Embroidered Linen Dress: Tie Construction

I decided on "beetroot" charmeuse from Mood for the tie. Can I tell you? I am in love with this fabric. I want to have one of everything in it. I want to live in it. This is definitely my color this year. It really makes the blue of my eyes pop and I just love wearing it.

The pattern called for the ties to be cut on the lengthwise grain, but I wasn't interested in buying 2 yards of silk just for a tie around my waist. So I cut ripped it on the cross grain instead. For the longer tie, this meant that I needed to splice two lengths together. I had done this once before on an improvised tie for a maternity top. I used my quilting ruler to draw a 45% angle on the intersection of two lengths pinned perpendicular to each other.

Then I stitched on that line. I was pretty pleased with my accuracy!

When turned to the right side and pressed, it makes one continuous length with a strong angled seam.

I trimmed and pinked seams and trimmed the corners down tight.

I sewed the seam allowances of the join down into the seam allowance of the tube. I decided it would make the join seam stronger. Then I used a fancy tube turner tool to flip the tubes right-side-out.

There is a hollow tube that goes inside the tube, all the way to the stitched end. Then there is a stick that fits inside the tub that is used to start the turn into the tube.

I am very pleased with how these ties look, however, I do have some pressing marks... You can see it at the top of the tie in the picture above. the pinked edge of the seam allowances is showing through. I thought pinking the seams might help to blend the seam allowance line, since it would be at different lengths. I think next time I would use some sort of interfacing. Also, I wasn't sure how to apply the pressinatrix's pressing rules on a tube, and didn't look for help on the internet until I had already trimmed the seam allowances. So my seams aren't as perfectly pressed as they could be. Next time I will press the seam allowances back before I turn the tubes.

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Frivolous photo: My husband and I packed the kids off to go camping in the mountains not too far from home a couple of weekends ago. It was in a wonderfully wooded area. I could have moved in. The kids were fabulous! The biggest challenge with camping in the mountains near Denver is that the lows will be in the 40s even at the height of summer. In the morning, we had to get under a blanket to stay warm.

In other sewing news, I am close to having my medieval dress and my cloak done. The cloak just needs a hem and the medieval dress only has the trim left to add (and an underdress to sew up). Seems too close to the finish line to share photos...

Crib Skirt Cut Out

I spent the better part of my on-my-feet hours today cutting out all of the pieces for the crib skirt. I had cut out the panels I needed for the curtains first since they were the biggest pieces. Next, I needed to cut out the pieces for the crib skirt, and then finally with the leftovers I could cut the tabs for the tab-top.

Since almost all of the pieces were perfect squares, I decided to use my rotary cutter and rulers. This seemed to work very well with the cotton-as-linen. However, when I got to the silk I really struggled. My cutting surface was not big enough for the long cuts that I needed to make. So I had to move the cutting pad under the silk mid-way through cutting a piece out. Trying to keep the silk and the pattern in one place while moving a rubbery surface underneath didn't end up working out so well. I also struggled with keeping the silk squared off. I'm not sure if it will be noticeable, but I found it very frustrating as I went.

So now I have all of the pieces cut out and ready to be thrown together. All I have left to cut are the tabs for the tops of the curtains and the two big panels of the curtain lining. Hopefully it will start coming together quickly now.

Still no baby. I'm now 9 days past my due date...

Baby's Room!

I am a few days over my due date with my first child, a baby boy. I have been planning to sew curtains and a crib skirt for the nursery since my husband and I decided to start a family. We decided on the theme for the nursery (woods/forest) back in March when we found out we were having a boy. Pretty soon thereafter, the plan for the linens in the baby's room started to form.

I am sewing a side-drape, tab-top, single-panel curtain in white faux-linen with a green silk border. The crib skirt will be done with matching fabrics with a similar width band at the bottom. I'm using McCall's 4855 as the pattern for the crib skirt. Below are samples of the fabric from Fabric Warehouse.

I didn't have everything in place to start working on the pieces until my third trimester, which I found terribly exhausting. It is only now, as things are winding down at work, and the baby is getting ready to make his entrance into the world, that I am finding time to try to put the pieces together.

I have never made curtains before, so the size of the fabrics has been a little intimidating. It's also my first time working with silk, also intimidating. So far, I have washed all of the fabrics, and pressed the fabrics for the curtains. I have a little more fabric to press, and then I can get going on putting things together!

I am a little disappointed with how the silk came out of the wash. I read online that dupioni should be washable on the lowest setting and can even be dried on low in the drier. So I tried these steps, and ended up with a ton of little creases. I knew that I would need to be able to wash the completed pieces, as they will be in a child's room for many years. So I'm glad I started out with washing the items, but I mourn the luxurious even drape of the silk when it first arrived.