Third Sister: January 2015

Thursday, January 22, 2015

A Very Special Dress

Though the calendar may still say January now, these pages fly by before you can believe it. If you have a special occasion coming up this spring...First Communion or a wedding in the family...it's time to start planning now.

Last year, my goddaughter, Grace, celebrated her First Holy Communion, and I made her dress. Grace had definite ideas about the style and length she wanted. She wanted a simple scooped neck, short cap sleeves, embroidery on the bodice front and a sash in back. She also asked for a bow on one shoulder, but it really didn't end up working with the design.

Ordinarily, I'm not a quick seamstress. Planning, measuring, embroidery, etc. take time and careful consideration. But I had a smocked Easter dress to make first, and then I whipped up an everyday dress for Grace, to try out the pattern's fit. So this dress needed to go together quickly, and it did.

For fabric, I was very fortunate to have yards of silk dupioni on hand...a gift from my aunt. I made an overskirt of organza and used that for the sash as well.

For the embroidery, I used my own designs. I use this same cross when I'm making baptism garments. Here I've made silk ribbon roses around it.

I used the Children's Corner pattern "Jane Anne" and drafted a new sleeve of my own. It's completely lined. It sewed in pucker-free my first try!!

Here I'm gathering yards of organza. I ended up hemming both skirts by hand.

I found these perfect buttons at Sarah's Fabrics here in downtown Lawrence.

I have to say Grace was the sweetest, best-dressed little girl in her class!

Monday, January 19, 2015

Inspired......Wintertime Birthday Wishes

I had several birthday cards to make, and not much time. I dug through my winter stamp box and pulled out this big snowflake that I hadn't used in a long time.

Kristie Hartfeil's design on page 82 of the Winter 2014 CardMaker magazine inspired this wintertime birthday card. It's simple and quick to make. What could be more perfect?

I stamped the snowflakes on pure white, using Danube Blue. Just stamp over and over again, without re-inking, to get the varying shades of blue. Try it in a different color...maybe purple.

Supplies:

cardstock from K & Company; cardstock, snowflake stamp from Hobby Lobby; blue and black dye ink from Clearsnap; "Happy Birthday" stamp from Flonz.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great week!

Friday, January 9, 2015

A Box of Goodies

Christmas is sadly behind us. The New Year's begun. And I have this lovely box of new goodies to try out. What to do first.......

I needed a retirement card for a man who travels and shows antique cars. Actually, I bought myself a little Christmas presents just for this card. I picked out the Art Deco cartridge from Cricut.

I cut the car--my first real, intricate die-cutting, mind you!--from red, black, gray and tan cardstock. For the base card, I used one of the maps from The Paper Studio's Uncharted stack. I snipped a notch in a leftover piece of tan cardstock for the tag and sponged the edge with brown chalk ink. (Yes, chalk ink seems to sponge more easily.)