Purple batiste dress

This dress is really just so . . . sweet. The fabric is a thin, light purple batiste that looks almost white until you look at the collar (which is white). It's so sheer that I'll have to make a slip for the girl to wear under it.

I've made this pattern (Tuck Dress from Collars Etc) three times now -- once in a red twill with a white collar with tiny printed cherries and once earlier this summer in a red and white dimity check. The two red versions have a cheerful, everyday kind of vibe but this one is totally different -- much more dainty.

I have to admit I didn't so much have an inspiration for this dress as a model -- the pattern company itself made a version in light pink with the little embroidery on the tucks. I totally used their idea and just changed the colors and added embroidery on the front pleat. (I used Floche colors 819, 3348 and 210 for the little pinwheel flowers.)

I did change the back this time. The pattern calls for a full button back but I thought the buttonholes in this thin fabric might stretch out over time. So I put in an inverted pleat with three hidden snaps:


I read the instructions on the Bonnie Blue pattern for Emma Lee for general info although I ended up doing it a little differently. I also had to remove a couple of the side pleats since the center pleat uses so much width, but the collar covers the shoulder seam and thus the fact that there are more pleats on the front than in the back.

Lots of flowers

For a trip we took this spring I wanted a shirt for the girl that would:

1. Be cool.
2. Cover her from the sun.
3. Not show wrinkles.
4. Not show dirt (or chocolate ice cream).
5. Be able to be rinsed out in a hotel sink.
6. Match lots of pants & skirts.

Here it is:


It's a Liberty print (I think called Mauvey) based on the Children's Corner pattern Ainsley. It has a square, faced neckline that's lower in front than back, long sleeves & two buttons up the back. I redrafted the neckline to make it more of a right angle and omitted the waistband. I love this kind of loose top for coolness -- and, indeed, even when I *knew* it was dirty, it never looked it.

Liberty Capucine shirt

I do love the really wild Liberty prints. Mostly I've been sewing lately with very staid fabrics -- little flowers, checks, solids -- but for both my daughter and me I adore the cool craziness of Liberty blouses in the summer. . .

I used Capucine earlier this summer for a nightie for the girl; here's a shirt version:


The pattern has a small ruffle instead of a set-in sleeve; with the help of How to Make Sewing Patterns I made this cap sleeve instead.

This pattern was a good choice for this big print because the front is cut all from one piece so everything lines up. No need for the tedium of matching the print!

Only thing I don't like about this shirt is the little buttons. They're too purple; a grey or bright pink would be better.

Where I sew

Pink Chalk has a beautiful set of photos of people's sewing spaces. They're lovely -- but also almost all are entirely out of my reach. I just measured my space and it's 4.5 square feet.

In our old apartments my sewing machine was set up on some spare table if the apartment was spacious or put away in the closet if not. In this house for years one of the bedrooms was my study and sewing space. But now it's my daughter's room. After the kids arrived for a couple years my sewing machine got pulled out when used. But maybe 3 years ago I realized I wanted to have my sewing in the midst of the household activity and also that I wanted it to be always set up.


So I ended up with this. Actually, I love it. It's in a corner of the dining room, so I just pull a chair over. The tiny table is an old metal typewriter table. It's slightly lower than standard table height, which means that the bed of the sewing machine itself is the right height. I fold out the left leaf when I want more room.

Light isn't ideal here but the clip-on Tolomeo light improves things.

Scissors, etc. go in the shallow drawer on the front. You can't easily see it in the photo, but the whole front of the table is a one-inch deep drawer. More supplies are in the plastic box stored underneath the table. The box is an old one from Martha Stewart's Kmart line and is set up like a tackle box with lots of compartments. The blue basket on the floor was made for me by Jonathan Kline to the exact size to fit under the right leaf when unfolded. The basket holds mending (that is, the stuff that isn't sitting on top of the machine) and other works in progress or queue.

I usually just put my tabletop ironing board on the counter in the kitchen around the corner. I have to get up to iron but I figure that's probably actually good for my body.

One thing I love about this set up is its portability. On nice days when I'm doing a big project, I wheel the table through the living room and out the front door onto the porch. Then my light is fabulous, the heat from the iron is outside and I get to chat with passersby.

Of course, I'd love to have a little more room. . . .

Simple dress

It was hot here in July. Way too hot. So I made a cool and simple dress for my daughter.


I loved the idea of simple crisp gingham with no waist seam; it seemed just the thing in the heat. But while I had an old pattern called Lauren's A-Line Dress from Bonnie Blue (no longer available -- Bailey seems to be the new name) it wasn't quite right (wrong size, gathered sleeves, full-button back, etc.). So I ended up drafting the pattern myself, using bits from here and there. It turned out cute, but took me forever with pieces of newspaper and scribbled measurements all over the living room.

I wanted embroidery that wouldn't take forever so I just drew a heart and then started embroidering from the middle with running stitch, lazy daisy stitches and French knots. Then I just mirrored it on the other side.


The sewing was the simplest part of this dress -- 3 tucks on each side of front and back, shoulder & side seams, set in sleeve with attached Swiss embroidery and a 2 button placket on the back. I did face the hem and hand hem it so that took a while but was entirely pleasant. . .

Cross-stitched blanket

I love the (expensive) blankets from Swans Island. The blankets are wool but are designed for summer. They're light, thin and much cooler in our (un-air conditioned) bedrooms than the thin quilts or flannel sheets we used to use as bed coverings in the summer. Both kids have one; I just wish we adults did!

I love the simplicity of the blankets but I esp. like that plainness when contrasted with something fancy. So I cross-stitched a monogram on my daughter's blanket:


The design is from one of the Rouge du Rhin books I got from The French Needle. I did the cross stitching with a couple strands of DMC floss over two threads. It was easier in some ways than stitching on linen because the space between the threads is bigger but more difficult in that the wool sticks together. But it turned out fine.

I did this one in 2010 but *still* haven't done one for my son. . . .