I love clothesline rope!!

I ran across a picture on buckalooview's Instagram of a nifty basket made from clothesline rope. This type of basketmaking has been around forever but I always thought that was a lot of work for a basket. I couldn't get it off my mind so I picked up a 100 foot, $3.44 package of clothesline rope from WalMart and became instantly addicted to the possibilities.

There are plenty of tutorials available online. Basically, you start in the middle and keep zig-zagging around until it is the size you need. It tends to start the bowl shape on it's own. I had to concentrate on trying not to pull too tightly as I stitched until I got the flat bottom finished. I controlled the shaping by pulling the cord slightly as I stitched.

When you get to the end, you have to decide how to finish off and tidy up the end of the cord. Just use your imagination!!





I had about 4 yards left after making my first 3 bowls. I couldn't stand to let it go to waste so I made a couple of coasters. I gave them a little steam press so that they are nice and flat.

I'd like to try dyeing my next batch of baskets. I see another trip to WalMart in the near future!

A Raggedy Andy Birthday

My little grandson turned a year old a couple of weeks ago and I wanted him to have a handmade gift from Grammy that he could keep forever. I guess kids don't play with Raggedy Ann and Andy all that much any more but I couldn't resist making him a classic Andy doll. I made a lot of these dolls back in the 70's so I dug out my vintage pattern and made Hayden a little buddy in the just the right size for him to carry around.

I was running a little short on time so, rather than hand embroider the face, I found this listing on Etsy for a digitized machine embroidered face. It turned out great and I got Andy finished in time for the birthday party! 

Hayden's Grammy Jammies

I finally figured out how to get myself back to the blog after a break and that is to make something for Hayden. He is so much fun to sew for and such a good model as well. His momma mentioned that he had outgrown his pajamas and also that it's kinda hard to find them roomy enough for his chunky little arms. I pulled out my Kwik Sew Sewing for Baby book that I bought when Hayden's momma was about his age. It has an assortment of basic patterns for newborn through 18 months. Some of the styles look a little dated but there are great basic pattern pieces for pants, tops, rompers, etc. The fit is much roomier than the ready mades.

Just look at that sweet face! He loves his Grammy Jammies. I've already made a second pair and bought fabric for a third.

Did you know that September is National Sewing Month? National Sewing Month began in 1982 with a proclamation from President Ronald Reagan declaring September as National Sewing Month "In recognition of the importance of home sewing to our Nation"

I hope you're keeping your machine humming this month in celebration!

Hot Summer Days Pullover Top

I sewed this little top up a few weeks ago and, since it has now become one of my favorite summer tops, I thought I should share it.  I've had Butterick 3383 for some time now and decided to give it a try. I used a printed polyester fabric from my stash. This pattern has no darts so I was a little nervous about the fit. It actually turned out great. Easy to sew and fun to wear!

It's pretty easy to slip over my head and I love the length with the side slits. The pattern suggests bias tape for the neckline and armholes. I cut self-fabric bias bindings for a more professional look.

This pattern is moving way up on my list of  "make me again" patterns. It takes about a yard of 60" wide fabric and sews up very quickly.

Seersucker!

We love seersucker! Can you tell? After I made my grandson's little blue seersucker Jon-Jons for Easter, his auntie decided that she wanted a blue seersucker dress to wear to her Master's graduation. And, of course, I never say no when one of my daughters wants to wear something made by me. She loves classic, timeless designs so we chose McCall's 2401. We loved the wider rounded neckline and the simple lines. I did the usual alterations for her, added white piping to the neckline and armholes, and an invisible zipper in the back. I finished the lining hem a few hours before graduation and she was thrilled!

Here she is with her sweet nephew who is sporting his pout-pout look for the photoshoot.

Congrats to Hannah for completing her Master of Science degree in Instructional Design!

Little Easter Jon-Jons

I can't believe it's been 6 months since I've blogged! I sewed. I sewed a lot. I just couldn't find time to sit down and blog. As a matter of fact, I feel like I never sit down. Always something that needs to be done.

