Art Easel and red dress

The art easel we had ordered is here - an early birthday present and a supply for our upcoming school year at the same time.  The fabric I bought in Murray yesterday has been finished out into a red dress - with maybe enough left over to do a sundress bodice with later - if I make the skirt of something else.  I like being able to stretch a yard of fabric enough that I don't feel so guilty paying 5 dollars a yard for it in the first place.  And it is just what I wanted pattern wise :)

Dress info: I used Butterick 4543 in size 7 with alterations.  I made the front bodice a double-thickness for the facing...no way it can pop out and be visible like her herringbone dress has been bothering me with.  Her dress looks like view C with short sleeves, no inverted pleat in front or flaps or collar.  I did pleat the skirt and sleeves-- it is my make-do, but it works. The zipper remains to be sewn in by hand - but other than that it is done.  I tried it on her before I set the sleeves and it seemed to fit her just fine.

Esme has been very artistic today.  She has drawn a beach scene (hint hint to Mama - she put me in the picture under an umbrella reading my Kindle, so she could play with the kids at the beach).  And the other drawing  pictured is a tree that is a home for cats - and she left room for me to draw something on the other side.  I made a school house and the kittens are all marching to school.

That brings to me something she said yesterday.  We had bought a clearance geology kit and put it up with her supplies for next year.  She asked when we are starting school again.  I told her August 2nd.  She said 'Why can't it be August 1st?' She dived into 'summer projects' making decorations with stencils and markers and her drawings today.  She wants to work more in Minecraft today again - making another house by the bank in Freeway world.  In short, she is starting to want to 'do things' a bit more ...especially when Mom is home on her days off.

//am getting some more of her curriculum together... poetry, geology things, some ideas for projects and trips...I would like to take her a few more places this year but not sure how we can do it (time, distance etc.)

At the duck park

 

 

 

We went to Mulberry Park today, in McKenzie, TN and met up with some friends.  Esme wanted to take pictures of the ducks, and to feed them.  We went for a little ice cream afterwards and to play for a while.

M4817 McCalls multilayer sundress pattern.  I intended to cut out the size 6, but some of the pieces for the top were closer to the size 8 - so I might need to add a pair of ties to the back to keep it from being the tiny bit gappy while she grows.  I reduced it by one layer, and also pleated it, instead of gathering it..because I 'roll that way' when I sew.  I hate to gather the fabric first.  The pink fabric was something she had chosen years ago for pants and I couldn't quite bring myself to work with it (eye searing)...but a matching pair of shorts for this might be doable now that this turned out so well.  She added the silk flower.  She is uncanny sometimes....I had just been looking at that spot and wondering what to do with the little bit of ugly stitching that had happened at that spot and she was at my elbow with the flower a friend gave her today.  I do worry a bit how well that part will wash...but we'll see.

Who is Pippi?  We'll have to read that sometime...

 Article:
Rainforest mind - linked to me by a friend of mine, look at later

What do I hear all the time, now?  'Speaking of xxxx, ......goes on with some question or comment'.  I can directly trace that to Gadget the mouse from Rescue Rangers. :) Ha!

Thursday

8.30a    - minecraft - built a water 'ride' that was many levels high.. lots of thought required and she built something very cool!  The goal was to start at the top and not have the player press any keys, but flow down the 'ride' without stopping, hanging up anywhere etc..  She had to work out several things- enough space for the player, containment of the water, and how to keep things flowing.  The second picture shows a flock of chickens riding down - and they were all 'alive' at the bottom.


12.30p    - break

3.30p    - cleaning up
4p    - paper snowflakes
4.30p   - cleaning up her work table that was full of stuff!  Putting things away, reorganizing supplies.
reading The Way things Work (mammoth version) and Pokemon book on her own
5:30p - done, off to play downstairs, bounce around and return to reading now and then, supervise me making a dress for her a few times here and there...  She wanted to go outside and play more baseball but came right back in saying it was too  cold!

 

McCalls M6594, 'B' version,size 8ish

I made one 2 years ago in a size 6, and put the dress pattern up as it was 'not my favorite' type of construction, lots of casing and tiny elastic.  She is wearing that dress in the snowflake picture. I tried to copy the 'makedo' waist elastic that it has... the way in the instructions just isn't something I could wrap my head around then and not now, either... but this is a technique from a sundress pattern I had back then and it worked again.  She says she loves being a flower made of leaves and twirling and curtseying like a princess. Her requests are another one in purple and one in blue, too - like Cinderella.  I was planning on making a few more now that I've gotten some more practice under my belt.

