Some Progress and Wearable Arts Fashion Show Fashions

This is what I've gotten done so far on the bishop dress for our 3 month old grand for Christmas.  The ribbon is woven in and can be taken out easily, so this can be worn after Christmas through Valentine's Day!                                                                             

 I've mentioned that I am helping to plan a wearable arts fashion show for our local arts council that is to be on November 13th.  If you live anywhere near here and would like to come, let me know.  I have some tickets to sell.  There is a link on my side bar to two sites where you can learn more about the show.  You quilters out there will be interested in knowing that Rachel Clark will be doing a trunk show in the morning before the runway show.
This is one of the three dresses that I will have in the show.  I made this 5 years ago for our oldest granddaughter (then 5 years old) to wear in her aunt's (our middle daughter) wedding as the flower girl. 

 It is made from baby blue cotton batiste and is fully lined with the same fabric. 

 I embroidered the band across the front with ribbon and embroidery floss.  For the bodice I made diagonal pintucks then sewed tiny pearls to each intersection.  I used this pintucked fabric to make the piping for the band.

 I used the same pintucked fabric for the cuffs and piping on the cuffs.

 Our daughter's wedding colors were baby blue and off white, so I used off white to accent this dress.  I love big sashes and made this one way oversized.  It looked very pretty as our granddaughter walked down the aisle.

 Our 2nd granddaughter was the "ring princess".  She carried the pillow that my daughter's mother-in-law made from some family heirloom handkerchiefs.  It was beautiful.

 Her dress is made from the same fabric, but is a different style.  This granddaughter was only 2 1/2 at the time.  Her dress was smocked, as you see here.  I added touches of pearls and little bows and embroidered flowers on the smocking portion of her dress.

 Her sash was way oversized, too.

 

This dress also had inserted lace.  Her dress was also fully lined with the same batiste.   I bought this fabric and lace at a store in Gastonia, NC.  Mary Jo's is the name of the store, if I remember correctly.  It is a huge store.  I wish it was near where I live!

This is what I did today, besides working on the first little Christmas dress.  I cut out all of the other grands' Christmas outfits.  I think I have picked out a pattern for the unborn babe!  It is one that has both a boy and girl outfit.  I just need to decide on fabric.

Yeah, I know that Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but...............

I can't wait that long to start on Christmas outfits for the grands.   For the two little ones out West in the desert where it will be in the 70s Christmas Day, I'm using red gingham, per their mom's request.  Little B, the three month old, is getting a bishop style dress.  Since I am using gingham, I decided to pleat it by hand rather than with my pleater.  This way, I was able to pleat exactly with the checks.  As you can see, I also was able to pleat so that on some rows, mostly red shows, and on others, mostly white.  I have only begun the smocking, so this doesn't look very good, yet.  I plan to use very narrow green ribbon to weave through some of the smocking.  I am going to do this in a way that my daughter can remove the ribbon and, either replace it with red or white ribbon, or leave it without ribbon.  That way, this will be a great dress through the Valentine holidays, as well.

This photo just shows the back side of the pleated fabric.  You can see the different rows of red and white in this photo better than in the other one.  By hand pleating, I was also able to work around the French seams without making a bulky pleat.  Her big sis is getting a red gingham loosely hanging dress that has a large white collar.  I'm going to make the collar detachable and reversible.  One side will have a Christmas motif either embroidered or appliqued, and the other side will have a Valentine motif.  Or, the dress will be wearable without the collar.

I'm waiting on confirmation from my older three granddaughters as to whether or not these fabrics will work for them.  For Miss K, our 10 year old, I plan to use this purple satin with a black flocked polka dot pattern.  I will use this along with a sheer purple with smaller black flocked polka dots and black velvet.  Miss K and I both got on our computers on Sunday to look at the Justice Children's Clothing website, so that I could see what style of dresses she likes now.  One of her favorites had a black velvet bodice and a purple taffeta plaid skirt with an overlay of (probably?) tulle.  The band across the bottom of the bodice had "jewels" sewn or glued on it.  The closest I could come to this dress's fabric was this polka dotted satin.  I hope she likes it, but if she doesn't, I will go on line to see if I can find something else.  This fabric will, for sure, be used for something else, sometime.

