Tillbrook Mia

These Tillbrook Fairies made quite a splash when they came out, oh, something like 2 years ago? Naturally I have hoarded mine, saving them for the perfect project.

But now I have decided that there is always more fabric. So into the rotary blade and sewing machines goes my treasured pieces.

I wanted to use up a good bit of the 5 total yards I had of this line. I still have about 2 yards of the all-over fairies and .5 of the mushrooms left after this, so I will save those for a later dress. Probably something super Summery or something.

Since we're just barely into Winter, and this pattern is short sleeved, I also sewed a long-sleeved shirt (Ottobre 4/2004 #36) and 3/4 leggings (Ottobre 2/2007 #17) out of some cream colored 100% cotton interlock from Joanns.

Technically you should sew leggings out of knit fabrics with lycra in them, but I suck at following rules. This is what I had on hand that matched, so I went with it. I put slightly more ease in the leggings (added width at the side seams and around the crotch/back centre seam for DD's badonkadonk), and I think they fit fine. The first pair of leggings I bought at Target 5 years ago didn't have any lycra in them, and they held up fine for several years. We will see how these do.

On with it:

Fabric: Tillbrook Fairies by the Alexander Henry Collection. I used the border print for the skirt, the all-over fairies for the bodice and ruffle, and the mushrooms for the sleeves and belt.

Pattern: Pink Fig Mia. This was my first Pink Fig pattern. I must say that I am not drawn to hoard very many of their patterns, because so many of them seem to be similar. I think this is one of 2 or 3 peasant top patterns they have in their collection. For the price of a boutique pattern, I would rather get something unique, complex, and with several versions, as in Sandi Henderson's wonderful Portobello Pixie line. Oh well. I will say that this pattern appeared to be well-drafted, and the instructions were good. I came out of it with a smidge more respect for Pink Fig than I started with. This is one of the cutest peasant top patterns out there, and I do recommend it.

The Tillbrook border print actually has quite a bit of burgundy at the bottom, which I'm not a huge fan of. I set my rolled hem right at the bottom of the last mushroom row to cut most of the burgundy off.

The Mia actually has a double-layered skirt. The top skirt is cut so that it is slightly shorter than the underskirt. The underskirt has a 3" ruffle attached to it, so this way you get a good 2" of ruffle peeking out. I totally adore the look. (And so does she.)

The belt keeps riding up above the waist seam, so I may add some waist carriers at the side seams to keep it more in place. The waist seam isn't hideous per se, but I think it looks much better if it's covered up.

She insists this is her ballet dress, and asked to wear it to ballet. Which I haven't signed her up for yet. Because I'm a bad mom. Or, because I haven't been able to find one that is close and doesn't conflict with her school schedule. Help?!

The front and back bodice are both completely shirred, and the sleeves each have 2 rows of shirring. Combined with all of the rolled hems, this project is not difficult, but definitely tedious. I love the look of shirring, but I can't say that I enjoy sewing all of those shirring rows! Plus, I have had too many shirring disasters over the years (pulled out elastic, too-tight elastic, elastic that won't shir), that I always feel a little nervous when I do it. I think I've got it down by now, but I'm still left with the tedium.

Love these 3/4 sleeves. :)

See what I mean? Could there be more rolled hems? Okay, there could, but I mean seriously. This was definitely a 2-night project.

I wanted the ties to have a little more whimsy, so I did my own thing and made them shaped. It's subtle, but I love the way they turned out.

I did a quick little ribbon bow and ribbon covered headband for this, and you can't see, but I also hot-glued 2 pearl buttons in the middle. It goes with this dress, but will also match anything else she has that's pink. Part of me is scared, however, that it looks like a baby headband. DD loved it and wouldn't take it off though, so that is all that's important. I refuse to squash her free spirit (hey, did it work with me????).

I am trying this sewing schedule where I get all the dishes done, etc., and DD down by 7pm. Then I sew from 7-9pm. After that I can come down and spend some time with hubby or read. So far it's working great, and I am loving the production level I have. A few nights a week, I let myself sew until 11pm, in which case I can usually finish an entire project. Of course, times and needs change, so we will see how this works out long-term. If needs be, I may have to adapt the schedule.

Next up: either pjs for my son, or a corduroy shirtdress for her. We will see...

