More Bowls And A Piper J5

 I made a second Orange Clothesline Bowl.
Only differentiated by the amount of Satsumas left in the house!

 These two - the stripey one with handles and the solid orange were destined to my mail carrier as she goes above and beyond to accurately and kindly deliver our mail. I needed a gift for her and I may have gone overboard. Her favorite color is orange. I think this set was my best ever in the clothesline obsession.

I meant to make two bowls in graduated sizes but my organic way of designing had other ideas. Once the rope is under my presser foot, anything can happen.

 I came up with a new finish -  little confetti dots for a design detail.
By the second one, it looked more like confetti.

I also tried out a leather accent piece, to hide the end joins. Riveting, yes? lol

If you're interested, the second bowl is now listed in my etsy store: RunningWithHandmade.




Here's the Piper J5. It will have it's maiden voyage in about a month. Still fiddling with weird small stuff. The engine cowling is rubbing behind the propeller housing, for instance.

We had a 60' sunny break from all our drizzle so it seemed like a great day to run up the engine. A trip up and down the runway to get some oil into the cylinders and flash the neighbors.

It doesn't sound as good as the Stearman big round engine but it was a fine sound on Saturday.







***Update on pkg debacle. Well - it's MLK day and a holiday. Maybe some news on Tuesday....or at least more excuses.

Dog Bone Pouches

 I made these as a thank you to our vet and his staff in helping with our dog over the past few years.

They can use them as treat bags, or whatever bags.

I lined them with a laminate fabric from Ikea  - orange polka dots. Easy to wash.
The outer fabric will remind them they are from the lady at the airpark.

I used a selection of yellow and orange zippers from stash.
Now to fill them with some nice chocolates or something.

 I also mis-placed my template pattern from the last time I made these so my notes here include the dimensions;

From pattern file: cut bone out of printer paper. About 8" x 4" with four rounded knobs.
Fold pattern piece in half and cut  with 1/4" SA -  two linings, two outers. Cut two battings at actual size. Install zipper as per usual. Add pull tab.
Because of different zipper widths, Cut the backings after you finish the front. One back, One lining, one batting/wadding less SA.
Open zip, sew all the way around with 1/4" SA. Turn. Top-stitch.


My sixth one is not top-stitched. I literally ran out of thread - not only at the spool but also on the bobbin. I had about a yard left on the bobbin and six inches on the spool!

I took that as a sign that six is enough and no one will notice that one is not top-stitched around the edges.
Possibly I was tired of making six. Done.

Drawstring Bags

Inspired by Benta, still sewing, with 20 minutes remaining on her recent trip to Ireland...
She cranked out two more bags in that twenty minutes!!!

My two bags took more time then 20.
Since the bag only measures 8" x 10", you can easily make these with fat quarters. 
 I buy yardage 'cuz I'm in no way a cool quilter person.
Svetlana made the tutorial - go make one.

There's an amazing amount of room - four easter egg yarn balls easily fit inside.

The red grosgrain ribbon holds the bag tight but is easily opened.

I used a basic Kona white cotton for my lining. These are lined drawstring bags folks.
My spotted orange came from a little fabric shop in Turku, Finland - just down the street from Finlayson's Department Store.
I just loved the faint checkerboard design covered in random polka dots.
No selvedge name to it either.

While there was a chance of 20 minutes, I thought to sew two at a time.

I hand-stamped the label with a new rummage sale aquisition.
Two  ***complete***  sets of alphabets!
I tossed the other stamps and the dried up stamp pads.

I used instead my washable Crayola purple ink pad that I have had since the kids were littles.
Which is quite amazing as the littles are now 24 & 26 years old.

I set the ink by giving it a good hot press.
I zigzagged closely the orange piece to the white and then used my pinking shears on the white. I then sewed it down with a straight stitch to my drawstring bag front.

I had this bag pinned to my computer as an idea to corral some swap items for Benta but went with the flat zipped pouch instead. Then Hadley made them, and then Benta made them. I got caught up in the madness.
Really - between the day job, yardwork and assorted other little life problems, I needed something fast to sew.
I love all the inspiration found with bloggers who like to sew.

Missy Sophea

 Missy Sophea and her new sister, Ella.

She will probably wear a long-sleeve white top underneath for the 'winter' months. 
Or, maybe a black top - don't you love those tights?
The temperature rose to be 48' today!

Photos taken with android phone and sent to the proud great-aunty.

Mini Pompoms

 OMG - are these cute or what?
Well - they are actually a disaster in clothing construction because they MELT if the iron gets'em.
They are so stinkin' cute though.

 This is a dress I have been sewing for my great-niece, Missy Sophea, who is two years old. I used a New Look 6473 pattern but made quite a few changes. I believe all clothing needs pockets - so I designed this cupcake pocket.

 I also made a smaller opening at the neck instead of buttoning it all the way down. Sitting on butt buttons can be similar to a Princess and the Pea experience. All I did was to lay the back pattern piece on the fold and cut out. Then I slit along the fold about 5 inches or so from the top edge. I then bound this with some 1/4" bias tape.

 This pattern also has some cute shorts and pants. Tamara Bostwick, who saved me from the missing instructions - a possible fiasco -  made the top.

 I found a ton of rickrack flower tutorials on the web. Here, here, and here as well.

 New Look 6473 utilized a slit opening at the hem line. The designer put a ribbon bow at the apex. I fanned it straight and sewed my mini pompom trim around.

I'll post pictures when I get them of Missy Sophea wearing her orange dress.



First post is here.

Second post on the orange dress.

