rostitchery

old times nightgown

ella wanted an "old times nightgown", meaning something like what laura ingalls would have worn (we are on book four of the little house series--yes, i know technically it is book five but we skipped farmer boy until later).  so yesterday i took some time to make a nightgown for her from some stash.  (please forgive the poor quality of this photo--i keep thinking i need to make a little mannequin in her size, and here's proof of that).

i wanted the speed of a peasant dress with the fit of a set-in sleeve, but i didn't want to make the pattern from scratch because i am doing a lot of that lately and i just wanted this to be a fun, quick project.  so i went thru my stash and found the perfect pattern, mccall's 4547, which happens to be what ella calls an "old times outfit".  it includes a pattern for a chemise that fit the bill perfectly.

the pattern instructions are written for use with woven fabrics but i chose to use a soft knit that i found last winter at joanns--sorry internet, i like joanns, most of the time.  but i refuse to put a drawstring in a neckline, especially on night clothes, i don't care how historically accurate that is, so i chose to ignore that and make an closed casing and elastic.  the construction sequence i used was:

1. join shoulders on the serger, then topstitch the shoulder seams flat on the sewing machine (top stitching adds stability to the seam that bears all the weight of the gown).
2. fold down the neckline casing and stitch in place with a narrow, short zig-zag on the sewing machine (this preserves the stretch in a knit fabric--totally not necessary on this neckline since it will already have stretch built in, but i needed this stitch setting for the hems and i didn't want to keep resetting the machine).  leave a place open in the back to insert elastic.
3. set in the sleeves on the serger--don't waste your time pinning--just serge with the sleeve on the bottom and stretch the armscye to fit.  i promise, it will work.
4. serge the side seams closed.
5. serge finish the sleeve hems and skirt hem.
6. hem sleeves and skirt using the narrow short zig-zag stitch from step 2.
7. insert elastic in neckline, zig-zag the casing closed, add a tag so the child can tell front from back.

if you don't have a serger, just do the whole thing on the sewing machine using the narrow zig-zag, and don't bother finishing the edges--the knit won't fray.

this was the fastest thing i've made in a long time--less than an hour from cutting to wearing.  

she loves it!  so much so that i already made another.   behold, the old times nightgown dance:

the long johns underneath are because it got COLD here last night!  yippie!  i pray this is a sign that snow is in our future this winter.  also, she does not wear eyeglasses, she was wearing mine for fun.

i plan to make more of this design, adding embellishments and different sleeve designs so she can wear them as dresses.  tiny versions of this might just become my new go-to baby present.

i highly recommend this pattern, it fits well and sews together accurately.  the only error i found was in the notches on the side seams but that is so minor it isn't worth mentioning except that i don't want some beginning seamstress to think she was the one who messed up.  and i do believe a beginner could manage this whole pattern package--after all, mothers and daughters on the prairie were sewing these things, by hand, without so much as one website to guide them.  i'm pretty sure a modern seamstress with access to the interwebs could do it too.

and now, back to the project!

neck deep in "the project"

so sorry for falling off the face of the blog, i am submerged in the project but so far no one has guessed what it is so i'm back with a few more clues.

 

start guessing!  whoever guesses first gets a surprise gift from me, having to do with this project.  feel free to guess as many times as you like, and feel free to invite your friends over to guess too.

i'll be back soon with actual details, and soon i'll be starting my advent project!  so don't give up on me, i'm just swamped right now but i'll post more regularly after the rush is over.

guess what i'm working on

 

_{^{photo by cdedbdme on flickr}}

sorry to be gone so long--life and summer and what not.

so--this is what i'm ordering this week--guess what it's for:

• a pinking machine

• a covered button/eyelet machine

• 200 extra heavy duty, 40" long cable ties

• 500 feet of cotton cord

more hints to follow, as the purchasing continues.

the first person to guess correctly will get a gift having to do with this project but i can't tell you what it is, because that will give away the surprise.  :D 

i felt a draft

oh the bitter irony--nashville is colder than freezing but we will once again be deprived of snow.

our house has what was advertised as the largest residential front door in nashville--a total exaggeration but fun to say anyway.  it is 48" wide, and it is less than 1.5" thick.  it is original to the house which was built in 1925.  for this reason, we can never just run out and buy a screen door or a deadbolt lock.  anything to go to or with or on this door has to be custom made. 

