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Woodland Animal Snow Globe ADVENT

An advent for my sister (and I made one for myself at the same time and Emily helped make the animals on both). This is the "Woodland Animal Christmas Snow Globe" ADVENT from SugarHouseShop on etsy. 

I love this advent!! Love it! I made this for my sister because I had made her an advent in the early 90's that is really outdated. I think my sister still loves it because she puts it out each year but I don't love it 😉

(SKIP ALL THE WRITTING BELOW IF YOU DON'T CARE HOW IT WAS MADE)

I made some alterations though after looking at these advents made by other people:

1.  The sides of theirs pulled when the pockets where full. 

So I made pockets with gussets. Totally solved that problem.

2. It's see through. And the felt looks cheap when see though. So I ironed Pellon Shape Flex interfacing (SF101) in white to the back before putting everything on. Totally Solved that problem.

3. I trimmed about 5" off the top white felt so there was less white showing between top of globe and dowel.

4. I only hand sewed the animals and embroidered the numbers. The instructions say to hand sew the the globe, tree, snow and base on to the background--I machine stitched. Also to hand sew the balls closed after inserting the magnets. I used a glue gun.

5. I didn't use any sequins. I'm not a sequins kind of girl.

6. I ironed on Wonder Under between the globe, tree, etc so they stayed on while I machined sewed. I used pins too but the thing still sags a little.

At the end is a picture of the plastic slip cover I made for it when it's being stored for the year. It's like a giant pillow case and the snaps are on the top so if any ornaments fall off the are caught in the bottom of the bag. It can be hung for storage or rolled.

MÉLILOT SHIRT (Swans)

MÉLILOT SHIRT

I've had this swan fabric for 2 years or so and have only made Emily a dress (click here). The reason is I love this fabric SOOOOO much and finding rayons that have a cool print is hard to come by. I don't understand why there aren't more. If they put out a fabric with a cool print then the color is odd. 

Anyway....I finally found THE pattern. I was looking through Jenny Gordy's instagram page (wikstenmade) and saw a photo of her and her husband. She was wearing a shirt that looks just like this one (the style not the print and it was buttoned at the neck)! I trolled the internet for a pattern and even bugged Adrianna to see if she knew of one. Then I stumbled on this shirt pattern from Deer and Doe. It's the Melilot Shirt.  If you saw the shirt I was inspired by you'd say I did good finding something similar!! Even the sleeves look the same. I included the line drawing of the shirt so you can see the seams. I made view B and the collar from view A. I made a large but maybe could have gone down a size. Because of how the sleeves are, it fits weird when I put my arms all the way forward so if I went down in size I was worried I wouldn't be able to move my arms. It's made from a really drapey rayon challis bought on etsy from a shop in Hong Kong I think. About 2 years ago.

Below is why I cut my head off . Angry much? The sun was in my eyes. Sort of. that's actually my RBF.

So  below I'm showing it buttoned up. I won't be wearing it like this I don't think. 

And below is the pièce de résistance! A hidden placket! Because of the placket but mostly because I have to do this for fit, I made a toile. It helped me figure out what the instructions were trying to say regarding the placket. I loved the pattern but my only complaint is the instructions aren't as detailed as I like and I haven't done a hidden placket since the 90's! So making the top (without the collar) in a cheap fabric really helped. I don't make the whole top when making a toile. I usually do one sleeve and if it has a collar I leave that off. I don't do the buttons or zippers (I do zippers if it's a really fitted item) and don't hem it. I only  make it to see what size I am. I'm curious what others do. You should see my toiles! This shirt I think is made from a yellow cotton and a hunter green cotton. It's hideous! I just made the Carolyn pj shorts from 3 different green cottons.

peek-a-boo!

Lovely Little Forest and Gnome quilt (re post)

I've had several inquires over the years about this quilt. It's my most looked at on FLICKR!

 The pictures on Flickr are the original ones from December 2010. 

So I have put together a little diagram showing the layout. These measurements are APPROXIMATE!! I must stress this. These measurements are also including the 1/4" seams. 

I say approximate because it's very hard to measure blocks and sashing on a finished quilt. Nothing really adds up perfectly. I made 4 of the purlsoho "lovely little forest quilts" exactly as the instructions except adding in some gnomes and then laid the quilts on the ground, slightly offset to see how I wanted it. I added some white sashing between the quilts and around it. 

FREE Lovely Little Forest Quilt pattern/instructions from purlsoho (click here)

FREE Paper pieced Gnome pattern from artisania (click here)

Please let me know if I am off on something or something doesn't make sense.

Ryan Top 2

Another Ryan Top by Whitney Deal. My 2nd most favorite top like everrr!(here's the 1st favorite) I used a rayon challis from Cotton and Steel called fruit dots.  Again I made the large but I dropped the neck about 1/2" (can't even tell) and cut off the sleeves to make them shorter. I cut off about 2" at the top of the sleeve, tapering down as I went. I bound the neck and the sleeves with the same fabric bias binding. I love sewing it to the wrong side then folding it to the right side--I love the way it looks. I put the top on straight out of the dryer so it's a little wrinkled. I think this kind of neck and sleeve finish is very nice. I also did it here on Emily's swan dress. 

Oh I also made the back piece (not the bodice) 2 pieces. I didn't want to waste yardage because it's only 45" wide and it would have made long skinny scraps after I cut everything. So I made it two piece. I was worried it would look bad but I think it looks fine.