You say you want a resolution...

New Year's resolutions. I usually don't make any because they always seem so trivial and I never stick to them anyway. But given the impending move, I have decided that I should make some sewing resolutions. Sewing resolutions have actually worked for me in the past and in a funny way. In 2005 I was pregnant and working on a wall-hanging that I'd started in 2000 when Maeve was an infant. I'd forgotten all about it and then came across all of the parts and I really wanted to finish it. I'd also started a baby quilt. Then I had a still birth at 22 weeks and I put it away because I couldn't deal with looking at it. New Year's was tough for me that year because it had been my due date. But after New Year I resolved to catch up on some projects and finish them and the wall-hanging was one of them. I told myself that I had to finish it by March so that I could get pregnant again. I finished it around March 1st and ended up getting pregnant later that month, the result of which was Gwyneth. That wall-hanging is in Tallon's room now and I always get compliments on it. I eventually dug out the quilt I'd started in 2005 and it became Gwyn's baby quilt.

1. I will complete all mending tasks by the end of January.
Right now I've got a huge pile of mending that needs to be done and which I've been putting off because, let's face it - mending is boring. However, I don't really want to move with an entire footlocker full of mending/repairs that are waiting to be done. Yes, there really are that many. So I'm committed to doing them all before the end of the month. Realistically it should take about a week or so. I think. Most of it is hand-sewing stuff, lots of darning and repairing of small holes, so it should go fairly quickly.

2. I will finish T-bird's quilt by Valentine's Day.
I'm a lazy schmuck. Okay that's not really true, though I have my moments. But seriously, I really should finish my son's baby quilt before he turns 2, don't you think? It's true that I started it late - I was wrapped up in making the girls their Easter dresses when I was pregnant with him and he did arrive about 10 days ahead of schedule. But in all honesty I could have gotten it started sooner. I didn't even bother to put the top together until two days before he was born! I just haven't been in the mood to quilt. But now I've really got to finish it because my brother and his wife are expecting their first child and I really have to make a quilt for that baby, so Tallon's has to get finished.

3. I will complete all of the pre-cut projects that are on my list.
RIght now this consists of only 1 dress for Maeve and a skirt for Gwyn, but I have other things I want to complete. The thing is that moving will not make things easy on my sewing stash and I need to put together all of the things that are currently cut out so that I won't lose any pieces.

4. I will actually sew something for myself.
I have lots that I want to make from Ottobre Woman but I've been so caught up in sewing for the other 3 that I haven't put anything together. I really want to make a couple of t-shirts and at least 1 skirt and 1 dress. I have the fabrics, it's merely a question of doing it. I think that this is the hardest thing to stick to, since I don't have a dressmaker's form and I hate having to measure myself. But I am determined to make something cute for me.

I'm always curious about other people's resolutions. Almost everyone I know resolves to lose weight, which they then feel guilty about because there is always something that gets in the way. I've done that in the past and it never seems to work out, so I'm going to try to be more active and be more mindful of what I eat but I'm not setting any specific goals. That way I won't beat myself up about not hitting my weight loss goals. What I would really like is to be able to exercise the way I did back in 2002-20034. Yes, the ultimate goal was weight loss but I wasn't really paying that much attention to the scale. Instead I was focusing on how often I exercised and for how long and how I felt afterward. I ended up losing a good deal of weight and made a formal dress that was fabulous. I can't fit in that dress now but I'd like to. What I'd really like, though, is to be able to get on my elliptical trainer and go 3 miles in 40 minutes and feel all sweaty and tired but exhilarated at the same time. It's a goal worth reaching. I sort of fell out of the habit of exercising when I had foot surgery in 2004 and never really got back into it. I want to, though, because I really did feel great after the workouts. And the side benefit of weight loss/toning is always something to smile about.

And the hits just keep on coming...

So, Christmas has come and gone and lots of hits have come our way since the last blog entry -unfortunately almost none of them good. Let's see if I can find a silver lining in these clouds as I sift through them.

First, the future. Scott was to find out which program had selected him for his intern year. He was really excited because he'd had extremely good interviews with the staff in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department at Walter Reed and that was his first choice. His second choice was Psychiatry at Walter Reed but he'd been told that he was required to list it as a third choice, with a transition year as his second choice, so he'd listed a transition year at Madigan Army Medical Center in Ft. Lewis, WA. We'd talked about it and we figured that even if PM&R didn't take him that Psych would (he'd also had good interviews with them) so we'd be able to stay local, Maeve would be able to stay in the same school system for another year or more and we'd even be able to to maybe buy a house.

