Smocked Bishop dress and a card

A wonderful young woman with a love of old fashioned needle arts is in my knitting group. She recently gave birth to a daughter and while pregnant, commented on her love of smocked garments which aren't prevalent in this area, in this era.

Once upon a time I would have bought Imperial Batiste and gathered the fabric on my own smocking pleater.

Quality fabric is important when running it through a pleater. Joann's is fine for many things, but this level of quality isn't found in their yard goods. I suspect my long unused pleater may need new needles before tackling another project and they would need to be ordered. The needles are fine and if you run roughshod through the process of turning the pleater wheel, they will crunch and break. Not good, not good at all.

Thank goodness I discovered Meredith's Closet, an Etsy shop of ready to smock items. I order a 12 month size dress in a color called Butter. I pulled out my stash of long unused smocking designs which are called 'plates' rather than patterns. This is not the design I used, but is a sample of what a plate looks like.

Before I could begin to smock, the center of all those pleats had to be found. Each pin represents 10 pleats. The threads you see are gathering threads, usually quilting weight threads that are tied off on either side of the area to be smocked.

Here you see the pleats both scrunched up and spread out. The pleats should slide easily on the gathering threads. Smocking is worked from the left side of the garment to the right, but the needle enters the top of the pleat from right to left.

Reading the plate came easily to me when I learned to smock because I was accustomed to counted cross stitch and knitting charts.

The color is a bit off (too strong) in this photo, but shows the completed dress with a deep hem which is traditional in these dresses.

Here is a close up of the smocking itself. I was pleased with how it turned out, and more importantly, the mommy who received this dress was very happy.

The that I made to accompany this gift was another tri-shutter card. I seem to be stuck on them lately but they have been turning out well and use a variety of cute scraps and embellishments.

 





Mic-key M-o-u-s-e......pillowcases

If you grew up watching the original Mickey Mouse Club with Jimmy Dodd and Annette Funicello in the late 50's, it is hard to spell Mickey Mouse without separating the name as it was sung.

One of my great nephews just turned four. He loves Mickey. He is the second son in my niece's family so the house is full of boy toys. My sons are 22 months apart, I know what that is like. Ethan loves Mickey, but what doesn't he already have?

Part of his gift from us will be these pillow cases, made in record time out of two Disney prints.

The directions for this style of pillowcase are all over the internet, often under the "million pillowcase challenge" or "roll up method". This link will take you to a video tutorial or you can click to download step by step directions. For these pillowcases I cut the body at 3/4 yd (27 inches), the band at 1/4 yd (9 inches) and the blue starry trim at 2 inches. The band and the trim are folded in half, resulting in a standard size pillowcase when complete.

 

I've followed this pattern before. Each time I make one it seems to go faster. After the "roll" part of assembly was done, I closed the side seam with a French seam and the bottom end was a regular seam with an additional row of zigzag stitching on the raw edges. How you finish the seams is up to you. A serger would be great for both.

 

The card for Ethan could not have been simpler, thanks to a perfect cardstock choice from Michael's. All I did was cut the paper down to 8x6 and fold it into a 4x6 card with a hand written greeting inside. I've discovered I don't always need to reinvent the wheel when making a card.

 Mic...See you real soon!  Key...Why? Because we like you!  M-O-U-S-E.



Hanging onto summer

People who create for craft shows need to craft ahead of the current date. I don't participate in craft shows but do try to get things done so that I can enjoy the fruits of my labor for as long as possible without having Halloween décor displayed in December or Easter in August.

I love summer. Even though it isn't officially over for another 3 weeks, Labor Day seems to symbolize the end of summer to many. Does anyone else feel we rush into Fall, then rush into Winter and Christmas instead of enjoying whatever the current climate and time of year?

The next wave of décor in our home will be Halloween and general autumn related. I'm not ready for that yet here in SE Michigan, and hope our weather doesn't lead me to feeling fall-ish until October. Considering a few leaves have changed already, I'm not holding my breath.

I am holding onto summer as long as possible though. This table runner, made a few months ago remains in place.

