Petal Knot Thank You Dresses

 I had fun with these two sundresses when I made them for the daughters of two of my wonderful volunteers in June of 2011.  I used Sandi Henderson's Portabellopixie Petal Knot dress pattern and appliqued butterflies from the print fabrics onto the solid fabric sections.  This first one was for Autumn.  I also taught her sister Amber so I got to have their mom volunteer for me for two years!  I am always so lucky!

I used little beads for the butterfly heads and just embroidered the antennae.

This next one was for Marietta.  I had the pleasure of having this mom volunteer for more than one year, too, because I taught her big brother!  Marietta and her mama both love purple.

I used a black shank button for the head of this butterfly.

Another button butterfly head and an embroidered flight path.

Do you sew to give to others as gifts?

Blessings for a wonderful day!  Do something fun!

Thank You Dresses

I started a tradition several years ago of sewing an end of the year thank you for the wonderful volunteers in my  classroom.  This year Project Run & Play helped me get a head start on this end of the school year sewing with Season Six's sew-along.  I made Kate's Birds and Butterflies Dress.  (See it HERE.) I also made Jannon's Dots and Stripes Tea Party Dress.  (See it HERE.)  I have one more dress to do before Wednesday and it is half finished!  This will be the first year that I am not delivering the dresses after the school year closes!  Yippee!

As I was sewing a 'thank you dress' the other day, I realized that I have several several TQ (thank you) dresses that I have never shared on this blog.  (There was over a year that I didn't blog at all when my husband was sick.)  I will be sharing some of those dresses over the next week or so.  Almost all of the dresses are sundresses and the moms or their daughters picked out the silhouette.  Most requested Annie's Sundress and Jumper by Primrose Lane.  It fits well, has a full twirly skirt, and the ties on the shoulder make the dress last for more than just one season.

This one was for Allyssa and her mommy wanted the Annie dress again.  (I had her older sister two years before.)  I decided to change it up just a bit and square off the bodice and then add straps for tying.   The panel on the front was made with two coordinating fabrics and some cluny lace.  (It really was centered properly but I took a crooked photo of the dress!) I lined the bodice in the same green fabric featured on the front and put in a one inch growth tuck.

 The back tied with a big bow.

 The following dress is one of the few that I have made from this pattern that I didn't change more than the fullness of the skirt and the added the growth tuck at the hemline.

 I just LOVED this fabric! It is by Debbie Mumm for Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts.  There is a little more than a yard and a half put aside for a granddaughter some day.  I made this dress for Grace. (I recently made her First Communion dress:  see HERE.)

 The tied pockets on this pattern are so cute!

More to come!  Have a wonderful day!

My Amazing Son

 My son Logan graduates from high school this Tuesday and I am not sure where the time has gone.  The past eighteen years have flown by in a flash.  He went from being an adorable toddler with long (yes, LONG) blond curls who never stopped moving to this tall, handsome young man with a quiet demeanor and a slower pace.

Logan was a miracle baby, a gift from God.  He defied all the odds and was born to me just four months before my 42nd birthday.  Not only was I told that I would never get pregnant, I was told that I could never carry a child, and that a pregnancy would end in miscarriage or would be life threatening for me.  We had just adopted our beautiful daughter and I was consumed with all the delights of motherhood.  I never even knew I was pregnant for the first nine weeks!  It was a high risk pregnancy with me injecting myself twice a day with heparin but we went almost full term.  Logan was born and he has been our delightful, persistent, charmer ever since.  I am grateful every day!

To say that I am proud of him is a vast understatement.  He is kind, caring, funny, hard-working, and smart.  He has taken honors and AP courses throughout high school and has been on the honor roll almost every grading period of his school career.  Last week he received an Excellence in Math Award.  Neither his father nor I would have ever been considered for such an award!!

