Vogue 1385, a Felted Wool Jacket begins

The muslin is cut and marked and ready for me to give it attention. I will be using Vogue 1385, a Sandra Betzina pattern. I found it critical to muslin this design. Some years back I had a bad experience with the fit of the SB patterns and have not used them since. This is despite my liking many of the designs. Betzina's patterns are based on her own sloper, not the one used by the Big Four. My understanding is that it is geared toward a more mature body, whatever that means. Either way, I wanted to know what I needed to do to make her designs work for me as I like quite a few of them. So I cut the pattern out exactly as drawn for what she calls a size C. Her sizing uses letter designations . The waists seem bigger in proportion to the hips and bust of the Big Four. My previous issue was with the upper chest and sleeves so we will see what happens. Do I petite the pattern? Do an FBA? We'll see and that is why this muslin is really important  and cut exactly to the pattern size. I want to know how her sizing works for me so that hopefully I can do the same alterations each time I use one of her designs.

I love this blouse/jacket. The neckline is very flattering and the versions I have seen on the web are awesome, particularly the one made by Shams  and this beauty  from Margy. I will use the darted version for a bit more shape But I do like the way Shams's hangs without the darts. My goal is to have a soft sweatery jacket to wear at work. The fabric is wool gabardine that I have felted which gave it a really nice hand. 

IRL, the fabric is not so heathery looking, more of a jewel tone. Felted wool can be cut and it won't ravel. This has major impact on facings, seams, etc. There will be no facings on this jacket. I have a specific idea for how I will handle all the darts. I think seams may be lapped. Haven't worked that out yet. Felted wool is usually a quick sew as it requires nearly no traditional finishing. But it does require some thought put into how you will dart and seam and face so this should be fun. I love a challenge. I am going to reference some of the ideas I used in the jacket that was published in Threads. 

My grey rayon knit top is completely done and I like it. I added a flounce on each side of the garment which I like. Pics to come probably over the weekend. This is a hectic week with work responsibilities so your patience is appreciated......Bunny  

Jewelry and Bags

Today consisted of much catching up type sewing. These smocked jewelry pieces have finally been worked out. I have worked on these off and on for a long time. Once done I would wear one for the day and that made me aware that they needed to be heavier, or needed a better backing, etc. It's been a journey just finding the proper glue but finally, this week, I got that worked out. So now they are finally  wearable without falling apart and hang much better. I will make more in the future for gifts and bartering but until now did not feel they were "good" enough. Now I'm happy.

This is off white dupioni silk that I dyed, smocked and turned into this piece of jewelry. There are metallic threads. It is actually hard by the time I am finished all the processes on it. The chain is a pretty black/copper.

Same applied to this one. It has a leather backing and my signature in gold on the back. Has sort of a Southwest vibe, doesn't it? I hope to dye some more pieces soon to make more jewelry. I have big dyeing plans but will wait till warm weather. I like to do as much as I can outside due to fumes, staining, etc.
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The pink and orange felted wool bag is finished. I would do things differently if I did it again but its usable and will be a cute nod to the color blocking trend. Time to put the wools away!
  I tried to needle felt the pink bow wool into the orange wool and it was just too much. I ended up triple zigzagging all of the edges instead and that worked fine. I tried hand stitching but it just did not look right. A peek at the lining was in yesterday's blog. I don't know if this is right or not but this is how I winged the lining, a bit different. When attaching handles to a lining it helps to work flat.

First I made and edgestitched straps. They were placed equidistant from the center of the handle and taped into position. Pins tighten them even further. See those big yellow heads?

                                                                                         Here you can see ONE side of the lining is sewn together so that the entire lining can be worked on flat. The top edge is folded under and the straps pinned in place. You MUST leave enough room for your edge stitching presser foot to fit between the top edge of the lining and the handles, a healthy half inch here. I then edge stitched the entire top edge of the lining to secure the straps in the right place. The open seam was then sewn shut and the lining finished like any tote bag. 

I think next on the agenda will be that shopping cart seat for the baby shower. Good thing my nieces don't read my blog!...Bunny

Pretty and Pink felted bag, Part # 3

The body of the bag has been put together with all of its embroidery completed. This wool is very thickly felted, stitchable but thick. To eliminate bulk I decided to butt the edges of the bag body and the cuff . Underneath I inserted some poly ribbon to straddle the two sides. First I straight stitched the body of the bag to the ribbon.