which is why i spent time and money to make a draft stopper.  the gap under the door is really big, and the draft coming under the door was even bigger.  you could literally feel the wind blowing around your ankles.  but i wanted a draft stopper that i wouldn't have to pick up and move every time i opened the door--the way i had been for the past 8 years with the blankets and towels we had been using--and one that would stay against the door when i left the house--and the blankets and towels stubbornly refused to place themselves accordingly.  then one late night when i should have been asleep instead of watching another episode of "unwrapped", i saw the perfect thing:  the twin draft guard.

but the amazing patented twin draft guard only comes in 35" lengths, and due to the afore-mentioned extra wide/extra skinny door, i was forced to totally engineer something that already exists.  which kind of ticked me off, which accounts for the fact that i didn't finish any of the raw edges.

   

i used 1/4 yard of ripstop nylon (slick stuff, so it will slide over our carpet), and two foam thingies that are used to insulate pipes.  the foam thingies came from the home depot, they come in different sizes but each piece is 6 feet long, i got 1" diameter and it cost $1.65 each.  so the whole thing cost about what it would cost to buy one, which isn't bad in crafting terms.

i cut the nylon a little wider than the door, and i cut each foam thingie to the exact width of the door.  i folded the nylon in half  the "hot dog" way, then on each long side i folded over a pocket big enough to slide the foam thingies in, with a space between the pockets just wide enough to accomodate the door.   i actually took a tuck in this one to make it even snugger--but don't make the pockets themselves too tight or the foam thingies won't slide in.

when the door is closed, the little excess on each end tucks up around the opening and fills the ends.

if/when i make another one, i think i will put batting in to fatten up the part under the door.

so now we're ready for winter!  anybody who wants to ship some of their excess snow to nashville, please let me know, i'll chip in on the postage.

a most excellent advent calendar

yes, that's right--two posts in one day. 

ella and i made our advent calendar this afternoon!  we used only materials we had at home--some envelopes that i had saved from bills (since we pay online, we don't use them), some magazines, and the advertising circulars from the sunday paper.

we cut the envelopes in half and closed the flaps, making little pockets. then we cut out red and green bits from the magazines, and cut out numbers from the ads. we pasted them all on, then we hung the envelopes on a piece of yarn on the mantel.

inside each envelope i put a piece of paper that has a short passage from the bible and a little treat to go with each one. the list of bible passages and treats came from a website that my friend julie found at a really cool website called danielle's place.

of course ella opened the first envelope tonight--the treat was a quarter, and she gave it to the child she is sponsoring thru save the children pal, mylene, which is in keeping with today's bible--mark 12:41-44--the widow's mite.

if you prefer, you could make this advent calendar and instead of bible passages you could put in ideas for advent activities such as "ride around looking at christmas lights" or "paint our nails red and green" or any other activity that you think your family would enjoy.   or of course you could just do the right thing and just put in chocolates.  :D

peacock rejoicing

ella wanted to be a peacock for halloween.

 

she saw a picture of one online.

 

so she described to me exactly what her costume should look like.  "not real feathers.  fadric feathers.  painted on fadric.  with fadric paint."  this is a child who has watched mama paint her fair share of fadric.

 

so i made a sketch.

and she painted the feather on paper as a guide.

and i made her a peacock. 

 

 

she told me that everybody thought she was a peacock wearing girl's shoes.

 

gory details: 

base costume drafted using wild ginger software's "childs play" pattern drafting program.  ruffles are strips of tulle stuffed with netting.  the tail was drafted using wild ginger software's "wild things! vintage" program--in the program the pattern is called a "hostess apron" but as you can clearly see, it is actually a peacock's tail fan. 

reflective tape on the back of the tail fan for safety.   headpiece crafted from the most traditional of halloween costume materials:  pipe cleaners.

what are the notes on the sketch?  that is some advice from ella on what to expect when she is in costume:  "peacocks make people dizzy with their feathers.  that's how they protect theirselves."  she's right--she dazzled me with her beauty.

