The Tractor Dress

I have been making dresses for my daughter, the last one was just some tulle added to a Batman shirt. Upon seeing it, my middle boy asked if he could have a dress. I ignored him, thinking he was just feeling jealous about not having something new, but he asked me again a few days later.

So I took him to the fabric store and he picked out some pre-shirred John Deer fabric, in green, his favorite color. I  added some pink to make pockets and straps with. We found some Tractor buttons to complete the look.

I finished it up this morning before he was awake, and he is wearing it now.

I had to add pockets to a dress for my boy, he is VERY BOY, so I was surprised that he wanted a dress.

I decided to do button straps since we had the lovely tractor buttons.

For the back I went with strap placement that reminded me of overalls.

And of course the pockets. As my mother always says "gotta have pockets" I went with more pink as pink is his second favorite color and the print made lovely pockets, don't you agree.

Thank you John Deer for having fabric that appeals to BOTH genders. I know that when my son out grows or no longer wants to wear this dress, his younger sister will.

A gift for a book lover

Last week I was invited to an Acquaintance's Birthday Party, of course I decided to make something for her. I don't know her that well, but what I do know is that she sews and loves books. I took a quick look through my pinterest boards for crafty gift ideas and found some inspiration.

First idea was this project that I have been wanting to do for a while.

Mini Bookshelf Quilt Tutorial by Don't' Call Me Betsy

Second the idea of a needle-book

Last was the idea that the finished gifts should LOOK like books when finished.

I ended up making TWO gifts, and my husband also contributed his skills to the gift, so it is from both of us!

The first gift is a Bag.

The second is a sewing supply case/needlebook

I wanted the bag to fold up into itself and when zipped close resemble a book. That last part is why I had to sit down and write an equation, which I already bloged about.

 Once I had all my math done, it was time to work on the book shelf design. I went through all my stash and cut off the useful selvages.

I want to warn you, if you ever intend to do a project using selvages, do not go to the fabric store with selvage on your mind. I needed a zipper, but found myself looking at fabric, JUST to see if it had a cute selvage name! I was good and didn't buy any fabric for the sole purpose of selvage.

I hand appliqued the entire design, using scraps and stash, in fact the only thing I bought for the bag, was the brown book cover and the zipper.

Appliqueing the books took the most time of the whole project, but I enjoy hand sewing and I wanted a nice finish, also those selvages are narrow...

 Some of the "Titles" are not what I would expect on the recipient's bookcase, but I didn't have many options.
The V&A one is my favorite, I decided that it HAD to be a big thick book.

Only one of the titles went back on it's fabric, and one other has an author from a different selvage

I must admit I went and looked at my bookshelves to double check the direction the titles should go. I am please to have a few that were narrow enough to go horizontally!

Once the applique was done I moved on to the "book case"
This was what the math was all about, two layers of coton with a layer of batting inbetween, since it was going to be stitched to the bag, I cut one side to turn it right side out.
Then I applied the zipper 1/4" in from the edges.
Here is what it looked like before I attached it to the bag.

 Then I made up the bag, and it would have been finished as is, except that I wanted it to go into the case.

 This what the book side looks like, before I added the title

 It folds up into the case quite nicely!

And then zips closed

Yes I admit my title is a bit lame, what can I say, I was tired at that point!

So that was the first gift, the second was also in a zippered book, slightly smaller, inside are sewing tools.

My husband turned this seam ripper, it is so nice to hold, we hope she likes it.

 I love that the there is no cap to lose, you just pull it out and flip it around, and rip away!

I purchased scissors, needles, and safety pin, as well as the supplies to make the seam ripper for this part of the project.

 The print you see there is dictionary terms for sewing words and is actually a small zipper pouch, could be used to hold thread, buttons, etc...

 There are 2 pages of wool felt for needle and pin storage.

 Last "page" is stitched into the book, covering the slit where it was turned, again wool felt, this time I embroidered "Needles" on ti it.

So that was my weekend craft project, unfortunately I was working on it until the party was to start, and transit time would have made it prohibitive to go for such a short visit, not to mention my children needing a regular dinner and bedtime.

Algebra for sewing?

This weekend I made a gift, and will show it off once it has been received.

THIS post is about Math.

In elementary school I did not like math, I was more interested in Art. (though I do remember getting a bad grade on an art project because I didn't follow the directions, it was too abstract for me, I wanted a more realistic finished project.)

Some of my friends will read that and wonder how this girl who is rather good at basic math and CAD could have disliked math at a young age?

Well this weekend I had to use Algebra, I don't remember much of high-school algebra and never took geometry. I have very basic math skills and can only remember Pi to 2 decimal places.

My problem was thus: I wanted to make a rectangle, where the shorter sides were 80% of the longer sides.

Then I had a known perimeter for three of those sides (2 short, 1 long.)