Then the wrong side of the cuff was butted up to the right side of the bag. This way the seams will be hidden when the cuff is turned down. I pinned the cuff to the ribbon. You can see the ease I planned in as the cuff needs to be a tad larger than the bag to fall properly. This fabric is so easy to ease. You just give it a little push and it is in there without any ripples. You can see how I angled back the ends of the seam to also eliminate some bulk.
 

I used a triple zigzag at it's widest width to straddle the two edges. I went twice around the bag to be sure. You can see the stitch on the ribbon inside the bag.

After that I straight stitched the ribbon to further secure the bag and cuff.

The cuff was then folded over, steamed with the iron and press cloth and held with the clapper till cool to build in some memory.

And this is my lining fabric, cut out and interfaced. It is an old silk skirt. I haven't worn this skirt since I retired but always loved the fabric. It's time has come and it will be the lining for this bag. As usual I interfaced the lining with weft insertion fusible interfacing. The body of the bag is fused with Decor Bond. I find with these "sweater bags" it is very important to put in a lot of body, otherwise they lump and bag and stretch like an old sweater. Hopefully tomorrow the bag will be finished and I can share with you all.
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Thanks for the comments on Sham's fabulous tablecloth skirt design. I think it should be renamed the "Happy Skirt" as it seems everyone who is making one has a big smile on their face in the photos. I think us more mature types are no different from little girls. We all love a good twirl......Bunny

The Pink Felt Bag

I've had some questions about houndstooth felt bag I just completed. Since I was jumping right in to another felt bag I thought I would have you come along for the journey to see how I go about it. 

First you need the wool, preferably a knit but not totally necessary. A 100% wool sweater is the ideal. Don't get blends unless they are angora or mohair with at least 60% wool. NO synthetics! They will never felt. I get my sweaters from friends and family. They all know my addiction. I've been known to felt a sweater or two of hubby's that he never even missed. He learned a long time ago not to ask where I get fabric and certainly doesn't ask what I am doing with the washing machine .So all wool sweaters are the best. I also shop  the local consignment shop or the Salvation Army. I know of three craftspeople up here  who make their living selling felted mittens. They are in demand here with our awful cold. I swear they beat me out to the shops as here I am in one of the coldest climates in the lower 48 and I can hardly ever find a 100% wool sweater.  Lately I've been lucky.

Make sure you shop the extra large sizes, the triple exes and friends. The sweater will shrink substantially so start out as big as you can. The two sweaters I picked up last week were both extra larges. Once felted/fulled (not getting into the difference with this post) they would fit my 6 year old Sophie. So be careful of dreaming of a huge bag as you won't have enough fabric unless you piece with other sweaters. Keep your eye out for color and pattern. I can't tell you how many grey,maroon, and black felted sweaters I have. They get boring fast. But when you find a great color or pattern, even a Fair Isle type sweater, lots of possibilities open up. They are the real score. Remember, the hunt is part of the fun here. 

Take your sweaters home. Fill your machine with very hot water, very little of it. You want your sweaters to be peaking out of the top of the water in the machine. If they are in a water filled machine there will be less abrasion and therefore less shrinking. So just enough water for them to swim together tightly. Add some shampoo, not Tide. Anything meant to clean protein fibers, like our hair, is good for wool. The soap aids in the process so don't think of not adding it. 

At this point you can walk away but I don't recommend for more than a minute or two. Talk to a friend on the phone while you hang out at the machine. Every few minutes of agitation, pull out the sweater and check. You never know how much a piece will felt. Sometime they can felt as thick as carpet padding and other times they keep their drape. So watch closely. Don't let it get to the carpet padding stage  unless you will make slippers, mittens, or trivets/hot pads. Now if at the end of the agitation its not felted enough, don't fret. There's more to come. 

Make sure your rinse is set for cold. The shock of the cold water will cause additional shrinkage. Just let the machine run through the rest of its cycle on cold. When done, take your sweater out. Before you do one more thing, wipe down the inside of the machine with a paper towel to pick up as much lint as possible. You don't want this fuzz draining out and clogging something up. Many who seriously felt for profit have an old machine in the garage or basement kept just for felting, a word of warning. Now inspect your garment. Does it  look done enough ? If so place it somewhere to dry.It doesn't have to be flat as any lumps can easily be steamed out later. I use  my woodstove which has these hanger things that come out to dry clothes and boots on, which we love. 

If it is not felted enough to your liking, throw it in a hot dryer. That will further seize up the fibers. Once you have a dry felted sweater you are ready to create.