Green zig zag dress

Extremely wet hair but all smiles as she tries on her new dress - it is like a princess :)  Daddy said it was like a Swedish dancing dress, mostly because of all the ruffles and the bow in the back.  I took in a lot of room at the neck zipper to make it fit better (because of the issue I spoke of earlier with the pattern and my inattention to the zipper/button area), and that actually worked out nicely with extra pleats and ruffles in the skirt.  The tie back strips make a pretty bow and that draws it in just a bit more.

Daddy was making funny faces at her and she did a beautiful smile

 

Not the best picture for the back - but she was twirling so much it was hard to catch one at all ;)

bit

It was a very early work day today.  After that I was out and weeding more between the corn - it needed it, and with all the grass that was pulled out, it needed hilling up around the stalks, as well.  I am hoping I haven't killed any/too many with pulling so much grass next to their roots.  The grass needed to go, though.

I plan to plant some cornfield beans in there among a few of them.  Did some research on what beans in my collection have been used as cornfield beans in the past - and have chosen the Mayflower / Red Nightfall beans to do that.  They have a history with the Amish and are listed under many names.  In the past I've only planted them on back fences and have been disappointed with how delicate to full sun and how late yielding they are.  This might be the better use for them... we'll see, I went through my jars and actually found a good quantity.  It is nice they are not so rare, too - so if they fail badly I will be able to find more if I want them.  They will appreciate some shade between the stalks as well as be light bodied enough not to pull the corn down with them.  I spent a little over two hours out there today and that was more than enough on top of the early freight day ... without it actually being done to my liking yet.  I had a nice raspberry, eucalyptus and tea tree oil bath afterwards :)

In the house I have eggplant seedlings that still need to go out.  The tomato seedlings from the other day are a little sunburnt but seem to be holding up.  There are little peppers on the banana pepper plant, and the very fringe beginnings of green beans on the Providers, which has a strange black edge leaf thing going on.  I should thin out the salad rose radishes again, as well... 

I did a few more rows on the big gypsy moth colors blanket, as I couldn't think of anything else I had energy for.  The dress I was making for Esme really needs to be tackled again - but I know the gathers will take a bit more thought power than I had tonight.  Esme was really wanting a friend, and playing with her on games she had made up... but there was only so much we wanted to take on there - she ended up disappointed I didn't play her picnic and balloon games to her liking... but then, I was a bit disappointed she didn't help me at all in the garden.  She just kept 'talking to the corn', asking it questions and saying 'uh huh, hmm, sorry to hear that Mama Corn, Daddy corn, kid corns - how are you, are you alright?'  silly... a bit strange, ha.  She did feed the chickens some of the grass and did not step on anything.

Also, halfway through 'Mrs.Lincoln's Dressmaker' book... taking that to work with me daily, and read a little of it at Esme's 'reading pirate party - you can do anything you want' party in our truck bed.  It was getting dark and buggy, though... could not actually interest her in reading her own books at first, then she brought out her Make and Do book which she loves, and went through reading bits in that..  I am planning to take her to the library again on Friday to return her books.  I think I have the second already checked out for after this one, there might be something else in between them, though.  I don't want to put much else on Friday, though... want mostly to stay at home and get things done.

Mostly simple brown dress

 Brown dress (this is a color that looks good on Esme, so I grabbed it up when I saw it at two dollars a yard), with little leftovers of blue dot fabric for facings and a butterfly/bug applique for decoration.

I started this Christmas night and finished it tonight.  I haven't done one in a while and it was nice to finish one again.  Esme has been wearing handmade dresses during her school break and they still look so good on her in this style.

Pink Raglan dress from Simplicity 7465 copyright 1967 with alterations

  

Simplicity 7465, copyright 1967

I made this today, with some alterations.

This pattern caught me into buying it because it boasted raglan sleeves or regular looking sleeves in the same pattern.  Do you see how they did it?  They put a yoke on one version of the dress - using the same lower half of the dress, and the raglan sleeves when added to the yoked version turn out looking very normal with set-in shoulder and armhole.  The version without the yoke comes up and finishes like a regular raglan.

