Testing a new pattern!

One of the things I enjoy about my sewing adventures is getting to test new patterns. This one is from the lovely Jen, at Tie Dye Diva.  She gave me the go-ahead to tell you about because it is now for sale!  It is called The Butterfly Dress!   It is a flutter-sleeve dress with ruffle hem and comes in size 2 to 8.  I simply love this pattern! As with all her patterns, the directions are simple to follow and read, the pattern pieces printed correctly and were easy to understand, and it all went together brilliantly!   And look how well it turned out! It fits perfectly!  It didn't need any alterations and was not too wide.   What could be better!!

 It has a lovely ruffle in the front. 

Here is four year old in the dress. 

She picked out the fabrics, with some assistance from me. 

 Back has nice buttons.

 See, fits perfectly!

  Doesn't bind or gape anywhere.  Great pattern!!

Now, go buy it!!!

Sewing for fun

This week, I got back into the swing of sewing for fun.  One thing I got to do this week is test out a new pattern. I cannot tell you anymore, but here is a sneak peak:

As soon as I can, I will share the full picture and details!  But, this was a fun pattern to sew.

In other news, Jennifer Paganelli's Crazy Love has begun to hit the shops!  By this evening, it was already almost sold out at several shops but I managed to find some of what I want at Marie Madeline Studio.  These colors are so vibrant and fun!  I can't wait to sew with them.

On the sewing horizon, I am looking in my collection of Ottobre magazines for darling baby girl clothing for a friend.  Of course, it goes without saying that I will mining my Sarah Jane Children at play stash.  Here's a top idea.  Isn't it darling!

It feels good to be back in the sewing swing of things.  The whole family is sick so it makes it easy to sew while the kids watch movies or craft or play.  For now, my neck pain is ok. I am just not committing to anything. That way, I don't have to make any deadlines.

A pretty mermae

I am hobbled, a bit, from too much sewing due to a herniated disc in my neck, which is causing some mild nerve pain in my left arm. Luckily, I am left handed, so I am able to do a bit of sewing. It is just not good for my neck to do too much.  But this little project was perfect.  This is the mermae doll pattern from Bit of Whimsy Dolls.   My 8 year old daughter is an accomplished artist for her age and she decided to design how she wanted her mermaid doll to look.  We took the design to Joann's and found all the appropriate fabrics and thread colors.  This little pattern comes as a pdf and is very easy to follow.  The pattern even has a link to a video showing you how to embroider the face.  As I am not an accomplished embroiderer, this was very helpful.  So, here she is!   We made a few slight adjustments to her hair and her tail width, so she fit the picture my daughter drew.

Creativity and Hope Cove. New Robyn Pandolph for RJR

I love Robyn Pandolph's fabrics. Sometimes, they are fun. Sometimes, they are sweet.  This new RJR Fabric collection, Hope Cove, is very sweet and feminine.  It reminds me a lot of an older line of Robyn's, Flirt.  This particular line has really spurred on my creativity tonite. You see, my whole family goes to bed by 8pm and I am the lone night owl, along with the cats.  Even the dog goes to sleep by 8pm!  Since my sewing would disturb my sleeping husband, I use the nighttime to catch up on television online (no cable here) and I let my creative juices go wild.  I do not have photoshop so what I like to do is use tape and paper and glue and make paper doll dresses!  I have always enjoyed this.  

Here is an example of what I might do with this Hope Cove line, if I get any.  I am picturing a flutter-sleeved, twirly, three-tier dress with covered buttons down the front and an elastic waist.  
Hey, it is in my imagination, so I can do anything I want!

So, what else do I do at night.  Well, I have a very large computer screen, which I love, love, love, love!   Lookie what I can do!  I can watch Hulu on one side of the screen and surf Facebook on the other! What a dork am I!  Right now, I am watching a preview of Smash and blogging. 

