Ruffles and Lace and Owls, Oh My!

Last week was a wonderfully productive week! I completed two vintage/shabby chic inspired ruffle valances and a crib bumper and crib skirt. The valances are so girly I hope my customer shares photos of the finished room with me when it is completed. 6 tiers of ruffles in a mix of whites and textures combine to create a very vintage/shabby chic feel…layers of linen, lace, eyelet, organza and cotton...

The crib bedding was so much fun to make thanks to the super cute color palette my customer chose! I used my favorite method for creating bias binding (in this old tutorial : http://www.sewmamasew.com/2008/07/summer-sewing-perfectly-portable-cushion/ ) The 4 panel, thin crib bumper has an outer fabric of brightly colored owls and an inner fabric of chevron embossed minky in a fun green…yellow with white polka dot piping and ties finish it off. The skirt is an adjustable height, 4 panel crib skirt combining the fun colors of the owl print with various prints bringing an element of visual texture to the piece. Box-pleats create a custom taylored feel. This week I have a custom crib blanket to make; I will be appliquéing a many-leaved tree…I'm really excited to see how this turns out! Stay tuned…

Machine

This post is a tribute to my machines...I use three different sewing machines for different reasons. I know it's a little excessive and probably a little bit unnecessary, but....My first sewing machine was a Janome 5700. My husband gave it to me for Christmas because years before I had mentioned that I wanted to learn to sew so that when we had children I could make their Halloween costumes. It's a great machine...a plethora of stitches and also an embroidery machine. Then I started sewing and selling on Etsy and using heavier fabrics and stitching through more and more layers. I decided it was time to get a workhorse that could take all that so that I didn't tear up the "fancy" machine. I bought myself a used Juki TL 98 E. It's a bare bones machine...one straight stitch and reverse. It does have an automatic cutter that I love. One of my machines was acting up so I took it in...in the meantime, I decided to borrow my grandma's machine. She used to sew quite a bit...making clothes for my mom and aunts and then for my sister and me. She has Kenmore from the 1950's and it is a blast to work with. It only has about 5 stitches, which at the time was a pretty big deal. What I love it for is the attachments....a binder, a ruffler, a gather foot....a few others that I haven't even tried yet. I know I could get those feet for my existing machines, but it's so much more fun to sew on the machine that created some of the cutest Easter dresses I wore.
I recently used all three for one project! The ruffler attachment on the Kenmore was used to ruffle the tiers for the latest ruffle valance I made. Then I use the Juki to stitch the tiers together and then the overlock stitch on the Janome finishes all the edges.

First Post

First post! I thought I would kick off this blog by posting about a recent creation that I absolutely LOVE! This is a ruffle valance that tiers a multi-colored stripe over a tone-on-tone hot pink with tulle under neath and a third layer of aqua blue-on-blue polka dot. As soon as I get caught up on my custom orders, my plan is to turn this concept into a skirt for my little girl. I also created three piped throw pillows and an applique name pillow. Enjoy...