house on hill road

For the love of Liberty, the end

People, I have been holding out on you.

I finished the Liberty quilt awhile back, three weeks ago give or take a couple of days. It has been happily residing on our king sized bed since and we have been slumbering quite happily below it. I love this quilt just like I knew I would.

It is backed in an aqua free spirit voile (water). I bought 7 yards and railroaded it with all the little Liberty scraps in a patchwork strip down the middle. The combination of the Tana Lawn on the front and the voile on the back is dreamy. DREAMY. It is super soft and a bit silky, with not much weight at all. To make sure that I didn't lose the airy, summer weight quilt I was going for, I used the lightest weight cotton batting I could find - Quilters Dream Cotton Request. It was a good choice - light and drapey, perfect for this quilt. I quilted it on my machine using the basic guidelines for an orange peel design as shown by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Frannson!, except that I found it easier to quilt side to side instead of up and down. The squares made for an easy quilting guide - bonus! I wanted something more than straight lines and I didn't want loops. I think this was a wonderful choice - it's not too busy, but still interesting and geometric. On the front, it's not very noticeable, but on the back - boy, oh boy! It looks like an entirely different quilt.

I machine sewed the binding to the front and hand stitched it to the back. I had a hard time choosing what to bind this with as I wanted it to compliment the quilt, but not compete with it. I ended up using this Liberty print that doesn't appear in the patchwork, but that is still floral and has some pink. I think the dark brown grounds the whole quilt well.

And because I know someone will ask, here it is on the bed, just as it is, no styling. I think some new pillow shams are in order. And maybe a switchplate? That's only been missing for 6 years. Ahem. But, best not to rush these things, quilts included. This one was certainly worth the 1.5 year wait.

(Other quilt details such as fabric, square size, etc. can be found in these posts: For the love of Liberty, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

 

KCWC: Day 7

Jane got a Tova of her own, but she didn't want a dress so I made her the top. Just like with Kate's, I sewed the bottom half of the placket closed. When she tried it on before I hemmed it, she thought it was too long so I cut 4.5" off the bottom. Once I had it hemmed up, I thought it might have been better a smidge longer. But, hey, Jane likes it and it fits so it's a win in my book.

I had a TON of fun sewing for my girls this past week. Thanks, Meg, for hosting a great challenge! I look forward to the next one...I've already got some ideas!

KCWC: Days 5 & 6

Thanks for all the nice comments and suggestions on my last post. I, too, had thought to put a tank top under the Wiksten Tank dress, but it still didn't work. Drat. My bet is that it will fit next summer and until then, it's mighty cozy for sleeping. Based on a couple of comments saying that the Tova is sized smaller than the tank, I went ahead and sewed the Tova dress for Kate. I cut it out and sewed most of it on day 5. On day 6, I sewed the collar on and it was done.

It fits!

I did opt to make it sleeveless so it'd get some wear immediately. It was easy to do. I just bound the armholes like I did on the tank. It's still a bit roomy which is fine - she'll get to wear it throughout the entire summer.

The other change I made was to sew the bottom half of the placket closed. I thought about using buttons, but went for the easier and faster route. Based on my experience sewing these two patterns for the girls, I'm realizing that their shoulder to chest measurement is much shorter than a grown woman's. Something to consider if you plan on sewing this for a tween/teen.

So here I find myself on day 7 of the challenge. I'm completely inspired to keep sewing. Fingers crossed that I get one more garment completed for Jane today. I'd love to keep going with some things for myself. I sometimes forget that sewing clothes can be fun once you have a few go-to patterns. The selfish sewing won't happen this week, though. I have to clean up my mess before my houseguests get here on Wednesday.

Happy sewing, you all. Check out the KCWC flickr pool for tons more inspiration!

KCWC: Day 4

I taped the pdf download of the Wiksten Tank together last night (day 3) and cut it out (size XS) and sewed up the dress version for day 4.

