I Made a Quilt

Look, it works! It already has a cat on it! After several weeks of prepping for my Women in the Wild West class, I decided to make a quilt. I had no idea how, but it seemed fairly intuitive. So I bought some of the heirloom calico at JoAnn Fabrics and used scraps from a dress I recently made for the top part. I found an old sheet at Goodwill for the backing, and sewed the two together in a duvet cover like style. Then I stuffed it with the batting and slip-stitched up the side. It turns out that is not actually the way to do it--there is something known as binding that works up the side, but I looked at a famous Texas quiltmaker's quilt and I couldn't find any binding. I decided to hand-piece and hand-stitch the quilt. I wanted a mobile project so I didn't want to involve the sewing machine. Also, I hoped to recreate the experience of making a quilt the way women would have done so for hundreds of years. None of these new-fangled sewing machines for me!

Victorian Heaven

My friend Whitney and I have a new mission--we are going to bring back the capelet. Specifically the lovely nineteenth-century capelet tripped with ribbons and buttons and all sorts of goodies. What a beautiful garment--it just has that "I'm a serious but passionate woman with a cameo-like face and a steel-like heart so take me in your arms, dark stranger," look. I predict that by Christmas, the fashion world will be falling over themselves to design capelets. And after the high-fashion runway world comes Banana Republic, and after that Macy's, and after that, Target. Capelets are coming back, my friends.

Pictures of Summer

Seeds and Buttons

Here is the dress I recently finished--it is the Amy Butler (my love, my goddess) lotus tunic dress made from Amy Butler Seed fabric. I trimmed it with three antique Victorian jet buttons.

I love this dress and would like to wear it every day. Thank you.

Ro-bots for K-bot

Pillows and Cupcakes!

Ever since I decided to make all handmade gifts for friends, I have been running about six months behind on presents, on average. Yesterday I finished my Canadian friend Anne's birthday present, although her birthday was back in February. (Her Christmas present did arrive in time for her birthday!) Making pillows is so much fun now, because not only is it sinfully easy, but I have discovered bamboo stuffing, made by the same people who make the Poly-fil stuffing. The bamboo is soft and silky and we all know that bamboo will save the world in the end because it can do anything.

I also finished another project--an engagement party for my friends Kat and Greta. Their favorite colors are red and purple so thus went the party. I made a sparkly purple tablecloth which I forgot to take a picture of. My friend Terry made beautiful purple and red flower arrangements (also no pictures, sadly). But here are the Greta cupcakes (you can't really tell, but the icing is purple). They are chocolate and topped with a serious dollop of creamcheese icing which was so good you could eat it out of the bowl with a spoon.

I've never had luck with elastic waistbands!

Last weekend I made the Belle Skirt from Favorite Fit. The pattern was ridiculously easy and took only the length of two Battlestar Gallactica episodes to cut out and complete. I used some Amy Butler fabric for the hem (climbing climantis) and some adorable Heather Schmidt fabric for the body of the skirt, which feels softer than regular cotton. The skirt looks good overall, but the waistline is pretty unattractive (see photo above). I followed the directions for a 28" waist, which I am pretty sure that I have, but there is tons of extra fabric that bunches up around the elastic. I need to wear a longer top (as in the photo) to cover up the waist, but it has to be fairly loose (I tried a tighter top and the bunched-up fabric showed through. I plan to try this pattern again using a smaller size and maybe thinner fabric for the waistband.