Art, Craft and Needlework, March, 2012

[Harmony]

I used to love the dresses and aprons worn on the Lucy show. It occurred to me that the dresses I found hanging these days in stores were starting to look very reminiscent (sp?) of some of those. I saw some similarities. I'm sure the materials used are very different. One thing I saw was the old wrap-style dress again. I remember there was some movie star who made that popular, but can't remember who. Remember fabric belts made to match the dresses? Style elements cost money in the manufacturing, that's why we get so little of them these days.

Oh I remember Lambchop, seems to me that was made in Pittsburgh. We had many groundbreaking shows made in our public studio in the city, Mr. Rogers was one too. And I remember cecil too. Too bad puppets on tv would bore kids these days. They want action figures.

Booksaver, I don't quilt fast. I just spend a lot of time there. I'm working on the last strip of border now.

[Lynlee]

Booksaver - Do you have a pattern that fits - eg bodice or skirt with darts to fit?
Can you take a pattern off some existing clothing - then fold in the and pin the needed darts.
If you transfer the bodice pattern to paper - glue the darts, you can recut them to suit the angle or shape you want. Let the paper expand when cut to reposition the dart where you want it., them glue another piece of paper in - allow that there will be a v point out shape when you refold the dart to the new shape and get the side or waist seam straight along the edge.
Hope that makes enough sence. I once half listened while dsis explained that process to dm. Then she was back at college and dm was asking me how to do it.
Remembering the days of darts made to fit my shape exactly. My odd shape exactly.

I still have my patters mostly from the 70s - they fit in a 2L icecream container. Most are versions on a couple of themes and wouldn't be too odd. Ort see if dd - the latest in the family into fashion design and manufacture - wants any to rework.

The difference is - now people with a bust don't have 22" - 24" waists. And different shapes have clothing hang differently. Large arms really need a different shape sleeve/ armhole than skinny. DD says some people with small size still have big arms - when I complained of huge sleeves on small sizes.
Yes Harriet - obesity is an epidemic here too. Sizing in the stores has changed with the same number on the label. Or varies widely within makes.
I want to do some remakes of fav things to downsize them.

[Nancy]

Have 15 puppets done for this batch 10 to go.
So I'm 3/4 ths of the way done with the ones for dgs 3rd grade class now.
Next up I'm thinking some for V.B.S. hoping that I have time.

[BookSaver]

Harmony ~ Any time I see polka dot fabric, I think of 1950s. Also a color dress or blouse with white collar & cuffs on short sleeves.

Harriet ~ Love those Lucy & Ethel pictures!

Lynlee ~ Thanks for the reminder about shaping darts. Yes, that's what I'm doing. I'm taking tops and dresses that I know fit me and tracing them onto pattern paper, then trying to figure out how to change the neckline or whatever.

I'm noticing on a lot of the 1930s patterns that they would take a section of a blouse and lay that section on the fabric on the bias, so it would hang differently. Or maybe the blouse would be on the straight, but the collar would be laid on the bias. So pretty.

Yesterday I copied a bunch of patterns from the 1920s version by the same authors of of the 1930s textbook. NONE of the straight boxy shapes with dropped waists will look good on me! However, they show a lot of interesting decorations appliqued on top, like art deco shapes. I can easily add those shapes onto a simple loose-fitting cardigan jacket.

Anyway, that's my general premise. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty excited to be getting back into some design work.

[BookSaver]

Nancy ~ WTG with the puppets! They sound so cute and I know the teachers & children must love them.

Yesterday I finished making a large tote bag from the top of the jeans that I'd cut the legs off to make long skinny bags for rulers & tubes. Now I have my "matched luggage" for carrying sewing supplies to classes & such.

My cutting mat has gotten terribly warped from being left in the car through varying temperatures. (I've been taking it to sewing group activities for a few years.) I've been waiting for a half price sale to buy a new one. Someone gave a friend one that she doesn't need because she already has 6 (!) so she said I can have the extra for free. I'll be seeing her on Thursday and hope she remembers to bring it. It will be nice to be able to cut using a whole mat again, not just the non-warped end.

[Nancy]

It is sad for me when I think of the fabrics pre-cut for sale at w-mart none lg. enough for me to do a floor length caftan that I'd like to sew no bolts of fabric. I saw that cotton has gone up in price some sort of cotton crop shortages.

I cut up some old jeans that were favs. but way past prime and indecent to wear bc of holes that were just growing, saved the back of the legs that were okay for something the front h. got for rags.

