I'm too tired to tell y'all everyting, but in short, Atmos Energy can kiss my white patootie. They installed a new meter and left a note on my door to call them to get my gas turned on - ALL WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. I've cussed a few people out on the phone this week.
And then today, a wonderful quilter died today, my grandmother-in-law also known as Mema. She was a crotchety old lady, but she could quilt your head off. I luckily has some wonderful quilts made by her - all by hand as well as countless pot holders and baby scrap quilts for my kids. Only the last big quilt was machine quilted because she couldn't see to do it anymore. She was an amazing quilter. I have a quilt top she never turned into a quilt that I think I'm going to have finished and given to my mother-in-law, she is taking this hard. She also was my partner in crime with breastfeeding, when no one else around me nursed, she and I talked about breastfeeding all the time when my daughter was a baby. She told me she nursed all of her boys until they went to school. In fact, one of them told me he still has memories of nursing after school when he was little.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Waldorf Dolls - where to get wool stuffing
It's so yummy to get wool stuffing in the mail, lol. I had some arrive a few days ago. It comes from Amish country.
I've been running low on wool stuffing for awhile now since I don't make a ton of waldorf dolls much anymore and I've needed some more so I can take pictures of my fairy ears and wings tutorial for a waldorf doll. So I thought I would share my not-not-so-well-known source for wool stuffing. It's not really a secret, but it is not well known either. This place is cheap. I think it's around $7 for 1 pound. I just ordered only 2 pounds this time and it was about $20 including shipping. I know most online places charge about $12 for 1 lb, so this is pretty good savings. I've been using them for years and have always had excellentn and prompt service.
They also have wool roving in natural and colors. My husband called my order in for me (because I have this phobia of telephone calls, lol), and he's not here to remind me how much the roving is so I can't tell you. I've never purchased it, but the price seemed pretty reasonable as well. I used to buy wool roving from eBay to make wool balls, and I bought it from a lady who called it "dragon waste". It came in all kinds of cool colors, but she doesn't sell it anymore. It was such nice stuff....I digress.
Anyway, the man who sells it sells it for the Amish from what I remember, since they can't exactlly take phone orders, lol. And they take credit cards too!
West Earl Woolen Mill
110 Cocalico Creek Rd
Ephrata, PA 17522
717-859-2241.
100% Peruvian wool batting, wool roving
I've been running low on wool stuffing for awhile now since I don't make a ton of waldorf dolls much anymore and I've needed some more so I can take pictures of my fairy ears and wings tutorial for a waldorf doll. So I thought I would share my not-not-so-well-known source for wool stuffing. It's not really a secret, but it is not well known either. This place is cheap. I think it's around $7 for 1 pound. I just ordered only 2 pounds this time and it was about $20 including shipping. I know most online places charge about $12 for 1 lb, so this is pretty good savings. I've been using them for years and have always had excellentn and prompt service.
They also have wool roving in natural and colors. My husband called my order in for me (because I have this phobia of telephone calls, lol), and he's not here to remind me how much the roving is so I can't tell you. I've never purchased it, but the price seemed pretty reasonable as well. I used to buy wool roving from eBay to make wool balls, and I bought it from a lady who called it "dragon waste". It came in all kinds of cool colors, but she doesn't sell it anymore. It was such nice stuff....I digress.
Anyway, the man who sells it sells it for the Amish from what I remember, since they can't exactlly take phone orders, lol. And they take credit cards too!
West Earl Woolen Mill
110 Cocalico Creek Rd
Ephrata, PA 17522
717-859-2241.
100% Peruvian wool batting, wool roving
Friday, February 22, 2008
Little Girls Shirred Sundress Tutorial
My school computer is apparently really screwed it up, the store gave up and had to send it to HP to fix, lol, so I'm without my Corel Draw where I create my cool graphics for my tutorials and patterns and stuff, so this will have to do for awhile. It's the same reason why I haven't turned my nursing cover tutorial into a download.
