The Liverpool Dress

It's not enough that I have made two tunics from this pattern, I decided to make the short dress as well! Instead of the three-quarter sleeves, I made the elbow length:

As I did with the last version, I shortened the back ties by five inches:

I also sewed the side seams at three-eights of an inch, rather than the half inch required by the instructions. This gave me an extra half inch of room all around, and while I didn't need that half inch in the waist or hips, it has made the bust area fit perfectly.

The funnest part of the dress was deciding how to lay it out. I used a batik quilt backing I got at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Show for $ 37, which had a border along each edge with solid black in the middle. I decided to lay out my pattern so that the top/bust area was the black, and the dress would get progressivly lighter as it went towards the hem. I used mostly black for the front placket, and I used the very edge of the border as the sleeve cuffs. This is what I had left after cutting out:

Still enough left over for a skirt! (But that is another day - maybe even another year!) I wore this dress Good Friday, and it doesn't wrinkle and it is extra cool. Have I mentioned I love this pattern? I still want to make one more version: the long dress version with no sleeves for summer. But I have decided it is time to take a break from this pattern and do something else. But I highly recommend it to others!

The Liverpool Tunic - Take Two

I finally got photos of my second Liverpool Tunic; my photographer, Aimee graciously took these. I made this one from the Henry Alexander fabric I liked so much:

On this version, I shortened the back ties by five inches, and I like them much better:

I also dispensed with the covered buttons, and just used regular buttons this time. I was able to get the collar oriented correctly so the top collar and outer stand were the ones that were interfaced. And I finally figured out the proper way to do the cuffs which were such a mystery to me last time. Now the sleeves are at the proper length, so ignore everything I said in my first review of this pattern. I omitted the buttons and button loops on the cuffs; I don't think it needs it and they are just a PITA. The one thing I did differently from the directions was to topstich the top of the cuff. Here is a photo in which you can see that I topstiched the bottom of the cuff (nearest to the wrist) as per the instructions, but I just went ahead and topstiched the top of the cuff as well, so as to save ironing time:

I really love this pattern, I have gone ahead and made the short dress version, which I'll post about soon.

Parting Shot: Happy Easter!!! Beautiful tulips sent to me from Eileen for Easter. They made my day!

Happy Holy Week

I didn't plan on giving up blogging for Lent, but I guess I did. Before Ash Wednesday, I considered it, but decided it wasn't necessary. So I am amused that God has seen fit to make my life inconducive to blogging during these six weeks! I could point to a lot of ordinary life events that would excuse the lack of blogging, but they really wouldn't be the reason - something spiritual is afoot and I can't wait to see the fruits of God's labor.

As for sewing, not much has gone on there either, although there has been some. I'll get photos tomorrow of the latest Liverpool Tunic, and I am currently working on a dress from the same Liverpool pattern, made from the batik quilt back I got at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show. For some reason, getting the collar on that dress has been the challenge of my life, even though this is the third time I have sewn up this pattern. I need to move onto to something else and that something else is already picked out: my first Burda pattern.

Meanwhile, my goal of learning to knit has come along nicely. I'm knitting Debbie Bliss' Pleated Wrap in her Spring/Summer 2009 magazine. This is what I have so far:

You can see where my knitting was somewhat tight in the beginning, got considerably looser, but now has settled at the (hopefully) appropriate gauge. (You can also see where my knitting got a bit wrinkled in my knitting bag - it's been awhile since I worked on this as well.) Here is a close up:

I'm pretty pleased with the pleated part. It's an easy pattern Eileen turned me onto, and the yarn is Debbie Bliss as well; a cotton/bamboo blend. It feels fabulous!

This project will provide a lot more practice on knitting, purling, short rows, and endless counting - the wrap is to be nearly six feet long when finished! I've cycled through three sets of needles on this project already: bamboo, aluminum, and now circular. Knitting requires as much stash "stuff" as sewing!

Speaking of knitting, Loy turned Eileen and me onto to a great knitting blog, Mason-Dixon Knitting. Be sure to watch the gas commercial, and then be sure to watch the making of the gas commerical. Really cool!

Quilt Show!

Back from the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival! VickiW, Anne, and I pilgrimaged to Hampton, VA despite the cold windy weather to see the treasures. Exhausted, but happy. Got to meet Mary. Got to see Summerset's Garden Path which won the Judge's Choice award. Got to shop. Here is the haul:

That black batik underneath everything is actually 2 yards of a 108 inch quilt back. A large portion of it is solid black - this photo shows the border part, mostly. This is going to become a dress, or maybe two. Also pictured are 24 fat quarters of brown and pink fabrics (love that color combination), 6 antique feedsacks, 10 rotary cutter blades, and 1 surgerical seam ripper. I didn't discover until I got home that one of the feedsacks is still a sack; the seams haven't been let out of it yet. I guess I'll be able to use that seam ripper right away. : )

I admit I went a little overboard on the feedsacks. But I have plans for them. Last year Anne gave me a couple of feedsacks and I found they make the most excellent skirts. I've made two. If I cut out the skirt pattern on the cross grain instead of the lengthwise grain, I can get a whole skirt made from one feedsack (I still need to get a photo of the skirts I made but it has been so cold and my photographer is out of town). Now I also admit that 7 or 8 feedsack skirts might be a bit much, but I tell you that skirts made out of this fabric do not wear out. I can see why women used them to make children's clothes - they might outgrow them, but they would never wear out!