None of this happened. Instead, we get the curveball: transition year at Madigan. I won't go into the details, except to say that the PM&R director called to make sure that Scott reapplied to the program in order to do the residency, even though he didn't make the preselected slots and to assure Scott that he had wanted him - was his first choice, in fact - but that the committee ranked all of the non-prior military service people higher, that most of the committee members were non-military doctors, and that the 2 military doctors who wanted Scott in the program were deployed and tried to send in their votes via email but the civilian committee members rejected the email submissions.

So now we are presented with the need to move across the country, rather than across town. And while this is a move that won't cost us in terms of the packing and the moving (thank you, US Army), it is likely to cost us excess charges for having more weight than we are allowed due to our enormous collection of books and other random crap. It's also going to cost us gas and tolls and who knows what-all, because the likelihood is that the Army won't pay for one of our vehicles to be shipped to WA and we'll end up having to pay for Scott's Civic to be shipped while we all pile into the minivan and make a trek across the country.

And Scott has a report date of sometime around the 15th of June, which means we need to leave in May, right after graduation, in order to spend a week driving and then find a house when we get there.

Which means that Maeve won't be able to finish 5th grade here.

Which means that our things will have to get packed during the 2nd week of May. Which means that we'll have to live in temporary housing after all of our furniture is gone and that's likely to be the Navy Lodge in Bethesda. And that means that I'll have to get up much earlier than usual in order to take Maeve to school, though maybe we'll be able to borrow some Aerobeds from the in-laws so that we can stay in our house while we clean it and get everything ready to leave and maybe only stay at the Navy Lodge a couple of nights.

And then there was the prospect of being pregnant while all this was going on and not wanting to drive across the country for a week. Would I be able to make the cut-off for flying while pregnant, in order to make that part easier?

Well, that part doesn't matter now. A mere week after finding out about the move, I went to the doctor because I'd been spotting on and off and it concerned me, since it wasn't like 'normal' spotting and because I had been feeling that there was something not quite right with this pregnancy. And I was right. They did an ultrasound and discovered that while there was a gestational sac, there was no embryo. If there isn't one there by 11 weeks, there isn't going to be one. They sent me home to wait to have a miscarriage.

You might expect me to be sad or upset or angry, since those would be natural reactions. But honestly, not being pregnant means that I can better deal with the challenges that will present themselves due to the move. And anyway, there's no baby to mourn, since it just didn't grow in the first place. Unfortunately for us, the girls knew I was pregnant and we had to tell them. I explained that the baby didn't grow but my body thought it did - kind of like when you plant a seed but it doesn't grow. Thank goodness Gwyneth has the Eric Carle book "The Tiny Seed" which tells how some seeds don't make it to grow into plants. There's a seed that ends up not growing, so she understood what I meant on some level.

Christmas was a nice break, with lots of fun presents - Scott got me tickets to see Sarah McLachlan in January and I also got the Stacy Shiff book about Cleopatra, which should make for some good reading. Then on Boxing Day we drove to Pittsburgh to the in-laws, where tons more presents were thrown at us, as usual. My mother-in-law informed me proudly that she'd bought everything on the lists. Yep, she did. And apparently the books Scott told her to get me weren't enough because she ended up giving me cash, as well. $150 in cash. So, naturally, I feel weird about that. I'd honestly rather have her spend $10 on something that she's chosen herself because she knows I'll love it than any amount of money she could give me. And while I'm on that sore subject, if she's going to spend that much money on me, she's well aware that I collect German-made nutcrackers. Hell, she sees them on display in the family room every time she comes to visit. She's even bought me one as a Christmas gift in years past. Apparently she doesn't remember that. Funny, because my sister-in-law always remembers that and gets me some cheap Chinese-made nutcracker, usually with a Pittsburgh Steelers theme, as a joke. Got one this year again, so I told her I'd rather have a Penguins one, since I actually like the Penguins.

