I finally decided to stop just looking at all the cute dresses people have made on the internet, and make my own.  I really should step away from the computer more often!



I decided that the key to making a quick dress from a vintage pattern is to find a kimono sleeve.  So I went through my stash and found one from my Grandma.  I think she made the jacket some time, because the pattern pieces were labeled.  It also helped my quick-make factor that there was only one size (mine), and the pattern didn't need to be cut out.  Just slap it right on the fabric and cut!



It only took me a day and a half, but it was a good thing I didn't have too much else I needed to do.  And DH was very good about letting me sew.  But he likes it when I have a new dress--probably because they actually fit me and show off what curves I do have.

Here's that lovely pleated bodice.

I hope this is the right place to post my challenge entry.  Being first almost makes me as nervous as being last.



So a couple of years ago I saw a fabulous sweater here on craftster.  http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=283624.0  Later on I saw that the Lion Brand Cable Luxe Tunic was free and had a similar horizontal cable, and decided to give it a whirl.  I took it with me lots of places to work on it.  But it seemed like whenever people would comment on it and I would mention that it was for myself, that would stop the conversation.  Strange.

I got it to the point that I could try it on.  It just didn't fit right.  Don't let the photo fool you.  Maybe if I had followed the pattern... but we all know how that goes.



So I ripped it out and tried again.  No good.  Left it for a year.  Ripped out and tried again.  And again.  Aargh!

So much later, I decided that I was sick of the reproachful and forlorn looks I got every time I glanced its way.  I yanked that project bag out of the corner and ripped out everything but the main cable panel.  All that yarn got knit into a small baby blanket for a new neice. 

But I couldn't get rid of that beautiful cable.  So I kept enough to go round my noggin, ripped out what was leftover, and used it to form the crown and rib for a hat.  For me.



And it's not perfect, but it has memories in it from all the places I took it when I thought it was a sweater.

So I get a discount on my daughters' ballet lessons in exchange for sewing some of the costumes.  I mentioned to someone that I haven't sewn any tutus even though I've been doing this for three years.  Mostly just fancy leotards.  And within a month the studio director got a hold of me and said that she'd bought this great new pattern, and could I sew some tutus.  Not just any tutus either.  Real, stick-straight-out, pancake, classical tutus for teenage girls!  I have to say that I was a bit trepidatious, but excited to try!  And so the odyssey began....



I have to say that I never could have done it without the fabulous pattern from Suzanne Deickman!  If you ever need to sew a legitimate tutu, check out her site  "Tutus That Dance."



I was laughing my head off half the time because I felt like I was hugging a big ball of netting.  Once you get all nine layers of netting sewn on, you press or steam them so they flatten out.  But before that....



Now I know why tutus cost so much.  Even the very plain tutus, without any decoration, too 17 hours to complete.  They aren't super hard, just time intensive.  And you can factor in that I'm a newbie, but still.  I made five plain, white tutus for our swans. 



There was a bluebird solo (a variation on the Bluebird pas de deux from the Sleeping Beauty ballet).  It's got lace over a bright satin, with a sturdy twill lining.  Fully boned, but only with the cheap poly boning from the store.  I'm not brave enough to use steel, yet, but see that it'll be necessary in the future.  Decorated bodice and tutu took about 30 hours, but I wasn't so good about keeping track of my time there near the end.



And we had a firefly solo.  This was my favorite tutu, as was the dancer.  The tutu is already sagging, but I made it with a hoop casing, so that won't be hard to fix.



These, with a few leotards and odds and ends, took about three months, working what amounted to part-time.  At one point, I tried to tell a lady from church that I was spending all my time making tutus, but somehow I said tatoos!

So I'm doing costumes for my daughters' ballet studio.  They're doing Little Red Riding Hood.  I've made the costume for Red, and the satiny capelet.  But that thing slides around like crazy when she dances!  I need to somehow secure it, but it has to be removable.  She isn't wearing it at the beginning of the first scene.  Then the mother puts it on her, and she immediately exits the stage.  This is when something could be fiddled with to secure it, before she goes on in the next scene.



Sorry, the capelet is at the studio so they can practice with it.  So no picture, but it's pretty basic.  Ties at the front neck.  We'll stick bobby pins in to secure the hood, but I need to think of something for the shoulders.