So cute, right?

It's too big for Jane.

I'm bummed.

I thought it looked kind of big when I cut it out, but I forged ahead because the girls were at school and I didn't have a body to try it on. The main issue is that the neckline is too low. It's also a smidge big overall, but if the neckline were ok, we could belt it and call it good. No go. Note to self: trust your gut.

BUT not all is lost - Kate had not yet tried it on. And although she is the younger sister, she is the taller and bigger sister so it may fit her. Worse case scenario, it'll be a nightgown for Jane - a plan she wholeheartedly embraces.

Also, it's a stellar pattern and came together quickly. It just not suitable for the big-little-girl-not-quite-woman body we have going on here. That said, I think I'll make the top for myself.

Which brings us to the rest of my list...based on sizing, I'm afraid the Tova is out.  (Insert sad face here). And while the Little Lisette dress is adorable, I'm worried about sizing on that too.

What's a girl (er, mom sewing for her girls) to do?

KCWC: Days 1 to 3

Day 1: Print PDF pattern. Print pattern again (forgot to click the no scale button). Gather tape and glass of wine. Assemble pattern. Go to bed.

Day 2: Cut out Jane's first pair of p.j. shorts (she's on the left). Sew 'em up and fit them on her to ensure the elastic is the right length (she like them loose). Success! Have Kate try on Jane's shorts to see. They fit her great, too. Cut out 5 more pairs, sew the front panels together, sew all the buttonholes, plop down on the couch and watch Mad Men with Fatty on the DVR.

Day 3: Buy more elastic. And some cute ribbons. Assembly line sew the other five pairs. Make girls jump on the bed for a photo shoot that doesn't work (too blurry). Have them stand against the white wall and keep Jane off of her tippy toes. Blog it. Done.

The Details:  The pattern is the Weekend Linen Shorts from the summer 2012 issue of Stitch magazine (on newsstands now!). I made the Women's XS for the girls - they wear anything from a girls' 14 or 16 to a women's size 0. When it came time to actually sew the shorts, I could not find the magazine anywhere in the house (or the car, for that matter). And I still haven't. But having sewn these types of shorts/p.j. pants before, I just jumped in. I guessed on the waist depth and the hems, but I don't think that is such a big deal if my guesses were (most likely) incorrect. The pattern does call for making a drawstring from fabric, but I opted not to do that. Instead, I threaded 1" wide elastic through the casing (my buttonholes are 1" as well) and sewed 2 short sections of grosgrain ribbon to the elastic on either side of the buttonholes. It's basically a faux-drawstring - all the ease of an elastic waist with the cuteness of the bow. I was able to get each pair out of 1 yard of fabric so the total cost was pretty reasonable (and especially since all of the fabric came from the stash!).

See? I totally let them jump on the bed. (I love having proof!)

Kids Clothing Week Challenge

Fabrics chosen by the girls - their buy-in is absolutely necessary if I'm going to do this. Also, my list is a little long and maybe a wee bit ambitious (they are both in a women's xs now), but I'm in. How about you?

For the love of Liberty, part 5

Thank you all so very much for the nice comments on my blouse. It is wonderful to sew something for myself that fits and that I will wear. It makes me want to sew clothes more and more!

I have been plowing away at my Liberty quilt. I finished quilting it the other night so it's ready for binding. It took me hours and hours to free-motion quilt it. I won't tell you how many episodes of Felicity on Netflix  - I'll just say I'm well into the second season. I'm trying to decide what I want to do about the binding. I have a particular Liberty fabric in mind, but I don't think I have enough. Of course, it would help if I could find said fabric in the mess that was formerly known as my studio. It's time for a big clean-up and then time to pull out the calculator and do some serious figuring. Fingers crossed that I don't have to order anything! In the meantime, my girls are in desparate need of spring p.j.'s. While I search the studio for Liberty, I bet I'll find something they'll like. Right?

