Tip toe thru the tulips

Well a tulip outfit it is! I've had this Chez Ami fabric in my stash for a while now. It was time to create an outfit. Summer is coming...





I had just a small piece of fabric left over after I made the capris. So I cut out a pair of shorts. I was cutting it pretty close. I had to make the waistband a bit more narrower than pattern indicated. They turned out ok. This is the Ahoy shorts from Ottobre 03/09.


Happy sewing to all
See ya,
Peachy

Some eye candy for inspiration

Now aren't these adorable? Cute, cute! They just shout spring & summer. I found these on the Gymboree website. Just a lil' eye candy for inspiration... to get the creative juices flowing.

See ya,
Peachy

Thinking swimsuits

I love Chez Ami fabric. It is excellent quality and great colors and designs for baby, toddler and the older child.

I got this swimsuit fabric yesterday. It is definitely not swimsuit weather in Georgia, not yet anyway. I have been on a roll sewing spring and summer outfits... but now I feel a swimsuit coming on!



I know I'll use an Ottobre pattern, just not sure which one. I will be making this in a 2/3T. I will have to do some measuring and comparing of sizes before the initial cut.



I would like some black lycra to trim the swimsuit in, but I don't have any in my stash. The nearest fabric store that has swimsuit fabric is 60 miles away so ...I will probably just use a black rolled hem for accent. Which I think will be fine.
Happy sewing to all
See ya,
Peachy

Ruffling grosgrain ribbon

I have had several people ask me about the technique I use for ruffling grosgrain ribbon. I use my trusty ruffler attachment for this. I've tried ruffling different grosgrain ribbons. I have found the regular grosgrain to be the easiest to use in the ruffle attachment. Please be sure you have the ribbon between the two little blades. They have serrated teeth that makes the ribbon move forward. You sew and it gathers.




In ruffling the two face ribbon(both sides finished). I found that I have to give the ruffler a little assistance. I get bamboo skewers from Walmart, they're inexpensive I think they're $.97 these things are worth their weight in gold, when doing certain task. Ruffling two face grosgrain ribbon being one of them. These things can be dangerous... Keep out of the reach of lil' hands!








Don't be afraid to poke that skewer up in the attachment. It's not near the needle... Trust me!

I have my machine on the same setting for doing both types of ribbon. I just give a bit of assistance with the two face grosgrain.



I'm showing the settings on my Memory Craft 6000... your mileage may vary!
Until next time,
See ya,
Peachy

Ruffles and more ruffles

My daughter Tracy carries a line of infants clothing in her shop. She has one that is cute as can be but it just goes up to 18 mo, that is too small for the princess... she wears 24 mo or 2T.
So this was my inspiration for making the green ruffled outfit.The little nautical outfit is by Mud Pie. Isn't it the cutest thing? Just adorable! I love the ruffled wide grosgrain ribbon they used on the neck. I've never tried to ruffle ribbon before.



I modified an Ottobre pattern to use for the top. I gathered my ribbon and sewed it on, It turned out great. Except the neck was way too small. That is where the little keyhole in the back entered the picture. I had to make the neck bigger one way or the other. Keyhole seemed to be the best solution. I thought using my coverstitch binder to navigate that little hole would be a problem, but it was a breeze. Love my Babylock coverstitch! I wish I had a green/white stripe for the leggins, but none in my stash. UGH! My local fabric store has a lot of super cute fabrics but she doesn't carry knits. So I just ended up making it all solid.



Chez Ami has a sale going right now and I needed some basic white interlock. So I placed an order, sorta got sidetracked there... got a few more thing thrown in. After I get my fabric in, I will make the princess a nautical outfit. Not exactly like the eye candy shown above, but on the same lines.

Well I'm off to my sewing room to try to get it back in shape.
Until next time
See ya,
Peachy

Potpourri of Pinks for Audrey

It's a beautiful day in South Georgia. We've got sunshine. Lovin' it.
We actually had some snow a few days ago. It melted in about 15 minutes.
Surely does cause excitement when we get snow.

I went digging through my stash and came out with all these lil pieces of fabric in pinks... I thought these will work good together. They were such tiny pieces I knew I had to use a pattern with several pieces. By the way, I save all my tiny fabric pieces for appliques. You know I love appliques and embroidery designs. This is the first outfit I have made in a long time that doesn't have some design on it. Nothin' nadda!

