the first week of June I went camping in Yosemite with 2 of my nieces and my friend Denise.  Denise and I have been friends since 6th grade! She has been coming with me to Yosemite for the past several years.  this year, she celebrated her 50th Birthday... so to surprise her, I brought up 200 kazoos.  I passed them aruond to the other campers and at 7PM on June 10th, her birthday, 100+ campers played "Happy Birthday" on their kazoos.  Yes she was embarassed, but she was surprised!

 The first night we were evacuated due to the river cresting 10' over but by the second day we secured a higher campsite and all was well. I have to say the camp hosts were very nice and accomodating and this was just another adventure.

The Falls were full, the mosquitoes were NOT biting and we cycled everywhere.   It's a beautiful place, so much to see all around, I'm always in awe.   

Posted by sue at 12:41 PM PDT

Updated: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 12:47 PM PDT

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time flies and I haven't blogged.  My sister borrowed my camera to go with her daughter's class to Washington DC, so I haven't taken any photos.  I'm working on a Christmas Quilt!  Each year, I wish I had a Christmas quilt to substitute in place where another quilt hangs, and each  year passes and no quilt.  Well, this year I'm gonna make one.  I've embroidered out 12 blocks... The Twleve Days of Christmas... and now I need to pick fabric for the borders and sashing. 

But first, a much needed vacation. Next week I head up to Yosemite for my annual trip.  Can't wait.  then I come home for a day and fly to NY and Montreal to meet up with PR friends!  Those two weeks couldn't contrast more!  

This past weekend, I finally, redid the patio.   Argh, hard work, but so worth it.  My neighbor helped... well, actually, I helped her, take out the grass, dirt, and then level and install 100+ pavers. Now, I have a nice place for my patior furniture.  Here's a photo from my cellphone

Posted by sue at 2:12 PM PDT

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Another dress....  this is one of my favorite patterns.  It's quick and easy and makes a great summer dress that can be worn to work with a sweater, a party, a picnic, wherever!  I wore this Saturday night to a surprise 50th Birthday Party at a neighbors.  

This is a buck a  yard cotton fabric which I purchased during my last trip to  FIDM.   That trip I picked up some beautiful cottons... all for dresses!  I'm slowy wadding through the pile and hope to have a few dozen new dresses for this summer!  

Here's my review:

Pattern Description: Misses summer dress with back zip, bodice and shoulder variations.  Optional waist tie.

Pattern Sizing: Misses 8-18  I made my standard size 12 and took in the CB seam about 1" on each side for a snug fit.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? yes.  My fabric is even pretty close although that wasn't my intention.

 What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I think New Look has some nice, easy basic summer dresses and their patterns are reasonably priceed.  I generally look to New Look first for anything basic. I can wear this to an evening party, summer picnic, or with a cropped jacket or sweater to work.

Fabric Used: 100% cotton floral print that I picked up for a buck a yard. I lined the entire dress with a pimatex cotton I purchased online from Dharma Trading by the bolt. I love to line my summer dresses with this stuff!  It's a great fabric to have around as it comes in handy on all sorts of projects and washes and wears nicely. 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Some simple fitting because I wanted this dress to be snug. I also lined the entire dress which basically just consisted of cutting out each piece twice (1 with fashion fabric and 1 with pima cotton) and sewing them right sides together and treating as 1, except for the skirt which is separate inside except attached at the waist.  I find that if I sew the skirt separately it usually guarantees that there will be no tugging or puckering on the seams if one of the fabric later shrinks more than the other.

I have some other dresses (made from my $1 yard fabrics) I sewed up these last few weeks, that I will post here this week!

Posted by sue at 9:07 AM PDT

Updated: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 11:19 AM PDT

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Here's another dress accented with one of my Grandma's brooches.  During a recent visit to my mom and dad's house, I was rummaging through my mom's jewelry box (she's got the best costume jewelry collection and as a kid I was always sneaking into her dresser to drool over her jewelry!) I recently "found" this pin and mentioned how much I liked it... well, she gave me the pin along with a box full of my grandma and great grandma's brooches!  Score!  I "borrowed" the pin at the waist idea from another sewing friend who made this dress  "Slapdash Sewist"  and it really adds to this dress.  I need a cocktail dress for an upcoming sewing get together and I think this dress and pin will work out nicely.  If I omit the pin and add a cute pair of casual sandals, I think this dress will also work for an upcoming casual party! 

 This dress if Simplicity 2497 a Cynthia Rowley design and it is so cute.  http://www.simplicity.com/p-3055-misses-dresses.aspx 

I may make the other version. 

This past saturday my friend Kathi and I went to Little Tokyo  and  checked out the textile exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum... it was a nice museum with some interesting exhibits.   http://www.janm.org/exhibits/texturedlives/   

Before heading to the museum we met at FIDM where we rummaged through the $1 yard fabric "closet" and I came home with some really nice lightweight cotton prints... for... yep, dresses!   

Posted by sue at 10:18 AM PDT

Updated: Monday, April 26, 2010 1:41 PM PDT

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I've been really into sewing dresses lately.  I love dresses in the summer.  They are easy to wear to work, just toss on, and more comfortable than pants.  I can toss on some sandels, an easy dress and some earrings and I'm all dressed up and ready to go....

I made Vogue 1160 again, and probably the last time. But sewing with cotton and silk voille is so much fun and so soft.  

not sure where I'll wear it, but I'm sure when summer does arrive, I'll find somewhere.

I also made this dress from some vintage cir. 1960's fabric. It's much cuter in person as it does look a bit drab in the photo.  

but it's a nice lightweight cotton rayon blend and it has some dark cross threads that give it a nice textured look.   This is Vogue 1152 which I also previously made, but this time I raised the neckline 4" and took in the back (see the gathers) more ..

I have 2 more dresses cut and ready to sew - hopefully this weekend!

Here's a collage of the dresses these past 2 months

Posted by sue at 9:40 AM PDT

Updated: Thursday, April 22, 2010 9:49 AM PDT

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