Goodness!

I have had a sudden traffic spike and am now at a whopping 25 followers! Ok, its not much but small victories, right?

So I'm thinking of having a give-away in celebration. I have tons of vintage buttons/lace/othernotions and I'd like to share. I'll post late tonight, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's something cute:

(Meet Nurgle, the Plague Bringer. One of our new hamsters.)

Non-Sewing Update

I have finally been able to move my Mom into a MUCH nicer nursing home! Hooray! She is much closer and on the way home from work, not in the opposite direction. This will mean more sewing time for MUAH.

I wish everyone else happy news. Keep sewing!

So. Close.

I have to be honest with you, I'm not sure I'm in love with it. If nothing else, I can say its been a huge learning experience both in fitting and in construction techniques. The shoulders may still drop a little too much. On the hanger it looks flat and lifeless, and it wrinkles like crazy.

But I am proud of how the piping turned out and once its completely done, hemmed, and styled it might look OK. I won't know until I get there. Other things I changed was doing cap sleeves, which are turning out to be more like tent sleeves, but thats OK cause I like those sort of sleeves. Maybe I'll use the little bit of red heart lace left over from my daughter's red circles skirt and gather it into that. Hmmm, that might work.

Left to do:

• other sleeve
• finishing off all unfinished seams
• hem
• sew on buttons

MAYBE I'll have pictures of it by this weekend? I don't know. Depends on if I can get Mom moved to the new nursing home or not (oh there's a book long rant...).

That's all for now, I'm up way past my bedtime.

Priceless Offer

Those of you that have been around for a while know that I've recently had a very large upset concerning my parents. My Mother is now in a nursing home and on hospice care. She is 'terminal' but unlike I thought a couple months ago she will be around for a bit longer. Though she is going a bit stir crazy for something to do. One of the things she's always been amazing at is needlework. Crewel embroidery to be specific (I have several amazing framed pieces of hers). Earlier last week she was talking about wanting to do something with a single, or maybe two colors so she doesn't have to do so much thread sorting. Instantly the above pattern popped into my head andI asked her if she'd be willing to embroider on a dress I make. She said yes!

Its one of my vintage 40's patterns that still has the transfers, which are too old to work but I could trace on to the fabric. I showed it to her and she said that it'd be a lovely thing to work on. I went SQUEE!

I'm thinking I want it in a dark linen (probably black, maybe navy blue?) with white thread. If she's willing maybe a second dress in green, with red embroidery, for Christmas. :D

So what about you, dear readers? Would you jump on an offer like this? I think it would be nice to make the dresses extra special, couture even.

Vintage Dress Update

I DID IT! I figured out how to get the piping in and I'm very proud of myself. I've stayed up way too late hand stitching the facings to the interlining. Since I've stabbed myself about three times I decided its time to give up the notion that I'll have it done before I go see Mom at the nursing home tomorrow. Oh well.

Also, a "What I did when I wasn't sewing" update. My kids got their green belts! I'm showing off, here's some pictures.

Posing to show off the new belts after the testing.

p.s. Happy Zombie Jesus Day Easter!

For the Vintage: Interlining

Hello! I see I have recently gained some new readers. Welcome to my little corner of the asylum world. See, I had signed up some time ago to be a part of the Great Vintage Sew-a-Long. Supposedly we were to have our project done by the end of February. HA! That was funny.

I did a good bit on fitting adjustments, I already had my fabric picked up and I had to do an interlining. I have another project in the works where I was going to help some long-distance friends sew there first dress. One of them mentioned the fabric being semi-sheer. I suggested interlining and so now I'm here to explain what that is.

As you can see, my fabric is a somewhat sheer cotton lawn. I decided to use a light weight cotton batiste* for the interlining.

First I cut the pattern out of the interlining. Then I placed that on top of my fashion fabric (or shell, whatever you want to call it). I know I could have been a bit more frugal in fabric placement, but in this case I wanted the design to line up a certain way.

In most instances one would hand-stitch the two pieces together in the seam allowance. However, that takes forever (and machine stitching makes the two pieces to bunch and not line up properly). So I took a page out of Gertie's book and used fabric glue in the seam allowance instead. Works like a charm! Also, I put all my markings on the interlining before gluing and cutting.

Now I just treat them like they are one piece of fabric and sew it together!

*Please note that the color of your interlining can effect the appearance of your fashion fabric. I highly recommend taking the fashion fabric with you and trying it over several different colors. One can also use silk organza or really any other similar/lighter weight fabric. It really depends on what you want the end result to look and feel like. I personally can't stand polyester anymore as all it does is stick to you in hot Georgia summers. And my skin complains by breaking out. Not fun.

Stark Raving Mad

At least that's what I think I've gone. Crazy. Bonkers. Insane in the Membrane. Why?

Cause I want to make one of these:

View A to be precise. I love the side buttons. I love the way that it almost looks like a two piece. And it also reminds me of a few things I saw in the D&G Spring collection.(on the right)
I thought the play suits were kinds of cute, though not for me. I AM in love with their floral chiffon gowns. But this 50's play suit might just work for me. Outside of that I love the shorts in view D. I might start with those. I'm not sure what fabric to use. I guess as a muslin I can use some purple linen/poly blend I bought ages ago at JoAnn's (before I became a fabric snob).

But first I'm gonna start on finish those sew-a-longs.