Great grandmothers quilt swirlly gigs.

I finished the quilt top. I love the way it turned out. now I am taking in the daunting task of trying to quilt it.

I know someone who makes a lot of quilts and she told me how to do the quilting with a darning foot and free handing the stitching, when she does it its perfect, when I do it...... well its okay. I have never done anything like this though, so I think for my first attempt its turning out fine. and like I have said before I am no quilter. I decided to do the quilting stitch in the center part that my great-grandmother did first. I know that treating that part as a separate section isn’t necessarily the proper way to do it. but because the fabric is so old, and grain lines are so all over the place I needed to do it that way. hopefully it will cause the least amount of crinkling.

I finished the center part and at some point I am going to go for the rest. it was kind of fun swirling around the stitching like that. you can see on the green backing better the stitching I did and how its only in the center. do you see all the swirlly gigs! now I just have to swirl around thr rest of quilt not just the center.

after I took these pictures I laid the quilt as flat as I could get it and pinned the rest so its ready to go when I get the time to finish it.


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

Black cotton dress

this dress makes me sad. nothing on it turned out right for me. the dress itself I think turned out beautiful, but for some reason when I put it on with the hoop its too short. I tried to make it the same length as my pink 1860’s skirt, but since I apparently I can’t do math, it turned out 1/2” shorter. which shouldn’t really make that big of a difference but for some reason on this skirt it did. its just way short! the length is okay if I’m barefooted and the shoes I generally wear have a 1 1/2” heal on them. and the waist on the skirt turned out to big, but that can be remedied by simply moving the buttons over.

I made this dress to wear in a memorial day parade. a friend invited me to walk with her re-enacting group, since most of the group lives hours away from here not many like to come for a short walk and no battle. so when they do something here my friend will ask me to join in.
so this year I wanted to surprise her and make a new dress! I didn’t say anything to her about it, in case I didn’t finish the dress. I worked hard all month and finally four days before the parade I was done! I have no idea why I wanted a new dress to wear for thirty minutes but I did, I thought it would be fun.
the day before the parade though I was talking to my friend, who I still had not told I had made the dress I was just going to show up wearing it. I was so excited and had decided even though it was a bit short,if I wore my flatest shoes it should be okay, even if the shoes are not period, I didn’t care. but as we were talking she started telling me about what dress she was going to wear. of which we had talked about when she invited me, at that time she was going to wear her black dress, which is one reason I made a black dress. but then as we were talking the day before the parade she told me, she was going to wear something different. reasoning because the man who is in charge of getting the re-enactors in this parade asked her not to wear black. he said that we are not mourning the soldiers but rather celebrating them and remembering them fondly.
so did I say anything about the black dress I made? Not a chance! I didn’t want her telling me it was okay to wear it when obviously it wasn’t. and I didn’t want to start anything between ...well anybody, so I just kept my mouth shut. and wore my pink dress, the one I wear to everything I have ever been too.





and in the end it turns out it was probably better to wear because, even though I rolled the dress and used a entire roller on it, not just one little paper, the whole entire thing. the dress was still covered in cat heir. in the house it was hardly visible, but when I took the dress outside it was glaring at me! stupid black fabric picks up every last piece of dust, thread and cat hair in the universe! but I should have known that. black is notorious for that type of thing. especially black cotton, and the dress is a 100% cotton after all.


the skirt was all my design, it has three tucks near the bottom, with a layer of cluny lace at the bottom tuck. the hem is a 3” wide band of black fabric.
the waist band closes with two black buttons. and all seams are sewn in french seams



the bodice is kind of sort of made from the pattern i used to make my pink 1860’s dress, since I was planning to make the bodice to be tucked in I didn’t make the fancy tail at the back but rather just made it a lot more simple. I did all the seams in french seams in the bodice as well. the sleeves obviously didn’t come from that pattern I can not tell you where they came from. I had a sleeve from another dress, not one I made. I used that sleeve to make a pattern, which yes I had to put the sleeves in three times to get it right, since I had no idea what the placement should be I just eyeballed it the first time then adjusted it from there till I got it right. and I made up the the collar with the offset button, no pattern for that.







Will I ever wear this dress ? probably not. so really it was a waste of time to make.
I don’t even really like the dress. it doesn’t fit right and the cat hair is never going to go away.

here's how it looks with no hoop.


