Saturday, March 19, 2011

What's the Point....

 ...of having these stitches, if you never use them.  I rarely use the decorative stitches on my machine.  I don't own an embroidery machine for two reasons: 1.  I'd rather hand embroider, and 2.  the cost of the machines!!!!
I finished Miss K's dress for Easter, using the pattern below.  I made the view of the pink one in the center of the pattern front.  It looked a little "grannyish" to me, though.    So.......
I embellished this white satin ribbon with a machine decorative stitch and then added the blue satin ribbon bow.  I definitely think this "youngs" it up a little.  Afterall, Miss K is not quite 11 yet.  She liked this pattern and fabric, though.  The fabric isn't photographing exactly as it really looks.
Here's a little closer look at the ribbon.  The only gathers in this dress are in the sleeve caps.  The front and back skirt, as well as the sleeve hems are pleated.
A close up of the back zipper.  I rarely put in zippers in my kids' clothing, but this dress called for it and I thought it worked.  I usually just add a little fabric to the center back to accommodate the button overlap when a pattern calls for a zipper.
Below is the hat that I showed you in my last post.  But, now it is all taken apart to use as a pattern.
Someone asked what fabric I am using.  This is a heavy and fairly stiff cotton herringbone that I had in my stash.  I think that if I add a few layers of interfacing and have two layers of the fabric for the brim, it will be plenty stiff enough.  I think I have figured out how to make the back of the brim curl up.  It may not work, but if it does, I'll show you how I did it.  I will adjust the size as I go along.  This was a woman's hat, by the way.  I don't think it would be a whole lot too big for our Big Little Man.  I'm not sure what kind of hat I'll be making for Little Little Man.
Go See the Pay It Forward Post on my other blog Baby Girl's Observations.  Just click here.

9 comments:

meg said...

It's funny but I'll ignore the deco stitches for the longest time and then I'll have a whole batch of projects that I can use 'em for! As usual, your work is stunning. You have some lucky grands!

Faye Lewis said...

RE: All those stitches, I know right!

Gail said...

It's the little touches that count. I also have many stitches on my machine that aren't currently being used...saving them for the grandkids!

Needled Mom said...

The grandkids love playing with the fancy stitches on the machine, but I seldom use mine either.

I like what you did to jazz up the dress for Ms. K.

The hat will looks fabulous, I am sure. You do such lovely work.

Karen said...

That's going to be a really cool hat and I really like the stitch you chose for the ribbon. I like the way the hem kinda kicks out a little, too. Sweet little dress.

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

YOU totally out did yourself on the dress and truly knocked it out of the ballpark with the trim. You are very creative.

I do have an embroidery machine but nothing can compare to those built-in machine stitches on my regular machine as you do not have to hoop to use them. You can make all sorts of ribbon, trims, etc.. just by combining rows of stitches. Great for accenting cuffs or hems or whatever. When I was sewing I still went back to my regular sewing machine for scalloped edges and such. If you look at my sewing category on my blog you will see how I created a mock smocking on a baby outfit by using one of the built-in stitches. I think its like your number 54-2. I gathered the top part of the outfit first with a running stitch and then stitched over it with that special machine stitch. The ideas are endless.

Thank you for coming by to visit me!
God Bless you and yours.

Kim said...

what a lovely touch that white ribbon with the decorative stitching made on the dress! I know that sentence cannot be correct- but you know what I mean I hope! It makes the dress just pop!

Anonymous said...

What kind of sewing machine do you have?
Patricia

Yogurt Recipes said...

Thaank you for sharing

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