Mike turns 30!

and I finally cut into the Anna Maria Horner fabric that's been laying in my sewing room for a month!

I made this from her Square Dance fabric, and instructions from her blog. It didn't too long (always twice as long as I think it's going to take). But, I love how it turned out! It's still 95 degrees here, so I think there is some life left in it, before fall. Then i'm thinking it would be cute with tights and boots!

We had a wonderful day with friends and family! Wow - 30!

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!

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!

Ready for Spring!

We had a little taste of early spring this weekend. High 50's! I cant wait to put Melody in fun little dresses all summer. This dress I made last week, with the help of my mom! It made it 10x more fun to have my mom hanging in my sewing room (also the guest room:). I used the fabrics from Jessica Levitt's Timber line, with a little Amy Butler! Not sure yet if I'll post this style to Esty.