Miss J also looked at the Justice site and one of the dresses she liked best was red and black.  It was made from a fabric that started out red on the top and gradually blended in with darker red until it became black at the hem line.  I didn't find that, but I did find this satin that was reversible with mostly red on one side and mostly black on the other.  I will probably use the red for the bodice and the black for the skirt, or maybe vice-versa.  The flower trim will be the band between the two.    That is, I will use this fabric if Miss J likes it.

For Miss R, we looked at a Gymboree site.  One of her favorite dresses was a gray sweater dress.  It was really pretty, but not very dressy.  At not quite 5, Miss R likes anything pretty, so I stayed in her color choice, but the fabric is a satin with a black flocked floral pattern.  This dress will have either black or red tulle peeking out from below the skirt.

I may, or may not, use this black sheer fabric as an overlay on the skirt.  I may use the sheer to peek out from underneath rather than on top. (?????????)   Her bodice will be black velvet.  I plan to make a sash for her that ties with a big bow in the front, rather than the back.  All of these dresses will have crinoline linings that make them "stand out" a little. 

So far, for Little Man, I have found this very, very soft black and gray houndstooth wooly fabric.  I plan to make him a "trench style" coat.  I will also make him some pants, a shirt, and a tie.  I haven't gotten the fabric for these three items yet.  I thought I had some solid gray wool, but I don't.

 

Little Man's little brother or sister will be here before Christmas, but since I don't know the gender yet, I'll just have to wait and see what we get before deciding what to make.  Or, if I'm smart, I'll go ahead and decide what to make for either, buy the fabrics, and pick out patterns, so I'll be ready!

Baby Carrier to Zip into Mommy's Jacket and some excitement

My daughter, who is expecting her second baby soon, lives in the cold NE.  I saw these inserts when I was looking for a way to make carriers for one of our other daughters, who had our little Miss B three months ago.  She wanted a totally different kind of carrier because she lives out West in the desert and doesn't need a jacket very often.  (I've made lots of the Maya Slings, and they love them. ) Anyway, when I saw these inserts, I asked my daughter if she would want one.  She said she did, so I borrowed one of her jackets, and here it is with the insert zipped in place.  I am not showing the inside just yet, because I want to see if what I did to make it adjustable works first.  I made it so that the baby won't slip out the bottom and can sit at different levels as he/she grows.  I put elastic across the bottom, and I think that my daughter could even carry her two year old with the elastic cupping around his little bottom and his legs hanging out below the jacket.

My daughter is lots smaller than I am so this will fit her much better.

The zipper I bought would not work with the zipper in her jacket.  It was really weird because one side worked, but not the other.  I ended up buying another zipper and replacing the one in her jacket with it.  That way I had matching zippers.  They work like a charm.  I sewed the zipper on the sides of the insert so they would match up with the zipper in the jacket. The insert is just a doubled rectangular piece of fleece that I matched as closely as I could to her jacket. I did line it with a piece of black woven cotton that doesn't have much "give" to it, so that it won't stretch out so easily as the baby grows.   I added a short zipper across the top so that it can zip shut to make a hood. 

The baby can be covered all the way if it's really cold, or by just leaving the zippers down however far is comfy, the baby can be free to look around, etc.....  I hope this works well. 


EXCITEMENT!
The other night, we were just calmly sitting here watching tv, when we started hearing siren after siren after siren coming down the highway. 

They seemed to be stopping outside our house, and that would be because they were!!!!

 Well, on the other side of the highway, but it was pretty scary looking anyway.  More and more police cars, rescue squad vehicles, ambulances, etc.... kept coming.  We aren't exaggerating when we estimate that there were at least 30 emergency vehicles of one kind or another. 

