Are you a baster?

Not a turkey baster! Are you a person who during garment construction, hand bastes pieces before that final stitching?

I never used to be. A step I find myself doing more and more. I know, I hear so many of you saying, "I don't have time!" No so, because it takes me longer to pick it back out than to baste.

I timed it, it took FOUR minutes to baste this collar on. I marked the basting stitches with blue marker since it is tough to see the white on white. Not tiny stitches. It would take three times that much time to rip it back out, if I wasn't happy with it.

The reason I basted it is because on this little jacket, the high contrast binding is going to call attention to that closure at the neck. If there is a big ol' gap there, there will be no hiding it. When you pin, pin, pin, it distortes the seam line. Also I tend to bust needles way to often when hitting the pins. Thirdly, the presser foot pushes the fabric as it goes through the machine. No way around it. If I baste or glue it (as I do piping), it is not going to move on me under the foot. As it is, on the collar above, I ended up taking out part of the basting too. It makes no difference if my collars meet at the raw edge. No one is going to see that. They didn't meet at the SEAMLINE.  So pay close attention to where your seamline will be, that is where you want them to meet.

Parting shot:

Here is this dress on our star model.

Teeny Inspiration

First posted by beedeebabee

This is one of those things that just catches my breath. It is so stinkin' cute!! Make sure to visit beedeebabee and gather a dose of cuteness for yourself.

Farewell to a Faithful Servant

 In memory of

Rev. Dr. Lee Miller

It takes a village to dress a child

At least it takes a village to dress this child! This is a three person project. A friend started the smocking for a second friend that had twins about seven years ago. She sent it to her to finish. Well the girl had twins, she ran out of time. She discovers the UFO recently, finishes the smocking and sends it to me. I finished the construction. And that is the story of a well traveled UFO.

It is a cozy, warm, brushed twill probably from Heirloom Imports. (Funny thing is, I have this same print in a lawn in the "want to do" pile.) It is Chery Williams bishop smocked with floche. I don't know the name of the smocking plate.

I piped the neckline. Horror of horrors, I had to do it without my #10 foot!! After the workshop a couple weeks ago, I have lost my #10 foot. I about can't function without it. I had a heck of time making and attaching this piping without my favorite foot. One of the classes we took from Gail D. was Beautiful Bias. She has a great way to attach a prefinished bias to the neckline. I couldn't quickly figure out how to do it with the piping. So I will have to play with that some to work it out.

I have no idea what the original plan for the placket was, but I took out a few stitches on either side and made a full length placket down the back. That is the beauty of a bishop, it does have some forgiveness factor, especially in a heavier fabric. I had the leeway to do that and still have enough fullness to make it fit.

I used buttons from Hill Creek in a soft pink. I wanted to attach the buttons with the darker floche for contrast. Floche is a very soft twist fiber and I was afraid it wouldn't be able to withstand the wear and tear of a button in use. So I attached the button first with sewing thread and then ran the floche just through the holes on top covering the sewing thread. Perfect for the contrast without the need for sturdiness. Best of both worlds. The buttons really are on straight but they look wonky in this picture. It is probably the tulle under the dress to "puff it" for the picture that is making it hang cotcheyed.

So thank you Robin and Lori for your help in dressing this child. Hopefully we will have a model shot soon though I am sure we won't see baby girl today. The weather here has been horrid. My son is out there now trying to dig his mother out. Bless his heart, he is good to his momma!

Smocking Inspiration

 

 Rabbit Whiskers

In honor of National Smocking Month I thought I would share this sweet bunny I stumbled across while surfing. It is also nice to think that spring will come again since a howling wind is blowing the snow around outside my window.

While I was snowed in today I finished a project I will share tomorrow. Also have a stack of "want to do's" I need to cull down.

My heart skips a beat

Even with the craziness of last week, I had a few minutes each evening to flop in the chair and work on my jacket from Gail Doane's class. I have 8 more hearts to add the running stitch to, then I can bind the jacket. If you have never done one of Gail's jackets I highly recommend it. The jackets are featured in both Australian Smocking and Embroidery and in her jacket book:

Gail's book is available from Country Bumpkin, most heirloom retailers as well as book retailers nationwide. The best way to learn is from Gail herself. If a class comes to your area, jump at the chance.

Since the embroidery is a larger format with more strands, it goes pretty quickly. And it so stinkin cute! The fabric is Dakota pique from Spechler-Vogel. Again available from most heirloom retailers. Very nice weight for a spring jacket and easy to work with.

February is National Smocking Month. What do you have planned? For one, I have the bishop that matches this little jacket as well as some spring and summer ideas swirling in my head.

Here! Here! Yes, I'm here!

This has been the topic line of more than one email in the past few days. Yes I am here. Right here. No where but here. Here has just been craaaazy the past two weeks. So excuse my absence faithful reader. Besides the impending winter weather coming our way, this week promises to be normal and boring. I welcome boring. Crave it actually.

Where have I been? Well first off our SAGA chapter hosted a workshop with Gail Doane last weekend. That was wonderful.

And you know me, I had table favors to get ready. Here is one. Made from heavy cotton duck with a contrast band. Isn't that band cute? It is our chapter logo. How fun is that? I had fabric printed with our chapter logo. What a blast that was. You too can create your own fabric at Spoonflower. It is very easy, I ordered a swatch first to see if it would work. What is this little guy?

Its a little snip bag to keep next to your machine or your chair to hold all those little thread snips. I often end up with a gnarly little pile that I either track all over the house, the cat gets into and spreads around or gets mixed up with my working floss and causes general havoc. So now I have a tidy little "trash can" next to my seat that I can gather them into. This can also save you money and anxiety.

Recently I was working on a project and had precious little floss left in one color I was working with. I had JUST ENOUGH to finish with. I lost it. I think I scooped it up with my snips pile and tossed it. Imagine my panic. I needed to get this finished pronto and on its way! I was short about 30" of floss. Agghhh. Not next time, now I won't be throwing away needed floss because it has become snarled up with the leavings.

These little bags certainly would not warrant having my own fabric printed, but

these were! A matching pincushion. The pincushion is made using a free pattern at Heather Bailey's blog. Just search the right hand column for "Free Patterns." It is called Square Deal™ Pincushion.

Very easy and cute. This one is a bit wonky so it went into the reject pile. I made 20 snip bags and 23 (including this wonky one) pincushions for our workshop. I will admit my fingers were sore after pulling ribbon through 23 pincushions.

NOTE: One change I made to the pincushion was to stitch a tiny buttonhole in the center of each square. It made pulling that ribbon through much easier and quicker. I saved 5x as much time stitching out the buttonholes than trying to tug that 3/8" ribbon through the fabric with just a needle.

So again thank you faithful readers for checking up on me. You are the best.

Parting shot: Luncheon tables for our workshop.

Mind blowing

by Dalton Ghetti

Is this not unbelievable? The tiniest key, scuplted from pencil lead. Reportedly it takes Ghetti up to a year to do each of his sculptures. Amazing patience.

Carry on!

Just a quick cutie

Did everyone say, "awwwwww"? Adorable.

A thought...

Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not count the cost;
to fight and not heed the wounds;
to toil and not seek for rest;
to labor and not ask for reward, except to know
that I am doing your will.

Amen. 

St . Ignatius of Loyola