Thursday, June 25, 2009

Rose of Sharon, Bird House, and J&K's dresses

This Rose of Sharon bush has decided to start blooming. I love the big lilac blooms. At night they close up. The white bird house is the one my SIL built for me for my birthday/Mother's Day gift. I love it and think it looks great next to this bush. The other bird house is one my Grand ILs put up when they lived here. This view is from our deck.

As I said in my last post, I had to sandwich white cotton fabric between the layers of the girls' dresses. The first view shows how much you can see through the striped fabric while being held up to the window. The second view is with the white fabric between the others.

It wasn't as evident with the window pane checked fabric, but I went ahead and used the white in between anyway. It gave a little more body. This pattern is supposed to only have one layer of fabric. I just decided that it was very conducive to being reversible, so why not?

These are the two from the front views showing both the original and the reverse sides. As you can see I added ties on the shoulders before I took the striped photo.

I really like the back of this dress better than the front. The back sides wrap around and tie underneath the front. On the pattern (Butterick 5019) there was a button tab sewn on the inside of the front with buttons on the corners of the back, but since I made them reversible, I just did the tie thing.
On Jenna's I used bias binding and almost felt guilty because it was so quick and easy. As a matter of fact, I was thinking that this is a pattern the girls could make themselves with a little help and with just one layer of fabric. I liked that there was only one pattern piece. The front and back were all cut as one piece. There are darts on the shoulders.
On Kellen's I decided to sandwich piping in between the layers ( I treated the white cotton as one with the striped.) I didn't put piping around the neck line. I left it open so I could turn it. I then used narrow bias binding around the neck. As a little extra detail I zigzagged across the piping and bias binding, which is red, with blue thread. I like this look. I would not have done the piping if I had it to do again, though. The binding was so much easier.


This is a close up of the piping with the zigzag detail.

This is how much binding I had left over from two packs after making Jenna's dress. LOL
I used 2+ packs of piping for Kellen's. I usually make my own piping and binding, but was able to match these so well with the purchased kind and since they are just sundresses and made from cotton I decided to buy it. Also, I had to have SOOOOO much, and I felt rushed to finish.


Just as I finished Jenna's dress this morning my DH, who had been by the church on an errand, called to tell me that an ICON from our church had died this morning. As I posted a few days ago, there were no male role models in my family, but there were several in my life. This man was one of those. He and my mother have known each other all of their lives. They were in church together and in the same class in school. I have lots of photos of them and their friends during their teen aged years. My middle daughter's name is Elizabeth. I named her for this gentleman's wife. This couple sat behind my family in church throughout my life, and they still sat there just a couple of Sundays ago behind my DH. I sit in the choir. I dreaded telling my mother that he had died, but she took it very well. Last week when she was confused she thought she saw this couple and tried to wave at them. I saw his wife at church just last night and asked about him. She said he was doing well, except that his back and legs hurt from sciatica very badly. He was scheduled to have an epidural today to help ease his pain. I went out to their house after helping Mother with her lunch. I took sandwich fixings. They have two daughters and 4 grandchildren and other family members who will be coming in. I need to start keeping the fixings for a cake or something so that when something like this happens I can cook something to take. They will have more food than they will ever be able to eat, though. That's just how people in this small town are. Also, he was very well known by everyone in the town.
There is a blessing; he died in his sleep.
OMG, I just went upstairs and listened to messages on my phone and found out that a lady who has also been in my church all my life died today, too. It was three years ago today that her husband, who was one of the other positive male models in my life, died, along with my mother's absolute best friend in the world who was also a member of my church. I played with all of these folks' children. I went to their homes, spent the night with some of their kids, and on day trips with them, etc..... This town is the classic "It takes a village" kind of town. You must realize that this is a very small town where everyone knows (or at least used to know) everyone else. A lot of people from the north and from Florida have moved here over the years. Don't get me wrong, it is great having new people move in. Progress is a good thing. I love the innovation that has been brought here by new people. I am having so much fun connecting with people from every part of the world through this blog. But, when I was growing up, this was a Mayberry type of town. Our church is also very small, so losing two people in one day and on the same day as three years ago is just too much!

12 comments:

Gail said...

Oh Julia, I hope that something wonderful happens soon. Your garden looks so peaceful. I also loved the little girls pinnis. Our Synagogue community is also ageing. Last week we lost 4 of our elderly members..it is felt by the whole community.

gwensews said...

I'm sorry for the loss of your church members. That's a lot of sadness all at once for a lot of people. On a brighter note, the dresses area dorable. Love how the front wraps around to the back. Very cute. And honestly, I think the 2 layers of fabric is going to be an improvement on the pattern.

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry for your losses. My thoughts are with you.
Your Rose of Sharon is gorgeous. My mother has an extensive rose garden and I was just telling my kids about the names of the roses in her garden. Sharon was in the garden too. I don't think so big though!
The dresses are adorable. I just got out my seersucker and pattern to start the girls!

Unknown said...

Julia, I am very sorry for your loss. I grew up in a small town, so I understand. The dresses are gorgeous. I have that pattern, but have yet to try it. I love the idea of reversible.

window dressing said...

Very sad to hear about your friends' passing. I guess the biggest advantage of coming from a small town is that everyone is family and there is a lot of support and love all around you.
On a different note, your flowers are spectacular and the reversible dresses more so. I love the details on them and that you have a 2-1.

Diana said...

I am sorry to hear about your losses.. *HUGS*

Zep said...

Life is a precious gift with moments that are meant to be enjoyed. So much death the past few days. We have lessons to learn and with these deaths we are being taught to enjoy our gift so when we're taking our last breath we can leave it with a smile and much love filling our hearts. It's ours to decide how we use our gift.

back to the moment - loving the new dresses. You are an artiest. We are a strange bunch in Florida - that's for sure :)

Trudy said...

I am so sorry for your loss.

Love the Rose of Sharon dresses.

I just read about your pillowcase dresses. What a treasure they are. Thank you for telling me about them.

www.sewingwithtrudy.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

So sorry for your loss! but thanks so much for giving me some encouragment! Your the best.

Michelle said...

Julia I'm sorry for your loss. That is really hard.
Those dresses are really cute.

Chicago Sarah said...

*hugs* Thinking of you in your sorrow.

The dresses are adorable- I passed over that pattern because I wasn't sure how nice it would look made up, yours are great!

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