Fairy Houses

Our three oldest granddaughters, Misses K, J, and R, have been here for a visit.  We made fairy houses while they were here.  We placed them all around our yard.  Some are actually not houses, but swings, etc....      I just got a lot of STUFF out for them and they used their creativity to make these amazing structures.                                                                        

Refashion number 7 A Maxi

I really wish I had taken a before picture of these pieces, but I didn't.  This was a REALLY long skirt on Mother, but she was in the wheelchair by the time she wore this, so the length didn't really matter.  The sweater was also very LONG and loose.  It had very long sleeves, too.               

 I cut the sweater up the front, cut it off below the bust line, then crossed the right side over the left.  The bow was already on here.  I left it alone.  This dress comes to my ankles.  I left the hem line of the skirt as it was.

 Then, I stitched the skirt waist to the bottom of the sweater.  I cut the sleeves off and did the shell stitch around their hem.

I used a trim that I had in my stash to cover the elastic waist band.  This last photo is of me in the mirror.  I thought you needed to see it on, rather than just hanging.  Beulah wasn't feeling cooperative this morning.

Refashion Number 6 A dressy number this time.....

Mother wore a long skirt, a long shell, and a long beaded jacket to my youngest daughter's wedding.  She was wearing what she called UGLY shoes at this time and refused to wear anything that wouldn't hide them.  She was in a wheelchair most of the time by then, too, so her shoes didn't really matter so much, but they did to her.  Anyway, I cut the skirt off from the top and stitched it to the underlining of the shell, making a short (well, just below the knees) dress.  Then, I cut up the edge of the long beaded jacket trim.  I took the trim and curved it around the sides till it met in the back at hip level.  I stitched by hand, the trim to the fabric of the jacket.  There was no sewing this on the machine.  I broke two needles trying.  Anyway, once I had stitched around the trim numerous times by hand to ensure that it was going to hold, I then cut the length of the jacket off below the trim.  Boy, I should have taken some before pictures.  

I may wear this to my niece's wedding soon.  I see that I need to press the chiffon of the shell that overlays the skirt.  I did shorten it a bit, because it was longer than the jacket when I thought I was through.                                                                                                                   

  

 

Where the bottom front corners of the trim ended, it makes kind of a point on either side of the back of the bottom of the jacket.  It doesn't look even in this photo, but I peomise it is.

I'm not sure that I want to wear this or what I wore to my nephew's wedding earlier this spring.  It's different sides of the family so no one will know if I wear what I've already worn.

Bandana Fashions For Kids and Refashions Number 4 & 5

I was walking through Walmart the other day, when I saw the bandanas.  They just kind of spoke to me, and said, "We will make cool, cute, summer outfits for your grands."  So, I bought a bunch of them.  

This shirt is for Miss K, our 11 year old.  She can wear this with jeans, white shorts, black shorts, or whatever.                                                                      

 Next is a sun top for Miss J, who is 8 1/2, now.   I loved the red, white, and blue of these bandanas.  I thought of the 4th of July approaching.

 

This is a closeup of how I did the straps from ribbon and buttons.

 A shot of the back of Miss J's top.

 

Miss R is 5 1/2 and loves girly things, so she is getting a skirt.  I used the borders that I cut off of Miss J's top to give a little more fullness than just using 2 bandanas would have provided.  The ribbon is tacked on to the waist on each side seam so it will stay in place.

Lil'B is now almost 11 months old.  She's getting a bubble suit.

 Her big sis, Lil'E is almost 4!  She's getting a pillowcase style dress.

 For the boys, who are 3 and almost 7 months, I made hats.  I thought I had lined up the red and white stripes on Big Little Man's a little better than it looks in this photo.  Maybe there is a wrinkle that makes it look skewed, but I'm not sure.  I'll have to go back and look.  Little Little Man's hat has the stripes lined up at the crown of the hat, but you can't see the circle they make here.

 

I lined them with some star fabric that was in my stash.

 

Now, for a couple more of Mother's outfits that I have refashioned to add to my wardrobe.  I did very little to change these.  That's why I'm showing them together.

 For the blue jacket, which had no buttons down the front, I simply folded back the front edges, stitched them together and stitched down the original edge to make a border along the center seam.  (The yellow that you see peeking out is yarn stuffing from Beulah's bra.  I didn't realize it was showing.)  There is actually a blue floral shell that goes with this.  I didn't photograph it, but all I did to it was take up the side seams.  I have folded up the sleeves to make a wide cuff.  I decided not to cut them off so that I can wear this year round.