The colors make me happy. Although you can't see it in this photo, the leaves and ladybugs were done by machine using an appliqué stitch that looks like a continuous row of the letter E. I love using that. I zone out and could do that for hours.

In other crafting news, I am almost done with the second sock of a pair. I hope not to need them until next month, but just in case the temps dip much lower at night or early morning, I'll be ready.

Cue the Super Heroes theme music!

With thanks to This Blog Post and the links within that post, I made Batman apparel for my grandson, the Prince of Sweetness who is also known as daddy's Buddy, mommy's Peanut, and Uncle Billy's Bug. Think George Alexander Louis, Prince of Cambridge has a lot of names? Any first born child/grandchild/niece or nephew does.

Our grandson was happy to see the Batman logo but not interested in wearing the tabard, mask or gauntlets. He is only three so there is still time for my genes to make an appearance and the love of costuming appear.

I now wish I had taken more time getting these photos, but between these and the photos on the above link, you can see things well enough.  Here is the tabard, mask and gauntlets.

 

I used premium weight craft felt for all that is black, and regular weight in yellow. The felt was left over from the playhouse project (shown here on my other blog). The tabard began as a 14" x 36" rectangle with an oval cut out for the head, and a slit cut down 4" in the back. No button or tie is necessary to close the neckline, this is just for play or possibly Halloween. Ribbons (12" pieces) were stitched at the sides to hold the tabard around a crime fighting body. 

The mask is a double layer of felt with elastic stitched in place. Other than stitching the ribbons and elastic because of the pull on these areas, the rest of these pieces could be glued, but I can stitch this stuff faster than glue would dry. Felt is forgiving and doesn't need hemming so this was a quick project. 

The gauntlets were designed to fit a child of 4-9. I don't know how this age range was determined. My grandson is very big for his age. I cut the gauntlet a little smaller and these were none too big on him, especially on bare arms on a warm summer day. It wasn't so much the width of the arm as it was getting his hands through the opening. I may cut these a little shorter at the narrow end to make the opening larger.

 I didn't time myself making these pieces, but I think the whole project took me less than 90 minutes, and that included getting supplies out and cutting templates for the logo and an oval for the neck opening.

 

Hmmm, I wonder if there is design online for a Wonder Woman version? A mature Wonder Woman. Very mature. Grandmotherly.

Panic and a purse, unrelated but so me

Memorial Day weekend is when???

Wait...who snuck the holiday weekend in at the end of this week?

I can't keep blaming 20 minutes of sedation for dental work last week for this week's confusion, can I?

I don't truly feel panic, but I do feel a nagging bit of guilt with so much to do while I sit here blogging. The husband cat is away and this mouse is playing.  At least for the next hour. 

So what did I do this past weekend when I should have been doing other stuff? I made a purse. My sweet daughter-in-law may have a shoe obsession, but mine is purses. Making them. I go for stretches where it is under control but sometimes the urge is overwhelming. Bam! That urge hit again.

This is the pattern I used, Simplicity 2676

If I had googled this pattern before cutting the fabric, I would have made a few changes before I began. There is nothing wrong with the design as it stands, but I made a few changes along the way and will make more the next time I sew this.

This pattern is for a purse with removable covers, "cover" being their term. You make a finished purse with buttons and the cover has elastic loops for attachment.

This purse is roughly 12" wide, 4" deep and 7" tall. My personal preference is a little less wide, so next time I will make it 9" wide. Here is my purse and cover. I could have taken the photos elsewhere without a cluttered background, but that wouldn't have happened soon...you know how that goes, even without a holiday weekend looming.

I used a magnetic closure on the purse tab rather than the hook and loop tape called for in the directions. I made a purse years ago with Velcro and besides clothing catching on it (miserable for knits!), the tape became ineffective, probably from so much thread and lint trapped within. The buttons were old ones that I had on hand, from a long discarded sweater.

