Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A new Log Pincushion and Cross-Hatch finished!

Hello Everyone!
Sorry I did not post,
but I have been very busy.  I meant
to post the photo's. Am
trying to get my home de-cluttered
as well as sewing.  I have some other
photos to show you of the progression
of my new sewing room. It is coming along.
 
It took me 3 days to sew the second half
of the cross - hatching. So all together it
has taken me 6 days to hand quilt the top
with the exception of the border. But I do
need to tell you that sometimes I quilt for
hours before I take a break. It will take you
longer to quilt, if you stop and start a lot.
When I hand quilt, I always listen
to music or watch a movie that I
have previously watched before. This
way I do not become engrossed in
a new movie where it steals my attention
away from my stitching.
 
My main goal was to see how long it
would take me to hand quilt a
quilt without a frame, if I needed
a quilt really fast! I am hoping to
spend only a total of 2 weeks on this
quilt. So I am pleased with my progress
at this point.
This quilt is a twin so I am sure it would
have taken me longer if the quilt was
much bigger.
 
However the more I plied the needle, the
straighter my lines got. You can see this
in some of the pixs.
 
After I finished hand quilting - I had to make
me a better needle holder. The tomato pincushion
did not work anymore. I tried a square pincushion,
but that did not work either. I needed a pincushion
that was long so I made a LOG PINCUSHION.
This log when not in use will be stored with
my quilting supplies. Now, I can
thread 20 or more needles and stick them in the
Log ready to be used. When you keep your needles
threaded - you can fly with that stitching!
At least I felt like I was! Perhaps my sewing machine
witch cover had something to do with it. She keeps
looking at me!! Hehehe
 
Anyway, the log is made from a quilted pillow sham.
I swear - I will cut up most anything. Nothing is
sacred around me!
The log pincushion is 3inches X 11 inches long. It
is stuffed very hard. I definitely did not want my
fingers to get pricked on the bottom side if I choose
to pick this log up. The log is almost 2 inches thick.
I am enjoying this blue log!

 
I believe that the more you stitch the straighter your
lines are. However do not take a break too long from your
stitching or you would have to start over again.
If you find yourself having to start over again after a
couple of days, then your stitches might not be as straight
as they were before.
 
I forgot to take photo's of the back, but it is
straight and even which pleases me.
It is getting time take the safety pins out so I can
stitch the borders. I guess I will cross hatch them
also. Hopefully that goes quickly.
 
At my home - we eat black eyed peas and ham hocks
all day on the 1st. Tradition is the more of them you
eat the more money you make! Of course we are
still looking for that money! Haven't seen it yet!
Perhaps we did not eat enough. Heheheh
 
Happy New Year!!
 
Thanks for visiting me!
Hopblogger
 


Thursday, December 26, 2013

Half of the Cross-Hatch quilting finished!

Hello Ya'll
 
Hope your Christmas was a
Merry one!
 
Well, it took me 3 days to finish half of the
cross-hatch quilting design. I did not quilt
any on Christmas Day. As you can tell from
the photo's, I did not mark any of the quilt.
Some of my lines are a little wavy but it
is not a big deal. Vintage quilts show some
wavy lines also from their makers. The
quilting is half of the vintage quilts charm
appeal.
I think that I can safely say that some
quilts can take a while to hand quilt while
others do not.
 
I forgot to mention on the last post the
size of this quilt. The sheet says twin size.
72 inches X 104 inches. The vintage sheet
is Cannon's Monticello sheet. It is beautiful!
 
As I worked I stuck a safety pin on every
age spot that I saw. There are 5 squares
that have age spots on them.
 
I need to also mention that all of my blocks
are cotton. The large greenish squares are
half cotton and half poly.
The Vintage sheet is half cotton and half
poly.
After 20 years of storage there are
not any age spots on any of the fabric that is
half poly. I have found a new respect for
fabric being half poly.
I am hoping that once I wash this quilt that
the age spots will come out of the cotton.
 
I have not yet quilted the green borders or the
muslin borders.
 
I am estimating that it will probably take me
at least another 3 days to finish the second half of
this cross hatch design and perhaps another 2
or 3 days to finish the borders
before I can bind it.
 
 
One of the blocks with a safety pin showing an
age spot on the cotton. Where the safety pin is, can
you tell the blue square that has a joined seam. Many
of the blocks in this quilt has squares that have
seams. Not in this quilt but most of the time, when
I cut out a square from a shirt, I include darts or back
seams. It adds to the charm.
 