Both my children went to a magnet high school for the arts where they had to audition to be considered for placement.  Logan auditioned in visual arts, design and technical arts, music performance (piano), and music performance (clarinet).  He was invited to all four departments!  He was the only student ever in the magnet's 26 year history to be accepted by that many disciplines.  The program director called him a Renaissance Man.  Initially, I was disappointed that he chose design and technical arts and not musical performance.  (He plays beautifully.)  But his thinking was sound.  He told me that he didn't want to perform for a living and that he felt that he could learn skills in this program that he might use in his life.  He has specialized in sound design and last week he also received an award for Best Sound Design.  As for using these skills in his 'real life', he has been working the sound board at our Unity church for the past 3 years.

He began piano lessons in first grade and continued to take lessons from a master piano teacher until just two weeks ago.  He plays for his own enjoyment (and ours) but he is uninterested in pursuing piano performance as anything more than a hobby.

Just to indicate Logan's 'well rounded' personality, I should say that he loves fishing and would go nearly every day if he could.  He also played baseball for 10 years and was on the varsity soccer team.  He has been doing the lawn and gardening work for several neighbors for four years and spends much of his vacation time working for a contractor friend.  Yes, Logan is a hard worker!

 Logan has a great sense of humor and always has.  He had my mother wrapped around his finger and could always make her laugh.  As you can tell from the photo above, Logan isn't fond of having his photo taken.  These were taken on Easter Sunday this year and there were MANY outtakes.  He had us all laughing!

One of the many things that I admire my son for is his ability to make and keep friends.  Logan has friends of all ages, including adults many years his senior.   He choses his friends for their character and not for any external, superficial reason.   Yes, I am one proud mother!

I was given this amazing gift.  What an honor it has been to be his mother!
 

Honeycomb Smocking Tutorial {Guest Post}

 Guest Posting at A Jennuine Life!

Blessings!  I'd love for you to join me over at A Jennuine Life as I share the sweet beach outfit above and a honeycomb smocking tutorial in her Lost Arts of Sewing series.  This is smocking without a pleater and everyone can do it!  Just click  HERE and check it out!  While you are there, check out the other 'lost arts', too.  The series began on May 20th.

Aurora's Heritage Napkins Dress

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

 I just love vintage linens!  I marvel at the handwork and time that was put into lovely things made to grace a home.  There was a time when every young girl learned how to embroider, sew, knit, crochet, and tat.  Now these pastimes are no longer as needed or desired by many (most?) young people who are used to instant gratification in all areas of life.  These needle arts take time and practice to perfect.   There is hope, though!  There are young women learning these things on their own as evidenced by the sew-alongs and challenges of Project Run & Play.  One young woman, Sarah from The Gregarious Life, has taught herself how to smock this year.  She has made several smocked dresses for her little girl and is using vintage patterns to make delightful clothes.  I'm not sure when she finds the time because she has goats and chickens, too!

It is well known in my school that I appreciate old linens, buttons, and bits of lace, etc.  Sandra, known to us affectionately as Diva, came to school one day with a package containing eight gorgeous handmade cutwork napkins and gave them to me.  They were her mother's napkins but they weren't something that Diva would use but she knew that I would put them to good use.  The first thing I made was a little sundress for Diva's granddaughter Aurora.  I had the perfect floral fabric to go with them:  Le Jardin Birds N Butterflies by Susan Winget.  I used Portabello Pixie's Petal Knot Dress for the pattern in a size 3.

Aurora's Heritage Dress Back

A little closer look at the wonderful handwork.

I used two of the beautifully made napkins for the front of this dress.  I used one as the attached apron and one for the bodice overlay.  I love how the elaborate handwork drapes down from the bodice over the napkin apron attached at the high waist.

Are there any beautiful napkins or hankies hidden away in your closets?  Perhaps you might want to take them out and fashion something new out of something old!  Have fun!

Beautiful Grace

 As promised, photos of the beautiful Miss Grace Carmen and her family.  I made Grace's First Communion dress.  You can read the details on the dress here.

Grace in the church courtyard.

Grace receiving Communion.

