Category Archives: Sewing

This and That

Hello to you all, my friends. How are you? I’m doing great, staying busy.

Today I spent the day doing something I’ve been wanting to do, but yet, kept putting off because I couldn’t decide on colors. What I did today was dye yarn, and I decided to simply start and let the colors speak for themselves, which they seemed to do just fine. I dyed 5 skeins and was so into what I was doing that I forgot to take pictures.

I’ve also been saving avocado pits for dyeing, so I also dyed a cotton tank. It ended up being the palest shade of mauve-y rose. I think it will make a nice neutral layering piece. Once again, I forgot to take photos, sorry. I will share later, I promise.

Last weekend my husband and I brought our daughter back to school. Gosh, it feels like weeks have already gone by since she’s been home, not a week. How does that happen? Anyway, she is all moved in and has even started classes. Her apartment is very nice this year. The cluster of 3-story buildings are only about 6 years old. Each apartment has a washer/dryer, two bathrooms, high ceilings, nice kitchen and living room. She loves it, however, she is trying to adjust to the noise. She is on the first floor and her window has gotten banged on early in the morning and she hears people outside on the sidewalk. I suggested ear plugs. 🙂

Here is a photo of her cute bed. She made the two pillows in the front, and the braided garland and tassel garland hanging on the wall. The doily on the front pillow was crocheted by her great great grandmother and the rosebud cross stitch picture is by me. She brought another rosebud which wasn’t hung at the time this photo was taken. I think it’s really nice how she has things at school made by her family.

I also wanted to make something for my daughter as she started school this year. This was my first pair of socks made with self striping yarn. Even though I started each sock with yarn from the center of the skein the stripes are reversed. Live and learn! Luckily, the quirkiness of the pair is being embraced. The yarn is Knit Picks Felici sock in the Golden Hour colorway.

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One evening while knitting these socks, as the golden hour was happening the sky actually looked golden and seemed to be lit from within. It was magical.

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Good news! I finished all of the dresses for my 2018 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. There are 23 in all. I’m a bit burned out, so this will be the extent of dress sewing for a little bit. However, I love looking at my little dress shop when I am working in my sewing room. They’ll be here until mid November.

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This past week I started an ensemble for Ann Estelle. The fabric is a teeny tiny Japanese ballerina print. Isn’t it adorable? I am knitting a lilac mohair cardigan to accompany the dress and possibly a pearl headband. After being away from doll sewing for about 6 months it is good to be back. I’ve missed it.

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I’ll be back soon. I hope you all have had a great ‘end of August’ weekend. Wishing you a wonderful week ahead. ❤

Hello!

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Hello from soggy northern Illinois! How are you? I hope your week is moving along nicely. I am keeping busy with a few different projects.

Over the weekend I finished my cozy and snuggly Bobble Cowl. The pattern is by Joji Locatelli and can be purchased on Ravelry. It uses one skein on sock yarn. I used Knit Picks Preciosa which I hand dyed.

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I added three extra pattern repeats to get my cowl as long as possible. That tiny ball of yarn is all that’s remaining. I used a scale to make it easier to predict how many more repeats I could add—I added three. Still, I was wondering if I’d have enough to finish the last one.

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Previously, I’ve shown you the shoeboxes (2016 and 2017) I put together for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child program. Last year, I stumbled upon this video of Eva whom I haven’t been able to forget. She is 100 (now 101) and sews dresses for the little girls who receive her shoeboxes. I think she is amazing! Eva has inspired me to make some dresses of my own for my shoeboxes for 2018.

I found some patterns and measurements on Pinterest and set to work on Saturday to make my first dress. It took awhile—I hadn’t sewn any human clothing since my daughter was quite small, but everything slowly came back to me. I used to make practically all my own clothes, so I guess it’s like riding a bike.

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This dress was made with lots of love for the little girl who will wear it. I hope she likes it and can find lots of little treasures to put in the pocket.

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This morning I made a pattern so that the future dresses I make can be cut out without measuring each one; that was quite time consuming.

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My Little Darlings, Lucy and Alice couldn’t let me write a blog post without saying hello. They’re hanging out in the studio and having a fun day playing together. Alice is waiting for me to finish her ensemble so she can put on her shoes and be ready for a proper photo shoot.

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This morning, I made some time for puppy cuddles and making granola.

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Right now I have a load of laundry in the washing machine and I’m going to slip out between the rain clouds for a walk. I think I can do it; for now it’s 51° (11°)—springtime temps!

Enjoy your day, my friends! ❤

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“Woodland Whimsy”

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Do you remember the mushroom motif craze in the 1970s? They’re back! Actually mushroom motifs have been popping up in design for a few+ years now, and in more modern colors, which I am happy about. Back in the ’70s they were mostly seen in those 1970s colors—orange, avocado green, brown, and harvest gold. Even though I cannot get used to that color scheme again, when I saw these canisters at the Volo Antique Mall last year I thought they were cute. (My aunt had these in her kitchen.)

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I think the first year I started seeing mushrooms pop up again in design was 2012 when I saw this fabric designed by Natalie Lymer. I immediately fell in love with it. To this day, this is one of my favorites for Bethany.

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I really need to make something for this girl again, she’s so cute! But, I digress, sorry about that.

I’ve been saving this new mushroom print by Lizzie Mackay for one of my first fall-ish ensembles. I know it’s not fall yet, but I couldn’t wait to use it!

Here is Lucy modeling “Woodland Whimsy”. Aren’t the colors in this print lovely? They’re modern, vintage, and cozy, all at the same time.

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Did your see Lucy’s little girl gnome charm? She told me it’s for good luck.

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I’m not sure how I initially got the idea to knit mushrooms for this ensemble. I get side tracked a lot, especially in the mornings. I think I picked up a scrap ball of bare wool, and started knitting in the round on my double pointed needles. I most likely wanted to practice starting with a few stitches to make sure I remembered this technique. (It is almost Santa hat season, and I start from the top down.) I guess a mushroom cap started forming, and all of a sudden I have accessories for “Woodland Whimsy”! Magic!

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Lucy’s little capelet is knit with moair/silk lace weight yarn and her vintage styled headband hat is knit with a fingering weight Peruvian Highland wool in the same color. The colorful little mushrooms were fun to embroider in bullion and straight stitches.

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Lucy’s 3/4 length sleeve dress is finished beautifully inside. It is tedious as there is a lot of hand sewing to do, but I love to dress my dolls in dresses finished like this, it’s so luxurious. (lol) The dress is completely lined except for the sleeves so as to keep the bulk down. The sleeve seam allowances that show on the inside have been double turned and hand sewn in place. All the other seam allowances are hidden in the lining.

Since it took so long to finish the inside of this dress, I’d love to show you what it looks like. I think this bodice takes four times as long as a lined sleeveless bodice. All that just for sleeves!

Here is a sleeve turned inside out. You can see the tiny hand stitches holding the double turned underarm seam and hem in place. The bodice armhole lining is hand stitched to hide the top of sleeve’s seam allowance.

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