My daughter's dress is nearly done!

Wow, that was an easy pattern! No gathering at all, except for the sleeves! No zipper, no buttons, nada! All I have left to do is hem it. Oh yes, and iron out the fold creases.

I ended up trimming it with some iridescent ric-rac I bought ages ago. I wanted to go to Walmart to find something (I actually wanted some of that white daisy/pink centers trim)... but I didn't really want to drag my rambunctious 3-year-old down there.

Finished my daughter's jacket

I haven't worked on it in several days... I've been spending my little bit of free time working on my NaNoWriMo novel (whoops!) I finished the jacket this morning. It looks cute, and now I need to find a button for the front. I'll probably have to swing by Walmart for that.

I was at Walmart the other day trying to find some fabric that will coordinate with the dusty rose pink shade of the jacket... but I could find NOTHING! Everything clashed, it was awful!

So I dug through my fabric stash and found some pink fabric that has little cutesy hearts all over it (Valentine-type stuff). I got it at Walmart several years ago. I bought a coordinating print at the same time that is a sort of checkered white/pink print with a different style of heart on each square. I decided not to use the skirt pattern that goes with the jacket because I cannot find any nice tees for my daughter to wear with it, so I decided to go ahead and make her a dress from Simplicity 5234, using the coordinating Valentine prints. Hopefully it'll look good!

Now, to get started on that. There's a Spongebob Squarepants marathon on TV until 4:00 so I'm going to be VERY bad and let my 3-year-old be distracted by that (she is a major Spongebob fan).

First project for November: nice outfit for my daughter

On Friday night I decided I was going to make a dress for my daughter, made with pink plaid flannel and using McCall's 5745. I made it according to her measurements, and tried to add 5" on the skirt to make it go below the knee... and it looks huge on her! I was hoping she could wear it to my sister's reception, but it looks more like a nightgown than a dress. Way too casual.

I think it will be better for me to make her an outfit from Butterick 4972. For the jacket I am using some rose-pink sueded cotton twill I got on sale a few months ago... this fabric is so buttery soft!! There's 5 yards of it, she only needs 1 1/2 yards for the jacket. I'll save the rest for myself, haha!! I won't be doing the little lace applique on the back, as I can't find any the same color as the fabric, and I think there'd be a bit of a draft! My daughter isn't crazy about the bubble-skirt look, so I'll see if I can just leave the hem down and have it be a simple gored/pleated skirt. I don't know what fabric I'll use... I'll have to dig through my stash and see if I can find a pink print that coordinates.

(Editing Monday morning to ask myself: What was I thinking? I forgot how tricky those shawl-collar jackets can be!! If I can just get through this little bit of it, then the rest should be easy, ha ha...)

The skirt is done!

I finished the skirt last night. I survived! And I never want to see another bolt of tulle ever again! LOL!

Now, on to the bodice. It'll be a simple princess-seamed bodice made of white dupioni silk, and I found some pearl piping to decorate it with. It matches the color of the silk very well, and has a simple sort of elegance to it. (I love simple, elegant stuff). I think it's going to look really good! I just need to find the piping foot for my sewing machine!

Lacing tape

After about an hour of searching online, I finally found this stuff! I knew there had to be something like this available, something you could add to the back of a wedding gown so you could do lacing. (I've made loops by hand before, but it takes forever and it's a bit tedious to make sure they're all the proper size... I was wondering how I could make the process faster).

But, I finally came across some lacing tape that has 'loops' on it (instead of the metal eyelet stuff that Farthingales L.A. has). I went ahead and ordered 3 yards of it... I am really hoping that it is what I am looking for! The picture doesn't look promising, but that is showing the whole tape... it's supposed to be inserted so that only the loops show (and they're small).

2009 Halloween Costumes

Tonight was our church's Halloween party. I managed to finish everything in the nick of time!

I wore a farby Scottish Highland-type costume, made from 100% plaid wool suiting and green wool gabardine, using Simplicity 8855. (Yes, there is supposed to be a gap between the front edges of the vest! Just look at the pattern photo!)

I also made my 15-month-old son a "leprechaun" costume using shamrock fabric and Simplicity 3650.







My 8-year-old was a sort of "Renaissance maiden", using Simplicity 9836. I made the headpiece by using a bridal wire frame, and wrapped the flowers, stems and all, around it and held it in place with ribbon!



And my 3-year-old was dressed as a chicken, using instructions from the Martha Stewart website. It was more complicated than I thought it would be... we also didn't get the feather boas secured on well enough, and after half an hour of running around, they started to fall off! And someone gave her a bowl of chili, which she spilled down her front. *Sigh* The costume is pretty much ruined, unless we can put it back together and let her go trick-or-treating next week as a half-butchered chicken. Eew.

I'm almost done!

I've been working like crazy, and I almost have my costumes finished. I want to take a break for the rest of the evening... we'll see.

On my costume, I just need to put the buttonholes & buttons on my blouse, and hem it. (I finished the skirt this afternoon... and let me tell you now, gathering all that medium-weight wool makes for a bulky waistband! I should've hand-gathered it, or pleated it, if I had time... but I don't. So, bulky it is. I wish I had a small hoopskirt to wear under it, or wish I knew where my corded petticoat was!) Oh, and I need to sew the front of the vest to the back at the side seams and shoulders.

On my 8-year-old's costume, I need to hand-tack the shoulder straps of the vest into place, and add lacing on the front. And add ribbon bows to the front of the shoulder straps.... ugh, and make the headband. (I am dreading that part!)

