Smocked Pillowcase Dress Part 1

I know, I know. I promised I would blog more often. I've been busy!! For one thing, I'm still trying to develop my business logo. I know what I want, I just can't put it together with the limited resources I have at my disposal at this time. But don't worry, it's coming. In the meantime, after a bout with the flu and sinus attach I have come out "smocking"!

Another challenge I have is the nearest fabric store is over 30 miles away. Had I known that when we moved to Lumberton, I think I would have really reconsidered. I know the internet is only a click away but there's nothing like having those fabrics right in front of you to touch and smell and see in person. I long to shop for the new bright colored retro fabrics out today but, in the meantime, I will make do. I've decided to just use fabric scraps I have in my stash and see what I can create. In the above picture, I pleated fabric left over from a dress I made for my youngest daughter, Lauren, pictured below on left, to wear to my oldest daughter, Magan's, college graduation.

I'm making my own version of the "pillowcase dress". This technique has been around a while, I know, and has probably run it's course. I missed out on it since my children are college age and I have no grands yet. But, I have been looking at them online and love the simplicity of this style of dress. That is probably another reason I haven't made one, it's so simple.( I think I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to that.)  Alas, I have complicated it a bit! I am adding smocking. At this point, I'm still in the design and construction phase, but I will share what I have so far.

I am using a plate found in an old Creative Needle magazine. Unfortunately, the magazine is no longer in business.

(Just a side note: I am so grateful I saved what issues I had of Creative Needle AND  Sew Beautiful magazines. Each issue I have of these magazines mean even more to me now than they did when I got them. Of course, I thought they were precious then or I wouldn't have saved them all these years and through so many moves. I even picked up an issue or two each year when my children were teens and I had no one to smock for. I guess I was planning ahead for future grandchildren or making gifts for others as I do now.)

The other fabrics that I have chosen to give a pop of color to this little dress were used for a college book bag I made Lauren when she was home for Christmas break.

How is this for recycling!! I am excited to finish the dress and let you see how it turns out. I'm off to create! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think so far and "follow" me. I need the encouragement and as I browse other blogs I see I have a lot to do to get up to speed. It may be fun to watch the transformation I hope to make in my blogging journey.

TRY A LITTLE HARDER...

Here's what I've been working on since I last posted. Somehow I will have to learn to strike a balance and still post more often. I must confess, balance is something I struggle with. I will "try a little harder to do a little better". Gordon B Hinkley

I smocked this dress before our move in September for a friend's then unborn baby girl. Then the big move and settling in and lastly setting up my sewing room. (I will post pics of it in an upcoming blog post.) I finally finished the machine work and now to mail it. The baby girl was born in October. So I better hurry and get it to her. As fast as babies grow, she wont have long to wear it.  Notice the deep hem, though. That does allow for a little growing room. What a joy it is to sew for little ones!!

I love how sweet these little puffed sleeves look with a touch of smocking to act as elastic. I just picture a precious little arm in there.

I did a simple geometric design around the bishop style neckline. For a newborn, it only takes a few rows of smocking to make the gown or dress look special.

There is nothing more precious or classic as a little dress like this. Babies should be dressed "special" because they are "special". There will be plenty of time to dress them in the fashions of the day when they get older.

I have also been working on baby gifts that I have received orders for recently. I have done quite a bit of machine embroidery and I'm posting the day gown I just completed. These projects are giving me practice to hopefully make items for my own grandchildren one day. As fun as it is to make things for babies that I may never meet, I can't even imagine the JOY of sewing something for my own grandchild. OK, enough of that!!!

I made this baby daygown over the weekend and mailed it yesterday. It isn't my best work but once it was finished, I thought it looked nice. I will "try a little harder to do a little better" next time. I love pin tucks and have only made them a couple of times.  You experts out there, please don't cringe at the above picture. They pressed out pretty well.

After several unsuccessful attempts to hand embroider a feather stitch between the pin tucks, I added a feather stitch from the decorative stitches on my sewing machine and hand embroidered bullion roses on the machine feather stitch. I rarely use those "fancy" stitches on my machine, so it was a treat to use this stitch and have it be appropriate.

