The Newest Family Member

I really love animals... It drives Brad crazy, but I just can't help it.  On our way home from Clemson two weeks ago we found a little Beagle.  I promised Brad that if we picked her up, I would find her another home if no one claimed her.

Well of course, no one has claimed her and I'm completely crazy about her.  We think she's mixed with Jack Russell and she is a total terror.  We have Labs and for a long time now, I've wanted a small dog to snuggle with and make clothes for.  So, I think she's found her permanent home.  Even Bailey and Avery seem to like her or tolerate her anyway.

I haven't had much time to sew since I found her, because I spend all of my time running after her yelling "no."  But, I'm hoping to finish up a brown top that I started this week and I just ordered Simplicity pattern 2603 to make for next weekend.

Introducing Lucy riding in the car with her new sisters:

Simplicity Pattern - Cynthia Rowley 2584

I really like Cynthia Rowley patterns!  I made 2584 for the football game this weekend and was so pumped up about how it turned out.  This is definitely my favorite dress yet.  It didn't take me long to make the dress and it was so rewarding.  I used a corral cotton sateen from fabric.com.  It was so soft and really easy to work with.  I omitted the zipper because the neck opening is plenty big to just pull over your head.  Highly recommend it!

Terrible game for the Tigers, but a beautiful day for football!

Simplicity Pattern - Cynthia Rowley 2497

I really like this pattern.   I made the dress in style C about a year ago and decided to make style A 2 weeks ago.  I used a plum polyester shantung from Joanns.  I love this material because it has the look of dupioni, but doesn't wrinkle.  Its really easy to work with too.  All in all, I was pretty happy with it.  I made some novice mistakes... I used a 7 inch zipper and couldn't get into the dress.  I had to rip it out and add the longer zipper that the pattern called for-  that's a mistake I won't make again!  My gathering in the front was not even, so I ended up pulling the midriff apart and redoing that.  And lastly one of the sleeve linings ended up too tight and was pulling the dress over to the right.  I probably should have redone the sleeve, but I just put a slice in the lining and you can't tell when I'm wearing the dress.  I wore it to church on Sunday and I was pretty happy with the way it turned out- although I don't love it as much as the one with the ruffled neckband!  It will be a good dress to wear to work.

A Few of my Favorite Projects to Date

Welcome to my crafty blog.  My mom has always sewn and I can remember making little American Girl doll quilts and outfits with her when I was little.  She even bought me a little mini sewing machine and taught me a thing or two, but it never stuck. 

About a year ago, my friend Lacey was getting married and was having her bridesmaid dresses custom made.  When I went to get fitted, I fell in love with a dupioni silk top that the designer had made.
I was so inspired that I went home and pulled out my mom's old Kenmore sewing machine.  I found some seersucker material that my mom had left over and an old orange table cloth.  I decided I was going to make a dress for the Clemson football game that weekend.  I didnt have a pattern or much of an idea what I was doing, but I did end up with a dress to wear!

I decided that for my next dress, I would definitely use a pattern.  I chose a Simplicity pattern by Cynthia Rowley (2497).  I absolutely adore a ruffle!  The dress went pretty smoothly with a a little help from the mom - it took me a little while to catch onto the "pattern lingo". 

I wore it to Lacey's rehearsal dinner and got tons of compliments (a few of the bridesmaids actually thought that the girl who made the bridesmaids dresses made this one too)! 

  Looking forward to using this blog to share my successes and epic fails (there have been quite a few already)!