Month: January 2013

 

I am “sew” glad you chose to join me on this sewing tour, and I do apologize for being late with this post. I had to figure out some logistics, but we should be all set from here forward, and the posts will be made on Mondays. Now that being said, lets get started.

I told you we would explore finishing options with this dress as it is the simplest of the 5 we will make. I use to think of this step last, and was often frustrated with the results. I found that just a bit of pre-planning goes a long way. that being said…

If you follow the link for THIS PATTERN, you will see two options. A double folded sewn seam edge and a serge edge. Notice on the charts that a different seam allowance is noted for the cutting length at size 6 (the one we are making).

Other finishing options include French Seams, Zigzag Edges, and the one I will do, Bias Tape/Trim Binding.

Now you can purchase your own or make your own with a fashion fabric, as I chose to do. Here is my quick tutorial on a simple method for making Continuous Bias Binding. Please note, that if you choose to do what I did, you will need to make about 5 yards (15ft/182in).

I will leave you with this for today. Next Monday we will start and finish the dress. Have a beautiful!

 

Ok so I have been talking it up and feeling you out for long enough ( you know who you are), and now the time is finally here! My dress making sew-along!

I will be making 5 little girl dresses for the Lira School Dress Project who

“is hoping to take 66 dresses to Kindergarten girls in Africa. The trip is in JUNE 2013 so the deadline to receive donated dresses is 1 MAY 2013.”  Sew Like My Mom

I am so excited it is something I always wanted to do, craft to donate. I even considered making my own foundation as it were but ultimately put it on the back burner. So when I ran across this post last year, I knew I had to sew along!

As I stated before, my goal is to make 5 dresses, and to entice you to join me I will be making tutorials available and varying patterns, and techniques.

Dress 1 : The Pillowcase dress provided by Sew Like My Mom

Here I will be going over basic sewing techniques and finishing options

Dress 2 : The Good Deeds Dress provided by Elysium Patterns

Here I will be showing how to use a downloaded/printed pattern

Dress 3 : The Simplicity 7112 Dress

Here I will be going over reading a commercially made pattern AND pattern grading

Dress 4 : The Smocked Dress

Here I will be going over a basic smocking technique for the top of the dress

Dress 5 : The HoneySmith Dress (LOL!)

Here I will be reviewing techniques from the previous dresses to design my own.

So now that you know, come on let’s sew! LOL, I couldn’t resist. Seriously though, If you are interested in doing this project with me, and even just making one dress to donate, let me know. I will be posting starting on Monday, January 29, 2013, and will be posting my progress every Monday till all is done, and I have 5 dresses ready to ship out to the Lira School Dress Project.

Maybe you want to make and donate your own dress. Here is the address where you can send your finished product/s:

Lira School Dress Project
1701 Lytle Trail
Abilene, TX 79602

 

You know how “they” say be careful what you wish for?  January had us saying goodbye to my Tashi’s pups (aka the ankle-biters) with the exception of our Tui who we agreed would remain with us. But oh how I wanted to keep another pup. He was so sweet and teeny. I tried my hardest to convince the family they didn’t really want to take him but they did. Wasn’t he too adorable?!

Alas circumstances happened and they were no longer able to care for him, sooooooo back he came, but instead of this little sweet cutie he was a giant fur ball. He is still gentle and sweet though. The boy of the QuatroPods, Benjamin.

Now I know you were expecting images of him, and it is only fair that you do, and I promise to get you at least one sometime soon, when I get around to it. lol!

And this concludes my year of highlights. I hope you are as encouraged to make moments that matter this year as I am, AND to bring your camera’s along for the ride too!

Have a beautiful!

 

For the past 2 years, my company has documented and made images of some distinguished gentle men

and this year shall be no different. And here is your chance to get fancy and have a Ball too! Click on the image for more information! A fun time is to be had by all.

 

Remember this post?

I was soooo sick, I did not want to get near this baby but we had his 1 year old Portrait Session scheduled so what was I to do? I gamely got in the car, my Fav drove to the appointment location, and HE made these wonderful images of this little cutie!

I must say that this is my absolute favorite image made by LaShunda Smith Photography this year. My Fav is awesome, and his work is most excellent too!

 

This month was sooo full of everything! One of the most thrilling moments for me was creating this cave/tomb for my churches Resurrection Sunday Production.

     

I mean, would you guess that this is butcher paper and pvc pipes?  And the “armor” for the soldiers, yep, made from duct tape with a fabulous paint job by CJ!

 

May is for mothers, and they kept my schedule hopping! Between Mother’s Day and Maternity Sessions (and proms, babies, and grads…) I had to set some ground rules for myself to keep things in order

“DISCIPLINE IS:

DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, WHEN IT NEEDS TO BE DONE, THE BEST IT CAN BE DONE, EVERYTIME IT IS DONE!”

This is an awesome quote. Unfortunately I do not recall where I heard it, but it was in my notes for May so I am sharing.

 

By now I hope you can see that these posts from 2012 are actually highlighting those things I may not (probably did not) mention in other posts. For whatever reason I didn’t share them before, but I am doing so now so…

In June, the marriage fellowship at my church hosted a skate night, and being that my Fav and I actually met at a skating rink, how could we pass it up?

We really enjoyed the time to just be with each other, with no other obligations at all. Totally wonderful. We generally need to carefully plan and guard our time together, but this was sort of a bonus which made it even more special.

 

P4CM! WOOT! We spent an evening vibing to some amazingly talented artists, whose love of God and command of language, use of verse, alliteration, hyperbole, imagery, diction, wooo! The literature major in me screamed! Yes yes! Can’t wait to do it again!. And since photography was strictly prohibited, here is a clip from their YOUTUBE Account! (Not from 2012, but definitely a favorite!)

 

August held lots of surprises and firsts for us. If you recall from this post (below) we found Horn Worms in our garden! THAT was creepy lol.

 

But my Fav dealt with them and we were able to rescue a few more tomatoes which we then attempted to preserve. This was the month that we tried to preserve and can our food. While we were not entirely successful, we did manage to perfect some techniques. To be completely honest our lack of success here had more to do with our consuming the products than with technique at all! Yes, I’d whip up batches of fruit leather, and the next day they were gone! And the canned tomatoes made DELICIOUS marinara sauce, and the dried tomatoes went on sandwiches and in stews… All that remains is one lone dehydrated strawberry chip and some ginger… This year, we MUST plant more!