Kaffe Fassettnator

It's National Sewing Month for goodness sakes.  I've been posting my adventures on Facebook and haven't taken the time to post them here.

So, I was hanging out on the internet and found out that there is a contest to win 20 BOLTs of Kaffe Fassett fabric.  Mind Blown.  The catch; make a fascinator using KFC fabrics.  That's like dangling Kaffe Fassett fabric before my eyes and daring me to make a quilt.  My idea of a good time....times infinity.

So here it is.

 This was kind of like making your favorite cookie recipe and throwing in all your most desired extra goodies.  Baked to perfection.

 The double, tulle ruffle was a scrap left over from making a Can Can dress last year.  It was the exact right amount of pale blue and hot pink for a fun frill.

The reason I like to save EVERYTHING.

This photo shows the beaded button that I made.  There was an article recently in Threads Magazine about this and it brought me to tears.  What a perfect marriage of crafts.

I told my sweet husband what I was up to and he said something about moving to the garage to make room for fabric.  How I will miss him.

This little dress went to Market and Lunch and Lessons, OH MY!

Lately little dress and skirt patterns are lighting me up.  All of those clearance fabric bargains that have been cluttering up my shelves are becoming pencil skirts, shifts and sheaths, and the 50’s inspired designs are more than irresistible.  There is just one problem.  What ever I bought (“I’ll take it all.” or “Two yards should do it.”) is never the right amount for the project at hand.  So the creative bug is buzzing around my studio stirring up fun details and one-of-a-kind garments. 

This is my adventure with See & Sew #B5547

Now I’m not a skinny, young lady.  Frankly, I’m 57 and wear a ready-made size 14-16.  That translates loosely to size 18 in patterns.  There, I’ve broken the taboos right off the bat.  And that is my point.  So many of my students are over 50, 60 and even 70.  The “girls” are lower, the waist is missing all together and we have a desir
e to sew on our own terms. 

This is a fun pattern.  It makes up easily after you have endured 22 darts.  Yes, honey, I said 22.  No one dies from this and the endurance test ends in a very shapely, flattering dress. 

This 2-yard clearance fabric is a medium-weight teal and white check denim with just enough spandex to make it very easy to wear. I think I spent $3 per yard.  Yes, I did.   But it was very boring.  So I dug into my quilting stash and found a pretty coordinating floral to trim up the neckline, arm hole facings, the belt and a little detail on the hem. 

I had some interesting silver snaps, from a clearance bin, I’m hopeless,  that worked well in place of a buckle on the belt.  They are the shiny little hexagons across the front.

An invisible zipper always goes a long way toward masking that home-made look.  I took special care to match the seams at the waistline when putting in the zip. 

Finally, I enjoyed making this dress.  The 22 darts went faster than I expected.  It is lots of fun to wear and never seams to wrinkle.  That is a major bonus for me!!!

Lily's Quilt

After two delicious rainy days and one stunning sunny day, I have completed Lily's Quilt.

Lily's Quilt
for Lily Rae Mellett

I made this little cutie for the granddaughter of my childhood friend.  Besides wanting to try out my new half rectangle triangle template, I wanted to send some special love to this new baby.  I knew her great, great grandmother, her great grandmother,  I know her grandmother, her mother and I can't wait to meet her.  That's a pretty impressive run.

The quilt measures 33" x 42 1/2".  The vintage style quilt square in the upper left corner is a Carolina Lily pattern.  Is that too obvious a choice?  The design that runs the rest of the way across the top is just me doodling with quilt stuff.  

Yes, I do know that one rectangle is backwards.  My bad.  I noticed it when I started machine quilting and said, "Oh well,  I guess that is permanent now!"

For machine quoting, I just stitched in the ditch.  Ok now time to plan a new quilt!