The capri's are an Ottobre pattern . I made them out of Imperial broadcloth. I lined them as I didn't want the seams showing through.
Audrey just happened to have a pair of Wee Squeaks in hot pink. They are a perfect match. We love the Wee Squeaks because you can interchange the lil flower and match a lot of outfits. These lil shoes squeak when they walk. You can remove the squeaker if you like. We do...

Well that's whats going on in my world today.
See ya,
Peachy

Li'l Red Bird for the Princess

Well it's another birdie outfit for Audrey. I've used the Ottobre pattern again. I just seem to be stuck on European patterns lately. They always fit so well.

I used a different stitch for my top-stitching on the hem on the top and the shorts. It is a stitch that Kid MD used on a pair of red shorts. Her top stitching looked great! It really shows well. I think she called it a reinforced stitch.

Anyway, I sat down to my old New Home Memory Craft 6000 and was looking for this stitch. There it was... I have never used that stitch before. Lots of the others have never been used either. I tried it out, I love it! The stitch goes like this... 2 stitches forward, 1 stitch back, 2 stitches forward 1 stitch back. Got it?... Clear as mud.

While I was top stitching those shorts, I thought... this stitch reminds me of something I had to do in the 6th grade. I got caught talking in the restroom. The punishment was this. The teacher had you start at 100, subtract 2, add 1, continue until you get to O. If you've ever had to do this you know it takes a while. The math is a chore... but I really like this method for top stitching. Works well especially on a polka dot or print. In my opinion it shows up better than regular top stitching thread. Takes a bit longer, but worth it.

Have a great weekend!
See ya,
Peachy

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Nominated for blogger award, Me...??

I'm a new blogger and imagine my surprise when I log on and discover I'm nominated for the Kreativ Blogger Award. I don't feel as if I deserve this award. My nomination came from fellow sewist Beachgirl, who I must say creates some remarkable things. Thanks Beachgirl! Check out www.siestasandsewing.blogspot.com
OK, I'm suppose to tell you seven things about myself that you don't know. First off...
I think I'm the oldest kid on the block! Most of my fellow sewing bloggers are young moms with small kids. They love to design and sew for their young ones. The only difference... I design and sew for my grandkids...right? So there U go!

1. I have been married to my husband for 49 years. I have one daughter,and one son. They have blessed me with four granddaughters,one grandson and one great-granddaughter.

2. I was a stay-at-home when my kids were young. My husband worked at our local paper mill. Well, his union went on strike. I had to get a job... for a short period of time I worked in a sewing factory, by the way... hardest work I've ever done! This is where I made friends with the industrial sewing machines. Gotta love 'em!



3. In my former life for 20+ years, I was the owner of a gift shop. The shop consumed
most of my time. Some of the lines I had...Vera Bradley, Pandora, Arthur Court and
many other gift lines. A fun shop!

4. I had a line of my designs represented at The Atlanta Apparel Mart.

5. Sold the shop to my daughter and her husband. Now the shop consumes her life... :)

6. After we sold the shop I now had time to sew. After a hiatus from sewing for many
years. I pleasantly discovered that the internet had opened up a whole new world as
far a sewing, fabrics etc. I turned a guest bedroom into a sewing studio.



7. I have six machines in my sewing studio. Industrial serger, Industrial single
needle machine, Babylock coverstitch, Hobbylock serger (set up for rolled hems),
Janome 300E embroidery machine and a Memory Craft 6000 (set up for buttonholes)

It seems like I shared a lot with you, anyway

Now I'm suppose to nominate 7 fellow bloggers. So here goes

www.colescornerandcreations.blogspot.com
www.katiekadiddlehopper.blogspot.com
www.designdazzle.blogspot.com
www.connectingthedots.dk
www.southernmatriarch.blogspot.com
www.cookycrumbs.blogspot.com
www.off-the-cuff-style.blogspot.com

Now if you're like me you need some inspiration sometime.
Check out these blogs... You will not be disappointed!

See ya,
Peachy

Wee Bitty Turtle

When I saw the lil turtle design I knew Audrey had to have one. This is an Ottobre design 03/06 #8 & 9. The detail on the Summer shorts doesn't show up too well on this paisley design. Seems like I'm on a blue/green roll doesn't it?