Of course, this was an extra touch that I added just because I wanted to smock. It was not part of the order, just a little a gift from me. This is a long sleeved day gown and this will look so sweet around that little baby wrist!

The above shows a front (pic on left) and back (pic on right) view of the day gown before I put the neck band on. I love the kick pleat on the back with the bullion rose. It looks so sweet when someone is holding the wee one to their shoulder and patting it's back for that all important "burp".

Here's another look at the back with the little rose bud and how a neck band looks before I sewed in on. Once I sew it by machine, I fold it over and stitch it down by hand.

You can see the inside of the neck band that I've secured by hand stitching and added french lace that I "tea stained" an ecru color. I used a simple whip stitch to attach the lace to the edge of the tiny neck band. Not pictured are the french seams that I used for this dress. I will show that in another post one day. I usually use french seams on all my baby and children's clothes. I love this technique and it makes a garment even more special and look like a true heirloom.

 

I have had a hard time finding the little buttons I want for my baby clothes. So, for this project I decided to use bullion roses instead and use snaps to fasten the dress closed. It may prove to be more functional for mom and dad, too. Those baby's do tend to wiggle and fastening buttons can sometimes be a challange. So it is probably a good idea to use snaps anyway. Come to think of it, it may be a blessing in diguise not to have those little buttons afterall.

I made a casing at the bottom of the gown and used button holes for the ribbon to enter and exit through. The dress overlaps right over left, therefore, if I just ran the ribbon through the casing without a way to overlap the two sides, it would not look as nice at the bottom or close completely.

I have a couple of other projects to post tomorrow.  I realize got a little lengthy with this one. I think the key to balance is moderation. Maybe they are the same and I just made a "duh" statement. I tend to go full throttle then burn out. So from here on, I will "try a little harder, to do a little better" and pace myself.

HR Problems

The Growth and Expansion (me) team of Chandler Heirlooms and Design has been hard at work. The IT Department (me) is struggling right now though. The Research and Development team (me) has been working over time to get a feel for the market and the Marketing and Advertising (me) team is at a stand still until Procurement (me) has secured proper inventory.  My Graphic Design Department (me) is working on a logo to properly represent us and after one week has yet to present anything to the Operations Manager (me). I also have someone learning to digitize original embroidery designs (me) as well as creating original patterns for smocking and children's clothing (me). I think I need to speak to my HR department (me)!!!


Our Customer Service and Sales Department received an order from a customer (NOT ME) for some eyelet diaper covers (panties) to be monogrammed. Our Production team (me) just finished those today and here they are!!

They are ready to be sent to the Shipping Department. Our Logistics Department is another "opportunity", as they say in the biz. The Silent Partner has taken the business car out of town. Therefore, there will be a delay in delivery.

In a future post I will laugh at such small obstacles such as these. I'm certain of it. If things grow like I imagine, I'll have real HR problems and that'll be, as my friend Martha Stewart says, "a good thing."

A quilted pillow, "What not to do"

Hi guys, I've missed you!! As promised, I have the quilted pillows for you. It is not a comprehensive tutorial because I assume you know something of sewing, especially how to make a pillow.  Since it is one of my first adventures in quilting, I didn't want to make it sound like this is how it's supposed to be done. I have a lot of "what not to do's" in here. I learn by mistake most of the time. I might have gotten a little lengthy with this one so I hope you can visit for a bit.

First of all I used the "strip piece method" I think it's called. I cut my fabric in 2 1/2" strips.Then I did what I often do, fly by the seat of my pants. I just wanted to get this made quickly. I didn't have instructions to go by and with the little experience I have in quilting, I just made it up as I went along. (*Remember I said I was going to tell you "what not to do".) This is one of the first things of "what not to do".

After sewing the strips using a 1/4" seam allowance. (Supposedly) I cut them into 2 1/2 " pieces and sewed those together with another set of squares. When I opened them up after stitching, I had 4 small squares altogether making a block.

