Category Archives: Sewing

Pillow Cover Swap

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So I just got my partners for the Crafted Cushion Cover Swap over at Craftster… yeah I got two because I don’t mind doing 2 different covers, lets face it pillows are not rocket science unless you’re doing something extravagant, lol. And I’m here to tell you there is ALWAYS enough fabric in my stash to make just about anything pillow-ish.  The only thing I need to pick up for this swap is a piece of grey felt because I don’t have any?  Not sure where it went, lol.  Anyway one of the ladies has an AWESOME pillow pinned that I am going to be making for my sister for her birthday.  Only Liz’s pillows will say something more along the lines of Love, Hope, & ,Wine  Anyway I’ll let you know when I have the tutorial up.

 

 

 

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Dee’s New Superman Sleep Mask

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My lovely daughter Madeline (Dee) turned 15 yesterday but that isn’t why this post came to be, lol.  This post came to be because her little sister who is 4 decided to borrow her sleep mask to play with yesterday and now we can’t find it.  After a talking to little Bellatrix apologized but I told her she was going to have to replace it because it wasn’t hers to touch or take and being that she is literally almost 5 she knew that; so she is “helping” Mommy make a new one, ok, so she pushes the foot pedal on the sewing machine (which she likes to do anyway) but that is still helping and she’s going to have to give it to her Sissy.

We’re also going to make little Bella one of her own so this situation doesn’t arise again, that’s just good parenting there if I do say so myself, lol, sure kiddo was “punished” by being asked to help make a new one but she is being “rewarded” for doing the right thing in making a mask (and a special one to boot) .  I could tell that Bella really did feel remorseful that she made her sister sad on her birthday. Kinda like she was a bit remorseful when she was caught trying to recolor the back door here…

Dee is like me in that she loves pitch dark to go to sleep which is why she had a sleep mask to begin with and she loves Superman so instead of just whipping her up another plain one I finally had a chance to use some of the nifty royal blue satin I’ve had stashed for awhile. My next question was how was I going to do the symbol?  I had thought I had some felt in red and yellow left over from my Angry Birds pet toys I’d made for the Significant Other Swap – Round 6 over at Craftster but I didn’t.

Soooooo, I decided to do a reverse applique!  What I did to do this is to trace the Superman symbol from my computer screen, this one here in fact…

  1. I sandwiched a red fabric piece larger than the pattern with a piece of yellow behind it (also a bit larger than the pattern) and put the traced paper pattern behind that (so that it looked backwards)
  2. sewed a straight stitch ON the paper backing all around the outside of where the yellow areas were going to be
  3. cut around the outside of the symbol (all layers)
  4. removed the paper pattern from the back
  5. very carefully snipped the red fabric off the top/inside of the yellow area  just following the stitch lines

click here to go to full size image

  • Next I took one side of my sleeping mask pattern which I found thanks to google.
  • place it shiny side (right side) up and plopped my applique (also right side up) dead center and pinned
  • I then proceeded to satin stitch around the outside of the applique with a setting of length .5 and width of 2
  • then satin stitched around the reveled yellow areas covering up the original straight stitches.
  • viola
  • then I took the front and the back of the mask and pinned them right sides together also pinning the elastic while I was at it (14 inch piece)
  • started sewing just off center on the top and sewed all the way around until I was 2 inches from the beginning of my stitching
  • turned right side out tucked in unsewn area and did a quarter inch straight stitch all the way around the edge.
  • Kiddo loved it.

Yeah I know it's a tiny dark pic but hey at least I managed to get one, lol.

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Very Basic Hippie Dress Step 1 Bodice Measurements

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I admit I’ve been busy here at the house (life gets busy, lol)  so I haven’t gotten a thing done with my tutorials.  I blog without obligation so I’m not apologizing for being busy or even for sleeping in late occasionally ;-) but I thought y’all might wonder what happened, lol.  

This quick hippie style maxi dress is quite simple to make.  This will require sewing skills, fabric, thread, scissors, some kind of paper or scrap fabric to make a pattern for the bodice on, a tape measure, something to mark fabric, and a bit of patience because we’re not going to work from any kind of pattern we are going to make our own…no really it isn’t hard!  No, I’m not just saying it’s not hard because I’ve done it before I’m saying it’s not difficult because it’s taking a couple of measurements putting a couple marks down and connecting the dots :-)

Grab your paper and make sure it's at least half as wide as you are around the chest (measure right across the fullest part of your "hangin ladies" if you want this to fit right" and long enough that it covers from the top of your bra cup (where the strap attached to the cup is a good spot to measure from) to a couple of inches below where the cup ends.