I need to hem the pants on my 15-month-old's costume, and add elastic to the waistband. When I hemmed the shirt earlier today I added some decorative machine stitching to the bottom, in the shape of shamrocks, but it looks rather pathetic. Oh well.

And I need to dye the tights for my 3-year-old's costume! And I need to stuff the shirt with fiber-fill, but I don't know where my big box of it is (or even if I still have it??? Maybe I threw it out when I moved!)

Still workin' on my costume

Yesterday I managed to finish most of my vest (all I need to do now is add the eyelets and lacing, and then fit it). I bought a 3-yd package of polyester boning a couple weeks ago and hoped it would be enough for both mine and my daughter's costumes... after I finished measuring all the boning for my vest last night, there was ONE INCH left over! Very funny, I thought. Talk about close...

Last night I got around to cutting out the fabric for the skirt, hat and shawl. The pattern piece for the skirt is a rectangle that is 22" wide, and it says to cut 3 pieces on the fold. That makes three 44"-wide panels, or a skirt with a 129" circumference (when you take out the seam allowances). My fabric is 60" wide... I went ahead and cut out two panels, the same length as the pattern piece- that'll make a skirt 118" wide, which I don't think is a huge difference (it's not like I'll be wearing it over a hoopskirt or anything). But it saves me about a yard of fabric that I can use for something else. Anyway, the only advantage I can see to having a 3-panel skirt is that it leaves a seam in the back for the opening, and the other seams are on the side fronts. I've decided I can go ahead and move the seams over to the side, and have a side-opening skirt. The pattern also has a few darts in the skirt and then it is gathered... I'll just make it completely gathered, no darts. Hopefully it won't make much difference. (Famous last words, huh?)

The short ends of the shawl are supposed to be frayed for the "fringe"... I thought I'd do that last night while watching TV, and it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r!! I was fraying it on one end, while my husband worked at the other end. We each got about 1" done (out of the 3-4" on each end that needs done) but he wasn't quite as careful with his end as I was with mine... so that one looks noticeably shabbier. *Sigh* But it's taking so much time that I figure I'll just finish everything else first, and then focus on that. So I need to make my skirt and hat (the hat is just a circle gathered onto the hat band) and then make my toddler's entire costume, and then make the apron for my daughter's costume. And the headband for that- yikes! I don't know anything about flower arranging or putting flowers on a headband!

I need to get busy... what am I doing on the computer? LOL! But I have so many other things to do to day- grocery shopping, cleaning the house, keeping my 3-year-old from tearing everything up...

Costume update, mine anyway...

Last night I got a chance to do some more work on the blouse for Simplicity 8855, and I almost have it finished. All I have left to do is put a buttonhole & button on each sleeve cuff, and hem the bottom of the blouse.

It is rather an interesting item. It has no armscyes like a typical blouse... it is sort of like the "rectangles and squares" shirts of the 19th century. But only slightly... there is still the curved cutout for the neckline, and the sleeves are curved on the bottom (longer on the seam edge than it is in the middle). The shoulder seam is very long, but it is gathered, and the sleeve itself is gathered only at the very top, a couple inches on each side of the shoulder seam. The sleeves are also very tightly gathered at the cuff... if my fabric had been any thicker (it is quilting calico) I wouldn't have been able to gather it all in. Doing the plackets around the neckline was interesting... the neck facing actually goes to the outside (I did View A, where there is not neck ruffle but there is lace trim around the edge of the neckline facing... my camera battery is dead right now and I can't find the charger, but I'll try to get a picture later).

I managed to get the vest pieces cut out this morning, before my kids woke up. I was going to make the vest from black twill (because that's what's shown on the pattern envelope), but I discovered the leftover green wool gabardine (that I made a riding habit from) matches the green in the plaid quite nicely (there is no black in the plaid at all) so I decided to use that instead. I didn't have enough of it left to do anything else with, anyway.

There is a 1" seam allowance on the sides of the vest, as it is to be a fitted vest, and fitted is done on the side seams. Interesting, I've never seen that on a Simplicity pattern. Now I'm wishing I'd finished my underbust corset, LOL. (I got over halfway done with it, and then realized the jean fabric I'd used has 2% lycra in it- blast! So it's stretchy, I have no idea how well it'll work).

The vest is going to be fun to make, though, because the instructions for it are worded very strangely. There are 3 layers- the fashion fabric, the lining, and "muslin" which seems to function as an interlining. (I don't know why they didn't just say to cut "interlining" out of muslin). When my camera is working, I'll have to take a photo so you can see how bizzare the instructions are... I had to read them through 3 times before they made sense, and when I finally understood what it said, I realized that the instructions could've been written much more simply, and much less confusing!

I said in a previous post that this pattern seems to have been re-released with a different number and envelope. Next time I'm at the store I'll have to look up the new pattern and see if the instructions have been simplified, just out of curioisity. I think a beginner sewist would be scared away by these directions! (Actually the blouse is a bit of a challenge anyway, more suited to an intermediate sewist).

Repurposing my jeans...

I've lost nearly 35 lbs since May (woo-hoo, go me!) I had 2 pairs of jeans that fit me when I started my weight-loss journey... I accidentally tore one pair and threw them away, and the other pair got abandoned on the shelf in my closet, since they got WAY too baggy for me.

