Paul McCartney

Ohh, it's been a crazy summer, hasn't it? I'm so glad that school has started. It give me time to sew! I don't have photos of everything I've done in the past few weeks, but I'll take and post them soon.

One thing we did in August was go to see Paul McCartney in concert! The day before we left, I found a Beatles t-shirt at Target, but it was in the toddler section. So I got the biggest one I could and made it into this little dress for Molly. If I had had more time and more fabric (don't we all need more of both of those), I'd have made it twirlier. The shirt has Ringo's drum kit on it. The skirt fabric is gray with white polka dots. Here we all are. My friend and quilting student Carrie joined us.
Here's Sir Paul! Yes, he's the tiny speck in the middle of the stage. Thank god for giant video screens.
How irritating are these small photos, anyway? I need advice, fellow bloggers: how do you deal with photos on blogspot? If I upload straight to blogger, I'm worried that I'll run out of space. So I upload to Flickr and then link, but they come out so small. What do you do? I want it all: larger photos hosted somewhere else so I don't have to worry about running out of room. Any advice?

Dress done (except buttons)

Here's the dress from the KwikSew pattern I mentioned in a previous post. I like my fabrics way better than the ones in their photo. It's all done, except that I need to add the buttons and corresponding buttonholes. I have never done this before, so it will be an adventure. One thing I did discover is that Aurifil thread (cotton mako 50) is not really strong enough to do gathering stitches. It's great for other sewing, though. It has hardly any lint, so it's become my favorite piecing thread.

Clothes patterns are a different breed

I'm making a dress for Molly. Its first life will be a shop sample. I decided to be thrifty and trace the pattern onto cheap interfacing (a trick of Monica's) so that I don't destroy the original pattern. It's KwikSew pattern 3767 and it's going to be super cute! I'm doing the one on the left, in better fabrics.Anyway, I traced the outlines in pencil, figuring I'm going to cut them out anyway. But I wanted to make the notches and other notations permanent. So I traced them with a Sharpie. I ended up putting wax paper underneath so the Sharpie wouldn't bleed. But look at my hand!
There must be a better way. Help, garment sewers! What should I do in the future?

Mending day and a little applique

So, remember the twirly skirt I made Molly a while back? I had bought a white t-shirt so that I could applique one of the motifs onto it and I finally did it! I also applied some crystals, because a little sparkle never hurts. It's a little puckery, but I am too lazy to have used stabilizer, aside from the Wonder-Under that's fusing them together.
She loves it! I also fixed an old Gap dress (from a yard sale) of hers. I swear it was made with the cheapest thread imaginable. I've had to fix nearly every seam on the thing. And I fixed a stuffed animal and a little beanbag. She's happy. You can see part of my stash behind her here. Yes, I have two drawers dedicated to purple. Want to make something of it? And the plastic bin is full of my scraps. It's bursting.
RT even got into the mending spirit. Here he is reapplying a button, all by himself!

Twirly skirt done!

Okay, the twirly skirt is done! I put some giant rick-rack on the bottom. Molly can't wait to wear it to school tomorrow. She had to try it on tonight, post-bath wet hair and all.

It's VERY twirly!

A cute Molly story: We were at Home Depot and there was a bag of fertilizer spilled on the ground. She asked what it was called and after we told her she kept referring to it as "turtleizer."

Twirly skirt!

So I decided after dinner last night to make a twirly skirt for Molly. It's a fairly easy pattern, except that I made it on the fuller side, which made the gathering a pain. The pattern is from Angela's blog Dangit Ange! and her website Cornpatch Creations and I found her links on Beth's Sew Mama Sew! site. Whew! That's a lot of URLs.

Anyway, I think I may invest in a ruffler foot if my girly girl keeps wanting twirly skirts. I need to stop by the shop today to see if I can find some cute trim for the bottom of the skirt. It's also a little short, so I am going to find some cheap Target shorts for her to wear underneath. I'm also going to get her a full length mirror for the back of her door. That will keep her occupied for hours.

As usual, the photo doesn't get the colors quite right. I don't know if it's my camera or my monitor or what. I'll post another photo after the trim is on the she's wearing it. That could be this afternoon!