I made several alterations to the pattern from the get-go.  I couldn't help myself - plus I had already cut a pair of pants out of the fabric I had bought, and had to 'make up' for not having the entire two yards anymore that I had planned for.  But, I knew I could do it - and with a bit of fiddling here and there, it happened.

Here is Esme pretending a knitting needle is a wand, and goofing off.. she is casting a magic spell.  I love the way the sleeves move, as I said in another post - sewing takes 2D and makes it 3D, then you get to see 3D in motion on a body.  The sizing of this one - size 6 chest 25, is a little large on her, and I made the long version instead of shortening it like I normally do.  But, it works on her - and it will grow with her over the next year or so better for having long sleeves now.

The skirt has some excess planned into it for the tie back, which allows her to both be comfortable in it standing or sitting and run as well.  It is a good design.  I had her try it on to make sure I had put the ties at her waistline before I sewed them down for permanency.   This picture also shows the slightly fallen yellow hairtie ribbons I put in her hair this morning for school.

The dress after it was finished - it really looked too big on the hanger, almost a size 7 or 8... not a 6.  Esme even said when she saw it that it was too big for her!  But the ties (seen below) were not tied tight at that time, either.  I took a second fabric I had and put panels in the front skirt because I had not put the inverted pleat in.. they weren't much, but enough to ensure it would not hang tight.  I've tried the inverted pleat before and been dissatisfied with it.. so I wasn't willing to try it with this fabric, maybe another time to do this pattern 'as it is written'?  Maybe not.. I know what works on her, and I know what my sewing style likes...which is what works on her :)

Pre-wear on the hanger, back ties.  It was supposed to have buttons, but I altered for a zipper.  It stays much better on her.  The other alteration I did is slightly visible here, but not otherwise.  I cut the back pieces apart at the center waist to reposition the fabric and make the most out of my short yardage.  I would not have gotten them out of the fabric in full pieces.  It is seen only as a disturbance in the pattern but the pattern is so all-over eye-dazzling that it doesn't matter much. 

Yay for good sewing projects :)

Purple Gray dress for Kindergarten

 Probably a touch on the 'formal' side - she said it was 'just like a gown', but it is the same basic idea as the other dresses I made for her last year, and which she wore to preschool.  This was fabric I had on hand and a remnant from her other dress for 'pretty'.  I had some pink fabric I wanted to use but it wasn't washed and dried yet.  The fit is just about perfect so it should be easy to whip up a few more time permitting.

I played with the front pleats a little because the back pleats were SO full... hopefully it looks like a happy medium.  The sleeves on this work out the most perfect of any pattern (this is Butterick 3600 again, size 6 with very few alterations, copyright 1960).  The zipper up the back does make it really easy for her to put on - doesn't sound like it would, huh?  She can get her head and arms into it without any 'trapped' feeling and then come to us to pull the zipper up.  It fits on a hanger nicely and she is learning to pull the zipper down to get the hanger out.

A few more of these and she will be ready for K this year - and a few new pairs of pants.  As Mark said last night, she will be 'teased' by those kinds of kids no matter what she wears - and this works for us on all levels.  Until she asks for something else in particular I'll sew her some high quality well-fitting clothing and send her off in it and we'll see where she leads me about it.

For pants I'm using size 5 Simplicity 6583 copyright 1974 and it is a perfect fit, as well - just the right length and with a 21 inch elastic in the waist.

Interesting:  We are watching 'Colonial House' on DVD borrowed from Grandma, and I am examining the set of their sleeves, and the arrangement of pleats and tucks while I was sewing this dress up at the same time... ironic :)  I know that those clothes were made by hand by someone for the show - but I doubt they were made specifically for those people, just to a general size.  The people on the show think the clothes are uncomfortable...  I am making these dresses for Esme because they fit her better and last longer than storebought..

I'm sure the insides of the 'period' clothing are much less simple though.. and multiple layers would not help with comfort, and being in an environment full of bugs without air conditioning in the heat or heat in the cold adds on to that as well.

I need a pretty dancing dress for the show in the big town...