Crafts, I Cave to You

Er. Why am I posting a picture of a slightly gaudy, gold, doll bed?

Def not my typical sewing MO. See, I have this crazy dad. He's kind of old-ish. And crazy. (No really. No. REALLY.) But, he nicely decided to craft a couple doll beds for his grandchildren. This is a good thing. My DD got a nice pink doll bed for Christmas. My mom sewed some cute lil' plaid flannel bedding for it. I was real nice and, like, pink. Y'know, girl, schmirl schtuff.

Then, since my niece was visiting CA this month, he decided to finish up her bed and...paint it gold. This gold color. Um, not so popular with the general family opinion.

I, however, in my *cough* infinite fashion wisdom, was undeterred by this gold. I thought, "oh my gosh. I have the perfect fabric to go with this." Which, considering my embarrassing fabric stash, is not that surprising.

A few hours later, the bed was decked out. Something nice my dad made, combined with something fabulous that his daughter made. It gives me all sorts of weird feelings, but overall I am proud. I am glad that we could have something positive to put in the world. Yay this bed.

Fabric: Monkey's Business by Alexander Henry. Possibly one of my favorite fabrics in the world, ever. I constantly stare at it on my shelf and feel terrified to commit it to a project. As this coverlet and pillow took very little fabric, I instantly knew it was a perfect fit.

Pattern: My mom's homey plaid flannel bedding that she made for DD's pink doll bed. Seriously. I just measured it and copied her exactly, just with different fabric and ribbon. It's all smoke and mirrors--I'm only fronting all this creativity.

Love this shoe, ahhh! I pulled my niece into the stash room--coincidentally, also my bedroom--and let her pick out which panels she wanted. At first I think she was a little freaked out by the punky fairytale vibe, but then she excitedly pointed to this shoe. I was like, heck yeah, you are a woman after my own heart. Once I told her that the other panel(s) were Cinderella, she agreed to them as well, and we had a Theme.

Dunno what it is about toddler girls, but all the ones I know are obsessed with Cinderella. Sure, they like the other ones fine. But when push comes to shove, Cinderella always comes out on top. I guess I can't complain, because she was my fave when I was a little girl, too. Hmm.

As you can see, I put the Cinderella ball gown on the pillow and the cleaning Cinderella panel on the coverlet, for an all-Cinderella eye sweep. You also might notice that Cinderella's hair styles in these fabrics often obscure her face, causing only one eye to be visible. This may have been what threw off my niece.

Oh yeah, sewing. I used Wonder Under to fuse the panels to the coverlet, then satin stitched around them. The whole thing is actually doubled. I sandwiched the ruffles inside 2 rectangles--one appliqued, one plain--stitched around the edges, then turned and pressed.

The ruffles are gathered strips of the Princess and the Pea print from this line (those stripes are actually all stacked mattresses, which is ridiculously awesome). I serged each short end and the one long edge, pressed them up, and stitched close to the edge for the hems.

My mom had used narrow ribbon for the ties, which is totally her right, as this was her design, but I couldn't find any ribbon in my box that matched my fabric. I had this wide lavender satin stuff though, which after some contemplation seemed perfect.

Okay, now my genius family just needs to ship this to her, because, HELLO, a bed like this does not fit in a suitcase. D'oh!

That's all for now! I am off to camp with my hubby and kiddos and friends this weekend, so I probably won't get much sewing done. On Monday I should have some goooood Patty Young knits eye candy though, so stay tuned. Happy weekend, everyone!

Owls

Okay, apparently my cousin is the fastest person to read my blog, ever, because I posted last night that I had forgotten to take pictures, and this morning I had them in my inbox! Yay! So now I can share these with y'all.

Pattern: Emmaline Apron by Sew Liberated

Fabric: It's a Hoot for the Alexander Henry Collection in cotton canvas for the main print. The straps are from one of Heidi Grace's quilting cotton collections for Joann's. The potholders have Insul-Bright sandwiched inside.

The owl print is in slightly muted colors, so I really flip-flopped on what color/print I wanted to go with it. I eventually settled on this print because the line-drawn circles made me think of knotty owl-holes in a tree, and because my cousin has green eyes. Both prints sewed up beautifully and were a joy to work with.