The pattern called for a row of pockets on both sides of the lining. The pockets had the same polyester padding in them that the purse has and I thought this was unnecessary bulk. The divisions in the pockets, creating four pockets from one long one on each side, were to be done by stitching on the outside of the purse, through purse fabric, padding and lining. There is a better chance of keeping this all straight when sewing pieces flat, but after the purse is assembled, the chance for wonkiness (a highly technical term for seams going awry) is greatly increased.

I made one pocked, self lined without padding or interfacing. I carry a wallet, my keys and a zippered pouch that holds tissues, comb, pen, mints, etc. The only other loose item in my purse is my phone so one pocket for that is enough for me. The directions for the pockets with padding going all around the purse reminded me of a craft tote.

I should have reinforced the upper sides of the pocket simply by back-stitching instead of sewing box-shaped areas. The pocket is roomy enough for my phone but almost too snug getting in and out. Oops.

Here is the purse with the cover in place.

The next time I make the purse itself, I will use a zipper closure, probably a recessed zipper like the one shown in this tutorial by April Baylor. 

What will I do differently on the next cover I make? Instead of lining the cover with the same fabric, I will use two different fabrics, making it reversible. I may skip the scallops (the original pattern also offers a peak and valley cut) and try a straight edge with ribbon loops instead of elastic. Looking at my tab top curtains, a straight edge cover with tabs that have buttonholes might be a cute idea too.

Maybe that will happen when I should be prepping for July 4th or Labor Day. Hey...a red, white and blue cover would be great for the 4th, right? Bring your own hot dogs and drinks. I've got sewing to do!

A Busy Book for my grandson

Birthday busy-ness continued in my family with quiet acknowledgment of birthdays on the actual dates and parties (surprise and otherwise) fell on weekends. We are done until September with our branch of the family but have another great-nephew's birthday coming up next month. When Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake", do you think she had my calendar in hand and saw what the first 5 months of the year look like?

Before I get to the book, I want to share my daughter-on-law's cake for Colton. His party theme was Disney's Cars.  The cake is two 8" layers, one yellow, one chocolate, joined together by a thin slice off one side of each. The track is black fondant from Wilton. I must say that I am still not fond of the taste of fondant and it wasn't as easy to work with as some claim. My daughter-in-law and I both worked with the fondant. I'm sure practice would improve our results. Nonetheless, didn't her cake turn out cute?

The infield is crushed graham cracker crumbs with a few green sprinkles added for grass. Lightning McQueen is a toy car, the pair at the top of the cake is a candle.

On to the Busy Book, known by some as a Quiet Book. Back when I had the notion to make finger puppets, I didn't have plans to continue playing with felt. Little did I know that I would fall for a play house and make one for Colton for Christmas. I began pinning felt projects on Pinterest (I'm 'Charlene (Knitty)' there) and thus began the plans for this book.

I have multiple photos of most pages because each one is an activity. Here is the book courtesy of a Smilebox slide presentation. **Please note that an ad may appear below the Smilebox loading image. You do not need to to click on the ad to view the slideshow**

This free digital slideshow created with Smilebox

My inspiration for pages came mainly from these sources
http://icandyhandmade.blogspot.com/2011/08/icandy-quiet-book-part-2-of-3.html
http://samandkristi.blogspot.com/2011/06/obsessed-with-sewing.html
and I must give a huge thank you to this blogger who shared printable patterns that she lovingly created: http://www.imagineourlife.com/quiet-book-patterns/
If I had started this project with more than 10 days lead time, I would have followed her lead and worked in greater detail. My grandson is a rugged little boy though, and I honestly don't know he will enjoy the book or not. That is ok...gifts from me don't come with strings attached and I loved making it. His mommy and daddy will know that time and love went into it and appreciate it.

I used the same little boy image from the cover to create a card for Colton.

Have I mentioned that I love coloring with Copic markers?

If anyone plans to make a page or book of their own and has questions, I will happily share more about this experience.

High fiber food....felt food

Even before the Play House Project I had some felt in my fabric stash. Some was high quality wool felt, some was craft felt off the bolt, and some pieces were rectangles sold in the craft aisle that are pretty thin but often come in fun colors and prints. The cow and Tigger in this post Finger Puppets are examples of those prints.