Esme had plans this morning at 8 am.. it is noon and I have gotten about this far... not bad for staring at the patterns for an hour trying to figure out what was simple enough for my brain today.  I have been down sick but her story this morning was quite coherent (if imaginary).  She said she had to teach kids how to dance in the big town, a long long way that a way, that is where it is - she needs a pretty dress, a dancing dress, so she can dance (ballerina moves) like that and like that, so I have to get up out of bed, not be sick, and sew a dress.  I was thinking to aspire to napkins today, or a little patchwork - so I stared through my stack until I found something simple enough I could perhaps not sew everything to the wrong side without noticing it... and then found a few fabrics that would suffice.   We will see how it works out.  I still sound like a Canada Goose when I talk, but not quite so much it is unintelligible.  Mark is getting a bit of it now, too - poor guy.  He says some childhood cold like disease has grabbed us and is going to make us suffer slow through it.

And she has been playing Creature saving on Wild Kratts on Pbskids.org all morning and having me come read the things she can't understand on the test questions - but she is playing the actual keystroke and mouse parts of the games just fine - with a few despairs but we have told her she can do something else if she can't do that game - and she just dives back in and tries again, usually getting it.

She is eating her lunch and saying she is thinking she will to Grandma's today 'I was thinking about - I go to Grandma's, like that.' I say she needs to finish her food and then we will call and ask. She says: 'but, I will get bored from that, and I will cry.'  Oh really, now?  Then, maybe you'll have to stay home anyway.  Oh, No!  I'm all done with the two food, the drink and the ravioli, but, there is a little bit of pudding, like that (shows me the yogurt cup, makes efforts to start cleaning it out with her spoon).'

She says she is all ready to go see Grandma, with her boots on her hands.  She says she is the hand shoe master, and how can she go to the show now.  I told the Hand Shoe Master (as she is running downstairs playing patty cake with her boots on her hands, still) to change her clothes, put her shoes on her feet, wash her hands and then we'll call Grandma.

The dress in question, blue seersucker and cotton fabrics from stash

A little glittery tulle trim around the waist to make an otherwise 'plain' dress fancier.

Simplicity 9897 circa 1972 size 6

She is quite happy with it, and the cookie, and the cartoon after having been in a bubble bath. She couldn't look more pleased as punch if she tried.. I think. Looking at it - it kind of (kind of) reminds me of Merida's blue dress in Brave, as well.. but that is mostly the expression and wild hair with the similar color.

Note: She says that singing makes her brain mad - and the cheetahs bumping her in her game make her brain mad.. she was in quite a tizzy about that last night - so much we told her she could just go to bed if she wanted to keep it up (7:30!) So, she settled down and watched Clifford, but I kept hearing about the cheetahs from her position underneath a bucket at the end of the bed... and how her brain was still mad. *sigh* Five! She went to bed easily, though - even though I was too tired to read a book. We'll see how the morning goes.

Handmade things by KnitOwl - and other bits

The KnitOwl shop is still open, and I will be adding things to it as I can.  There is so much handmade in this house and the 'fall to winter rush' for our own use is almost over - so there is time (I hope) to make some other things.

Scarves being made for the

KnitOwl shop 

 100% wool, basketweave hand knit 

brown variegated and (coming) blue variegated 

Esme talking to me about being out in the frost before we take her to school


Size 6 1960's smock dress with back zipper

Handmade toys in several styles
Bambi toy and blue summer - to - fall dress

Someone at Esme's school said they recognized her 'from the internet, somewhere'... if you made it here then 'Hi!' - this is our little corner, and where I post the clothing I make for Esme,   I was "just" a toymaker, making custom dolls and animals for people at my Etsy shop for five years before I had Esme.  But then I couldn't find anything that fit her right - and I dove into making clothing as well.   Women in my family have made clothes and toys for their families for generations. My mom passed along some general sewing knowledge but not much about clothes - so I had to learn as much as I could by doing, trial-and-error, and seeing what other people were doing on the Internet at the same time.

There are a lot of 'handmade' clothing shops out on the Internet - everyone is different, and my style of making is much more 'old school' than many of those out there now.  I don't know many who would hand work a buttonhole anymore, and my sewing friends think I am nuts to sew in a zipper by hand.  But, I do it because it turns out better for me.   I found out that these handmade clothes actually last a lot longer than storebought knits and were a better investment for our household in the long run.  And, I didn't have to fight dressing rooms and too-tight t-shirt necks.   Each piece takes about an hour to three hours of handwork and sewing machine work, and has zigzagged interior seams, turned and edged facings, handworked buttonholes and zippers sewn in by hand.  The clothes are sewn using 'antique' or vintage patterns (1940s to 1970s collection, size 2 through 10) and given alterations based on what the child needs.  I face with simple cotton fabrics and do not use seam or bias tape.

