Volume 19: Wedding Sewing Progress and What's Coming Soon

My sewing room has been hoppin’ lately, and yet somehow I feel like I don’t have a ton to show for it. Perhaps at the end of this, I shall prove myself wrong, though, so let’s jump in.

Wedding Sewing Progress and the What/Why/When/How of Making Muslins

I posted a video on YouTube yesterday showing you some of the progress of the sewing I’m doing for my daughter Natalie’s wedding. I did not show you the finished dress, but I did show you the full mock-up I made, AND I showed you my own finished dress. I also discussed the logisitics of making muslins, or toiles, or mock-up versions of garments you’re sewing. My rate of success quadrupled when I started making a muslin of every single garment, so I hope you find the info in the video helpful.

A Quilt Finish!

Most of my sewing time this week was spent finishing Layla’s quilt! I finished hand sewing the binding yesterday and plan to wash it today, so then I’ll have a picture for you. I also mentioned last week that my newest improv quilting booklet was in the works and I’m happy to say it will be available on Monday! It’s called Wonderfully Wonky Bugs and Flowers and it includes all the improv elements of this latest quilt.

Here’s a picture of it on the table being basted. If you’re still basting quilts on the floor, you’ll want to watch this video ;)

The Sun Block

Along with the book release next week, I’ll be posting a video tutorial and a freebie pattern for the sun block in this quilt. Since it’s not an improv element, it’s not in the new book, but so many people have asked about it, I had to make a tutorial. It’s a paper piecing pattern and it’s much easier than it looks, I promise, but if you want to try a very simple paper piecing project first, check out this video and this freebie.

For my sample, I used the Liberty swatches I had ordered from Mood when I was shopping for a mother-of-the-bride dress fabric. I’m so happy to be able to use those small pieces in something!

Crafting a Wedding

Natalie has been spending quite a bit of time in my sewing room lately, crafting for the wedding. Her and Layla got all the wedding decor out and organized and labeled, she’s made a garland of bows, decorated baskets, improved the card box, and best of all, made a veil and bow tie for the Lego horses they’re using as a cake topper.

This wedding is so full of personal touches, it’s going to be so beautiful. We’ve been collecting lace and embroidered tablecloths, doilies, hankies, velvet ribbon, and all kinds of little things. It’s all coming together.

BUT, Casey and I are going on a trip in a few weeks to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and even though it’s crunch time for wedding tasks, we are also super excited to get away from it for a little bit, haha!

What to do next?

After I hem the bride’s dress and the groom’s dress this week, my sewing docket is totally clear! If there are any Fall related projects you’d like to see in the coming months, please reply here and I’ll make a list.

The next behind-the-scenes project I’ll be working on is a beginner’s quilting course. It will be a for-purchase course hosted on my website as a series of videos designed to help you through making your first quilt from start to finish, so if you like my style of tutorials and are wanting to learn to quilt, watch out for that in the late Fall.

Cheers!

Nikki