My Newest Quilt Gracie is Launched!

I designed Gracie for a wall in my kitchen; I just love the centre vase and surrounding tulips and the design is a stylistic nod to all those pieces if beautiful chinaware I have in the cupboards. With Gracie, I wanted to enjoy the best bits on a feature wall and I wanted to keep it simple rather than intricate. In Gracie I can see my love for applique combined in a modern feeling, almost but not quite folksy arrangement.

Of course, I never tire of tulips. As a design motif they represent love and devotion and with all the varieties of tulip out there, it’s a wonderful opportunity to let loose with beautiful fabrics. From the bright and modern to subtle and classic, Gracie just works. In fact, I haven’t yet decide what scheme to settle on myself (nothing new there).

Originally I envisioned a blue and white return to Delft theme, but the design took over and took matters into it’s own hands. Rather than a follow on from my Oma’s Blues as originally intended, Gracie has taken on a style and attitude all of her own.

Here are just a few colour schemes I am head over heels in love with. I really can't decide between them, what do you think? Which is your favorite?

Hopelessly pink and green? I am so in love with this colour way..

But there's no denying the allure of greys. What about this chambray grey and hot pink?

Or grey with soft pink?

then again, how can I pass up pink and blue?

Speaking of blues, what about a striking double print of blues and reds?

I could just colour way all day - but I won't, I don't have the time right now as I'm on wedding dress duty. But, I just had to come on and share this gorgeous pattern. I always love releasing my designs, they're all so special to me and I love making them available to everyone.

WOW: Auditioning the Pattern

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Today I'm sewing up the bodice part of the wedding dress pattern. I've had a good look at the Butterick pattern my DD chose and after some hassle with the super thin paper, I'm happy to report that the pattern itself is just fine and completely achievable for any intermediate home sewer - which is a nice surprise. Several people have asked me to report back to them on this point and I know what they mean. There are some pattern manufacturers who just make everything needlessly hard to follow, Butterick is not one of those.

Looking at the pieces now and knowing what my DD wants, I'm pretty sure that we won't be using this pattern for the finished dress. However I am prepared to make up the dress according to the pattern to show this to my DD. After that, I'll draft my own pattern and start the real wedding dress work. I don't actually mind making the Butterick one first as I am curious to see what an off the shelf wedding dress looks like straight from the pattern and I always like to warm up with a starter garment. It's been years since I professionally sewed any clothes and I'm out of practice. I never thought I'd be interested in clothes sewing again and have fallen much out of the loop.

Like quilting, new techniques and styles are coming along all the time. As far as quilting is concerned, I have learned so many new tips and techniques which have really cut down on the time it takes to create applique pieces. So I'm sure the same must be true for sewing generally - I just don't know about it as I don't do it anymore. I still follow the old school systems and I'm sure there's already a better way. So to make sure I am sewing as quickly and efficiently as possible, I've purchased a Craftsy class on corset making. Again, I have made many corsets and they're a lot of work. I'm hoping to learn some new quicker methods and will let you know how that goes.

Today, it's back to the Butterick pattern. With the price of lace being what it is, the sample dress is being made with the aid of some old curtains (above) and the dress is being made from cotton muslin. Far from glamorous, but a good start.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

One Dress To Rule Them All

So, you may have heard I'm making a wedding dress.

I'm no stranger to occasion dresses and I've even made several wedding dresses professionally before retiring from fashion. The most memorable was one I made for a ballerina over 20 years ago. The whole experience was so exhausting I promised myself 'never again'. Oh boy, have I changed my tune! I'm now delighted to be making my daughter's wedding dress and am relishing every moment of it. Neither of us planned for me to make the dress, it just became an inevitable choice. 

I was more than happy for my DD to simply purchase a dress off the rack that took her fancy, and so was she. I haven't sewn occasion garments for years and I blithely assumed that by 2016, the range and availability of dress styles would be so encompassing and competitive that any woman could find what she was after. Not so! Those purveyors of all things bridal exist in a magical dimension like none other.  I've visited too many to count in the last 6 months and I can confidently tell you, I don't ever want to step foot in another. 

Luckily, my DD never did find 'The One' as the bridal shops like to refer to it in hushed tones, but the one that came closest rang in at $18,000, the next one along rang in at 11,000 and the other two contenders were both over 10,000: all ridiculous, over inflated, emotionally manipulative price tags for a mere dress.

So, to the cutting table I go. The creative challenge has commenced and I'm happy and excited to share the journey right here on my blog. I have asked my DD for permission to share her wedding dress journey here on my blog and she has happily agreed. Of course, blogging it is a great memory for me of the whole dress experience but there's another reason too. I want to encourage home sewers to think seriously about their ability to sew the wedding dress of their dreams. Yes, I'm serious. Don't be daunted. It's completely possible and in the weeks ahead I'll be showing you how.