At this point I had to figure out how I was going to piece this together to "look" as if I planned it. So I made some blocks using the ticking and the red check, and some blocks using the toile and red check. Sorry I don't have a pic of the toile and check before construction but it was the same technique as you see below with the ticking and check.

I was careful to make sure I matched my 1/4 " seams together and pressed them going in opposite directions so that the seams would go together nicely. (Please keep in mind this is NOT a tutorial on how to make this pillow, just how I did it.)

One trick I have learned to speed things up when you sew these blocks is to "chain them together as you see in the picture below. You just snip them apart after your done sewing.

Since 2 1/2 + 2 1/2 = 5, I cut (8) 5" squares of the brocade print fabric to use as blocks in each of the four corners of the 2  pillows.  Well, you quilters are cracking up at me right now aren't cha? Another lesson in "what not to do". When you sew with 1/4" seam on pieces that are 2 1/2" you should have 4 1/2" squares. But I accidentally  used 1/2" on some of my seam allowances creating an even bigger problem. The picture below shows the difference in what I cut originally and the size I actually needed the square to be. So I cut all 8 pieces AGAIN. (Trying to hurry, remember?) "What not to do". 

 Can you see the difference in the sizes. I just used the smaller one as a guide to cut the 5" one to the proper size.

I was finally on somewhat of a roll once I got the pieces cut the right size and stitched together.  Ilaid out the blocks in the pattern I wanted then stitched them together. Keep in mind, I was making (2) pillows so everything I say here is double the work. I mention this so you will know why it took me so long to put this post up.

After piecing the squares together I decided to use the ticking fabric for the border. It turned out nicely I think, but could definitely be another "What not to do". You should plan all these details out before you start. It could have been a disaster if I had not had enough fabric. Another thing I didn't do before I started...check to see how much fabric I had or would need. "What not to do."

I again used 2 1/2" strips to border the pillows. As you see in the pic below I cut the strips after I aligned them with the quilted fabric I had just made. No measuring for me, no sir. That would take too much time and planning. (Say it with me..."What not to do")

Then I pinned the strips to the quilted fabric and stitched it using a 1/4" seam allowance. I keep referring to this 1/4" seam allowance in a somewhat sarcastic way. It is important to make sure you use the correct seam allowance. If you use say 1/4" on some of your strips and accidentally get a call and try to sew while on the phone and then sew some strips with a 1/2" seam allowance you might have some problems. Actually you WILL have problems. I have pictures of that but I think you get the point and I am still not sure how to move these pictures around so well.  It has taken me 2 days for what I have so far.

As you can see in the picture above it is looking like something now!!! Yeah! I was so relieved when I got to this point. Now to figure out a back. (what not to do.) I should have already planned that out.

I found some linen in my stash and thought it would work nicely. It just wasn't the color I wanted. You can't really tell in this picture but it had a yellow hue to it. I decided to tea/coffee stain it. Well since I don't drink either of those, all I had was PERO. (Google it) So I mixed this up and soaked my fabric in it to give it more of the color I wanted. Sort of.

While that soaked I prepared my "quilt top". I layered the quilted fabric, some batting (that actually had shiny stuff in it from when I used the batting as snow in my Christmas village one year) and some plain white batiste scraps from my stash. Hey isn't that how quilts got started? Ladies were using scraps they had leftover. Don't judge! AND I just gave you a recycling tip. If you don't have batting go look in your Christmas decorations.

Once layered I had to "quilt" them together. Now here is where I really had to fly by the seat of my pants. I did not know what I was doing and I am definitely not showing all the pictures I took.  Some of you that quilt might never come back to my blog again. This is all I'm going to show you. I will say, I did get to use the stitch on my machine that looks like hand quilting. I did this because I was trying to hurry, but this stitch has several steps to it and takes a while. It frustrated me to start with. But, after I realized it was going to take a while, I just settled in and stitched away and stopped trying to hurry. It was quite therapeutic. Isn't that what this is supposed to be anyway.

