Purple Beast

This photo is of a love seat purchased at a garage sale for son to take to college for his dorm room.  It had a purple stripe fabric on it.... dirty, worn, garage sale worth.  So for a few dollars we brought her home.....  looked into buying a slip cover and about went into cardiac arrest with the prices of those things!  So mom (me) says let's make a slip cover... not sure who the us was in that statement but anyway, a slip cover it was.  I have never made a slip cover.  Only read the many blogs of those who do.  I had some white (yea, white and teenage boy.... ) cotton duck that had a navy stripe running through it.  Think old baseball uniform look.  I had three bolts because a client once requested it then changed her mind after I hunted and purchased it.  So, I had plenty of fabric so I began the journey.  I will go on the record as saying, I prefer to upholster furniture not make slip covers.  But it is done.  He can remove it and wash it if necessary and we were out no money (because stash sewing is FREE sewing, right?!)  Here is the finished product:

It is by far not perfect but for a college dorm room, it will do.  This is one piece of furniture that will not become a family heirloom!   ;)

Blessings- Linda

It's been FOREVER!

I have not fallen off the face of the earth.... I had problems getting into the blog.  Which caused me to lose interest.  But now I know that I need a place to talk about my sewing and such.

I have been sewing.. mostly for client's which is a good thing and a bad thing.  Good= making money.  Bad= not sewing the visions swirling in my head!

Earlier this summer I was contacted by two bridesmaids to make gray bridesmaid dresses for them... not the color I would choose but, hey, I am not the bride!

This photo shows both dresses.   The lace dress was  made using a stretch gray lace with a gray matte jersey underlayer.  Cute and so simple to make!  The other dress was made using a gray satin for the skirt and strapless bodice and a gray lace for the bodice overlay.  I melded two patterns together for the satin dress but cannot remember which ones!  Sorry!  Below is a photo showing both dresses a little more front view.  Turned out cute and the girls are rocking them! 

Below are photos of dresses I made for a bridal party last summer- a couple months before my daughter's wedding.  The fabric was a linen that was a dream to work with!  A simple sundress pattern that was very flattering on all the girls!  

I will be posting more as the weeks go by.....  Now I am remaking a bridal gown and a mother of the bride gown..... It's a challenge but fun all the same! 

Mother of the bride dress

The photos are pictures of the mother of the bride dress I am making for myself using V8556. The fabric is a stretch charmeuse from Fabric Mart. The wedding colors are purple and a mint green. The pattern has gone together nicely. I could have cut a smaller size but rather than be in a predicament of wrong size not additional fabric, I cut it out then took in and altered where I needed to. I did a 3/8 inch full bust adjustment for the cups. I will take a photo of me in it when completely done. The skirt is just pinned on now as I need to get some lining fabric. I did not know whether I wanted to line it or not as the fabric has some body to it but the skirt is cut on the bias and I think a lining cut on the straight grain will help the bias skirt to skim my bumps and bulges better!

Here Comes the Bride ('s mother)

I had a client bring me this picture. She wanted this made for her daughter's wedding. She loved the neutral color pallete and and flow of the pants. She is not a dress kinda gal so the palazo pants seemed like the way to go. Fancy but she can feel comfortable & beautiful!

This is the final product. Minus the person modeling it. It does not do it justice with hanging on a dress form! I used a champagne satin as the base of the camisole. The overlay was a black lace. The jacket was made using a knit chiffon from Fabric.com. This one has a shawl collar and the original did not. The pants are made with a chiffon and a china silk polyester lining. I added the front pleat detail that she loved. I used three patterns to crate the ensemble: OOP See and Sew 6910, OOP Butterick 4982 for the pant, and McCall 5890 for the jacket.

I hope to have pictures of her in it at th wedding so I will post those.

It was fun to create this for her.

Blessings- Linda

Circus is in town!

The circus came to town yesterday. I realized that my girls had never been to a circus before so I took them. I did not wait for hubby to say he'd go along. He prefers to spend his down time watching stupid movies on his laptop and, in the past I have waited for him to go along to do things with the kids. NOT. ANY. MORE. I am going to just do it from now on. Time is passing by at a rapid rate and I want to build some memories with the girls. Evan leaves for college this fall and unfortunately, he won't have many family fun time memories. Not going to happen with the last two. Anyway, I am way off topic!
The circus was not BarnumBailey but it was a fun way to spend the afternoon. The girls had their faces painted as you can see. The picture above is not a good representation of having a good time. It is, however, a very true representation of two sister arguing over who touched whom! LOL!

Geordan, age 11 is my beautiful clown!
Olivia, age 9 (10 on the 18th) is the prettiest butterfly around!

This AM has been filled with taking down my snowmen displays and cleaning. I stopped at 11am to get cleaned up. I need to run the sweeper and then get some sewing done. There is still more cleaning to do but it will wait until another day as I have some client sewing that needs to happen today.

Off to finish a couple chores an then sew!
blessings- Linda

Purse-onality!

I made this purse today. I had been working all week on client sewing and needed something fun! It is a downloaded pattern from Ottobredesigns.com. It went together very easily! I think I will make some more of these. I am going to try carrying it for a day but is is rather small for my carrying habits! Fabric from Joann's flat folded area with a cotton polka dot lining!

Bling!

Some wedding DIY projects are done.....



My eldest child, Jen, is getting married in September. This weekend was project weekend. We accomplished the bouquet, assembly of the vintage pedestal cake plates, figured out the birdcage veil, did a roundup of some vintage tableclothes, and bought the fabric for the bridesmaid gifts. Below are pictures of the brooche bouquet. Not the gretest quality but if I get better pictures I promise to post them.





The following photos are of the vintage pedestal cake plates we created from garage sale and thrift store finds consisting of glasses, candlesticks, and plates. Each table will have cupcakes in the middle as the centerpiece instead of having a large central cake. Not great shots but they are in the store room and I am too tired to move them out for better pictures! ;)







Watch for more wedding projects to creep in here! I am so happy with what has been accomplished.... this week is client sewing to finish up a project and then hopefully the pieces I need for the bridesmaid project will have arrived!

Goin' to the Chapel and we're gonna get married!

Blessings- Linda