Sleeveless Painted Portrait Blouse

A couple of weeks ago, when the temperature an unseasonal 80 degrees, I had the urgent desire to sew clothes. Right then. I listened to my inner voice and did it. This blouse is the result.

The pattern is the Painted Portrait Dress and Blouse by Anna Maria Horner. I have used this pattern before when I was at Weekend Sewing with Heather Ross last October. Anna had just released it at the time and I decided to make the dress version with sleeves. The entire thing got sewn that weekend, but I haven't blogged about it because I am *still* embellishing the yoke with embroidery. (And also, as I look at that photo, I think I'm going to have to change the pockets, too.) I LOVED sewing that dress - it didn't hurt that Anna was there to help me fit it properly. Sewing this blouse was just as fun, but faster - no sleeves, no pockets, shorter length. I cut it out one afternoon and sewed it up the next day.

The Little Folks dobby dots came from my stash. (LOVE using my stash!) It is a great choice for this because it is light-weight and drapes beautifully. Voile would be great (that's what I made the dress out of) as would a cotton lawn. Quilting cotton would be crisper, but I think would still work. Anyhow, I did some fussy cutting for the front and back yokes. I especially like how the back one looks and Fatty gets credit for suggesting that the square be split with the borders in the middle. Smart man.

In New York, I was able to try on a sample in size medium. It fit me pretty well in the torso, but was a smidge small in the bust. To compensate, I made the size large and took it in on the back princess seams. That's what Anna suggested and that is what I did on the dress. For this blouse, I took the dress and copied the sewing lines of my back seams onto the blouse and sewed accordingly. It worked pretty well.

It's a well-written pattern and a fairly fast sew, especially the second time around. I especially love how the armholes and hem are done with bias tape. That is not to say that I didn't make any mistakes. Boy, did I ever. A little mishap with the serger at the very end (can you say a HOLE in the blouse?!?) left me scrambling to cover my tracks. I was able to fix it well enough that I think I'm the only one who can see it, but the fit is a little off. No big loss, but I definitely won't be serging the seams after they are sewn the next time around.

I'm plotting the next version. I think it'll be a sleeveless dress for summer, probably with a patchwork yoke. I'll keep you posted.

Have a great weekend!

Jodi's quilt

This is my friend Jodi's 40th birthday present. She got it just about 2.5 years late. Thank goodness she is a patient person!

(I'm sorry the photos are crap - I wrapped it up and mailed it off before I really looked at them so there's no going back.)

I made this quilt over 8 months. I pieced a couple of the squares last summer and wasn't feeling it so I set them aside. When I pulled them back out this winter, I knew exactly what I needed to do. Funny how taking time away from something makes it all clear, isn't it?

The blocks are log cabin-ish. I snuck little bits of some of my favorite fabrics in them. I loved having the limited palette of green and brown - it made me really think about the values of the colors and the patterns. The blocks are all different sizes - I just used the Kona snow to fill out the column width and then added more to each side to get the whole top. I didn't measure it, but it's pretty generous - maybe 65 x 80" or so? The back is two solids from my stash - one green and one brown - separated by a strip of a print with a little patchwork for flavor. I quilted it myself with the figure 8-ish loops in white thread and then hand bound it with a lime green solid. And although it is not perfect, I'm so happy with how it came out. The birthday girl likes it, too!

With this quilt complete, I have knocked all 2012 sewing goals off of my list. That feels pretty darn good. Anything from this point on will be like icing on the cake.

Household sewing project #5

We're back in the laundry room, folks.

My final household sewing project that was on my goals list for 2012 is finished. It is so boring, but, hey, it really needed tackling. So without further ado, here is my new ironing board cover.

See? I told you - BORING.

BUT practical and pretty, too.

