A Day Gown for Lydia

Every precious child coming into this world needs a sweet day gown.  My granddaughter is no exception.  this was the first dress I have pleated on my new Mary Jane Pleater and love how easy it was to use.
It took awhile for the smocking mojo to kick in, but with the help of the A to Z Smocking Book, I was able to get it done.  This is the first dress I have smocked in about 20 years.

The pattern is the The Tucked Infant Gown by Michie Mooney.  I love her patterns and have bought two more to work on for Lydia this summer. Here's a closer view of the front.

And here's a view of the hem with the tucks, lace, beading, and entredeux.  The #16 gathering foot for my Bernina came in handy for the lace on the neckline, sleeves, and hem.

As I was making this dress, I kept thinking about the fact that little Lydia will be wearing this in just a few weeks.  I can't wait!

A Quilt For Lydia

My precious granddaughter, Lydia will be arriving in mid June.  This is my first completed project for her, a quilt.  This is the first quilt I have quilted by machine with my Bernina Stitch Regulator, and I'm hooked!  It was so much fun and I loved the colors.  Thanks to Kudzu Quilts in Montgomery, AL for helping me pick out the colors.  The picture doesn't due it justice.  The colors are much more vivid.

It is wonderful sewing for a little girl again.  Currently, I'm working on a day gown that has been smocked with pale pink thread.  I hope to have it completed this weekend.  My goal is to make one more dress for Lydia before I go to Houston next month to see my daughter on her first Mother's Day.

A Trio of T-Shirts

For some reason, I had a large amount of brown knit fabric in my stash.  Some of it was a piece of ITY knit from Fabric Mart Fabrics.  The other was a rayon jersey.  I decided to try out my Sure Fit Designs dress kit to make a series of T shirts - long sleeve, short sleeve, and a tank; all with a different neckline.  Here are the results.

 This T-shirt has a fold over neckline.  I used the idea from a Jalie pattern.  To accomplish this, I transferred the front dart to the top and used, added a tab, gathered, and folded over.  Neckline finish is a bound edge with the same fabric.  Here is a close up of the front.

 For this T, I used an idea from a new Linda Rholfing booklet and used a ruched edging for the neckline.  You just cut out a strip, gather and sew.  There is no hemming.  I first turned down the neckline edge before adding the ruching.  This was actually the first shirt I made from my Sure Fit Designs blue print, and felt it should be longer.  I added a lace edge to the bottom, which I think gave it a little more styling and added the length I wanted.  It does have the darts from the dress kit.  Initially, I only went down one dot on my blue print, but because this ITY fabric is so stretchy, I took it in 1/2 inch on both sides and liked the results.

 Here's a close up of the ruched edging.  

Last but not least is a tank top using Glenda Sparling's instructions from the booklet she offered in February for free to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Sure Fit Designs.  The booklet will be a saleable item soon on the new Learning Center from Sure Fit Designs.  I highly recommend it.

I have several other T-shirts cut out, but certainly not in brown.  I believe I have four ready to sew plus a pair of capri length pajama pants ready to sew!

Friendship, Community, and Love

This post will have nothing to do with sewing.  My mind has been elsewhere the past couple of days.  Monday morning, I woke up to the sad news that a dear friend died suddenly of a heart attack at 49 years of age.  Lee was a fun loving, happy go lucky guy, who always lit up the room when he arrived.  He was gifted in so many ways.  He was an artist - creating the most beautiful flower arrangements I have ever seen.  My daughter was fortunate to have him work his magic at her wedding.  He could also make a house into a home by his designing and decorating skills.

I have been reminded of some important lessons this week.  Lee lived 2 1/2 hours away, in the town I lived until moving to Montgomery.  He was a part of a faith community that loved everyone, no matter the size, age, political affiliation, race, or sexual orientation.  We all have one thing in common in this faith community - we are all children of God.  This week has brought so many of us together, and has healed my heart in some ways that are too long to explain here.  However, I am honored to know, love, and be loved by some of the most remarkable people I have ever met.  I am truly blessed to call them my friends.

Lee was part of the choir, as I was.  Many of us who have moved away are coming back tomorrow to celebrate his life, and to celebrate the miracle of God's love and how he shows it through this community.  I will be blessed to see Christ in all those around me.