So, speaking of money..... we were naturally a bit short for gifts this year and, as I said in a previous post, most gifts were going to be handmade. I've done handmade gifts for my nieces in the past - the dresses of 2 years ago - but wasn't sure how well they were liked. However, the only gifts I could be certain wouldn't be duplicates for the twins who have everything would be handmade ones. So I made clothes for their American Girl dolls in their favorite colors - Emma's is purple and Ella's is pink. For Christmas gifts I made them each a skirt from fabric left over from the dresses I'd made them, flared pants (purple denim for Emma, pink corduroy also left over from Ella's dress for Ella), peasant blouses (lavender for Emma, cerise for Ella), and t-shirts (lavender floral knit for Emma, burgundy and pink stripe for Ella). Then because their birthday is 2 days after Christmas, I made lovely party dresses for their dolls as birthday gifts, using leftover silk dupionni from my stash: deep purple for Emma and magenta for Ella. I was concerned that they wouldn't like them but I needn't have worried. Ella kept on saying she couldn't believe I was able to make clothes and even doll clothes, how pretty they were, etc. Emma wasn't quite as verbal but she immediately put her doll into the birthday dress and had it "playing" its violin. Scott told me later that while I was in the shower my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were raving about how great the doll clothes were and how they were at least as good as the store-bought ones, probably better.

The one thing I'm still having trouble with is the money issue. I hear all the time about how my sister-in-law has it so hard, from my mother-in-law. Yes, K. is divorcing her husband and that makes her life difficult, but only in the sense that she has legal crap to deal with and the kids have emotional issues because of the split. So she has challenges, but they sure aren't financial. K. still has a job and she has free child care in the form of her mom, who now has retired from teaching and lives down the street. K. makes about 3 times what Scott makes. Yes, she has a mortgage and a car payment. We pay rent and have a car payment, too, and we do it on 1/3 of what she makes. But she also gets financial support from her husband (court ordered). He's a neurosurgeon. He makes, like, a million dollars a year. Seriously. The twins go to a private school that costs $15,000 a year per child. That's a separate payment from the financial support that K. gets from her husband. The financial support each month amounts to about 5 times what Scott makes monthly. I can't even get my head around that. And when I come into her house and see that she's got a brand-new stainless steel refrigerator and stove, top of the line, etc., it makes me want to throw up. Because she's doing well, financially, while I worry about whether or not I can afford to put Gwyn and Tallon in gymnastics for another term and still break even. She can afford to send her kids to a private school while I worry if I can afford the tuition for preschool 3 mornings/week at the neighborhood church. But for some reason, her life is considered hard. She bought her dad a high-definition flat screen TV and Blue Ray player for Christmas. We got him a subscription to National Geographic. I don't even know what she got her mother, but we gave her a $40 gift certificate to Amazon so she could get ebooks for her Kindle.

I don't want to compete with K. I don't even want the things she has. What I want is for people to stop telling me how hard she has it, when she so clearly doesn't. And I want K to understand that there's a significant gap between what I can afford and what she can afford. She's always telling me I stay at home too much, I should go out and do things for myself, I never buy things for myself, etc. And she's right - I don't do those things. I don't do it because I can't afford it. I don't go to get a pedicure because I can't afford it. I don't go out - either on a date with Scott or by myself during the day - because I can't afford the extra cost of a babysitter. And my mother doesn't live down the street from me and provide free child care. I don't have the luxury of going to the salon every month; I try to make my cut and highlights last for 8-10 weeks because I can't afford to go more frequently than that. I can't afford a gym membership. I don't have the extra money to just go shopping for fun. Shopping isn't even fun to me anymore because I can't justify the expense of anything I might want to buy. And every time I see K and my mother-in-law I always feel bad - mostly because I know they don't understand why we don't have enough money to do these things, even though at some level they're clearly aware of our situation, since my mother-in-law often gives us money when she sees us. I don't understand it.

So, now to find the silver linings.

Yes, it's a pain in the neck to have to move, especially across the country and before the end of the school year. BUT
1) the Army is paying for the move
2) while Scott was born in WA, he doesn't remember it, so it's a new place for all of us and that should be fun for a year
3) it gets us out of having to travel at Christmastime next year!!!
4) the trip across the country is an opportunity to see things like Mt. Rushmore and other sites we've never been to

Yes, it's a bummer not to be pregnant BUT
1) I don't have to worry about the stress of being very pregnant while I move
2) I now can get the tattoo I'd been planning on getting until I found out I was pregnant
3) I can actually work out and try to lose some weight before the summer
4) I can devote more time to other things, especially the kids

Other silver linings:
1) With that money from my mother-in-law I can pay for my tattoo
2) I have plenty of reading material for a while
3) I can always sell the Steelers nutcracker on ebay and get some money
4) moving across the country means that I won't have to deal with my in-laws

Not all is bad, right?

It's better to give...

So once again it's that time of year when I get all stressed out because the sewing projects for Christmas aren't anywhere near completed and the tree isn't up yet and the house isn't decorated. Add to that the fact that I'm super tired right now because I'm pregnant and it's a recipe for craziness.