Cruising around Pinterest boards, I saw felt food and knew I had to make some for Colton. Thank goodness I have a grandchild...not just for the joy he brings to Papa and me....but to give me a reasonable excuse to make things a 60 year old woman doesn't need but wants.

The bread is white felt with three layers of very thin batting between the top and bottom. The crust is a strip of beige felt. Even layers without batting are double layers of felt for stability. They just plain look better with a little body. The blanket stitch (applique stitch) is done with perle cotton. The pink circle is baloney, the solid rectangle is supposed to be American cheese (old, discolored cheese?), the red is a tomato slice with stitches for seeds rather than beads (which I considered then dismissed) and hopefully the Swiss cheese is obvious.

Same slices of bread here, untoasted with a fried egg and three slices of bacon.

 Not an eggs for breakfast type? How about some pancakes?

One of my grandson's favorite foods came next, pizza! He might not choose dark brown mushrooms and sliced black olives along with the mozzarella and pepperoni, but I am the chef here!

So far, the food has mostly been healthy stuff. I started the next day's creations healthy with the orange and strawberries, but where did that donut come from?

Uh-oh...more snack food and sweets! A chocolate chip cookie, a sandwich cookie (which might be replaced by a larger one...unless this is supposed to be a tiny Oreo) and a bag of chips.

You really need to eat your veggies, even if they do look a little odd. Here we have an ear of corn, some green beans, a spear of asparagus and some broccoli.

Would you like fries with your grilled hamburger (note the grill lines)? I put your pickle slices on the side.

Let's end with a chocolate candy bar. I've slipped it out of the wrapper for you.

Or would you prefer something cold, like an ice cream cone with a cherry on top?

I am having a ridiculous amount of fun making these things! I have used many sites as inspiration. If you're interested in making some felt food, google "felt food" and look at both web matches and image matches. These will get you started:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/05/24/felt-food/

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2010/04/short-order-cook.html

http://americanfeltandcraft.wordpress.com/category/felt-food/free-felt-food-tutorials-and-patterns/

http://helpinglittlehands.blogspot.com/p/felt-food-tutorials.html

An update on the Play House: I think Papa (grandpa) is in competition with Gigi (yours truly) to be the most popular grandparent. His creation, the swing set won't be used again for a few months due to weather, but he still tweaks things here for Colton. He added a "tap light", a battery operated light designed for closets and areas without an electrical outlet, to the underside of the card table in the play house. Colton now has a ceiling light fixture that he can turn on and off!

Socks, Boxy Cosmetic bags and maybe a Shaving Kit

Two long time friends and I go out to dinner or lunch once per month to keep in touch with each other's lives. One's name begins with a T, one with an L and mine begins with a C, so our group is TLC. Usually at Christmas, we include a play, concert, or special destination to our dinner date. This year was only dinner, but a marvelous dinner it was. We exchange gifts after our meal. This year, I made each of them socks and presented them inside a "boxy cosmetic bag" that was also handmade.

I prefer to knit socks on two circular needles, from the toe up. My favorite basic sock pattern is from Wendy Johnson's book, Socks From the Toe Up (shown here on Amazon). The green socks above used Berroco Sox Metallic 1364, a color called Kiwi.

These socks were knit using Ty-Dy Sock yarn, color #1520 called Arizona, from Knit One Crochet Too. I did a little lace work in three columns on this pair from the toe up into the ribbing. I didn't think to try to photograph that before packaging the socks, but that accounts for the difference in appearance.

I saw this on Pinterest and used Made by Marzipan for my directions. Many tutorials and videos are available if you search for "boxy cosmetic bags". This fully lined bag was easy to assemble with the only hand sewing being closing up a few inches of the lining that had been left open for turning the project right side out.

When they were finished, I excitedly showed my husband who looked at them and cautiously asked whey I was making shaving kits. I had to laugh...yes, they do like shaving kits and would make a great gift for men in a suitable fabric. Using vinyl for the lining would make them even more like a traditional kit.