Here is where the planning comes in. REALLY look at your sweater. Think of the bag you want to make and its pattern pieces. How will you get a piece of fabric to fit each piece necessary? You have ribs, cables, and who knows what else going on with your sweater. For this bag, the back of the sweater provided fabric for one side of the bag. The front of the sweater had pockets knitted in so forget that section, although that could creatively been utilized, just not part of my vision on this one. I used the sleeves for the other side of the bag. I know, they are not wide enough. This needs to be pieced. Above you can see part of the sleeve cut off. It will be pieced with the other cut piece. Notice how the cut is in line with the knitted cable, just like matching stripes. Now there are a couple of ways to go about this. First I tried a way I saw written up in Threads eons ago. The pieces were butted and triple zigzagged together. I used an edge stitching foot to do this butting up each piece to the blade and triple ZZing away. Here is the result:

Ah, it has wavy bumps you say. Yes, it does. The wonder of wool is that those steam right out and here you can see it all pressed away:

While I have seen this treatment work well on clothing I did not like the look for the bag. How else could I piece this together? I looked at my slim inventory again and decided to put a section of the cuff in the center of these pieces. The seams would be traditional and hidden on the inside of the bag. That worked so well that I decided all seams will be on the inside of the bag. 

Notice how the ends of the seam allowances are trimmed back to eliminate bulk when stitching the cross seam. 

I needed a gusset for the bag as well. My sweater front had limited uses due to the pockets but I could squeeze out enough if I pieced two center fronts in the middle for the gusset so that's what I did. By the way, this fabric cuts like a dream even with the rotary cutter. 

So my next challenge is to piece together the cuff. The bag will have stems felted and embroidered on its face. The cuff will have flowers. Here is sort of a rough idea:

Before proceeding with any further decoration all the pieces needed to be interfaced. I used fusible Decor Bond. I cut away the seam allowances but leave them in at the top edge. I find this fabric can come unfused but if one part is stitched in the product will do its job. Now comes the fun!

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I completed my tablecloth skirt and I love it. I just haven't had the time to photo it but it will come. I really like it and hope to make more for the summer. 

I also picked up these two little black and white egg cups for my special pins. I love having the pins in egg cups,each holding a certain type. Today DH and I off loaded nearly everything in the studio into another room. We decided to hang the new shelf on a different wall and we are both happy with the results. It looks much better and frees up a lot of space. The neat thing is without any provocation from me, he has started calling it my "studio." Aren't guys funny?  I'm going to take that as a sign of respect for the seriousness with which I approach this craft. He knows all about that but it was nice to hear.

The studio is coming along. Every day I move something or other. A dear sewing friend offered to monogram my slipcover so while that is out being done I will work on other things. There is always some sort of idea waiting to be stitched up.......Bunny

Dibs and Dabs

Right now my sewing is a bit unfocused alternating between play and actual projects. Here is a bit of what is happening in the cave.

 First, I downloaded Gennie Wren's Emily nightgown pattern and glued it to oaktag. I know I will be making this over and over. The fabric is now cut out and getting smocked.

 

I took advantage of Joanns quilting fabric sale to pick up some fabrics for a summer dress for Sophie. Is this because it was a brutal 2º out while I was shopping? More than likely. It just felt right to get going on something not wooly. This fabric, along with Simplicity 2171 for a "Knot Dress" are now in the queue.

 

Next came some play time. I picked up these two extra large 100% wool sweaters at the local consignment shop. They both felted beautifully and I am anxious to go on these.  I also did some playtime with "foils". These have really intrigued me lately having seen some neat examples on Marcy Tilton's site as well as in retail. The foil actually works beautifully with sweater knits and that juxtaposition excites me. I'm still sorting out how this can be utilized in a garment or accessory. It's a fun medium. 

Here's a sample:

Yesterday was definitely a day of sewing ADD as you can tell. Today I am more focused and will hone in on the dolly outfit and some home dec for DD. Cabin fever is setting in..............Bunny

Blog Gossip and a New Bag, too!

First, the gossip, or I should say, "actual news".  I have been asked by Simplicity to be their guest blogger tomorrow on their New Look/Facebook website. I am thrilled at the request and hope you check out their page to see what is written. I am really honored that they sought me out.  So join in the fun and check it all out tomorrow on New Look FB.

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My felted houndstooth bag is complete. It was quick and easy to make and here are the details. 

Fabrics: The houndstooth is 100% wool coating purchased from the Fabric Fix a couple of months back. I bought it with the intention of felting it from the get go. One go-round in a hot water wash and a hot dryer gave me just the amount of felting needed. 

