Shirring - Plain and Simple! (Mini tutorial)

Basic shirring. Seems simple enough. I was excited to try this mainly to give elasticity to my fabrics, for more versatility. So I tried. I shirred 3 rows to a skirt, and it worked horribly.

I did some research, and found a lot of people saying the same thing. 'Wrap the elastic around the bobbin loose', 'wrap the elastic around the bobbin tight'...So which one is it? I tried both and saw no difference! I even got the old sewing manual out, now that's desperate!

So I kept trying. Then I remembered reading amongst the many tutorials I browsed through, something about spraying and putting the fabric on the dryer. So with one last ditch effort, before I summed it up to my faulty machine, I tried again.

This is how it went down:
- Wrap the bobbin with the elastic not too loose, but not too tight
- Keep your tension normal on our thread, but use a longer setting, like 3 1/2 - 4
- Shirr many lines, at least 8
- SPRAY with a spray bottle (Watch your material shrink in half! - This was key!)
- Stream Iron



Tada! I'm having a bunch of fun with this. I've made a couple baby dresses, and a skirt!

Ah...Fresh Start!

....And i'm back! Wasn't ever really a fan of my last blog (Sweet Lil Melody), which made for a long hiatus.

So - this makes most sense. The name is tied to my sewing and my little Punkin, which is mostly sewing FOR my little Punkin!

I'm always learning and getting inspiration from fabulous bloggers, and want to share as well! I'm organizing my Flickr stream, and hope to add (when I remember!), and will edit those dead tabs on the top.

Thanks for visiting - See you soon!

Happy Birthday To Sweet Melody

I'm working on getting pics up from the party. I just loaded a few to Project Nursery. Check them out here.

It was an awesome day, we had fun, and so did Melody!

Mother's Day 2010

My first Mothers Day. The 3 of us spent the whole day together (We always do on Sunday's anyways), but it was a very peaceful day and I loved it.

Where have you been Gumby?

In a gopher hole mother!

One of my favorite lines from kids cartoons. So I have not been blogging and I miss it! I've been super busy with work, spring cleaning, dress orders, and getting ready for Melody's first birthday party! I need to spend some QT on the computer with this template and get things fixed or ask my Hubby to create me a completely new page. Stay tuned....

Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow fabric

I loved this new fabric from Joel Dewberry. I was happy that the fabric store I shop at had it a few weeks ago! They have a lot of spring colors, but I decided to get away from the pinks and greens, and do something different.

I made this dress for my neice's 2nd birthday. It's still sitting in the envelope in my car, as I have neglected to mail it everyday for about a week, for various reasons. She'll get it soon though, and I can't wait to see her in it!

Chicky Easter Dress

Last week, I decided last minute to make Melody an Easter dress. I just happen to have the perfect fabric scraps from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection, and plain white linen.

Instead of a pillowcase dress, I sewed the bow part to the dress, so you could see more of the fabric. I've been dying to applique something, and was surprised how how easy this actually was. The chick design was super easy, and I really love how it all came together! I'll be incorporating more appliques in my sewing for sure!

And...A matching hair bow! She loved her Easter Baskets, Melody had a great first Easter. Next year, we hunt for eggs, cant wait!