Today, I was getting ready to work on my Halloween costume and decided that I might want to wear a corset underneath. Not a full corset, though... it'll be an underbust corset, just to keep my waistline in check (since the costume will have a fitted vest). I didn't want to use any of my good fabric for something that won't be seen and that I will only wear once, so I decided to cut up my jeans to make the underbust corset from! I had to get rather creative with the pattern piece layout, and remove the back pockets so I could use that fabric as well.

(I call them jeans but they're a light tan denim fabric).

I just got all the pieces pinned together... tomorrow I'll stitch them all together and try to finish the corset. Less than 2 weeks until the church Fall Festival/costume party, and I have to make my costume and my toddler's!

Spring Chicken

My husband has decided that our 3-year-old is going to be a spring chicken for Halloween. So much for being Eowyn!

Spring Chicken @ MarthaStewart.com

And baby will be... a leprechaun!

I have no idea what else to dress him as! Since I'm going to be in an Irish/Celtic-type costume, I figured I might as well make him something to match.

I bought some shamrock fabric on eBay, and I'll use Simplicity 3650 (which I have a copy of somewhere around the house). I'll use View B, the pirates. The pants will be made of the shamrock fabric and the sash will match it, and the vest will be green. I don't have anything for a hat but he wouldn't wear it anyway!

Decided on a costume for myself...

After digging through my stash, I've decided to make myself a costume using Simplicity 8855. It's a discontinued pattern, but it seems to have been re-released as Simplicity 3623 (I think the colors used on the first envelope are a lot prettier). I'm going to make the one with the plaid skirt with matching shawl and hat, and the solid-colored vest. For the blouse, I have some white-on-white paisley-print fabric. Paisleys are not Irish, but I think it'll look okay.

I have a lot of plaid fabric, but most of it lightweight (voile, etc)... not quite right for this. So I found some medium-weight 100% wool suiting on Fabric.com for $5.19/yd!! Plus my 5% cash-back rebate from FatWallet.com.

I have the male version of this pattern, Simplicity 8193, but my husband is not interested in wearing it, or having me make anything for him.

Now, off I go to work on perfectin' me brogue... I'm not even Irish, but at least I have the red hair!

Halloween patterns have been decided...

... for my daughters, anyway. My 8yo will wear a dress made from out-of-print Simplicity 9836, view B (the one of the tan dress with the green bodice/vest and pink apron). I bought this pattern years ago thinking it would make a good hobbit costume for her. I don't have any idea how to curl her hair, though (I am totally lousy at hairstyling!) It's a full one-piece underdress with the bodice/vest over the top- she can always use the underdress as a nightgown after Halloween.




And so far I plan to dress my 3yo in Butterick 3592/P233, view B... that's the gold/pink one in the photo. It'll be a white-ish dress with a brown vest, and she'll be Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. (This is only my plan so far, I might change it).



I haven't got the faintest idea what to dress myself as, or what to dress my sons (10yo and 1yo) as. 10yo wants to be a soldier or a fireman, but I don't have fabric for either of those things, and I'd have to size up a pattern.

Are these lemons ever going to ripen? And teensy updates.

I have some good-sized lemons on my lemon tree, but they aren't ripening! One of them has been there since March!

I have a lone orange on my orange tree, LOL. Nothing on the rest of my trees.

Fall is coming, I need to go and "clean out" my garden boxes. I got a good harvest of beans (they were delish) and more jalapenos and peppers than I could use, but not much else. The lettuce and carrots didn't grow, even though I planted several varieties of each. I wanted to plant a fall garden but I didn't get the chance to. My 3-year-old is extremely rambunctious right now, she does not nap during the day so I can't go out to the garden then, and if I take her with me she keeps getting into so much stuff out there (or trying to climb our chain-link fence) that I don't have time to get anything done. *Sigh* My 1-year-old is generally good when I sit him in his stroller to watch me...

We're expecting rain all this next week, including heavy thunderstorms tonight. It'd be a good time to plant ryegrass for a winter lawn, if I had any seed. I planted bermudagrass last month and it has sprouted, but I think it's going to go dormant soon, and it might be too young to handle winter dormancy...

Gotta start thinking about Halloween...

Our church Halloween part is in 3 weeks, and Halloween itself is 4 weeks away. I need to start planning some costumes for the kids, and maybe myself. (I don't yet know whether I'll dress up or not).

I need to use patterns & fabric out of my stash- no buying anything. That will be a challenge for my 10-year-old (he'll be 11 by then) son. There aren't very many patterns in his size (largest that most kids' patterns go is an 8), and the ones that are available are things he doesn't want to dress as!

With my 8-year-old and 3-year-old daughters, I suppose I'll have to do something historical-themed... or princess-y, if I can manage it.

Just my luck

Last week I ordered some patterns (4, I think) from SewingPatterns.com, when they were having a $2.99 McCall's pattern sale. With shipping they ended up being around $20 for 5 patterns... they normally go on sale at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby for $1-$2 each, but the nearest JoAnn's is 80 miles away and the nearest Hobby Lobby is 45 miles... and I rarely have need to go to either of those towns, and it never happens during a pattern sale, so I didn't think I'd get a chance to go.