The rose and stem are out of hand dyed wool so have the variations in color that I think are so special. I haven't looked at hand dyed wools for purchase in a long time but wow, a recent search told me they are VERY expensive. I need to dye some more of my own as my stash is getting down there. 

The lining is a paisley 100% silk that has been languishing as well, circa early nineties. I have used it to line jackets and such but now there is just enough left to line maybe one more bag after this one. It is a crepe de chine and lovely. 

Construction:  As I have done on a few previous felted bags, I decided to have the seam allowances on the outside and leave them raw. The SAs on the cuff, however, are sewn to the inside. The bag is made, the cuff put toegether and lined and attached to the bag, then the lining was hand stitched to the bag at the upper edge. 

When using thin, slippery silks and silkies for lining I like to back them with a weft insertion interfacing. the pocket has two divisions, is self lined, interfaced and darted, the better to fit in a phone or such. 

The bag is interfaced with Decor Bond with a piece of Peltex in the bottom of the bag on the gusset. 

The handle is a strip of the felted wool that I did zigzag on the edges just for some insurance. It will get more rubbing and wear and tear so I thought this would help it last. To keep the wool from stretching out in the strap I lined it with a "ribbon" of the silk crepe de chine. I cut a strip about an inch and a half wide. Then a 3/4 inch strip of Steam A Seam was fused down the middle. The sides were folded over the SAS and ironed. This gave me the "ribbon". It was then edgestitched to the under side of the strap. The strap is much more stable now. 

The flower and stem were attached with SAS as well. Then they were blanket stitched by hand all around for a  little more insurance and "look". The wool flower was made the same way I made the wool flower on the felted clutch which you can see here, really easy with lots of dimension.

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So now it is on to the next projects. I am hitting my slipcover now and want to make a jacket muslin as well. The jacket will also require a lot of "messin' around" as I want to change the collar set up or lack thereof. I have also decided to get one of those "annual" pledges going. You know, make a jacket a month, a shirt a month, etc. Last year I did just that with pants and it really was a great learning tool but by June I felt I had enough pants and let go of the idea. This year my "monthly" will be much less demanding. I want to make one dolly dress a month and that way have a slew all ready to go at Christmas time. Anyone want to join me? We can designate one day towards the end of the month to show what we've done each month. Whadaya think? Either way, I will be making my monthly doll outfit. 

I just cut out Gennie Wren's  Emily Smocked Night Dress.  This will be my current hand work project as it has smocking and bullions, too cute. I have to go look for some tiny lace which I must have somewhere. 

Hope you stop by tomorrow on the New Look site. I will be available all day to answer any questions you post. Thanks everyone....Bunny

A Wool Felt Bag

 

This is where I landed. I am making a simple felted wool bag. It is the same pattern that I developed for the leather and lace bag shown here. The seams will be on the outside. I am almost done appliqueing the flower on to the bag.  These are hand dyed wools. I did the green for the stem and leaves and purchased the red eons ago. I treasure my hand dyeds. You can always use the teeniest pieces and they add such depth. They can be pricey but I think worth every penny.  This is not the completed flower. It will be three dimensional. There are a couple of ways I could go and I will experiment to see what works best. Sample flowers can always be used somewhere. 

This bag is for a friend in NH, one who has been particularly kind to our children so sort of a thank you gift. She doesn't have a clue and I know does not read this blog. I want to line this with some red poly. I don't think it will take long to do this. Then I may be on to another bag for a barter situation I have going on. 

That is the news today from the very, very cold Northern Tier of NY. I got up this morning to 21.5 below zero at about seven AM. Right now it is 0º under bright afternoon sunshine. Brrrrrr......stay warm, Bunny

Play Time

Last night was "palette time". This is that fun spell when you know just vaguely what you want to make. In this case it is a felted bag. That's all I know. So I started pulling out fibers and fabrics and patterns. I will stare at these for a while today, move them around, and make a decision. Hopefully I will be cutting by afternoon. I have no idea at this point where I am going with this other than that I will use my pattern I designed for the leather and lace bag. I think part of my play time will be bringing out the felter and trying some different fibers with that as well. Did anyone see that needle felted silk chiffon gown in Sew Beautiful? Spectacular! I digress....... I might do some sparkle with the angelina, or maybe a red heart would be nice on this houndstooth, or maybe a monogram, just not sure yet.