A beautiful vintage sheet - white and bright with no
 stains or age spots.
 
Well, I gotta go so I can quilt some more. Gotta
get busy!
 
Thank you for visiting me!
Take care and may
God keep you safe and out of harm's way!
 
Hopblogger
 

Monday, December 23, 2013

Started Back Quilting!

Hello Everyone! Christmas is soon
upon us - I hope you are ready!
 
While straightening up my garage a couple
of months ago - I came across 3 quilts tops
all ready to hand stitch. So I will be stitching them up!
I did not take the other 2 quilt tops out of
the bin so I do not know what condition
they are in. The first quilt I looked at
was this 9-Patch.
Believe me when I tell
you they had been in my garage for at least 13
years!  And stored an additional 7 years
before that!!! These quilts (not included
the quilts in my attic, were all
cut and sewed together back in
the early 90's when we were living in
Oklahoma.  I hope to get around to
hand stitching them as they have waited
long enough.
However, time sure does fly by fast! I sure did not realize
that it had been that long.
 
Anyway this 20 year old quilt top that you are about to
see is finally getting hand stitched. You will
see safety pins all in my quilt tops. I have never
basted a quilt to its backing. Not only have I been
lazy at that but I never wanted to waste thread.
 
With my quilts I never waste anything. When I get tired
of seeing the same ole piece of scrap around, then I
donate them to someone else. But I have not quilted in
a long time so I have not had anything to
donate. Last year I got tired of having so much
clutter so I donated to the Library 180 quilt books.
It took me many years to collect them. I only kept about
a shelf full for myself.
 
In my quilts I use anything that I can get my
hands on. The dust ruffles that you use on the beds
is one of my favorites to buy. I particularly look for
them at thrift stores. If the inside part that goes under the
mattresses is a little holy - it is okay with me!! Cause I use that
part for the foundations on all of my string quilts. On most of
these string quilts, I do not even put batting in between.
I just tie them.
Also I have always used sheets for my quilt backings.
 
Back then I was able to find sheets for 50 cents each.
It did not matter to me if it was fitted or flat. But I
did like to get as many flat sheets as possible. I always
used the fitted sheets for sashing's between blocks.
So in my attic I know there are at least a couple of big
bins full of white cotton sheets to be used as backings. 
I am what I call a 'thrifty quilter'. I have been
shopping at thrift stores since I was first married.
And I love it. I wash all the clothes very good
and the best part of this is - I do not have to
worry about anything shrinking!! Cause it has
already been shrunk by other good people.
 
I am a Traditional quilter, I think. I love the old patterns
and I never stray from white or cream colored quilting
thread. My tomato pincushion holds at least 8
threaded needles at one given time, ready for use. Time
to get the pincushion ready.
 
Anyway, as you can see my quilt top is full of safety pins. I
used to have quilting frames in the early years but the last time
that I owned a quilting frame was 1980. I got
tired of them breaking every time we moved.  So then I
decided that I should just stitch them the way women
back then stitched them. And I have hand quilted this
way ever since then. 
 
But what is new with me on this quilt that I will be
hand stitching is, this will be the first time that I have
not marked the quilt top. It has been 20 years since
I have quilted so I will be rusty!!
So I am not going to mark the top - just hand stitch!
I will be doing the cross-hatch.
 
When I checked this quilt top - I was amazed to see
that it was in surprisingly great shape!! The sheet
backing has not yellowed. The cream squares
look great! My pins did not rust or
leave any marks in my fabrics, however, there is an age
mark on one of the green squares. I will put a
safety pin here to help mark the spot to treat in
the washer once I finish quilting.  I am surprised
that there is not anything else wrong with it!!
 
I have been thinking a lot lately about women of long
ago that quilted. I am not an expert but I do
not believe that every woman owned a quilting frame.
Nor do I believe that every woman participated
in a quilting bee. I think that some women
sat in a rocker or at the kitchen table and quilted.
One of my grandmothers had 5 daughters. Her
daughters cleaned, washed clothes along with
other chores. My grandmother
cooked 3 meals a day. She also sewed clothes and
made quilts. She never had a quilting frame and with
10 children she never had time for a quilting bee.
 
I have spread this quilt out on a table. There are piles of sheets
and clothes at the back to help hold it up. I will be quilting
this way because I get hot very easy now and this way
it helps to keep the quilt off of me. For many
years I quilted while watching television on the
couch or a chair. This was when I was cold natured,
which that is not the case now.
 