Nothing like a cute little baby boy to get you inspired to sew and blog about it. My grandson needed an outfit for his first Easter. I have always loved Jon-Jons on little boys. He is a healthy little boy and the Children's Corner pattern I have was just a little too slim fitting for him. I found a pattern on Etsy from OlaJanePatterns which looked like a better fit. I paired it up with classic blue striped seersucker, embroidered his initials on the front, and it was just perfect.

The pattern has very detailed instructions and a pretty nifty lining technique. I plan to sew up a few more for the little prince for hot summer days and, hopefully, find a few minutes to blog about them!

Little Hilltopper

Okay, I know I said I was all caught up sewing for Baby Hayden but I saw a men's red and black striped T-shirt on the clearance rack at WalMart for $3.00 and it reminded me of the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers. Since Hayden has a gown for his dad's school, I thought he needed one for his mom's alma mater. I bought the largest size they had so I would have plenty of fabric for the gown and accessories.

I used Kwik Sew 3090 again for the gown and Kwik Sew 2433 for the hat. The tutorial for the pacifier clip can be found here. I took the pocket off the T-shirt and made a tiny little pocket for the gown.

 I like the elastic at the bottom edge to keep little feet from poking out.

I was able to salvage the knit ribbing from the neckline of the T-shirt and used it to make the sleeve ribbing for this gown rather than the hand covers.

And this is my sewing buddy, Kitty Boo. She loves to keep me company when I sew. I found her at the Humane Society with that "take me home" look in her eyes. It was a trick. She is a stinker!

I mailed this little surprise to the expectant parents last week. I think Hayden has enough gowns. My friend, who is a nurse in labor and delivery, told me that babies need sleep sacks nowadays rather than blankets. So, guess what, I bought a pattern today for sleep sacks. I just thought I was caught up!

A Crib Quilt for Hayden

Little Hayden will be here soon so I thought I had better get his crib quilt finished. I've had this easy quilt top sewn up for a while but just needed to get to the quilting and binding. The fabric is a collection from Fabric.com called Fox Playground. I added a couple of blender fabrics so that I would have enough variety. The strips are 4 inches wide (except for the panel with the foxes in cars). I used a soft cotton batting, one of the foxy prints for the backing, and the stitch in the ditch method for quilting.

For the binding, I cut 2 1/2 inch wide strips across the width of the fabric which I folded in half lengthwise. I stitched these strips on from the front and hand-stitched, yes, hand stitched, with tiny little stitches on the back. That's 200 inches of teeny tiny hand stitches. Only the best for Hayden!

I machine embroidered his name on one of the strips before quilting. Now that the quilt is finished, I have a couple more items to make for Hayden and one for his Mommy. And then, the waiting game!

Did you know that September is National Sewing Month? What are you sewing this month to celebrate?

A Sewing Emergency! and a New Summer Top

I had a little sewing emergency over the weekend with the Bernina that I use for most of my sewing. The machine is fine but it stopped communicating with the embroidery unit. And, of course, I have a stack of projects that I need to monogram. I drove 75 miles on Monday to get it to a reputable Bernina dealer who promised to have it ready in about a week. Of course, he also showed me the new generation of Bernina embroidery systems in a non-pushy sort of way. I was quite impressed with the Bernina 780. Things have come a long way since I purchased my system in 2003.

• The bobbin holds 80% more thread.
• Freearm embroidery
• Dual feed
• 1000 stitches per minute
• USB connections

I have begun my research but, hopefully, my old machine will be a simple fix, maybe a short in the cable.


I miss my Bernina and really wanted to sew a summer top last night. I have a lightweight Brother travel machine on loan to my daughter. I pulled out my Singer Genie that I purchased in 1973 or 1974 when I was in college. Last year, I had it supposedly "restored" but knew that it still wasn't quite right. Oh my, it sounds like a freight train with all it's parts about to fall off. It had no stability to sew even a straight seam. Frustrated, I put it away and pulled out my dependable Singer featherweight which was made the year I was born. It sewed beautifully!!!