The base fabric will be this wool hounds tooth coating I got at Fabric Fix before Christmas. I brought it home and felted it. It cooperated nicely. It has been glaring at me every day, however, as I made my way through all the Christmas sewing. Now it's time has come. We'll see what I come up with.......Bunny

I am loving my new wall unit!

Threads Magazine, #159, Putting On the Brag!

When we left to head to Boston and the Cape we stopped to pick up the mail at our little local post office in the village. Waiting in the box was the latest issue of Threads. Inside the section "Reader's Closet" was my red sweater/jacket that I made from wool jersey I had felted. I was tickled. It is great to get this acknowledgement. Months ago Threads asked readers to post garments that were specifically inspired by an article in the magazine. I posted and they then contacted me to publish.  A cover article on felting and sewing wool jersey inspired me to seek out the proper fabric and give it a shot. I detailed the garment in this post here and also the finished garment here.

I am ready to start the New Year's sewing. I am not sure what garment to land on but that will come after a bit of decorating in the studio. DD#2 gave me a Martha Stewart craft hutch I had been drooling over for Christmas and the first order of business is putting it together. I think it will be great to put trims, ribbons, and interfacings up on. Its a big unit, 42 inches wides so I am not sure whether to hang it on the wall or set it on the cutting table against the wall. It is pretty heavy and I don't want to stress out my inexpensive Joanns cutting table. It will be a bigger to-do to hang it on the wall but I think I am leaning that way. My ribbons and trims could hang nicely and I think it will be pretty. I would have to move my Dior poster. I think it will all fall into place once we have it put together.

I've also been looking for an alternative to the white matelasse bedspread I can't find. I wanted to use this to make the slipcover for the office chair. Instead I might use white denim and some laces, MOP buttons, and such. Keep you posted..............Bunny

B5576, Wool Clutch Bag

Luvin' it!

Pattern: Butterick 5576, four views of a very simple to make clutch. 

•               Easy construction, would recommend for beginning, eager bag makers
•               No zips, pockets, thick strap issues. 
•               Love the style. It may be "Mad Men", it may be a throwback to my long gone youth, but     lately I have been experiencing clutch craving. 
•               Highly Recommend this pattern

Fabric:  The turquoise blue is from an old jacket I made in the early 80's and decided to take apart and felt by throwing in a hot water wash and hot dryer. I cut off the buttons and lining first. The flower and strap were made from some wool I dyed back around the same vintage as the jacket and never knew quite what to do with. Those were the days when fabulous fabric waited in the stash for a fabulous design that never seemed to emerge. Now, nothing is sacred. No matter how big, small, expensive, or old or new, I have learned to just cut it. This change in attitude, which occurred a few years back, has set me free. There is always more fabric to buy so why "save" stuff? As the seamstress for Nike says, "JUST CUT IT."

The lining is one of those poly brocades from Joanns. They have some heft, the price is right, and I find that make a luxurious lining. 


Construction: This was easy, peasy. I do recommend a couple of things now that I have some hindsight.

• You need to account for turn of cloth for the flap lining. I cut the lining 1/8th inch smaller on one short and one long edge on the lining. I should have cut more off of the long edge of the lining to account for the turn of the flap when closed. What I did cut back made the fashion fabric turn just a tiny bit to the wrong side, which is what I wanted. But you can see the slight excess in the flap lining which is not a huge thing to notice when the bag is closed but I know about it and that it could be better. 
• Understitch your seams on the lining top edge. The pattern does not instruct you to do this. It will help those edges turn nicely and look much sharper. 
• All of the lining pieces are interfaced before cutting. 
• The bag bottom is interfaced, and this is not in the pattern, with a strip of Peltex fused to a piece of muslin. The Peltex is a 1/4 inch smaller than the bag bottom. The muslin is an inch longer. Center the  Peltex on the muslin and fuse. This will leave a half inch on each side that will be a handle you can stitch into the little triangle seams you make to square off the bottom of the bag. The pattern calls for non fusible interfacing, not my choice as to me, a clutch should have some serious structure. All of this interfacing business had to be thought out because Peltex is a biatch to turn. By stitching those little handles it is flexible.
• The front and back of the bag was interfaced with the Peltex when all was well pressed and only the lining remained to be installed. Before doing that I cut two pieces of Peltex, no seam allowances, to fit into the front and back of the bag, only, not the sides. These were then fused to the completed bag quite easily. Make sure the seams stay free of the Peltex. You want a crisp, flat bag. 
• Remember to also fuse some Peltex into the flap. I forgot,(blush). I was just zippin' right along and everything about the flap was done and attached and I forgot to add the Peltex. So the next bag will be crisper. The good news is that the lining was interfaced with a decent fusible so its not a limp dishrag. Hey, we are all entitled to a mistake now and then. My Amish friends tell me that to seek perfection is a waste of time here on earth. You will only achieve this in heaven. In the meantime just do the best you can. If you do land on perfection, feel free to throw in an intentional mistake as they sometimes do so as not not offend the Lord.... Never use seam allowances with Peltex. It will drive you nuts if you do. 
•  I used 40 weight Sulky rayon thread for the topstitching and love how it looks. It glows more IRL than in the photos.   I did samples, as always, and decided on a triple stitch. This is the stitch that looks like a straight stitch but it actually goes back and forth over the stitch three times before moving on to the next stitch. It makes really nice topstitching and I think I will be doing this more often.