I want to see how long it takes for me to hand stitch
this quilt top if I work on it every day without it being
marked. I want to see about how many weeks it
will take to stitch the entire top with the
exception of the binding.
 
 I am sure that my stitches will not all be
straight or even but this does not bother me. This will
be the first quilt that I have hand quilted that
will have cross hatch quilting on it. If cross hatch
quilting turns out to be fast then I will be stitching
many quilts with this pattern.
 
I will start my quilting tonight and take pictures
of my progress. Here is the 9-patch quilt that I
will be hand quilting.
 
A close up of one of the blocks.
 
The rose backing is already pinned to the top along the muslin
border. It was always easier for me to quilt like this.
I can tell that the batting is thin. It is still a crisp white!
How did I manage this?? It has been safety pinned
like this for 20 years.
 
I always loved this sheet that is why I pared these
two together.
 
 I know that I have another quilt top that has this
same sheet as a backing already pinned together
also. I do remember these sheets costing me 50 cents
each. Today if you can find this sheet, it will
probably cost you. But I think that I might look on the
net. Look how white it still is. The sheet has held
up better than the fabric when you think about it.
 
Thanks for visiting me!! Come again!
 
Hopblogger


Sunday, December 15, 2013

What to do with Batterberg lace table runners!

Are you ready for Christmas!
I am still working on it. Also still
working on moving furniture.
Yes - we are slow, but the furniture
is heavy!
 
Anyway I feel like it is Christmas
already!!
 
I have been opening up boxes and going
through them. Time to purge some things.
When you sew and do a number of
different crafts, it gets hard to get
rid of anything cause you might need
it for something. Things such as
little hats or glasses that belongs
to dolls. Or crochet thread even
though I do not crochet - I do use
this thread to tie my quilts with.
The crochet thread also comes
in handy for making large
basting stitches on just
about anything. Well I have talked myself
into keeping the crochet thread.
Woe is me!
 
I did stop some to make these
sidelight curtains. I figured that
it is about time to make a pair.
 
I used 2 Battenberg lace table runners that
were just setting around in a box.
Truthfully I have had them for eons.
I also used a small amount of
white linen.
I hemmed the sides and the bottom
of both pieces of linen. I hemmed only
enough at the top to slip some wire
through.  Then I merely sewed the
Battenberg lace onto the linen.
The wire rests on 2 small
nails located at the top of the windows.
 
This was super fast and easy! And when
I no longer want to use these table
runners as curtains, then I can just
take the stitching out.

I guess they make some small curtain
rods for these sidelight windows, but
they would be bulky. I like the look
where you know something is holding
the curtains up - but you ask, how did
you do that!
 
Now, I really do like my window sidelights!

 
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
 
Thank you for visiting me.
Hopblogger
 


Sunday, December 8, 2013

TINY DiNiNG SPACE

Hello Everyone! I sure do hope
that you all had a wonderful
Thanksgiving!!
 
Thanksgiving  threw me behind on trying
to get our home back in order.
My house was
in shambles. It still is! The view is from my
front hall.
Here is my dining room table and chairs in my
breakfast area. I am surprised that it looks this
good. It is really big, perhaps too big for the
space. But I do love the look of using a
tablecloth in here. If the cramping
here gets to where I cannot stand it any longer,
then I will just have to swap with
my daughter Jan for a smaller table. The
only good thing about using a smaller table
in this space is there is not a cramped feeling.
The upsize of using a larger table is you
can seat more guest. Now 6 people can
dine with me. You know, I got tired of having
a room just sitting there empty all year only to be
used twice a year. Time to get
rid of the purple vase of flowers that
stayed on this table when it was in
the green room.
When my rooms get finished moving
around then I hope to take the
table cloth off and display the glass
table top like I have always done
with this set.
 
When I grew up we never
had any formal rooms. All of the rooms were
used and they had their functions. My
Mother had a large table in the dining space
right there in the kitchen. Of course
we had a lazy Susan on that table.
Back then, we did not  have any of the amenities
that we have today. There were not any
computers or un-necessary toys to add clutter.
Nothing was laying around. Her bedrooms
held the bed, night stand and only one dresser
that was shared by 2 children in each room.
My parents raised 7 children in her small
home. My Mother cleaned so much that
she cleaned the color right off of the tile.
Hehehe
My Mother did not sew or craft, so her home
was easy to clean and to keep clean. She was
an island girl and we lived by the beach.
Ahhhh memories!
 
