A Heart of Modesty

Earlier this evening I came across a blog and found this good article that I thought I'd link to from here:

Kaysie shares:
"We who are God's children were bought with a price! And because we were bought, we belong. Not to ourselves, but to Jesus. We now live for Him, to bring Him glory, and to direct the eyes of others to rest on Him and not us. For when a woman focuses on glorifying God with her body, she considers carefully what she puts on that body, and her modest heart dictates her wardrobe and appearance.

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Cor. 6:19-20 [emphasis added]

God finds the women with modest hearts precious and beautiful in
His sight. Won't you be one of them?"

Read the full article here

Miscellanious Rambles

I just can't keep out of the sewing room no matter how hard I try! Well, it is more along the lines of: "I'm sick of having stashes of fabric laying around. Something must be done!" =) A good majority of stashed fabric is from our sewing business that I have no clue what to do with and there are several pieces for myself, but then I don't need any more clothes...

In fact, I am resolving by God's grace to get down to 10-15 garments this coming year. As I'm sure you seamstresses could attest to, when you sew your own clothes, it's no where near as expensive as buying them. It is quite easy to get carried away, at least for me, when fabric is on sale or when 50% off coupons are easily accessible. Eventually, I'd like to get down to maybe 5-8 things per season, ie., Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter that way I can make something new each year instead of having at least twice as many clothes that seem to take forever to wear out.

Another thing that I'd like to do in the coming year is to keep track of what I sew, as in how many things I've completed. There is one friend that did quite a bit of sewing before she was married and one year she counted that she did over 100 garments in a year. That's roughly 2 a week! That's more than what I do I think. Anyway, I'd like to keep track, just for fun. Has anyone ever done that? I know several friends keep track of how many books they read in a year, so why not sewing projects? =)

Two projects that will be fun to work on in the near future will be trying another apron pattern, and Anne Shirley's Wedding dress pattern (based from a real 1916 wedding gown). I need to slow down before I get overly addicted to patterns. ::winks::

I have been updating the links on the side, and I was just curious if anybody has anything that I could consider adding? I hope some of you don't mind, but I added a couple blogs that I enjoy visiting, as well as etsy shops that I feel comfortable "promoting."

Oh yeah, and I also listed a white Regency gown on ebay, click here to see it. I warned you all that I had "Regency fever." =)

Merry Christmas!

stealing from my friend, Courtney's blog:
God gave
His Best for the worst;
His Highest for the lowest;
His Greatest for the least.

May you all have a wonderful Christmas, celebrating as to why Jesus came to earth so that we "may have life, and have it more abundantly!"

Vintage 70's Wrap Apron Dress: Simplicity 6915

A couple months ago, I found this at the thrift store, and just had to pick it up to add to my collection of apron patterns. =) I loved the square neckline, and the ties that ties in the front (on the left side, a back tie goes in through the skirt side seam towards the front to tie into a cute bow.

This summer when I purchased a bunch of fabric at a flea market/antique store, I picked up a piece that I liked, but wasn't sure what I'd make in it yet. But then when I noticed how it seemed to match view 3 in this pattern, only it was blue, I decided to use the fabric with the 70's apron pattern:

Because I was short a yard than what the pattern called for, I had to make it mid-calf length instead of ankle length, but I am still very happy with it.

It even has crisp white rick-rack on the front pocket

The back and side view. I couldn't capture how perfectly this flared skirt drapes, but at least you get the idea of what it looks like in the back. Though shown by itself in view 3, I will be wearing it with something else on underneath!

Now I'm off to help bake and decorate some Christmas cookies...

A story of: "Recycling the ole' scarf"

Once upon a time a young woman made a scarf. After learning the single and double stitch, she became ambitious to try making one (a scarf) for herself, "After all, there's nothing to it," said she. So she bought a lovely roll of homespun yarn with several soft colors in it that would suit her green coat nicely.