The part of the holiday season that I like most is the Christmas shopping, although with small kids it can be difficult to really look around to find the perfect gift. I pride myself on finding something beautiful and original for everyone, or making something fantastic. I used to be able to do that. Sometimes I still succeed. Like when I make cookies for everyone - my biscotti are always well-received by coffee drinking family members, as are the espresso biscuits (thank you Martha Stewart) and many other types of cookies. Last year I had the best idea for a Christmas present for my in-laws and they loved it: I had a portrait made of all the grandkids together in a 16 x 20 size and had it framed for them to put in the family room in their new house. Of course next year I have to do a new one that will include the new baby. But the idea was genius, and my sister-in-law thought it was awesome. The kids had coordinating outfits - sweater dresses from Hanna Andersson in blue for my girls and in red and white for hers, and Tallon had a Nordic-type sweater and jeans. It's the cutest picture ever.

However, this year I feel rushed for time and constrained by budgetary limitations so it's a bit more difficult. Fortunately, I am able to make things for many people in our family. Like my nieces, who have every toy under the sun. This year they took a trip to NYC and visited American Girl place - Maeve went along and brought her "Just Like Me" American Girl doll. My sister-in-law ended up getting her girls each a doll, so I can make them clothes for their dolls. This won't cost me anything in the way of cash, since I can use scraps to do it and the best part is that I have fabric left over from the dresses that I made them 2 years ago. How cool is that?


Maeve is getting a dress that I had already been planning, so no problems there. Gwyn's homemade present is a puppet theatre - the kind you hang in the doorway with a tension-type curtain rod. She already has many puppets so I don't have to make any if I run out of time. I think I have enough fabric in my stash already for this so it might cost nothing or it might cost very little, since I already have a JoAnn's coupon.

My other relatives, though, are less easy to produce things for. My sister-in-law is fairly picky about pretty much everything and routinely asks for a gift card to Pottery Barn. I hate gift cards. I hate that people ask for gift cards. Mostly I hate them because the person knows how much or how little you spent on them, but I also hate them because I think they're impersonal. I was thrilled to see an article on this very subject the other day. I agree with the author that giving a gift card usually means that you don't know the person well enough anymore to be giving them gifts. That's pretty much the way I feel at Christmas because my in-laws generally go with the default of getting gift cards. When I was pregnant 2 years ago, my sister-in-law got me a gift card for maternity clothes. How much do you want to bet that I get one this year?

My mother-in-law asks every year what I want for Christmas. The answer is: I don't know. I don't go shopping for myself and I don't window shop. Unless I've gotten an email from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble advertising a book by an author I like, I have no idea what books I might want. I shop for my kids, mostly, so I never end up in a store that has anything for me. So the default for my mother-in-law has been cash until we moved back to the States and I could actually use gift cards. The thing is, there's never any pleasant surprises when I open gifts from her. If I give her a list of things, she's likely to get every damn thing on the list. Same thing with the kids and with Scott. We've had to learn not to give her too many options so we don't end up with a ton of stuff.

And, honestly, I feel like saying, "I've been married to Scott for almost 15 years. If you don't know what I like, what I do for a hobby, what my interests are by now, I don't think I can help you." Because I really hate being asked every year. And it makes me feel really crappy that you don't care to even try to buy something without being told exactly what I want. I mean, she knows I sew and yet I had to have Scott tell her that a gift card to JoAnn's would be good.

Now, you might wonder why this issue gives me so much heartburn. The reason is this: they don't give each other gift cards as a general rule. So it makes me angry/sad/confused when they clearly care enough to give one another gifts that have taken thought, are a surprise, are something unique and special, but they don't do this for me, Scott or the kids.

The real answer to my mother-in-law's question "What do you want for Christmas?" is: Nothing. I don't want anything. Maybe I'd like you to come and clean my house. Or maybe I'd like you to come and hang out with the kids one week a month so I can do some sewing and other things that I never have time to do. But really - I don't want any more stuff. Well, I take that back. I want an embroidery machine but that's an amount of cash that no one is going to spend on me. And it's really a pie-in-the-sky kind of request, anyway.

The funny thing is, this year I'll probably end up giving more gift cards than I normally would and I can justify it. First, Scott's mom has a Kindle and asked for a gift certificate so she can get more downloads. Okay, that's reasonable. And fairly personal, since I could buy her a book or two and for the same cost she can probably get 4 or more. Scott's dad is getting a subscription to Popular Science and to National Geographic, because he mentioned he wanted it. While that's kind of like a gift card, it's not really. Scott's sister? Well, I don't know. Honestly. I really don't want to help decorate her house by giving her another Pottery Barn gift card. I mean, she's a doctor - she can spend her own money on that.