Anyway someday I hope to be able to reduce the
clutter in my home. However majority of it is
in my sewing/craft room. In a few weeks I will
show you that room.
 
Okay back to the breakfast room.
Next year I hope
to re-paint the walls along with my cabinets
to a creamy white.  We need to lay down new
flooring, to a neutral color. Only cosmetics
need to be done in here. Nothing major.

By moving furniture around or getting rid of outdated
things - it kind of feels like you are getting something new!
I hope you like my tiny space!
 
Come back and visit me again
Hopblogger


Sunday, November 24, 2013

Dining Room gone!

My DINING ROOM is a thing of the
past! We got a new fan
to go into the former living room. The fan
that you see in this posting came from that
room. Beck took the chandelier down
in the dining room (or green room as I
call it), and put the fan up.
He had to install a
new switch because the former
switch was only geared to the
chandelier.
 
It does not take long before your
house becomes dated. Stuck in a time
warp or a worm hole.
 
I did not want lights on this fan in this room. Maybe later but
I do not want the lights to glare on the television. So
we will see how it goes.
 
Thank you for visiting me!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
 
Hopblogger


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

SHADES OF WHITE LINEN

Hello Everyone!
 
I hope that you all had a very nice
Halloween!
I am sure that all of the little
witches, ghosts and goblins got
their fill of candy.
Yum, yum.
 
You know - you have to be able to
live in your home. My home is little
and we like it. We do not want or need
to move. A home has to grow and
change with you because after all that
is what you do. Every year you change.
Your clothes change. Your habits change.
Your food changes - so why not your
home! Make it work for you.
 
Everyone has seen my dining room.
And you know that my rooms change LOTS
AND LOTS!!
 
Well it is getting ready to
change again and this time it will be all my rooms
except for the master bedroom and bathrooms.
I cannot move my kitchen, if I could I would.
I need space and this time many of my rooms
are going to get an over-haul!!
I hope that you are here to witness the transformation.
They will be simple but I hope to clear out
the clutter or at least manage it.
Can you manage clutter?
Is there such a thing?
I do not know but I guess I am going to
find out or I am going to get rid of some
more things.
 
Just before I got sick with that virus that is going around
I told my hubby what I was planning on doing. He liked
the idea and he began taking measurements.
So therefore our plan has already begun and been in
effect now for about 2 months.
 
My nice dining room is getting ready to become
my new living room! My hubby has already installed
a jack for the TV.  So that part is done.
The green will stay on the walls. My curtains will
stay also.
Whereas this room has always had
plenty of light coming in, just the opposite will
happen now. I made white linen shades to go behind
my cotton lace curtains.
 
To get a good photo - I have had
to turn the lights on!
It did not take me long to
make the shades because they will never be opened. This
room is in the front of the house and I needed
privacy so we could sit in here at night. I really
do not like blinds. They get dusty quickly.
With my allergy's, I am not even suppose to
have curtains or cloth furniture, but I cannot
live in a bubble either. So I deal with all
of it.
 
I wish that I had photos to show you of when
I was making the shades, but somehow
I forgot to take the pixs. However
the shades were super easy to make so
I will tell you how I made them.
 
I measured the windows and as you can see this is
a bay window. The side windows are much smaller
than the middle part of the window.
 
I will talk about the middle panel and you will
know how to do the side shades if you wish to
make these.
I measured my fabric the width and length needed and added
4 extra inches to the sides, tops and bottoms to allow for
hems and any mistakes. Each shade is 2 pieces, one for
the back and one for the front. I cut out my size needed.
And I sewed the front & back together like a giant pillowcase.
Left open one end. Turned the fabric right sides out.
Pressed the seams - yea with an iron!
We took down the valance and I cleaned the glass
doorknobs.
 
We took the shade and tacked it over the wood molding
with tiny nails. I did not even hem it!
We just let the shade hang down.
Then we replaced the valance up on top. You cannot
see how the shades are attached unless you go look.
Which I doubt if anyone does.
 
Each shade only took about 15 minutes to complete.
They have no ribbons or anything to raise them. And
if I do decide later that I want to raise them. Then I
will add ribbons to roll them up. But for now this is
what was needed.
A privacy window!
 
 
My hubby got a pinched nerve and it set us back
about a week. This table and chairs will be moved
out of here. The chandelier will come down soon I
hope! In its place will be a ceiling fan. Then I
will clean up the room and we will move in our
living room furniture. I am hoping that this
will only take us about a couple of weekends.
Then I will post more pictures of the room.
 
