Hen and Chicks

* diary of three dresses, 5 *

Another one finished!  Deadlines and special events spur me to action like nothing else.  How about you? 

Well, the special event that spurred this dress was a visit from Grandma.  As I was getting everyone organized, bathed and ready for her visit tomorrow, Henrietta piped in that this would be a great time to finish the doggie dress that daughter has been wanting to wear for weeks.  Thank you Hen!  Into action we go!!

Fortunately, the skirt and bodice were complete, we just needed to gather &  pin them together after sewing the buttonholes.  Henrietta is quite the professional at this now and it was done in no time!

Collecting pins one by one by one as the seam is slowly and carefully sewn.

Now we're ready to sew on the buttons and finish hand sewing the inside sleeve band facing.  Miss Hen is always prepared - needle, thread, scissors, buttons and our favorite thimble!

All Done!  She's going to look great tomorrow (today!!)  And please notice the pieced band around the bottom.  What trouble we had when we got distracted while sewing that!!   (Henrietta doesn't like to think of it ;-)

Now rest, Hen.  Rest and dream.  And thank you for your help and encouragement!

(I'll post pictures of daughter in her dress tomorrow!!)

* diary of three dresses, 4 *

Hello again, Ladies!  Henrietta and I have been busy, busy.  We are making progress on our dresses, as well as a few other projects that have found their way to the sewing table!  But our focus today is .  .  .  .  .  Sleeves!  Six of them to be exact!

Here we have the sleeve bands all pinned together and ready to be sewn.

They've been pressed and Henrietta has them all pinned in place on the proper sleeves.  Back to the sewing machine!

Isn't Miss Hen so sweet?  She watches over everything.  Here she's making sure that the seam is straight and that the pins are pulled out before the needle sews over them.

Now it's time for the gathering stitches at the sleeve cap.  Diligent Hen is there, too!

Pinning and Pressing is the name of this game.  Luckily Henrietta is an experienced hedgehog.  She learned to sew at her dear mothers' knee - well, little foot.  (Do hedgehogs have knees?)

Ahhh .  .  .  there now!  The sleeve bands are all pressed and pinned and ready for sewing down by hand.  That's a job we like to do in the evening.  It's very restful and relaxing before climbing into bed!  Is it just me, or does Miss Hen look a bit proud?

Here's what we have so far:  Three lined bodices with banded collars, three banded sleeves and one pieced skirt edging.

Tomorrow we (Hen and I) will bring you up to date on all we've been doing -- sleeves, pockets and extra projects, too!

* diary of three dresses, 3 *

Day 2, continued.

Yes, yes, the pieced strip was sewn upside down!  And, I hope you won't think less of me, but I actually threw myself down on the floor and cried/laughed!  HOW could I not have noticed it?  I think I was so pleased with myself for coming up with such a creative solution that I was in La-La-Land until I was pressing it at the ironing board.  It was stitched AND the seam zig-zagged to finish it off, so I had quite a bit of time for reflection on my mistake while the seam ripper was busy doing it's job.  Here is the comleted piece, sewn Correctly!

Okay - now that that trauma is over, let's have no more!  (Stop!  Reality check.  I did cut out the doggie and the purple dresses the same way, so I'll have to piece a strip for the purple dress, too!!  Note: I could go to the store and get more fabric for it, but friend liked the pieced doggie part and thought her daughter would enjoy a dress with that extra something on it as well - which is actually great because I haven't done anything "quilt-ey" for a few years and I really enjoyed the piecing part -- NOT the ripping apart - but getting out my mat and ruler and rotary cutter and planning the little squares was a fun way to spend the afternoon.)

On to the Collars!!

Sorry for the dark pictures, I was working on these at night and figured this was better than the picture with the flash which just washed everything out.  These are the three collars with the first part of the contrast edging pinned in place.  Off to the sewing machine!

Remaining contrast edge pieces now pinned in place.  What's next?

The collar linings are pinned and sewn and now the collars are done!  Aren't they sweet?   Now, onto the the bodices and linings.  (I like sewing several dresses at a time because I love doing it assembly-line style.  I don't have to use as much brain power - and if you will note the above mistakes, I need all the brain power I can get! - and it is much more productive for me.  I can get two or three dresses done in just a little bit more time than a single dress takes.)