My family, on the other hand, normally is really good about finding things that each person will like- even if they're tiny things. For us, it's really the thought that counts and the look of surprise and pleasure on the face of the person receiving the gift. (I contrast this with the free-for-all that is gift opening at my in-laws which gives me a stomach- and head-ache and where no one knows who opened what - see above photo.) Plus, generally speaking my family is poor so the presents have never been huge. Anyway, I don't live near my brothers or my mom, so sometimes it can be difficult to know what to get them.

My brother Phil got married a year and a half ago and I know his wife is in the process of redoing the house as best she can on their severely limited budget. Limited as in, hey I picked up this paint for free on Craig's list and I got these curtains at the Goodwill store. I'm thinking that maybe a gift card is the best way to give them something that they really want or need but are putting off because they can't afford to buy it. Like a gift card to Home Depot, maybe? Because I could buy them something but then I'd have to ship it and it could be impractical. Better than money because they'd be unlikely to spend it on bills or whatever but it still gives them the freedom to buy what they want. Same with my brother Stefan - he loves to cook and is getting pretty good at it, but he's on a tight budget that doesn't really allow for him to buy more expensive things or high-end produce. I could send him a gift basket full of stuff but I know he likes to shop and I can't send fresh foods in the mail. Enter a Whole Foods gift card, which will allow him to get what he wants and for it to be fresh.

Then there's my mom. I love to make her things. In the past, when money wasn't so tight, I've gotten her Steiff bears for her collection (on ebay) and other trinkets. I've sent cookies. But I know that she's been trying to downsize her life and she doesn't have tons of room. This year, I think I want to make something. I have this really nice fabric and a sweater pattern that I want to make up but I don't know.... I'd have to ask her for her measurements. In the meantime I picked up some Godiva chocolates at a discount price at the NEX, since I know she loves Godiva.

I'd rather just go through the holidays without having to worry that someone wants to buy me something. If I could do all of my gifts handmade I'd be really happy. For me the holidays aren't about getting, they're about giving. The present I get is the look on their faces when they open up their gifts and hearing them say "Oh my gosh, this is wonderful! I love it!". It's enough for me.

Every Day is Halloween

Okay, maybe not every day. But my kids like to dress up, so I make Halloween costumes to last. The idea being that if I make them, I can use fabrics I can wash and that won't fall apart, unlike those crappy, store-bought messes.

This year Maeve took her own sweet time deciding what she wanted to be. Meanwhile, Gwyneth had been asking to be a ladybug since, oh, I don't know -last Halloween. But then Maeve made the announcement that she wanted to be a pirate, and Gwyn decided that she, too, needed to be a pirate. The boy had no opinion, being not quite 18 months old, but I was already thinking that he could be a tiger or lion, as he is very fond of roaring. As I don't have a good shot of him, you'll have to take my word for it that he was the cutest lion ever, though it turned out that the hood with the mane didn't fit his larger-than-average head, so he didn't wear it.




So during a trip to the fabric store with the kids Maeve chose the Simplicity 3644 pirate pattern which, like many of the Simplicity costume patterns, is a Disney-authorized pattern for clothes à la Pirates of the Caribbean's Jack Sparrow. While you might suggest that this is why Maeve chose it, I can truthfully say it's because the pattern is much more authentic-looking than any of the other patterns she looked at and she was in love with the frock coat. Plus, she's never seen the movie. However, she wanted to be an elegant lady pirate, so she chose to have a skirt, rather than pants.

Finding a pattern for Miss Gwyn was slightly more challenging. The Simplicity pattern was too big for her, since it started in size 7. Gwyn is barely a size 4 on a good day. However, I dug into my trusty collection of Ottobre magazines and came up with some patterns that would be good for pirate garb. First, the shirt. I decided on the "Ollie" shirt, #19 from the 6/2007 issue of Ottobre. It's a boy's shirt but has some nice gathers that I thought would make it more blouse-like. With the addition of pearl buttons, it became much more girly. When I was looking at the blouse pattern, the "Onni" vest, #20 in the same issue, caught my eye. It's plain but I figured that with some silver middy braid and metal buttons I could get the pirate look I wanted. Here's the result:



The shirt is made from a Kona cotton muslin in white, for durability, and the vest is a beautiful black microsuede that I had in my stash. Originally it was planned for a skirt for me but I never got around to it. I used the same microsuede for the eyepatch.