For the neckline of this top, I always make bias binding rather than facing as the pattern suggests.

This is one of my fabrics that I purchased last summer at FabricMart in Honolulu. It is a woven rayon and feels wonderful. I don't know why I waited so long to sew it up. Kwik Sew 2866 is such a quick pattern and can be made in about 1 1/2 hours. 

I can't seem to get that Bernina 780 off my mind. Any advice from others who have this machine or have taken it for a test drive?

Dressed for Derby

What a fun project this turned out to be! My daughters went to the Kentucky Derby this year and, of course, needed new dresses. The Oaks is the day before Derby and is partnered with Bright Pink, an organization which focuses on risk reduction and early detection of breast cancer. Everyone is encouraged to wear pink and they do!

Remember the Little White Dress Contest sponsored by Patternreview.com? Well, Hannah wore her little white dress with a beautiful pink hat which she bought on ebay. The hat has a stargazer lily which is the official flower for The Oaks.

 

Just for fun, Hannah entered the Longines Kentucky Oaks Fashion Contest. Simon Baker from The Mentalist was one of the judges and told her that she looked "beautifully understated". Made her day!

The next day was the 140th running of The Kentucky Derby. Sarah wore Vogue 1236 in red/white striped seersucker. I made the same adjustments that I made for "The Underwear Dress" and it turned out great! I lined it with a cotton batiste and added a zipper to the back to make it easier to put on and take off.

Patternreview link

She wanted a monogrammed bow for her hat because it's all about the hats at The Derby.

Hannah's dress is Vogue 8648. I've had this pattern in my stash for a Susan Khalje class on Craftsy but haven't had the time to start. The pattern was designed to be cut on the bias. Instead, I marked the straight grain and cut the medium weight linen straight. There are lots of seams for taking up and letting out so it was extremely easy to get a good fit.

Patternreview link

My daughters loved their classic Made by Mommy dresses. While Hannah was standing in line for the Longines Fashion Contest, one of the contestants asked her if her dress was Lily Pulitzer. She told her no, it's a JanMade! That makes it all worthwhile.

Vogue 1236 (Sarah's Underwear Dress)

Well, hello blog! It's been a while. I've been too busy sewing (and remodeling bathrooms) to sit down and blog. My daughters attended the Kentucky Derby and Oaks a couple of weeks ago and kept me busy making dresses. One of my daughters lives 100 miles away and chose Vogue 1236 for her dress. I thought I had better sew up a "muslin" first for fitting. I grabbed a piece of cotton fabric from my stash of underwear fabric from the local underwear factory. I thought I would seam this dress up just enough to check the fit. The more I sewed, the more I liked the cool cotton print so I decided to finish it up. I raised the front neckline just a little and a couple of other minor adjustments. Sarah didn't seem all that excited at first about wearing the "muslin" but I left it with her anyway. She texted me last week to tell me that she wore her underwear dress to church! She decided that it's a pretty comfortable little summer dress and that she might like a couple more.  I guess I'll have to let her go shopping in my underwear stash.

The pattern doesn't have a zipper so I didn't insert one in this version. I decided, however, that for her Derby dress I would add a zipper to the back to make it a little easier to get on.

Coming soon....Derby seersucker version of Vogue 1236.



Winter Street Dress from Patternreview

I'm pretty excited to share with you my two new Winter Street Dresses which are the result of my pattern testing for Deepika's new pattern available here at Patternreview.com. This is Deepika's version which is so cute on her with the ruffled sleeves and pink polka dots.

I downloaded the pattern and put it together very quickly. I sometimes dread this aspect of downloadable patterns but this was probably the most well planned pattern I have ever assembled. I traced the extra small size for my daughter so that I could use the pattern again for myself. The dress is described as "an easy to sew knit dress with a waist seam and a narrow pleated skirt." And, easy to sew is right!