Thank you for visiting me. Come again soon!
Hopblogger
 
 


Friday, November 1, 2013

Cute Dresses!

Hello everyone!
I just wanted to show you
some of the cutest little prairie wear
dresses that I got from Marsha.
They came from
Prairie Dusters Trading Post
off of ebay! You should go look.
I found it hard to choose which
ones to get. I hope you like my
selections.
 
Aren't they just the sweetest little
dresses you ever saw! It was a pleasure
to see how cute the dresses were wrapped.
 
You know a witch has to have clothes!!!
I know that I am late
to post it up for Halloween but I had to find
them a place to hang. They probably will not hang
here too long as I am moving my sewing area.
 
In the middle, is the witch black dress with the
little hat. It has stars and a moon! The
flowered dress and hat to the far left is also for a witch.
This dress is for when a witch needs to go to the garden.
Hehehehe
 
Here is a better view of the witch hats. Sorry about
how they are hanging. I think that I need to stuff them
and then re-hang them.
 
The dress and hat that is in red is just a normal
dress for a witch so no one suspects her. The same thing
with the blue outfit. Both of these dresses have
mobcaps! I think that I should stuff these hats also.
 
Don't you agree on how cute these are.
Each dress hangs on its own wood hanger. I should
have photographed it but I forgot. Sorry.
Marsha has a good imagination!
HEY, I think that a witch needs some nite clothes!
Hehehehe
 
Thanks for visiting me!
Hopblogger
 

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

WITCH DOLL - SEWING MACHINE COVER - HALLOWEEN

Hello everyone!
Hope ya'll are not sick like me.
 
I wanted a Halloween witch doll cover for
my sewing machine. I searched the web
but could not find a pattern so I decided
to make one for myself using an
existing doll.
I think that she just might be a one-of-a-kind
doll sewing machine cover!!!
 
Many years ago
while in Oklahoma, I made a Bunny sewing
machine cover from a pattern. About 4 years
ago I gave the pretty Bunny cover to my older sister. I thought
she needed a dust cover. She proudly displays
it on top of her sewing machine.
 
I hope you like how I did remake my doll over
for Halloween. I will even tell you
how I made her. The directions are not
hard, just many. If you do not understand
just drop me a line and I will try to tell
you better.
 
SO - DO NOT BE SCARED!!!!
 
......HALLOWEEN APPROACHES....
 
MEET SCARY SABRINA, the good girl, angel.
I do not know what she was. I bought her
last year at a thrift store. She was 34 inches
long and had a sparkling fairy wand. She
did not look like a fairy to me. No offense
to the lady that made her. A nice job was
done here. She is stuffed really well and
is made from Osnaburg. That is a nicely
woven fabric.
Scary Sabrina stayed
up here on my curtain holder the entire
time.
 
Here she is sitting in my
chair. You can really see here
how long she is.
 
I took her legs off. I will save
them for another project soon.
 I want the skirt to hit there
where my forefinger has made a
dent in her body. Do you see that. I then cut about
3 inches down to about where
my thumb is. No measure, next cut the fabric
I then stuffed more stuffing inside her
cavity. Then I sewed it shut
exactly as you see the way the
lady that made her did.
I forgot to take pics of what
I did next so you must bear with
me so you can understand.
I used cotton batting but you can
use whatever you want to. I cut 2
pieces of  batting 15 inches long
by the width of the doll. I
sewed it together lengthwise
and left each end open. Seams can show,
cause it does not matter. The width
of the top of my sewing machine
is 6 inches wide. So I folded the
stitched batting in half to get the center
and laid it on top of my sewing machine.
In other words, you want about 10 inches
of the batting to hang down on each side of the
sewing machine from the top. Now,
stitch across the batting on one
side and then in my case the top
width is 6 inches, I then stitched
again 6 inches away from the
previous stitch. This way my doll will
sit on top of my sewing machine
correctly. After this, my hubby gave me
18 large- size flat thick metal washers.
On one opened end, I inserted 9 of these washers
in the batting and stitched the batting closed. Repeat
to the other side. This keeps the
doll steady on your machine.
Next, center your doll between the
2 stitching's that you made and sew her down good
in the middle between those 2 stitching's.
Now you are ready to give her
clothes!
 