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

blue silk dress

one always needs a new dress for spring right?




I have had this fabric for ages and just couldn’t think of what I wanted to do with it so there it sat on the shelf forever. one day while browsing through blogs and I could not tell which one I was looking at, I came across a dress from the 1950’s made with a similar type of fabric. although that one was a gold base, and my fabric is blue I thought the dress was beautiful and my blue dress could be just as good. I also had a pattern that had a similar look to it. so of course having all that was needed to make the dress I had to do it. I used new look pattern 6675 view D. I bought this pattern forever go because it was cute. I pretty much followed the pattern with a few minor adjustments for size and such. I had to add to the length of the bust because they size patterns so small, and having the bust seam in the middle of my bust is not only uncomfortable its not at all flattering. I really wish all the patterns would size for different cup sizes. I know some do but so many do not.
one thing I did differently was the way I put the lining in. I was not fond of the way they did it. they had the lining attached to the fashion fabric before you made the bust seam, but that leaves a seam allowances exposed on the inside. and if I am going to all the trouble of fully lining a dress I want all the seams to the inside. I understand why they have you do the way they do, it’s easier to get it lay nicely. but I was very precise with lining up the points so it falls nicely. here's a picture of the inside lining at the bust, so you can see what I did.


in the end its another dress to be happy with!




* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

more on the quilt

when working on 50+ year old fabric some repair is bound to be needed. actually the quilt top is in really good condition. I don’t know where my Great Grandmother got her fabric, if its old clothing that she cut into squares, or if it started out as yardage that she cut, or if she had scraps she turned into quilts. I just have no idea, or any way of finding out.
when I showed the project to my parents my mom asked my dad if he recognized any of the fabrics as clothing any of them wore. he said he couldn’t recall any of it, but he was pretty sure he had sat and watched her sew the squares together. what I do know is my Great Grandmother died in 1962, so all of this fabric predates then. yet it still has a very crisp feel to it. it feels as nice as my new fabrics, and better then a lot of the cheap fabrics you can buy. and the thread she used to sew with is amazing. its still very strong. I don’t think they make thread like that anymore. I mean I realize this top has been in storage for 50 years so its not been continually washed or anything, but still thread that lasts long is amazing.

what I did have to repair on the quilt though was moths holes. they were pretty much along the seam lines. and the weird thing is I’m pretty sure the moth holes are original to the top, because under all of the little holes are small scraps, almost as if they were meant to patch the holes. I didn’t want to have a bunch of tiny holes though so I figured out where they all were (at least I hope I got them all) and just went deeper on the seams to get rid of them. I didn’t cut away any of the deeper seam that way it kept all of what My great Grandmother had sewn, yet still removed the holes.


I still need to get batting and backing for this quilt. but I figure I have time to do that, as I still have a lot of work left to finish the top. I do think I have decided on how I am going to piece the rest of it. so far its turning out really fun, and helping to keep my from stressing out too much about life stuff.


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

Great grandmothers quilt top

I am trying to go through some of my abandoned projects and maybe finish them. no promises on that, but I have started one.
this one I wouldn’t say so much was abandoned as I wasn’t ready to work on it. its a quilt started by my Great Grandmother. I had to get to a point where it brought me happiness rather then sorrow. I never knew my great grandmother but I acquired this project when my grandmother died, so every time I would think I am going to work on the quilt it just upset me. I got it out today though and thought oh what a wonderful project to work on. so I think I am ready.