Pleating Mistakes

 I am sewing New Look 6473. My great-niece, Missy Sophea lives about an hour away. It's sometimes difficult to sew long-distance because of fitting issues but this dress did well. Sophea, who is two-years-old is wearing a child's size 2 and is mostly potty-trained. Dresses are pretty forgiving in regards to fitting issues. About the only thing you have to worry about is where the hem falls.
I did some measuring in November when I saw her last. Her arm measurement, neck to waist, waist to floor, etc. and based on my sewing experience and the pattern details, I cut out size 2 on the pattern.

 I made a few changes. Well - I had to. Someone at the store decided they needed the instructions more than me as they were missing. I discovered this about a month later when I was ready to cut out pattern pieces.  The backside was originally buttoned down the entire back. I nixed this as unnecessary (and drafty). Instead, I cut the back on the fold and from the top, I cut down 5" to make a neck only opening. This pattern has a modified yoke and a little bias tape would finish the raw edges of the slit. 

Next up were the pleats on the front side. The pattern piece was no help at all and missing the instructions, I was glad to find this to help. There were three pleats and the middle pleat was easy to pin. The outer two were pinned into place by utilizing the yoke pattern piece to make sure I had the right amount of material used up in the pleats. I utilized the eyeball method. Were the pleats uniform? Same size? Looked right? Used up just enough fabric to match the yoke?
I then sewed the pleats and pressed them open.

Next up - trims.

This is a single yoke that you stitch down to the dress. A little rickrack here was nice. I ironed up 3/8" along the edges and then top-stitched the rickrack in place.

When I went to pin the yoke onto the dress - wrong side of yoke to right side of dress - gaping pleats!   There was  slight miscalculation in the eyeball method of pleat construction and a meeting with the seam ripper was scheduled.

Once you fit the pleats correctly, it's time to sew  the yoke to the dress. Thankfully, I looked at the yoke pattern piece  once more where about the only thing it did say was to sew the yoke seam at 3/8" instead of the usual 5/8".
Once you sew that seam, you need to manage the seam bulk or the yoke will look bulky in the wrong place.  I did a graduated trim on the seam allowances, especially where the excess fabric of the pleats is -  where you trim more on one side of the seam allowance than the other as this lies flatter and then I did little snips with my scissors to ease the curves.

 

 Next up is another trick to get the seam allowance to be flatter.   Understitching.

Basically, you are sewing down what remains of the seam allowance to the underside. In this case, I understitched the seam allowance to the dress. You follow along your original seam - maybe 1/16" over.

Understitching also stabilizes the neckline.
In the photo below, left side is the dress body, right side up. On the right in the photo - is the yoke (rickrack) with the wrong side up.
Usually once you do all the seam prep and the  understitching, the facing - or yoke- will fold over and lay down all by itself. A little help with the iron is useful here. I believe the pattern pieces said to cut some interfacing also, but I rarely do.

 

Sewing down the single yoke to the top side of the dress.

 Tamara did this as well to the corner of her outer pleats to finish the inside. See the corner of the yoke? Well the pleats on either side would have a raw edge corner if you did not fold down a corner of the pleat to catch it into the yoke seam. Not being known for my neat seaming, leaving the raw edge  corner flapping here would not only irritate the skin of a two-year-old, but it would have looked crappy.

And finally for today's post, we are up to the armholes.
The pattern had a pattern piece for a self-bias strip to be bound around the armhole. I had double-fold bias tape, 1/4" in two shades of orange and decided to use that instead. This is a child's size 2 so the armhole is a tiny tricky tight curve. I hand-basted my bias tape in place first and then top-stitched it down.  A little pressing helps get the curve just right.

 

 Hand-basting took about a minute but it makes sure bias tape doesn't slither off.

 

I had to re-do my back opening but it worked quite well. I ripped out the stitches for the first 1.25" to accommodate the yoke facings. I tucked them in and sewed the yoke down and then sewed the bias strip back down.

First post of the orange dress.

Final post.

The Orange Dress

 This is my practice grandchild, a.k.a. Sophea, my great-niece. She just received a sister Ella for Christmas and is responding as a typical two-year-old.  I hadn't finished the dress yet  and fortunately a family birthday party provided an opportunity for a fitting, where it was determined to keep the dress on the long side.

 I wanted a huge flower on the dress which involved a frantic e-mail to my friend, Pencil Girl, on where the giant orange rickrack that I bought in Puyallup might be. She was with me when I bought it and NOW I had a need for it. It never did come out of hiding which necessitated a visit here to buy some more. While there, I found this micro-pompom trim to finish the hem with.

 Here is my inspiration photo.   From nearly a year ago! This dress had pintucks running down the bodice and a floaty net underskirt.

 I found this pattern, New Look 6473 at Walmart and it looked close enough. Only it did not have a bodice and no where to sew the tulle to. It also had no instructions which I discovered about a month later when I started cutting out the pattern. I made view A - you can see where I drew my big flower. Thank God for the internet and Tamara Bostwick, who came to my rescue with her own review of the pattern. She wrote a bit about the order of construction and I figured out the rest myself.

I recalled why I sew garments and it is because ready made clothes never have pockets for girls or women. I designed this pocket utilizing that elastic thread on the bobbin. The pocket has a little give-n-take. I added the pleats to the bottom in a nod to the bodice pleats which gives it a little cupcake flair.
I mean, just the other day, Missy Sophea had a pocket-full of tiny gravel that went through the washing machine.     I'm just the aunty.

Here is a back view. Pretty plain except at the neckline.

I love this color.

Second post continues here. 

Third & final post.