This is super easy to make. I used this tutorial as a basic guide. Lay down your fabric, trace around your ironing board, giving yourself about 4 inches all the way around. Make a casing for elastic around the perimeter (I serged my edges and folded them down once) and stitch it in place leaving a 2-inch opening. Use a safety pin to thread the elastic through the casing, try it on your ironing board to make sure it's nice and tight. Sew the ends of the elastic together and close up the casing. Done. In an hour or less.

So that's it. I just have the one quilt of 2012 to finish and I've hit all of my sewing goals for the year. And it's only March - that leaves me 9 months of solid sewing play. I love that.

Little log cabins

Walking through the kitchen yesterday, I spotted a one of our log cabin potholders sitting on the table and found myself smiling. Immediately, I decided that I needed to make more little log cabins. I rummaged through the scrap bin, pulling a handful of pinks, blues and greens that were left over from various camera straps and Jane's quilt. I brought them downstairs to the family room (where I have been sewing lately) and set them on the table for later. After dinner, I spent forty minutes stitching and cutting. It was fun and satisfying. It also reminded me that sometimes I just need a little time to play with fabric - no agenda, cutting without a ruler, sewing strips together willy-nilly, making for making's sake.

Also, is it crazy that spying little handmade things makes me insanely happy?

A cushion for our chair

When we redid our kitchen in the spring of 2010, we also redid the mudroom which is down the stairs from our eating area. We put in wainscotting, a new tile floor, cubbies for jackets and shoes, and new treads for the stairs. To make it all work the way we wanted, we had to give up a small built-in bench. I wasn't really sad about that as the bench really was used more for throwing random stuff on and no one ever sat on it. But I also knew that it would be nice to have a place to sit and put on shoes so I started searching craigslist for a schoolhouse or windsor chair. I hit the jackpot towards the end of our project and scooped this one up for $15. A few coats of spray paint later, I had a cheery, red chair.

One of the household projects on my to-do list for 2012 was sewing a cushion for this chair. Sure, it was cute and bright, but it wasn't the most comfortable chair. I had a hard time deciding on what I wanted the cushion to look like. One of the major concerns was that we have an outdoor rug in this space that doesn't have any red in it. While searching the sewing room for something else entirely, I came across this fabric that I bought a few years ago with the family room or kitchen in mind. When I realized it had green, brown, blue and red, I knew this was the fabric for my chair!

I had everything else I needed on hand. I covered plain cording with the navy polka dot fabric (tutorial here) and used 2" high density foam covered with a layer of low-loft polyester batting. The cushion has a lapped zipper in back (tutorial here) and ties to the chair.

Now that this is finished, only one of my five household sewing projects for 2012 remains. Dang. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised by this. It may appear as if I have given up my procrastinating ways, but I don't think that is the case. For me, just saying that I was going to do these things gave me a clear path as to what to tackle project-wise. I've pretty much just put my head down and made them happen. Bonus: I saved the easiest one for last.

A quilt for Truly

I made this quilt for Melissa and her sweet baby girl, Truly.

I used the Proverbial Quilt pattern by Denyse Schmidt. This is the third time I have used this for a baby quilt and I love how it comes together quickly and is still interesting to make. For the fabrics I used Kona Snow and three different Liberty of London prints from my stash (one for the letters, one for the back, one for the binding). I wanted something girly, but not too pink or too cutesy and I really think the Liberty does the trick. It is also so super soft which is wonderful when sewing for baby. I quilted it myself with a very loose figure-eight style of loops. This was my first time quilting a pattern like this and I like how it came out.

I was incredibly happy almost every minute spent working on this. It was the most fun I've had sewing in a long time. It may have something do with the materials or the pattern. Heck, it could even be that I am just feeling plain old creative these days. Imagine that! Regardless of why, I'd like to think that the fun is infectious and that my smiles traveled across the country, wrapped up with the quilt to bless the sweet baby girl and her family. I am thrilled for them.

Welcome to the world, Truly.

Household sewing project #3

Never did I think I would be taking photos of my laundry room and posting them on my blog.

But I am.

