So a few new things, a quilt and a baby dress, let's start with the quilt.
This is from a pattern by
Thimble Blossoms called "Sweet Cheeks". The fabric is just a nice mix of patterns I found at Joann's. I'm in love with the backing of little white dots on green cotton.
It's hard to tell from my terrible photography, but the stripes are done in "soft edge applique" and the circles/flowers are traditional fusible web applique with a combination of machine and hand stitching around the borders. I wasn't sure I was going to like the soft edge applique which is basically just leaving the edges raw and fraying, but once the loose threads were pulled off and the quilt was washed, it looked so nice, I loved the effect. I quilted it with randomly spaced straight lines with a walking foot on my machine, avoiding the soft edges of the appliques, so as not to interfere with the nice fraying. I love this quilt, but it was for a friend's sweet baby, so I packed it up and off it went to the PO.
Next project,
Oliver + S pattern Ice Cream Dress.
This was probably a bit advanced for me, as my clothing sewing experience is limited, but you have to start somewhere, and it should definitely be on something you love. All this dress needs is a two year old to wear it! I'm loving making kids clothes though and this will probably be the first of many because they are so small it's not much commitment, and they use all the wonderful fabrics that I have bought one yard of, just hoping to make something because it was so pretty (the paisley is one of said fabrics, the green was left over from my apron, which I should post a picture of, and also happens to be organic - bonus!) This might be one of the cutest things I've ever made...
This brings me to a quandry that often bothers me. I love to make things for people, but they never seem to have the same appreciation for them that I do because they didn't work hard to produce it. I am always afraid my treasured creations will end up in the bottom of a drawer somewhere with a giant chocolate stain or worse strained peas or something all over them. I think by the time I have children I will have to just learn that kids will ruin things and if I want to make them nice clothes, I can't just expect them to sit quietly and not mess them up. Kids are dirty... 'nuff said.
