The bridesmaid and the baby

I finally finished altering a friend's bridesmaid dress today. I had to take in the hips, shorten the straps and cut off the bottom and make a new hem. I just have to say that I love my serger!!! It just tackles every kind of material with ease. I serged the cut bottom and then did a simple machine hem. I also serged the slip and didn't have to hem it. This was the first time I have worked with this type of satin. It was not too bad. The scariest part was cutting into the dress. I then took a bit of a sewing break and weeded my blackberry and blueberry patch. It was horrible due to all of the rain. It looks much better and I have quite a few blueberries and several blackberries as well. They aren't ripe yet, but they look so good. I then proceeded to quilt the baby quilt for my sis-in-law. I did a simple grid (stitch in the ditch) on it,but it was still a little difficult due to the different fabrics in the quilt. It is a mixture of cottons, flannels, fleece, butter suede and chenille.I used the walking foot on my old Kenmore. I don't have a walking foot for my new machine yet. So I have finished that part and now I will add the baby blue satin binding later this week. I cleaned my fridge today which also makes me feel better! A little laundry and cooking rounded out a pretty productive day. I love having those every once in a while!

Butterick/New Look Almost Done!

This is the wackiest dress.  It would never fit my youngest, so before trashing both bodices, I let my older daughter try it on.  IT FIT!  So now she will wear the dress.  I switched the bodice of the vintage Butterick for a New Look 6966 size 6 bodice.  This is actually smaller than my youngest by bust size, but it still gapped at the front.  My dress form is really too large for both my girls, but it is closer to my older one's size.  I had to undo some of the back seam that I had already sewed in order to accommodate a 14' zipper instead of the 22" the Butterick called for.  This is all getting way too advanced for me and my piddly sewing skills.  I sewed up the tie belt today from the Butterick pattern and it looks really cute.  Alli wants me to hem it right above the knee and add eyelet trim to the bottom.  Maybe I will get that done tomorrow if she brings home the trim tonight. Here are some pics.

Do You Remember Butterick 2625?

Oh my goodness. It has been sitting on the corner of my makeshift sewing table for way too long! This is the pattern my youngest wanted to make and then as soon as she cut the first piece-she was done! I ended up cutting everything else out, but sad to say it has been a familiar lump on the end of the table for months. Idecided that since the garden is basically in and growing okay and graduation is over and much of my school planning is done, that I would revive this little forlorn stack of pieces and hopefully turn it into a lovely vintage dress for Katy. Well I don't know what I was thinking! I serged all the pieces-I so love that Hobbylock! The skirt went together beautifully and all the darts went in without a hitch. I have all the facings ready to go in as well. I tried it on Katy and this 32 bust pattern is NOT fitting. She had wings on the sides. I took it in about 1 1/2 inches on both sides and now the darts look a little low and funny. If I pull the shoulders up, the neck will choke her. I WISH I KNEW HOW TO ALTER PATTERNS! I am going to try to cut down into the neck and see if it looks horrible. That will mean new facings though. I think I will do a wide shoulder strap/ straight across the chest bodice from another pattern if I can't get this to work. It would be so much faster to put together these lovely garments if they fit her better. NEVER GIVE UP! That is what Winston Churchill would say. It looks really good on the dressform-it would look even better ironed.