Well, yesterday my husband had a test to take in a completely different town, and he wanted me to drive there with him (it was a 1 hr 40 min drive). The test took about an hour, so what was I supposed to do with the kids while waiting? Turns out there was a Hobby Lobby just 1/2 mile away! I went there and wandered around for a while (and bought a discounted remnant of Dora the Explorer fabric for my Dora-crazy 3-year-old, and some bandanas to make some bandana pants... and saw that McCall's patterns were on sale for 99¢ each! It figures, huh? I could've saved $15-$16 if I'd just waited a week or two (I had no idea the pattern sale was coming up though, or that my husband would need to be in that town that day). My 3-year-old was acting very obnoxious though and was constantly trying to climb out of the basket, so I didn't take time to look at any more patterns (I later thought that I should've bought some back-up patterns for the ones I ordered last week and that I'm still waiting to receive in the mail... they're plus-size girls' patterns, and there are very few modest ones out there, so I'll have to be making the same patterns but trying to modify or decorate them for more variety).

Anyway, in the mail on Tuesday I got the Butterick B4972 pattern I ordered off eBay for my daughter. Too cute! I don't really like the bubble-skirt look so I think I'll make the skirt w/o that elastic casing at the bottom andf lengthen it to below-the-knee (it'll just be a normal pleated flare skirt), and I'll make the jacket... but without the lace cut-out on the back. The pattern says "Pants D are above mid-knee length"... not quite sure what that is (just above the knee?) and I wish I knew how to lengthen them into pants, as winter is coming and my daughter will need some pants. I can't find any plus-size pants patterns in a style I like...

My sister is married!!

She got married in Las Vegas on Friday! Hooray, I am so excited for her! Now I need to get used to calling her by a different last name, LOL!

Her reception is in November, so I need to get started on her dress soon!

What to do first, what to do first.... hmm. Bodice or skirt? Hmmm...

Patterns for my daughter

I've been looking around at patterns. I haven't been able to find much, but here's what I have so far:

Butterick 4972 (ordered off eBay for less $$, it's out-of-print so it can't be bought in stores)
McCall'a 5745 (bought online at SewingPatterns.com during a $2.99 sale... not as cheap as a sale at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby, but cheaper than gas to either of those places, and cheaper than Walmart)
McCall's 5135 (also ordered at SewingPatterns.com).

I'm also keeping these in mind (some are OOP, some are not):

McCall's 4765 or McCall's 4246 (for special occassions)
Simplicity 2878
Simplicity 4106

Making skirts for my daughter

I've sewn skirts before for my 8-year-old daughter, but now I have to. She's gained a lot of weight in the last year (she eats a LOT and refuses to do any activity, despite my efforts to bring healthy food into the house and trying to get her to be active... even putting her dishes in the sink when she's done eating is too much... sorry that sounds mean, but I am frustrated). She is 4'3" tall and 95 pounds... about 30 pounds more than she ought to weigh. I bought some size 10.5 (plus) shorts for her online... and they are way too tight. I have to buy her size 14.5 to fit her! But... most of the plus-size girls' clothes I can find are school uniforms! There are a few other things, but not anything I can afford. And I got frustrated looking for plus-size girls' sewing patterns because most of the stuff is immodest. Still, I did manage to find a couple, and have put them on my sewing list to pick up if I am at JoAnn's (80 miles away) or Hobby Lobby (45 miles away) at the same time they are having a pattern sale.

She got mad at me this morning, as we were getting ready for church, and had the nerve to yell at me because she couldn't find anything to fit her! What, as if all this is *my* fault? She asks me for a milkshake every time we go anywhere (which I do NOT get her), she steals food out of the pantry and sneaks it into her room to eat, she screams whenever I ask her to do anything (trying to get her off the couch), and yet it is somehow my fault that her clothes don't fit. Or who knows, maybe she was yelling at me out of frustration on her own part, I can't imagine she likes being overweight... the kids at school make fun of her about it all the time. (Someone told me, "Well, it's just a part of socialization that she needs to learn to deal with"... yeah right. No kid should have to go through this. I was overweight as a kid- not as overweight as my daughter- but I still hated all the name-calling and getting shoved around. Didn't do me a bit of good as far as I can tell.

Anyway, I need to make her some skirts, so she has something to wear to church. I figured tiered skirts will be the easiest. I have some new T-shirts I picked up from Hobby Lobby ages ago, I can take scraps from the skirt fabric and make little appliques to stitch onto the coordinating shirts.

1883 Riding Habit

I decided on Monday that I wanted to make a repro 1883 Riding Habit, using the Truly Victorian bodice and skirt patterns. I had planned on entering it in our county's Fall Festival, and the entrance deadline is this morning at 10:00... but sadly, I did not get it finished in time. I don't have buttonholes or buttons on the skirt yet, I don't have the seams inside the skirt finished, I haven't finished the armscyes inside the bodice, and I need to re-do the hook & eyes inside the bodice (I put 2 of the 3 hooks facing the wrong direction- silly me!) And I don't have it ironed properly... I can't seem to get the creases right. So the bodice doesn't look as crisp & tailored as the photos on the Truly Victorian site. Oh well.

I also made it in a pattern size 12 (or "C" in Truly Victorian sizing), or about a ready-to-wear 4/6. That's quite a bit smaller than I am now! I was that size a few years ago, maybe I can get there again. Not that I'd have anywhere to wear this to, as I sold my horses last fall (*sniff*). Not that I'd be brave enough to try sidesaddle on anything other than an old plug...

I only have 2 photos right now. For some reason, every time I take a photo in that room it comes out blurry... so I have to turn off the light and use the flash (in the nearly-dark room) to get photos to come out well. Weird. I think it has something to do with the CFL bulbs we use, maybe??