Maeve had decided on a skirt, so Gwyn felt she needed one too, as first mate. Luckily I found an Ottobre pattern that had a size range for them both - a tiered skirt, # 25 from the 2/2004 issue. Very easy to do and it enabled me to let the girls have a choice of colors. Gwyn informed me that it needed to be gray, red, black and purple, and that she also needed a green sash. Done and done. Skirt was made from polyester taffeta and the sash was made from cheap polyester satin. Add a red bandana and - presto! Pirate Gwyn!

After I got all the parts together we decided she needed something else and Jabber the parrot was stitched to the shoulder of her vest, which made trick-or-treating hilarious, since people pretended to think it was a real parrot and kept giving her extra candy "for your parrot friend".



Maeve's costume was, of course, more elaborate since she was the captain. We used the same Ottobre skirt pattern as with Gwyn, the only change being the color of red taffeta; Maeve liked the red-black iridescent color better than the regular red. The blouse is from the aforementioned Simplicity pattern, as are the vest and frock coat. When fabric shopping, she chose a beautiful red velvet for the coat. I tried to get her to use velveteen, as it is more machine-washable. She was having none of it so we went with the cheap velvet, rather than the expensive one.


***A note about the Simplicity 3644 pattern. The yardage given on the pattern envelope is only for fabrics which are 58-60" wide. If you've ever worked with velvet you know that it comes in a much narrower width. I had to estimate the amount of fabric I needed and I was still off, mostly because of the flare of the main pattern pieces of the coat. I ended up having to buy extra fabric and it was a different dye lot, so the color is slightly off on the left back panel. Plus, there are a few construction issues that I would change in order to made it slightly less of a pain in the ass. Overall, it was a fairly easy, if time-consuming pattern. The cost of this, though, is going to be high if you try it in an expensive fabric with expensive trims. There are 8 large buttons and 15 smaller buttons that are needed for this version of the coat, and that alone ran into quite a chunk. The only thing that saved me were coupons for JoAnn Fabrics that got me 50% off of the velvet. 5 yards at $10.99/yard is pretty expensive for 1 piece of a costume, but 5 yards at 5.99/yard is a bit better.


Then, of course, there was the cost of the brocade for the long vest and the many buttons that it requires. The nice thing about the coat was that it didn't require buttonholes. The vest, unfortunately, does. Like, a dozen of them. On a curved placket. Ugh. Luckily the pattern includes a piece for the placement of the buttons and buttonholes. Ideally the vest should have had some fancy metal buttons but at that point I was so hard-pressed to find that many buttons in that size that I just took what I could find and they ended up being plain red plastic.





We accessorized the costume with a sash made from the same purple taffeta as in the skirts, black and white striped tights, a pair of black boots with fold-over tops, a wooden sword and a pirate hat purchased on ebay.

On the whole, a rather ambitious project that I am glad to be done with. It was fun to do and they really liked the costumes, which is what I care most about. Besides, Maeve is getting almost too big to trick-or-treat, so in a couple of years I won't be doing a costume for her. Plus, I have several costumes just waiting for Gwyn and Tallon to wear. Like Maeve's old Cinderella and Snow White costumes for Gwyn and the Blue costume for Tallon. Maybe next year I won't have to sew so much. Maybe.

I just want to celebrate....

First, it's the first day of autumn. Hooray! And our trip info for the Disneyworld trip came today, so more reasons to cheer!

Other reasons to celebrate:

1) In recognition of the 3rd anniversary of Bunte Fabrics, Yvonne is doing 1 giveaway every day this week on her blog. Today's giveaway is a bunch of super-cool (naturally) ribbons from Farbenmix. Hop over there and leave a comment for a chance to win.

2) I finished my Renaissance costume in time to wear it last week at the MD Ren Faire. Pictures of it in a future post.

3) Gwyneth has finally decided on her Halloween costume: she wants to be a pirate. Luckily she's not interested in being the captain (she's leaving that job to Maeve) but rather just "Pirate Gwyn", so I can make up a costume using patterns from Ottobre magazines. A post about that in the future, as well. Maeve is planning on being a female pirate captain, complete with tricorn hat, a brocade vest, and a wine-colored velvet coat. Both girls will have white shirts and tiered skirts in bright colors. It promises to be fun. Gwyn insists that she have an eyepatch, however.

4) Grandma is coming to visit this weekend so maybe I'll get a chance to do some cleaning and baking. Especially baking. And possibly even a haircut.