I do take custom orders - but only for those serious few who want handmade 'old made' things... the results will last a long time, hard washing in the washing machine and hard play outdoors in mud and rain.  However, they do require measurements and sometimes a try on to see where the 'problem areas' are.  For myself, the problem area is my wide shoulders.  For little one, it is also the wide shoulders, long legs and skinny waist.  When things are handmade, allowances can be discovered and made for such things that would require long searching in off-the-rack clothes!

All that said - I still work full time, and sometimes growth spurts here keep me from making much at all otherwise.  Maybe that will change over the next year - we'll see. I'll try to put up a few more things in the shop, and see if there is anyone out there willing to take the dive!

Black Friday, riding in the car in her handknit jacket, helping to take Mom to work

 

Size 5 Blue long sleeved dress and shorts from 1960s McCalls pattern with back ties 

Hobby Horse
 

dress ideas

We went and spent part of the day with Miss Diana, and Esme had a good time with the neighbor boy again. They ran all over the place - and Esme was a truly bossy cow all over the place. She needs to learn to quit that! Diana made a comment to me that I was a dressmaker, not a quilter... and I told her yes, I would never take the 'pains' with a quilt problem that I would with a dress problem. That definitely makes me a dressmaker. I'd even make the same dress eight times over (have done, yes I'm guilty) just to find the answer to something. A quilt is just a quilt.... patchwork is interesting sometimes, but still... it just lays there, and the binding stage irks the ire out of me, so I will often mash it down and do it haphazard just to be done and not feel any guilt over it. I guilt over shortchanging the stitching near a zipper on a dress that will be worn many times... I check it every time it comes out of the wash for damages, in order to know where reinforcements are needed next time. Yes. I'm a dressmaker.

Diana showed me a dress she really liked on Marimekko that was ultra-expensive, but she wanted to duplicate in some way to wear to a wedding this summer. I'm showing her a few of the patterns I have in my collection, maybe something will be alterable. And then she needs to find a similar print, as their fabric is also ultra-expensive (65.00 a yard!)... but I knew it was Marimekko as soon as she said 'dress from finland in a magazine.' ;) I've followed them for a while.. just in pictures, of course. They are excellent.


not that dress, but another one
I liked out of a magazine

This is a dress I tore out of a magazine last month. I've been keeping it in my stash of ideas because I love the waistline, how it is pleated and falls into soft waves under a crisp simple bodice.

I also found this pattern when I was looking for things that looked like Diana's dress. It doesn't look anything like it - but it truly is different. The wide square collar that goes back over the shoulders... very different indeed.


7302 McCalls

I guess all this means I'll have to make 'a' belted dress this summer. We'll see. I still have to remake the green dress from last year because it is no longer a good fit. It might take well to a belt!

sewing and growth blurb

Esme's robin dress from February is already shorter on her than it was then. I don't think IT shrunk. I think she grew! The skirt falls an inch or two shorter than it did back then, as well.


Today, in April 2011

Part of this picture is her positioning, but the sleeves are still much shorter than they were when it was made. When she stands up and the sleeve hangs normally it is still about an inch off her wristbone - where I had measured to place it when it was made.


In February, 2011

Her new measurements are:
Arm length: 12.25 inches from shoulder to wrist
Chest measurement: 22 inches
Leg measurement from waist to ankle : 20 inches
Waist measurement: (to be gotten later - she is watching Electric Company)

I did not remember her arm length last time - but the other two are definitely more than her measurements last time.

She needs more shorts for the summer and by this observation I will need to make some more dresses. However - sleeve length does not matter as much in the summer as it does in the winter! A further note - she is just about to grow out of the size 10 leather maryjanes she has been wearing so long again. I put thicker socks on her the other day at her request and the shoes barely fit!


Simplicity 5937

Another pattern I have picked up in size 5. It is a pattern for a jumper dress or tunic (with gathered waist) and bell bottom pants. The only thing it lacks terribly is a sleeve - but that can be easily made up from another pattern or done without.


