Bucket hat- quick & easy

 

Made the muslin and followed the pattern instructions. The hat just fit my daughters head. So...wanting her to be able to wear it through this coming summer I made some adjustments. I reduced all the seam allowances to 1/4". The hat came together really easily and quickly. I think this hat would be fabulous in linen. Just a thought....

I used the tutorial found on The Longthread website, DIY Flower Hair Clip for May and made a fluffy flower for the brim. A quick and easy tutorial. 

Maybe a ribbon and bow would look nice too? 

I am looking for fabric to stitch up a dress or two for my teenage daughters. I am a bit nervous. But first I will make a muslin and go from there.

2010 Quilts- Catching up

Longarm quilting by Pink Daisy

This was originally written on 10/14/10 and the 3 quilts I made for that Christmas season gave me confidence in trying more complicated quilt patterns. This is also the point where I was sewing and watching the Olympics. DD #2 and I had a great time watching Canada vs USA for the gold medal. This is the short story of our current passion for the sport and the Vancouver Canucks. So as we watched hockey I would cut out  fabric,  pin squares together or iron seams. You can get a lot done in regulation time!

So I think that I will make a jelly roll/strip quilt for my youngest daughter. The pattern comes out of Pam Lintott's book Jelly Roll and my daughter selected Pandora's Box. She says because of the show 'Big Brother'  and in the last season the Head of Household was given the opportunity to open 'Pandora's Box and all did. This is a great project because it is based on '4 Patch' which I have never done and it is going amazingly fast. I purchased pre-cut strips of fabric from Cozy Quilt shop. They remind me of old fashion flowery fabrics and very girly. I was inspired by a picture in Alicia Paulson's book, Stitched in Time , on page 14 and made a matching square pillowcase. Although my daughter selected it, I am trying to hide the fact that I am making it, so I am trying to use a little sewing table that houses my old singer machine which is in the corner of my bedroom. The kids are so used to me on the dining room table that perhaps they won't notice what I am doing in my bedroom. If this works I will probably do all of my Christmas sewing here. (I did finish 3 quilts in this little corner of my bedroom that year)

For this month I will finish my t-shirt quilt, Pandora's Box quilt and complete the JumpRope Dress. Next month is a mystery. (Sadly I did not complete the t-shirt quilt or the Jump Rope Dress....there is always this year)

The Little French Dress

Wednesday October 6th 2010

So Octobers' dress was supposed to be 'The Jump Rope Dress' by Oliver & S but I got a little distracted by a package I received in the mail from Amazon UK. You see in wandering the internet I come across all sorts of different websites depending on what catches my eye. A couple of months back, while reading a blog by Alison Paulson of Posey Gets Cozy, she referenced a little top she had sewn from a Citronille Pattern. So, attracted to the design and style, I went in search of the pattern here in the US. I finally figured it out, it is a French company and what cute pattens. With the help of google translate, I was able to browse their website. After more searching the web for a shop that sold the pattern here in the US, I resolved myself to having to purchase from abroad. But then I saw their line of books.

 So my dear kind husband, who loves to shop the internet, also began looking and found that Amazon UK had the best pricing and shipping costs. The book, Imtemporels pour Enfants, arrived via Denmark in September.

Timeless Children

Freezer paper patterns

 On a trip up to Oceanside to Maisonette, a little gem of a fabric shop, I took the book with the hopes of finding some cute fabric to sew the first dress in the book, 'La Robe Trapeze', which on Citronille's website is the pattern Sidonie, I think, with the addition of a ruffle on the hem. But instead I came away with Anna Maria Horners Coloring Gardens Sea and Water  in voile, to sew the little dress on the cover, La Robe a Encolure Ronde, which on their website is the pattern Primerose.

Coloring Gardens Sea in voile

bias with voile

It is a dress  with a rounded yoke. I used google translate to help. The pattern has six pieces, front and back of the dress with a double sided curved yoke and  two button holes and buttons down the back.

strip of bias

Instruction for making bias

The armholes and back opening are finished with bias tape made from the fabric of the body of the dress. Sometimes google translate had some funny translations such as 'tear proof paw' so I used iron on interfacing and 'left leg' but it is a dress pattern (I never figures this one out...yet!).  And I never got the correct translation on 'endroit contre endroit' but I think it means 'right sides together'????

ironing interfacing between parchment paper

Yoke sewn together

Ready to sew to body of the dress

The voile is rather shear so I made a lining using muslin and sewed it into the dress.  I also found that freezer paper doesn't adhear to voile like it does regular cotton. But I sure do like the way is glides through the sewing machine. I had a little trouble the the curved yoke. I used the iron-on interfacing on one side which helped with the curve of the yoke. I was intending to use that for the inside but the voile just wouldn't keep the curve on the side without interfacing. I love the book but unfortunately there no diagrams in which to help me. I think I'll ask for a couple of patterns for Christmas. I think I would like to sew 'La Chemise de Nuit' nightgown next and possibly 'Le Manteau a Capuche', a little coat with a hood.

Buttonloops and buttons for back

Muslin lining

Voila!

 In all the translating that I have done for the pattern, it had never occured to me to translate the title of the book. Intemporels pour Enfants translates to Timeless Children which is exactly what these patterns look like.

Bonne Couture

Ileen

I love freezer paper

Wednesday September 22nd, 2010

As promised I am going to post my adventure making the Oliver & S 'Ice Cream Social' dress. I first traced the pattern using freezer paper, rough cut the pattern pieces,  ironed the freezer paper onto the fabric then cut. Voila!

The freezer paper pieces, pattern and Michael Miller fabric, Ginger Blossom by Sandi Henderson.

I purchased the fabric from a new fabric store in Oceanside...Maisonette. They carry many fabrics, patterns and notions. Nice people and very cute store.

I really like freezer paper because it makes moving the fabric and pattern so much easier without the use of pins.

I can't remember the name of this fabric nor do I have the selvadges, sorry. But it goes cute together. It has tiny little dots all over.

I have to hold hostage our dining room and the large table when I sew. I set up for a couple of days then I put it all away till the next time I have more than 10 minutes to play.

Left over scraps to keep for future projects.

More pictures to come..........

I also have two more additions to add to my list of dresses:

#10 Jump Rope dress by Oliver & S ( I just love the patterns)
It is all cut out and ready to go...

#11 La Robe a Encolure Ronde  by Astrid le Provost (Citronille)

So I will explain the last item on the list...As I wander around the internet I see things that other crafty/talented people make. One such item was a young girls blouse on 'Posey Gets Cozy' and the author of that blog explained that it was a pattern from Citronille, located in France no less. So my search was on to find someone in the US who carries this cute line of children's patterns with no luck. But what I did find is that Mme. le Provost has a book, Intemporels Pour Enfants, with 30+ patterns and instructions, no diagrams, on how to make the patterns. I purchased mine through Amazon UK. Oliver & S and Citronille seem very similar... so you'll see why I like them!

So now I spend my time on Google translate to try and decode the instructions. I did take French in high school but it is no help with the sewing instructions. And the translation I get from Google makes me laugh sometime...like riddles.

 I have traced the pattern onto freezer paper and I am in the process of sewing...I hope it turns out ok

Happy translating

Ileen