Volume 18: Sneak Peeks and Making Muslins
Wonderfully Wonky
I took a break from YouTube last week so I could hustle and work on my next improv quilting booklet! I’m happy to report that I finished it and it’s with my printer now. It’s called Wonderfully Wonky Bugs and Flowers and will have instructions for the butterflies, lady bugs, flowers and stems from the improv quilt I’ve been working on for the past several months. I hand draw all the illustrations for these books on my iPad and I’m always so proud of them when they’re done. I’m so excited to add this one to my shop in a few weeks! Shop my previous three books here if you don’t already have them.
I’ve been asked several times if I included the sun block in the book and the answer is no, because it’s not an improv block, it’s paper pieced. BUT, since so many people have shown interest in it, I think I’ll make a video tutorial and stand alone pattern for the sun block. Let me know if that’s something you’re interested in!
Mother of the Bride Dress
I spent my spare time last week making a mockup of the pattern I chose for my mother of the bride dress. Last time I talked about it here, I thought I was going to use a vintage Vogue Oscar de la Renta pattern, but I cleaned out my closet a couple weekends ago (with the help of my girls), and I realized I just really don’t like to wear a lot of ruffles, gathers, and frills anymore. That dress had all of those.
So, I’m going a different direction! A fan, Missy (thank you Missy!) sent me a box full of formalwear patterns and I found one from the 90’s that’s a reproduced 1930’s pattern. I loved the design lines and I think it will make my fabric really shine. I made a muslin out of a green rayon I had around and after working through some body image issues (why are we like this??), I think it’s going to be perfect.
**After proofreading this, I wanted to speak more on the body image thing. I was not feeling great in the original muslin, so I put the dress away overnight. I tried it on for Layla the next day when I was in a better headspace and she very helpfully pointed out that the bodice of the dress was just too long for my body shape. I made that alteration and raised the waistline up to my natural waist and now I love how I look in the dress. So the problem was not my body, it was the style lines of this 1930’s look. The beauty of sewing is that I could adapt this to look great on me.
I’m hoping to start on the real thing this weekend, right after I officially finish the wedding dress. We purchased a petticoat from David’s Bridal, but it needs some adaptations, so I’m going to do that and then hem the dress and it’s ready! We found out that David’s Bridal can professionally steam the dress, which will be so great, since silk satin is a tough fabric to steam with my cheapo Conair steamer, lol.
Coupon Code for Doll Patterns
In case you missed it in my YouTube video a few weeks ago, I shared a coupon code for the entire doll and dolls clothes section of my shop! You can use the code GINNY for 15% off any of the patterns in that section :) The code works on my site’s shop and on Etsy.
Pillow Case Dresses
Here’s a sneak peek of what’s coming to YouTube on Monday! When my girls were little, I learned to make these dresses out of vintage pillow cases and I thought it was about darn time they make a comeback. I collected some pillow cases from estate sales and got to work making a pattern and a tutorial for you. They are SO cute.
Things to Watch
I have watched 2 things recently that if you haven’t seen already, you might want to give a try.
The first is Sheep Detectives. I saw this in theaters with some friends and LOVED IT. Now that it’s on Amazon Prime, my whole family watched it and everyone loved it. It’s funny, wholesome, great cast, good mystery.
The second is The Other Bennet Sister on BritBox. This show is not being overhyped, it is just that good. Best Jane Austen adjacent thing that’s been made in many years. If you don’t have BritBox, this is worth using your free trial to watch!
Please share anything else you’ve been loving watching, I’m always looking for clean, non-disturbing things to watch. (Do NOT watch Cape Fear, LOL. Traumatized from just one episode).
Cheers and Happy Sewing!
Nikki