Across from our washer and dryer is a countertop with upper cabinets. I think it was probably intended to be used as a folding station with room for laundry baskets or the like underneath. For us, though, it works best as a desktop/command central.

I keep the calendar here along with all pens, pencils and markers that the girls and I use frequently. There is also a huge stack of looseleaf paper and other office essentials like a stapler, pencil sharpener and paper shredder. We each have our own clipboard for keeping important papers and invitations. It's not always this neat and tidy, and often a lot of what should be here is on the kitchen counter, but I'm trying to be more organized this year and so it recently got a good cleaning.

Here's where the sewing part comes into play.

Underneath the counter is the litter box and the cat food. No one wants to look at that so I have made it all disappear with a little slight of hand. Oh, okay, not really. A curtain does the trick. Scout, the cat, can slide right behind that fabric to do her business and no one is the wiser. I used home dec weight fabric - 2 yards cut into 1 yard lengths, pre-washed and sewn together. A quick hem at the bottom and casing at the top was all it took to neaten and soften up this utilitarian space. Bonus: I can easily take it off and throw it in the wash if need be. Also, I love that this stripe has green and blue in it because it's directly across the hall from our powder room and off of our family room - it all looks so good together.

Boring? Probably. But it's checked off the list. Two more household projects left to complete and I will have sewn all the household projects I intended to make in 2012. Not too shabby, huh?

Happy weekend, folks. I hope you have a great one.

A pretty pile

Somehow I manage to get myself all worked up about nothing this afternoon. Now I am cranky and tired and just over it. So how about some pretty fabric to look at? That normally puts a smile on my face. For an even bigger smile, I just might make something. How's that for an attitude adjustment?

Household project #2 - done and dusted

Bad puns aside, I am thrilled that this bed skirt for Jane's room is finished. It has been a long time coming. I've had the fabric for at least 8 months, but couldn't motivate myself to get sewing it. I guess that is what the New Year is good for - getting those lagging projects completed. Well, at least, that's the way it works for me.

While this project isn't for beginners, it is pretty straightforward if you have some experience gathering and sewing waistbands (like on a skirt or an apron). Instead of making a fabric deck to cover the entire box spring, I attached the gathered fabric to a strip of cotton. This makes maneuvering all that fabric much easier and less swear-inducing. It's also super easy to attach to the box spring. The secret? Twisted upholstery pins.

Brilliant, right? I think so.

I'm so happy with how this room is coming together. It's been a work in progress for about two years now. I wanted to make sure that what she (and I) chose would carry through her teenage years and maybe even beyond. I think we are on the right track. The furniture needs painting, but one thing at a time.

The lowdown:

Jane's bed is a full. I used 8 widths of fabric (54" wide), each 21" tall before hemming. That's slightly over two times the linear measurement of the box spring.

It has a 3.5" hem (1.5" pressed and then another 2" pressed) that I sewed with the blind hem foot and stitch on my machine. I gathered it in sections - two widths of fabric to each quarter measurement of decking - to make the sewing less cumbersome. I highly recommend this approach.

The finished deck is about 4" tall - I cut 10" strips and pieced them until I had the right length. I sewed the deck to the skirt using a 1/2" seam allowance and then finished it just like you would a skirt waistband (folded in the middle and topstitched down to enclose the raw, gathered edges).

The fabric is Annie Selke Links in pink. It coordinates with the headboard fabric, Annie Selke Shalini Ivory Raspberry. The duvet and white shams are from PBTeen. Monogramming was done locally. The aqua check fabric is unknown. Details on the quilt can be found here and the throw pillow here. Upholstery pins were bought at JoAnn's.

Evelyn's quilt

I just realized there was some unfinished business around here, namely that I never told you all about the one handmade Christmas gift this year. I think I mentioned it was a quilt, right? I made this one for my niece, Evelyn. She was born last May, ending the nephews-only run that we had been enjoying for the past 10 years. While I have enjoyed making many, many things for the little fellows, I was secretly (or may be not so secretly) thrilled to have another, littler girl to sew for.