Finally, I got a yard of this indonesian fabric just because I liked it:

It was a great day. Anne asked, "Why can't every day be like today?" I couldn't have agreed more.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

When the gray sky dome descends upon us in November and doesn't often rise until March or April, I understand there are some people who get depressed, but not me. Nothing makes my blood race more than a cool fall day, with dry dead rustling leaves, wood smoke in the air, and imminent frost. That is because I know winter is coming, and I love winter. I love being wrapped in cashmere, and cooking hearty soups and stews, and baking sweetbreads and cookies. I love Christmas too, along with a cheerful fire on the hearth, hot tea, and feeling all warm and cozy inside.

No, for me, SAD kicks in during our wretched southern summers. I get weary of the same old weather forecast in July of the three H's: hot, hazy, and humid. When I wake in the dim light of a summer morning, and the temperature is already above 80 degrees, I want to pull the covers over my head and never emerge. Invariably, the forecast is for 93 degrees with 90% humidity with a 30% chance of rain, but it never does. I get tired of being hot wearing any clothes at all, much less anything with sleeves, and I feel sticky and itchy the entire day until I sink into a cool bath at night. On my way to work in the morning, the pavement is already radiating heat waves, and I am so tempted to just drive north until I find a New England seaside town where they do not build their houses with air conditioning. Once at work, the difference between the outside temp and the inside air conditioning can vary as much as 25 degrees, so I am alternately sweaty and freezing everywhere I go. Maybe this is why Scotland is my preferred vacation destination: I am thoroughly sick of our relentless summers.

Except this year.

This year after two feet of snow, most of which is still in my yard, I now understand why people from up north take cruises in February and March. If they didn't, they would just stay in bed or drive south until they found people who say things like, "I've never seen snow," and don't build their houses with heat. I now understand why Yankees retire to Florida. I now understand why Summerset created "Garden Path" while experiencing a frigid northern winter. Last month my electric bill was the highest ever, and I don't know how much more I can stand. My skin never feels warm, and I don't want to get up in the morning. It's either snowing or raining, and I don't remember when the temperatures last exceeded 40 degrees.

So bring on daylight savings time and the daffodils and Easter Sunday! Where spring was once dreaded, it is now longed for. I welcome the tulips and St. Patrick's Day and your new barbeque grills. I propose we all go on spring break, together. Bring your sewing machines.

Use Your Linen Closet As A Stash!

I've been wanting to make a basic white blouse for awhile, but as usual I just hadn't gotten around to it. In keeping with my normal proclivity to make summer stuff during winter, and winter stuff during summer, I felt I just had to make a sleeveless white shirt that I could wear during the hottest of days. I've only made one blouse in my sewing career, and that was this one, about two years ago. I really like this one; in cooler weather, I wear it with a red cardigan. I picked the fabric up at a LQS a couple of years ago, and I also made a skirt from the same fabric, so when I wear them together, it's like a two piece dress. Here's the pattern I used, McCalls 2094:

The fact that I have only used this pattern once is pretty unusual since I like to make patterns over and over again (if they work). I made this in a size 12, straight up, and I love the loose way it fits.

The problem with making the white shirt was that I wanted exactly the right fabric. The hand of the fabric is paramount, as the feel of it is as important, if not more so, than the look. I didn't wanted to order any fabric online because you really can't tell what white fabric is like, and of course, you can't feel it. I also couldn't find anything locally. I was starting to regret not buying some of the Italian cottons I saw at the Philadelphia Quilt Expo from the vendor that sold me the cashmere/mink fabric.

The fabric I really wanted to use was pinpoint cotton. It's my favorite and I love it so much that I sleep on it:

I found this sheet in the linen closet and you can see that it is for a double size bed. I haven't had a double size bed in my house since 2004, so I can only imagine that I saved the flat and fitted sheet simply because I loved the fabric. I must have figured I would eventually do something with it.

The fitted sheet wouldn't do; it was so worn out that it was shredded in places. But the flat sheet, which sees less wear, was perfect. It had been washed hundreds of times and was as soft as you could have wished. And it was free!

I'm not as thrilled with the look of the blouse as I am with the feel. It feels great. But the softness makes it look rumpled, and it wrinkles if you so much as look at it. Here's a close up of the side detail:

I have a feeling this will be a Saturday blouse - one of those cool shirts I put on in the summer on a Saturday morning that I will love when it is 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity. I won't care that it isn't crisp looking and wrinkle free. It will be comfortable!

Parting Shot: It snowed in Cotton Creek, AL today! Here is Daddy in all his craziness standing in the beginning of the snowfall about seven in the morning. Without shoes, of course:

Tunic or Dress?

Ye old yardstick this morning registered six inches of snow. And I found shoveling six inches of snow infinitely easier than shoveling a foot a week ago. So I was able to venture forth, after much tire spinning, to Joyce's where I found this on sale at 30% off. It's "Yen Rose" by Alexander Henry fabrics and the photos don't do the cheerful red color justice:

It begged to come home with me. I thought perhaps it would make a good dress from The Liverpool Tunic pattern. I orginally bought some forties inspired fabric to make the short dress with elbow length sleeves, but I'm drawn to this fabric even more. But I can't decide whether to use this fabric to make another tunic, or to make the short dress version. On the one hand, I can start wearing the tunic sooner, as the dress would have to wait until spring weather. On the other hand, I could wear the dress for more months of the year. But it would make an awfully cute tunic, though. I can't decide. Feel free to comment, and it will help me figure out what I really want to do. : )

I spent my snowy weekend finishing a shirt which I'll show you later this week when my photographer is available. And I started my first real knitting project. I'll photograph that when there is enough knitted to get excited about.

Parting shot: This is an all-to-familar scene on my back deck this winter.