Shirred Sundress
This is a quick little dress that is easy to whip out and look so cute.
Shirring elastic
Ribbon
1 yd of fabric – up to size 6 (larger sizes at bottom).
1/8 yd of coordinating fabric for ruffle.
1. Measure from very top of crease of underarm down to where you want the dress to hit. I usually prefer mid calf or little higher. Add 1 inch to measurement.
2. Cut the length of fabric to this measurement (you are going to keep the entire 44-45 inch width of fabric for the dress. You’ll be cutting the length from the 1 yd (36 inches) length. For example, on a size 5 your fabric should be 44-45 inches wide x 24 inches in length
3. Hem the top of the dress.
4. Begin shirring about 1 cm under the hem stitch line. Continue shirring about 8 to 12 more rows down. With the size 5, I usually shirr about 10 rows, with a smaller size such as 12-18 months, I usually shirr only about 8 rows. Make sure to leave excess thread at each row. Then as you create more shirred rows, pull slightly on the excess threads to gather the shirring more.
5. At bottom of dress, attach ruffle or just hem. For a ruffle, you’ll need to cut the 1/8 yd into half. This will create two 2 1/4 inch strips and sew them together until you have a length of about 88-90 inches. I use a ruffler foot so that it attaches and gathers in 1 step. With the long strip now, I fold the strip over widthwise with raw edges together and attached it.
If you do not have a ruffler foot, you’ll need to fold the long strip widthwise with raw edges together, and sew a long gathering stitch through the entire length. Then pull the threads to gather, pin to the hem of the dress, and sew it on, Make sure you pin it to the right side of the dress.
6. With right sides together, match the raw edges of the back seam and sew it closed. I usually do some backstitching to tack the shirring so it doesn’t come unsewn.
7. Try the dress on your daughter and mark the placement of the ribbon ties. When you sew the ribbon ties, I like to sew them on the hemline of the top of the dress and I tack them so they are secure.
You’re finished!!
For older girls, measure the bust and double the measurement and this will be the width of fabric you will need. Measure from the underarm crease to the length you would want
For example, my daughter is a 10/12 and her length is 32 inches, her bust is 32 inches.
So I would need approximately 64 x 32 inches for her dress.
To make it easy, I would find a print that would work widthwise (44-45 in) as opposed to the usual lengthwise.
For really quick and easy, I would use a 2 yd piece with 72 inches for the bust and then cut down the 44-45 inch length down to 33 inches (1 inch for hem at top and bottom). This way I would have only one piece of fabric like the directions above and just one back seam as opposed to using 2 pieces with 2 side seams.
For this example, since the width is 72 inches, you'll need to piece strips to make 144 inches long for the ruffle.
Shirred Sundress
This is a quick little dress that is easy to whip out and look so cute.
Shirring elastic
Ribbon
1 yd of fabric – up to size 6 (larger sizes at bottom).
1/8 yd of coordinating fabric for ruffle.
1. Measure from very top of crease of underarm down to where you want the dress to hit. I usually prefer mid calf or little higher. Add 1 inch to measurement.
2. Cut the length of fabric to this measurement (you are going to keep the entire 44-45 inch width of fabric for the dress. You’ll be cutting the length from the 1 yd (36 inches) length. For example, on a size 5 your fabric should be 44-45 inches wide x 24 inches in length
3. Hem the top of the dress.
4. Begin shirring about 1 cm under the hem stitch line. Continue shirring about 8 to 12 more rows down. With the size 5, I usually shirr about 10 rows, with a smaller size such as 12-18 months, I usually shirr only about 8 rows. Make sure to leave excess thread at each row. Then as you create more shirred rows, pull slightly on the excess threads to gather the shirring more.
