Heirloom sewing

 

I'm doing some secret sewing.  I'm making some English smocked dresses for some of my grand daughters. It's very slow going though, so I'm not sure if I'll have them done in time for Christmas 😬 I'm going to do the best that I can! 

Setting the pleater up was a big deal, because I haven't done it in 8 or more years! I put my quilting thread in this container from Target that I use for storage. I threaded each thread through a hole and then threaded the pleater. The needles in the pleater have a bend in them so that they will go around the rod.

It took me so long to thread all 16 needles.  Then I realized that I only needed 15, so I just didn't thread the last one.  During the pleating, one of my needles broke.  I had to unscrew the rod, take out all the needles and start over again. The second time worked, thank goodness! It took me a whole afternoon though. I have my pleater propped on the chevron tin so the needles don't fall out as I'm threading them.

Success! I did a wheat stitch at the top, and had a really pretty peach thread for the second row.  I had to unstitch it because it didn't show up at all.  Now I'm using yellow which is my grand daughter's favorite color anyway :)

Here are the pleating threads, I tie them together taught against the fabric, two at a time. Then I take them all and tie them together loosely.  If I need to untie them, it's not too difficult as the quilting thread is a little stiff and waxy.

I'm using this pattern, but will have two extra rows because I'm making a size 10 and it requires 13 smocked rows.

In the empty space in the middle, I will have all these embroidered bullion roses. 

I haven't made a dress for my grand daughter Isabel yet, she's 8 years old.  She was telling her mother that she really wants me to make her a dress because she only has her blessing dress that I made for her, and she really wants to have another dress for her own daughter in years to come.  Isn't that adorable?  Yes Isabel, I'll make you a thousand dresses!!! 😂

I love it when they appreciate what I make for them 💗 It fills my journey with joy.

See you next week!

Cut and Sew Panels

I just love these cut and sew panels by Stacy  Iest Hsu for Moda fabrics

I've made almost every single one of hers and my grand daughters love them! When I saw this adorable Doggy one, I just had to buy it!!! You cut along the lines, nothing extra to add, and them sew with a 1/4" S/A

It really helps if you sew the dolls with a shorter stitch so they don't come apart.

These adorable dogs just melted my heart when I saw them!  There are four little pups in the Mom's skirt, and the Dad with his shorts and bow  tie ❤️ Love their floppy ears too!

Four little pups all in a row...

I also bought this cute shirt for my little grand daughter, keeping with the dog theme :)

Here is the Kitty Cut and Sew Panel.

There is a whole line of fabric that goes with these panels too.  I just type the fabric line or the name of the Cut and Sew panel in the search button on Etsy and see what comes up. I try to order from a shop that has free shipping if you spend $35.00. I'd rather. spend the extra money on fabric instead of shipping :)

Swoon!!!  So cute!  I'm ordering an extra panel of the Doggy and Kitty for birthday gifts for grand daughters in the new year.

I especially love the fabric on the Kitty's skirt.  It would make a cute little girls dress or a quilt! I love the pleasant look on their faces.  ....like they're keeping a secret.....This grand daughter is getting some fuzzy pajamas to go with her little kitties ❤️

Here's the whole group!  Sew, sew cute 💗💗💗

I may have taken on too much but I'm sewing a lot of gifts this Christmas....See you next week :)

Frolic quilt pattern

I talked about my fun quilt retreat a couple of weeks ago, to Payson, Arizona.  There's a fantastically wonderful quilt shop there called Copper Needle.  Gina Perkes is the owner, and she's also a pattern designer and long armer extraordinaire ❤️

Once a month, on a Saturday morning, she has a demo day where she demonstrates how to make a quilt that she just designed.  Our retreat happened to be during that weekend, so we all made our reservations to go.  Gina is so nice and so funny and so pretty, she actually designed two versions of her "Frolic" quilt pattern.  She has the demo in a movie theater room, just two doors down from her shop which is in a strip mall. Gina always has 3 or 4 color versions of her quilt that she is demonstrating.  You can also follow Copper Needle on Facebook and see her demo there.  The cool thing about attending in person, is that she gives everyone the quilt pattern.  After that, it can be purchased at her shop.  She has a whole wall full of quilt patterns that she's designed. I've been to 3 of her demos now and have loved every single one.  

 Gina said that this quilt was really fast to make, about 6 hours to be exact.  Well, I had a whole day in my sewing room and had some really cute vintage looking Christmas fat quarters that I knew would be perfect for this quilt.  Sure enough, it took about 6 hours to make, start to finish.

Doesn't it look like ribbon weaving in and out?  I managed to have all the Santa heads going horizontally, and the other prints weren't directional.  I had the poinsettia fabric left over from another quilt, and I was thrilled that it all worked out.  I really love it!  I want to back it in some soft minky fabric, maybe a frosted blue or vintage pink, or even a cream.  It's not too big, so I can machine quilt it myself.  I don't know if I can get it done by Christmas though, because I have a lot of secret sewing to do.

Thanks for following, see you next week :)

Dinosaurs quilt

I posted about this quilt a while back, but I finally gifted it, so wanted to tell you more about it.  I've made a few Elizabeth Hartman quilts before and have always loved the process!  Making one of her quilts is like putting a puzzle together, there are so many little pieces! It's the joy in the journey, and it's always so much more fun when I know who I'm making the quilt for.  

I chose blue fat quarters from my stash, some light blues and some darker blues. It almost gives an hombre effect.  I had to buy the background fabric.  I chose a mottled slate which I wouldn't have liked it on its own but knew it would be cute with the dinosaurs. I made the baby size, which is a quarter of the regular size.  In the past, I have made two regular size Elizabeth Hartman quilts, Awesome Ocean and Penguin Party, and I machine quilted them both myself.  I've also made Fancy Forest in baby size, in both blues and pinks/oranges.

You can see the wavy stitch I used to machine quilt, on my Bernini QE 750.  My machine is great for quilting!

I just couldn't resist this adorable skeleton dinosaur fabric for the backing.  

Usually it's difficult for me to part with one of my quilts.....so much time and love, and money!!! 😂 Not this time, it was going to a very special little baby.

When we lived in California, I had a calling in the Young Women organization, working with teenagers.  Sarah was one of my Young Women and I just loved her and her family. ❤️ We had a lot of adventures together over the years. I was thrilled when she and her husband moved here as newlyweds.  A couple of years later, baby Isaac was born and I was so excited to make him a quilt :)

I think Isaac likes his quilt, lol!  Isn't he a precious baby?  I love how he has his hand on top of mine ❤️ I'm so blessed to have this sweet family in my life.

See you next week!