We called friends who have a police scanner and found out that there had been a car chase of a man who had stolen a car and was wanted for other things, too. (????)  Anyway, he apparently tried to pull off the highway across from our house, but wrecked the car he had stolen.  His girlfriend was with him.  She apparently was injured and couldn't get out of the car.  That didn't stop him from getting out and running.  What a gem of a guy, huh?  So, the police, etc... had surrounded a wooded area near us, where they supposed he had gone.  They even brought a search helicopter.  I mean, there were search lights, police dogs (yep, I heard them howling), and rescuers of all sorts all over the place!   We turned all of our lights on and made sure my father-in-law did, too, just in case this guy made it across the highway.  We really didn't see how it would be possible, but just in case, we thought we'd light the way for the police to see better.  This went on a couple of hours!  But, finally, they caught him, at least we think they did.  We never saw anything about this on the news. 

I couldn't get any good pictures since it was so dark, and I really didn't want to use my flash.  I didn't want to cause any distraction.  Also, I was inside my house.  I wasn't about to go outside!!!  My husband and I watched from various windows inside the house, though.  Okay, so we live in a small rural town, and there's not a lot of excitement around here!!!

A Living Doll!!!

Here's Little Miss C in her Christening gown.  Her mom, my daughter's best friend, sent these to me via email!  Isn't see a true "living doll"?  I've never gotten to see her in person.  I just want to reach out and squeeze her!!!! Her mom said that she liked to play with the bows on the skirt.  I forgot to mention that I did the skirt embroidery design in a triangular shape to represent the Trinity.  That's why there are three bows, too.                                                                                              

Painting the Town..........and an ominous sky.........

The daughter of one of the nursing home residents works at a furniture store here in town.  She suggested to the owner that he let me paint the Christmas scenes in his windows this year.  I was thinking of asking him myself.  I noticed that someone had painted them for him last year. He wanted one Santa painting and one                                                              

nativity painting.   So, that's what I did.  He paid me for my work.  This could be a fun little part time job!

 

The other night we had some terrible storms all around us.  I took these first two pictures from our driveway facing the North.  For the last one, I just turned around and took one facing the South.  What a difference!  We were fortunate that no tornadoes touched down very close to us, but doesn't that look like a funnel cloud to you?  There was a tornado in Chattanooga, which is about an hour from here.

 

Christening Gown Finished!

Little Miss C's Christening gown is completed.  I will get it in the mail to her soon.

 Her mom sent me this family heirloom handkerchief with the initial of the family's last name, which happens to be Miss C's first name.  I love the way our next generation is passing along these family names.  As you see, I used the handkerchief on the bodice.  It looks a little wanky at the sleeve cap in this photo, but it really doesn't look that way in real life.  I made tiny, tiny, tiny piping to attach the smocked skirt to the under bodice and to go around the neck and down the back opening.  I also used it across the sleeve caps.

 Miss C's mom told me she liked dainty embroidery, inserted lace, and ribbon.  So, I incorporated all of those things into this gown.  For the inserted lace, I attached lace to either side of narrow ribbon, and then I attached entredeaux to either side of the lace before sewing it to the fabric.

 For the scalloped design on the skirt, I first did the madeira applique technique, which I showed more in detail in my last post.  I embroidered along the edge of the applique, below it with a feather stitch, and above it with a little flower and French knots.  On the skirt front I embroidered a triangular shape outlined with ribbon that I attached with a modified feathered stitch, inside that is another row of feather stitches, then on the inside are more little flowers and French knots.  Along the bottom of the hem, I attached lace by hand along the shell stitch which I also did by hand. 

 Here's a fuzzy close up of the sleeve, which has the inserted lace, ribbon, entredeaux combination, a row of feather stitching, and more flowers and French knots.  For the gathering, I ran ribbon through casing that I made from the same fabric.  I made two tiny button holes for pulling the ribbon through for tying into the bows and for gathering.  There's more lace hand stitched to the hand shell stitched hem of the sleeves.