This is how I solved that problem

First I wrote it:
2(0.8X) + X = 14
But I found that to be too difficult for me with limited understanding of Algebra to solve

So I decided to switch the percentages instead of X being 80% of Y, Y was now 125% of X
(To prove my math is correct, simply divide 1 by 0.8 and you get 1.25.) So my new equation is:
2(1.25X) + X = 14

Multiply
2.5X + X = 14

Add
3.5X = 14

Divide both sides by 3.5

X = 4

Now put Sub 4 for X in the original equation to check work

2(1.25 * 4) + 4 = 14

Multiply inside parenthisies
2(5) + 4 = 14

Multiply
10 + 4 = 14

Add
14 = 14

And that was the start of my project, making the pattern with Algebra!

Yet more proof that you will use math in your life, despite what you may have told your school teachers.

Trim Swap at The Sewing Loft

Earlier in April The Sewing Loft announced a Trim Swap.
I decided to join in since I have a large stash of lace that I have no clue what to do with.
My partners said they liked surprises, so I just dug through the boxes until I found a few pieces that looked good together
Original pictures of the trims selected

It looked boring, so I decided to do something more interesting before I shipped them off.
I started with this Antique Corset Advertisement image found on Besottment
I altered the image to turn it into a jointed doll. Her left arm works better than the right arm, but you can now put the right arm over a skirt!

 I printed this out and colored it with pencils, one in Blue and one in Pink. To joint the arms I used shanked buttons with the little plastic clips that hold shank buttons to cards. Hey, buttons are trim, but Brads may not be considered trim by some. (Also the only color of brads I had on hand, clashed with the lace!)
After assembling the figure, I drew around the waist and hip section onto some cardboard and drew a rough skirt shape and length, sorry no pattern image for this.

Then I took a single hole punch and punched holes along the sides of the skirt for the gathered lace to grab into as I wrapped it around the skirt shape. I tested out how to wrap the lace so that it looked nice, made a few notes and then glued the waist of the skirt to the print out. Let it glue while I worked on the other doll.

After the glue is dry, wrap the lace around the skirt so it is horizontal in front and at an angle in the back, make sure to catch the tail when you start wrapping at the bottom. Secure at the top with a pin, paper clip, or what ever these things are called that come on some men's new dress shirts. (yup I save a lot of stupid stuff, you never know when it comes in handy!)

The finished product is a very lovely way to display some of the lace I sent out, each piece was at least a yard long, hopefully my swap partners liked theirs, and I won't be offended if they couldn't bear to take the lace off the doll. I probably couldn't!

I have timed this post so that my swap partners are likely to have already received their package, as they wanted a surprise, but had likely already seen the first photos.

Getting aHEAD

After making the Pink Zebra and changing the pattern, I cut into my intended fabric, knowing I had enough to make a second pony if the pattern was still not to my liking, this time I used the proper grain as I was working with a solid, not a print.

I also choose to make this pony standing I actually have about 4 poses made into patterns.

If I thought the last pony had a funny head, this one has a stupid head!

The body, how ever, is good, though I think the legs need to be longer to match Applejack better, as is they work more for her little sister Apple Bloom

So I am taking the stuffing out, unstitching the head and making a new one, raising the ears and giving more chin. At least my child is happy with it as is, but I just couldn't stand looking at this face for long.

Testing YOUR OWN Patterns and offering Free patterns.

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on making a plush Pony for my child as a Birthday gift.
Since the pattern was not as I hoped I have had to revise it. and this lead me to thinking about how You as Pattern Maker should test your own patterns before sending them out to pattern testers.

Why should YOU test your OWN pattern?
1. To test a different order of operations,  maybe it works better done in a different order
I put the Pink Zebra together in a order that was complicated, so I need to try a different order to streamline the process, especially if I ever release it as a pattern (which I don't know if I will.)

2. To double check your pattern pieces. If you made the pattern pieces by hand and then scanned them into the computer and cleaned them up, you need to know if they print out appropriately. If you put them in a different format, like a PDF, you need to print from that format just like your customers would.

3. To check your instructions. Assuming that you have written the instructions at this point, if not, you should make it up following your instructions precisely once they are written. If you have ever written a report, you know that the common advice is to print it out and read it from the paper, or better yet, have someone else read it. Sometimes it is easier to miss your mistakes on the computer.

4. To check all variations and sizes. I have heard of clothing patterns that didn't work out in the plus sizes due to grading errors, not only is this annoying, it can be damaging to your companies reputation.

What if the first iteration of the pattern doesn't work?
You obviously need to change it, make notes on the pattern pieces of what needs to change and where the changes need to be.

Should you toss the nonworking pattern or save it?
This is a personal opinion, but I say save it, at least until you have the FINAL finished pattern. DO make sure to label your patterns with a version name or number so that they do not get confused and printed by accident (it happens, even to the bigger companies.) For a paper pattern, use a colored ink, for computer files, change the name just a bit. Version 1, V1, and 1.0 are all good names.
When you have the final pattern you may choose to toss or delete, but my persona preference is to put the previous iterations in a smaller envelope inside the main envelope, that way I have them for future in case I need to go back to them.