The strap is underneath the peasant top.  I'm sure there's a simple solution, but my brain is a little fried from working on ballet costumes about 20 hours a week for the past three months!  It's a good thing it gets me a hefty discount on the girls' tuition, or the stress would outweigh the fun.  Thanks for any and all suggestions!

I bought this abfab 80's dress at a garage sale.  It's all velvety on top, with a satin mermaid skirt including netting underneath for volume.  I want to cut off the poufy skirt to use by itself.  But this stripey fading is only on the front.



The back is the original deep purple without the pink fading.  I think it's probably from sun exposure.  I don't mind the fading, but it looks funny just in front.  So anyone know how I could artificially fade the rayon/acetate satin?

So I finally finished the quilt that I started for my brother's wedding...two years ago.  But they loved it, so all's well that ends well.  I got the pattern from "Royal Stars of the States" by Eula Long.  This woman drafted a star pattern for each of the 50 United States.  This is Virginia.  



Most of the fabrics are from my Grandma's stash that I inherited.  



If you can't tell, their favorite colors are green and turquoise.  The fabric for the background and backing are the same as the center medallion.



I've also made Ohio (my profile pic) and Utah, each for a sibling's wedding, each over a year late.  Maybe I'll start another now, even though the two left don't have prospects, yet. =)

(My apologies for the tiny pictures.  Any suggestions on making them show larger?)

I saw the kusudama tutorial on foldingtrees quite a while ago, and loved it.  
http://foldingtrees.com/2008/11/kusudama-tutorial-part-1/
It's really simple to do, it just takes time to fold 60 units, then glue them all together.
I used pages from a thrifted Japanese book.



Here you can see the basic unit or petal (farthest right).  You glue five units into a flower.  Then six flowers into a hemisphere.  (I started with papers 4" square.)



Finally, you glue two hemispheres into a ball, traditionally with a string loop for hanging in between, but I used a bamboo skewer instead.  It was tricky getting the two halfs to stay positioned so that all those surfaces were touching while the glue was still wet, so I used bobbypins.



It looks nice in a vase, but in my head I imagine it displayed with the skewer placed between books on a full shelf.  I gave it to a friend for her birthday, and never tried it with the books.

In exchange for a discount on ballet lessons, I used my fledgling skills to help make costumes.  I've been wanting to make wings, so when the instructor told me they needed fairy costumes I was so excited.  I didn't even have to buy the supplies!



The two biggest mistakes I learned from:  1. Make sure you don't buy the knee-highs with reinforced toes!  They didn't show up much from the stage, but they would've been much better without.  ***2. Don't make each wing separately!***  When you assemble them they will swivel individually and just not work.  I ended up taking them apart and twisting the wires together, which wasted hours.  Instead, just do the wire for all four wings in the set in one long, zig-zag piece.  It'll spring apart and drive you crazy until you get the hose over it and all wrapped together, but it's much better that way.

I got to make eight sets and they're each a little different.  To color them, first I drew lines/swirls/veins on them with Sharpie permanent markers, then sprayed the lines with rubbing alcohol.  The alcohol grabs the color and spreads it.  Once that was dry, I sprayed them with egg dye that I bought on clearance after Easter.  I couldn't resist hanging them out on the clothesline to dry!



Then I fancied them up with glitter and gems.  Around the bar in the middle of the wings is a tab of grosgrain ribbon.  That gets pinned to the dancer's leotard, with a big flower to hide it.  It worked out pretty well.



Here's my favorite pair.

I love both these fabrics.  I modified a pattern I inherited from my Grandma (Simplicity 8544).  This actually only vaguely resembles what I had originally pictured in my head.  They are a little big, but hopefully that means the girls can wear them longer. 



I love my ruffler-foot.  Wouldn't have even attempted this without it.  My ruffler-foot didn't like being fed taffeta.  But I made it stay at the machine until it finished everything on its plate! 



Normally I don't condone looking up  skirts.

So about 14 years ago, my Mom gave us a store-bought quilt for our wedding.  It wasn't anything special, and it wasn't the highest quality.  But it's been useful over the years.  Now it's ripping along many of the seams and quilting lines.  Is it reasonable to just make a new top and sew it right over the old quilt?  I'd probably have to put a new back on it while I'm at it.  The edge is scalloped (double wedding ring), so I guess I might just cut it off straight.  Does all this sound okay?  Will I run into problems later and regret it?  I hate to just throw it away, and can't afford to buy a new batt anyway.