A pink birthday quilt

Just in the nick of time, I finished up the French Hatbox quilt for Kate's birthday. She had a bit of fun getting my dad to hold it up so that she could pose in front of it out on the lawn.







While I was quilting this, my sailor asked if the squiggly pattern of the quilting stitching was stored in the sewing machine, like the various zigzag and decorative stitches. He was quite amazed that you had to MOVE THE QUILT and make up the motion yourself to make the stipple pattern. ;) I thought that was hilarious... so I told my sister the story while we were sitting out on the lawn. And, of course, she says that she always assumed the same thing! Oh my. If only free motion quilting were so easy. ;) Kate adores the quilt... it was not a surprise for her, as she picked out the fabric and it's been in progress since March, so she's seen it plenty of times along the way. She did enjoy finally getting to hold it without all the pins in it at long last.

(The dress she's wearing is one I bought her 2 years ago, by Lucy Sykes. I love their dresses- so nicely made, and so classic!)

Liberty of London dress

Kate is turning 7 in a few days, so I've just finished up a birthday present dress for her... yet another Ice Cream dress. She really loves the teapot dress from this pattern, and it's gotten rave reviews apparently. My sister says Kate had to visit the school nurse last week, when she was wearing the dress for a tag day, and the nurse told her it was a pretty nifty dress. Hooray! So, for her birthday present I fished out a yard of Liberty fabric that I've had for a while, waiting for a "just right" project. This seemed to be a good use of it.

There was JUST enough fabric to cut the dress & yoke facing from the fabric. It's so light and soft, so I think it will make a good hot and sticky summer day dress. This is shaping up, so far, to be the summer of voile sundresses!!



And the back



I went into the garment district with a sewing friend last month and picked up two new Burda patterns. These might not get sewn up for a while, but they seemed really nice so I grabbed them anyway.



I haven't done too much sewing recently...we found out a few days ago that my sailor's ship is leaving very soon for a loooong deployment, so we are scrambling to get some wedding things lined up, household things in order, and all the other things that have to happen before an emergency deployment. Hopefully he'll be home for Thanksgiving, but we don't really know. We had a wonderful weekend last week in Rhode Island and Mystic Seaport- our whole summer vacation squeezed into a weekend, but it was lots of fun anyway.

I hope everyone is enjoying the Summer (or Winter in NZ & Australia) solstice!

And..... we have a dress!

Sorry for the quick photo, but by the time I figured out my sailor's tripod, I had to run to work. Here is my Simplicity 8640 dress though. Fabric is two different colors of "Diamond Mine" from Anna Maria Horner's little folks voile, which was soooooooo nice to sew with.



I didn't get a picture of it yet, but my zipper is a rainbow colored riri zipper which I found at Pacific Trim! You can't see it, but I love knowing it's there, and having a metal zipper makes it feel like a real vintage dress. The dress is unlined, so I'll wear it with a slip, and has a neckline facing. The very tip of the point where the bodice and skirt meet was sewn by hand. I got chicken about sewing that intersection on a machine.

This is the first non-muslin dress I've sewn in several months. I forgot what a nice feeling it is to end up with a garment you can wear. Between the light voile and the looser fit, this will be fantastic for the next 90F heatwave we get.

Simplicity 8640 muslin

Here's my new sewing setup. Nice and simple so far. I'm being goofy and again hanging my women's college degree above the sewing machine. It makes me smile. ;) The other half the room is my sailors desk and his bookcases, and there's a nice corner of windows that is currently holding a pile of boxes but might someday have a sitting chair. If we ever unpack.



So, here is the muslin. I didn't have any zippers here, so it's not closed in the back. And it was taken at an odd angle with a wide angle lens, so it's not the most flattering picture ever- but hey, are dress muslin photos ever all that flattering? ;)



I want to make a sleeveless version out of some blue voile from Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks line to wear as a sundress this summer, so I made the shorter length. I need to take in a little on the shoulders...other than that, maybe do a smidge of a SBA on the princess line. Anyone else see any adjustments I should make?

Again, here's the dress pattern:

sewing!

That's right... my sewing machine is hooked up, and actual sewing took place this weekend! I made a muslin for Simplicity 8640.


I do have a photo of me wearing it...and of my new little sewing nook... but now I can't find the camera cable. Isn't that always what happens with a move, you know you've seen something around but when you need it, then it's no where to be found? So instead, here's a little photo of the back of Kate's easter dress with a nice big purple bow. ;) Yes, I am not above distracting you all with adorable photos of my niece.