 This was the nice linen-feel dress that she wore.
I decided to use it.
FOR THE BODICE.
I cut off quite a bit for her
bodice. I cut it extra long because you can always
cut excess off. If you cut off too much then just
stitch on more. But I was using what I had and I
did not want to sew anymore than I had too. After I
cut off the size I wanted, I then went to my bathroom
and painted it black. Yep, yes I did!!!!
I used regular black craft paint and layered the paint
on heavily in some areas. Both sides, but not on the inside. That
took me quite awhile. But it was well worth it!!
 
 I took this pretty dress from the thrift store. Washed
and dried it very well. I only wanted the black cotton
Tulle skirt underneath.
To make the tulle skirt.
 As you can see, I cut the skirt off from underneath
the skirt as far up as I could go. In other words
you want as much of the slip as possible. So cut
higher than waist if possible. Sorry here is where I forgot
to take more photo's again. Anyway, to put this on my doll,
all I did was take thread and a large needle and make
large stitches around the skirt at the top to gather it.
I placed the skirt on the doll and positioned it at
the waistline, then I pulled the threads tight to
gather it to my doll. I did not give a hem at the
top since you will not see it. I was not concerned
with that. After that is hanging like you want, take
it to your sewing machine. Place the doll on top
and make sure the skirt hangs where you want
it to. It should if it is long enough cover your
entire machine.
For the over-skirt, I had a size
large (that went to the knee) black gathered skirt. I cut off
the waistband. I then gathered it at the top the
same way I did the black tulle skirt. I placed
the black skirt a couple of inches above the
the tulle skirt (close up under the armpits). This
way I could cinch it really tight so it would
hold and not fall and also to give more strength
to the doll. Again I took this to the
sewing machine to see if it hung properly.
It did. This part went very quickly.
For the Bodice.
I then took the white bodice that I painted
black and placed it on the doll. I gathered the
arms with white crochet thread and put in a
bow. You cannot see it but the bodice is on
top of the skirt.
After this, I placed the
apron back on the doll. Then I decided
how I wanted her to look with the hat.
 
 Here is a close-up of SABRINA. See the osnaburg
fabric. I did not mess with any of her facial features.
For the hair I used a whole ball of crochet thread
that had some tan or light brown running thru it.
All I did was just form long loops around my finger
to get the length I wanted. Once the entire ball was
around my fingers, then I cut the top and glued it
on top of her head, making sure that the back of her
head had some as well so it would hang down like
I wanted. If I had black crochet thread I would
have mingled it with the white but I did not
have it. Note to myself, next time get black
if I do this doll again.
For the hat, I did not measure. I cut out
2 large triangles, one for a back and one for a front.
And then I cut out 2 large round brims with my
pinking shears. I cut a hole in the middle of both brims, a
little smaller than the width of my triangle's base.
I then stitched the sides of the triangles together with some wire
in both seams, then turned them so the wire is on the
inside, and then I sewed the triangle to the base
of the brim. (Or you can glue it. It is up to you).
After this, I went to the bathroom and painted it
black also. I painted the underside black and also
painted some on the inside where the head goes,
just in case you would see some of the inside hat on the
outside. When this dried, I stuffed it like I wanted.
Then I twisted the hat like I wanted it to look. It
stayed put. Next, I placed the hat on her head seeing which
way looked best and then I glued it on her head with
regular craft glue. Then I decided her hat needed
a little something extra, so I glued orange grosgrain ribbon
to her hat and glued a pumpkin button to hide the front
seam of the ribbon. I then added
an ear-ring to the end of her hat. The earring
is glued into the fabric. It was easy to pierce the
black fabric for the earring. Just be sure to use glue
on the earring wire (and not a lot of glue) and stick
it in.
(Witch hats are easy to make, you can
google a witch hat pattern online. After a couple of times
of making them, you start to understand it better).
As you can see I left her button eyes and her little
mouth. Her long nose gives her a prairie doll feel.
 
 Since Sabrina is a sewing witch.
For the Chatelaine and Orange Pumpkin.
I gave her a
chatelaine the same ribbon as what is on her hat.
I cut 2 pieces of orange felt in a circle and sewed
them together at one end of the chatelaine. I then
hid it with a ribbon and a pumpkin button. I stitched
part of the left side of the pumpkin together so it
would not flap like the wind. I cut 2 eyes and only
a mouth and sewed with only a couple of stitches
to keep them on. To the other end I curled up the
end thru the scissors and stitched the ribbon shut.
The bow and pumpkin button hide this also. On her
scissors I attached a watchband. The watchband
is a deep purple, a light purple and clear
beads along with small beads. It was so cute
that I could not resist placing it on her scissors.
After that was done, I slipped an orange pumpkin
on her hands and then I gave her a few stitches
on her hands so they would be closed.
The orange pumpkin was an item I bought after
Halloween last year to use as a pincushion. I
never used it. It was so cheap!!!
Anyway I took some of my
pins and painted the tops of them black
and stuffed it into her witch pumpkin pincushion. By the
way his hat also got a pumpkin button. I think that
I should paint some orange pins and stick in there also.
 