 I actually did the same thing with this sheer, yellow jacket.  Mother wore this outfit to one of our daughter's afternoon wedding.  The shell underneath is linen, but it's lined so maybe it won't wrinkle too badly. 

 These are some of the pants that I cut off to make into capris.  Mother was shorter than I am and all of her pants are too short, so this was my only solution.  I also took them up down the side seams.  With some, I've had to take the waist band off and alter the crotch area.  

The yellow ones go with the yellow jacket above.  They are linen and will wrinkle, but that's ok.  

The blue ones in the middle are a part of the suit that goes with the blue jacket above.

The gray pants are separates, that I can wear with that first refashion jacket and shell that I posted about a few days ago.

Refashion Number 3

For this blouse, I started with one that I bought for Mother to wear to a Valentine's Dinner at our church several years ago.  It had long sleeves, very long sleeves, so long, in fact that they came almost to the tips of my fingers.  It was a typical button front shirt.                       

 So the first thing I did was cut the sleeves off and just turn them up and hem them on the machine.  Then, I took what I had cut off the sleeves , sewed the pieces together, folded them over, and gathered them.  Then I sewed them into the front of the shirt, which took up the fullness just enough to fit me, and voila, a new shirt.  Thanks, Beulah, for modeling for me again. 

This past Sunday was Pentecost Sunday at church.  Everyone was asked to wear red.  I didn't have anything red.  When I was a little girl, I had plain old brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin.  Many of my family members had red hair, including my mother and sister, and my cousin, Malinda.  She and I are only 4 months apart in age, so we dressed similarly, alot.   She always wore the blues and greens, though, and I was always in pink or red.  So, as I got older, I strayed from the pinks and reds, and rarely wear them anymore.  I really don't know why.   I love pink and red.  I wore this with black slacks to church, Sunday, but I think I need to get a new pair of crisp white pants with which to wear this and a few other tops I have.

Refashion Number 2

This began as a pullover sweater with a wide ribbed bottom edge.   Mother loved wearing lavender.  It looked so pretty on her with her snow white hair, fair skin, and blue, blue eyes.  Maybe this is why I  like purples so well.                                                                                    

 I began by cutting it up the center, cutting the ribbing off the bottom, then folding back the center edges and, using the blind hem stitch on my machine to make a shelled edging.  I turned up the narrow ribbing on the sleeves and did the same shell edging.  I used this same technique on the bottom.  Somehow, it turned out to be a little longer in the front, kinda going down into a vee shape.   I liked this, so I left it alone.

I added a button and used a hair elastic band to make a loop at the front neckline.  My favorite thing is the flower that I made from the ribbing that I cut off the bottom.  

I've already worn this several times, and people are either just being kind, or they really like it because I've had lots of compliments.  I have a solid plum colored shell that I've worn under this, but I like it over the shell that I showed you in yesterday's post that I made from Mother's dress.

I think this will look good with black, brown, or gray slacks, or a skirt.  (I don't wear skirts often, though.)  

My Beulah is doing her job well for me, lately.  She's earning her keep.  I do need to make her measurements equal mine, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.  Her shoulders are exactly the right size, but that's all.

 Something else in the purple family that I LOVE!

Below are 4 photos of the same bouquet of hydrangea.  I LOVE hydrangea, and I couldn't decide which photo showed these off best, so I just posted all of them.  This is from a bush that my husband's grandmother planted many years ago. 

                                               Have a great week,   JULIA

Not Giving Up, Yet......Refashion Number 1

Okay, so I took a week or so off, again, and I'm going to try this again.  Most of you advised that I should not give up on blogging, but not feel pressured to blog when I'm not in the mood.   I have been sewing.  I haven't been doing my usual sewing, though.  I have been refashioning some of my mother's clothing to fit me.  I am ready to show you some of these things, now. 

Thanks for all of your encouragement.  I just got into a little funk.  I think that the memories that kept flooding my mind while I was working with Mother's clothes was part of that.  I know that Mother would be so proud to know that I am reusing her clothes this way.  I have given away most of her things, but I started looking at the fabrics and decided to use them for myself.