The finished play house

My grandson, a.k.a. The Prince of Sweetness is two and a half. I was browsing Pinterest and saw a play house that was cute. It led me to searching for more info and when I found a pattern at Empty Bobbin Sewing , I knew I was on my way. I used heavy weight felt, known as "premier" from Joann's for the main walls and roof of the house, also the white felt in the door frame and windows. The other colors are craft felt from the bolt. Sewing felt is easy. I didn't use interfacing and no finishing techniques are required, but I did double stitch the walls and roof, and then zigzaged the seam allowances. I did the door differently from Shea's pattern and ad libbed some of the embellishments.

Here is the front of the house before wall and roof assembly. The door is a flap which can be rolled up. The black lines you see are ribbons with matching ones inside for securing the rolled up door. The bow that ends in large bells under the porch light is my interpretation of a doorbell. The rectangles in the door are just decoration. The window in the door was done the same as the side windows which I will explain a few photos down.

Here is the mailbox open. I didn't photograph the mail that I made addressed to my grandson. I used white fun foam, cut into small rectangles. I drew the envelope flap on one side, printed his name and drew a postage stamp on the other. I don't know if I truly needed special foam markers or not for this, but I had another project coming up to do with kids and foam so I bought the pack of five colors. I am a sucker for craft supplies.

I did not cut away the red fabric from the door until after the walls were sewn together and the roof assembled. I pinned the ribbons and door in place during assembly. It went very smoothly.

One side wall called for two bushes and a window. I changed the window from an opening with felt framing that created a four paned window to what you see here. I had a flexible screening sold as Pet Screening from tote bags that I made a few years ago. I bought the screening at a quilt shop that featured the tote bag pattern. I think if you search for it online, it can still be found. I stitched the flowers to the bushes by their centers only to make them 3D. The dog was added for fun, my own design. His ears an tail are also 3D.

Here is a close-up of the window. I framed it in felt on the inside also. The second view is showing the visibility of the screening.

The other side wall also has a window and a vegetable garden. I saw the garden idea on a few sites but didn't bookmark them so I can't give credit, nor do I know who may have been the first to think of making pockets for the veggies.

My leaf lettuce looks a little sad and my potatoes seem be of a dark chocolate variety, but the carrots are cute.

The back of the wall has a tree. The original pattern had a tree that was partially on the side of the house, partially on the back. I knew I didn't want a window back there, I wanted a picture frame on the inside wall, so I redesigned the tree for the back. Leaves are in both shades of green shown in the garden photo, but the color is off here. I made apples with velcro to change out for the leaves along with one bird. I will probably make autumn colored leaves and maybe even a kite to get stuck on one of the velcro parts of the tree, but that will come later. The bushel basket is my own design and holds the spare leaves and apples.

Our family room is where our grandson's toys are kept. In that room is a watercolor and ink drawing of our home that I did a few years ago. The Prince is fascinated with that picture. I used brown felt and clear vinyl to make a photo frame for his house. It is on the inside with the top of the vinyl left open so that art work, standard printer paper size, can be inserted. For Christmas morning, a print of the front of his playhouse went in the frame, but I hope he will do his own artwork to place in there. These photos have a Fisher Price catalog page in them for display purposes.

I slightly changed the roof line trim from the original pattern. The pattern creates a play house that fits over a standard size card table. When it came time to fit the walls together, I placed them wrong sides out against the table and pinned the seams. My seams are deeper than the pattern recommendations, but not by much.

This was a labor of love, not something I would ever make and sell. I don't sell my crafts in the first place, and beyond that, many would be surprised at the money and time invested. Even below minimum wage, most would balk at the cost. I am fortunate that I've never had to sell my creations for income. I don't mind work, but if my hobbies became my work, the fun would probably disappear for me and the relaxation would definitely be gone.

 

This doesn't mean I would never make it again. The pattern was well written and you can probably tell that I had a lot of fun with the embellishments. If Colton ever becomes big brother to a little sister, there might be need for a girlier (like that word?) themed play house.