5. At bottom of dress, attach ruffle or just hem. For a ruffle, you’ll need to cut the 1/8 yd into half. This will create two 2 1/4 inch strips and sew them together until you have a length of about 88-90 inches. I use a ruffler foot so that it attaches and gathers in 1 step. With the long strip now, I fold the strip over widthwise with raw edges together and attached it.
If you do not have a ruffler foot, you’ll need to fold the long strip widthwise with raw edges together, and sew a long gathering stitch through the entire length. Then pull the threads to gather, pin to the hem of the dress, and sew it on, Make sure you pin it to the right side of the dress.
6. With right sides together, match the raw edges of the back seam and sew it closed. I usually do some backstitching to tack the shirring so it doesn’t come unsewn.
7. Try the dress on your daughter and mark the placement of the ribbon ties. When you sew the ribbon ties, I like to sew them on the hemline of the top of the dress and I tack them so they are secure.
You’re finished!!
For older girls, measure the bust and double the measurement and this will be the width of fabric you will need. Measure from the underarm crease to the length you would want
For example, my daughter is a 10/12 and her length is 32 inches, her bust is 32 inches.
So I would need approximately 64 x 32 inches for her dress.
To make it easy, I would find a print that would work widthwise (44-45 in) as opposed to the usual lengthwise.
For really quick and easy, I would use a 2 yd piece with 72 inches for the bust and then cut down the 44-45 inch length down to 33 inches (1 inch for hem at top and bottom). This way I would have only one piece of fabric like the directions above and just one back seam as opposed to using 2 pieces with 2 side seams.
For this example, since the width is 72 inches, you'll need to piece strips to make 144 inches long for the ruffle.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Yummy Landscapes Yarn
I love this yarn. It felts wonderfully, especially to do my pincushion tutorial. I was at Hancock Fabrics today and they had a ton of yarn on clearance 40-50% off. And this one was 50% off in all the colorways, which makes it about $3.00/skein. They had some other wool and wool blend yarns on clearance as well. And, I found bags of colored 100% wool roving for 40% off in the same clearance section. 
This is a Lion's brand yarn similar to the Landscapes yarns, but these came in solid pastels. I made this for my mom for Christmas. I also made Mr. E a matching one in plum color in a vintage wool yarn I had from my grandmother's stash. And on another completely different tangent, have you seen Stylicious on DIY? I don't know if they are still on the air, I just caught it very, very late last night. Can anyone stand watching it? I don't quite get the women on the show -- seriously, they act and attempt to look like 8 yr olds. It was like a bad car wreck, I wanted to change the channel, but I was in awe that someone at DIY actually greenlighted this show with these hosts, and they were allowed to banter like children, which I think was an attempt to get closer to the 20-something crowd. It was very weird to say the least.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Another Skating Dress Pattern
Well now that we have a strut costume idea going, I needed another costume for one of her solos. Because Ms. Em's novelty baton twirling routine is to to a song from the soundtrack of the Lemony Snicket movie, I was trying to think of a gothic type costume for it to go along with the movie-themed gothic look, so I have been trying to get ideas online, and Em finally found this dress she really likes. She likes the skirt part the most, which does look very cool. 
And today I found this pattern and ordered it from sewingpatterns.com to so something similar. I really like the neckline and sleeves in this pattern, the darker dress, for her, and then add some weird layered skirts to it. I have a dark fuschia, almost a plum color stretch velvet with a black stretch velvet that I think would look awesome for the bodice this dress, yet still be "gothic". I think I need to get some matching stretchy chiffon or something similar to do some underskirt, then the upper skirts will be the velvet.
Jalie Sewing Patterns
I got these in the mail a couple days ago. I was checking out leotard patterns over at Jalie and just happened upon these shirt patterns. I love the style of both. Plus, they can be just regular shirts, or one can be made maternity and one can be made nursing. Not to mention the bazillion sizes for girls and women.
FYI, I ordered mine from sewingpatterns.com and their Jalie patterns are cheaper than anybody else and they have the whole line. They also ship SUPER FAST.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
