes....

It literally fluffs the material up,, 

 Trying to get a good picture, sometimes you need to take several,, sometimes you even need to post several,,, ha...

 I also isn't as shiny, now I could have dry cleaned it and kept the flat shiny look,, but i don't dry clean my clothes hardly at all,, so I pre-wash and dry everything the way I am going to use it after I make it,,

This was so much fun,, I think it is nice when you read or see something in blog land that you would like to do,,but are maybe afraid to try,, then you say what the heck and do it anyway,, 

So now I can say I have felted wool.....

I have 4 yards each of the green and blue,, now what to do with them,,, that is for a later post... he he....

Getting things done..

Wow, it feels so good to sew again,, I have sewn more in the last 2 weeks than I have in the last 2 months,, almost the last 2 years,, oh well maybe not THAT long,, but it feels great,, I have got the sewing bug again,,, and  I LOVE IT.....pix will be posted soon........:-)