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Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Easter Sewing 2018



Grandbabies at Easter

     For Easter, my daughter asked if I would make a dress for my granddaughter.  Of course I said yes.  While at the store shopping for fabric, my grandson decided he wanted something also for Easter and picked out some blue (his favorite color) with eggs fabric.  My granddaughter chose this pretty pastel striped fabric.

Pattern used for the dress

     For her dress I used the same pattern I had used for the flower girl dress in September but this time I made a size 3 instead of the 2+ I made last time.  My daughter chose view A.  I pulled some purple shimmery cotton from my stash to make a contrast band but no bow.

Dress for Miss M

     We chose to use the stripe vertically on the skirt and sleeves and horizontally on the bodice.  For finishing the lining on the zipper edges, I used a technique that one of my students had in a pattern she was doing.  After sewing in the zipper, you then place right sides together and sew the cut edges to the zipper tape.  Now the only hand sewing I had to do was attaching the lining at the waist.

Pattern used for the shirt

     For my grandson's shirt, I found this pattern in my stash.  I believe I bought it to make something for my youngest son who is now 37.  I made the short sleeve version but there still wasn't quite enough fabric to do the regular shirt tail hem.  I just cut it straight across, more like a Hawaiian shirt which I thought was just fine anyway since I knew it would never stay tucked in.

Easter shirt for Mr C

     I added the lime green buttons he chose and he had a fun shirt to wear for Easter.  I did the final hand sewing on both things in the car on our way to Iowa.  The whole family went there to witness our son/their brother get baptized.  We then celebrated Easter with his in-laws.  What a fun day.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Elephant Lovey

Finished elephant lovey

     A client wanted to personalize a lovey blanket she was giving as a shower gift.  The baby's name was already decided on so obviously this was possible ;-)

Ready to start stitching

     There are a couple of challenges when doing these blankets.  One, there are two layers so they tend to shift.  The other challenge is that they are too small to hoop.  This blanket presented another challenge, the striped fabric.  The letters would need to line up with the lines.

Making sure the lines are straight with the stripes

     I added a basting stitch to the name file in my software.  That allowed me to baste the layers together to prevent shifting but it also allowed me to make sure things were lined up properly.  If I found that after I did the basting outline that things were not straight I could easily remove the basting stitches and reposition the lovey on the sticky paper.

Providing support

     You also need to support the blanket as you stitch because it could pull off the sticky stabilizer.  The client chose the Teddy Bear font and a navy thread for the name.  Such a cute and personal gift.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

My Latest Race



     We just came back from Greenville SC where it was quite chilly.  My husband and I participated in the Nationals Duathlon Championship race.  We did the standard distance which is usually a 10K run followed by a 40K bike and then a 5K run.  The runs were cut a little short due to road constraints.  The starting temp was 39 and rose to maybe 43, not bad for running but too cold to bike, at least in my opinion.


     The bike part was on a closed off toll road so that was kind of cool to go on and off the ramps and through toll booths without paying :-)
     We have both been training hard in the cold Chicago weather so we at least had the gear necessary to cope with the weather.  I was all set to race hard and get on the podium again like I did two years ago but as I was racking my bike before the start of the race my lower back seized up.  Now the question was do I drop out or do I just try to finish?  I chose to race since I didn't want to waste all my training plus the time and money that we had spent.  I finished 9 out of 11 in my age group so that was okay.
      I have seen my chiropractor once already and will see him a couple of more times this week plus I have a massage scheduled.  Hopefully this will all help so I can get back to working out.  T did try to run this morning but just managed a 1 mile walk.
     Here is a video where you can see what the race looks like.  I do appear in it for a couple of seconds.  Next up is a half marathon in Nashville in two and a half weeks.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Monogramming a Diaper Bag

Finished Bag


     A client brought me a diaper bag/backpack that she wanted to have her daughter's monogram on.  She was wanting something a little out of the ordinary.  She found some different ideas on line and then came to my place to pick out a font.

'Hooped' bag

     She opted for the two color saloon font with a unique positioning of the letters.  I played around with it in my software until I got the right proportions.  I had to 'hoop' the bag under the hoop and then support it the whole time it was embroidering.

Close up of the monogram

     I think the grey and white picked up the colors of the bag and makes it look more sophisticated so she can use it for years to come.  Another happy client.