Apron Evolution

This past year I've had lots of fun making aprons for my culinary friends. I've added a bit of frill here and a bit of hidden color there. A few bows and extra piping made it a delightful summer's endeavor. Here is a picture account of the growing process.

First 

A Present For A Happy Bride

Front View

Back View

Back Bow

Side Pocket

Double Hem Frill 

Second 

A Gift For A Graduated Friend

Front View

Back View

Side Pocket With Piping

Peek-A-Boo Colorful Surprise

Latest

 For a dear Friend Who Loves to Cook 

Front View

Back Bow

Side Pocket With Light Lavender Lining

                                                                                   

An Added Bow

Happy Hem Drape

Lovely Little Ladies

Now that we've seen the lads' duds, it's the girls' time to shine!

The girls' costume planning was a little more detailed than the boys. I  was actually able to design the pattern itself, not just put one together, as I did for the boys. I borrowed a basic girl's dress pattern from a friend of mine and used it as a base. I then grabbed an old poodle skirt pattern and tapered it at the waist to match the bodice of my base pattern. Next, I sketched out some sleeve pieces. Lastly, I added some ribbon work to match the womens' dresses for the show. (I'll post those later!) 

Here is my final sketch of the dress. Again straight from my design book! The sleeves were chiffon while the rest of the dress was a smooth crepe. This gave a delicate flowing appearance as the little princesses danced across the ice.  

After I experimented with my pattern a bit, and made a gaudy bright yellow dress for my little model to display; the girls' excitedly agreed to their apparel. 

My favorite part of this process was making up the larger girl sizes. Since my base pattern only came in 3 and 6, I had to make the rest. That was fun, and I was relieved when my efforts were rewarded! Everything worked out perfectly! There were no major mess-ups!

My sweet model happy in her purple (iris) apparel

THE LITTLE GIRL PARTY.
 Or at least most of them!:-)

Debonair Dudes

Designing for girls is easy! The varieties are vast and options endless. But, designing for guys is splendid! For "Uncommon Love", this year's ice show, I had a happy opportunity to spiff these fine gents up in some classy attire!



I've always loved the 1920's newsboy outfit! So, after I showed the boys a few of my daydream sketches (straight out of my design book), the easy going sirs agreed to this strapping vest/ driver's cap compo. The little boys got bow ties too.





THE DEBONAIR GENTLEMEN



Simply charming! Aye?



Computer Scratch Solution

 

The first day I brought my new computer home my little beloved nephew took a sharp pencil to it. After discovering a scratched-up computer, I decided that I had to let my imagination do its job. I worked to find something to solve my dilemma. Ideas linked together, and soon everything was in place to create!

After measuring out the case pieces, I began planning frill! I looked through my fabric scraps basket and picked out some bright patterned florals. I decided to use a look I created a few years back for a signature design. The "detached rose" had come to me while I was painting on our porch one hot summer noon. I'd been looking for an opportunity to use it. So, why not for a computer case? Unique? Sure! But, fun!





 I appliqued everything together! Then stitched it all up.





I couldn't let the cute little HP light hide, so I opened up a circle for it to show off through.



And...we can never forget the lining! A fun surprise! Neat material, aye?


It works pretty well!:)


Note: 
This lap-top cover was designed only to be on when my computer  is off. This ensures that it doesn't overheat.



Old fashioned Gift

In days gone by, gentlemen and ladies alike would carry within their pockets daintily initialed handkerchiefs such as the one above.




I had a simple but elegant gift idea to make my friend who has nagging sinuses, a handful of these. Here is one of them! 

 

Artist's Winter Attire

Ah, how enjoyable creating is! I'm excited about this jacket! It was such an engaging project, and I'm really satisfied with the out come. By altering a pattern and adding individual touches such as the zipper, sleeves, collar, and floral button strips, I completed this just before the holiday and the first snow fall. Now my friend, Anna, walks abroad  in this classy jacket suited to her artistic nature.

Materials: Coconut wood buttons, felted wool, and cozy cotton lining.

Front View

Side View

Back

***A Closer Look***

It opens to a wild lining matching the front bodice and sleeve button strips.

Button Strip

Vibrant Swirl Lining Material

Silk Flower Creation

Here's one of my latest inventions...

I designed this silk poinsettia flower and then added it to

a colorful hat for my cousin's daughter.

  

                                                                      

          ~ Simple, Bright, and Happy~

Birthday Apron

This is a vintage 1940's apron I made for Mom's Birthday this year. It took much longer than I expected! Finally by October, I finished it! Making this was jolly fun, but it did have a lot of detail work.



Front Side View



 



Back View



 

Full Front View

Close-up of Applique Embellishments





 

Cheerful Spring Dress




Let's just start by saying- I love to design things! I really do! My mind is constantly whirling with new ideas. The pictures above shows the simple beginnings of one of these whimsical schemes.



For this particular dress, I wanted a design with an airy, light look. I wanted it to be fully lined and to have some of my newly learned smocking techniques on it. I also wanted a full circle skirt! However, in order to do this, I needed to have a lot of fabric!  I believe I used a little over 10 yards of material for this dress! But, of course that includes the lining. To buy this much material, I had to buy something fairly inexpensive. A soft, off-white, muslin did the job beautifully.

Making the pattern pieces was most certainly my favorite part! I will reluctantly  admit  however, I didn't fully design every piece for this dress.  I wish I did! Instead, I took pieces from three other patterns  I used in the past. I altered these to fit together and changed the pieces to flow with my idea. For example, I took an old 50's circle skirt dress pattern of my mom's and altered it so that it was wider at the waist and shorter in length. That part wasn't hard, but the bodice was! For the bodice piece ( shown above), I had to do it over several times. The pattern piece I used as my foundation was a tightly pleated top with no gathering on the top or bottom at all. I had to make the piece much wider on the bottom and top and incorperate enough room to smock the gathers together. I cut the neck line down a bit to give it a softer scoop neck too.                    

Once I figured out the pattern pieces, I was excited to start out with some smocking. I gathered up the bottom and top of the bodice and mapped out my smocking plan.



To have my embroidery floss, for the smocking, match my material, I had to dye it. So I dyed it with black tea! That was grand fun! It came out matching quite well!



Next I smocked the bodice top the best I could. I made a row of little diamonds and a small diamond on the bottom of the bodice.

the small diamond

The sleeves were the hardest thing for me to do. I wanted to make them flowy and loose, but because it ended up looking awkward on the dress, I added elastic to the bottom of the sleeve and made them into little cap sleeves instead. I didn't have a pattern of any sort to to use as a base for the sleeves so it took me a while to get them exactly how I liked them.



I've always loved chinese buttons on outfits I've seen, but I didn't know how to make them. I tried my best to create these. I like the way they turned out, but there were a ton to do!

To add a little frill, and since it was a bit too big around the waist, I added little ties at the sides.

a picture of the full skirt (great for dancing!)