DESTINA-tion Delft

They're finished!! After hours of agonizing over which trims go where and trying to get the girls to decide which ribbons they wanted to use - and finally doing most of the choosing on my own- I have finished the Destina dresses by Farbenmix. Each dress is made with 3 main fabrics: the Delft tile fabric, and the blue and red daisy florals - all by the Dutch textile company Stenzo. Added to these 3 are red mini-gingham, light blue mini-gingham, and a star print in both white on red and white on navy. And of course, both dresses have the Farbenmix tag on the right sleeve, matching perfectly with my color scheme.


So yes, I know. Red, white and blue - with stars to boot. No, I wasn't attempting to be patriotic - unless by patriotic you mean celebrating my Dutch heritage by using the Delft print, to which I say guilty as charged. That fabric simply spoke to me and I obsessed about it for weeks before buying it but in the end I knew I had to have it. A few yards might be left at Bunte Fabrics if you're interested in buying some, but I'm not sure; if not, you might be out of luck because Yvonne's shop is the only place I've seen that print this year - in the States, that is. Anyway - I kept debating about throwing in additional colors to the mix but in the end I simply didn't think it would give me what I wanted. I added the star fabrics on a whim and I'm not entirely sure it was a wise idea. Cheap cotton from Hancock Fabrics and for a while I was afraid I would end up with something ridiculous and similar to home-sewn coordinating garments I've seen from some people on ebay and I was remembering my disappointment with my design choices for the Rachel dress I'd made in the spring. But I decided to be sparing with the use of the star fabric and in the end the result is pretty darn good.


The real issue was how to use these fabrics to their advantage in two different dresses in two very different sizes for two very different girls. I played with the idea of making the Farbenmix Sasha dress for Gwyneth because she likes twirly things and that pattern makes an excellent dress for just that. But the Sasha dress doesn't come in Maeve's size and I wasn't in the mood to grade up 2 sizes, so I settled on Destina for her, thinking it was a good older girl dress. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that I should use the same pattern for both of them. The trick then became how to keep them from being identical dresses. I think they turned out pretty well, don't you?



The major differences between the two are the way in which the fabrics are used and the trims and embellishments that were added. Maeve's dress has a more solid-looking bodice, thanks to the floral poplins. I feel bad that I wasn't able to match the Delft tiles on the skirt as well as I could have. Gwyneth's matches much better, and I have to say that I prefer the Delft print at the waist. (See photo at top of page.)



Another major difference is that Gwyneth's dress has inserted ruffles both above and below the waist portion. This in itself wasn't difficult but it did make for thicker seams at those areas. I didn't do this for Maeve because I felt like hers needed to be slightly hipper and more for a 10 year-old. The Delft print is already slightly old-fashioned and I wanted this to be a fun dress. Instead of ruffles I chose to ruche a red gingham ribbon and sew that along the seamline. Additionally, she has more ribbon on her dress than Gwyneth does.





The top of the bodice of Maeve's dress has a light blue and red polka-dot ribbon from Farbenmix and a red mini-rickrack that goes all the way around the bodice. And then there's the double-layer ribbon at the hem of navy grosgrain ribbon with red pickstitching underneath a narrow light blue ribbon with red stars from Farbenmix. The rest of the ribbons and trims were from my stash. The red-centered daisy buttons were purchased at G Street Fabrics, a local store with a fabulous selection of fabrics and buttons. Maeve's dress took 9 buttons. I should note here that in order to make the dress this length for Maeve, I had to add approximately 7 inches to the bottom pattern pieces and I used the largest size, 146/152. Maeve has long legs, though, and someone else might not need to add much at all. Gwyneth's dress is a 98/104 and required no additions, however she is on the short size for her age.

I also added the waist ties. The pattern says this is optional, but this dress is pretty full-cut so I felt like they were necessary. Also, the pattern instructions suggest ribbon for this; I made these out of gingham.


On Gwyneth's dress the major focus is the Delft motifs at the waist area and the ruffles above and below it, so I didn't add a lot of ribbons. Simple rick-rack is enough here, since it doesn't detract from the beautiful fabric. As you can see in the largest photo, I used red mini-rick-rack above the top ruffle at the waistline, then used regular-sized light blue rick-rack at the hem and on the sleeves, along with some jacquard red and white heart ribbon I had in my stash (see top left photo). The small blue-centered daisy buttons on Gwyn's dress also came from G Street Fabrics; this dress needed 5.

Sew what's new?

Yeah, that's a cheesy title. And yet there's so much that is new in the way of sewing at my house that I had to go there. Mea culpa.

