My Garment Stand

I don't believe that I've posted this before. My husband had a friend make this garment stand for me. We've known Paul for years and years. His hobby is woodworking. He turned it into a business adventure when he retired from farming. He makes wooden lamps. So Jeff asked Paul if he would make this for me as my Christmas gift. Eventually, I'd like to get a couple of child mannequins. Jeff will be thrilled with that. I already have one adult and I have a child's size two lower torso that was used for pants fitting. If you're wondering why there are two hangers on my stand, one is scaled to an adult hanger, the lower one, Paul used a child's hanger to create his template. You can see the holes on the stand. I can move my hangers up and down depending on the size of the garment.

Bit's and Pieces

On Lauren's tutu site, she offers a corseted top to wear with a tutu. The red top is her biggest seller. She sells it without a design but a couple of moms have asked for something on the top. So I stitch out the design and send the piece to Lauren to complete. I would offer to complete the top but she's merged several patterns to create the look she wanted and I didn't want to get her instructions on the phone.

The balloon design is Planet Applique. The font for Anyla is Steinweiss from Hang to Dry. Gabby's font is Boyz are Gross by 8 Claws and a Paw.

I think we spend too much of our profit shipping things back and forth between Wisconsin and New York. Either I need to learn how to make hair bows and tutus or she needs to purchase an embroidery machine.

Another Patriotic Bloomer

Here is another baby bloomer that I stitched out. I posted this design a while back but I sent them to Lauren to take care of the bows.  I think I might make a couple of these for next fourth of July and send them to Lauren to finish. I hate making the bows. It takes me forever to make them look right. Then stitching it on with the machine can be a bear. I almost think hand stitching would be better. So I'm going to leave it up to the bow expert to make and attach the bows.

Glamour Girl

Here is a fun little design from Katelyn's Kreative Stitches. I used silver sequin fabric for the lenses.

I had an issue with this design. From this picture, you can see that the black satin stitches were stitched out first. The the pink satin stitch is placed completely on top of the black. In my book, this is a complete waste of thread, time and wear and tear on the machine. That is a lot of stitches to cover. I've stitched out other designs from this company but this is the first that I've noticed this.

Hoo's in the Forest?

Whimsical Fabrics was having a sew-a-long several months ago. This was my first time for a sew-a-long. I finished after the deadline. The pattern used is Macy's Giggles by Izzy and Ivy. This dress used a lot of fabric. I used the size 8 for Kayla and it is big on her. I think she'll be able to wear a long sleeved shirt underneath for school and be fine. Then by next summer, the dress should fit as a sundress. The fabric line is Hoo's in the Forest by Riley Blake. Riley Blake puts out some great whimsical prints. The little owls on the branch design is from Applique Junkie and the hedgehogs on the pockets are from Planet Applique.

H2O + Sun = Fun

This cute little sun design was used in this month's challenge over at Applique Forum. The design is from Luna Embroidery over at Etsy. I had no idea what I was going to do. I started to look thru my patterns and saw the Ruffle Pop skirt pattern from Tie Dye Diva. I found my inspiration. I pulled out so many fabrics to audition. None of them seemed quite right. Maybe it's because for years I have been collecting fabrics for quilt making. One piece of fabric might have worked but I didn't have a piece that complimented it. What I ended up with are these bargain basement $1/yd Wal-Mart fabrics. About six weeks ago, Wal-Mart has some huge fabric blowout. I think I picked up seven pieces of fabric. The blue and yellow certainly fit the sun and water theme. I can't say the blue fabric worked for the water applique but I wanted everything to match.

Now that I settled on the pattern and the fabric, I needed to figure out how to pull everything all together. The design comes in both small (4x4) and medium (5x7) sizes. The largest size was best for the t-shirt. I decided to bring the design down to the skirt and the smaller size was perfect for that.

The design did not have a saying and I felt I needed something. I kept searching for surfing sayings and that wasn't getting me anywhere. So I changed search words and then tried summer sayings and found the "H2O + Sun = Fun". Perfect!

I'm pleased with the outfit. I wish the fabric was a tad higher quality but it works for a summer play outfit for my niece.

A Little Blog Maintenance

 I've decided to do a little blog remodeling. I made the decision to remove some blogs on my blog roll that haven't been updated for quite a while. I've also made the decision to remove most of my friends and family. Yikes! Run for cover! This blog has always been about sewing, sometimes cooking and crafting. The primary focus has been to hopefully educate and inspire people who would like to learn more needlework. The blogs haven't been removed because I no longer love my friends and family. It's that their blogs are either neglected or do not pertain to sewing. I'm not saying the decision is permanent but I'm trying it for right now. Only two blogs made the cut. My friends Pat and Laurie are both award winning Fiber Artists. They are still listed on the right hand side under Friends and Family.  My readers hopefully will be inspired by visiting their blogs.

The other reason that I did the remodel is that I will be blogging over at AppliqueToday.com. I am one of several moderators over at Applique Forum. Applique Today is under the AF brands. As part of my job as a moderator, I will be writing an article for the blog at least a couple of times a month. Our goal at Applique Forum is to educate and inspire our members in the world of machine applique. I would think most of my articles will be also posted here. I will also be pulling past articles from Sew Lost For You and sharing them with Applique Today. My blog encompasses many aspects of sewing and machine work whether that be quilting, machine embroidery or working with leather. As the name implies, Applique Today will be discussing all things machine applique related. If you have an embroidery machine, I hope you head on over Applique Today. There will be about ten or so mentors contributing to the blog. Applique Today (formerly An Applique A Day) has been revamped since we now have several people to help write the articles.

I hope to see you at both sites! As always, thanks for visiting me here at Sew Lost For You!

Ellen