Monday, May 19, 2008

back in the sew of things

They say pride goes before a fall. I'll admit it...I'm proud...of my sewing that is. I made most of my daughters' clothes when they were younger. I even made my boys' t-shirts and my daughter's prom dress. And yes, I think, they looked "handmade" rather than "homemade". Well, maybe not the t shirts. My crocheting and knitting could, in my opinion, take lessons from my sewing. I sewed professionally for a bit and I went without sewing for several years when I couldn't take the results from a $60 machine any longer and waited until we could afford a very nice machine, very nice. Well, pride goes before a fall, so they say, and yes, I repeated myself for emphasis. Now was not the time for that "fall" to occur. My daughter has two weddings in her husband's family coming up. She was depending on me for the sewing portion. She tried sewing. Now she can crochet and cross stitch beautifully but she doesn't sew. I do. She had time to do her daughter's dress for one wedding. She crocheted it. But no time to crochet a dress for the second just two weeks later. That's where I get to come in. Yes, I said that I "get" to come in because I do love to sew. Especially little things...with lace. Without further ado, I give you R's dress. Sewn from scraps left over from another granddaughter's dress. What do you think? Handmade or homemade?
Then there was a quilt for a wedding present. As I said my daughter cross stitches beautifully. But she doesn't sew....on a machine...a stitch. Tried it, didn't like it. So she comes up with a wonderful gift for the couple...a quilt with a cross stitch in the middle with the date, etc of their wedding. The cross stitch was beautiful. Now to make a quilt that offset the cross stitch rather than took away from it. I think it came out pretty well and despite my apprehensions with browns and blues together, they look very good together in a log cabin barn raising pattern. I did tie portions of it and machine quilted portions. I do not hand quilt. One thing about sewing as opposed to knitting and crocheting and cross stitch...there is more instant gratification and after spending sew much time on the Mystic Light shawl it was nice to have something quicker to do.

After the Mystic Light I opted for a little instant gratification in the knitting department. A hat for W or B. It's much redder than the photo shows. Easy knit, liked the pattern, a k1 p1 one row and the next row k, then repeat those two rows.

S is in the sewing mood as well. She finished enough strips of her "picnic" blanket that she decided to sew them together and see how many more she had to do.





2 comments:

  1. The dress is stunning! I love the use of the purple trim and lace! The quilt turned out really well too! Browns and blues are "in" these days!

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  2. I really love both the dress and the quilt! Very beautiful! I hope we get to see your granddaughter in the little dress! :o)

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