A sweet, fresh lemon apron!

Ever had some fabric that you just totally adored but didn't know what to do with it?  So...you fold it and put it away until the light bulb comes on.  Hopefully, it comes on sooner than later.  I had purchased this fabric not knowing what I was going to do with it.  I had made a small tote using this fabric and a new pattern.  My friend Katheron politely told me she thought it would make a cute apron.  The light finally came on.  I think she flipped the switch for me.

I cut the fabric to the size that I wanted the apron to be and added about 1 inch for the seams.  I used my serger to finish all the fabric edges for a more professional look.  I didn't have a pattern, so I kind've just made the design as I went along.  Here's the first picture!

What do you think of the colors that I used?  The embroidered "Katheron" was totally off from the color of the ruffles and the band.  I didn't have the correct color of embroidery thread to match.  So...I used what I had.  

The apron was plain.  Too plain.  My husband Keith even said it was too plain.  He suggested that I add a large pocket with embroidery on it.  Then another light bulb came on.  My brain switched gears and decided to use different shades of yellow.  So, I anxiously look for an embroidery pattern with different colors of yellow.  Tada!  Lemons!!

Check out the lemons a little closer.  The name "Katheron" is so bright and the ruffles are kind of more orangy.  So, I used just a tad of that "orangy-yellow" in the lemons!  Oh, and lemons are perfect for the apron!!!

There's a short story about the ruffle.  My friend Susan introduced me to "the ruffler" footing.  I watched her use this amazing gadget while making all the ruffles for several pararie skirts.  I had to have one.  So....guess what I got for Mother's Day???  A ruffler!!!  That ruffler makes basting and gathering ruffles a thing of the past.  How many times have you broken the thread pulling the ruffles together??  Many, many times!!!!  So what does the ruffle look like up close?

And that yellow fabric?  I didn't buy it!  My friend Katie had asked me to cut off her long bridesmaid dress and make a much shorter dress.  So, what's a girl to do with the left over yellow fabric?  Make ruffles!!!  So now that you've seen this sweet and fresh apron, what do you think?

Jonah's Druther

"Jonah's Druthers" was a musical about Jonah set in a mid-western format.  It's a whale of a tale and Jonah falls in the well.  Jonah flees from Nineveh, just like in the Bible.  Instead of Jonah jumping from the boat, Jonah jumps from a stagecoach.  It was comical story and a Bible story favorite. Still, the message was clear.  Jonah thought he knew better than God. But in the end he learned a valuable lesson about the Lord's mercy and forgiveness, which extends beyond Jonah and Israel to all people who repent and believe.

By now, you're probably thinking what does "Jonah's Druthers" have to do with a sewing blog.  Well, there were several costumes that needed to be created.  That's where I came into the picture.  Because I can sew, I helped make the costumes for the little girls in one particular dance scene.

The skirts were calico.  They were nothing fancy.  Picture a straight seam, some elastic and a ruffle.  There you go, as simple as it gets.

We placed a request in our church bulletin asking for ladies with sewing skills.  Basic sewing skills.  I bought the fabric, the ladies supplied their sewing machines.  There were 4 ladies (one lady was camera shy) and 8 skirts.  We met at the church at 9 am on a Saturday morning and left by 11 am.  It took 2 hours. 

I measured each little girl around the waist and length.  I wanted the skirt to hit right about lower calf.  Since the girls had kick moves in their little dance, I wanted them to be able to move in the dance.  I think the ruffle helped with this as well.  The ruffle was 7 inches on each skirt.  One friend had a ruffler foot that she attached to her Brother sewing machine that made me super envious.  Uh...I got one for Mother's Day!!!!

So what does the finished skirt look like?  Well here's a picture of the girls in the dance moves!!!  By the way, the little girl in the pink skirt is my baby Gracie.  The little girl in the white skirt with blue print is my big girl Jessica.

The sweet, sweet Carousel Dress…

Dixie at ‘My Childhood Treasures’ knows her stuff.  Last week, I purchased a pattern from her Etsy store.  I’ll be purchasing more patterns from this site.  Instructions were easy to follow and the eBook had tons of pictures.  Yes, I need pictures!!  I would love to show you a picture of the dress from the Etsy shop, but I’m afraid that I might get into trouble, so let’s not go there!!  Instead, I've posted a link to the picture.  You’ll have to read this whole post before seeing the finished product…unless you’re just a scroller (one that just looks at pictures).

I had looked at the front of the dress online before purchasing.  I knew that since I was making a size 3T, it wouldn’t take a lot of fabric so I purchased only 1 yard of the main fabric and ¼ yard of the accent fabric.  Wouldn’t you think that would be enough for a size 3T?  The pattern clearly calls for 1-1/4 yards of fabric.