I didn't use a pattern for these potholders, but instead traced around a circle shape we had in the house. My sewing steps were as follows:

1. Fuse square of owl fabric to same size square of Heat n' Bond. Cut out owl shape with paper backing still on. Remove paper backing. Fuse owl shape to fabric circle.

2. Sandwich Insul-Bright circle between a plain circle and an owl-fused circle, wrong sides facing in. Serge or baste around the outside. (Hindsight being 20/20, I think I would do this part by hand next time.)

3. Top stitch around the outer edge of the Owl. I used a straight stitch to keep the drawing nice and crisp.

4. Cut 2" wide bias strips to make double-fold bias tape that is 1/2" wide. I use a Clover bias tape maker for this, but it's not necessary. Or you can use pre-made double-fold bias tape.

5. Shape bias tape around the circle with your iron, leaving a tail at the end to make a hanging loop.

6. Sew the bias tape around the circle. I use my left-edge top stitching foot for bias tape, which makes it a lot less painful. When you get to the tail, sew it over the beginning of your bias tape, and then swing it upward and continue stitching for a few inches or so.

7. Loop the tail down behind the potholder and experiment until it looks right. On the top side of the potholder, stitch back and forth over that section of the bias tape to hold the loop in place. When you're done, flip the potholder back over and trim the bias tape a little below your stitching.

Voila!

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I also sewed up a couple quick tank tops for my little girl cousins out of some owl knits I had in my scrap box.

Pattern: Ottobre tank top from the 4/2004 issue.

Fabric: Gray waffle knit from Sewzannes, white Mis-Tee-V-Us interlock from co-op. Brown rib knit from Joanns.

I thought the tanks were a little plain on their own, so I added a pocket to the gray one, and a faux placket to the white one. I used my coverstitch machine to top stitch the bindings, and I'm just loving my new clear foot! It makes bindings soooo much easier.

K, that's it for now. Hopefully I will have some swimsuit sewing to show next!

Presents from my mailman 10/22

I have received several lovely, fabricalicious packages in the past week or so. I. Love. Magical mystery fabric packages. I mean seriously, is there anything more wonderful than receiving fabric in the mail? Okay, maybe shoes. But still. I ordered all of this fabric MONTHS ago from various co-ops...and then forgot about it. Then they just appear on my doorstop, and it is a wonderfully joyful thing.

First up are some Alexander Henry quilting cottons. These are all 2 yard cuts of Fairy Wing Park. It's all wintery girls, cats, & dogs roller skating around a magical park. The coordinates are an all over bird print from the main print's trees. I also ordered a couple of the calico flower prints featured in the girls' dresses, but those ones got back ordered, so bummer. Anyway, the print is on a much larger scale than I realized, so other than maybe one Euro-type jumper (Farbenmix Feliz?) for DD, I'm a little stumped as to what I'm going to do with these. In the meantime, I looooove them!


Next are a few prints from what might be one of my favorite fabric collections ever. This is Fairytale Princess, also from Alexander Henry. I had originally intended these some for some type of sassy Euro apparel for DD, but now I am not so sure. I need to find a project that lets me use the items for a longer time than one size/season. I really hate to quilt or sew any type of home item, but I might have to buckle down. Or I could just frame them as prints & hang them up.


I mean seriously, check out these hilarious fairytale depictions and the freaking awesome Cinderella shoe?? So fabulous!


These are a few prints from Girly Girl by Art Gallery Fabrics. The quality on these prints is just wonderful. The blurb on the selvedge states "premium cotton", and they really are. All three of them came out of the wash much less wrinkled than my other fabrics. I believe the weave uses long-staple cotton fibers, which wrinkle less. They have a nice, light hand. Perfect for apparel for me. :)


Lastly, I got some nice knit prints from Mis-T-V-Us. I am super happy with the colors and quality of the top four, but the lower two weren't quite what I thought when I saw the online pics. I mean, they are very, very nice quality and all, just not the colors that I thought I was going to get. The orange is very bright. No worries though, sometimes fabric takes a little time to grow on and inspire me. The flower print is a nice french terry & would go well with some of the brown ribbing that I have a ton of, so I am thinking it might make a cute Fall-ish hoodie dress for my DD.


That's all...for now (really, does the fabric ever stop? No, it doesn't).