Latest Project...I mean obsession...

I love to sew, as those who know me well already know.  I mentioned the idea of making a quiet book a few weeks ago to my mom, and we both went crazy with ideas.  We talked about it a lot on the phone, and swapped email ideas, and googled blogs and did lots of research.  We really liked the idea of basing the pages around primary songs.  I've finally finished planning my perfect quiet book.  I'm really excited. And when I get more done I'll post about it on my sewing blog.  But in the meantime I have to share something that I think is amazing.  AMAZING! 

While my mom and I were chatting about all this, I thought it would be really cool to print the layouts on fabric, like they do at Spoonflower or FabricOnDemand.  It's just kind of pricey, and I don't have the software to really "design" it properly.  But I think the idea of being able to design and custom print your own fabric is really cool.  And then I stumbled across this idea and I was enamored.  You can print on fabric with your home printer! I'm not going to bother rehashing the steps, because the website does a great job.  I obviously wasn't interested in making beanbags (thought it's a cool idea), but in making quietbook pages.  And here is the result so far.  I didn't have white cotton, just some light khaki colored stuff, and I'm cheap so I used it instead, but I still love the result. 

(Please ignore the fact that it is a mirror image photo. Ben took the camera out so I had to take it with our webcam)

For the Popcorn Popping page I'll print little popcorn blossoms and attach velcro and a basket pocket they can be gathered into.  The page opposite is my "I Think the World is Glorious*" , or touch and feel nature page.  It's a picture from my mission in Alaska, and I'm in a field of fireweed (which grows EVERYWHERE up there).  I'm going to sew on cottony clouds and some 3-D silk flowers, maybe a furry animal.  Anyway, you get the idea.

I'm really stoked.  I can't get over that I can print my own pages.  To do the designing, I've just been using microsoft word and paint programs.  I've searched for public domain clipart and then used paint to make it just how I want it and then copied into word so I get it the right size (because I apparently can't do that in paint).  Plus I can add wordart in Word.

I think possibilities for printing your own fabric are incredible.  Granted, you can only print as big as your printer will take, but still!  OH, I'm so excited!

*Funny story about this song.  When I was a little girl I would tell my mom that this was the song I was going to sing on Resurrection morning, only I didn't really (and still don't) have the words for the verse down so I would improvise with "I sing and sing and sing and sing...and sing and sing and sing..." It never ended apparently.

Too cute not to share

I've been working on gifts for my nieces and nephews and I'm really excited about them.  This morning I finished the boys capes.  But for my nephew Preston, who is only a few months old, a cape just wouldn't work.  So I made him a super-bib.  I was quite proud of how it turned out, so I have to share it.

How to do Lattice Smocking: (this is for you Melinda!)

I was first introduced to lattice smocking when I was working as an assistant costume designer for BYU's production of Hamlet.  I was enlisted to smock nearly two yards of red velvet for a costume that was worn all of 10 minutes on stage (see Gertrude, the standing woman.  I did the red stuff, which is about how it looked onstage unless you were in the first 6 rows).

 

Needless to say, it took me a total of 24 hours to do.  I did it at home (my roommate Tiff can attest to that), during my TESOL/BEEDE classes (anyone whose ever taken those will understand why that was possible and possibly more educational that the actual classes), and whenever I had some spare time. 

But boy have I put that skill to use!  I used it on my baby's blessing dress, and on another dress I recently made her (I call it her Spain dress, because it's red and yellow, and I love Spain).  So I've had a lot of people ask me how to do it, and I swear it's really easy.  So here is a picture tutorial, if your interested.

LATTICE SMOCKING

1.  First, you'll need to decide how big you want your lattice work, and make a grid.  The red velvet above is done on a 1 inch grid, and the baby dresses I did on 1/2 inch.  I wouldn't do anything smaller than 1/2 inch, which is what I'm using in this tutorial.  I just made a grid on Word and printed it out, then poked holes in it, pinned it to my material and mark the holes.  For this tutorial I used a marker, but you'll want something that will wash off or dissappear.

2.  Here it is marked out (I just did a little bit for demonstration).

3.  Below, I marked with a line the points you will be pulling together.  I don't normally do this.

4.  You'll start on the bottom of your second row of dots.  Make a tiny stitch to secure your thread.  Then make a tiny stitch on the diagonally to the left.  You'll pull the thread all the way through until the two points are connected.

5.  When the points are pulled together, it will look like this.  I like to make a little knot onto the fabric so the fold stays secure.

6.  You'll notice that tucked into the fold you just created is the point that was the next one up from the first you started on.  You'll make your next tiny stitch here, but don't pull the points together.  Instead, give just enough length in the thread so that lays just how it is, and secure it by making another knot.