Upon working on it, she noticed that she began doing fewer and fewer stitches in each row ... which obviously made the width smaller and smaller. And so she added one stitch here, one stitch there, until the end was as wide as the beginning. At last she was done with it. The color was lovely, but she had to admit that the scarf looked rather strange with seeing "waves" of small widths and wide widths throughout the scarf.

A year later she became very dissatisfied with it. With more knowledge in crocheting (from a dear lady who is teaching us), she learned that each row must have the same amount of stitches and that one must chain one or two at the end in accordance to the kind of stitch.

And so she went out to find another roll of the same kind of yarn, and made herself another scarf. Using a single stitch, and 20 stitches in a row, she finally finished her scarf:

She even put tassels on the end! (Do they look funny? I was hoping for more "fluff" but ran out of yarn in the end.)

But to her only disappointment, the colors were much brighter than the original one. While she likes brighter colors in some things, she felt like she was wearing a rainbow (although wearing it would be a reminder of God's promises!).

And so she decided to take apart the ole' scarf after firmly deciding that no amount of extra adornment would make it better when what it really needed was a true transformation (a reminder that this could be said of our own lives sometimes ... how many of us "cover up" or "add" when it's our hearts that need to be changed?).

And this young woman is going to start over. This time, she is going to try doing the half-double stitch and see what happens. (Thankfully I saved the rest of the roll of original yarn too, to add to the length and maybe some tassels.)

End of story. =)

She worketh with her hands...

Other than sewing a couple aprons (doesn't this pattern look like fun?!) lately, the sewing room has been quiet and empty. It won't be that way for long as I have gotten "Regency fever." Need a translation? I mean: I feel like sewing up a bunch Regency day dresses and gowns. =)

But our hands have kept busy with crocheting Christmas surprises. =) We have a few question for those of you ladies who crochet: how do you finish scarves? Do you do a complete edging around the whole thing? Or maybe just tassels at the end?

Do you have any websites you could recommend, or would you mind sharing exactly what you do for your own? We have been slowly learning new stitches, but we don't know how to do any special edgings or tassels yet, and so we girls would greatly appreciate any ideas or thoughts!

What is red & white with black all over?

Another apron! =)

The front view

The back view

I told a friend that I rarely make two aprons alike, and with this one I decided to use lace.

I'd offer this up on ebay or such to sell, but "a local" saw it and immediately snatched it up before I could barely blink. But if you are seriously interested in an apron like this, let me know and I may be able to find some more fabric just like it. And also, I finally found some limited supply of identical fabric that was made up into this favorite apron. I am ordering some, but there won't be enough to go around. So, speak up if you'd like an apron out of either. ::wink::

Which brings on a question: Do any of you have experience with Etsy.com? I have had an account there (peasantcottage) just because in the past I have considered selling homemade items there; aprons being one of the many fun ideas... and I was just curious what it's like over there. I may quit my part-time job outside the home do to recent happenings, and I need to earn income.

A little Christmas cheer

When I was a little girl I can always remember how excited my sisters and I were to hang little felt crafts on the door knobs in our cozy little house. To the three little girls (at the time), they added "the final touch" in Christmas decorating. It was either when we moved to the Pacific oceanside of the country, or from just plain wear 'n tear but that little tradition faded away for many years. This year, that old tradition has come alive again. While they don't bring "warm fuzzies" as when I was a child, making them brought back a lot of fun memories...

Felt, glitter glue, ribbon, and various cut-out shapes of snowmen, trees, stars, and snowflakes make this project fun!

Decorated with "jingle bells"

All finished and waiting for the glue to dry

All dressed up!

I thought you all might like to see our costumes! It was so much fun to dress up with other people, and to make music this evening for the Christmas Oratorio.

Sneak Preview of 1850's inspired outfit

The skirt has pleats galore. I could have done gathers, but with such a full skirt, and the fabric being striped, pleats just seemed to suit it. I would venture to say that the hem circumference would be around 130" or so.

And the vest, which will be a modern pattern, is going to be made out a silky black shirting type of fabric with subtle black stripes. I had 8 silver vintage buttons that I thought would go well on this. Later on I hope to make a jacket very much like this one, which would make the outfit more historically accurate.

