Stitches | August Sewing Report

 

In August I shortened a skirt for a lady from church. I have done sewing jobs for her in the past. You may remember.

I hemmed my husband's suit pants while we were driving to my brother's wedding. These were the pants that he needed to wear to the wedding. Doing things at he last minute. That's me.

I fixed these pants, also for my husband. He had burst the seat seam. I wasn't sure that I would take the time to sew it back together. Then I noticed how well the pants are made. Check out the binding on the inseam. That made me decide that these pants were worth the time.

Last of all, I stitched this rend in my favorite silk scarf to keep it from getting bigger and ruining the whole thing.

July Sewing Report

Good news, I finished the pioneer doll!

I sewed and stuffed her arms and legs. Then I sewed the arms and body together, stuffed the body, and then attached the legs.

Before I made the arms I embroidered my newborn niece's  name on the back of the arm piece.

I sewed the yarn hair on her head and finished the look with braids. (I have a tutorial HERE.)

I had a dress ready and waiting for her that I had made back in December.

She turned out just right!

Sewing in June

 

My son needed this button sewn to his shorts.

These shoes that are new to me needed a little stitch where the thread had unraveled.

You may have noticed that I had no sewing updates for May. That is because I had a baby on April 28th. I took the month of May off from sewing projects. Due to baby gifts and people bringing us meals I have a lot of thank you cards to send.

I made this design, copied off a bunch, and then added the color with crayons. It's not a sewing project but it is a creative endeavor.

I have also started another pioneer doll. So far the face is embroidered and the seam allowances are marked.

By the way, our baby is a girl. Delivery was a very uncomplicated, routine affair. Baby girl has been blessed with good health and is growing like a bean. We love her very much!

April Stitches

 

I cut out the pieces for the pinafore.

I stitched the bodice pieces and facing together along the neck/front opening and the arm holes.

Then I turned it right side out.

Then I put the pinafore project on hold and moved onto a gauze baby carrier.

My sister in law was so kind to pick up the gauze material for me then she offered to stitch the hems and give me the whole as a baby gift. I am so grateful! 

She wasn't sure how a baby wrap was made so I helped by cutting the fabric into the right shape and I folded and  basted most of the hems just to make the stitching go a little easier. At least I hope it helped.

The color of the material is a mossy olive green. My phone camera refuses to pick this color up correctly. Just so you can imagine it correctly, it is not this puky bland color instead it is an inviting mossy olive green.

To come up with a way to mark the center of the wrap I had to put my thinking cap on. I don't have any ribbon with me at home. (Plenty in storage but no way to fetch it.) I rummaged through my project basket. I had a mouse eaten fleece sweater in there that I am saving in case I need to use the salvaged fleece. I spotted the tag on the sweater and decided it would be the perfect thing. I ripped it off and tacked it at the center of my wrap. It looks great and the colors are much closer it person.

I had to do some more patching of my compression hose. Not a fun project but very practical. 

I rigged up a make shift curtain for our bathroom doorway out of a table cloth and some leftover pink fabric. Again the colors look so awful through my phone camera. It person the table cloth is the faintest of pink with a pretty brocade flower design. I had to gather the table cloth and stitch it to the pink fabric. The pink fabric was something I had to add to make the curtain long enough.

I found the table cloth and matching set of napkins at a garage sale last spring. I haven't had a good opportunity to use it until now. I am glad that I found a use for it and that I can see it on display everyday. I know it has some staining but I still think it is pretty.

March Stitches

 

I finished the dress! This is 100% hand stitched. It is the first time that I have made a dress all by hand. It feels good to see what I can achieve.

This month I stitched the skirt pieces together, gathered and attached the floral contrast bit, hemmed the skirt, finished the seams and put in gathering stitches at the top edge of the skirt. I got to this point by the 18th of March.

Next I attached the bodice to the skirt with a backstitch and a running stitch for reinforcement. Then I finished the seam with a blanket stitch.

I sewed the zipper in the center back. 

I sewed the collar and facing on to the neckline. I understitched the collar to help everything lay smoothly.

  And that is it. The dress is done. All the seams are neatly finished. There is nothing left to do. It turned out great!

I, also, had to make a repair in my compression hose this month. I took a few minutes to stitch this hole closed.

"A stitch in time saves nine."

That's is a good quip. I hope you have had a good March and that your projects keep marching on to the finish line!

