Saturday, September 13, 2008

What's been stitchin. . ..

Once again, too much time has passed since my last post. I've been busy catching up on custom orders and did another show last weekend. It was a small affair, but being the only handmade clothing vendors there, my friend Stacy and I did alright. I'm thinking of doing another small Bluegrass festival next weekend, but we will see.

Earlier this week I finished a pair of arm warmers. The gal that bought them from me at the Rothbury festival lost them at another festival. Who would have thought people actually take these off? She really liked the leaves I had put on the original pair, so I added some extra ones for her. I really like them. Kinda got me thinking I should make more! Oh, and I've been using old computer paper as a stabilizer behind my fabrics as I applique. Sure rips away a helluva lot easier than the "tear-away" stabilizer I've been slapping money down for.



My latest custom has been one on the drawing board for some time now. My client Linda from Australia wanted a long sleeve dress. She is losing weight and wanted to use one of my dresses as an incentive to drop the lbs. Now the time has come for the completion due date and I have it ready for her.

For Linda's dress, the first bodice turned out too small. Instead of re-working it to make a bigger size, I just set it aside to use sometime later. I made a new bodice out of different fabrics that coordinated with the beautiful leaf print I picked up at a wonderful quilt shop in MD. The fabric really spoke for itself and I needed to do a simple style to keep its' integrity.

Here's the second version of the dress:

I thought it looked too bulky. Especially for a lady who has lost/is losing weight. Who wants to look like a lardass again after losing weight?? See how the pleats make this SOOO unflattering in the tummy area? So I cut it apart and tried again. Of course, this time, the bodice was too big. Hell-ooo?? Measure twice, cut once, like the old man told me. The damn thing was like 2 inches too big! I made the bodice smaller and also took two panels out of the skirting. Then it fit together like magic and, oh god, I hope she likes it. I ended up making her a bag to go along with it, feeling like it needed some company.

So here it is, in its finished stage.

The bag has two sides. I put a dragonfly pocket on the striped corduroy side and patched up the other side. I really like it! Reusable grocery bags are HOT!



I put some "quilting" stitches around the body of the dragonfly on the dress to give it more of a handmade touch. If I hadn't told ya'll about my machine stitchin' it, you probably woulda thought I did it!


yeah, I guess you can't see the stitches too well. . .

So back to that bodice I made too small for Linda. Well, here it is, as a patchwork goddess Dragonfly dress, in an incomplete stage. I may end up using the back of the skirt for the front--not sure of the layout just yet.
Hope to finish this up within the next couple of hours:

Did you guys know about BLOGLINES? It is a place where you can stay up to date on your favorite bloggers. Like me! haha! Each time a new feed is posted by a blogger, your blog list gets updated. The new feed is in bold, and ya just click on it and the new post goes to the right of your screen, in another frame. It's awesome! No more seaching for blogs to read!


Well, guess that's it! Thanks for keeping in touch! Pin It
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