Anyway, first in the list of what's new is a NEW MACHINE!!!! Yes, the Kenmore was giving me way to many problems - skipping stitches, buttonhole issues, snarling the thread every 10th stitch, etc. It was a hot mess - literally. So after listening to me moan and complain about how difficult it was to just sew a darn seam, Scott told me to go get a new machine and gave me a budget of $500. Now, $500 is a good chunk of change but it won't get you the top of the line in a machine, so my dream machine was out of the question. However, it can get you a very nice little machine and the Janome dealership in Gaithersburg easily helped me find something within my budget. It's electronic, so it's a bit different for me, but it sews really nicely and makes a fantastic automatic buttonhole. Another nice plus is that it has tons of decorative stitches that I can use for a faux coverstitch look. Very cool, indeed.



Next, all of the things I've been sewing with this gorgeous new machine.



First up are a pair of pants and a shirt for T-bird. The shirt was actually sewn on the old Kenmore, except for the sleeve hems. This is the "Little Mr." shirt from the Spring 2009 issue of Ottobre, sewn from a super cute Liberty of London lawn. I couldn't resist the car print and since I got a full meter I'll have plenty left for another project some other time. I also bought this in the blue colorway, with all of the cars in shades of blue.




To go with the shirt are the "Kaarna" pants from the Winter 2009 Ottobre. The pattern calls for them to be lined, but I really liked the knit waistband, since it's so similar to the 'baggies' pants that Mini Boden sells. I've made them before in corduroy with the lining and I could see that they could just as easily be made without the lining by simply finishing all the pieces with my serger.


So here they are, in a green and black cross-woven chambray that I got from fabric.com. I thought about going with a lighter color for the knit waist but ended up with black. I used a black twill tape for the drawstring at the waist rather than make one from the chambray, but I may change that, since it's really kind of flimsier than I want. Another change I made is that I added tabs and buttons so that I can roll them up. I was inspired by a pair of linen pants my sister in law had given me for T-bird when he was born. Since he wears cloth diapers he was able to fit them in the waist before he was long enough in the legs so being able to roll up the pant legs was great. I know from experience that this pattern runs long, so I added the tabs, using the RTW pants as a model. I should have made the tabs longer so I could roll them up more, but they work.



Next up is a skirt I made for Miss Maeve. She was feeling upset that I'd not been able to make her the Manhattan dress from Sewing Clothes Kids Love to match Gwyn's Rachel dress (I needed more of a certain fabric to cut out the last piece and had to scour ebay for it). To console her I made the Insa skirt from SCKL. I'd been planning this skirt for a while, had the Michael Miller Carnival Bloom fabric in the purple colorway already and the kid check in purple (also MM fabric). I'd gotten them both on ebay and ended up having to buy more of the Carnival Bloom in order to make this in Maeve's size. I have a hard time thinking of her as a size 12/146 and some of my fabrics in my stash are too small now.

Anyway, I was successful in scoring more of the fabric and started making the upper layer of the skirt. Then I decided to cut the lower layer and, after much contemplation decided that I needed a different fabric than the check I'd already chosen. It was simply too much purple! Hard to imagine but true. I looked online and decided to buy the green Busilis dot from Banberry Place, along with the pink farbenmix mandala ribbon and some other trims. When they arrived, I discovered that the ribbon was really more of a purple and that the shapes echoed the shapes in the fabric of the top layer, so I decided to add it to the skirt on the bottom layer. To the top layer I've added a ruffle of the purple check and also a purple grosgrain ribbon with aqua polka dots and the bottom layer has 2 additional flower appliqués I found in my stash of goodies.


I always add a Farbenmix tag to the things I make from their patterns and the new ones are blue and red, which Maeve felt didn't go with the skirt colors, so I used the one that comes with the women's patterns now. This one is on the outside of the skirt at the center back (her choice of location).

Apparently it's good for twirling in, too. I have another one on my to-do list - this time for Gwyn and made from an Oilily fabric snagged on ebay. I hope to get to that in the next week or so.


Also on the to-do list: finish 2 new dresses for the girls - the new Destina pattern by Farbenmix, using the Delft and floral prints I got from Yvonne at Bunte Fabrics. Oh, and a pair of capris for me from the 2/2007 issue of Ottobre Woman. Right now the dresses are about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way constructed and the pants are already cut out so that bodes well for finishing them in a week.

I've finished a pair of pajamas for Maeve, too, in the past month but the top needs a little tweaking for fit and then I can photograph them.