7. You'll now be connecting this point with the one diagonally to the left.  So make a tiny stitch, pull together, and make a knot to secure it.

8. You'll ten find the point that it tucked inside the fold and do as you did before (secure the thread to this new point) and keep alternating left and right.  A row will look like this.  Tie off the thread when the row is finished because you'll start the next row from the bottom.

The front will look like this.

9.  Now it is time to start the next row.  In reference to the first dot we worked with, you'll move to the right two rows.  Secure the thread here and pull it together with the point diagonally to the left (just like you did on the first row). 

10.  You'll continue in the same pattern as before.  You'll notice the thread lines line up making zig-zags across the fabric.  You'll know that your off if your zig zags aren't lining up (or the front doesn't look like it's making a lattice).

With the second row started you can see the lattice forming on the front.

Here is the Spain dress I made using this fabric.  I  modified baby dress pattern I have; instead of cutting the yoke separate from the skirt, I cut out the top of the yoke and then extended it down to make the skirt so it used the fullness that the smocking created.

When you have to cut out your smocking for sewing into clothing, I recommend tracing the pattern onto the smocked fabric, doing a basting stitch just inside this traced line and then cutting out along the line, otherwise you might loose some of the smocking work when you cut the threads that created it. 

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, because you get to dress up.  Last year I was going to make Ben a ninja costume (he was really excited), and I was going to wear a kimono my Brown grandparents brought back from their mission to Japan.  But it never happened because I was stage managing a show at BYU, and we had our first night on stage on Halloween.  Sad.  We'll have to resurrect that costume idea next year or something.

But this year we had a family theme.  My best friend Tiffanie Player gave us a Tinkerbell costume for Ellie at my baby shower.  I dyed her cap from the hosptical green and tied it with some yellow ribbon, and voila!  a weatherized Tink! 

So I made Ben a Peter Pan costume and I dressed up as...Peter's shadow (all black, very easy).  I didn't want to be Wendy and wander around in a flannel nightgown (especially since I don't own one). 

Some of you may know, but I've got a thing for Peter Pan.  I directed the a shortened version of the original script for my senior direcing project at BYU and it was pretty great.  I had to do tons of research on the play, J.M. Barrie, and the likes.  And Tiffanie was my roommate at the time, so she knows it all. 

We went to our ward Trunk or Treat and gave out candy and let everyone see what a cute baby we have, and admired all of the other kids in their costumes.  I really love Halloween because you get candy and you get costumes.  What more could I want?

Update: The Blessing Dress

Since I've had very few real responsibilities the last few weeks, I spent a lot of time working on the blessing dress. I could have (and probably should have) done the dishes more frequently, but if it is any consolation I did them directly after finishing the embroidery on the dress this morning. In the process of doing the embroidery I have watched at least two movies (Princess Bride, and Deep Impact), and 4 documentaries (China's Lost Girls, March of the Penguins, The Story of 1, and Guns, Germs, and Steel). I feel smarter now. Kind of. So here it is. The practically finished masterpiece (I won't put the snaps on the back until she is here, because I want to make sure it will go over her head. The thing is, I was really supposed to put in a zipper, but I loathe putting in zippers and I don't think it will be necessary). The dress in it's entirety. I didn't want a plain white one. What would be the point of spending so much time embroidering if no one could see it!? Plus, I just like colors--lots of them.

A closer view of some of the embroidery. I did pink, yellow, coral, and blue roses. Again, colors!

This is a detail of the lattice work smocking I did for the yoke. Really folks, it's ridiculously easy. A little time consuming, but nothing terribly difficult. If you can hold and pull a needle and match together dots, you can do it.

Here is a very close up view of the embroidery. I did satin stitch for the roses, except the centers, which are stem-stitches and colonial knots. And the leaves are fly stitches. I have know idea why I'm explaining all this, except perhaps to make myself feel accomplished. Well, I do. I cannot lie. I'm pretty proud. But mostly I'm excited to see exactly who it is that will wear it! 4 MORE WEEKS!

The Unemployed

Well, Ben got a part-time summer job that is keeping him pretty busy, but I spend a lot of time nesting now that I'm not teaching anymore. I don't think our apartment has ever been cleaner in the strangest places. I've scrubbed and vacuumed out all of the radiators, for example.
But my latest project is by far my most favorite. I've been working on a blessing dress. I learned how to do some really cool lattice-work smocking when I was doing costumes for Hamlet at BYU, and I've been dying for the chance to put it to use ever since. It's just a simple pattern I purchased, and then I hand smocked the yoke part. It's a cotton dress since Eleanor will be blessed in August (which is stinking hot!). I've also been learning how to embroider because I want to embroider some colored flowers or something along the bottom. Anyway, I just wanted to show off a bit. And justify all my lazing about for the past two weeks.