If you want to follow my wedding dress progress, stay tuned as I will be blogging the whole thing here. The wedding is just over a month away so it will be coming together quickly in the coming weeks. And of course, there's a Pinterest board dedicated to what I'm doing.

Here I go..

What's New, Nelke?

I don't like updating my patterns: once they're released, they take on a life of their own and I'm ready to move onto the next project. Maybe you know the feeling? I love the sense of accomplishment that comes from packing away my design folio each time I release a pattern. But with Nelke, I couldn't stop myself fiddling! For one thing, every time I looked at my little bird, he seemed lonely. I couldn't stand it!

So I made him a friend for company...

Nearly...

Auditioning..

Yes, that's better :) 

And then there's the newly added corner bows. My heart's still all a flutter over Love Entwined, so any opportunity to introduce those gorgeous LE double bows on new quilt projects is welcome. And on Nelke, they slotted in like they should have always been there - which they should have! I love them!

And then there's the border blocks which were confusing the first time around - I've sorted that out too.

Phew, that's Nelke updated! 

Now I can focus on my wedding dress mission.

WOW: Updating Nelke

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Talk about overdue WIPs, my goodness, Nelke has been waiting in the wings far too long for her pattern update, so today, that's my focus. I have lots to do, but feel I can't move on until all these little projects are sorted out. I'm on a real mission this month as my wedding dress duties are becoming pressing, so after today's WOW it will all be about 'The Dress'.

Now, time for me to get stuck in..

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

How I Quilted Peony Pride

Peony Pride has lots of lovely room, allowing you plenty of scope to showcase your quilting. I quilted my own on a 1950's Elna domestic machine and loved the overall effect - gentle and textured it enhanced the vibrant blocks. Here are some pics of how I chose to fill my areas between the blocks.

 

The heart shaped handles space called out for little circles, I thought it was just so cute

 

'Peony Pride' Pattern Is Launched!

Tidying up the sewing studio has it's advantages - take for example my Peony Pride quilt pattern. After years of vaguely wondering which design stash it was in, I came across it unexpectedly last week and I'm very happy to finally be able to add this gorgeous quilt to my pattern shop!

Peony Pride is 71 x 71 inches (180 x 180 cms). It's a classic looking quilt which manages to be both thoroughly modern as well as decidedly traditional at the same time. This quilt is one of my all time favourites precisely because it somehow feels so timeless. In fact, I'm already planning my second Peony Pride quilt and this time around it will be turn edge applique. My first Peony Pride, pictured above, was stencilled with fabric paint and the pattern really lends itself beautifully for stencillers.

So the only question is, applique or stenciled? How will you make yours? Each Peony Pride pattern comes with my Guide to Stenciling, allowing you to branch out and try something new - if that idea takes your fancy. If not, you can simply stick with the pattern and make this applique beauty in your favourite fabrics.

There's plenty of room for your beautiful quilting to shine through in this striking quilt and I quilted it myself on a domestic sewing machine. I'll be showing off my quilting details pics over in my Facebook BOM Group today and on a post here tomorrow, so be sure to stop by if you'd like to see some close ups.

WOW: WIP Busting

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

I've been in a mad dash to get my studio in order and have been labeling and sorting through the total chaos of my design folios so I can move on to new projects. I've found so many 'lost' patterns that I knew I'd stashed somewhere safe and I'm so glad to have recovered them along with lots of other WIPs I'd almost forgotten...but am completely in love with again. This is a good thing because it means I can plan my next year ahead, quilting wise.

I'm relieved to have found my original Nelke notes during this bog clean up and that means I can finally update the pattern as soon as I get a chance. I've received queries about Nelke and also have applique changes that I added afterwards as well as some border confusion which I couldn't deal with because I didn't know where I'd filed it! I did have it, but then I put it somewhere after I'd made some notes. And then I forgot about it. Oh well I'm getting there.

Luckily I found my other patterns at the same time too. You see, I have a new filing system where I catalog all my work to store it. This allows me to move on. The problem is, when I moved house 4 years ago now, I mixed up all my files and then just stashed new files wherever. I knew it would somehow sort itself all out one day and that day has finally arrived. Phew! I also found my completed Peony Pride pattern files and print outs (why did I ever stash that away??) along with my entire Vase series of wall hangings. It's been quite a treasure trove!

I'm looking forward to a week of organizing myself and that means getting almost finished patterns finished and clearing the decks for a month of wedding dress focus.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up