Score!

I bought a big huge box of patterns at a garage sale today. I'm super excited because there are a whole range of decades represented, from the 1940's to the 1990's. Some really awesome dress patterns, some which I will be posting pics of here and there.

But the one that has me most excited is this one, for purely personal reasons. It's not even vintage:

I'm 90% positive that this is the first dress pattern I ever made (or one from a different company but the same general style), when I was around 13. It was a 4-H project, and I made it in a very dark blue tiny floral print. I loved that dress, and wore it until I outgrew it.

It was a pretty simple beginner project (although it wasn't my first sewing project ever, I think I'd done some kulottes and a wrap skirt before) except for the cord that laced up the back, which was self-fabric and HARD to turn inside out. I think the only reason I got through it was because my mom did most of that part.

If I am ever able to dig up a picture of that dress, I will post it here.

This second pattern I originally thought was a girl's pattern, not a misses pattern, because of the model's exceptionally youthful look, but no, it would fit me. Not that I plan to make it, unless I am suddenly in need of a maternity top.

Doesn't the model in the upper left look like she needs an exorcist, stat?

Fresh Today: Baby Goats

We have been expecting the goats to start kidding any day now. Two weeks ago, we were expecting them to start kidding any day. Some of them are HUGE.

Today at least the weather was sunny, though not as warm as some days have been lately. The wind was blowing pretty good, though.

The first hour or so of a baby goat's life is pretty important. They have to learn to do two basic things: stand up and eat. They don't catch on as quick as you might think. The drama unfolds about like this:

Baby goat thrashes his legs around, trying to stand up. He makes it to his knees, then decides it's too much effort, and sinks back to the ground. After a few seconds of contemplation, he tries again, gets halfway up, and falls over sideways. Immediately he tries to surge to his feet, and makes it all the way for one glorious second, at which point north knee and west knee simultaneously fly out in opposite directions and it's back to the drawing board. Another attempt has him taking one wobbly step (and onlookers cheering), and then his front end slowly slides forward, knees stiff, resembling "downward facing dog". Maybe he's given up walking and gone for yoga.

This process repeats itself for awhile. Eventually he staggers over to mama, who licks him encouragingly, maybe even nudges him towards the milk bar with her head. He starts butting at her kneecap, attempting to nurse (Food: Ur doin' it wrong). When he finally does make it back to the appropriate location, he makes an enthusiastic lunge for the udder and falls on his face again.

With two kids, it's double the fun to watch. For awhile we watched them see-saw back and forth. One would get up, and the other would fall down. When that one got up, the other one fell down. Then both managed to get up, stand there all wobbly, and simultaneously fall down again. And eating took them a long time to master. It seems like such a basic instinct, but apparently is harder than learning to walk. However, they seem to have got the hang of things, finally.

Past Projects - Number 1

I thought it would be nice to show some pics of the dresses I made before I had a blog. If I can, I'm going to dig up some of the REALLY old pictures from junior high and high school (4-H and home ec. projects). But we'll see. I'm not sure some of those should be seen by the general public.
This I made maybe two years? ago, when I first started dreaming about making dresses from vintage patterns. It is a muslin, made of the cheapest, lowest quality cotton I've seen. It was fifty cents a yard. The fabric is very thin. I had to make the bodice of a double layer, and a slip is absolutely necessary. I like blue, but the pattern, a sort of batik-looking violet floral, isn't really something I'm wild about.

It was a Frankenstein of these two patterns, plus sleeves I drafted from scratch:





I feel very much like a Mennonite when I wear it, although truthfully, they would never wear something with that neckline. Mostly, this is a wear-around-the-house dress, although it makes me look somewhat overdressed. Thus the sandals. I find in the summer when it is hot, a dress or skirt is more comfortable than pants, as long as I don't feel like I need to wear uncomfortable shoes, and the skirt is full enough for free movement.

Good Things in the Mail!

Look what I got in the mail today!

There is a story behind these cute patterns. See, I bought this other pattern on Ebay.

It is an unprinted pattern, probably from the forties. As you can see, it has some very unique details, and is pretty uncommon. After the auction ended, the other bidder on the pattern contacted me through E-bay and asked if she could buy it from me after I was done with it. At first I thought it was a little bit of a strange request, but it is a unique style of dress, and not something that I've seen before, and vintage patterns are hard to find in the right size.

Well, I have a lot more planned projects than I do time to make things, so I wrote her back saying it could be a long time before I was done with it, so I proposed a trade. She traded me the two patterns at the top for a tracing of the Ebay pattern. I think it worked out great, and we both got something we wanted. Sometimes the Internet is so cool.

The Marian Martin dress is next on my list of things I want to sew, after I am done with the baby quilt for my sister. It's going to take around four yards, though. Brandon's grandmother gave me 4 yards of some pretty blue floral fabric the other day, so I will probably try the pattern out in that. It will be my first unprinted pattern.

The Girl Scouts of America are evil...

...and I'll tell you why. I bought some Thin Mints, and half the package is gone. After that half of the package is gone, I'm going to want more Thin Mints, but they aren't selling them again until next year.

I looked in the ingredient list, and "crack" isn't listed as an ingredient, but I'm sure that it's in there. It's a good thing they don't sell them all year round, actually, because if they did I'd be knocking over convenience stores for my next fix.


see more crazy cat pics">

Easter Dress

I'm calling this my Easter dress, because hey, that's as good an excuse as any to make a dress. Although I made less for wearing to church and more for wearing around casually. I finished it last night and pressed Brandon into service as my photographer.

I got three yards of the butterfly fabric on impulse. That was all there was left. The pattern, it turned out, called for more, because the skirt is meant to be on the bias. I laid it out and had just enough to cut it on the straight grain(and absolutely no margin for error. The pockets are in red because I didn't have enough of the butterfly print for pockets.) As you can see, it didn't noticeably affect much.

The dress went together well, and I used a new zipper technique (out of Sew What! Skirts). You baste the zipper seam together and then use fabric glue to tack the zipper down to the wrong side of the fabric, centered over the seam. Then you stitch neatly (in theory at least) 1/4" on each side of the zipper seam on the right side of the fabric to fasten the zipper down, and rip out the basting stitches. And voila! There you have it, the easiest zipper installation method I've tried, even if it doesn't look any better than any other zipper I've done.

I used the new rolled hem foot to hem it, and while it looks okay from a distance in the picture, in real life I need to go back and redo some parts. I have pretty much mastered the rolled hem foot for straight hems, but the slight curve of this hem kept throwing me off.

I really like how this dress turned out. The bodice isn't really my favorite, but the shape of the skirt is very nice. I can't wait for some actual warm weather to wear it in. Right now it is blustery and cold out, although the sun is shining, deceitfully making it look warm.

A Helpful Tutorial

Using the rolled hem feet is not as easy to figure out as I had hoped. I messed around for an hour or so with them, trying to make a consistent, even hem, and came up with this (and this is the best). The piece of fabric had been cut perfectly square on my cutting mat.

The instructions that came with them are nearly useless. So this morning I went looking for an online tutorial. I found several, including a video tutorial, but the most useful one was here, at The Sewing Divas.

I looked at the pics, read through the instructions, looked at the pics again, and something clicked, and I realized what I'd been doing wrong all along (putting the pre-rolled hem at the start under the right side of the foot).