Saturday, October 29, 2011

McCall's 6395

View C reminds me of an updated version of the 'drop-waist dress' of the early 80's!  Those were not my favorites to wear at the time, but this one is a fabulously modern version with great details.  Gone are the 80's tiny flower print cottons.  Enter the new mellenium solids and animal prints:


I LOVE this dress.  It fits good and it is comfortable and best of all, it is not like anything else I have in my wardrobe.  And to top it off, it cost under $20 to make.  Don't get me wrong - I don't sew to save money.  If that were the case, I would just buy my clothes.  I sew to have one-of-a-kind pieces and for the pure pleasure of sitting at my sewing machine producing something wearable.  I adore fine fabrics, but c'mon, now and then an inexpensive find makes me feel great.  I purchased the black ponte knit, the snakeskin print, and the 22" metal zipper at my local Hancock Fabric store for just under $20.  The ponte knit was on sale and I used coupons for the snakeskin print and the zipper.


The pattern instructions called for the zipper to be inserted from the top of the bodice piece to the bottom of the bodice where it meets the skirt piece.  The collar was to be secured with a hook and eye closure.  Since I am not particularly fond of hook and eye closures, I opted to insert the zipper from the top of the collar to the bottom of the bodice.  In doing so, I sewed on the collar before inserting the zipper, but I did not sew down the collar facing to the inside until after I inserted the zipper.  Then I foled down the collar facing and enclosed the top portion of the zipper tape into the collar and hand stitched the collar facing to the inside.

The sleeve 'caps' are self-lined, but the pattern called for a narrow folded hem finish for the bottom portion of the sleeve opening.  Instead, I finished it with single-fold narrow bias tape that I had on hand.  It didn't photograph too great because of poor lighting and dark fabric, but here's a picture of the inside of the sleeve area:


I used my serger to finish all the inside seams and I used the single-fold narrow bias tape to finish the edge of the skirt hem.  And of course, a double-needle (4mm wide) straight stitch hem was in order for the skirt since that is what is standard for knits (and this dress is primarily knit).


Here in Utah, this is a 3-season dress.  I can wear it as is in the Fall and Spring, but I will also be able wear it into the long, cold winter months by adding a close-fitting, long-sleeve knit shirt underneath. 

And now, my blog readers, I have a giveaway!


I have an extra pattern, never been used, never been opened, that I will gladly send to you free of charge.  The pattern sizing is 8-16.  If you would like to sew this up for yourself or a loved one, be the first to make such a statement in the comment section of this post, and I will contact you via email for your mailing address.

Thanks for reading and commenting.  Have a great weekend.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Civil War Generals' Wives BOM - Month One



Since DH's graduate degree is in Civil War studies, I thought I would show my support of his interests by joining Fat Quarter Shop's block of the month.  Each month focuses on the wife of one Civil War General.  Once a month, for 12 months, I receive the biography of said wife along with the fabric and instructions for that month's block.  The club runs from this month (October) through next September.  The first block is in remembrance of Anna Marie Hennen Hood.  Fort Hood is named after her husband.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Guest Room Bed Runner

Ahhh, sweet success.  I love rounding out the week with a completed project.  Here's the bed runner that I previewed here.


I try to keep the guest room pretty neutral and not 'girly' it up too much because you never know what gender guest will be staying in there.  But it was crying out for a pop of color.  This bed runner is very long (90+").  It would fit a king size bed perfectly.  Since I do not own any king size beds (they are all queen size), I will simply fold under the ends on each side to achieve the length I need.  The bed runner is puddled on the floor on the other side of the bed in this photo!!!  Actually, if I were to use a bedspread rather than a quilt and dust ruffle on the bed, the bed runner would fall to just above the floor on each side just like the length of the bedspread.  Hmmm, perhaps a bedspread purchase is in my future.

Here's a picture of it taken fromt the other end of the bed:


Here's the back of the quilt:


And, finally, a look at the quilt label which I embroidered using my embroidery machine:


The quilting was done on my quilt frame and I simply used a flower stencil and water soluble marker to mark it before quilting.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Halloween Card

Here's a quick little card I made for my parents. 



My inspiration for this card is from Nichol Magouirk’s blog.  I used Gina K. Designs ivory cardstock for the card base and the pumpkin rubber stamp is from her Falling for You Stamp TV kit.  I stamped the pumpkins on watercolor paper, then heat embossed with white embossing powder, and painted in with Close to My Heart markers (goldrush & olive) spritzed with pearlized water.  It was a technique I learned in Jennifer McGuire’s Inpsiration Showcase online card class last month.  I adhered them to the front of the card using pop dots.  The spider & web & BOO! acrylic stamps are from Close to my Heart (CTMH).  I die cut the tree and fence using my Silhouette.  I cut the tree out of ivory cardstock, then rubbed CTMH chocolate dye ink on it and let it dry.  Then I used CTMH colonial white dye ink on the Hero Arts designer woodgrain background stamp to give the tree a little dimension.  The background paper is from a 6 x 6 paper pad by My Mind’s Eye called Mischievous.

I'm currently quilting my bed runner and hope to have a review posted on here in the next few days.