A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Fungus on a Post

Interesting colours.

Making a Dress Pattern from an Old Dress

This little dress cost £2.50 from a charity shop, bought specially so I could cut it up.

It was in good enough condition to be used as a play dress because it wasn't actually falling apart. It had nice flat felled seams at the front of the shoulders,

and a bound neckline with a bit of staining - probably pasta sauce, a great favourite with toddlers.

About three weeks ago I got busy with the scissors and cut it up to make a pattern.

Here is the video showing the whole process.

And here is the finished dress made with the home-made pattern...

... complete with pretty trim around the sleeves...

... and neckline (note no pasta sauce yet)...

... and finally, the most exciting part of all, the first buttonholes I have made with the buttonholer. 

This has been a really enjoyable project from start to finish.  I used the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine for all the machine stitching, except for the buttonholes, where I used the Singer 201K treadle.

Now I can't wait to make the next little dress.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Leanne's blog Devoted Quilter for TGIFF

and Barbara's blog Cat Patches for the March NewFO - meanwhile the February NewFO free motion landscape is proceeding at a far more leisurely pace...

Filling in the Free Motion Sky

This is the stage I have reached with the free motion landscape.  The sky and clouds are now filled in, and I am tempted to consider it finished.. If I just added a little more infill at the bottom, then I could trim it and bind it and call it a day.

This is definitely my favourite section of the picture.  Perhaps if I tried a foreground I might just draw the eye away from this part.

Leah Day stresses the importance of starting free motion quilting at the centre of a piece and working outwards, to keep control of the fullness which develops in the unquilted areas.By the time I got to the top edge it was fairly frilly.  If I do decide to carry on quilting at the bottom edge of the picture and it starts to get too frilly, then I will definitely stop there.

Decision decisions.  I'm not rushing.

Linking up today to Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday. 

Testing the Ruffler

Yesterday I spent a fair portion of the day playing around with rufflers.  It is about four years since I last used a ruffler and I needed to refresh my memory.

I have four of these gadgets, and I tried out three of them.  One is jammed and needs a good cleaning and oiling.  Another is out of shape and it needs some gentle persuasion with a pair of pliers.  Another is a much older model and I didn't try it.  Those three will all have to wait until another day.

However, this one did what it was supposed to do.  Here it is attached to the Singer 201K treadle, and the camera was just sitting on the bed of the machine.  Now I am looking for ways to use it in my next project, which will probably be another little dress.

Quilts are taking a back seat at the moment.  All I want to do is dressmaking - hardly surprising, being hooked on the Great British Sewing Bee at the moment.  Tonight's instalment promises to be interesting...  I think we shall be seeing some vintage machines in action.  Can't wait.

Linking up today with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday.  Lots of interesting projects to see there.

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Meadow Bindweed

Beautiful little flowers, beastly long roots.  I have been digging them up and burning them.

Free Motion Clouds

Clouds are gathering in Freemotionland.

I didn't realise how much the weather could affect the imagination until last week.  We had thick fog for two days solid and I dashed out to buy quilting threads in several shades of grey.  Then we had beautiful clear weather and I started quilting clouds in the sky.

And in the past few days I have realised how often I see church towers in the distance. 

As for the trees reflected in water, after seeing flooding on the news for weeks on end this winter, I did wonder if I was doing a picture of flooded fields rather than an actual lake. 

Once I have finished the sky I shall have to think about the foreground.  I'm not sure that I will manage to keep the sense of perspective, but if it doesn't work I'm not too worried.  I can just slice off the bottom and keep the landscape starting in the middle distance.

It is really enjoyable seeing how all the different coloured threads work together.  I have never been tempted to make postcard size pieces of work until now.

Linking up today with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
And Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday.

Leah frequently warns about getting your position and posture right so you don't strain your arms and shoulders when free motion quilting.  Guess who has got an aching left arm.  This project is being completed a bit at a time for more than one reason...

A Tip from an Old Pattern

This is one of the old dress patterns that I have stored away in my cupboard.  I made a dress from it a few years ago, and learnt a very handy tip from it.  The bodice has a seam allowance of over an inch - I can't remember how wide exactly - and the instructions say that when sewing the skirt to the bodice, the edge of the skirt should be well below the edge of the bodice.

This explains why on my last post about the little red dress that I am making, the skirt and bodice are not tacked edge to edge.

Once the seam has been machine stitched, all you need to do is fold over the bodice seam allowance and enclose the raw edges.  It is much less fuss and less bulky than using bias binding.

All I have left to do on the dress now are the buttonholes, buttons and hem...

Linking up today with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday