Post Christmas Post

Well, those two little dresses didn't get finished due to this and that and too much procrastination.  Their mom found the girls a couple of cute dresses to wear instead, and I can now spend the rest of the year working on the green dresses for next year, sizing them up one to allow for growth.
   I'm pondering whether to re-pleat the pleats  on the smocked dress since I pulled it up to the incorrect, too-small size.

Christmas went well enough.  A friend (my ex, actually) came out from Philly and brought his new companion dog. The cats weren't happy, but they spent the day on the third floor and recovered quickly after Moonlight left.  She's a Pit Bull/Lab mix (mostly) and just the sweetest doggo ever. She'd been a stray on the streets of Philly and was rescued.  R was fostering her until she could go to her furever home (she needed some medical care), but just couldn't give her up.  Can't say I blame him.

Tomorrow I'll probably make a list of all the Things I Want To Complete for the coming year.  I don't call it a resolution.  It's just a game plan, subject to amendments and editing as needed.  There are a few things that are solid though:  put the elastic in my ironing station cover, re-cover my tiny ironing board, as I've found that I actually do need that pointy bit from time to time when ironing pleated skirts and sleeves and such, and installing two more drawers on the station.
   Getting things sorted and weeded out is an ongoing project.  I have a hard time letting go of anything that might be useful, but a harder time keeping those things in a manner where I can actually find them if they ARE needed.  I suspect there are lots of multiples of basic sewing supplies on the third floor.  Time to gather them up and use them. 

Two projects I know I want to finish: 
      The Glittering Gentleman's Nightcap, a project I started a few years ago.
       Those two Christmas Dresses.
I've also recently discovered that my youngest sister-in-law is going to need a Christening Gown for an Impending Stranger.  My favorite sort of sewing.  I'm already planning that particular confection, and ordered fabric for it Saturday!

Fine thanks, and yours?

Have you ever had one of those projects that you were really excited about, but thing just kept stomping all over your enthusiasm?
   Of  course you have, if you're a normal person.

Let me tell you about mine...

   I'm still working on christmas dresses for my great-grand-neices.  I love the patterns.  I love the fabric.  The beadwork will be fun to work on.
  IF I can get the wretched bodice on the larger one properly!


While pulling out the basting threads from the second side of the bodice-to-skirt seam, I noticed that the tips of some of the pleats had turned inwards and were visible on the right side of the seam.  (The first one went in perfectly.) ((because of course it did.))  I carefully unpicked the stitching, which was not easy given the really great match of fabric and thread, pulled out the gathering threads and pressed the skirt out flat again.  Restitch the gathering rows (3 of them), carefully knot the upper thread and start pulling up the bobbin thread.  Pin the wrong side of the skirt to the wrong side of the
bodice, pull the pleats to fit and carefully, carefully go over the entire length of the seam twice to make sure nobody has wriggled to the right side again.  Stitch the seam...  turn it over, and it looks pretty good.

   I take the garment into the other room and sit down, slide the seam under my magnifying light and discover that somehow, SOMEHOW, a few threads have escaped to the right side.  I made the seam bigger; screw ripping all those stitches out again.
 
The next step is to fold the bodice lining back over the skirt and bodice front bits, making a sort of fabric sandwich.  It didn't look quite right, but I stitched it anyway.  I pulled out the pins and shook the garment out....yeah, it looked okay, so I did the other side of the bodice.   This is when I realized that the previous sandwich was more of a bread/bread/filling than the proper bread/filling/bread.
You guessed it.  I am going to have to take those stitches out again and redo the skirt-to-bodice seam, this time actually stitching the pieces wrong sides together the right way around. 

But first, I'm going to have a SoCo and cola and watch an episode of Midsomer Murders.  Nothing like a little murder and illicit doin's in the quaint villages of South Oxfordshire to repair a fractious sewing session! 
 

Moving along

This afternoon I threaded up the pleater so I could get going on Beaded Garland.

I pressed a layer of German Interfacing to the wrong side of the skirt top.  Silk Dupioni is a bit of a bear to pleat because it wriggles and it frays.  The very lightweight cotton batiste that this interfacing is made from adds just enough stability to the fabric to keep it from wriggling around as it is going through the pleater.  It also helps to plump up the pleats a bit. 

I'm fairly sure that this is one of the best pleating jobs I have ever done!

I used a winning combination- my Super Amanda pleater, German interfacing and a slow hand on the pleating wheel.  The fabric came right off the needles with none of the usual tugging. I can't tell you how impressed I am with myself!

Next up are the blocks for the tucked dress bodice and tucked pinafore bodice for the younger sister's dress.  I didn't notice that the pattern alterations started at a size 8 until I glued the tucking guides together.  I guess I'll wing the size 4!   
   Speaking of patterns, I'm using a pdf download which  means lots of pages to stick together.  I used to use tape, and I loathed this process.  I switched to Scotch brand Scrapbooking glue.  The bottle has two applicators: one is a dabber pad and the other is a fine-point nozzle.  I've used both now and really like both how the glue goes on and how well it sticks.  I had a bit of time to make sure the paper was aligned correctly before the glue set.

Now, time for a dinner break, and then back at it.  Time's closing in on me, but I wouldn't be me if I wasn't being loomed over by a deadline. 

sewing hijinks

I got sucked down the hole of Pinterest, as one does when there is a sewing deadline looming, and ran across a post on making an ironing station using an Ikea Kallax 2x4 unit and a piece of hardboard. 
One horrible trip to Ikea and an hour of work by the hubby and I had the base unit done. 
  It took a couple of hours to cover the ironing surface.  I used a 3x6 piece of 1/4" pressboard, two layers of cotton quilt batting, a layer of Insul-Brite and a final cover of Iron Quick fabric.
  What an amazing pressing surface this makes! 

plenty of storage, and it's easy to move around

I can press a 54" width of fabric with room to spare on either side!

Now that I have this great pressing surface I'm ready to pleat fabric and put some tucks into 

the organdy for the pinafore.