Feather Day Dress

My friend bought a Craftsy class for the Tia Dress pattern and asked for some help with it. She has done some home sewing, and alterations of her clothes. The pattern was a little more complicated than I had ever done, with piecing the bodice and lining it.

We got together a few times to buy the fabric, cut out the pattern and started construction. There were a few confusing spots, perhaps because we didn't watch the video more times. She decided to not put on the sleeves, and I think it looks good without them. She also didn't put on the pockets because we weren't sure the pocket shape would show up well due to the bold pattern.

Anyway, the dress is almost done besides the hem. She wants to shorten it perhaps to knee-length. 

We both learned a lot from making the dress, and I may look for my own craftsy class sometime after I finish up some projects. 

With learning a lot, I'm sure if we did it a second time we would do several things differently. (We got the zipper in but it could have been put in better with the right zipper foot). I'm also pretty sure we did the lining incorrectly, but what we did worked okay and still fits. 

Anyway, we are both grateful it fits her and that she likes it and that it was all worth it in the end!!! The patterened fabric is very forgiving and hides a few mistakes. 

 We worked well together, so I look forward to our next project whatever it may be. It did speed up time, like cutting out the pattern quicker and being able to have one person sewing and the other one ironing at the same time. Plus (the best part), it gave us several excuses to hang out and chat more often than normally.

One thing we wished we'd had when making the dress was a sewer's ham. Today I found a tutorial online so I printed the pattern and will make one sometime. I'm not sure about filling it with sawdust and will probably try using wool scraps.

Today I am embroidering pillowcases and working on binding the denim quilt. (Photos to follow when I can share them, they are both gifts).

Watching: North & South
Listening: Knitting Pipeline podcast

New stash items!

Just thought I'd share some recently purchased fabric. On the left is a white and light blue/teal print that I'm hoping to make a Sobetto top by Colette Patterns. The black and white Gingham is for Colette's Hazel dress. The kitty fabric I got for free and maybe will go into a future baby quilt. With some tax return money I got an invisible zipper foot, so I am hoping that will make zippers much more easy to put in.

The yarn, hand-dyed by my friend at Bumblebirch... so pretty. It is fingering weight and I am going to look for a perfect project for it. I also just ordered a yarn winder to make center-pulled cakes. I have a swift already, so I will be set!

Still working on the denim quilt. More photos later.
Happy Valentines day!! (We're making strawberry waffles with whipped cream for dinner!)

Snow Days

Yesterday work was closed due to snow that has been here for the last few days. I spent part of the day sewing a quilt in my new studio space. (I'm not sure if I shared yet that I moved upstairs to a new area). I love the light in the room, and the red carpet that already has stains on it. Mainly I love that there is floorspace and I can lay out quilts. There are other roommates, but they are on the other side of the room for the most part and we seem to rarely be there at the same times.

Denim quilt for a friend. I'm planning on using a black fleece fabric for the backing. It will just be the two layers. I may embroider a little bit on a few denim squares, we'll see... (I have an idea, just not sharing it yet). I also started cutting jeans/cords for 2 other quilts for friends... Yay!! I love how simple they can be and I love making useful items for friends (especially if it is from their own old jeans...

I have More! quilts on the brain. Baby quilt for a friend... Perhaps a medium-sized hexagon quilt? I have been favoriting things in pinterest. I don't know yet what colors.

Also I have cut many black and white quilt triangles for a quilt and was going to go with a pattern I have in a book. It is hard to describe but sort of plays with 4 values of light to dark. It was hard to lay out as the values of the patterns kept changing (being relative in value to the fabric I placed next to it) I think I will instead go with a chevron idea which will be easier since I can just play with lights and darks. I am already much more excited about finishing that quilt. It doesn't seem so daunting.

Here is some snow!!




We had about 5 inches or so, it's hard to tell... it seems deeper some places. I'm definitely glad I have friend's kids I can borrow to hang out with in the snow. I also did a tiny bit of tobogganing. And jumped on a trampoline with snow on it.


Podcasts listened to:
Stash & Burn
Stuff You Missed in History
The Moth
This American Life (Beach episode!)