The quilt is made entirely of half square triangles. I used the better part of 2 charm packs for the prints and a solid white from Moda for the, um, white. I chain pieced it using this method described on the Purl Bee and then set about piecing. Jane helped me with pattern placement - she's got a very good eye for color and balance. I completely eye-balled the size - just went with something that looked proportionate and a little bigger than crib size. It's backed in a pink solid and trimmed in a small aqua print. The quilting is straight lines 1/2" on each side of the diagonal seams (Does that make sense? I think it does, but let me know if you don't get it).

My very favorite part? I free-motion quilted my niece's name in the bottom corner. It's super subtle, almost invisible. And pretty dang sweet, if I say so myself.

Ok. Unfinished business now finished. Back to whatever it was you were doing.

It's the little things

I pulled out the sewing machine and made a tablecloth. And although a tablecloth would not appear to be very newsworthy, I'm giddy with myself and the finished product. I've had this idea in my head for a long time - way too long, actually. Like six months too long. It's the first of the household projects that I want to complete in 2012. And, really, I don't know why I didn't tackle this one sooner. I am already so happy that I have it and we used it tonight, me sitting at the table eating my broccoli soup smiling the whole while. And smiling again afterwards when all the little soup spills were wiped up lickety-split. Love that.

The construction was very straightforward. I contemplated writing up a tutorial, but I didn't get enough photos while I was making it. I think it took about 3 hours start to finish, including a little break when I sewed through my finger. (Yes. I know. OUCH. But, really, I'm fine.) Injuries aside, it was a great one-day project. My table is 48" in diameter so I cut a 49" circle out of this laminated cotton. The fabric is 58" wide so it's perfect for a small-ish dining table. The laminated cotton can be sticky and tricky to sew. I used a walking foot when I could and pressed with low heat and a pressing cloth. Sometimes it was just as easy to finger press so I did that, too. The skirt is made from four - 8" widths of the fabric, hemmed on one side and sewn together and pleated every 6 inches (the depth of the pleats are 2"). I made some piping using the scraps and then I sewed the skirt to the circle with the piping in between the two layer using a 1/2" seam allowance. That's it - pretty much a perfect fit. In my mind, the pleats were crisper, but I know that is a function of the laminated cotton and my lack of pressing the pleats. No biggie. I'm thrilled with it just the way it is.

And other happy things? Season 2 of Downton Abbey starts tonight. Love that, too.

Northcote Range by Cabbage and Roses for Moda - Fabric Giveaway

The people at Cabbage and Roses, an English fashion and housewares company, asked me if I would want to partner with them to do a giveaway of some fabric from their new quilting line Northcote Range for Moda. The collection is full of vintage florals in a soft palette with some stripes and solids, too. Who doesn't like pretty fabric? Right. I jumped at the chance.

They sent me a yard of this green and cream floral and a fat quarter of a small red print. The colors reminded me of Christmas and with the holidays fast approaching, I thought it might be fun to make a stocking. I've had this idea percolating for awhile now and it was great to see it come together like I had it in my head.

I added the green velvet ribbon from my stash to tie it all together. I'm pretty pleased with the end result and it was a quick, satisying project. I might just have to make a few more!

Now it's your turn...Cabbage and Roses are offering a bundle of fabrics (1 yard of a green floral, 1 yard of a matching green solid & 1 quarter yard of a green stripe) to one of my readers. Tell me what you would do with the fabrics if you win. I'll keep the comments open until Sunday, November 20th at 5:00 p.m. EST. I'll announce the winner next week.

You can learn more about Cabbage and Roses through their website, blog, facebook and twitter.

Enjoy the weekend.

Contemplating...

fabrics for camera straps...

hat patterns for stashed yarn...

backing and binding options.

And you? What are contemplating today?