These bodices are fully lined (It just makes a much nicer finished product even if I'm not following the pattern :-) so there are two bodice pieces for each dress.

I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of pinning the bodice/collar/lining together, but friend was over for the evening and we were sewing and chatting and I forgot.  :-(

When the bodices were done,  I went to bed.  Thank you, Henrietta, for keeping me on track!

* diary of three dresses, 2 *

What a time we have had!!

You remember, of course, that we were short of fabric to cut the whole collar for daughter's doggie dress.  What I ended up doing is just making two pattern pieces from the one and having the collar pieced instead of in one piece cut on fold.  Just fine, nobody will really notice unless they look closely, and her hair will be covering it most of the time anyway.  No problem!

Well, as I was cutting out the pink fabric, I discovered an even larger mistake I made!  I believe I mentioned how I was going to just make the skirt longer to accomodate daughter's unstoppable growth -- and I did.  At least on the back of the skirt.  I cut the front just regular, on the pattern line.  ARRGGHHHHH!! 

What to do, what to do??  Brilliant flash of inspiration!  I have plenty of scraps - I'll just do some fancy piecing around the bottom to make up for those three lost inches and it will be great!  I got the new border/fill pieced and sewn onto the solid bottom edge of the skirt -- except do you notice another problem?

That's okay, I'll give you some time to figure it out.

* diary of three dresses, 1 *

The time has come, oh children, to talk of other things;  Of patterns and pinning, of sewing and seams .  .  .  .

Two nights ago Hen and I started our new project - making two dresses (one for daughter and one for a friend.)  We pinned and cut until both of our backs ached!   

Henrietta was wonderful - working tirelessly - even though she was on the verge of losing all her pins!  (Actually it was kind of a blessing that she was losing all her pins since Dear Son 2 had some time on his hands and decided to 'dress' Henrietta with a whole box full of pins arranged in a rainbow.  But she really doesn't like to talk about it, so let's just forget I mentioned anything.  ;-)

We did run into a little snag in that daughter is growing. (They do that, don't they?)  And since I lengthened the dress skirt by a few inches, I did not have enough fabric for the collar, by a few inches.  Grrrrr.  Not a problem really - Off to the fabric store we go!  I bought the fabric (blue doggie, above) several months ago, so I really knew the store would no longer have any - but I was hoping.  And we both love it so much, I'm kicking myself for not automatically buying extra.  (see How to Buy Fabric from A Dress A Day)  But, we can't change yesterday, so we must deal with today.

As suspected, the store no longer had our sweet doggie fabric, but they did have this --

Too springy and delicious to resist.   And at $7.99 a yard for the pink ($5.60 at 30% off) it was a bit of a splurge, since I am terribly frugal about fabric and generally never pay more than $4.00 a yard with sales and 40-50% off coupons.  Most everything that I sew for daughter ends up costing less than  $15.  But I digress .  .  .  .  . 

So now our count is up to three dresses - We'll cut out the pink, figure out something to do about daughter's doggie dress collar, and be back soon with our next installment. 

* henrietta's day out *

Hello Again!  So nice to have you back.  Let's see what's been happening here with our Henrietta.

As you may know, she worked steadily on through a ruffle-ly dress and then helped whip up a set of aprons.  Now I hope she's ready for a bit of fun!

She's decided to take a trip to the fabric shoppe to see what lovely things they have, what projects will go on her wish list and if there are any wonderful new books, patterns, yarns, or papers.  You understand, dear, don't you?

Quietly strolling and browsing through the patterns -- Oh, Look!  The children have found something! How cute, a fluffy chicken.  Adorable.   The children pushed on the chicken wing -- AAHHHH!  WHAT is it Doing?    It's chasing our Miss Hen!

Run, Hen!  Run!

It keeps chasing her and playing this annoying polka song!  Will she be able to get away?

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It looks as though Henrietta is gaining some ground, if she can only keep it up for just a bit longer! 

Oh, to be met with trials like this when one simply wants to enjoy the pleasantries of a visit to the shoppes! 