Anyway, here is Sabrina. I hope that you understood
my directions. I love how the tulle hangs below
her skirt.
 
This doll did not cost me much. The doll was
$2.00 at the thrift store. She was there for days
before I bought her. I guess no one did not want or like
her. The orange pumpkin was from A.C.Moore's craft store after
Halloween sale and cost 50 cents. The tulle
skirt was a dollar at the thrift store. So it only cost
me $3.50 cents to make her. Her hat was made
from scraps and the skirt was mine from years ago.
Scary Sabrina sits nicely on my machine. The skirt helped
add bulk to her middle. Bulk is good. Bulk is what you
want and need here.
 
 The bodice and the hat being painted black has a
canvas feel. It is crisp. Some of it shines. I guess
that is because I really layered the black paint on
it a little heavy. Anyway it glistens so I like that.
You will be able to see it on the side of the hat
that holds the earring. I did not get frilly with the
hat. You could if you wished to get fancy.
 
 Another photo of her hat. Be sure not to stuff
a lot of stuffing in her hat or you will not be able
to twist the hat like you want to.
 
A better pic of her earring. A pumpkin with a
black cat. When I bunched up the hat, it made
the hat look gathered at the seam. I liked that.
 
 A better photo of the chatelaine. Nope,
I did not put in a pumpkin nose. I kind
of think that perhaps I made the pumpkin
needle holder a little too big. You be sure
to make it smaller. I will change mine so
you can see the apron better.
 
Inside the chatelaine. When I am finished
I always attach the needle that I used and
a piece of thread. I sewed the hat together
with white thread. It did not matter since
it was being painted. Plus I am so lazy when
it comes to changing the thread on my
sewing machine.
 
Better pic of the smiling pumpkin and the
crochet thread used for bows on her arms.
 
The bottom of her skirt again. I just love how that hangs.
 
Scary Sabrina's back.
 
 Don't you just love her hat!!
 
Thank you all for visiting me. I hope you
Enjoy SABRINA!! She sets proudly on
my sewing machine.
 
Hopblogger
 

 
 


Friday, September 27, 2013

MY BLUE APRON MADE FROM A USED SKIRT

Hello Everyone. Welcome to
my blog.
Today I will be showing you
my pretty blue apron. From start
to finish only took 2 hours! Now that
is what I call - fast!!
I like fast projects and I hope you do
also.
I will give you the tutorial on this posting
in case you want to try it.
 