I was going to go all out on this for our music performance, even with proper "underpinnings," but after being scared away by looking at Simplicity's instructions for a corset, I decided to forego that idea.

At the moment I am searching online for a snood to wear, to fit in better with the time period, rather than my black scarf. I wear a scarf all the time anyway, so I wouldn't mind wearing it to the event, but wearing a snood would add an extra "touch." =)

So this ensemble will not be period correct ... more along the lines of a "costume" but I think that it shall be fun to wear. I'll be sure to post pictures when everything is finished.

"The Perfect Winter Skirt"

If you know me, when I see something I really like, I usually try to make one just like it. (I have been, shall I say, convicted in that area though... I mean, really, do I need everything I want?) With a few guidelines from Laura (thankyou SO much!), I made a skirt very similar to her's. Since she is about 4 to 5" taller than I, I had to adjust the lengths of the tiers, but I think it turned out ok. It too has the faux muslin petticoat that was hemmed in eyelet! What I can say: I love it! =)

Now I'm off to sew up another skirt, but this time it is for my historical outfit that I will wear this weekend for our string quartet performance. I also found out last week that I need to make a black vest to wear with it. Sometime I'll have to find the time to make a mock-up, and then the real thing...

Addictions?

Over on the S&S board, there is a hilarious thread going on of ladies confessing their addictions. Most of the the addictives? Fabric and patterns. Maybe you can relate? I will confess that I can. As someone suggested in the thread, companies need to print on their patterns or at the end of the fabric bolt: WARNING: highly addictive! =)

After posting somewhere else of how I really need to cut back on sewing due to music pursuits, I visit Laura's blog to find this perfect winter skirt. =) Don't you just love it?! It's totally "me," and so if I were her size, I'd probably beg her if I could buy it from her. =) Especially considering that the pattern she used is out of print! Now I know what I'll be looking for on ebay and thrift stores. Does anyone have one that they don't want??? =)

Mission Completed

It is always an adventure being in JoAnn Fabrics. Today was no exception. I don't think that I have ever seen it so busy as I did this morning. People up and down isles, excitedly talking of their projects, and "Oh, I need to get buttons!"

Today I walked out with some goodies: a piece of white striped shirting (my mind was thinking in terms of a couple blouses, or a Regency gown to sell), some dark green corduroy with the large "wale" to try out in a winter jumper since we always get the fine stuff. And the biggest purchase of all, ::drumroll:: a quilting frame! I have had my eye on them for quite some time now, and I have had several people recommending the PVC (or is it PCV?) pipe frame. Since they are $100, I always tell myself "no." However, since they were 50% today and I had a 20% off coupon, who could say no? =)

I think I had a very nice shopping experience today, and enough to keep me busy this winter! =)

Oh, I wanted to mention:
I finally got my tatting site back up! It was hosted with our sewing site, and therefore it disappeared when I chose not to renew the domain name. So anyway, I have moved everything over to a blog now, and so do take a look! And btw, I don't have all the designs up yet, and so stay tuned to see more up over there!

One project down, several to go!

You can see more of it here.

General sewing

I haven't been doing a great deal of sewing lately. Lots of stuff to sew, but little inspiration to do it... =)

The aprons that I mentioned awhile ago are still "in cuts" on my table, and so I hope to have them finished and listed on ebay within the next week or two. It depends if I go out of state for violin lessons... Leah gave me a blue/green plaid that will someday be made into a jumper for myself. I have so many jumper patterns that I'm not exactly sure which one to do it in!

And amongst the historical line of things, I STILL have yet to sew up the green velvet spencer jacket (Regency era), a brown twill to make in an Edwardian skirt, and I just bought some ivory silk for a Regency gown. Oh, and I almost forgot the green stripe shirting for the 1850's ensemble that I'm going to attempt to put together. It may not be as "period correct" as I was hoping, but I think it will do for what I'm wearing it for.