Measure from strap to strap as indicated in my photo and write the measurement down.

Measure your side depth from strap and write it down. Also make sure you measure the dotted white line also so you know the distance on the side there from your strap to the lowest spot on the side of your bra or top!

Get Your Paper And Pencil Ready.

Set your paper down and determine the center and bottom left corner of paper so we can get ready to put our dots on the paper that we'll be connecting.

Step 2 within the week!  Need to get this finished up so everyone will have it ready for summer after all!!

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Maxi Dress Madness

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My wonderful dress from teh wonderful Weeza!

My wonderful dress from the wonderful Weeza. Wish I still had the photo of the one I sent her! If you'd like the tutorial on this go to Weeza Wear!

Click here to go to Weeza Wear!

Call them what you will, maxi dresses, long dresses, they’re just neat.  I like the idea of something longer, I’m sick of seeing a little bit too much of some folks when they sit down in a mini if you know what I mean ::: shudder::: don’t even get me started.

The thing is we have not only maxi dresses abounding in today’s market but their siblings the hippie dress and the patchwork dress which are darn near the same thing except for the name and materials in some instances.

So what’s my rant?  I was on Ebay looking at wedding dresses  but while I was there I saw this photo for a maxi dress that all the stars are wearing and thought I’d like  to see more of whats currently available  so I went to a website that I won’t mention but for the fact that they are insane if they think I’m going to pay $179 (retail $300) for a frickin dress that is so simple to put together that I can probably teach my 3-year-old to at least cut the pattern . Anyway I was there and just got disgusted at the prices.  I know how much it costs to sew something, I know how much time it takes, and I could make most of the clothes on that site for around $35-$80 (depending on fabric selection) if I don’t put my actual time sewing into the equation.

So I’m sitting here thinking “well, I don’t even have my pajama project patterns up and running yet because I need a new camera to take photos of the steps with ” but by golly I’m going to go ahead and toss the maxi dress tutorials idea out just so y’all know that I do have some other things that will be coming as soon as I get my taxes and therefore a new camera.

So before you go out buying maxi dresses for the season hang tight the first tutorial will be up within 2 weeks!

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Nightwear, A Lost Source of Beauty

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Is it just me or is anyone else also pretty disgusted with the selection of pajamas and nightwear available in today’s general market?  I dont’ want to wear t-shirt gowns, pj’s with comics, spaghetti strap slip look alikes, flannel that isn’t flattering,  fleece ugly enough to cause your mate to flee,  or crap made out of fake satin that gives you static if you walk across carpet.

I’m not saying the stuff isn’t comfy, oh no, that it is, and sometimes it’s nice to slip on a pair of sleep pants but is it too much to ask for a top that isn’t a cami or tee?  I want something pretty that is flattering.

I was over at Queens of Vintage a bit ago where I read an article they have called Vintage Nightwear: A History and they said that ” After World War II ended, production and consumerism began to resurface and nightwear was not only given a new life, but a new perspective. Until the war, night gowns, negligees and chemises were not thought of as ‘seductive’ or ‘sexy’ but as classy, hygienic and feminine.” ( A far cry from crappy tshirts huh? Those were actually pretty in their own chaste way.)  ” One man who changed this concept was French fashion designer Christian Dior. His mission was to make women ‘feel like a duchess’, whether she was rich or poor. He made beautiful long satin gowns with lace trim, exquisite embroidery and tailored to rest lightly on the curves. Dior spoke of his mission to make all women look and feel glamorous, whether out on the town or attiring to her bed.”

So my question is …what happened?  When did the era of “comfort” jammies (not that they aren’t nice sometimes) start and how can I turn back the clock because I like every other person out there deserve to feel like a duchess every once in awhile.

Yes, there are some stores that you can still get lovlies from, but to my eye it isn’t the “super centers” that most folks shop at now because that’s all they can afford.

Well, I have the solution and I call it The Pajama Project that I will be posting later and I look forward to everyone who wants to give it a go sharing a photo or comment.

Cheers!

A Lovely Vintage Gown

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