My Birthday Bouquet!

It's my birthday today, so I thought I'd share a bouquet of roses with you!

Is there such a thing as too many roses? Decidedly no! And if you read this blog and know my style, you might have noticed that I have a soft spot for roses - the bigger the better. In fact, I have a whole sketchbook dedicated to nothing but flower designs, so I thought, why not go ahead and release one on my birthday?

I haven't actually had time to make my own Birthday Bouquet yet, but I've got my heart set on a newspaper background with startling red roses - or perhaps a bright bunch of Fassett blooms? Who knows! I selected a traditional patchwork style in this image for illustration purposes and yes, it certainly looks lovely, so I might even change my mind. I'll show you what I decide on when I get around to it. One thing's for sure, whatever fabric style you opt for, you'll enjoy this dozen all year round.

   'Birthday Bouquet'    

      a floral wall hanging, 29 x 36 inches   

In honor of my birthday, you can download this pattern 

for free all day today

BOM Group Members, you can find this file in our BOM Group over in the files area.For those of you not on Facebook, you can download the pattern by clicking the Birthday Bouquet image above.

WOW: Washing The Wedding Quilt Fabrics

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays 

Well, you know me - always suffering from fabric indecision. I've decided that I might try my stash of hand dyes for my DD's wedding quilt. The flowers call for shades of red toned pinks and I have some beautiful tones, so I'm going to move forward with those as my flower fabrics. Being hand dyes, I'm leaving nothing to chance. Although I always go above and beyond the requirements for setting my own hand dyes, I'm not taking any chances with this quilt, so I'm giving them a wash in Synthrapol to make doubly sure. 

I had a dye bleeding disaster when I was making Lily Rose with some beautiful Batiks (I should have known better but got careless) and I don't ever want a repeat of that episode. I'm making the wedding quilt with the leftover fabric from my DD's wedding dress, so any leaking against the cream fabric will be unforgivable. 

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Making the Wedding Dress Toile

After looking at all the dress inspirations my DD was relying on for the final dress shape, and having purchased the Butterick pattern as the basis to create it, I was confident that I could get the dress made within a week. I calculated that it would take a full day's cutting and 3 days sewing and another day on final adjustments. With my own ability to cut and handle patterns I was keen to find out exactly how much fabric I'd really need. Patterns are usually on the generous side but it's been more than 20 years since I worked with someone else's patterns, and I wanted to know exactly how much fabric I could get away with. At $99 per metre, I had hoped I could save a few metres off of the pattern allowance of 7.8 metres. Only a toile would tell:

Straight away it was clear that the Butterick pattern skirt was exactly what she wanted, so there'd only be minor fitting adjustments. The only work was going to be in re-creating the bodice to better suit her frame (which I'll cover in an upcoming post). With the skirt on and swishing beautifully, the only considerations were lining up the pleats to match the bodice. However I knew I'd be changing the bodice so this alignment wouldn't happen until later.

After making this toile, I was so confident that I breathed a great big sigh of relief. In fact, I was suprised with how easily and quickly it was all coming together. IF ONLY I'D KNOWN that frustrated disaster was waiting for me just around the corner..

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In September 2016 I made my DD's wedding dress using the Butterick Pattern B5731 as a starting point. I then created my own variation of a semi corset with a built in bra as a replacement to the pattern bodice. I took the Craftsy online class 'Sewing Corsets' with Alison Smith which I can recommend as essential viewing for anyone interested in sewing corsets or formal wear bodices with corset elements. In fact I even received personal advice from Alison and am happy to recommend this class to anyone who's interested.

WOW: Digging Out The Green Stash

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

It feels like every time I turn around, it's somehow Wednesday again. How does that keep happening? This past week I've been going through my stash, digging out greens for my DD's wedding quilt. I've spent a lot of time looking at new ranges to match a selection of reds and pinks I have in mind, but the tones have all been too blue based and I've been struggling. Today, it's all about finding the right fabrics - and you know how I am about fabrics - totally indecisive. Oh, decisions, decisions, how will I ever make them with a stash as big as mine? I don't know. These are just the latest contenders, when I actually get this quilt started I'll show you my pallette. Wish me luck!

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

WOW: My Final Background?!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Sweet 2016 has just three months left before it's finished. It feels like I started this tempting wall quilt just yesterday..and now it's time to start thinking about how to quilt it. But first, I have to choose a background. My problem? I love each of the backgrounds I've auditioned - the light ones, the dark ones, the printed ones, the floral ones, the plain ones. They all seem to pull the quilt into a different direction in terms of mood and style - the problem is that each direction is just so pretty, I simply can't decide!

Yesterday I was looking for pinks to make my DD's wedding quilt - and look what I found! This is a fabric I've been hanging onto for ...7 years? Possibly 10. I have always loved this fabric - but could never find a project suitable enough to use it in. You see, I really never wanted to cut into the fabulous plates, I wanted to show them off. At the moment I'm thinking I have found my background, but I will do a final test and pin all my finished trays on top and decide for sure before cutting into this precious stash item. Fingers crossed!

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up