ruffler foot success!

okay so I tried to wing it and was having no luck what so ever, I looked it up online found a tutorial on youtube and started watching it. through the whole thing I’m going; I did that! I totally did that. then she said something about making sure the screw was tight enough on the shank. I had thought I had it on tight but since the whole thing just wasn’t working I decided to try that. and it turns out I didn’t have it on as tight as I thought. it was messing the whole thing up. who would have thought that would make such a huge difference but it did! I’m so excited. its so much faster to ruffle things this way. its going to make my petticoat so much less daunting. this was totally worth the eleven bucks I spent on it.

ruffler foot

I bought this ruffler foot in hopes it will make my life easier. I haven’t used it yet and have no idea how. it came with no instructions. I’m going to try it out probably tomorrow. I’m making a petticoat to go over my hoop skirt, all those ruffles seemed so daunting I broke down and bought this. plus it seems half of what I make has to be ruffled. so it made sense to buy it. hopefully I will be able to figure it out. if not.... well I should be able to find instructions online. right?

Red from the pile.

in the no rules sewing department. I had a bunch of scraps in this red fabric left over from making a red riding hood cape last year. the grains were all over the place and pieces were of all shapes and sizes. I didn’t want to just throw out the fabric as some of the pieces were rather large. this is what I I have done so far. it is no where near what I want. I’m going to gather up the train in hopes it will hide the fact there is no real grain line in this. I have no idea if it will work. but hey I’m having fun playing. I did set this aside for a bit to work on my sailor dress. yea for having more then one project going on at once! I’m having a lot of frustration going on with fit on things though. what would really help is a dress form in my size. it close but just not quite there. oh well maybe one day. and you know what I think would be an excellent feature on dress forms is flexible shoulders. I have more trouble with the stiff shoulder things then anything. it makes the dresses hard to put on and off. okay enough complaining. and back to work.....

more sailor dress

yea sleeves! well sort of, they still need the cuff.

sailor dress start

Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted a sailor dress. I dream and wished, but never had. I don’t know why I never thought to make one before but I haven’t. recently I saw a picture of a sailor dress made in gray, I thought oh how cute! then oh I have gray in my stash, so began this new project. I knew I didn’t have a pattern of exactly what I wanted so I went through what I do have choosing what was close to the shape I wanted. in the end I am franken-patterning this out of two patterns and my own devices. the collar is completely mine. I have never put in a collar like this in my life. let alone one that I made up and had to do with no direction. it took me two hours to get the point in without a funny pucker. I knew it could be done though so I kept taking it out till I finally got it the way I wanted. I have unfortunately run out of bias tape, I again just used from my stash and from the start knew I didn’t have enough. I need to purchase more. however the closest place to get it is a forty minute drive. wal mart why did you stop selling it?! oh well I need a zipper too, eventually I will get all of that. I am planning to put a second stripe on the collar, in the mean time however I will sew what I can of the dress. that way when I do get everything I can sew it up right away.

no rules sewing

a pile of fabric from my stash I am going to try to make something out of, I don’t have a clue what. I just felt like starting to make something entirely on my own, no pattern. its been forever since I did that. I used to free hand things all the time. then I learned over the years how your “supposed” to do things. every once in a while though I like to go back to the no rules sewing I used to do and see what I can create.

And meanwhile I am also working on another project, but more on that later.

wrist cuff

I made this little thing, then wondered what will I wear it with? obviously I’m going to have a make an outfit around it right?
I made it out of mostly scraps, and things I already had. I am trying to use up some of the stuff out of my stash. I don’t know why but its really hard for me to get rid of even the small scraps I have left over from previous projects. I need to do more stuff like this. its relaxing and helps me use my stash.