With the skirt extended out to the side:


With the skirt looped up in the back:

Cleaning out my pattern stash

Okay, there is a possibility that we *might* be moving in the coming months, so I am trying to declutter. Actually, whether we move or not, I still need to declutter!

I've started with thinning out my pattern collection. I cannot bring myself to get rid of any of my Civil War patterns (though honestly, how many copies of Simplicity 4551 do I really need?) But I did pull out a lot of my historical-based-but-non-authentic Big 3 patterns, most of which are now OOP. I don't know what to do with them now... sell them on Etsy for a buck or two apiece?

I have one copy of Simplicity 8399- the Titanic gown (based on Rose's red beaded gown). Just a couple years ago I remember seeing them go for $25-$30 apiece on eBay... there are still some listed on eBay for $40-$60 but there are also ones listed for $1-$4! And there are a LOT more for sale than there used to be. I also have two copies of Simplicity 9221 (their cheapo Regency gown) that used to go for $10-$20 but they're going for next to nothing now. I'll bet it's because of the economy... people not being able to pay that much for patterns now, and people trying to sell of their "rare" or "in-demand" patterns to try and make some extra cash.

I suppose sometime this week, I can take pictures of all my historic patterns and put them on Etsy, try to earn a few dollars. If I get it done, I'll post a link.

I just posted all my unwanted "modern" patterns on my local Freecycle. Now I'm awaiting the flood of emails. (A lot of people around here try to snatch up everything that's posted on Freecycle, in the hopes of reselling them on eBay or yard sales...)

Starting on a new project... 1873 Polonaise

I have no idea why I started on this, LOL. My insane goal is to have this, a petticoat, and a bustle finished within a week!

For the pattern, I am using TV410 - 1873 Polonaise. Below is a picture of the fabric I'm using, it's a length of cotton calico from my fabric stash. The underskirt will be TV201 - 1870's Underskirt and will be made from, if I can manage it, an ivory stripe-on-stripe bedsheet!


Click for larger image

A shirt I want to reproduce

I was at Cabela's in Utah last week and I came across this shirt... I love it! $45 was a bit more than I wanted to pay, though, so I'm going to try and make one like it.

Let's see now... it looks like it's princess-seamed, not sure whether I'll "keep" that feature. I like the mandarin collar and the placket. I looked at the sleeve ties. They don't seem too difficult, it looks like self-fabric ties that are attached to the sleeve with a 2-channel "casing" of fabric over that, covering up where the ties are attached (securely). Zoom in and you can see what I'm talking about.

Now, for patterns. I think New Look 6849 might work... it's not exactly the same style, and no mandarin collar, but the sleeves are nice and wide. I also like Simplicity 2696, Simplicity 3684, and Simplicity 3786. But I think Simplicity 2854 (View D top, without the ruffle, and View B sleeves) will look the closest to the original top.

I just found out that Simplicity patterns are 5 for $5 at JoAnn's thru Aug 23rd, but I live 80 miles from the nearest JoAnn's. (Sigh) It'd be cheaper to buy it at Wal-Mart at their normal 40% off price, and save the gas.

Overseeded the lawn

Yesterday I went out into my jungle-of-a-backyard to try and trim it down. My husband looked around for a replacement primer bulb for the weed eater, sliced his finger open trying to cut off the plastic casing so it would fit in the weed eater, and then tried to cut down the grass and weeds with it... it didn't work right. It kept choking up and the throttle is not working.

So we had to go buy a lawnmower... we got a $300 one from Lowe's (it was the cheapest one that had good reviews- all the $100-$200 range ones had awful reviews). Our yard gets only partial sun because of all the trees... but we still had a ton of bermudagrass growing back there! So I decided to overseed the lawn (both front & back yards) with bermuda because it is drought-tolerant and it fills in quickly. The current lawn is St. Augustine and Centipedegrass but you cannot start St. Augustine from seed (because no one sells the seed) and Centipede grass takes an extremely long time to get established.

We might be putting our house on the market sometime within the next few months, so we need to have a decent lawn.

My garden is pretty much dead!

This afternoon I got home from a family vacation to Utah... we left on the 8th (10 days ago). I checked the 10-day forecast before we left, and there were a few days that showed a 60% chance of rain. Unfortunately, we did not get a single drop of rain!!! Most of my garden is shrivelled up and brown... everything except the Pink Champagne lisianthus. I went ahead and watered it a little while ago... and now I hear thunder rumbling outside. What luck.

But the good news is... now is the right time to start planting my fall garden.

Fall Vegetable Gardening in East Texas

My back yard though... it looks horrible. There are some weeds back there that are a good 2' tall, and there's a lot of bermudagrass that is about 12" tall (I was surprised, because I didn't think we had enough sunlight back there for bermudagrass). Our reel mower cannot handle the tall grass, and we do not have a rotary mower (the gas or electric kind) so I'm going to call around and see if someone has a weed whacker we can borrow.

I need to get some grass growing in that back yard! Maybe I'll sneak off to Lowe's and pick up a bag of bermudagrass seed...

Make that 2 corsets!

Okay, not only did I sew together the corset girdle pieces yesterday (and my order from Delicious LLC came in-- the busk and boning), I also cut out the pattern pieces for the Laughing Moon Silverado corset. I don't have a busk long enough for that... the only one I have (which I had to cut out of an old corset because I can't find my spare busk) is 1" too short. It'll work for fitting purposes, anyway. I need to see which style will work better for my sister.