I under estimated.   My original intention was to use only the hot pink and white chevron fabric (pictured below) for the dress.  The teal printed fabric was going to be used for the bow with long tails.  Now please note, the bow was not a part of the pattern that I purchased from My Childhood Treasures.  I saw the bow on another dress and really liked it.  It's only pinned on the dress below (don't scroll down yet) with a safety pin.  So, the story goes on.  I proceed to cut out the chevron fabric and find that I’m short about 4 inches.  Grrrr....  fiddlesticks!!!

The sleeves to this dress are 2 different pieces for each arm.  This means there are 4 parts to the sleeve.  I only have enough fabric for 3 pieces.  What’s a girl to do?  I hop in my Honda Odyssey and go back to the fabric store the next day.  See everything I do (as far as sewing) is late at night.  I always wait until my 2 little girls are safe asleep in their beds before starting projects.   To my added aggravation, the fabric store no longer has the pink and white chevron fabric.  I’m in a pickle. 

I really didn’t know what to do and then I decided to buy more teal fabric.  I only needed a very, very small amount.  My thoughts were to mixed up this little dress a little and do the sleeves in 2 different fabrics.  Hmmmm….would this work?  As I told the fabric lady my dilemma and my thoughts about how to remedy this problem, she looked at me as if I were crazy.  The long pony-tailed woman with the long skirt (almost touching the floor) just stared at me.  She was probably thinking, "I’m not here to solve your problem, just tell me what you want and go away." 

So, here’s what I have now…  Note the coffee (in my famous Cracker Barrel cup) and the Girl Scout cookies.

I totally think this will work.  The yellow rickrack will pull out the yellow print in the teal fabric.  Hmmm…rickrack on chevron?  That’s a little different, but I like it and I think the person purchasing this dress will love it too!  The dress is called a ‘Carousel Dress’ but it looks more like a peasant dress to me.  Either way, it’s an adorable dress.  On the Etsy site, the dress has appliqued horses placed on the front of the dress with rickrack leading from the horse upwards, like a carousel horse.  The pattern for this dress, like I said earlier, was fabulous.  The pattern was very well written to the very detail.

The elastic casing (for ¼ inch elastic) was well explained for those that are beginner sewers.  The hem was simply turned twice and sewn, no raw edges here.  The gathering of the ruffle was easy as pie!  Don’t you think using the 2 different fabrics for the sleeves worked?  So was the crazy looks from the fabric person justified for the description of the dress, or was her crazy looks just for me? 

Bottom line, I would definitely recommend this pattern for this sweet, sweet carousel dress.  So, if you go to My Childhood Treasures, be sure and tell her that I sent you!!

So....a few weeks later I get this adorable picture from my friend Angie.  This is her granddaughter Kaylin.  Is Kaylin not just totally precious???  She's squeezeably (not a word, right?) adorable!!!

A Noteworthy Purse!!

Obviously, I've been a busy girl!!!  I haven't posted in a while, but still, I've been swamped with creating more tumbler inserts, purses and totes.  Hey, though, no complaints here, I'm loving what I do!!

Are you a music person?  If so, you may like this "classical" tote purse.  A friend at work saw my FaceBook page and liked what she saw.  So, she decided she wanted a monogrammed tote/purse for herself.  This tote is super cute!!!  Uh...it's noteworthy!

For this particular style purse/tote, I usually make the handles 21- 22 inches.  Nancy wanted shorter handles or straps.  We measured one of her purses for the exact length and we came up with 17 inches.  I would have never thought about going that short, but I like it and may change my 21 - 22 inches to 19 inches.  I just like the way it looks.

I learned a huge lesson with this project.  I didn't realize that there was so many weights or types of duckcloth.  I shop around for the best prices and just because you get the best price doesn't always mean you got the best quality.  This particular purse, got the best quality and the best price...because the duckcloth was on sale!!  It's a much stiffer duckcloth than what I usually work with and I love it!  Of course, being stiffer means it was a little harder to sew.  It's crisp, it's fresh and it's tightly woven.  Love it!!

The monogram is not white.  It may look white, but it's a silver color.  Thread is something else that I'm super picky about.  I don't use just any thread.  I really like Sulky thread.  I love the light shimmer, the strength and the fact that it's not linty (is that a word?).  Lint is not good.  Not good for my embroidery machine. 

I'm also picky about the ribbon that I use on my totes.  I believe in quality ribbon and it just so happens that the ribbon I purchase comes from a local Chattanooga business.  Ribbons and Bows Oh My is located in Chattanooga!  Love that place.  I go in for $5 worth of ribbon and I'm always walking out with $60 of ribbon.  Love the quality, love the colors, love the prints, love the location of the shop, and I love the helpful employees at RABOM!!!

Back to the purse.  Like it?  Leave me a comment!!