Tulle Skirt

When Kristen shared a picture of a tulle skirt from Pinterest and said she'd like to wear one to her Christmas Party I offered to make it.  I viewed one video on YouTube and thought pffffft - I can do that . . .

Off to Fabricland I go and 8 yards of tulle (4 yards of off white, two yards of creamy ivory and two yards of blush), just enough black elastic for her waistband and 3/4 of a yard of slip fabric later, it's back home to sew.

What a pain in the butt this was . . . the fabric is SO sheer and the house is SO dry that it just got all full of static and was SO frustrating I had to put it down three times before I actually got it to a point where I could gather the damn tulle . . . but it was really simple sewing.

I cut the waist band four inches smaller than her actual waist measurement, and zig zagged it closed.  Then divided into quarters; sewed seams in all 8 layers of the tulle, ran a running stitch through the first four layers of tulle and then the other four layers, and then quartered the tulle.  I matched up the quarters, gathered the tulle a couple of inches LARGER than the elastic and stretched and sewed it on to the black elastic waistband with a straight stitch.  I sewed four layers on at a time.  She did not want it "pouffy" so that many layers was enough.  It did, however, need a slip underneath.

Here is the finished product; a VERY cute girl, some kick ass shoes, a jean jacket and a funky (borrowed) bracelet!

A couple of hostess gifts!

It isn't Christmas without getting invited somewhere for dinner or drinks.  This year was no exception particularly because my daughter and husband were away.

I'm not usually a last minute person but I'm becoming one; and because I hate arriving empty handed I wondered what I could take to both a dinner and a drink party that I could do quickly but would be appreciated.  I had four pieces of Christmas fabric in the closet - how about napkins.

I cut each one 18" square and simply serged the ends.

Done

and Done (this set is wrapped with a doggie scarf for Whiskey)!

And yes, Kenzie got in on this one too (but after I finished sewing this time)

Some Orange Hats

For the past few years I've been giving hats to my brother, his wife and their five kids for Christmas (I have breakfast with them on Christmas morning).  This year Dina (my sis-in-law) called and asked if I was doing the traditional give of the hats.  Yes, I say, why?  Well she has an idea.  The older boys will participate in a ski weekend and they all want to wear the same ones, would I be interested instead of buying the hats making them something "orange".  I pause for a moment and then think . . . WHAT A GREAT IDEA!

Will she give me creative license to do what I want . . . OF COURSE she will . . . so while Anna and I are shopping for fabric for her mom's apron I come across this really funky orange winterish looking t-shirt fabric that I HOPE will be warm enough for their tender ears!

I borrowed a hat that they "kind of already like" but is a bit small and get to work.

FOR THE GIRLS:

Make a "sock" to go over a 1" elastic 3-4" in length

Serge both sides of a 20" X 9" piece of fabric (the short side is what gets sewn on to the elastic)

Run a gathering stitch on the short sides

Circle the short side AROUND the end of the elastic; pulling the running/gathering stitch and overlapping the ends

Stitch down OVER the elastic

Flip inside out (DO THE SAME FOR BOTH SIDES)

FOR THE BOYS:

Cut a piece of fabric 22.5" x 11.5"; Serge the length on both sides then sew the short side together

Flip over one end 2.5" and sew down with a straight stitch

Pin on the seam and then half way between that and the ends (you can sew these down 1" if you wish but I didn't bother

With the end facing you fold the opening in half towards the pin

Then take the second opening and fold that in half towards the centre

Do the same with the remaining two openings and pin down

Sew a 1/2 running stitch at the top

Then take two of the folds and pin them together and pin the other two together (you should have four pinned parts all together (two on each side)

Stitch down the four pinned folds

This isn't a great picture but . . . 

Turn it inside out and voila! this is the top!

Here is my awesome brother, his wife and their five kids in the hats - they LOVED them; Sam (the youngest) said he wasn't going to take his off - he was going to wear it ALL DAY!

Thank you for letting me be creative on these - one type for the boys, one type for the girls (and it won't ruin their hair) and I think everyone is happy (see their smiles)!

I made in total three girl headbands and 8 boy hats - You never know who's going to be the lucky recipients!

And another apron . . .

You know  how much I love Auntie Day . . . Anna and I do spend as much time together as our schedules allow . . . and she wanted to make her Mom an apron for Christmas this year.  We managed to get the fabric shopping done (only $1.00 over her budget) but it took some doing.

Schedule on . . . Anna is picked up . . . and we're off to my favourite fabric store.  She has an idea in mind (warm/earth colours) and we pick up what we think are the three best pieces and get to the cutting table.  We get the BEST sales person E V E R and she says . . . you know the other cottons are only $5.00 a metre right now . . . and we both look at one another and say . . . "ya we should go back and look at them" and giggle . . . and we get three OTHER pieces that we think are WAY better than the first choices and the bill comes to $11.00 - YIPPEE

Now to schedule a day to sew . . . what pattern to pick . . . what piece to make what colour and it's cut and ready for my best friend ( Bertha ) . . . now you might think setting a 12 year old down at a conventional sewing machine that has a LOT of power a dumb idea but she did fantastic! I would start a piece off and she'd finish it . . . then I'd do the difficult "turns" and she'd do all of the ironing (with a steam iron) . . . NOTE:  We set the ironing board to her height and she did a fantastic job . . . I only had to show her once what to do and she DID IT!

Here she is ironing!

All of the pictures I took of her sewing you can't see her . . . but I promise you she did MOST of the sewing - I just did the curvy parts!

Here is the finished product!



That's the third apron this year and one more on the way but that one is a bit of a surprise and a bit outside the box - I'll show you that one when it's done!

A Bag of Letters

Well not the kind you think . . . these are letters of hope . . . they are letters I hope to give to my future grandchild. We had a rough year last year; my daughter lost two pregnancies in the early stages. One just a week prior to finishing her first trimester; and the second about six weeks in. It was devestating. I was crushed. I was already buying stuff to "house" the baby at my place for sleep overs. It's all I've dreamed about for as long as I can remember . . . I just want to be a g'ma! Maybe its not in the cards; but the prayer is, and my hopes and dreams are that one day I will welcome a beautiful baby boy or girl into my senior years and I can hug and kiss and love that baby just like I've always dreamed. Here is my little bag of "hope"!