 The handkerchief makes the overlay of the back bodice, as well.  I had to cut the corners of the handkerchief off at the shoulders, and since they were embroidered with such a pretty and dainty design, I sewed it to the bottom of the overlay at an angle.  I simply added long streamers of ribbon to tie for the back closure, as well as, a tiny snap where the bodice and skirt meet.
The fabric for this gown is ecru cotton blend batiste.  I decided on the blend so it wouldn't wrinkle so badly.  The gown is ecru rather than snow white, because the handkerchief, being vintage, isn't pure white.  I didn't want it to look yellowed.  It matches very well.

 Of course, Miss C has to have a slip.  I scalloped the hem and trimmed it with the same lace that I used on the gown.  The opening is on the left shoulder and ties closed with more ribbon.

 For the slip, I made the shell stitch on my machine. I did this by tightening my tension, reversing the blind stitch (or hem stitch), and sewing on the edge, so when the needle swung out, it actually went off the edge and pulled tightly, to form the little shells.

I hope that Miss C's mom is happy with this gown.  I was lucky enough to get to make Miss C's big brother's gown three years ago.  His was a "manly gown" with tucks, pleats, and baby blue buttons and blue piping.

Recent Trip, Down Home, and A Sneak Peek

Even though we knew that my mother probably only had a short time left, we went ahead and left for our trip up to the NE, knowing that we might have to turn around and come home.  But, Mother hung on until we got home.  We got home on Wednesday.  She died on Saturday morning.  It's almost like she knew she needed to wait. I'm so glad that I was here.  I'm also glad we got to go on this trip.  We had so much fun!                                                            

We recently went to the NE to celebrate Miss J's birthday.  Here she is with big sis watching her blow out her candles.  My daughter makes the most beautiful cakes.  She made the flowers from colored chocolate, but she had me make the iciing.  Don't ask what I did wrong, but obviously something, because it was way too runny.  The color is pretty, though.

 

Little sis ran around playing in her "pretty princess dress"  that I made for her birthday last year.  She played as hard as any of the other kids, climbing the ladder, sliding down the slide, playing on the see-saw, etc.....

I took the Halloween costumes to them.  Here I am with the three big girls.  I can't believe I am posting a photo of myself!

My husband and me at Newport Beach, RI.  Again, I'm posting my photo!  What is up with that!?!

Papaw, my father-in-law, went with us.  Here he is with the three big girls at Newport.  This was a great trip for him. We really enjoyed his company and the grands were thrilled to have him there.

We went to a Shaker Village in MA.  This is the unique round barn.  How interesting it was!

We also went to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.  That was fun!!!!  There were several displays about Pat Summitt, Tennessee's women's basketball coach!!!

Grandaddy and Little Man painting flower pots to plant with wheat seeds.  This was my husband's birthday present from our daughter and her little family.  What fun they had, and how proud my husband is that the wheat is already growing.

While the family was here for my mother's funeral this past weekend, Papaw got the tractor out for rides.  This is Lil'E, who seemed a little nervous.

Here's one of my cousins holding Lil'B in her Halloween outfit.  Aren't those leg warmers cute?!  I didn't ask for my cousin's permission to post this.  Hope he doesn't mind.  He probably won't ever know.

These four pictures show a sneak peek at the Christening gown I'm making.  The top photo shows the smocking.  The next shows what I've done on the bottom of the skirt.  I did a madeira appliqued hem line.  I hand stitched around the scallops to hold them to the dress.  Then, I embroidered a simple little design with a flower and French knots across the top of the scallops.  The bottom two pictures show how I painted liquid starch across the top of each scallop and then ironed them down.  This makes a really smooth, even fold around these curves.  The starch washes out.  I used a pen with wash out ink to draw the scallops.  I used an embroidery hoop as a guide.  It was exactly the right size!!!