This weekend I got several more puppets done for dgson 3rd grade class.

[Harmony]

I hardly find any remnants anywhere. There are boatloads of cottons cut up into fat quarters, though. I wish fabric wasn't so expensive. It's most often more expensive to sew than to look for a new garment on sale somewhere. And these quilts, my goodness they take a lot of money.

I'm done with the binding and I just made and appliqued a label on. But I have a question for anyone who quilts: do you always put a hanging sleeve on them? This one is going where there is virtually no wall space and I doubt it would ever be hung up. Just never know what might happen in the future, but by then it'll probably be worn out. So what do you think? DH thinks I shouldn't bother with a sleeve.

[Harriet]

If there really is no reason to think it will hang, then I don't think you need to worry about a sleeve. Also, a sleeve can be put on later. It's not as if you have one chance and never get another. Mention to your grandson or his mother that you would do it for them someday if they'd like.

So happy for you that you have completed this quilt, Harmony! Woo Hoo! Are you happy with the binding and the label? If I could suggest other shopping to you before starting a new project, I think it would be shopping different types of thimble. There are some in the Clotilde catalog that look like they would be so protective to me. Of course, they might be the very ones I wouldn't like, but I might benefit from changing around sometimes to use fingers a little differently, that sort of thing.

I think Sunny is already at the photo-taking stage, isn't that what I read in PWYC? Photographing in the sunshine?

Nancy, there is certainly something to miss nowadays in fabric shopping. The place I shopped as a teen, Cloth World, is gone. The place I shopped as a young married woman (family owned) is gone. The place I shopped for decades (family owned) very near here is gone, burned down because of a lightning strike and not worth rebuilding because there wasn't the money in fabric sales to warrant its expensive real estate. WMart is useless - I don't even find as much as you do. I fear the HancocksFabric nearby is in danger, but so far it's hanging on. There is a quilt shop 3 towns away which is really a time-consuming drive but I will do it. There is a super-large well-known cloth place 45 minutes away, but confusing to get to and I won't go by myself.

BookSaver I would be tempted to call the friend to remind her!!! Hope it's in great condition.

The charity quilt has arrived here for me to check over. I'm very pleased. I did use a little Febreeze on it from the back but it's not bad at all. There was only one thread to clip and the package is good enough to use again. I'll probably try to get it in the mail tomorrow.

I studied the way the binding was machined. It was sewn on the front as usual as if you were going to hand bind. Then folded over to the back and machined with a machine stitch that swings from side to side in an "S" trail rather than stitching straight. I know from experience that a non-straight stitch is what you need in order to have machine-bound quilt edges drape nicely and not have "waves" when hanging. That's why I like my blanket stitch for it. Sure enough, I held this one up and the side and bottom edges hung completely straight, and I believe it would move through the machine a lot faster than a blanket stitch for a quick quilt that doesn't need heirloom binding! So I'm going to remember that. She used a mottled near-solid for the binding and the thread is about the same green color, so you have to look closely to even see the binding stitches.

[Harmony]

Trying to figure out what you mean by the binding stitching. You machine stitch the back of your binding with a blanket stitch? How does that look on the front side? I've never machine stitched the back, I always use a tiny blind hem stitch (by hand) which takes forever to do. My binding is up against a dark red border, and I tried the other dark fabric I used and didn't like the combination. So I went back to the beige print and it shows up nicely against the red.

The only thing I don't like about this quilt is its stiffness. It's not as soft as I'd like. I think I bought a nicer sturdier muslim (sp?) for the backing and it's a little stiff. I think the number of seams in the squares makes it a little stiff also.

For my label I used a square of muslem -how do you spell that? - and put a 1/2 +" border around of one of the fabrics with white star print. I guess I will leave the sleeve off and offer to do it if needed later.

My next quilt will definitely be easier!

[Nancy]

I saw some kits. for quilted [I think] purses at w-mart I'm intrigued by them but do not like the prints they had.

I have apx. 4 more puppets to do so should be done with this project in a day or two.
Thanks for the input on the puppets!
Maybe I need to knit some thing but if I do that will probably not have time to do the vbs ones.
Sigh what to do! LOL!

It's SO inspiring to read what you ladies are up to. Booksaver I used a tee shirt that fit as a pattern and exteneded it to the floor for my house dress pattern; no darts in it however; I did have to make the arms bigger and tweak it, then cut out others from that turned inside out over the years and it's time for a diff. one now. So once you get some thing you like and that fits you can use it for a pattern!