Grace and her grandmother, Marylou Brennan, light a prayer candle after the service.

Grace and her daddy.

Allison and John, Grace and little sister Kate.  Little brother Jack didn't want to be photographed.  He's three.  No other explanation needed.

Me with both Grace and Kate.  (Kate's dress details can be found here.)

It was a happy day, full of grace and Grace!  I was honored to be a part of it!

Grace's First Communion Dress

PLEASE CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM!

I recently had the privilege of making Grace Carmen a special gift:  her First Communion dress.  Grace was in my kindergarten class two years ago and is the oldest of three children.  Her parents are very involved with our school and volunteer in their children's classes as well as on our PTA.  Her dad heads our All Pro Dads events each month.  Her little sister Kate is in my kindergarten class this year.  I made Kate the Birds and Butterflies dress I made for my first Project Run and Play sew-along entry earlier this year.  (See it here.)   

Grace is a bright and beautiful little girl with very definite opinions on what she should wear.  When it was time to decide what this very special dress should look like, I didn't sit down with Grace's mother to design it.  I sat down with Grace.  

It was such a pleasant experience!  I determined the dress fabric (white satin batiste) and then I asked her questions.  Would you like a full twirly skirt? An a-line?  What type of neckline?  What type of sleeves?  Smocking?  Lace?  Pearls? Embroidery? And lots more!  The resulting sketch below is what we came up with.  She didn't want smocking but she did like embroidery and wanted an embroidered floral heart on the bodice of the dress and embroidered crosses of flowers on the sleeves.  She liked lace but only wanted a small amount on the dress.  She wanted the dress to be ankle length and the bodice to come to her waist.  She liked the idea of a large sash bow.  We talked about head-pieces and veils with her mommy and I asked if she had saved her own wedding head-piece.  She had!  Grace would wear her mommy's veil and pearl encrusted head-piece.

Our sketch.  I measured both Grace and Kate so both are on this paper.  So as not to confuse myself, I highlighted Grace's measurements.

As you can see, I faithfully followed the design we came up with together.  Grace is a small, very slender child.  The bodice was made twice!  The sleeves, too.  Even with the measurements and carefully tracing the pattern (basic square yoke) on the lines to accommodate her size, the first bodice I made was too wide and two short.  I ended up drafting my own bodice and adapting the sleeve pattern I had to fit.  Making those pieces took me longer to draft than I care to admit!  I so admire those who regularly draft their children's clothing!  

I love to embroider and as I stitch I often think of the child for whom the garment is being made and I pray for her/him and the child's family.  The flowers for this design were chosen with care.  In Victorian times different flowers had specific meanings and were used to communicate wordlessly.  I wanted to incorporate flowers with special meanings into Grace's dress.   The daisies signify innocence and purity.  The pink roses signify grace, elegance, and sweetness.  The blue forget-me-nots are for faithful and true love, love that never dies, like our Lord's love for us.  Blue is also the color most associated with the Blessed Mother of Jesus and I wanted to include that color, as well.

The back of the dress has a five button closure, Swiss trim sash keepers, and a lace placket.  I know that  no one can see the lace placket but I know it is there!

  

The five buttons are vintage mother of pearl buttons given to me by a friend a long time ago.  They represent the five members of Grace's family.  Mother of pearl is also symbolic of the Blessed Mother.

I trimmed the ends of the sash in the same French lace edging and insertion that is on the sleeves and hem.

I first drew the cross on a piece of paper and then filled it in with flowers matching those in the heart wreath.

The next picture shows the skirt front pulled up so that the skirt lining is showing.  Grace wore a crinoline style slip purchased at a bridal store beneath the dress.

Another view of the dress showing just how long it is.

Grace and her family were very pleased with the dress and that made me very happy!  I attended the First Communion service and loved seeing Grace in her special dress.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera!  Grace's mommy has emailed me a few of the photos they took.  I'll post pictures of Grace in the dress soon, after they have been resized, etc.  

Have a wonderful day!