Sheath Dress the Sure Fit Designs Way

I have been thinking about all the garments I have made with Sure Fit Designs and realized I had not included my sheath dresses in my blog. They became a staple in my wardrobe last summer, and I'm sure will be a repeat this summer. Hopefully, with weight loss, I'll need to take them in. This was my favorite dress. I loved the fabric from Sawyer Brooks. It was my first order from them, and I hate to admit how many times I have ordered since. I used the dress kit from Sure Fit Designs with the instructions to make it into a princess seam design without sleeves. The instructions that Glenda provides for drafting designs alone is worth the amount paid for the kit. The fit for everything I have drafted has come out perfect.

Here is the second dress I made. Again the fabric was from Sawyer Brook. This looked great under a black jacket. If you want to know more about Sure Fit Designs, you can find their website here: Sure Fit Designs

Yoga Pants - The Most Comfortable Pants on Earth!

I have made 5 pairs of yoga pants since fall. These have to be the most comfortable pair of pants I've worn since maternity pants 28 years ago! They can be worn for work or dressy occasions as well as for running errands, or just hanging out around the house. It just depends on how you style them. Four of my pairs have been from ponte knit fabrics, a type of double knit. Some have complained that the fabric wears out to soon, but I have not found that to be the case. Below, you can see my gray pair. The fabric is from Fabricmart. I normally would not wear these tucked in, but wanted you to get a better idea about the band. Can you tell that my sewing assistant, Sammi is just as proud of the pants as I am?I had made some yoga pants last year, but didn't care for the snug fit. No matter how I tried, I couldn't get rid of that dreaded panty line. So this year, I pulled out my Sure Fit Designs blue print along with the wonderful new book Glenda has written on pants. Her last pant in the book is a yoga pant. Not only does she give you directions for drafting your own, she provides ways to vary the styles. You can find Sure fit Designs at this link: Sure Fit Designs

As always, they came out perfect!

I am now trying to lose weight (3 down and 26 to go!) I didn't want to invest in a new pair of jeans or take the time to make a pair that would become too big soon (keep your fingers crossed!) Peggy Sagers from Silhouette patterns provided the idea of making a pair of yoga pants out of stretch denim. So using the yoga pants pattern I drafted from Sure Fit Designs, I proceeded. I made the fit more snug because of the fabric, but lengthened the waistband a little because the stretch isn't as great as the ponte knit. I included pockets that were topstitched to give it a jeans appearance as well as topstitched the inner seam. I loved them! Here's the back side of the jeans, along with my sewing assistant again. Click on the picture for a better view.
Here's a detailed picture of the front. I used 2" elastic in the band. These jeans took about 2 hours to make, including redrafting the front to include pockets. Again, click on the picture for a full view.

And last but not least, the front of the jeans. I am wearing them with a cardigan made from a beautiful knit I purchased from Emma One Sock. The pattern is a combination of Pamela's perfect T'shirt changed into a cardigan, with the side dart moved to a french dart, and the front redrawn from the Loes Hinse Cardigan. I love the shape of the front of that pattern.

The Comraderie of Sewing

I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I wrote in my blog! I have had alot going on. My wonderful, 81 year old father had a heart attack, then triple bypass surgery. I traveled to Sudbury, MA a week ago to be with him. I arrived just before the snow storm, and just in time to experience the power outage at my sister's home. Fortunately, the power came on three days later, and we could bring Dad home. He is doing remarkably well, and is the perfect patient.



While in MA, I discovered just how close some of my Stitcher's Guild friends are to Sudbury. I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon last week with Betsy and Debra at Sawyer Brook where I also met Dixie. I found a fabulous wool cashmere and cotton print to make a shirt/vest combo.

Dixie introduced me to a staff person, Sue who was from KY. I mentioned that my family was from Butler, a town that is hardly on the map and that no one has ever heard of. Not only had Sue heard of Butler, she was raised there! She asked about my family, and I responded she would not know them. They left KY in the 50's. When I finally told her the family name, I learned that my great uncle had been a friend of her father's!

Today, I met my sewing buddies again for a trip to a fabric store in Natick. This time, Denise also joined us. It was great fun looking at fabric with fellow sewers, already knowing their preferences from Stitcher's Guild. We've been posting for so long, we all know each other fairly well: our moments of joy, sorrow, dreams, frustrations. Not only do we share a passion for fabric, sewing, fashion, and clothes. We also share our lives. It's great to have such wonderful friends, and finally get to meet them in person.