Mila's Birthday Pillowcase

Mila's birthday was sneaking up on me since it is so close to Christmas. Fortunately, I had made one ahead of time that was perfect for her.

 I will give it to her on New Year's Eve.

Quiet Book Repair - Julie

Cole texted me last week with the news that Julie had torn one of her quiet book apples, was upset, and afraid that this would be the beginning of a bad Christmas.

Easy fix - I knew that I could whip one up in a half hour.

And I saw no reason to make her wait two weeks for the replacement piece, so I popped it into the mail the next day.

No bad Christmas now, sweet Julie!

Quiet Book Repair - Kyle's Family

I have made eighteen quiet books. EIGHTEEN!! Good thing I like to make them because that's well over 700 hours of sewing. And I still have two to make during 2019 - Lukas' book in March and Kate's in August! Guess what project I am starting after the holidays are over?

I make them as sturdy as possible, but when they are used by little ones there is going to be something that tears or gets lost. Recently I did some repairs for Kyle's family (including his own book!)

 I brought some earrings for the Zeus puppy.

 Made a couple of more monkeys to replace those that had been lost.

 Made a new flower (orange again, of course!)

 Replaced the two missing flowers.

 I forgot to buy a new car for Braden's garage and still need to do that.

Kyle needs a new car for his own quiet book, too!

I am still trying to figure out how to replace the lamb's nose and mouth.

 I made a new yellow flower for the vase.

 And I need to replace one of the eyes on the turtle.

Another from Kyle's own book - I have an orange ring to sew on it.

 As I went through the kids' books, I saw my mother's initials on some of the pages.

She had protested when I asked her to put her initials on any page that she helped me make.

I explained that it would hold great meaning for her grandchildren and great grandchildren to see that she had worked on their books.

 I was right - it makes those books all the more special to us all.

 She even drew some of the pages, like this palm tree.

I used to bring her over to my house, and we would come upstairs and sew all day, chatting, figuring out the best colors for each page, and so on. Many, many happy memories for me.

I still have some things to do for Kyle's family's books, but I will get that done my next visit.

Kathy Nimmer's Tactile Christmas Gift

I made a table runner for my friend, Kathy, for Christmas. Since she is blind, I wanted it to be as tactile as possible. I was so pleased with how it turned out.

I love fabrics designed by Michael Miller and had bought this bird fabric with my mother in mind. Fabric.com had it included in its holiday fabrics, and while unusual, I could see why. It also seemed to me that it could also be a year-round fabric, too.

Pairing it with a mint green polka dot fabric (which could also go year-round), I got busy.

 I was so pleased with the finished sewn piece! But how to make it tactile for Kathy?

At first I explored adding tiny jingle bells placed around the inside border of the two fabrics, but I rejected that idea - since she could not see them, there was a high likelihood that she might inadvertently set something on them causing whatever that was to fall over. Then I had a great idea, remembering my own adage to my students that often "less is more."

I added a nice fluffy tassel to the point at each end of the table runner with a large jingle bell right above it. Perfect! Still tactile but not something she would have to worry about!

Kathy loved the table runner (and the crocheted bell ornament with a fabric flower and jingle bell, also tactile, that I gave her.) She sent me this text later that evening.

When I was little, I did not understand the saying, "It is better to give than to receive." I do now, and it is so very true.

When Modesty Calls - Altering a Wedding Dress

Because I can sew, I occasionally get asked to help someone with alterations. That scares me to death, especially when it is for a special occasion - a prom dress or wedding dress.

But I also respect and honor that request when it is so the wearer can be modest, and I feel that, since I have the ability to help her, I need to do so.

But I find wedding dresses the scariest of all.

When my friend, Lisa Connolly, asked me to look at her daughter's dress and see if I could bring the neckline up a bit and then fix the gapping neckline, I was concerned. I was afraid that the entire bodice would need to be picked apart and redone. Possibly even cutting off fabric. I explained that, while I would look, I could not promise anything.

At first, the only option I could see was taking apart the bodice. But as I looked, I realized that I might be able to close that gap by creating a small fold in the fabric over the zipper and adding a hook and eye.

I pinched the fabric together with my fingers to see how it would look and it worked!

 So I marked the area with a pin and stitched in an eye.

Success! While the eye is visible, the bride will have a veil on for part of the time and when she does not, people will have to be looking closely to see it. The bride said she was happy with that, and so that problem was solved.

As for the bust, I folded a small amount of fabric into a rectangle and stitched it into the V of her neckline. There was still a little gap in the fabric, so I made a very tiny tuck where it could not be seen and that took care of that issue. The fabric matched the dress perfectly, and honestly, it looked like it was really a part of the dress and not an alteration for modesty.

Two sittings, one to assess possibilities and figure out needed supplies (that took an hour) and another to do the work (two hours.) The bride put her dress on and off about ten to twelve times but she was very patient about it and so happy with how it looked when I finished.

I feel a lot less stress now that the alterations to the dress are done!

Mila and Kate's Christmas Pillowcases

I just finished Mila and Kate's Christmas pillowcases.

Mila's is on the left and Kate's is on the right.

I love Michael Miller's fabrics!

Mila and Kate's Thanksgiving Pillowcases

Yeesh! I almost forgot to make these for the girls! And when I went fabric shopping, both at brick and mortar stores as well as online, there was NOTHING available. Luckily, their mamas liked what I had on hand.

Mila is getting the green on the left, and Kate the "Gobble Wobble" on the right.

I will mail Kate's today or tomorrow and hand deliver Mila's since she lives just across the river.

Thinking ahead, I asked the mamas about Christmas fabric choices, and have those cut out, matched to thread, and ready to sew.