After I dried my stained fabric for the back of the pillow,  I sewed the front and back together. I am assuming you know how to make a pillow. I left an opening for the stuffing. The stuffing came from the old pillows I showed you in my previous post.

And VOILA. It was quite satisfying to finally finish them. I hope to cover my couch (which would make a great blog post) or get a new one (I vote for that) to put them on soon. This has been a rather lengthy post and I don't know that anyone would be able to follow these directions to make one of these pillows. I have discovered doing a tutorial is a lot of work and takes a lot of planning and time. Hmmm I thought it was a good idea, but until I get a little better at this I'm going to put that on my list of "what not to do"

Never, Never Give Up!

Well I'm off to a start. It may not be a good one but it IS a start. I set up my Facebook page for "Cheirlooms"...Chandler Heirlooms and Design is the name of FB.  You will have to stop by there and "Like" it for me. I would greatly appreciate that. I feel like Peter walking on the water right now. Well, probably right before he went under at least. It would be very encouraging to know that there are those out there interested in what I'm doing and willing to support my efforts at this time.

I've got another list of things to do today such as figuring out how to get that darn FACEBOOK button attached to this page. I'm also batting around the idea of allowing advertisement on my blog. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing or if it is a non-issue. Comments are welcome on either of these points.

I will eventually have PRODUCT for sale. I'm juggling several things at once right now and so I guess I'm getting that "chaos" I was expecting. I will be using Paypal for online orders, so I'll be setting up a link for that. I just have to figure out how.  I will also be in need of some nice pictures to post of the items I'll be selling. I think my camera is about to kick the bucket so I may have to use my trusty phone cam until I can get that Rebel I've been longing for. Please be patient with me there.

Like I said in my post yesterday, I'm not sure where this will take me or what will happen. I'm sure there will be lots of opportunity for learning. HA! I guess I'm "homeschooling" myself now. I ask that you hang in there with me. I have so many ideas and I know there is something I'm supposed to do here. I'm going to (again with the analogies of faith) be like Indiana Jones and step out even though I don't see anything to step out on. (You movie buffs know what I'm talking about). Even if you haven't seen the movie I'm sure you get my point.

Another project I'm working on today is finishing some pillows I'm recovering for our living room. I am not really a quilter, but I am one in my head. I collect the books and fabric and watch the shows. I've taken a class or two and even have quilts in nearly every room of our house. This will be my attempt to do some very beginner quilt piecing.


I am using a 1/4" seam allowance







You can see the yellow and blue pillow here that I want to recover. It came with a blue and white sofa I no longer have. It was a great sofa, we were moving from Nashville, TN and just had to downsize.




So, I've decided to use fabrics that I have used throughout the house here in Lumberton. The ticking is from a valance in the kitchen, the toile is from the stockings I made for christmas. I will blog about them another day. The red and cream check is a Waverly fabric I bought about 10 yards of in Prattville, AL when we lived there a around get this...the turn of the century. Ooh that was a long time ago no matter how you look at it.

Lauren's 2012 Christmas Stocking

The other red and cream print, I bought since we moved here to North Carolina. I used it to recover my bar stools we purchased in Jacksonville, FL in 2000. (Right after the turn of the century. lol)


Kitchen Bar stool I recovered while still unpacking boxes.



Dont worry there's a sofa in the "mancave"  that is in worse shape than this.

 

The love seat that I'm making these pillows for is in much need of recovering as well, but I just don't know if I have it in me to do that. We will see. It would definitely make for a good blog post though wouldn't it?

I'll blog a little about  the techniques used for the valance I made in the kitchen at another time. For now, I will just post the pictures in order for you to see the fabric that I mentioned earlier. It was the only thing I could think of to match the barstools once I covered them in the fabric I just "had to have." You will see, I fly by the seat of my pants. I guess it works. But, "ignorance is BLISS" they say. As I looked back over this blog the picture of the valance was at the top of my page. It's not where I thought I put it, but I'm leaving it. It's a good reminder to Never, Never Give Up.

Well off to get those things on my list done. Let me know what you think. Please leave me any comments and input you have.  I better get started...

If not now, when?