I Forgot to Mention...

Someone (anonymous) asked where I got the embroidery designs for the tea towels. I meant to include this info with the initial post, but forgot. The Christmas ornaments are from a purchased piece of clipart. The Christmas candle is available here as a coloring page. The other two designs are from needlecrafter.com. There are a lot of other designs on this site that I would like to do someday. For all of the designs, I printed off the design and then traced the back side of it with an iron transfer pencil (against the window to be able to see it better). Then I ironed it on the towels. I found this worked well because it reversed the design, making it the right direction on the towel and I also could easily see the placement of the design.

The 500th birthday party for John Calvin was a fun evening. The hat was a hit. Here it is in action (with "Calvin's" permission):

In my previous post, I mentioned an art show that I went to. The woman that hosts the show asked me if I wanted to be part of it next year. She had asked me before this year's show (after she saw my things at the fair!) if I would be interested in doing it next year. I said I thought I might, but I'm really glad that I made it to the show this year, so I know what it's like. I'm quite interested, but a bit intimidated, too. I've never done anything like that before, but thoughts and ideas are already rolling around in my head.

Well, I think that's all the bits and pieces I forgot for now. Next up...draft busters. Yup, they're as exciting as they sound.

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The Burda Skirt Again

I'm not sure what prompted it, but awhile ago I decided that I needed a green skirt. The last time I was at Fabricland I saw this green wide-wale corduroy. I wasn't really looking for the skirt to be corduroy and the color was a little different than I was hoping for, but since I had my eyes peeled for awhile and hadn't seen anything better, I thought I'd try the corduroy. After looking for a suitable pattern, I settled on the Burda 2/2010 skirt that I've already used three times . Because of the weight and bulk of the corduroy, I didn't want to try to mess with too many details. I'll use another skirt pattern soon. Really, I will. One of the things I really like about this pattern is the pockets. This time I made the pocket facings and part of the pocket bag out of a cotton woven solid to reduce bulk. Since I'll be wearing this skirt with tights I added a lining. Adding the lining was really simple except that I cut the lining exactly the sam...

Grocery Bags

More gifts! These are just like the still-all-too-ubiquitous plastic grocery bags, but they're fabric. I followed this tutorial and you actually use a plastic bag as a pattern. The instructions are very good and include a pocket so that the bag can be folded up and is easy to keep in a purse or a car's glove box. Mostly for the sake of the gift recipients, here's how to fold up the bag.... 1. Lay the bag pocket side down and fold it length-wise using the edges of the pocket as a guide. 2. Fold it in half, aligning the top of the handles with the bottom of the bag. 3. Fold in half again and then reach into pocket with your hand and turn the whole thing (pocket included) inside out. Happy shopping!

Simplicity 8014 - Black Shirtdress

I do love a nice collared shirt, so the shirtdress seems like a natural extension of that. There are so many good shirtdress patterns available right now, it was a little difficult to choose. The one I used here is Simplicity 8014 , View D. I really liked the denim version on the envelope, but I wanted the option of wearing this to work, so no denim for me. I had considered trying this in silk, but shortly before I went fabric shopping I messed up this silk top with some sort of oil stain. My attempts at treating it only seemed to make it worse. Only low-maintenance laundry items for me, I guess. This fabric is polyester. I wouldn't say it was a joy to work with, but it wasn't bad. After making a muslin, I was pretty pleased with the fit. I removed 1.5" in width from the back - only the dress piece, not the yoke. I also added 2" in length to the skirt. The pattern has gathers at CB, but I changed that to a pleat. I also omitted the pockets. In the final ...

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