now for some back story. my great grandmother died when my father was a child, many years before I was born, or ever thought of. my dad adored her the way children adore their grandparents and she adored him as well.
my great Grandmother used to make quilts. it was her place of solace. she couldn’t speak any English and the grandchildren were banned from speaking in Russian. they were American so they must speak English. and so my great grandmother was basically stuck in an old farm house in the middle of nowhere with her son his wife and their five children. she was surrounded by people she could not converse with, in a country not her own. so she quilted. she made quilts for everybody, all her children (I think she had seven here and alive) and all her grandchildren. my dad would sit for hours watching her sew on her treadle machine (which was actually the first machine I ever used!) she would talk to him and he said he knew what she was saying, but has since forgotten any of her language. and he would sit quietly just watching her, or talking with her (she must have understood some English but not spoken any)
two years before she died they had to place her in a home, which you can tell when my dad talks about it really upset him, but she had gotten to a point where they could no longer care for her in the home.
the quilts though they stayed, and they were loved to the point they fell apart. my dad said he used his till it was nothing but shreds, my aunts had the same stories about their quilts. my grandmother though managed to save a few of the quilts. when my Grandmother died my aunts found a few quilts my Great Grandmother had made and they were the hottest item in the house I swear. but then in the trunk with the quilts was an unfinished quilt, My great grandmother’s last quilt top. but being unfinished and small, they saw no value in it. one of my aunts even wanted to throw it away! but my other aunt thought to ask me if I would like it since I sew, and suggested I go ahead and make a lap quilt out of it. I thought it was such a neat idea and held so much of my history in this small piece of quilt. something my great grandmother took time to make, something that gave her peace in a land that had told of so much promise, but delivered short. I think she really missed her country, her friends, her children that were left behind. but they had to get away because at the time their country was in turmoil. and so even though I never met her she left me this piece of history.


I knew I didn’t want to just make just a lap quilt out the top so I folded it up neatly to try to figure out what exactly I wanted to do. I decided to frame up what my Great Grandmother had made, choosing a blue cotton to frame it in since it seemed a nice and neutral color. I also have some small pieces that she pieced together, and I thought I would make that into a strip to go around blue, then add another smaller piece of blue (if I have enough) around that. then do two maybe three rows that I will piece from some of my scraps. now I am not a quilter, and never have been. I made one baby quilt one time and it was embarrassingly crooked. (fortunately the person I gave it too was not a quilter either so they thought it was beautiful) but I thought it would be fun to try this project. I am not expecting perfection as that would be impossible. this quilt was started by my Great Grandmother in her last days, she was not well when she started it, so its not in anyway squared, its not even, its a bit wavy in places, but I think I can make it work. It will probably have some puckers in it. but that’s going to be okay. this is going to be a purely sentimental piece. the fabric on this quilt is over fifty years old so I’m not even sure once I am done I should ever use it. since I don’t know that it should ever be washed. whether or not I use it though I think I will love it. how could I not?


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

dress for my niece

well I am still in that I don;t really want to sew mood, though I do feel I am somewhat coming out of it as I am starting to get excited about sewing related things again.
this year I am starting out with a dress for my niece's birthday, which is fairly common since her birthday is at the beginning of the year.
she actually picked out the pattern a few years ago, so I hope its still something she will enjoy. its a pretty classic type of sun dress so I think she will. I used simplicity pattern #2171, view B, leaving out the pants though, just making her the dress.
the only thing I differed from on the pattern was to cut the bottom band on a bias, simply because I like the way gingham looks on a bias. Cutting it on the bias did leave me having to do some math not a lot but still some. the original pattern piece called for cutting two pieces on a fold. my fabric was not wide enough to accommodate folding on a bias so I just cut four pieces making sure to add the seam allowances so everything would fit back together. I liked the way they tied the straps rather then adding buttons. I think its cute, plus it makes it adjustable even for someone who doesn't sew. since it I put buttons on and they were not placed right they would never get moved. I made sure not to tie the straps too tight so adjusting should be nice and easy.
I also think that the bag in this pattern is adorable. and I wouldn't mind making it for myself, but I am trying to justify another bag. maybe I will just have to make me something to go with it. ☺ because then I would need a matching bag. right?




I'm not sure when I will get to see her to give it to her. but hopefully soon. and I hope she loves it as much as the other dresses I have made for her.


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

little dresses for africa

this year a lady at my work discovered a charity called little dresses for Africa. they send , mostly simple pillowcase dresses to Africa. so my co-worker asked any of who wanted to participate to make a few dresses to send to the charity for Christmas.
the dresses were super simple to make, and don‘t take up much fabric, (about a yard ) so I was able to use fabric I already had. they have a tutorial on how to make the dresses on their website. I ended up making 5 dresses, and in all we made 20. and yes we did get the dresses to them before December 1st, I'm just slow at posting things.
mine of course all had to have pockets because how can a child collect treasures with them? and well I just love pockets.

here are the five I made

and here are all 20 getting ready to be packed up to send them.


www.littledressesforafrica.org
http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/patterns/


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*