I am NOT looking forward to setting all those grommets!! Maybe I'll do every other pair, since like I said, this is only for fitting. I'll put all the grommets on the final corset, of course.

Corset pattern pieces have been cut out...

My sister has decided that she would like me to use the Laughing Moon Underbust Corset pattern, View B, for her corset. She doesn't want a full corset because she is afraid of the "shelf" effect. We'll see how this one works out.

Since this is an under-bust corset, the pattern pieces are shorter than usual (they do not reach up to the bust or down to the hip) so I managed to cut all the pieces from an old pair of jeans of mine. Obviously the corset will be made from nicer fabrics (maybe silk or brocade, flatlined and lined with twill for sturdiness) but these jeans scraps will work just fine for the mock-up, which is what this is.

One thing I like about the pattern, so far, is that Views A, B, and C are all on different sheets of tissue paper, so it is VERY easy to find the pieces you want. That's something that annoys me about Simplicity, McCall's, etc... you usually have to unfold all the tissue pattern sheets, and cut out the pieces you want off each one, and then attempt to fold them up again.


I have so much to get done over the next 3 days... I need to finish this mock-up (including setting grommets and putting in the busk) and then make a mock-up of the bodice, for fitting. I ordered all the boning and a busk last Saturday and they haven't come in yet... they need to come in by this Saturday at the latest because I need them to finish the corset mock-up! I also have a lot of other stuff to do... cleaning, doing laundry, packing, etc because we're going on vacation for 1.5 weeks.

Almost done with my daughters' dresses

They just need buttonholes, buttons, and a ruffle on the bottom hem now!

County Arts & Craft Festival

My county has an Arts & Crafts Festival in mid-September. I hope to enter at least one category. Here is the description in the rules:

CLOTHING

Articles must be completely finished, clean, pressed and like new in appearance. Soiled items will not be accepted. Please bring your own hangers. Items will be judged on fabric selection, neatness, construction (basic sewing techniques) and general appearance.

Class 1: Classic (detailed construction, including menswear)
Class 2: After-Five (soft construction)
Class 3: Sportswear
Class 4: Children’s Wear (through children size 14)
Class 5: Miscellaneous (costumes, etc.)
Class 6: Wearable Art (must have made and/or decorated the item)
a. T-shirts b. Jackets c. Vests d. Miscellaneous


It's very hard to decide exactly what I want to make... I would definitely like to make a historical costume for the Miscellaneous category. But I think I would have to do a bodice/skirt separately and display them on a hanger (as full-length dresses are too long to fit on a clothes rack in most places). What could I make that would look good on a hanger? So much to choose from. I would love to do the Truly Victorian 1883 Riding Habit Jacket and 1883 Riding Habit Skirt, but I cannot find the kind of fabric I want... a dark-colored woven stripe-on-stripe wool... or a cotton twill like that, at the very least. I suppose I will have to keep exploring my options. (I don't even have the patterns... perhaps I ought to stick with something I already have. The Past Patterns Sheer Muslin Dress, perhaps?)

And I could do a kids' item as well. Boy, I'll have a lot of difficult sewing projects this summer, won't I?!

I need something in royal blue...

My sister's wedding colors are black, white, and royal blue. She sent me a ribbon swatch to show me the exact color, and has requested that each of her sisters wear that color in their outfit (we don't have to dress head-to-toe in royal blue... good, because I'd look absolutely silly!)

I am completely stumped about what to wear. I can't really seem to find any prints I like that have royal blue in them (truthfully, I've only found one, and it was ugly). I managed to find some royal blue dupioni silk... but what can I make from that? A blouse, or a skirt? What would I wear with it- a black skirt or blouse? That's the only color I can think of to go with it.

I also need to find a pattern I like. I did come across this royal blue Chinese bamboo brocade... I thought maybe I can make a mandarin-style blouse? New Look 6812. shortened into a blouse length, would be suitable... but what kind of a skirt could I wear with it? (I do not have the figure to pull off an entire dress of that style). Would a black A-line skirt work?

I would love to do some sort of historical-themed dress, such as a Regency Gown or a 1910's Tea Gown, but I just can't think of how quite to do it and make it look good.

I need a white shirt... but which one?

I need to make myself a modest long-sleeve white shirt (I cannot find any ready-made ones I like... for a decent price, anyway). I have found a few patterns I like:

Butterick 4659
Butterick 4457
McCall's 5138
Simplicity 3789

My decision might be based on whatever of these I can get at a $1 sale, LOL.

And fabrics... I need something that isn't very likely to be see-through, which of course means no cheap broadcloth (like the stuff from Wal-Mart). All I've been able to find so far is sateen from Dharma Trading.

Sister's getting married...

Okie dokie, my younger sister has announced that she is getting married... and she remembered that a few years ago, I offered to make her wedding gown if she ever got married.

She has decided that she wants a "poofy" skirt (tulle ballgown skirt) like this one. And after looking through tons of patterns, she decided upon the out-of-print Butterick 6413, which I managed to find cheap on Etsy. Can you imagine how gorgeous this would be in a white dupioni silk? OOH! I am not sure about trim options... my sister would like some trim on it, along the neckline and the hem, but I don't know what is available for bridal stuff. I've never looked. She hasn't decided on a fabric for it either, but I did suggest the dupioni to her... it can be found for $10-$15/yd, and the bodice takes 2 yards. She said she wants a satin hem around the bottom of the skirt... if I am unable to talk her out of that, I may be able to make it in a fabric that matches the bodice.