 I didn't take any BEFORE pictures!  How neglectful of me.  I will try to describe each of these items, in this post and the next several, as they were originally.  This was a dress style that was fairly popular, maybe 5 or 6 years ago.  It was a long, almost to the ankle, dress that had no shape.  The jacket had a collar like a button up shirt normally would have.  So, what did I do to change it?

 

With Beulah's help, I'll show you.  First, I cut the dress off to make a shell to wear under tops, including the sheer jacket that came with the dress.  I will also wear this under some other tops.  My next post will show an example of that.  I also took  the side seams.                                                                       

Next, I cut the collar off of the jacket.  I cut the leftover fabric that I cut off the bottom of the dress into 4 strips, which I braided.  I attached this braid to the neckline of the jacket. 

That's all I did.  The jacket hangs very loosely.  The back has an open slit.  I kind of liked the way it looked so I left it alone.

I've also been working on some purses.  I'm trying to perfect my designs before I start sharing these, though.
Next, I'm going to make some summery little outfits for the grands.  I'm going to use red, white, and blue bandanas!  I hope these turn out like I am seeing them in my mind.

It's good to be back, again.  I hope my blogging mood stays with me this time.  Again, thanks for the positive comments.                                       
                                        julia

To Blog Or Not to Blog?

It seems that I have just not been in the blogging mood for a long time.  It could be because I haven't been sewing any children's clothing lately.  Maybe I just need to get in my sewing room, clean up the stuff I've been doing, and start on kids' things again.  Afterall, that is my passion.
I have just been in a funk.  I've been reading blogs.  I've left a few comments.  I used to leave comments on almost every blog I read, every time I read it.  Lately, I have just not had much to say, I suppose.
In looking back over my blog, I'm wondering if all this is, is a format for me to brag about what I've created?  Is it ???????.......   really, what is it?
I love reading about what ya'll create, so it stands to reason that ya'll want to see what others create, including me?  Right?  I don't know.
I also haven't had use of my husband's camera lately.  I would rather read blogs with photos.  I always did like picture books best.
I've been trying to figure out a way to turn my sewing or other creative endeavors into $$.  I haven't figured it out, yet.  I have heard yeas and nays about etsy, ebay, craig's list, etc......  I have heard yeas and nays about having your own website from which you sell things.  What's your take on this?
I have lots of questions.  Do any of you have answers?
Okay, so, now I just need to get in my sewing room and finish up some of the projects I do have going on before I start anything new.  That's also one of my problems.  I tend to think ahead to the NEXT thing I want to make, therefore hurrying through whatever the current project is.  NOT GOOD!
Later..............Julia

"I Will Follow Him" and "Children of God"

Every fifth Sunday, several of the churches in our area have a joint evening service after a family night covered dish dinner.  This past Sunday it was held at my church.

 The puppet team that I direct was asked to present a couple of songs.  We chose "I Will Follow Him" which you may remember as a love song from the fifties that was turned around in the movie "Sister Act" to a religious song.  As a background I made the silhouette above to represent people following Him.

 This is the puppet that "sang" the song.  The poster being held up was just for fun.  I wish  my husband had gotten photos of all of the signs, etc... that we used.  It was really cute.

 He did get a few.  There were others, though, from behind the taller white curtain.

 Here, we were performing the Third Day song, "Children of God".  Our youth went to a Third Day concert recently, and they loved this group. 

You can't tell in these photos, but the lights in the sanctuary were off and the puppets were holding little flashlights.  They swayed to the music as they "sang".

Today, I'm sewing.  I am remaking some of my mother's clothes to fit me.  These are some of the things that were too good to give or throw away.  So, I decided to just take them apart and remake them.  Mother was shorter than I am so I am shortening a few pairs of her pants to make into capris for me.  I am remaking some of her jackets and other tops to fit me, as well.  There's one dress that I'm going to shorten and take in.  I really need some clothes, so why not reuse her things?  She would be very proud to know I'm doing this.
Oh yeah, I forgot.  I am going with the poll votes from my sidebar to name my dress form, Beulah.  That was my grandmother's name.  It was my mother's first name, as well as one of my first cousin's first names. Lily was my Mother-in-law's first name, but she went by her middle name, Marie.   Ruth was Mother's middle name.  I have decided to name my sewing machine Ruth Marie.  Puddin' was my nickname when I was a kid.  I think I'll just save that name for myself.