projects

I can’t believe, it’s less than a month until the 2007 Scrap Etc. Event! I spent like three hours on the computer Saturday finding all the pictures I need to have printed. I’m sure it makes me weird, but I don’t store them on my hard drive, so I had to wander around in my online gallery until I found all 100 or so that I needed. Then of course I had to edit them (I can’t believe how bad of a photographer I am) and convert most to black and white. Still, it makes it feel so much more real, knowing that there are things I can do now to get ready for the Event!

Also, since it’s President’s Day, a lot of fabric stores were having sales today, and I totally made the rounds. First I went to Hancock where Simplicity patterns were seriously 99 cents. I couldn’t find the awesome pajama pattern that Emily made, which seems to have been discontinued. Bummer. I did get another dress pattern which you’ll see shortly - and a bunch more vintage baby doll clothes to sew for Betsy. I think I’m more into it than she is but I keep seeing all these awesome fabrics that just beg to be made into teeny tiny dresses and PJ’s and sunsuits.

Next stop was Hobby Lobby which conveniently is close by. I returned some stuff - no Joni, you do not need any more AC Charlie stickers - and somehow ended up in the fabric department, where I scored this for $4.00 a yard.

That’s my new dress pattern - I’m going to try the version shown in blue, with the crossover front and the adorable sleeves (I can do set in sleeves is my new mantra) but I’d like to do the contrast bands as well. It may be difficult to find another print that contrasts perfectly with this one. I suppose if worst comes to worst I can do a solid rusty-brown cotton, which will at least match those shoes I got at Old Navy.

After that I headed over to JoAnn. I’ve discovered the secret to finding really great fabric at JoAnn: bypass the ‘Apparel’ section and head straight to quilting. Not only do they have way better prints, not only are they cheaper, but the quilting fabrics have the distinct advantage of being 100% cotton. (The last dress I served effectively turned me off to ‘silkies.’ Not that it was all that bad to sew, but I’m afraid to wear it too much or it will unravel. Plus, I’m trying to become one of those cool people like Dress a Day Girl who can wear a dress just for the sake of wearing a dress. Cotton somehow seems more ‘everyday’ to me.) Anyway, all the quilting prints were 30% off, and I found, all stashed in one corner like they were too cool to associate with the dowdy calicos and ditsy florals…

Alexander Henry prints! (Okay, so I'm a label snob. Sue me.)

Isn’t that the cutest? The funny thing is, I bought that pattern like 3 years ago, long before I ever knew how to sew. Simplicity doesn’t even sell it anymore. But I seem to be partial to that silhouette - it is vaguely Duro-esque, isn’t it? - and it’s a look which seems to flatter me. Won’t this be sweet, with cherry red ribbon for the ties?

I think this will be my next project so that I can wear it to the Event. It looks pretty easy - the sleeves are cut on the bias, so there’s no gathering, and like all of my projects, no fasteners. As soon as I get the fabric washed I’ll start working on the muslin (have to make sure the crossover part isn‘t going to provide any, um, unwanted glimpses…) All of my tutoring students seem to be on winter break, so I have time this week that really should be spent more productively than watching NCIS repeats.

This was another awesome print I found in the Alexander Henry section. The cutting lady told me they just got it in last week.

I’m dying to make matching bib aprons for Betsy and me. Why have a daughter and learn how to sew, if not to make matching mother-daughter aprons? I’ve been hunting for just the perfect fabric to use, and since I didn‘t have the envelope with me, I accidentally bought enough yardage to make a third apron if we ever have another girl. And while it’s not specifically marketed as such, I think the pattern is fairly vintage looking, don’t you? Maybe I’ll pick up a quarter yard of something else and do contrast pockets, just for fun.

While the fabric has me absolutely salivating, I think I’m going to have to work up to this one. (Maybe I’ll have them done by Mother’s Day. This year.) Why? Because each one is edged with miles and miles of bias tape. If you’ll recall from the Baby Doll Christmas Coat - which I never posted pictures of because I basically hated how it turned out - bias tape and I are not friends. Of course, that was the extra skinny kind. Maybe if I use wider tape - and yes, they do sell it in the perfect tomato-red to match the berries and flowers of Mr. Henry’s imagination - then maybe it won’t quite leave me wanting to hurl the whole thing out the window.