I am just about finished with a girls dress from that pattern that I used to make my youngest sister's dress. I wasn't sure which size to use for her, and ended up doing the larger of the two, and so I'll have a girls size 12 to sell, if anyone is interested in it. It is of different fabric, though with a detachable antique collar. It sort of looks like a "Road to Avonlea" style dress.

Ah, just typing this all out overwhelms me! =) Should I set a goal of finishing it all by Near Years Day? I don't think I'll ask for accountability, just in case I can't get it all done...

"There is nothing I love better than a country dance!"

Yesterday I received an invitation for an English Country Dance that would be held down in the Big City, but after having been down there twice this week and half way down there once, I am quite tired of the drive down there.

I guess my reasons for declining would be that:

• It would be another late night


• I have have not started sewing my green Regency spencer jacket (like Lizzie's on the the A&E version) and that would be a must during this time of the year.

Has anyone ever been to an English Country dance, or Regency ball of some kind? I would dearly love to learn how to dance in that fashion (any kind of dance after the 1912 era does not interest me). Does anybody know of websites that might give tips or some such information?

Autumn & Winter apparel

I so appreciated Laura's post on feminine winter wear! If you have time, you would probably enjoy it as well, not to mention get a few inspiring ideas of her skirt sketches! I'd like to make myself a tiered skirt like her drawing. Can anybody recommend a good pattern for one?

I thought I'd come over to my sewing blog to ask:

What do you ladies enjoy wearing during the winter while attempting to be feminine and warm at the same time?

Here at our house, we girls will often wear corduroy or denim jumpers/skirts just because of their thickness and ability to keep one warm. We will wear lighter apparel, but then we will usually wear something on underneath such as sweatpants to keep our legs warm. We often wear sweaters too. Speaking of which, I have found some really nice ones at Kohl's and Christopher & Banks (my favorite place to shop for clothes after fabric shopping) this year. Since where we live, we can have up to 6 months of cool weather and having a nice sweater is, well, just nice. =)

Edited to add: You also might have fun seeing Janna's blog for some feminine hairstyles! She has one up, and I think will be putting more up sometime.

YES!

After doing some online searches, and I finally found what I want for my 1850's ensemble at JoAnn's this afternoon:

This fabric here

I got it for 50% off, and so while paying even THAT much a yard is more than what I like to spend, it is just about as close to what I want. =)

Patterns, patterns, patterns

Well perhaps I spoke to soon in my last post! The string quintet that I am in will be performing a Christmas Oratorio next month, and the players will dress up in historical clothing! My two favorite things combined: music (violin) and historical dress. =) I think it will make for one very delightful evening.

The husband and wife in our quintet do reenactments of at least a couple time periods (Colonial and Civil War are the ones I know of) and so their clothing will be more of the 1860's. But I think I could get away with dressing up for 1850's since a hoopskirt doesn't really appeal to me. =)

It isn't firmly decided, but I think we all were thinking of skirts (with either hoopskirts, or a flouncy and full crinoline), white blouses, and vests. I have a couple 1850's patterns: this one, this one, and this one to work with for the skirt, and then perhaps making a blouse off of the bodice. But then I'd have to find a vest pattern... Is anyone familiar with any?

Right now, I sort of have this look in mind (love the green stripe fabric!!):


But instead of the bodice/jacket, wear a vest in the same fabric of the skirt, with a skirt-blouse-vest look, like this:

At first they mentioned "Victorian Christmas Carolers" and my first thought was "Yuck!" Despite my love for old-fashioned things and historical apparel, I have NOT formed an attachment for 1870's-1880's clothing. But then they said something to the fact of "A Christmas Carol" (written by Charles Dickens in 1843) or Civil War (1860's) style. How fortunate that my newly found love for the 1850's is right in between! =)

Another Romantic Dress

I told Erin the other day that I think it would be fun some day to have a dress from every historical era. A rather ridulous notion, especially considering that I'd have no occasion for wearing them... =)

This 1830's dress was one that I wanted to keep, but I decided to list it on ebay.