Tulle is very cheap... I am hoping we can make this dress look fantastic for less than $100.

What to plant this fall?

My impatients aren't looking too great lately, and it's reminded me that I need to decide what I want to plant along the front of my house this winter. Everybody and their uncle plants the typical purple & yellow pansies for winter.

Pansies are okay, I think they're pretty, but I want something a bit different. Burpee has these varieties of pansy, now I just need to decide on one!:

Pansy - Chalon Supreme Mix
Pansy Antique Shades
Pansy Moulin Rouge Mix

I can't think of any other small plants that flower during the winter... and I think I'd like to keep planting annuals there so I can have color year-round.

Why can't I grow lettuce?

I was out in the garden yesterday. Onions are ready to harvest, jalapenos are ready, there are some tomatoes starting to form, the carrots are looking okay, the bean plants are starting to die out so I need to plant some more...

But for some reason, I have not been able to grow lettuce! I planted 4-5 different varieties in March and April, and they all grew a teensy bit and then died. Frustrating! Everything else has grown, but not the lettuce. (Oh wait, the Swiss Chard didn't do so well, either...)

Upcoming sewing plans?

Sometime this week I hope to finish my daughters' dresses... on Saturday I picked up some interfacing (which is something I really ought to have in my stash!)

I'm starting to think about what I want to make next. First project, I suppose, ought to be a sun hat. I'm just itching to make a historical outfit of some kind, but I have no reason to! (And honestly... I gained a lot of weight over the last several months and at a pattern size 24, they would not look good on me anyway!) I'd hoped to make something (like an 1880's polonaise) for our county's Fall Festival in September, but now we have other plans during those days and won't be able to attend... so, maybe next year, huh?

Almost done with the dresses

Well, not quite 'almost', but I think I got past the most difficult part... putting on the sleeves. That's always a nightmare for me because I hate doing all that gathering and then trying to fit the tiny little armscyes around the presser foot to stitch them together. Phew!

All I have to do now is apply the interfacing to the facing, finish the raw edges of the facing, and add them to the dress... and then gather & stitch the ruffles at the hemline and add the buttonholes & buttons.

I have a great dislike for facings... I'd rather do a full lining or bound edges. But they're not really the best option for this dress.

Lisianthus blossom!

I found this as I was checking the garden this morning. Too cool! I don't even have a proper vase for it, LOL. There are several other buds out in the garden, ready to bloom.

Need to finish...

My daughters' dresses have been sitting next to the sewing machine for 2 weeks, I haven't finished them yet! I will definitely need to get that done this next week! So far I've cut out most of the pieces (everything but the ruffle and sleeve bands) and I've sewn the bodice fronts & backs together, and the skirt pieces together. I need to attach the skirt to the bodice, add the sleeves, add the ruffle to the skirt, do the front facing, and add buttons/buttonholes.

I also need to make myself a new hat... I got some bandanas (medium-blue) to make it from, we'll see how well it works. I have this pattern from Birch Street Clothing and they have a bandana hat pattern/kit that I am trying to take my "inspiration" from.

Update on the garden

Whew, we have gotten SO MUCH RAIN in the past few weeks! We got around 9" in April, and so far we're up to 7" for the month of May! I haven't had to water the garden in an entire month.

Everything is doing well, except for the lettuce and tomatoes. Something is eating the peppers, the beans, the zucchini (which seems to be their favorite), the cantaloupes, and possibly the lettuce. (The lettuce does not stand up well to our Texas thunderstorms, and sometimes it will be there one day and gone the next, so I assume something is eating it). It's frustrating as heck. I would spray with some insecticidal soap, but... don't you actually have to see the bugs for it to work?? I can find out WHAT is eating the plants, but do I have to spray the bugs themselves? Or will spraying the plants keep the bugs away? (I feel so stupid for not knowing!)

And still, only 3 of my 12 miniature dwarf apple tree benchgrafts have sprouted. It's been TWO MONTHS! I planted them in groups of 3 (total of 4 groups of 3 each, that is) and if only 3 are going to sprout, I don't know what I'll do. It'll look stupid to have a couple scraggly trees there, I'd rather tear them out and move some thing else to there (dwarf fruit trees in containers, maybe), but it'll be a waste of the $130 I spent on those trees.

(Oh yes, I forgot to say... Burpee replaced my lisianthus that had been damaged, and the replacements came in yesterday. I planted them yesterday evening).

Anyway, here are a few pictures. Click for a little bit bigger image. The caption for each photo is just beneath the photo (instead of above).


An almost-ripe dewberry! This thing is huge, it's the size of a quarter!


More dewberries. Awesome! I'll have to keep a really close eye on them as they ripen, and make sure the birds don't get them. (I suppose I ought to have bird netting on hand, just in case).


One of my 4'x4' planters. They're all pretty much the same, except the one that has zucchini & Roma tomatoes (the zucchinis look awful, like I said- something's been eating their leaves).


The pretty purple flowers on my Royal Burgundy bush beans.


Beans!! These are the pods on my Tendergreen Improved bush beans. I think they're supposed to be harvested at 5"-6" long, they're currently about 2" long. Wild estimation, anyway.


Lemons! Looks like it'll be a loooong time before these guys are ripe.

Damaged in transit. Ugh.