    
 

national wear your apron day

yep, it's finally here!  the one day a year we all wait for!  the day we get to wear our aprons!!!

ok, if you are like me, you wear your aprons pretty much every day.  i'm wearing one now, while i'm writing this post.  i LOVE aprons, i can put one on and no matter what i'm wearing underneath, i always feel beautiful--like one of those housewives from the 50's who is always put together, who always has something yummy to offer her spur-of-the-moment guests, whose house and children are always as bright and clean as the magazine ads.

ah, the transformative magic of an apron.

i personally prefer half aprons, because they are more like skirts--i like mine fluffy, or poofy, or however you want to describe something that is more or less a kitchen tutu.  but i recently made a bibbed apron that i was really pleased with, and so many other people have complimented it that i thought i would show you how to make the pattern and spread the love around. 

start with the apron pattern in the free wild things software program, available from wild ginger software.  (disclaimer:  i work for wild ginger but i am in education, not sales--and besides, this program is FREE!).  tell the program how long you want your apron to be, and make the width 1/2 the waist measurement of the person who will be wearing the apron.  choose whatever pocket you want, i used the patch pocket and sewed it with rounded corners.  save, then print your pattern. 

for reference, the apron i drafted was 28" long, and 26" wide.

note:  the pattern will print out with seam allowances.  the following images will not show the SA and you can safely ignore them on this pattern.

cut the pattern in half vertically, and work with only the left half (the part that will be on the right side of the body).

add 3"-4" to the side edge of the pattern.  this creates the extra fullness needed to make the gathers at the side waist.

next you will need to add a waist dart.  the exact size of this dart is not really important because the dart is not for fitting purposes, it is just a design element--so make it about 6" high and 3"-4" wide.  place the dart so that the right leg is about 3" from the center front and the bottom is level with the top of the side edge.  don't worry about the fact that it is not on an edge--we're going to take care of that.

now mark your pattern as follows:

and if you wish, draw a shape for your hem.  i made a scallop but your hem could also be round, or zig-zag, or whatever you like. 

when cutting your apron out of fabric, the right hand side of your pattern is layed on the fold.  cut two waist straps, two neckline straps (just use the same pattern piece for both), and your pocket(s).  also cut two waist band pieces that are 2" longer than the sewing line you marked on your pattern, and double the width of your waist straps.

at this point, you will need to trust the directions.  :D  i didn't take any pictures of the process--at the time, i wasn't thinking about a tutorial, i was just sewing for a swap. 

to sew: 

bind your pockets or fold the edges in, then sew them on now, while the apron is still flat!  so much easier than trying to sew them on when all those gathers are already in place.

also, go ahead and finish the edges of the apron, either with binding, folded edges, rolled hem,  or whatever you choose. also finish the long edges and one end of the waist and neck straps.

stitch the gathering line with your preferred method for gathering, then cut the pattern on the cutting line.  gather the apron so that it matches the sewing line, and pin those edges to each other with WRONG SIDES TOGETHER. 

lay the waist band RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER on the sewing line (some of it will extend past the side edge), stitch thru all layers, fold the waistband over the gathers (turning under the raw edge of the strap) and sew in place.  turn in the ends of the waist band, insert your waist straps (pleat or fold the ends to make them fit), and sew in place.

the end of the waist band that is toward the center will be loose.  when you fold your dart to sew, catch the end of the band and sew it in place at the same time you sew the dart.

that's it!  it probably took me longer to create this post than it took to make the apron.

if you make an apron using these instructions, please leave a comment with a link so we can all admire!!!

ps--you might recognize the fabric i used for this apron--it is the same fabric in my new banner.  the banner image came from a different apron--i used the leftovers from the bib apron to make mommy-daughter half aprons for myself and ella and i used RICK-RACK,  which to me, rick-rack is the hallmark of apron-y goodness.  and yes, i just used the word "apron" five times in a single paragraph.  that's how much i love aprons.

christmas trees

every wednesday my friend brenda brings her little girl to kindermusik at the school where i work.  this fall, for the first time, we've been able to meet up every week after class and let her child and mine play together.

for the past several weeks, we've each brought christmas crafts for the girls to do--but they'd rather play "rudolph and santa", or "mama and baby", or apparently just about anything else but crafting with their mamas.

which is fine--brenda and i just go about our own crafty business.  this past week she brought sparkly pipe cleaners--how i love sparkly anything!--and we were just sitting around bending them when i came up with this:

all you need is one green pipe cleaner, one red pipe cleaner, and some glitter glue.  bend the green pipe cleaner into a spiral--bend the red one into four loops and twine them in the bottom of the spiral to act as a stand--dot the tree with red glitter glue for ornaments and gold for a star on top. 

this little tree reminds me of the very first christmas tree rudi and i ever had.  our first christmas tree was 3" tall.  at that time rudi and i lived in a one-room apartment in a high rise in downtown nashville.  we didn't have room for a full-size tree, so i got a little tree meant for a christmas village and i perched it on top of our presents--thus rendering the presents de facto "under" the tree.