Ahhh, a hiding place at last. 

Oh, now, this is so much pleasanter and peaceful.  What treasures Miss Henrietta could make with these!

After the adventures at the fabric shoppe, how about a bite of lunch, Hen?  I know a little out of the way place nearby.

Lunch is ordered and Hen is getting out her napkin.  She is, after all, a very proper and tidy hedgehog.

Well, isn't this nice?   Just the right size for a petite pincushion.  And she nibbles so daintily!

And now wash it all down with just a sip of refreshment.   

What shall we do next?  Oh, I know the perfect way to end the day.  Come along, Henrietta!

The pleasures of nature are always able to soothe the soul if one will just stop long enough to listen and enjoy -- the cool of the grass, the warmth of the sun, the songs of our bird friends, the brightness and pleasant scent of the flowers, and the wonderful fellowship with friends and our LORD who created them all.

* a new apron for cashew *

The sewing machine has been stitching and the iron has been pressing and our Miss Henrietta has been pinning and now we are ready to show you the first of our set of Mother/Daughter/Doll aprons!

This was really easy to put together, and the Mother & Daughter ones are almost finished -- I just need to clean up all of the loose, hanging threads.  I'll post them tomorrow!

* mission: complete *

I heard some small rustlings in the kitchen last night so got up to investigate.

What should I spy around the corner but the ever-persistent Henrietta working on placing pins for the buttonholes.    She is delightfully amazing!

I didn't want to disturb her, and truly I had no desire to deal with buttons or buttonholes at that hour, so I retreated as quietly as I could and left her to it.

Wonder of wonders - what greeted me in the morning?  These two lovelies all finished!  A sweet little pinafore for baby sister (big sister has a matching one) and the dress for big sister to wear under her pinafore.

Hen has absolutely out-done herself!  I'll have to see what I can do about getting her a day out before we start in on our next project. 

I've heard rumors that it's a set of Mother/Daughter/Dollie aprons with <<ruffles>> !!  Don't tell Hen though.  We'll let her enjoy a day off first!  If you think about her, please send her your best wishes.   :-)

* a day with henrietta, part 2 *

* a day with henrietta, part 1 *

It's a rainy day today, the perfect day to stay inside and sew.   Let's go see what Henrietta is up to, shall we?

Well, it looks like we've caught her in the middle of a sewing project.  Pinning a neckline with a collar can be tricky work, but I'm sure our Hen is up to the task!

She's giving it a final inspection .  .  .  .  Yes, I think it's all ready to go to the sewing machine. 

Here she is, patiently collecting her pins as the neckline is sewn.

Henrietta has done a very nice job of pinning the first bodice lining in place - How will she do on the rest?

OH!  She's staying away from that hot iron!  She'll move in and finish the rest of the pinning once the iron has completed its' task.

Well, well!  Things are moving right along for our gal Hen.  The handsewing on the bodice front and back is finished, the sleeves are both gathered and pinned and ready to be sewn. 

Is Henrietta looking a bit tired?  Poor dear, she's had quite a day.  Just a bit more to do though.  I'm sure she can hold up!

Ah, now we are nearing the end.  Henrietta has pinned both side seams very nicely and they are already for the first sewing of their French Seams.   I knew she could do it!

All Done!  Lovely Job, Hen!  Just the kind of help any seamstress needs when the needle and thread are flying.   

What's this?  We're NOT done yet?  There's still a ruffle to do?    

Pardon me, but did you say that the ruffle was FIVE Yards Long?!?

Oh, no!  I think our Poor Hen is getting a little worried.  She may not have enough pins for this job.  What will she do?

What is Henrietta doing?  It looks like she is trying to hide in the folds of the ruffle.    I'm afraid our Poor Hen is overwhelmed.

Oh, Hen!   Maybe we can tempt her out with a little treat?

How would you like a nibble of some sugar cookie?  There now, that's better, isn't it?  Yes, yes, eat up and regain your strength.

Now, you just rest, little Henrietta.  We can finish that ruffle tomorrow.  Don't you worry anymore about it tonight.  After all, tomorrow is another day .  .  .  .