•  Next time I make this, and that may be tomorrow, I will use a thinner strip of fabric for the wristlet strap, thinner as in narrower. 
• If you missed the flower tute it is one post back. Making that flower goes very very fast. 

Opinion: Highly recommend. It's quick, easy, destined for embellishment and just too dang cute.  I hope you try this one out....Bunny
   

Fiber Play!

Working on a Christening gown can be pretty intense as much sewing can be. Sometimes you need to just go and play with fibers, threads, and color. Today was that day and it was glorious.

I spent one hour this morning with my green tea and smocking away on the gown, very enjoyable. Next came household chores then time for more sewing. I really, really felt a need to just play, and that I did! I walked in the sewing room, looked around, and decided to renew my relationship with my felter. I pulled out all the yummy rovings I have accumulated over the last year and just started playing, placing fibers and colors on a piece of orange cashmere from the stash. That, and the fact that it was a chilly Autumn day, made me reach for the "fall" colors. Place and play, play and place. I decided my play will turn into a bag. I went to the felter first to make autumn leaves and that was fun. But the real fun happened when I just started putting together the fibers for the background. Two hours later, I was happy, and I had the front and back of my next bag, all ready for Fall.

I used some Angelina fibers on this. They don't embed in the base fabric for some reason. I had to layer a really thin wisp of fibers on top to secure down the angelina. I also used some of my curly haired Cotswald rovings and those were a nice counterpoint on the surface. So all in all it was great fun putting this bag together. Next I will do some free motion stitching with the sewing machine to add some more dimension to the surface, maybe even some beads too. So this is far from being done. The bag will have a zipper closing, a lining, and more surface embellishment.

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Since not everyone goes back to check comments on a post they have already commented on, I thought I would respond to a few questions.

A while back another dear blogger asked if I was able to read comments on old posts. Yes, I can. I have any comments to the blog sent to my email account and that way I don't miss the comments to those older posts. So if you are commenting on a garment I made months ago, I will get your comment and will be able to respond accordingly. Now if only I could remember who you were, dear blogger. (:(

Next was a question from Sherrill, of Sherrill's Sewing Saga. Sherrill asked if I really counted all those tiny pleats. Yes, I do, and I came up with 240 for the Christening gown. The pleats will be superimposed with embroidery/smocking stitches. Each stitch on each row needs to follow a pattern and also line up with the next row. So an off count is just disaster. It means that any stitching must be ripped out and started over. If you have ever done needlepoint or counted crosstitch, you know where this is coming from.

I do my counting by using large headed pins and I put one in a "valley" every ten pleats. Then I recount to make sure it is ten and go on to the next ten pleats. When all the pleats are counted, I do the math and come up with the exact CF and CB. This way the smocking design is lined up perfectly. This is important to maintain the integrity of the design. It also will help me have a flow of stitches at the opening placket. Yes, this is fussy work, but that is why they call it heirloom. These garments are meant to be passed on and worn by the next generation. Just think how wonderful it would have been to have your own christening gown to pass on to your grandchildren.

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I am so doggone excited! Today DH cut down two trees and dug a trench. All that work was done so we could get satellite internet! YAHOO! We had broadband for many years thru Comcast, but upon moving to the Adirondacks, the land of no cell towers or fiber optics, we lost that capability. Now, arrives satellite high speed to the boonies! We hope to have everything installed by the end of the week. This will mean a new e-mail account and other aggravations but oh, so worth it. So please bear with me. I will post the new email as soon as I have it. I can't wait to zip thru all those new pattern reviews posted on PR, watch sewing videos, visit youtube, etc..... Did I say I was excited?.....................Bunny