This is one of my daughter's favourite dresses. We shelled out a few quid on it on a trip to Bath a couple of years ago. Before we actually bought it I had given it a quick inspection and told her "Easy peasy. I could make you one of those. Falling off a log." Fighting talk.
There is nothing complicated about it. A plain bodice, elasticated at the waist, and the skirt, conveniently enough, is approximately 36 inches wide. No fastening at all, she just pulls it over her head like a jumper.
Now, with ten days to go before we nip off on a quick trip together, I am finally getting round to making her the promised dress.
She chose this pretty cotton about four years ago when she wanted a dress, but wanted a completely different style. I kept telling her that the style she wanted wouldn't work with this weight of cotton unless it was fully lined, and I wasn't keen on putting in loads of effort on a fitted dress before she had stopped growing. The material was stashed and the project shelved - until now.
I got off to a flying start a few days ago by nicking an idea from the inimitable and thrifty HoffiCoffi, who has a knack for using up old duvet covers and buying up several miles of bargain material for making toiles. Instead of wasting perfectly good calico on a mock up bodice, I used an old duvet cover.
Thank you Hoffi!
Rather than draw out the pattern on paper, I drew directly onto the duvet fabric, cut out the front and back, and made the mock-up bodice. Once I was sure my daughter could get in and out of it without bursting the side seams, I undid the stitching and used the duvet pieces as the pattern for cutting out the real bodice, managing to miss out the paper pattern stage altogether.
Yesterday I cut out the bodice in the floral fabric and the lining and started sewing.
I managed to assemble the bodice, finish the neck edge...
...and tack the armhole edges together ready to bind them.
Now I have the job I love to hate - making my own bias binding from the dress fabric.
Linking up with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday
The creative alternative to net curtains - a window at Whitchurch Silk Mill in Hampshire, which I visited on Friday with my friend Kate.
On Wednesday I took a trip to Hampshire to stay with my friend Kate, and this sewing machine came with me, strapped in securely to the back seat by the seat belt. A while ago we arranged that I should get a machine on behalf of Kate's friend Lara. Lara had fond memories of her mother's machine, and I was more than happy to jump into the thrills and spills of Ebay. I did warn Lara that I might not find the ideal machine for a while, but as it turned out, this Singer 99K cropped up almost straight away. The price was right, I was the only bidder, and it was for personal collection only. The seller was in Surrey, about three miles from my brother, so he collected it for me. It lurked for a while at his house, until I brought it home in the boot of the car.
It looks remarkably like my star machine, the 1927 Singer 99K, and has all the extras - the original manual, extension leaf and tin of attachments.
The serial number dates it to 1939. It is in superb condition. Apart from a bit of fluff and dust here and there, it barely needed cleaning. Checking it over, cleaning and oiling took barely half an hour.
It looks like one of those machines that was bought, used a few times, and then put away. Perhaps the date has something to do with it.
So, after travelling from Surrey to Somerset and then to Hampshire, this machine has now found its way to Lara.
Happy sewing Lara!
Nine tenths of the quilting is done on the latest cradle quilt, and it should be finished and bound by next week. This quilt hasn't been plain sailing, even though I have already made two very similar ones. One of the problems is that I haven't tried quilting the flowers upside down, so I have had a little more bulk to the right hand side of the needle than I prefer to work with. And also the backing fabric is too thin, so rumples are becoming a feature on the back.
All will be confessed next week.
Here goes for week 46...
Many thanks to Julie, Bernie, Carole, Ida and Quilt Musings for linking up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.
If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.
Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.
Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-
1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.
2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.
4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.
So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.
... you will find a branch of Barclays Bank
... with a difference.
Welcome to the latest followers, SkiWheel, Sevda Sahin and Penny Peberdy - thank you for joining!
Tucked in the corner of the sewing room is the bookshelf, with all the knitting and sewing books that I have accumulated over the years. All the old books I have from the 1940s and 50s have such similar titles that I have lost track of which is which. I can be riffling through a second hand book shop and come across a book and not be sure whether I have it already.
Hardly surprising then that I have ended up with two different editions of Complete Needlecraft by Agnes M. Miall. She's everywhere, either on her own...
... or co-authoring with Irene Davison and R. K. and M. I. R. Polkinghorne.
I love these old books for a great number of reasons, not least for the authoritative no-nonsense way in which they are written. Would you dare argue with anyone called Polkinghorne? Especially when there are two of them.
So that you can share in the pleasure, I have decided to write reviews of the books, so anyone who decides they really must have their own copy can start scouring the internet for the best deal.
Any nominations please for which book I should review first?
This is the start of a new cradle quilt, similar to the pink one I finished last month. I have done a strip of squares again, with straight lines of quilting down each side to keep the squares smooth.
Each square has a leaf coming from a wavy stem.
The squares are in rich shades of yellow, blue, pink, purple and red, all cut from the same fabric. I bought some fat quarters of Japanese prints at the Malvern Quilt Show in 2012, and this is the first time I have used them.
In the spaces between the strips of square I am doing rudbeckias.
Meanwhile, on the back I am doing pleats. I thought that if I used a lighter material for the backing I might end up with a more lightweight quilt. Instead I am getting that rumpled home-made look. No self respecting baby is going to care, so I'm not going to either.
Here goes for week 45...
Many thanks to LeeAnna, Claire, Marly, Judy, Julie and Stitchin at Home for linking up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.
If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.
Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.
Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-
1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.
2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.
4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.
So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.
Linking up to Angie's blog A Quilting Reader's Garden for WIPs Be Gone
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday.