Sewing Projects In February

I wanted to use this flower print for my daughter's newest dress. I left my fingers in the picture for scale.

I didn't have enough yardage to cut the entire dress. I decided to use this blue material for part of the skirt and make a tiered skirt.

After cutting out the pieces I marked the seam allowance in pencil. Since this is a hand sewing project I need the seam allowances marked.

I stitched most of the seams with a back stitch instead of a running stitch. I learned my lesson on using a running stitch on the pinafore last month. I had stitched all the seams with a running stitch on the pink pinafore. My daughter was wearing the pinafore not more than a couple hours before someone pulled on her skirt and burst the side seam. What a pain! (I fixed it straight away, but come on! Really?)

A running stitch might not be solely to blame. The thread that I used was some old mercerized cotton thread so it is not as strong as modern polyester thread.

Anyway, on this latest dress I used a polyester all purpose thread AND a backstitch. 

I finished most of the seams with a self enclosed seam.

Right about this stage in the dress project my son's coat zipper broke. So, I had to switch gears and replace a coat zipper. Sometimes it would not be worth my time to replace a zipper, but this is a nice coat and I happened to have the right size separating zipper. I also had a black or gray separating zipper that were long enough but I decided to use the red one because I thought neutral colors might be more likely to come in handy later.

First, I had to rip the old zipper out.

I basted and stitched the new zipper in place. This job was not fun and I was really happy when I finally finished. It took me 9 days.

I also took care of this little tear while I was at it 

While I was on the mindset to fix coats I repaired this hole.

My three year old has been begging me to fix this hole in the hood of his coat for a month. 

He had been standing in the vicinity a brush fire when a hot ember must have landed on his hood melting this hole.

Now he his happy!

Back to sewing on the dress.

I have finished the sleeves and the base of the bodice. I am working on the skirt now. Hopefully, in March I can finish the skirt, install the zipper, add the collar, and do the hem. Check back in March to see far I get!

January Sewing Project

 

I sewed this pink pinafore this month. January was a one project month for me.

The pink pinafore goes with this butterfly dress that I made in November. The pinafore really finishes the look.

The top part of the pinafore is lined  with a light weight muslin. The pinafore fastens with a tie at the side and a hidden button on the inside.

I am happy with how this pinafore and dress turned out. I plan to make one more set starting in February. Check back next month to see how that goes!

Sewing Projects In December

The highlight in our December was the wedding in the family. And the highlight of this post is going to be my sewing projects related to the wedding.

First up, I finished the flower girl dress and it turned out just right!

I can't believe that I didn't take a picture of my daughter all dressed up for the wedding. I have regrets about that. These pictures of the dress hanging in a tree will have to work for this post.

I hope to see some of the pictures that the photographer took of her during the wedding.

I found this darling little hoop skirt on Amazon for her to wear under the dress. It's so cute! It makes me want to wear one myself! :)

My Mom gave me this blue dress when we saw her over Thanksgiving. I was hoping that I could wear it for the wedding. It needed some alterations to make it suitable. It was a little too short and a little too low cut for our family standards.

(Yes, there's a baby in there! Needing a maternity size dress limited my choices for wedding attire.)

I went to our local thrift store hoping to find ideas/material to fix my dress. I found this very wide piece in a color that I thought would blend well with the dress material. I made an underskirt to hang down and cover my knees. I hand stitched it in place at the elastic waist band. I did my best to straighten up the hem. 

I tacked a new V neckline in at the neck. I left enough room to still be able to get my head through the hole.

I was pleased with how it turned out. Nothing spectacular but it made me feel dressy at a stage in pregnancy when it is hard to get that feeling.

During our travels for the wedding I was able to do some sewing on the doll dress that I have had queued up for a few months. I completed the doll dress and installed a snap button.

To finish the month I have a few tertiary sewing related projects.

I sewed a missing button on one of my boy's shirt cuffs 

This bag may look like a purse to the untrained eye, but this bag is indeed a crayon bag for our children's ample supply of crayons.

The handle of the crayon bag had fallen apart so I repaired it this month by sewing it back together.

Last of all, I have cut out the pieces for the pink pinafore. I am going to use some light muslin for the lining pieces because the pink fabric is quite heavy. I wouldn't want two layers of the pink fabric if I can lighten it up by using a different material as the lining.

And that is all for December, in fact that is all for 2024! I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! See you in 2025!