A Celebration of the Color Pink💮

    This is a custom piece I like to call "A Celebration of the Color Pink." I LOVE it! I wish I was 3 or 4 years old again, so I could wear it. 😆 It was made for a friend's great niece, who is adorable. I made it using Simplicity 1595.  My friend provided the main fabric and ruffle trim. I was able to find the tulle and pink satin easily at Hobby Lobby. A few design aspects were altered: shortened the sleeves and no elastic in them, eliminated the ruffle on the hem, and added a tulle skirt overlay with a ruffle trim 💖.  The unabashed femininity and girly-ness of it is great. The only difficulty was putting the trim on securely and neatly. All the ruffles wanted to get under the sewing machine needle, so I ended up sewing on the bottom edge by hand to prevent the trim from rolling up to the inside. Easy pattern to follow adjust, so I recommend it!

 

Mini-Post: Couch Pillows

 A quick post on some pillows I finished for my parents' newly reupholstered couch. I used some blue-green trim, a lovely linen, and performance upholstery fabric from The Linen Shop in Gluckstadt, MS. 

Dressmaking at Home Dress F (Custom)

    Tis the season of custom work! Shortly after my aunt put in for a variation from Dress B, a church friend requested a custom dress. Not sure what she would want, I picked out a few Japanese sewing books she might like (I knew her style was more feminine with simple lines and delicate details, and JSBs have plenty of that!). After we had the joy of going through each of them and ooh-ing and ah-ing over everything, she settled on something I had made before: Dress F from Dressmaking at home, another one of my favorites! Searching the internet for fabrics that might appeal to my friend, I settled on this collection from Katarina Roccella called "Twenty," and suggested she look through it and to let me know what she thought. The fabric she picked out was a nice heathered charcoal floral cotton. So, I got to work!

    To better fit her, I made a few changes to the original pattern and to what I had done the first time I used this pattern. First, I made a button-and-loop closure rather than the zip that the pattern calls for. On my version of the dress, I left out the fish-eye darts on the dress bodice because my bust-waist-hip measurements don't vary enough to need them. All I needed were some small bust darts on mine. I added the fish-eyes back for my friend, who has larger measurement ratios. I also used bias binding to finish the neckline rather than facing. This was just based on experience from doing facings the first time -- they feel bulky with finer fabrics while wearing the dress. She also asked for the dress to be lengthened. We were both super happy with the way it turned out!✨🎉

 Happy Sewing!🧵

Dress B from One Yard is the Best (Custom)

    Time for another visitation of one of my favorite patterns: Dress B from One Yard is the Best. This one happens to be a custom request made by my aunt. She wanted something easy to wear in the summer, but still nice. Cue this dress! I made it with some lightweight cotton for the body, a shirting cotton for the skirt lining (which we added by sewing it on right under the top seam of the drawstring casing, lining right-side to dress wrong-side - when sewn in, it's also upside down with the bottom edge near the neckline -- and letting the lining fall into place after sewn. This way the raw edge is hidden between lining and dress), and cotton twill tape for the waistline drawstring. No complications at all and just a good time to make!🍃🌸

Happy Sewing!🧵

 

Decorative Pillows

        One of my recent commissions was to make decorative pillows for my mom's newly redone guest room. Two of them (with the coconut shell buttons) were made based on this tutorial by Sew4Home: https://sew4home.com/fast-fridays-button-loop-overlap-pillows/ and the others were a hodge-podge of assembly methods. The white one was self-explanatory, just some puffs on the corners and a zip on the bottom to make it removeable. I also had the opportunity to try out a lumbar and a tufted pillow -- the tufted turned out great and I didn't use a pattern, but I did learn that I needed nice, long upholstery needles to do the job well and quickly. The lumbar was based on a vintage pattern now out of print, Simplicity 4515. Unfortunately, when I got it, it was missing the tufted pillow pattern pieces, so I winged it! I also learned how to make self-covered buttons using a little kit from Hobby Lobby. Not as complicated as I had expected, honestly. Those buttons went on the lumbar and tufted pillows. Although I was happy with the tufted one, the lumbar definitely looked like a first attempt when finished. No worries though, I will be making another one with my new upholstery needles and I will be making more measurements. The lumbar turned lumpy partly because there was not enough fabric, so next time there will be enough. 

 Happy Sewing!🧵

Grading Down McCall's 8107 with Toolfully Grading Tools

    After making McCall's 8107 (OOP) a few weeks ago from the single-size pattern that turned out to be a tad too big, I realized it may be time to try my hand at grading, which has always been a daunting challenge in my mind. How can one get each new point correct as you move each part?  Well, it was not as difficult as I had expected honestly, just meticulous. Foremost lesson: When grading, it pays to be precise and meticulous, even it it seems like a bunch of extra work. To guide the process, I used tools from Toolfully on Etsy and this video:  

    The fabric I used for this skirt was a linen I picked up in Portland, OR in 2019 during Pattern Review Weekend. The finished skirt was not as small as I had hoped, despite being meticulous about moving each and every piece. Maybe I was not as attentive to my seam allowances or something. It still turned out okay and was even approved by my parents' cat. 😄

I messed up the first try (the black markings) and had to redo it (in green).

    💙 Anyway, it was a good learning experience and I will make sure to be precise in every aspect in order to get each measurement right.

Wee Wonderfuls Doll Portfolio Post

    🧵 As I continue to make Wee Wonderful dolls, either custom or for my booth, I'll just add them to this post and note what was special or if I modified part of the making process. 🧵

May 2022: A ginger doll for the booth. Loved the green dress+ red hair combo. Ginger-ness inspired by dear Stephen. 😍

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June 2022: Another doll to put in my booth. Love the bright colors on her!💕💚 This particular yarn was also easier to work with while making the wig.