No I no sleep I go see Grandma

Also, caught this picture of Esme falling asleep while eating yesterday. It had been a long hard day of her running around while we tilled the garden up. When I tried to get her to wake up she said 'No camera not funny - I go see Grandma' and then fell back asleep to the point where she was about to fall backwards off of the table and caught herself. Then Daddy and I picked her up and tucked her into her bed to the tune of more protests of 'No I go see Grandma no rabbit no blanket no.. *crash*' In about five minutes she was back up and playing and we got no rest until much later in the night. But, it was a nice thought that we might all get to bed early.



Pay attention to the bottom left corner of this picture. She was entirely asleep and Nova was certain she could steal the pizza crusts and run off.

//
The measurement of the Swiffer head is about 10 by 5 inches.

Plans for more alterations to Lizzie's dress

I brought nothing else to work today to take up the leftover lunch hour - so instead I drew out plans for how to alter Lizzie's dress. I had worked them out in my mind using her picture, so I'll see how it comes together with the actual pattern tonight. Altering Esme's dress using the photograph and a mathematical plan worked really well.

Process of this dress:
Step 1: Make a plan based on measurements and/or picture of previous work (check)
Step 2: Make drawing paper copies of the original pattern (check)
Step 3: Make alterations to the paper copies (check)
Step 4: Choose fabric (check! wow it was easy)
Step 5: Prepare fabric (working on that right now)
Step 6: Trace and cut all pieces of pattern (also in progress)
Step 7: Begin to sew pieces together and finish inside seams
Step 8: Do all facings and hems.
Step 9: Pin and sew in the zipper by hand.
Step 10: Take pictures!
Step 11: Send it out in the mail to her and have her try it on. *oh boy*
Step 12: Get pictures and see if did a good job!

I've also signed up to a new service on skillpages. I'll see if I get anyone else who would like me to try altering or making clothes for their little ones near here. I know people are always looking for someone to take up curtains by 6 inches or split a panel of curtains or etc... so I would be willing to do something small like that as well.

Sewing and Dressmaking near Paris, TN : Marie Lamb

I have finished Esme's short-sleeved blue dress and the other one is cut out and waiting to be made up. It was a beautiful day out - and Esme and Daddy went walking and visited Grandma and Grandpa. I got to see a gorgeous sunset just as I came home. Esme is napping now, so I'll go to the machine and see what I can do.

Remake robin dress

This is the original pattern: Simplicity 8714, copyright 1970

I made one without any alterations to the bodice in this blue fabric with a 'standard' bell sleeve piece. But - I decided it needed quite a few alterations to fit her better. I lowered the neckline, made the shoulder head higher, dropped the waist an inch and a bit, and reduced the sleeve width by quite a bit. link that shows the alterations done to this dress from the original pattern


And this is the 'remake', which I am happy with. I like the way it fits in the neck and shoulders much better with the alterations. It pulls just slightly near the shoulders where I have it held back with ties - but that is a good place for it to do that - it gives her extra room if she needs it and the ties hold it closer to her waist.

The coloring could have been much better for her -- but it was remnant material, and I think it turned out fairly well for something I wasn't sure was going to work out.

I may have even solved the 'second arm' problem, at least temporarily. How? I made her give me the opposite arm (the one she is having trouble with before) first - get it in - and then somehow the other arm went in just fine. That could be because I 'slowed her down' by asking for the opposite arm and she had to think hard instead of just full-speed ahead. If I continue to use the opposite arm first she may go right back to having the problem? We'll see. I think she needs another one in dark blue or medium green.

---

And for the future I snagged this:



Butterick 3200
1960s, size 6

I've had my eye on this one for a while - the artwork is beautiful and the pattern itself is elegant, easy to alter into a number of different things. Ever since I saw it has been much too rich for my blood - and of course being vintage the supply is limited. So... when I saw this size 6 for 'decent price' today I bought it. I often feel guilty about buying supplies that are not 'steals' well before I'll use them. BUT - I can't feel all that guilty about this one - because I've used size 5's for Lizzie lately and I know I will use it in the future for Esme. It still cost less shipped than a full-price childrens t-shirt would cost - and will return much more that in finished garments. Yes - I'm still trying to justify it *ha*... that is just how I am.