The cats are ignoring me so my amigurumi collection is my only companionship.  They sit on the scanner/printer, next to the computer.  They make me happy.  They are from All About Kendra, on Etsy.  I love Etsy!!  Aren't they cute? My girls don't like them so they became mine.

So, now I am thinking about this cute peasant top pattern in the new Ottobre,  and how cute it would be do make one out of Hope Cove!  Off to print some more......

Back to work

I've been gone a while, did you miss me? I was so excited about my new Janome sewing machine, I thought for sure I would be sewing a lot all through January. But, then, one morning I woke up with spasm in my shoulder blade area and it took a few weeks of increasing pain and additional symptoms to finally get my doctor to send me in for an MRI.  I found out I have arthritis and bone spurs, but both normal for my middle age, and one moderate to severe herniated (bulging) disc in my neck.  In case  you didn't know, you have little pillows (discs) between each vertebrae in your spine.  With age, the distance between two vertebrae diminishes.  Add an injury or a period if inactivity or bad posture and the disc has nowhere to go but out.  And then it pushes on nerves and the places muscles attach, and VOILA,  you get pain.   This was depressing new!

But, I am happy to report, that with physical therapy, the right medications, and exercises, things are getting better!  I am feeling so optimistic, I decided to redo my blog and re-analyze my sewing, for business and hobby.

So, expect some changes in the next few weeks.  For now, enjoy the blog design.  It is not complete. I am enjoying the exploration around blogger.  The possibilities are endless but blogger doesn't really hand it all to you on a silver platter. 

Getting organized and a bit of sewing

So, the theme of the new year is new beginnings and, of course, you cannot begin anew if your work space is a mess.   So, today, I took a look at my sewing area.   This is what I saw:

Sewing table, notions drawers, and work area = MESSY!!!

Fabric everywhere!!!  Box for new sewing machine still out!

What a mess!  I decided it had to be cleaned up but I would work on this organizational project in steps.  Step one, clean up the basic clutter so I can actually sew. 

Ah.  Much better.  The grey boxes are outgrown clothing from my girls' closets.  I need to sort through them, in the next few weeks, and sell it all on ebay or take them to a consignment store.  When those bins are empty, I am going to organize my woven fabrics and knit fabrics so that the shelf next to my sewing machine has only the fabric for upcoming projects.  Everything else will go in those bins.  Until I get a better storage system, this is how I do it.  I open the bins enough that the fabric gets aired frequently.  So, it is safe and sound in those bins.  

I did not take a picture of the work area because that is still a mess.  I am finishing up some projects and will clean it when they are done and I can better organize.  Today, I made cloth napkins and placemats for my parents.   On the new machine, it was a breeze!  I made four of the placemats you see below and four of each kind of napkin. 

New Beginnings

 It has been over a month since I lasted posted.  In that time, my sewing machine, a 20 year old basic Singer, has given me a lot of grief.  Thus, began the path towards a new sewing machine.  I thought it would take me a while to save up the money to buy the one I wanted but my lovely husband threw some into the pot from his bonus and I was able to buy my dream machine, a Janome Memory Craft 5200.  

 Isn't she loverly!   

And she has all these stitches and more on the back of this card.  I am just thrilled with her capabilities and power and her quiet, strong motor.  A huge step.

So, to begin to use her, I decided to make a few of these Bit of Whimsy Mermae dolls.  I bought the pattern from her website and the pdf came right away.  It is a well-written pattern with lots of good hints.  I especially liked the Youtube video about embroidering the face.  It has been a while since I did any emberoidery!

So, here is the finished doll.  This is dolly #2.  The first doll was a rough draft, so to speak.  This one, I have been told, is not perfect  But, I think she came out pretty cute and her next mates will be even better.

I like the zigzag stitch feature on the new machine.  

It was very simple and easy to sew this bodice top.

Sewing her face together was not hard at all, thanks to the video on embroidery.  

 

The new machine has such lovely stitches, including this one we all think looks like waves.

So, look for more stuff happening in Kathy's sewing area starting today.

Happy New Year!