Summer and Sewing April 29, 2009

The past few days my sewing nook has seen more action than the last few months. With summer coming up and a large stack of fabric I felt obliged to make Sophia some summer clothes rather than pay inflated prices for them. The girl is very demanding and pretty much refuses to wear shorts, pants or capri’s so I really have had no choice but to get reaquainted with my sewing machine and make her some dresses. I still have a few more to make, but I thought I would post a few pics of what got finished today.

Still doing the ballet poses. I guess 6 months of ballet made more of an impression on her than I thought! Anywho, this style is a peasant style dress that is super easy to make – I only had to rip out seams once! I love how she looks in this dress.

I decided to make a matching skirt for Ellie out of the same fabric. She looks so precious in it. I still need to make her a matching shirt; I am thinking a red one would be be perfect.

I love the skirt, but my favorite think about this picture is her pudgy little hands. She is almost 3 years old and still has these petite little baby hands complete with dimples on her knuckles.

Once the shirt is done for this I NEED to make a headband to go with it. Hopefully she will wear it long enough for me to take a picture!

All this sewing has been a nice diversion from my lack of a husband the last week. Thank goodness for a sewing machine and a good friend who spent the day sewing with me!

Staying Warm October 29, 2008

Everybody knows I hate being cold. The time of year has come where I get cold pretty easily even here in Alabama. We always seem to end up in these houses with hardwood floors (that are beautiful) and massive crawl spaces – which make for cold houses that are difficult to keep warm in the fall and winter. We have thought about doing something drastic like turning up the heat, but these types of houses don’t retain heat that well and to have the heat blasting all the time would be uber expensive. So my solution is to carry around one of these at ALL times.

It is a bag filled with grains – corn to be exact. They are very economical to make and the best thing since – um, a breadmaker?!! They can be heated up in the microwave for a few minutes or put in the freezer as a cold pack for a few hours. Personally, I have never used it as a cold pack. Lately though my heating pad has went with me everywhere. I even bring them in the car when it gets really cold out. After heating it I just put it on my lap, on my shoulders, on my feet, I use it to heat up my spot in bed before I get in, it works for cramps or sore backs, it can even be used to warm up your cold clothes in the morning – it is the one reason I will keep a microwave in our house.

They are also really easy to make – if you can sew in a straight line. Here are some very basic instructions:

1. Cut out two equally sized and shaped pieces of fabric plus a half an inch on all sides – preferably a square or an oblong piece (mine is about 14″ x 5″).

2. Sew three sides together – two of the longer sides and one of the shorter sides. Reinforce edges with a zig-zag stitch.

3. Fill about 2/3rds of the way full with deer corn, rice, or cherry pits.

4. Fold in open un-sewn edge about 1/4 – 1/2 ” and sew with a zig-zag stitch.

5. If you use corn heat bag three times in microwave for about 3-4 minutes, cooling in between times, to get rid of some of the moisture.

6. Every time you need it hot just heat up for 1and a half or two minutes in the microwave.

My bag in the picture has a flannel cover. They are not necessary but are nice to have as they can be removed and are washable. If there is enough interest I may just do a picture tutorial on how to make a removable cover!

A few warnings for good measure:

- Do not use on infants

- Do NOT heat up in an oven

- Do NOT fill up your bag with popcorn kernels – deer corn is best and is plentiful this time of year and can be picked up at wal-mart for $6 and some change for a 45 lb bag.

- You are still allowed to put your cold feet on your husband. The heating bag is not a replacement for your husband or wife.

- As strong as the urge is to swat at your husband with the heating bag because he is – while you are writing a blog post -in your face doing an impersonation of Beavis doing “cornholio” – DON’T. It won’t go over well.

That is all.

First outfit February 21, 2007

I finally finished this little number. I am calling it the “Sophia”. It is a little big as I was ignorant of how to use a pattern and added a 5/8″ seam allowance when one was already included in the pattern pieces. It will, however, work out to my advantage as she can wear it a little big this year and she can wear it fitting just right next summer(although the pants will probably look more like a capri).

I am still on a learning curve, so I don’t expect to make such simple errors in the future. Also, I am going to draft my own patterns, so if I make such a daft error, than I don’t deserve to have a sewing business. The photos I take for selling my line on ebay will hopefully have a better presentation and be more artistic. We shall see.

p.s. I know the pants are huge, but they are sooooo adorable on miss Sophia. And don’t worry Liz, when I get around to making clothes for your boys I won’t make them look like hippies!

Self employed February 20, 2007

The task seems a little daunting, but it is one that I a more sure of than any other I have contemplated. I am going into business making *boutique couture* children’s clothing. I won’t start right away as I think I have much to learn. I have started by making a few outfits already. One for Tim and Leah’s daughter Rachel, and one for Sophia that only needs a few buttons and some finished armholes. The outfits so far have come from a pattern, but I am sure they are original as the fabrics I used have likely not been used in for those patterns before. I also wanted to embellish those but I was just learning how to use a pattern and construct a garment.
Anywho, I will start slowly, hopefully selling a few things before summer, but I really want to be up and running shortly after we settle somewhere for grad school. My hope is that we have three bedrooms so one of them can be used as my “studio”. I have already done some research, and these outfits go for anywhere from $70 to over $300. For one outfit. Crazy, I know. These are the steps that I can forsee for now that I still have to take:

1) Purchase a serger so I can have a professionally finished garment

2) Learn how to use the thing

3) Draw up at least five to ten original designs

4) Draft patterns for my designs with cheapo fabric in sizes 12 m – 6 years (pants and skirts should be easy, shirts, not so much)
5) Purchase many good quality, vintage-funky-chic fabrics with which to make my garments

6) Learn to make matching accessories. Crazy, I know, but it is what the people want.

7) Learn some more html so I can put together a nice presentation on ebay or wherever.
Start saving for a digital SLR camera so I can take good quality photos of my designs.

9) Come up with a name. Oh yeah, I already did, but it is not yet open to the public;)

10) Think up the other 20 steps that I am probably not yet aware of.

So there it is. If y’all are skeptical go to ebay and search for ‘Lilyplum’ or ‘custom boutique’ and you will see what I am talking about. Oh, and hopefully I will have Sophia’s outfit done my tomorrow and I can post a picture.