the tree we have now is 15 years old.  we bought it the year after the tiny tree--we had moved to the top floor and had just enough room to squeeze in a tree in the corner.  metro nashville codes do not allow live trees in apartment buildings, so we bought what we called an organically-challenged tree.  we went to target the day before christmas--we weren't sure before then that we've had the money to buy one--and by then they were on sale so we got a beautiful tree that has lasted us all these years and is still going strong.

every year of my life, i've wanted to leave the christmas tree up all year.  i never got to do it, until now.  we've left this tree up since last christmas, and every week when ella brings home some little something she made at preschool we've hung it on the tree.  it is so so beautiful. 

i'm not sure what will happen with the tree this coming year, but for one magical year of my life, i have had the supreme pleasure of watching my sweet ella turn on the christmas tree lights every morning when she wakes--one dream come true from my list.

major irritation, simple fix

one reason why i always wanted to learn to knit my own socks is that i detest the seam in the toes of commercial socks.  they irritate me, they rub places on my feet, and for years i've just worn my socks inside out so the seam doesn't bother me.  which means for years i've worn nothing but plain, ordinary, non-exciting socks.

and then, it came to me--the seam should be on the outside.  so i ripped out the seam in a pair of socks, turned them right side out, and re-seamed them.  IT WORKED!  these socks feel great, and since the seam is inside my shoe, it doesn't show.

inside sock, before:

inside sock, seam opened:

inside sock, after:

the ripping was tedious, so on the next pair i just cut the whole seam off, and that worked just fine, the seam is so narrow that it didn't make any difference at all in the socks.

i used a serger, but you can do this with a zig-zag on a sewing machine too.  in fact, i might even do it by hand on some of ella's socks--that way i can make a very tiny seam and use very lightweight thread.

yes, it is a little effort but only a little, and to me this is a quality of life issue.  and by the way, sock manufacturers, YOU could do this too--and of course you'd have the motivation to use matching thread.

outside sock, after:

in memory of fable

on this day last year we said our last goodbye to fable, the best dog who ever graced my life.   i'd like to share a very humble project that i did for fable.  this project uses only the materials you already have on hand.  even someone starting her very first sewing project can do this, although you might not have enough materials to finish it right away--don't go out and buy more, just finish it as time and materials permit.  someone who has sewn a long time might have enough materials to complete it within minutes.

when fable was a young dog, she used to sleep on the foot of our bed.  but as she aged, it got harder and harder for her to climb up, and eventually she started sleeping on the floor.  but the floor is hard, and in the winter it gets very cold, and besides, i missed fable and i know she missed me.

so i made a sack out of some kooky polyester fabric that i bought years before, not to use but simply because it had little sleepy dalmatians all over i--and i stuffed it with scraps of fabric.  i just took all the little bits and pieces that were left over from cutting dresses, tote bags, quilts--all fibers, all colors, all types--i cut them into little bits with my rotary cutter and i filled the sack till it was just right.  i stitched the end closed and fable had her bed, which came with something no store-bought bed could ever have:  my scent, and the work of my hands, and my love.

fable slept on that bed the rest of her life.  and every night i leaned over to pet her and whisper my goodnight in her ear.  her little pillow bed remains on the floor by my side of the bed, i can't bear to let it go because it has what no other dog bed could ever have:  her love.

if you don't have a dog to make this bed for, please consider making one to give to your local animal shelter.  the dogs (and cats) there need a little human compassion, and i would consider any such gift you were to make to be a personal favor to me.

hug your babies, including the furry ones.

sewing math

1 age-wildly-inappropriate midriff tie top, size 5T:

plus 1 kind-of-boring womens skirt:

equals 1 very cute new dress and 1 very happy child:

pithy instructions:

1. go to thrift store, find a shirt and a skirt you like together.
2. cut off the bottom of the shirt.
3. cut off the top of the skirt.
4. sew the one to the other.

if your skirt is fuller around than the shirt, you can gather it, pleat it, or take it in.  the shopping will take as long as you want it to take, but the cutting and sewing will take about 15 minutes, depending on the number of times your child interrupts to ask if her new dress is ready. 

oh, and the winner of the nancy zieman book "10-20-30 minutes to sew" is:

thank you all for playing along!   i have other things that need a new home so be on the lookout for more opportunities to reap the benefits of my retail therapy.