Panties Here, Panties There, Panties Everywhere

Yesterday I was all about panties.  I went to the Goodwill and purchased some t-shirts.  I walked down row after row of shirts stretching them and found about a dozen that I thought were perfect.  When I got home I tossed everything in the washer and sat down to review the tutorial.

The unisex panty pattern that I chose was from Etsy (link below).

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62428988/boy-cut-brief-unisex-underwear-pattern?ref=sr_list_2&ga_ref=auto&ga_search_query=girls+underwear+pattern&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

After the t-shirts came out of the dryer: I removed the sleeves and set them aside, I removed the neck band or collar and tossed them, and then I cut the shoulder and side seams.  I took the main pieces front and back, and pressed them well.  Since the pattern was one piece and I planned on making multiples I made a posterboard pattern so I could trace the pattern onto the fabric.  I cut these pieces out by hand.

Using my rotary cutter and stretchiest fabric I cut out all the bands.

After I cut everything out I assembled them using a stretch stitch that both seams and over casts the edges.  The tutorial that comes with the pattern is excellent and well worth the investment.  And look at these darling panties! 

What do I have on the agenda today?  Panties of course!

You're Invited to Sew-Along

Imagine a World where Every Little Girl

owned at least One Dress….

What if that dress was made by you?

You are invited to attend a Sew-Along on

Sunday, May 22nd at 1:00

We will be making simple Pillow Case Dresses

so bring your sewing tools and pillowcases!

Les Fabriques will furnish sewing machines for us to use

and a 15% discount for materials used for dresses.

There is something for everyone to do even if you can't sew. 

Location: Les Fabriques

1895 Seminole Trail

Charlottesville, VA 22901

(at their new location across from Lowe’s)

Questions?

You can contact me Karen at DressAGirl@charlottesville.net or

Carla at Les Fabriques at design@LesFabriquesInc.com

Check us out on Facebook Dress A Girl Around The World - Virginia

RIP My Old Iron

It happened yesterday.  My iron died.  One moment we were ironing away and the next time I went to pick it up it was luke warm and fading fast.  I stopped what I was doing "I need an iron, I can't live without an iron."  I hopped in my car and headed into town.  I was a woman on a mission.

I have not had a lot of luck with irons. I had a Rowenta but that wore out after only a year and a half, then I went with a Black and Decker it had a short life as well.  I finally gave up and bought the cheapest iron I could find...a Sunbeam.  It lasted just over 6 months.

I don't know about you but I sort of have relationships with my appliances...my sweet toaster who doesn't object when I jam 4 pieces of bread in to two slots, my vacuum that had sucked up legos and my boys underpants when I was too tired (or lazy) to pick them up, and last but not least my iron. 

I don't like my appliances to break and I don't like buying a new ones. 

My first stop on my quest for a new iron was a local fabric store because I had a 50% off coupon, but the girl as the register said "you obviously didn't read the fine print, irons are not included." I left the Simplicity iron on the shelf because I wasn't 'in-love' with it anyway.   I headed over to Lowes. 

Lowes had three irons, two of which looked like vintage irons of the 60's, the other one had an inch of dust on it and the label on the bottom of it has permanenly bonded to it.  So I jumped in my trusty VW and headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond...And there it was The Shark!  Reasonably priced, sleek, self-cleaning....yep this was an iron that I could learn to love.

I stuck it under my arm, wandered to check out, and headed home.

When I got home I bagged up my old Sunbeam and carried it to the dumpster.  Rest in peace my old friend we made yards of beautiful bias tape together.  You'll be missed!

WOOF WOOF

Today I went to a fabric store to pick up a few notions…that’s all!  A sweet woman, kind of shy approached me “would you like my 25% off coupon, I’m not going to use it.” I felt like she had handed me a sack of gold! I wanted to reach out and give her a bear hug.

Now not only did I have enough money to cover the contents of my cart, I had even more money to spend. Notice how 25% means more to spend rather than money to save? :^) So I purchased even more thread and elastic.

And for those of you who heard me complain about my Simplicity bias tape maker (in an earlier post) I am going to take a lesson from a friend on how to “make fabulous bias tape” with my bias tape maker.

I will go with an open mind. I promise. I am of the firm belief that you can teach an old dog new tricks.  WOOF WOOF

Heart Tags & Hem Trim

A couple of days ago Sean (my son Jon's friend) posted photos of the Kingdom of Tonga on Facebook. Sean is in the Peace Corps.  In one of photos, two little girls are posing with Sean for a photo…immediately I began to think about Dress A Girl. I wrote to Sean’s mother to ask about the Tongan children in the photo. Do they need dresses? She has written to her son Sean to find out. Stay tuned…

Meanwhile….

I found the sweetest little heart tags that sew neatly into the side seam at the hem or on the side of a pocket. The tags folds in half so there is a heart on each side. I think they’re perfect. I found them on eBay. I have also been playing around with the top stitching on the hem to see if I could cover it up. I tried rick rack, fancy machine stitching, and bias trim. I really like the bias trim.

I just heard that it’s going to snow this weekend. How can that be?  It was eighty two days ago!  Oh well back to the refuge of my warm little sewing room.

Bias Tape Folder $6... Ralph Lauren Sheet...$1 Cute Pillowcase Dress...Priceless!

Call me old fashioned but I like to make my own bias tape. The other day while I was looking for something to spend my money on I purchased one of those bias tape makers by Clover.

I have an electric one by Simplicity but we have a love/hate relationship. It wants to choose the fabric every time we work together. BUT when I want to choose the fabric it revolts by jamming up which requires a fast thinking and a speedy rescue. In theory it is a great idea however for now it makes a good doorstop for my sewing room. But I digress.

Last week there was a big sheet sale at our local Goodwill…$1.00 each. I found a pretty blue and white striped Ralph Lauren sheet blue that I cut into stacks of 2” strips. ~drum roll~ I stuck a strip in to the little Clover tape folder and off I went.

While I was cheering myself on….my husband wandered in. He's a nice guy and is always ready to lend a helping hand...so he held the unfolded strip and directed it into the tape folder while I sprayed and ironed. 

I give this little gadget a thumbs up.

I may eventually learn to love my Simplicity bias tape maker but for now I don't have time to argue with it.

There’s a nice breeze today and I want to keep my door open so I can catch it. :^) Where’s that doorstop?

Have a peace-filled weekend my friends.

19,192 Dresses

Hi my name is Karen. I design and sew upcycled kids clothing, but best of all I work with a program called Dress A Girl Around the World.

One sentence on the Dress A Girl website grabbed my attention “Imagine a World Where Every Little Girl Owns at Least One Dress…And what if that dress was made by you!” “Awesome” I said outloud. “Sign me up.”

To date Dress A Girl has delivered an amazing 19,192 dresses to 36 countries.

Please consider sponsering a Dress A Girl event or Sew-Along with your friends, family, club, or church. 

I can't wait to get started...how about you?

http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/