After sewing together the bodice with a similar weight knit and getting a perfect fit, I cut out Hannah's purple ponte knit dress. Hannah is very petite so I took the dress up at the side seams and also moved the pleats in a bit more toward the center. I raised the waistline seam slightly as well just to keep everything proportioned for her height. Since this pattern works well with many different types and weights of knit fabrics, I think it is important to be flexible and let the fabric "speak" to you. For example, since ponte is a heavier knit, I stitched the pleats down for an inch or so.

The assembly is streamlined on this dress. After sewing the bodice front to skirt front, the bodice back to skirt back and sewing the sleeve in flat, the entire side seam is sewn in one swoop from the bottom of the hem, up the skirt, the bodice, and finally the sleeve. This method made it extremely easy to take the dress in a bit at the side seams.

Patternreview Link

As soon as I started sewing up Hannah's dress, I realized that the possibilities were endless for this pattern. I couldn't wait to finish it so that I could start another for myself. I really stepped outside of my comfort zone for this one because I don't wear a lot of prints and I haven't worn a maxi dress since high school when they were popular for a short time!

Patternreview Link

I chose a rayon jersey knit for my dress with a rather bold pattern. I had to be careful about pattern placement so that I didn't have a large medallion in the wrong place. I'm about 5"4" and was able to get this version from about 1 3/4 yards of 60" fabric for a size medium. The armholes are perfect for a sleeveless version. I didn't change a thing. I cut fabric strips for the neckline and armholes and added with the same method that I use for ribbing. I folded in half lengthwise and sewed them on with the serger, stretching the strips as I sewed. I used the coverstitch on the right side to hold everything in place. The coverage is great in the arm area for a 50 something mom like myself.
 

As Deepika, suggested, I stabilized the waist seam with elastic and that worked great to keep the weight of the long skirt from pulling down on the dress.

To adapt the skirt to maxi length, I drew a new side seam straight down from the widest part of the hips to the hemline. This basically changed the skirt pattern from the tulip shape to a rectangle. This gave me plenty of room to walk.

The pleats in this rayon jersey lay nice and flat across my hips so I didn't need to stitch them down as I did in Hannah's ponte version. 

Every time I tried on this dress for a fitting as I sewed, I would model it for my family and say, "I just love my new dress!" Eventually, as I walked into the room, they would just go ahead and say, "I know, you love your new dress!"

It was such fun to be part of the pattern testing group and the blog hop. I think you'll be amazed as you visit these blogs at how versatile this pattern is. It's hard to believe they were all made from the same pattern.

sewcraftychemist.blogspot.com 4/2/2014
detectivehoundstooth.com 4/3/2014
cleverthinking99.com 4/4/2014
trumbelinasews.blogspot.ca 4/5/2014
danikate-designs.blogspot.com 4/6/2014
sewingsaga.blogspot.com 4/7/2014
sharonsews.blogspot.com 4/8/2014
stitchinginmykitchen.blogspot.com 4/9/2014
sewingforward.com 4/10/2014
helloushandmades.blogspot.co.uk 4/11/2014
craftedbycarrie.com 4/12/2014
curveddarts.blogspot.com 4/13/2014
janmade.blogspot.com 4/14/2014
juliabobbin.com 4/15/2014

Thanks to Deepika and Patternreview for the opportunity to test this pattern and join in on the Winter Street Dress Blog Hop!

An Aloha Shirt for Hubby

Last summer, my family took a trip to Honolulu to show my daughters where their Dad grew up. He was born and raised in Honolulu but hadn't been back to visit for 30 years. We visited Pearl Harbor, North Shore, Blow Hole, and all the must-see sights of Oahu. We had a small Memorial Service for their grandparents at Hawaiian Memorial Gardens and took the girls to Punchbowl to locate their great grandparents' graves. We went to Leonard's Bakery for malasadas and W & M Burger for teriburgers.We found all of the nine houses that my husband lived in while growing up there.

Now this is a sewing blog so you know where this story is going. I asked my family if I could make a quick stop at Fabric Mart. I knew this would not be a quick stop. Thousands of rolls of fabrics! I bribed them suggested to them that if they would each choose a fabric, I would make everyone a garment to help them remember Hawaii.