Yes my handwriting is that bad, which is why I love using the computer!

Is all this necessary if you are only giving the pattern away for free on your website or blog?
Depends on your end goal, and general view. While there is the common thought that "you get what you pay for" with free patterns, IF you are also SELLING patterns, your freebie is what will draw in or send away potential customers. If your free pattern doesn't work well, why would anyone choose to pay for a pattern? They are expecting that all your patterns are done in the same format, and if they had a bad experience with your free pattern, they are not likely to want to "waste" their money on buying a pattern.
IF you are just a blogger sharing, how well finished your pattern is, depends on the level you want to put into it, and what you expect of your target audience's skill level.

One more word on Free Patterns, IF you didn't test it even though you are 100% sure it will work, put a disclaimer on it. If you didn't test all the variations and sizes, put a disclaimer on it. "This pattern has not been tested at this point" is fairly clear, on the other hand "This pattern has been tested by me (and others if applicable) and works" is a lovely way to give your viewers confidence about your free pattern.

Pink Zebra Mishaps

As a crafty parent, when your child asks you to make them some thing for their birthday and you don't already have anything to give them, well you try your best to make that thing for them.

My child has asked for a stuffed Applejack

Source: mlp.wikia.com via Corsetra on Pinterest

I had already used another pattern to make a pony for one of my other children, and was not 100% happy with how that one had turned out, so I had made my own pattern.

I made the pattern, and then moved on to another project without ever testing it!

Time to pull it out and test it!
I had planed to make Applejack out out of polar fleece, so I pulled out some Pink Zebra fleece from my stash to make a test pony.

I then spent a long time embroidering the eyes, they ended up working well, but not equal and placement was not equal either. While embroidering the eyes before making the head is easier since the pieces are flat, it doesn't always make a for a good expression. Embroidering also took a long time, so I think I will experiment with applique AFTER assembly next time around.

I also tried to embroider the flank.
The design comes from a painting my husband did which is based on the Golden Rectangle.

I drew my design on plain white cotton, pined it to the wrong side and running stitched around the design so that I could see where I needed to fill in on the front side.

I added the second color as work progressed

When I got almost finished I realized that NOT working in a hoop and left the flank all wrinkled, so I put it away and cut a new piece.

Then I sewed up the pattern and stuffed it, Here is what I ended up with.

I have two major issues, the head is well flat faced, like the poor dear ran into a wall, also the front legs are too splayed out, the under belly being to wide. I was concerned that might be the case.

But other aspects of the pattern worked perfectly, and yes I forgot to cut hoof pads, so the stuffing is peaking out there, but this is not a finished animal, and I may indeed take the stuffing out and toss it.

I have about a week left before birthday, so I best get to fixing these issues and make another test of the pony pattern if I hope to have something for my child on his birthday!

A question on geometric pattern pieces

We will file this under Market Research.
Audience Participation is highly encouraged!

I have been thinking about what to do about large rectangular and square pattern pieces in my patterns.

The Big 3 ALWAYS include all pattern pieces, which annoys me when you are dealing with large rectangles for say an 1860's skirt. (I would just measure the pattern pieces, or better yet ME and then cut the appropriate widths)

When it come to printing out a downloaded pattern, large rectangular pieces can be wasteful of paper, ink and tape.

So I am currently leaning towards NOT including rectangular or square pattern pieces in my patterns. (circles and non right angle triangles can be difficult to make, so I will include those)

Instead I will mention the sizes needed to be cut in the layout, instructions and on the pattern pages.

Do you think this would be too confusing for a beginner?

I am not talking about anything quite as complicated as the below image, which requires working in Nails (2 1/4") and more math, but of cutting a rectangle A long and B wide (including seam allowance)



Workwoman's Guide by A Lady 1840  Plate 6 concerning the making of Women's Shifts.on Google Books

Time and Usefullness

I have been working on a few projects this past couple of weeks, like many creative individuals I always have more than one iron in the fire.

One of my projects I have been keeping accurate notes on the times I have spent on it, yes I am recording the minutes I have worked on it. I have never done this before and I have found it interesting how long some tasks take and how quickly others are done.
At this time I can't tell you any more about this project.

Another project I am working on is the Pink Zebra. This is my easy pick up and put down project, great for snatching little bits of sewing here and there, waiting for the bus (but not on it, that makes me sick) waiting for the concert to start, whenever.

I carry it around in this jewelry  case.

which has a multitude of pockets, some of them removable.

At this point I have one eye finished, and the other is well on it's way, then there are two more flowers to embroider and I can assemble it all together.

Slowly I am getting better at embroidering eyes!