I am so pleased at how good it turned out.
This is my finished apron. Some time ago
I had bought a used 100% linen skirt, a
size 4 from the thrift store. No, I wish that
I could have worn it cause I love linen. However
there was a time that a size 4 was too big for
my body - not the case now. Anyway I want
you to know that it does not matter the size
of the garment only that it has a lot of fabric.
This skirt did not have any holes in it and it
only cost me $2 and 50 cents when I bought it.
Also sometime ago I had bought a spool
of lace which cost about $3.00 - cheap lace!
The directions are not hard - just many!
This is the front.
 The fabric is a pretty blue.
Here is the back.
 This is the bottom of the apron strings.
 This is the skirt before I cut it up. It
was long.
 The color is a baby blue but just a tad darker,
not as dark as what the pictures show.
 This skirt was not hemmed on the bottom. It was
made like this. The ruffles are also not hemmed.
 The top had a drawstring which I used.
 Look who made this pretty skirt. It must
have been expensive. Anyway this size did
cover my body for an apron.
 This is what I did. I placed the skirt on my
kitchen table. This skirt had a side seam on each
of the sides of the skirt. The front and the back
did not have any seams. I took the side seams
and matched them up and I cut down the middle
of the back of the dress. Do not cut the seams
unless you have planned on how to cut and
wear your apron. You can tell by the scissors
that I just cut up from the bottom to the top.
 See here it is cut.
 Once you cut it like that - then it is
a big piece of fabric. Now what you cannot
see is that this fabric has 2 seams which will
hit your sides once sewed.
 I used a quick and easy apron as a guide. I did not
place the dark blue apron all the way to the bottom
of the skirt.
 Next, I cut me about 3 inches off of one side. This
is one of my apron strings. Cut this strip as wide
as you want.
 Then, I came to the arm section. I
determined how much I wanted to cut off
by judging the seams.
 In the end I decided about 3 inches would give me
plenty because I felt that the dark blue apron was a
little short in the front. So the added 3 inches will
help make the apron a little wider in the front like
I want. Then I cut it off - but only on the one side.
 Go to the other side of the blue skirt and lay your
already cut apron string on top. Use this as a
guide.
 Cut the other apron string out.
 This is what it will look like. No apparent change.
Now the right side under arm has to be cut.
 Take the piece that you cut off from the arm on left side. Use this
piece also as a guide. Put it on top of the fabric and
cut around it. These are your pockets.
 At this point pick up the skirt and go to the mirror
with some pins. Just pin each pocket on with one
pin. Place the apron back down on the table and
straighten the pocket and pin it down. Make sure
that they are placed evenly apart. Angle them if
you want to.  Notice that these pockets are already
hemmed.
 Take all of it to your sewing machine and
by the way, be sure to cut off those tags.
 I started with the apron strings. Just fold one
in half and sew down the length of it. Turn when
done. Then do the same with the other apron string.
 See, these are my apron strings. I am not going to
hem the bottom because the skirt is not hemmed. Love
those ruffles.
 Now it is time to sew on the pockets. REMEMBER
THIS - ALL SEAMS ON THIS APRON ARE
TURNED TO THE FRONT INCLUDING THE
POCKETS!! NO SEAMS ON THE BACK.
This is how I did both pockets. With the pocket
still pinned in place, fold a hem to the front of the garment,
finger press, take your lace and fold over
the top of the pocket and pin it down on top of the
folded edge to the skirt. Fold the pocket hem and lay the
lace on top and sew down as you see here.This hems as you go.
ALSO NOTE, THAT ALL OF MY LACE POINTS
OUT AWAY FROM THE POCKET AND APRON.
MAKE SURE THAT THE LACE FACES CORRECTLY
BEFORE SEWING IT DOWN. You do not want
to have to pull out any threads as this could damage
your lace.
 I hope that this picture lets you understand it better,
just in case I have confused you.
See the cut edge, fold it in and lay the lace on top
and sew all around the pocket. (You can also choose
not to hem the pocket and just lay the lace on top
and sew down. Be sure to use a small running stitch
for added strength).
 When you come to the end of the pocket, cut off about
an inch and turn it under the top so it is caught in the
seam on the inside of the pocket.
 Finish both pockets.
 I have enough lace to do the top and all of the sides.
 Now go to the top and turn under the front
seam TO THE BACKSIDE. This is because
of the holes of where the string once was. This
is the only seam to be turned to the backside.
 As you can see I have sewed it down.
 Turn the apron to the front side and sew on a strip
of lace on that seam and be sure to cut enough of
the lace on the edges to turn to the backside.
 If there are any little dog ears from seams, just cut
them off. Mine had dog ears, yours should have
them also if your skirt had side seams. This part
is the arm area.
Again, you must fold your raw edge seam onto the
front side. 
I pinned the lace along one edge so I could start sewing.
(Again turn your lace down to the backside over your
raw edge).
 I did the other arm also in the same manner. The
top and underarm areas are done. SO FAST!!
 Now, it is time to sew up the side edges. Turn your
fabric edge to the front and pin the lace on top to
hide your seam. If you need to, pin all the way down.
If you have the kind of apron that
I have then look at it for the placement of where to
put the strings. Apron strings are located around the under
arms to go around your waist.
Each apron string
only has one seam. Finger press the seam along the
edge of your desk and make sure that the seam
faces down towards the ground. Pin this apron
string under the lace as you see here before you sew
it down.
 The string that I pulled out from the waistband of the
skirt will not become the band around the neck.
The string was long - I cut off  20 inches. I knotted
the one cut end.
 I sewed them down at the top on both sides on the front
as this is how I liked it.
Plenty of neck room to get on and off. Plus I do not
have to buy anything extra. If you have an old apron
and want to use the hardware that comes with it, then
buy all means change the plans of this neck string. Do
your own thing at this point.
 Another picture - Looks sweet to me.
I hope you like what I have done.
Try it!!
Also if please you do this, then
refer back here as a link.
Thank you for visiting me.
Hopblogger