They were agreeable and this is what we came up with. Shirt for hubby, shorts for son-in-law, blouses and dresses for my daughters and myself.

I bought the Hawaiian Classics aloha shirt pattern from the Victoria Jones Collection at Fabric Mart for my husband's aloha shirt. He likes the authentic aloha shirts. He also likes his aloha shirts made wrong side out for a more muted appearance.

Patternreview Link

There are lots of great tips included in this pattern. For example, the pattern not only suggests grading certain seams, it also indicates which seam allowance to cut wider and which to cut narrower. There is also a tip for preventing the undercollar from peeking out.

I used Pro-Woven Shirt-Crisp from Fashion Sewing Supply for the front band and collar and Pro-Woven Super-Crisp for the neckband. This interfacing is great! I probably would not be making shirts had I not discovered this interfacing.

 

I think my favorite detail of this aloha shirt pattern is the side vent. It is an overlapped vent and makes the shirt look very authentic and classic.

The instructions for this vent are very good, but just to be sure that I understood them before I "clipped to the dot" on the real thing, I made a mock-up with a scrap of nonwoven interfacing.

Now that makes one finished and six more to go from my Hawaii stash. This project was the most detailed of the seven so the rest should be a breeze!

Kwik Sew 3740 and Knit Tips

I'm still working on my one and only New Year's Resolution which is to reduce my fabric stash. This is my 12th sewing project this year. I don't blog all of them because some are actually a little boring to sew so I'm sure they would be even more boring for you to read about!

I decided to make a few long sleeved t-shirts since all of my RTW tees have shrunk nearly up to my belly button! I used my Kwik Sew 3740 and cut the neckline about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 higher at center front. I found this dark gray cotton blend knit in my stash which, at first, I thought was pretty ugly. Why did I buy that? I offered to make my daughter something out of it but she wasn't interested. Determined to use the piece, I cut out a long sleeve t-shirt. I had to add a center back seam since I only had 1 1/4 yards. I cut self-fabric neck "ribbing" about 1 1/2 inches wide and folded in half.

Patternreview link

Once I got past fighting with the curled edges and got the thing seamed up, I couldn't stop stitching on it. I used my coverstitch to topstitch the neckline and the sleeve seams.

I decided to add one of those little decorative V's in the center front just because I see them on all things casual and sporty.  I discovered that stitch 309 on my Bernina looks very similar to what I see in RTW. I drew a V with my chalk marker, added stabilizer underneath, and updated my plain, gray t-shirt.

I convinced hubby to help me with the pics. He is actually pretty good! This is the Plain Jan(e) version.

A little sporty with a touch of Burberry plaid.

Brightened up with a red fleece vest.

I showed my daughter my trendy V in the front and she replied, "Ooooooh".  I'll bet she wishes she had taken me up on the offer to make her one!

A few of my Sewing with Knits Tips. 

• Prewash the fabric in the manner that you plan to wash the finished garment, especially if it is cotton or a cotton blend.
• If you are sure of your sleeve length, hem the sleeve before sewing the sleeve seam, especially if hemming with a coverstitch.
• Sew one shoulder seam, add the neck ribbing, and then sew the remaining shoulder seam. Press the shoulder seam towards the back and stitch it in place at the ribbing/neck edge so that it lays flat.
• Sew the sleeve in before sewing the sleeve seam and the side seam which can then be sewn in one continuous seam.
• I usually hem the sleeve just a smidgen longer than I think I want it to be. It always works up a bit with wear and elbow bending.
• When hemming with a coverstitch from the right side, I sometimes draw a line on the right side with my Chakoner marker. If I press up 1 1/4" for a hem, I draw a line about 1 1/8" from the folded edge. I can then "straddle" the chalk line with the presser foot.
• If the knit is especially stretchy, I secure the hems with 3/8" double sided fusible before hemming with the coverstitch. This also prevents the hem from "tunneling" and the stitches from becoming buried in the fabric.