Last night there was a knock at the door... it was the Pink Champage lisianthus plants I ordered from Burpee... yay! I opened the door (the man had already hopped back in his truck and was rolling down the road by the time I got to the door), and discovered the box that said "THIS SIDE UP" all over it was laying on its side (and no, not the proper side)! Just great. So I went to open it up, and this is what I found, all the plants had been dumped out of their cells and their roots knocked loose:







I am... rather unhappy about this. I went and stuck them all in my garden anyway (though most of them barely had any roots at all). I sent an email to Burpee customer service about how to make a claim or get a refund... hopefully I will hear back soon. It was $26.95 for those 12 little plants! (By the way, the plants you get from Burpee so far seem to be about the same size as the 6-pk plants you get from Lowe's or Wal-Mart! What a rip-off! But I've only ordered the lisianthus, I don't know about the tomatoes or other plants). I received my other lisianthus plants last week and they were fine.

New project for my daughters

I've decided to make them some matching dresses. I got the fabric off the $2/yd rack at Wal-Mart, and the pattern is New Look 6884. I will use the bumblebee fabric for the main dress, the checkered fabric for the undershorts (and maybe for the ruffle on the dress, I haven't decided yet).

Rain, rain, come this way...

We have a lot of rain in the forecast. It rained a little on Sunday, and it rained for about an hour yesterday, but our 10-day forecast is calling for a 30-60% chance of rain every day this week (80% chance today and tomorrow).

Rain does such fantastic things for the garden. It seems like tap water from the hose keeps the plants alive, but rainwater makes them flourish!

Here are some updated pics of my garden. The first one is the same garden box I posted here, but taken from the opposite side. Look how much everything has grown in the last week and a half! My tomato plants have nearly doubled in size in just the last couple weeks, but I wasn't able to get good pics of them. Click on each of these for a little bit bigger pic.




My herb garden


My Austin dewberries. This plant has more than doubled in size since we planted it last month.


My Apache blackberries... look at all those blackberries!!


Closeup of a clump of Brightwell blueberries.


My Tifblue blueberries. Click for a little bit bigger pic, you can see how many teensy berries there are on it. I think they ripen in June or July.

Planning my next project

I think the next thing I need to add to my sewing project list is something I can wear in the sun! My daughter is in softball this year and she has 9 games left this season, so I'll be spending quite a bit of time in the sun.

I need a hat and a blouse, I can't find one of either kind ready-made that is a price I can agree with. So for blouses, so far I'm considering:

McCall's 5359
Butterick 5034
Butterick B4819


And for hats, I have a Travel Pop-Up Hat pattern and set of wires. I just need to pick some fabric out. (There is also a bandana hat kit, LOL, but I think I'll pass).

Oooh, strawberry!

This is the 2nd strawberry we've gotten so far... I let my husband have the first one. This one is MINE, ha ha! It's not quite ripe... I think by this afternoon or tomorrow morning, it should be ready.

There are some rather misshapen berries on our other strawberry plants... we have a total of 12, but only about 1-2 berries on each plant. You can see 2 other small berries on this particular plant, but I got this plant at Wal-Mart (the others were purchased at Lowe's). Not many people are successful growing strawberries in Texas, but I am determined to keep trying.

Bodice, part II...

Okie dokie, then! I managed to finish most of the bodice! Now I need to add the collar/trim and the buttons or hooks/eyes up the back. And finish the stuff on the skirt. I might wait until later next week to get all that done.

Click on image for a larger view.

And the bodice...

I just finished sewing the major bodice pieces together. Next I have to put on the sleeves and the facings and the collar and the trim (I don't have any trim yet!)

Almost finished bustle, petticoat, skirt

Here they are!

The almost-finished bustle (needs some more boning in the lower 3 casings, and a waistband & hook/eye):


The almost-finished petticoat (needs a hook/eye):


The almost-finished skirt (needs a hook/eye):


The almost-finished overskirt (needs a waistband and hook/eye, and maybe some trim):


And a different angle view of the ensemble:


And now, to start on the bodice. First is to flatline all the bodice pieces with the lining.

Flowers for the garden!

I ordered some Lisianthus flowers for the garden this morning... Pink Champagne and Balboa Blue Rim. I think they will look great in my 4'x4' garden boxes. I'll have to put some in planters too, because I ordered a total of 24 plants and I don't want them taking up too many of the garden squares. My dianthus is doing terribly (I planted it too early), I can pull those out and replace them with the lisanthus.

Nearly finished with the petticoat & bustle

I didn't get any work done on them yesterday, but on Tuesday afternoon and this morning I was able to work on the petticoat and the bustle. I just need to add the ruffle onto the petticoat (I need 2.5 yds of 3" gathered eyelet, I tried to get some at Wal-Mart yesterday evening but no one was in the fabric dept to help me) and on the bustle, I just need to insert some boning. It calls for steel boning but I have none... I tried plastic boning and I only had enough for the first 2 rows (there are 5). So now I'm trying to figure out what else I can put in there, as I cannot find plastic boning locally, it's not cost-effective to buy it online, and hoopsteel is too expensive (cheapest I can find it is $18 for a 12-yd roll, not including shipping).

I don't have any pics right now, as my husband is off on a nature hike and took the camera with him.

Next I get to start on the bodice!

Baby fruit! Yay!

I've been checking on my garden every day, and my shrubs 2-3 times a week. Look what my shrubs/bushes are doing!


Austin Dewberries!!


Apache Blackberries!


Tifblue Blueberries! (And a spider!)


And a bee, pollinating the Brightwell blueberry blossoms.


This has me very excited... see that little green tip? That is a bud on my teensy little benchgraft apple trees!